Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today on telling the truth, Stuart Briscoe is in the book of Matthew to unpack the ideas that you have the opportunity to be a light pointing people to Christ. He's coming right up with that, but first right now is one of the most important times of the year for telling the truth because we're approaching our financial year end June 30th. So to help close the books on the strongest possible footing, some generous friends of the ministry have stepped forward with a $91,000 matching grant which will double any gifts you give today. That means your support right now is worth twice as much.

Your gift doubled by this matching grant will help take Stuart and Jill's teaching and resources even further, reaching more people with the life-changing truth of God's word through radio, digital platforms, global partnerships, and even social media. And to say thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you Stuart's two message series Let Your Light Shine. In this encouraging teaching, Stuart unpacks how your everyday life, no matter how ordinary, can reflect the light of Christ to the people around you. So request your copy when you give today and thank you for helping shine God's light into the hearts of people everywhere.

Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now here's Stuart with his message The Light that Shines.

Stuart Briscoe: When we think in terms of producing kingdom living, we're thinking in terms of being conscious of the call to shine before men and being concerned about the impact of our lifestyle. Thirdly, it means that we are conscientious about the use of our time and our energy and our resources. Jesus said again in the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good works. In other words, there has to be something that is visible. There has to be something that is tangible in this shining. He calls it good deeds. Let me suggest to you that one of the ways in which we can do this is by demonstrating certain actions, certain things that we do.

Couple of them that we can pick out of the beatitudes are first of all what is said in verse seven. Blessed are the merciful. The second one in verse nine. Blessed are the peacemakers. Let me put it to you this way that if we begin to think in terms of the expenditure of our time and energy in resources in good deeds of mercy and in good deeds of peacemaking, they will speak volumes. One of the old biblical scholars called RC Trench he said something that that I found very helpful. He said sometimes we confuse grace and mercy.

Sometimes they use synonymously, other times they are distinctively different. He said one of the ways of looking at it is this that grace is God's answer to guilt, but being merciful is the answer to people who are miserable. Grace deals with guilt and being merciful is deals with being miserable. Now think of it from there. Do you know any miserable people? Don't look at them. Just think, do you know any miserable people? What and don't shout out the answer to this. What is your instinctive reaction to miserable people? The instinctive reaction to miserable people is are are here comes old misery.

I got enough problems of my own. Let's steer clear. Sometimes it necessitates crossing the road and going on the other side. Sometimes you can't avoid it and when you give the necessary greeting Hello, how are you this morning? And they say how long have you got? Your spirits droop. Your eyes look over the left shoulder into the middle distance. They automatically glaze over and you hunker down to think about something else while the litany of woes engulfs you. And you look for ways of getting away as quickly as you can. Maybe I'm talking about me.

Maybe I 'm not talking about you, but I think I am because I can see guilt written all over your faces. What a difference it would make. What a difference it would make if we said to ourselves and perhaps even said to the Lord Lord, today I'm going to move into a situation where there are some miserable people. And the reason they're miserable is some of them are lonely and some of them are discouraged and some of them are totally bereft and some of them are abused and some of them just aren't able to cope with the way that the hand has been dealt them today.

Lord, make me a blessing to them. Think of it from here. Think of people, none of whom need to do a master's degree in being merciful. None of whom need to have a special gift to try alleviating a little bit of misery. Try to think of people mobilized on a daily basis with this attitude Lead me to some miserable soul today and make me a bright and shining light in their lives and lift the gloom and touch the pain and address the problem and see you work. Think of it. It's called shining. It's called let your light shine.

The second thing peacemakers. You know as well as I do that it's the easiest thing in the world to get into a situation and simply make it worse, to exacerbate it. There are all kinds of tensions. There is no shortage of conflicts. Arguments abound on every hand. Opinions are expressed crudely. Things are said carelessly. Things are simply exacerbated by people behaving badly. And in the midst of this, in the midst of this, somebody comes along and says I've had it up to here with the rage. I 've had it up to here with the anger.

I'm tired of the conflict. I've had it with all the arguments. Can't we agree on something? What do we have in common? Can't we build a bridge instead of digging a ditch? And let's start with me. Call peacemaking. Call kingdom living. It's called lifestyle. I want to tell you something. If you find somebody who gets up in the morning and says Lord, I consciously want to live today before men and women a lifestyle that is indicative of the fact that I'm a member of the kingdom and it will be characterized by acts of mercy and an attempt as much as it depends on me to live at peace with all people.

