We are the light of the world for the glory of God

Sermon Transcript

If you’re somewhat new to Citylight Church or weren’t able to gather with us last Sunday, I want to tell you about the journey the Lord is taking our church on in this season. In March 2022 we began a new chapter as a church called Reach. Reach is a two-year discipleship initiative designed to help Citylight Church set down deep roots in our community and bear lasting fruit for generations through a long-term facility. We began our Reach journey with two goals. Primary Goal: 100% engagement. Since Reach is about setting down deep roots in our community and bearing lasting fruit for generations, our most important goal is every single person who calls Citylight ‘home’ giving themselves first to the Lord, and out of that making a two-year generosity commitment to Reach. Secondary Goal: Raise $4.3M in two-year pledges and expected gifts to secure a new, long-term facility for our congregation.

 

What has God done since? In March, 2022, we collectively raised over $4,800,000 in two year commitments and expected gifts, exceeding our goal by $500,000! Just as significant, in the months after the Reach Initiative, we experienced exciting spiritual fruit, including 9 baptisms with faith professions, 22 new covenant members and 85 people who joined citygroups in that time. Citylight Church has grown by 30% in the last year. Now, by God’s grace, we have found and purchased a long-term, 24/7 facility that we can call “home” at 4050 Main Street! 

 

Where are we going from here? 4050 Main Street provides us with an incredible opportunity to set down deep roots in our community and bear lasting fruit for generations, and it also brings to bear the need for additional financial resources for buildout costs. We are asking the Lord to expand our Reach generosity by $500k, bringing our total Reach stretch goal to $5.3M in pledges and expected gifts.

Toward the end of this stretch goal of an additional $500k, the Citylight pastors and I are asking everyone who calls Citylight Church home to make one of three commitments when we gather together on Sunday January 29.

New Commitment. Reach is for anyone who calls Citylight their church home. Our hope is that everyone at Citylight will give themselves first to the Lord and then, out of that, make a resulting generosity commitment. We invite you to consider making a 12-month generosity commitment to Reach on January 29.

Finish Strong. Others of us made a commitment last  year and perhaps this journey has been as difficult – or possibly more difficult – than we had envisioned. While it may be completely appropriate to reduce your Reach commitment on January 29, I want to encourage you to first seek the Lord and ask him to empower you for where he is leading. 

Increase. Some of us made our Reach commitment one year ago, and it is possible that God is calling us to increase that commitment. If the Lord is stretching you to take an additional step of faith in your generosity, we encourage you to follow his faithful leading. Consider asking yourself these questions: Am I still giving in a way that requires genuine sacrifice? Has the Lord increased my resources so that I can increase my generosity through an expanded commitment on January 29. Now that I’ve let you in on the journey the Lord has us on, let’s pray and look to God’s word to renew and refresh us in why we’re doing all this.

INTRODUCTION – Please put up “This is Why” Graphic

 

Several years ago I was talking to a friend of mine about aging. He’s over twenty years older than I am and, like me, loves to workout. He’s been lifting hard for probably 35 years. He really pushes himself. But several years ago, right around his birthday, he began asking himself, “why am I doing this? Why am I pushing myself so hard?” And as he was recounting these questions to me, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “I haven’t been to the gym since.” When he forgot why everything came to a grinding halt. 

 

There are few Christian practices more important than remembering why – why we do all this. When it comes to faithfully following Jesus and gladly giving ourselves to his cause in our generation, it’s most important for us to remember why  – why do we do all this? And when it comes to our Reach journey specifically – setting down deep roots in our community and bearing lasting fruit for generations through our generosity to a long-term facility – it’s most important for us to remember why – why are we doing all this? 

 

To press into this idea of “why,” Citylight is beginning the New Year with a brief sermon series called “This is Why”.  At the beginning of the new year, and at the midway point of our Reach generosity initiative, it is vital to take a step back and remember why we do this. Why deep roots and lasting fruit? Why generosity commitments? Why do we do all that we do? Remembering why is a discipline that both frees us from cynicism and helps renew and refresh us for the journey ahead. 

 

The second Bible text that will refresh and renew us in why we’re doing all this is Matthew 5:14-165. Would you please turn with me in your Bible to Matthew 5:14-165 or page 760 in the Bible that is beneath your chair. When you have the page and if you’re able, please stand with me to honor the reading of God’s word. Why deep roots and lasting fruit? Why are we repairing a broken building so that we can repair spiritual devestations. Answer: We are the light of the world for the glory of God. Let’s read. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” The reason why is the big idea of our passage this morning: We are the light of the world for the glory of God. This is why. We are the light of the world for the glory of God. We are going to take this big idea in three parts so that we can see that this is why: (1) The light (2) The world (3) The glory of God.

 

THE LIGHT

 

There may be no more stunning, dignifying and wonderful thing that anyone can say about you than what Jesus says at the beginning of our passage: “You are the light of the world.” Let’s set the scene. Jesus’ words in our passage this morning come at the beginning of his most famous sermon, The Sermon on the Mount. In the sermon, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to his new community, his new people who have repented of their sins, embraced Jesus as king and Savior, have had their citizenship transferred to the kingdom of Heaven, but still live out their heavenly citizenship here in this world. In other words, the Lord Jesus is speaking to you – a community of Christians – and saying, “You are the light of the world…” (Matthew 5:14a). That’s not an aspirational statement. He doesn’t say, “be the light of the world.” It’s an identity statement. He’s saying, “You are the light of the world, so be who you are.” 

