A "city within a city"...

This week we are talking about the reality that just like individuals, as a church, we have a tendency to look at the New Year as a time to reflect on the past, evaluate the present, and plan for the future when it comes to the unique mission that we have been given. But what should be on our New Year’s resolution list? What should our focus and our goal be as a church as plan for the future in 2015?

Fortunately for us, in an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the gospel of Matthew, Jesus provides for us a timeless goal that we should strive towards, both as individuals and as a church. Today, we will look at this timeless goal and its implications when it comes to our future plans as a church, beginning in Matthew 5:14:

"You are the light of the world.

As part of perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus paints for the crowds listening to Him a word picture to describe what the world should see when they come into contact with His followers. Jesus explains to the crowds listening to Him that those who follow Him are the light of the world.

Now light, by its very nature, has incredible impact and influence when it enters into an environment. For example, just think what happens when you enter into a dark room that you have never been in before and turn on a light. When you enter a dark room that you have never been in before, do you have any idea what is in there? No, you have no idea. And because of that reality, we often find ourselves groping along the wall looking for the light switch, don’t we?

But as soon as you turn on that light switch, what happens? As soon as you turn on the light switch, what is in the room is revealed to you isn’t it? As soon as you turn on that light switch, everything in the room is displayed for you to see. The whole point of the light is to reveal and to display what is present in the room.

But light does more than just reveal and display. I experienced another function and purpose of light first hand during my time in seminary. While on a camping trip with high school students to Mt. Adams in Washington State, we decided to go hiking on a trail called sleeping beauty. It received that name because as you reach the end of this trail, you find yourself looking towards a mountain ridge that many say bears the profile of sleeping beauty.

I had never hiked this trail, and before long, I realized that this was not a simple hike. You know you are in trouble when the person who is leading the hike says “I don’t remember the hike being this difficult”. And the hike was difficult. The trail was narrow and steep, with several switchbacks and no areas to catch your breath. By the time we reached the summit, however, the sun was setting and we realized that no one on staff had brought a flashlight. 

Now being in a dense pine forest in the middle of nowhere on a hiking trail that is only ten yards wide without any light can be unsettling. Fortunately for us, one of the students had a pen light attached to their key chain. So we ended up having 40 students and staff in a single file line, hands on the shoulder of the person in front of them following a pen light, for what ended up being a two hour hike down the mountain. And in the absolute pitch black darkness of that forest, the light from that small pen light provided the guidance and direction that we needed to navigate down the mountain.

Jesus point here is that in the same way, as the light of the world, followers of Jesus are to reveal and reflect Jesus and help provide the guidance and direction necessary for people to be able to navigate life here on earth. After providing this word picture what the world should see when they encounter His followers, Jesus provides two additional images to challenge the crowds listening. Let’s look at these images together:

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Jesus begins His challenge to those listening with two additional word pictures. First, Jesus reminds the crowds listening of a timeless reality that they were all too familiar of: a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  A city that is located in an elevated location can be seen from miles away. In Jesus day, this would especially be the case after the sun set. In the pitch black darkness of the desert of Israel, the light of an elevated city would be seen for miles and miles.

Jesus then provides a second word picture, this time of a lamp that would be used to provide light in a home. Jesus explains that a person does not take the time to light a lamp and then place that lamp under a basket. That would make absolutely no sense. It would make absolutely no sense to place a lamp under a basket because then the lamp would not be functioning as it was designed. The lamp would not be fulfilling the purpose that it was created to fulfill.

Instead, Jesus reminds the crowds that a person would take the lamp and place it on a lampstand, which would place the lamp in an elevated position so that the light of the lamp would provide the maximum coverage possible in the house. For the light to fulfill its purpose to reveal, display, and to provide the opportunity for those in the house to navigate an otherwise dark environment, the light needed to be in the right position. After painting these two word pictures, Jesus makes His challenge to the crowds who were listening unmistakably clear in Matthew 5:16:

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Just like a city on a hill; just like a lamp that is placed on a lampstand, as Jesus followers we are to live our day to day lives in a way that reveals and reflects Christ to those around us. But Jesus does not simply tell the crowds to reveal and reflect Christ: Jesus also tells the crowds how they will reveal and reflect Christ.

Jesus explains that we will reveal and reflect Christ when we live our lives in such a way that the world around us may see our good works and glorify God who is in Heaven. Jesus here is calling the crowds listening, and us here today, to reveal and reflect Christ by how we love and serve the world around us. Jesus calls His followers to engage the world by loving and serving those who God has placed around us.

Did you realize that the church is the only organization that does not exist for the sake of its members? The church has been divinely designed to be the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world. And God places the local church in distinctive environments to be distinctively different. God has placed City Bible Church in Bullhead City to be a city within a city that loves and serves those around us.  And when we love and serve others in a way that reveals and reflects Christ, the result is that we glorify God in Heaven.

And that is why we believe and are focused on the goal that God has given City Bible Church as a church to be a city in a city that is striving to reveal and reflect Christ as we love and serve the city. We believe that as we live life together in community with a focus on engaging those in this city in a way that reveals and reflects Christ by loving and serving those in the city, we will be the vehicle that God uses to advance His kingdom mission and bring Him glory.

Now you might be wondering “well that’s great Dave, but how do we reach that goal as a church? And how do I get to a place in my life where I am following Jesus is a way that reveals and reflects Christ”? If you are asking those questions, I just want you to know that they are great questions to be asking. And tomorrow we will answer those questions...