Matthew chapter number 5. And we're going to pick up in verse number 13. Normally the idea of this message was that this was going to be spread out across a Sunday morning, Sunday midday, and Wednesday night. I had intended to finish my series we were doing on Sunday morning. Squeeze one Christmas message in there somewhere. JP, I think you're playing with the monitor, not the main sound, because it's changing for me, not for them. And then we were going to end the year by preaching a series on what our church needs from you. And we're condensing that down from three messages to one. So to do that, we're not going to get very deep into each of these salts. We're going to keep it relatively simple today. So Matthew chapter number five, verse number 13 says, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. You are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Let us pray. Father, we thank you and praise you, God, for all that you do. Thank you for the privilege and opportunity we have to be in your house today. I pray that you just work in what's been said and done here already through the music. Thank you, Lord, for the testimonies that have been given, for everything that's just happened until now. Pray, God, that it be to your glory, and just pray that you would speak through this message to the hearts of people, and that, Lord, it might charge them and help to strengthen the church, Lord, especially in these coming days. We thank you, God, for all that you do, and we ask it in your Son Jesus' name. Amen. Now, as we come to this passage, It's natural that we read this as a personal statement. And what I mean by that is that as you read this, you read it in the sense that I individually am a light to shine to men. Now, it's written plural, so we understand that he's talking to the whole group there. But we don't normally think of it in the context of a church. However, you have to understand something. That it is true on the individual level, but as a group, the men to whom he is speaking... I mean, this is part of a sermon we're speaking to a lot of people. But directly the man he's speaking to in that moment, as a nation, as the Jews, they were supposed to cooperate together. And through their service to God, they were to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and so forth. Now I understand what I'm quoting is a statement about Christ, but you do also understand that throughout the Old Testament God spoke to Israel as a nation that His expectation for them was that through keeping the covenant they had made with Him through serving Him as a nation He said that you will become a nation of priests Now, of course, if you've read your Bible, you know that that's not what they did. From the very first generation after Joshua, they already were forgetting God. But the intention of them as a group were for them to be a light together. That each one of them would be like each little part of the LED up here. I mean that's individual little bulbs that come together to make one big light. And if you have a nation that's acting as a light, that's a pretty bright light. Now when we take that same logic and come to the disciples who are part of this, those are the men with whom he would task starting that first church there in Jerusalem, and then going out to start churches beyond that. So the idea still persists that God, yes, wants you individually to be a light, but He also wants each and every local church to be a light, and then if we all can do that, Christianity as a whole becomes a light. Now, the problem we have in the world right now is that if we're going to look at Christianity as one of these lights, it's that the majority of the little LEDs in there have went out. Very few of them are still working. Maybe you shouldn't have changed the light bulbs in the prayer room beforehand. Then you might could appreciate this a little bit more she a boy a potty put a supplication pick my bean it was before I changed them You had some light in the room, you're a cheval lumina in camera, but they were old and many of the LEDs were given out of them. And so the men who haven't forgotten what that was like in the past couple of weeks can tell you it was like coming into a foggy room or something. There was no fog there, that's just what it felt like. It seemed like we were burning incense from the altar of incense to cloud the room. But as soon as I began changing them and saw the difference, it's like night and day. when you have most of the lights working versus a few. So what I'm saying is this. You can apply this on an individual level, where you see yourself as your own individual light bulb. Or you can apply the same idea on a grander scale. Or you're just one of the little LEDs in the bigger light. And we can take this to talk about Christianity as a whole. But we're going to stop right in the middle. And we're going to talk about the church. We're going to talk about this church. And your part in that. Because Christ expects each of us to be a light. And there are some ways He mentions to do that. And had this been a longer series, we might would have got more into it. But today I want to talk to you about what you need to do to help keep the lights on. We can't afford to have any more of the little LEDs to burn out. We need the church to stand strong. And of course the first answer to that is to do your part. is to work within yourself. I mean, you notice in the passage he says it's by your good works that men will see and glorify your Father. He's not talking about salvation. So don't be afraid of him using the word work. He's talking about how people can look at your life and identify something about you that shows them God, that points them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Honestly, what he's speaking to is the same point that's made in James chapter 2. When He discusses those people who are justified in the eyes of men, not by their faith alone, but by their works. If you look at the context, He's not talking about being justified in the eyes of God. That's why He says, if you have faith, that's good. Show me your faith without your works and I'll show you my faith by my works. Because he's not talking about justifying yourself in the eyes of a holy God. You cannot do that. The only way you and I as sinful men can be just in the eyes of God is through the blood of His Son. It's to be covered in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no good work you can do to be right with God. