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Let Your Light Shine
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

WHY YOUR LIGHT SHOULD SHINE

Matt. 5:14-16

INTRO: The previous five messages dealing with this text, have examined the practical aspects of it. We've shown that we are lights, and lights ought to shine; and the brighter, the better. We have also shown "how" it can be done. It is our desire that by this time, every one of you wants to rise up and shine as a true light of God in this dark and evil world.

In this study, we are going to deal with "why" you should let your light shine. The previous studies have dealt with what you do before men. This one deals with why you do it. Here, we look inside: at your motives. This is no doubt the most important message of the text, for regardless of what you do, if your motive for doing it is wrong, then your labor is in vain.

I. LET US FIRST CONSIDER THE FACT THAT THE HEART IS CAPABLE OF BEING FILLED WITH MANY, MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF MOTIVES:

A. Since the text deals with doing right things, we shall limit this consideration of motive to those motives which would move one to do right things. There are scores of motives that fall into this category. The following six are probably the most common of all:

1. A sense of duty:

a. Many feel duty bound, obligated. They can't say "no", and they feel responsible for seeing things done. They don't really want to do what they are doing, but a sense of responsibility and duty forces them to do it.

b. This was the problem Pilate experienced, in Luke 23:17, which says, "For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast."

2. Personal glorification:

a. A lot of other people do what they do because they love the compliments and praise that people heap upon them for their good works.

b. They like the limelight, and outstanding talent and service puts them in the limelight.

c. This was really the big motivator of the religious Pharisees, of Matt. 6:2.

3. A love for fellowship with other people:

a. So many people like the social aspects of working together with other people. This is what keeps many civic clubs and social clubs functioning. People just like a sense of involvement in some project with other people. It causes them to keep doing lots of good things.

b. Luke 19:2-4 points out that it was certainly the excitement of a crowd, and the coming of an unusual character that attracted Zacchaeus to come see Jesus.

4. A feeling of importance:

a. Other people seem to think that they are really somebody, and that everybody else should admire them because they have some job to do in the service of the Lord.

b. They like this feeling of importance, and it's the thing that keeps them going. If they suddenly find themselves without an office, or a particular job to perform, their service to the Lord drops drastically.

c. Matt. 2:16 tells about King Herod, and the feeling of importance that he had, which kept him going.

5. A feeling of usefulness:

a. Everybody needs to feel needed. It's to satisfy this desire to be needed that gets many people involved in God's work.

b. Ahimaaz of II Sam. 18:19-32 is a classic illustration of a fellow who wanted to be useful and had a desire to be needed. He made a fool out of himself trying to serve, just so he could feel needed, and useful.

6. A feeling of sanctimonious pride for having done good works:

a. There is something about going to church and doing good things that makes people feel clean and good. Many people do good in order to acquire this clean, wholesome feeling.

b. Jesus pointed out how that doing right things can result in a right feeling, when he said, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them", Jno. 13:17.

c. An effort to acquire this good feeling is no doubt the motive for many a good effort.

7. Now some of these things are good side benefits of doing good works; but neither of them should ever become a christian's motive for doing good works.

B. You will notice that all these motives seem to hinge around one deep seated motive of man (perhaps the deepest), that of "self gratification".

1. In one way or another, they all bring about monetary gain, prestige, a good feeling, personal satisfaction, or something of a self gratifying nature.

2. If there is nothing in it for "me", most people just can't get very interested in the effort.

3. So nearly everything men do, they do to satisfy self in one way or another:

a. Selfishness, personal gain, personal satisfaction, greed, the desire for more for self is what keeps too many people going.

b. Take the element of self gain away, and most men's efforts would cease.

c. Paul pointed this out, in I Tim. 6:10, when he said, "The love of money (and that includes what it will buy, and how it will bring self gratification) is the root of all evil. "

II. ALTHOUGH, THE SCRIPTURES TEACH THAT THE SINGLE REASON WHY MEN SHOULD DO ALL THAT THEY DO SHOULD NOT BE TO GLORIFY SELF, BUT RATHER, SHOULD BE A DESIRE TO GLORIFY GOD:

A. The greatest desire, in the life of any Christian should be to be an instrument used of God to point souls to the Lamb of God:

1. What better thing could you ever do for a soul than point it to the glorious light of God, to His truth? Matt. 16.26 points out the fact that a soul has missed everything if it misses knowing Christ.

2. What better way is there to spend your life, than to spend it with point, usefulness, and purpose in the service of God? That kind of life is "abundant" (Jno. 10:10). Thus Jesus said, "Labor not for that meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life ", Jno. 6:27.