Somebody who gets up with that intention lives it throughout the day, can put their head on the pillow at night and said I lived kingdom living today. Let my light shine. And that's what we're called to. We produce kingdom living. Secondly, we promote kingdom values. Remember that they designed the intentionally designed environment for Christian living is secular society. I'll say that again. Remember that the divinely ordained environment for Christian living is secular society. The idea very often is that the environment in which you live Christianly is the church where you live a certain way and then you kind of go out into secular society and just merge, morph into secular society until you emerge again on Sunday morning and live Christianly in the Christian environment.

No, we are called to live Christianly in the secular environment. That's where we're planted. That's where we bloom. And it's not very difficult to bloom there and I'll tell you why. Because the values of secular society are so diametrically opposed to kingdom values that if we take seriously kingdom values, you will bloom. They may call you a blooming nuisance. Little touch of humor there that's hilarious in English, but apparently not in America. Anyway, I 'll save it for the other side of the pond. Here are three kingdom values. I don't need to show you the difference as far as secular values are concerned.

Kingdom value number one. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself. Is secular society committed to self-denial? Answer No. What is it committed to? Self-actualization. Go figure. Not too difficult to bloom there. Kingdom value number two. Whoever wants to be great must be your servant. Is that the way they tell you to get promotion? No. The opposite very often is advocated. Number three. You won't believe this one. Jesus actually said it is more blessed to give than to receive. He actually said that and everybody everybody knows that's wrong. I mean who doesn't know that it is much more fun to receive than to give?

Jesus said no, this is kingdom value. It's more blessed to give than receive. Whoever wants to be great must learn to serve. And if you're going to be my disciple, you learn to deny yourself. It's called kingdom values. How do you shine? You shine, you see, by promoting kingdom living and you shine by promoting kingdom values. Here's the third thing. You shine by proclaiming kingdom blessings. Now I have a confession to make. I have now arrived at the point where I intended to start and so it's all been introduction till now. Now here's a message.

Verse 16. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven. All right. Now this is something that I feel is a very very important point. Let's suppose that you live out in the suburbs some somewhere in that that area and you live in a detached house in a cul-de-sac and there are about 12 other houses in the cul-de-sac. Some of the people you know very well because your kids and their kids get along very well. You carpool with them. Some you don't know as very well.

Some you just say hi as your lawnmowers pass on a summer's day. Now if we were to talk to the people in that subdivision about you, they would say oh, they are good people. The the very very very very good people indeed. Fine law-abiding citizens. In fact, I would say that they are just a credit to the human race. Now why in the world would they say that about you? Well, one of the reasons is that the way you lived your life quietly, consistently, graciously in that subdivision is appealing. It is winsome. I mean there were times when the people were all worried about something, but you exuded a sort of calm assurance and it was like a it was like a soothing breeze on the mounting passions in your subdivision.

There was a time when some of the people just were so worried about something, but there was a there was an air of peace about you as you moved. And whilst some people were they were losing their jobs, you you were able to demonstrate the fact that you had lost your job, but there was such steady confidence about you that they sort of caught on. It spilled over into them. And and whilst everybody in the in the area was grasping and and and scratching and and looking for more and more and more, you you sort of went on with your life and there was a there was a quiet sort of satisfaction about you.

And not only that, you had done some very merciful things because just once in a while somebody in your subdivision ran into a problem. That guy over there, his parents were killed in an automobile accident. You were the first person there. They were miserable and you brought some light to bear. And and over here their their their kid got meningitis and you were such a support to to the mother. She was distraught. But but you you were the one who drove her back and forth to hospital there. And and when there was a big argument arose as to whether what should be done about some proposition that was coming up and people were really getting at each other's throats, you had such a calming influence on the whole thing.

And the way you lived and your acts of mercy and the way that you built up a sense of peace in the whole area was really appreciated. So if we asked the people what sort of people are you, they would say good people, fine people, good. Listen what Jesus said. Let your light shine before men that men may see your good deeds and say good people, fine people, fine human being. That's the revised version. He didn't say that. What he said was let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.

