What is this light in Matthew 5 that we must let “shine before men”?
III. The Illumination of Their Works (v. 16)
To find that answer let’s look to verse 16 to understand the illumination of their works. What is this light that we are to let shine? I hope you have already seen what it is. It is not our good works. The light is not the good works. Why do I say this? First, look at how the verse reads. “Let your light shine before men… that they may see your good works.” The light is not synonymous with the works in this verse. The light is what is illuminating the good works. We are to allow the light to shine in such a way that the good works are seen in the proper context.
A second reason we can see that Jesus is not calling for us to let our good works shine is that in chapter 6 Jesus condemns those who would practice their good works to be seen by men. Verse 1 says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.” So He cannot be saying here, “Demonstrate before men your good works,” when just a few verses down the road He says, “Don’t do it.” In chapter 6 you have people who are seeking to show their good works to men, to show themselves to be good people. They seek to glorify themselves by their good works. Then how can our good works be seen and not glorify ourselves?
In the light of the gospel our good works do not glorify ourselves but God. The light (that which is pure and good and true) is not our good works. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those whom Jesus has described in verses 3-12, the blessed who have received the kingdom of heaven, are the light of the world because the light of the gospel has saved them. Now they are to allow the truth of the gospel to illuminate the nature of their good works. The gospel does not show people how good they are, but how bad they are and how powerful God is to save them. The beauty and light of the gospel is that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more!” The gospel never paints people in a good light. It paints God in the good light. So when our good works are seen the focus must be upon the gospel. If the focus were upon the works then they would glorify us.
The gospel is the light of which Jesus is speaking here. Let your light (the light of the gospel which you have received through repentance and faith) shine. How then do we let it shine? Jesus gives us a great example in John’s gospel. In John 5:33-35, Jesus said, “You have sent to John [the Baptist], and he has testified to the truth. But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.” What was John’s light? It was the fact that he was testifying of the gospel. As Jesus said, “He testified to the truth.” What was the result? “He was the lamp that was burning and shining…”
If your visible works are not illuminated by the gospel then they are simply appearing to men as your own good works, the product of a works-based righteousness. We all want to be known as a good person. But the gospel reveals the truth that we are not, but that God is the one who is good.
But also in order for our light to shine this truth of our testimony must be coupled with the filling of the Holy Spirit. You cannot let your light shine unless you are filled with the Holy Spirit.
When the gospel shines, the good works that take place out of that gospel and through the direction of the Holy Spirit glorify God. How then are we to carry out these good works to glorify God in the gospel? Look at Ephesians 5 and be patient to see it worked out in this passage as we step through it. The context of this chapter is being filled with the Holy Spirit. Interspersed with it is the light of the gospel shining. You can’t pull them apart.
“Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” As you see the term “walk,” recognize that Paul uses this (and similar) metaphors to describe someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:16 he says, “Walk by the Spirit.” In verse 18, “Be led by the Spirit.” In verse 25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” In Romans 8:4 Paul tells us to not walk by the flesh but by the Spirit. It is especially clear as he progresses through this chapter in Ephesians. In verse 8 he says, “Walk as children of Light.” And as he heads to verse 18, “be filled with the Spirit,” in verse 15 he says, “Be careful how you walk.” But back to verse 2. This walking by the Spirit is linked with the gospel. “Just as Christ… gave Himself up for us.” We see the work of the Spirit and how that work is tied to the gospel.
In verses 8-9, Paul introduces the light motif. “You were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”
How are we to walk as children of light and produce its fruit? What is the fruit of the light of the gospel? That which is produced when you live out the truth of the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit (goodness righteousness, truth). It is even clearer when you realize that some manuscripts included the word “Spirit” in verse 9 and this is how the King James translates it: “for the fruit of the Spirit consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.”
If you want your light (the light of the gospel) to shine and illuminate your good works, then you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you are not, then even your testimony of the gospel will not glorify God. Why? Because without the filling of the Holy Spirit you will seek to glorify yourself in your testimony and it will not accomplish what it should.
Have you ever recognized that? Someone may mention the Lord and His glory but he wants it to be all about himself instead. Maybe you shared details of your testimony but you recognized that in the sharing of it, you weren’t bringing glory to God but to yourself. The Holy Spirit will not do that. This is why it is so imperative that we maintain the filling of the Holy Spirit, being sensitive to His absence, and seeking to be filled again with His power so that we will not hide the light that we are supposed to let shine.
Now when you are filled with the Holy Spirit and allowing the gospel to shine through your testimony and whatever works that He orchestrates, it may not mean that you are going to be received. Peter says, in chapter 2 of his first letter, that others may slander you as evildoers because of your good deeds. It does not mean that people will always understand or receive the light of the gospel. Think of Stephen from Acts 6 and 7 as an example. In chapter 6 we see him being confronted by men opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Luke says that Stephen was filled with Holy Spirit. They saw the light of the gospel through Stephen but it did not change their hard hearts. There was something even physically testifying to this in Stephen, for in 6:15 it says “all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.” But as Stephen spoke the gospel, the people listening became enraged at him and sought to kill him. Yet in 7:55 it says again that he was full of the Holy Spirit. They rushed upon him and sought to kill him, yet he responded in kindness toward them and prayed for them while he was being stoned to death.
These works that take place under the glorious sunlight of the gospel glorify God instead of ourselves. If you are allowing your words and works to be illuminated by the gospel someone will either be drawn to God because of it or turned off. Sometimes we say, “I don’t want to turn someone off to the gospel by what I say or do” and we want to be careful to maintain a good testimony before the world, but often we think if someone didn’t respond to the gospel it is our fault. Not necessarily. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit and follow His leading a person may have two different responses. He will agree that he is a sinner and seek out the truth of this gospel, or he will reject that he is a sinner and reject this gospel light. Peter preached and 3,000 people were saved that day. Stephen preached and he was stoned to death. Did Stephen do something wrong? He was filled with the Holy Spirit like Peter. The same light of the sun melts ice and hardens clay.
Paul says this clearly in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16: “We are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.”
As you go throughout your day, be filled by God’s Spirit. Listen to God’s Spirit and let the light of the gospel illuminate everything you say and do. The most difficult part of it all will be that people will respond to you, not on the basis of what a nice person you are, but on the basis of what they think of the light that they see.