Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. 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. — Matt. 5:11-16
Excerpts from book (free download of book at link on right):
Page 356 - In the previous chapter we focused on the supreme passion of Jesus, his Father, and the Holy Spirit.....Which brings us now to the demand, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).
Page 357 - What people see from the outside is our “good works.” But that is not who we are. The good works have a light source from inside. The key to understanding what the light is that shines out through good works is the aim of the works, namely, that people see and give glory to God......What Actually Is the Light That People See? So what does it mean then that we are the light of the world? How do good deeds grow from who we are in such a way that they make God look glorious?
Page 358 - Therefore, I conclude that what is most salty and bright in this insipid and dark world is the almost incomprehensible joy of Jesus’ followers in the midst of persecution
and the hardships of life.......In order to waken people to consider God as an explanation for our good works there generally must be an obstacle of suffering that would ordinarily cause them to be angry or despairing, but does not have that effect on us. Rather they see us “rejoice” in hardship....this hardship does not make us self-centered and selfpitying and mean-spirited......they see our joy and wonder what we are hoping in when ordinary props for hope have been knocked away. The answer.......we have great reward in heaven (Matt. 5:12) ......when persecution take natural pleasures away, we still have Jesus......joy......when our good works get their flavor from this salt and glow with this light, the world may well be awakened to taste something they have never tasted before.......the glory of God in Jesus.
Page 359 - The supremacy of the value of the glory of God is seen in the way Jesus makes the demand of Matthew 5:16......He explicitly says that our aim in doing good works for others is that they might glorify God......people who talk much of love but are not God-centered the way Jesus is say things like, “If you do good to people to get them to glorify your God, you are not loving them, for you have ulterior motives.” This kind of criticism results from a failure to experience the glory of God as the greatest gift and highest joy imaginable.
In his darkest hour he let his light shine most brightly in a “good work.”
Page 360 - From beginning (John 2:11) to end (John 12:28) Jesus let his light shine—did his
good works—to vindicate and display the glory of God.......This was the final, greatest, and most satisfying gift obtained by Jesus in the “good work” that he did on the cross. This will make no sense at all to a person who does not see and savor the glory of God above all other gifts. But for those who have renounced all that this world offers (Luke 14:33) and set their heart on the “great reward” in heaven, namely, the enjoyment of the glory of Jesus, Jesus’ purchase of this reward at the cost of his life will be the greatest act of love imaginable. When Jesus calls us to let our light shine that others may see our good deeds and glorify God, he is calling us to join him in the work he came to do.......Jesus simply takes it for granted that his disciples will make God look good in the way they die. The only question is, how will we die?
Page 361 - In other words, if God rules over how the birds die, how much more surely will he govern your death..........The final great historical display of Jesus’ shining light—and ours—
happens at his second coming. ......What about for us? What will his second coming mean for us?
It turns out that letting our light shine will be our eternal vocation. We will never cease to have this calling. This is why we were created: to be so satisfied with our great reward, the glory of God in Jesus, that we reflect his infinite worth in acts of love that cause others to see and savor and show more of the glory of God.....This is our final destiny. Beholding the glory of Jesus (John 17:24), we will shine with the beauty and the love that he has.
Page 362 - Jesus’ demand to the world is that all human beings find in him the all-satisfying glory for which we were made.....that we turn from trusting in anything else and bank our hope on the great reward of everlasting joy in him.....that we let that light shine in sacrificial good deeds of love, so that others will see and savor and spread the glory of God.
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