 

Now, what makes this identity statement so wonderful and extraordinary is that you’re not naturally the light of the world. By nature and choice, we are darkness. In fact, Matthew describes the world to which Jesus came to save as, “The people dwelling in darkness…” (Matthew 4:16). And Jesus himself made plain what Matthew meant by that. John 3:19 – And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. Friends, our identity was darkness, our deeds were evil, and our destiny was eternal darkness. But God in his grace has given us a citizenship transfer through Christ. Colossians 1:13-14 – He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Through the Lord Jesus’ sinless life, his atoning death for our sins, and his victorious resurrection, God the Father has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son – the kingdom of light. Through the gospel of grace you have had a citizenship transfer and you have a new identity: You are the light of the world! And this is why. This is why we want to set down deep roots in our community and bear lasting fruit for generations through a long-term facility. This is why we want to rebuild the brokenness. This is why we make sacrificial generosity commitments. It’s our identity. We are the light of the world. 

 

One of my favorite movies of all time is Cinderella Man. The movie is based on the true story of James Braddock – a boxer during the depression who, motivated by love for his family, climbed all the way to fight for the heavyweight title. When Braddock finally did earn the title shot he was a massive underdog, in fact his wife was so afraid that he would die in the ring that she demanded he call off the fight. Her lack of support really hamstrung him. But the night of the title fight she showed up in his locker room and she said, “You can’t win without me behind you…So you just remember who you are…You’re everybody’s hope and you’re your children’s hero.” She reminded him who he was, he remembered why he was fighting, and he won the title. Citylight Church – remember who you are by the grace of the gospel because who you are is why. You are the light. We are the light of the world for the glory of God. Let’s turn, secondly, to…

 

THE WORLD

 

The second reason why we do all this, the second reason why we want to make generosity commitments on January 29th so that we can have a new facility where we can set down deep roots in our community and bear lasting fruit for generations is because the world. The world is darkness. The world is darkness, but God so loved the world that he gave His only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish in eternal darkness, but receive the light of eternal life. And we are the light in this dark world. The world is why – the world is darkness. 

 

Few things are more important for remembering why we do all this than realizing the true extent of the world’s darkness. Remember what the Lord Jesus Christ himself said, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (John 3:19). The world is darkness. Its works aren’t just evil, but the world actually celebrates what God calls evil and condemns what God calls good. The Apostle Paul describes non-Christian experience as “…having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). What could be more dark and disorienting than having no hope? No destiny. Just death. That’s the world. Dark. Have you ever experience real physical darkness? Have you ever gone camping far from the city or simply turned off your headlights on a backcountry road and experienced the all consuming power of darkness? It is overwhelming, disorienting, unsettling, and most of all terrifying. That’s the world without Christ. And the true horror of the darkness that every person in this world is plunged into is that their darkness will be overwhelming and consciously terrifying forever. The Lord Jesus himself said, – “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:13-14). In Mark’s Gospel the Lord Jesus describes this outer darkness as the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. 

 

This is Why! The world in darkness, having no hope forever is why – and most don’t even know it. As the wonderful Scottish theologian Sinclair Ferguson writes, “Man is so completely surrounded by his moral darkness that he cannot see his moral and spiritual foolishness. If only we lived within a hundred miles of a city, it might light up his night sky, and he might see his profound spiritual need and repent! You, Jesus says, are the city that man needs.” The world is darkness and we are the city that man needs. This is why. The world has no hope and will be without God in utter, conscious darkness forever. Let that darkness sink in for a moment. It’s the darkness that our friends, co-workers, classmates, and neighbors are plunged in. It’s the darkness that a shockingly high percentage of Philadelphians walk in. And it’s a darkness that Main Street in Manayunk was – in many ways – built to celebrate. This is why. This is why we are going to make generosity commitments on January 29. This is why we are going to renovate this building so that we can set down deep roots in this community and bear lasting fruit for generations. The world is darkness and we are the city they need. We are the light of the world for the glory of God. We’ve seen the light, the world, let’s look finally to the glory of God.

 

THE GLORY OF GOD

 

The ultimate reason why God has transferred us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, the ultimate reason why we are light in this dark world is for the glory of God. Jesus says, “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16). The ultimate reason why God has made us the light in this dark world is for God’s glory, God’s worship. The ultimate reason why we are setting down deep roots in our community and bearing lasting fruit for generations, the ultimate reason why we are rebuilding the broken eyes, and the ultimate reason why we are making sacrificial generosity commitments toward that end is so that God will get more glory than he is right now. I love the way that John Piper captures this reality. He writes, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.” This is why.

 

4050 Main Street will provide us with a wonderful opportunity to let our light shine for generations in our community. For starters, at 4050 Main Street we can be the church for generations. And that’s the primary way that we let our light shine before others – being the church. When Jesus says, “let your light shine,” the word “your” is plural. It’s y’all, it’s youse, its yins. “Y’all” are the light of the world. The light of the world is a holy church following Jesus together in close proximity to those who don’t obey Jesus. Jesus isn’t saying that individual Christians are lights, though there is truth in that, he’s saying that our life together as the church is the light of the world. As Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” In addition to that, this new facility will provide countless opportunities to let our light shine through acts of service toward our community that they will have far more opportunity than now to see our good works, hear the reason why, and give glory to our Father. This is why – it’s all for the glory of God.

 

CALL TO ACTION

 

For a moment I want to speak to those of you who are new to Citylight Church or haven’t made a Reach commitment since we started Reach in March 2022. I hope that you’re beginning to see why we’re doing this. As you’re seeing it, I want to invite you to prayerfully consider making a new Reach commitment on commitment Sunday on January 29. Toward that end, I want you to hear the testimony of someone like you, someone who didn’t make a Reach commitment when we began, but has recently made a new commitment.

(VIDEO)

This is why! This is why I want to invite you to make a first time Reach commitment on January 29. We are the light of the world for the glory of God! This is why!