3. What greater opportunity could one have, than to spend his life bringing honor to the King of kings, who loved us and gave himself for us?

a. In Heb. 3.1, Paul called it "the heavenly calling", and in II Tim. 1:9, an "holy calling".

b. And in II Tim. 1:11, he indicated it to be a real honor to be counted "worthy of this calling".

4. Christians, what we should want more than anything else in this world is for our lives to so magnify and honor Christ, and so uphold his truth, that men can see us and glorify God as a result thereof:

a. Our hearts ought to ache and cry when shame and reproach comes upon the name of our Christ:

(1) In I Kings 19:10, Elijah felt that way and cried, saying, "the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and stain thy prophets with the sword".
2) Jesus himself lamented over Jerusalem and said, in Matt. 23.37, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not."

b. Oh, that the innermost, deepest desires and motive of our hearts would be that men see and understand the great majesty and glory of God.

c. That deep, heartfelt love for him should be the very thing that moves and motivates our whole being:

(1) Paul, who had that kind of love for God, said, in Acts 17:28, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being".
(2) The glorifying of God with our lives should be the center around which everything else pivots.

B. But such is not often the case:

1. The average person (even saved ones) could scarcely give a flip about the triumph or defeat of the work of God:

a. Oh, they give some lip service to the defense of the truth; they might even do a little here and there, if it doesn't mean getting too involved:

1) They are similar to those of Ezek. 33:31. God told  his prophet Ezekiel, "And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. "

(2) They certainly don't consider themselves anti-christ. No; they think of themselves as choice servants of the Lord.

b. But, they never really weep over those who are lost, or over Christians who are backslidden. Their heart never seems to really ache out of desire to win souls to the Lord, and to see his Church flourish. They never seem to feel a second of anguish or pain because the work of God struggles, or because the world mocks, ridicules, and scorns the name of Christ, instead of glorifying it.

2. Most people are too preoccupied with doing the things that gratify self, to think much about the glory of God:

a. It's the deepest desires and motives, which require the most time, energy, and money to satisfy. Most of the things people do, will be done to satisfy their deepest motives:

(1). That's why Solomon said, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he", Prov. 23:7.
(2). And Jesus said, "Ye shall know them by their fruits", Matt. 7:16.

b. That being true, it is pretty evident that most people's deepest motive is not the glory of God, but the glory of self, or self gratification.

C. With these truths in mind, you can see how that when our greatest desire or motive is to glorify God, then just about everything we do will be to honor him in one way or another:

1. Who could not easily see that the refusal of the three Hebrew children, in Dan. 3, to bow down to the idle pride, and self glory of a man, stemmed from a desire on their part to glority God?

2. Who could fail to see a heart dedicated to honoring God in the poor widow woman of Mark 12:41-44?

3. Who could possibly have moved them to do things like this except a desire to see God glorified by their lives?

D. And, that all we do should stem from a desire in our heart to glorify God is exactly what the Bible calls for:

1. The text, Matt. 5:16, says, do all we do "that they may see your good works and glorify your Farther which is in heaven ".

2. Listen to I Cor. 10:31, which says, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God".

3. Oh, that we would so live that it could be said of us, as it was of Peter and John., in Acts 4:13, "And they took knowledge of them, that they had been uith Jesus."

III. IF YOUR GOOD EFFORTS ARE NOT BEING DONE SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF GLORIFYING GOD, THEY BECOME EFFORTS IN VAIN:

A. Listen to the testimonies of scripture on it:

1. I Cor. 13:1-3 says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And thoogh I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. "

2. In Matt. 23:14, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, whose deeds were to glorify self; not God, and he said they, "for a long pretense make long prayers: therefore, ye shall receive the greater damnation".

3. If all you do is to gain the praise of men, get ahead economically, or to in some other way gratify yourself, you can be sure that God is not in it. Whatever praise you get from men, or other self gratification that is involved will be your total and final reward, according to Matt. 6:2.

B. God looks on your heart. He not only knows what you do (men know this much): but he knows "why" you did it. And, only that which is done to His honor and glory is of real value:

1. I Sam. 16:7 says, "The Lord seeth not as man seeth" ; but as I Cor. 2:10 continues, "God searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God"  Rom. 8:27 speaks of him as being, "He that searcheth the hearts".

2. In the day of judgment, only that which was done according to truth from a heart whose motive was the glory of God, shall survive and receive a reward:

a. I Cor. 3:12-13 speaks of how, at the judgment, the genuine will be separated from the counterfeit.

b. How sad that day will be for many. As I Cor 3:15 shows, they will stand there at the judgment bar of Christ empty handed.

c. Many people will have spent an entire lifetime doing lots of good things, but all in vain, because the motive was wrong.

3. So brethren, let your light shine; but make sure it shines for the right reason: that God might get the glory. That motive, and that motive alone, renders good works pleasing unto the Lord.

 

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"