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That's not a one-time statement in the Bible, it's about three or four times that he makes that clear to you. However, in the eyes of men, Abraham is justified because we see what he did in his service to God. That's why Rahab is also used as an example in that passage. that this woman who, at the time we were introduced to her in the Bible, she was still a harlot. I mean, most of us would look at her life and assume that she isn't putting her faith in God in that moment. And her works at that time were not a light. But when she met that day, those two spies, her life changed forever. And her works began to reflect the faith that she said she had. She was saved by faith. You and I know that she went from being a harlot to a saved person. I mean, we have the benefit that the Bible tells us. But we also can look at our life and see some pretty good evidence. So again, he's not talking about salvation with what he's saying here. He's talking about how you can show what God has done in your life to those around you. So one of the things I need you to understand about being a light is that in order for a light to be effective, it must be present. Here's what I mean by that. In John 9, 4-5, Jesus said, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. So, I hope you can understand this. That Jesus made the statement, that as long as He was present in the world doing His work, He was the light. Now His light should be shining through you. That's the intention of our relationship. It's kind of the idea of He is the vine, we are the branches. His life, His power should be flowing through us. But if you don't understand it, let me put it this way. Knowing my Son, I would say I got a 90% chance that the light's on in his bedroom right now. Lori wants to take a page from JP and start taking his light bulbs away when he doesn't cut them off. It's shining. It's an adjustable light, like you can program it on your phone, so it's shining at full brightness. It's set to be a white light that's shining to illuminate the room. But it's not here. And you are not there. So it's not giving you any benefit. For a light to be beneficial, it has to be present. A light bulb that's on 20 minutes from here in a house where nobody is, is not helping anyone but Luminous. They're the only ones taking profit from that. So in order for our church to be effective as a light, Each of us need to be here and be a part of it. I'm not questioning that you have the ability to be a light in your neighborhood, everywhere you go. You should be. That's why I ask you to take tracts and give them to your neighbors. That's why I hope that you try to be a decent neighbor and not give a bad name to the name of Christ. That's why if you have stickers on your car and stuff that say it, I hope you drive to reflect it. But God chooses in the day we live right now that the same way Israel was supposed to work together as a nation, to be a light to everyone around them, He chooses to work through a local New Testament church. And yes, you can be a high-functioning little LED bulb on your own. Just like there were plenty of people throughout Israel's history who did love God and serve Him. God said they had the power to declare His glory to all nations if they would have worked together to serve Him. If we as a church work together to serve Him, our light is much more effective than you off by yourself. Again, if you don't believe that, take one of these little bulbs out of this light and go light your living room with that one little LED. Now keep the rest of the panel here, but you can take the one. And see if it's enough light to light your house. I can very quickly assume you'll be back here to change your mind. Because we are much more effective together. It's God's design for us. That's why your New Testament is written to churches. That's why every book of your New Testament has something to do with a local church. It's either written directly to it or somehow about it. It's because that's God's design for His work. So if we can understand that... that God wants there to be a light right here in the city of Ghent. And He wants you to be part of making that light shine. How do we keep that light going? How do we make sure that it doesn't stop working? And then we have the ability to lighten the city. To shine his light beyond this city. Belgium is not a big country. It shouldn't take that much effort to get a light across to the other side. And yet it seems that sometimes we're just capped out. We can't go any higher in our light, in our luminosity. I'm trying to think of a word for you. I'm sorry. Whatever you came up with is good. All right. Anyways, it seems somehow that the amount of light we can give It's limited but it's not limited because of anything on God's side. Many times the answer is going to be each of us as individuals. Not doing our part to keep the light going. So especially now that I'm not going to be here to hold your hand and walk you through it for a little while. You know me, I won't be completely absent. We'll still have the devotions, we may do some Zoom Bible studies, we'll do stuff together. But this is a time where you as a church have to keep the lights on. It has to be that when people walk down the street they know that there's a church here still. It has to be that when someone in Ghent wants to know where they can get the gospel, they know that there's a church here. I mean, just the other week, We had the opportunity to lead a woman to Christ who comes from next to Alst. How did she come to us? Because the light was shining bright enough she could see it that far away. Because there was enough light for her to realize there's something in that direction, I should go check it out. And that would be the answer that most of you would give if I ask you how you got here. Is that somehow this light of this church reached you and got your attention to drag you in this direction. So I just want to give you some simple things. I told you we're not going to go deep into them at all. You have a lot of verses, but I don't think we'll even touch on most of them. The first one I would give to you, we take from Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 21. It says, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. If we're going to keep the light on here at this church, then the thing I need from each of you, let's make it bigger than me. The thing that those out there looking for the light need from each of you, let's make it bigger than them. The thing that God needs from each of you is that you would be committed. I mean, he's talking about submitting yourselves one to another. The idea behind that statement isn't that, well, you know, I like this church, but it's not my church. I'll go here because I don't have anywhere better to go. I'll go here because it's close to home. No, the idea in submitting yourselves one to another is a commitment to one another. It's a joining together. The same way he uses a picture in 1 Corinthians of being united like a body. If I can take my eye out and just plug it in at another body anywhere, it's because it's a false eye. It's not really part of my body. If we're working together as a body, then we need to be committed to that. It's like anything else in this life. If you're married, and your spouse says, well, you know, I'm just trying this marriage thing out. I'm not really committed to this yet. Then you're not going to make it very far in a marriage. You want to know why