Why in the world would they do that? Why in the world would they make any connection between you being a fine upstanding suburbanite doing what good people in a cul-de-sac do? Why would they ever confuse that with God? And as far as I can see, there's only one reason they would. That is that you not only shine brightly, but you articulated clearly what it was all about. Because unless you make the connection for them, there is no reason to assume that they would make it. You got that? Unless you make the connection for them, there's no reason to assume that they would make it.

By all means live a life in your subdivision where they will say you're fine human beings, good people, fine citizens and you're halfway there, but the other half is critical. And it is this that there's not only a shining brightly, there's an articulating clearly that the reason I am what I am and the reason I do what I do is because I'm a kingdom person. Let me tell you about the kingdom. Let me tell you about the king. Let me tell you about kingdom living because that's what it's all about. And here's the tragedy. On the one hand, we have people who are very anxious to go out proclaiming the gospel, but their lives are utterly inconsistent.

And on the other hand, we've got people who live delightful consistent lives, but they're like the Saint Lawrence River in winter, frozen at the mouth. And what we're looking for is shining brightly and articulating clearly. I believe with all my heart that the possibilities and the potential of impacting the greater Milwaukee area and regions beyond are under developed. And very often the reason that they're under developed is that we are not infrequently reluctant to articulate what we believe, why we believe it in a Holy Ghost anointed credible, convincing, winsome way. Which leads of course to the fourth thing that this is all about.

And that is that we take seriously the injunction of the Lord Jesus. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all nations. Then comes the end. There has to be a commitment to the propagating of kingdom growth. We are living our lives in our communities. We are identifying our candlesticks. We're burning our bushel baskets. We are finding the ways in which we shine brightly with a view to what? With a view to the propagating of the kingdom for the message of the kingdom must be preached in all nations before God can bring to grand and glorious consummation all that he eternally planned.

And the task is clearly ours. Just one observation and then then I'll stop. Not finish, stop. I read something recently that was very very challenging to me because it it contradicted something that I've believed and taught for quite a long time. What I have believed and taught for quite a long time is this The further people go into spiritual experience, the further removed they become from unbelievers. That that's right. I think that's right. Now this is what I read. A survey was done recently that included churches in 32 countries. Over 1,000 churches. There were over 4 million pieces of information were incorporated into this survey and one of the things that they discovered in this survey was that the average believer has close contact with 8.5 unbelievers.

Now think of this for a minute. If those believers were effectively shining and clearly articulating to 8 and a half times their own number, would there be a remarkable impact? The answer of course is yes. The answer of course is yes. What I'm hearing all the time is new methods of evangelism, new techniques for evangelism, new materials for evangelism. I'm more and more convinced that one of those very simple old-fashioned methods might be the best. Do you know what it is? Individual Christians living a compelling, unique, distinctive lifestyle, engaging in acts of mercy and peace building, clearly articulating their faith and seeing the spirit of the living God take their life style and the testimony of their lips and doing a transforming work of grace in people's lives.

What do you do with potential? Well, you either realize it or you just nod your head wisely. And the challenge is very simple. It's been ringing down through the centuries. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and praise your father who's in heaven.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today. We're so glad you're with us and we pray today's message has helped you experience more of the abundant life Jesus offers. Here's a note from a listener named Eric. I love listening to the Briscos on my way to work at 5:00 a.m. Focusing on Jesus is such an encouragement when life continues to press down on us. Thank you for sharing the gospel so boldly. Thank you, Eric. Right now is one of the most important times of the year for telling the truth because we're approaching our financial year end June 30th.

So to help close the books on the strongest possible footing, some generous friends of the ministry have stepped forward with a $91,000 matching grant which will double any gifts you give today. That means your support right now is worth twice as much. Your gift doubled by this matching grant will help take Stuart and Jill's teaching and resources even further, reaching more people with the life-changing truth of God's word through radio, digital platforms, global partnerships, and even social media. And to say thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you Stuart's two message series Let Your Light Shine.

So request your copy when you give today and thank you for helping shine God's light into the hearts of people everywhere. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thanks for being with us today. Please join us again as the Briscos continue to share with you the life-changing truth of God's word. Experience life next time on telling the truth.