the light is dim in many churches? Even sometimes here. We average 80 people every Sunday. Counting children, I count them. They are people. We average 80 people. How many of them do we average on Wednesday night? Honestly, I can't complain a lot if I'm looking at other churches. We have more people on Wednesday night than some churches I know have on Sunday morning. But I can't complain when I'm not looking at other churches. When I'm looking at us as a church, And Wednesday night is probably the most important service we have. Now, if you're a visitor, what I'm going to say doesn't apply to you. So understand, what I'm going to say, I'm talking about people who come here regularly. Every one of you have had major life-changing prayers answered. Without question, because every Wednesday night there is a faithful group of people here praying for you by name. Without fail, we're here every Wednesday night. And if you don't know how it works, we call on someone, we give them a prayer request, And they pray for you by name. Then we move to the next person. And make sure we get a few more prayer requests in that night. We'll give everybody a prayer request to take home with them. That 45 minutes of prayer has done more to change your life than all the stress and worry and everything else you have been trying. Because in those 45 minutes, God's people are united together Touching heaven in agreement over you. And as much as everybody likes to quote, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. Go read the context. That verse is not about church services. It's about prayer. He says when we come together in agreement touching anything, He will answer us, He will hear our prayer. Then He says, for where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst. He's not talking about you can have church at your home or wherever you want to in that verse. That's the chief verse of everyone who doesn't want to believe the Bible. And creates doctrines whatever they want. But that's not what the verse is about. The verse is telling you that if God's people unite in prayer, God is willing to bow his ear and listen to that. I don't mean that in a negative sense. I'm not saying in some sense that you have authority over him by doing that. I'm telling you that he's the kind of father that when his children can come together and agree on something, it gets his attention in a way that it doesn't when you're there by yourself. And that's not something I'm making up, that's the point of the verse. It's Matthew 18, 19, I believe, if you want to go look it up now. What I'm saying is this, that service has changed your life, some of you who are visitors as well. But what are you doing to support? How committed are you to keeping that light going? Because it can't keep going if you're not here to be a part of it. So where are you on Wednesday night when the lights are supposed to be on? I mean, honestly, I could be saying this about Sunday. I say we average 80. The attendance sheet probably has more like 120, 130 on it. Right now I think it has more than that. That's not people who come, you know, once every six months. That's people who are members of this church and people you regularly attend. And yet somehow our average is 80. That means there's a lot of people who are not very committed to making sure the lights are on on Sunday. There's not a lot of people who, this is my church and I'm going to do what I need to to make sure it succeeds. I mean, right now, I know who I can count on to make sure that the doors are open and the church is going while I am gone. I know who I can count on to make sure each ministry is functioning and doing its job. And I don't in any way want to hurt you by saying this. It's not the majority of people in the room. Or let me say in the building. Because as much as I love each of you and as I'm sure I know you love us too. Not everybody is committed to doing what they can to make sure that the lights stay on. Many people, Sunday morning is good enough. You know, if God wants a couple more hours in my day, that's too much. I can't stick around for another service. Honestly, I still think that's the second most important service. It's ironic to me that the one I consider to be the least most important is the most attended. Because the things we study in the second service tend to be the things that help you to grow to adulthood instead of being a baby all your life. I'm not trying to get you to skip this one. You need things from this. My point is that you need to be committed enough to make time for both. My point is if there's a ministry that needs to be done, if this is your church, you should be committed to get it done. In fact, I can put all three points in this idea. What we need from you, if you're going to keep the lights on here at the church, is to be faithful, be committed, and that each of us be involved. That each of us are here not just saying, okay, this is my church, I want to see it succeed. but that I'm going to get involved and do what I can to make it succeed. That I'm not just going to show up once a month when it's my turn to do this ministry or that ministry. But I'll be here next week to support the other person when they're doing that ministry. And the next week. That I'll be here to make sure that The same person who was supporting me when I did my job is also being supported. That I'll be here to make sure that I'm not discouraging my brother or sister in Christ. Because you not being here is one of the greatest discouragement you can give to your brother or sister. When your seat is empty, it doesn't matter if somebody else sits there. Because no one can take your place. So God tells us that we are to be submitted one to another. And I told you, I wouldn't read your verse list, you have it. But he emphasizes that again in Philippians 2, 2-7, where he tells us to do this with Christ as our example. To not just be thinking about myself, but what can I do to help the others? Hebrews 10, 23 through 25 also teaches this unselfish form of Christianity, where he tells us to hold fast our profession of faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another so much the more, as you see the day approaching. I'm not going to read every verse on this list. But that's a pretty straightforward commandment of God. That His will means you need to be in a church, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. That His will for your life is that we come together and provoke one another to good works. That we exhort one another. that by being together the light gets brighter. Or, I'll read just one more verse from the list, the others you have. 1 Corinthians 16, 13-16. It says, Watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity. I beseech you, brethren, ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. That ye submit yourselves unto such and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth. Now, this is also the point that he's making some of these other passages. That's what the one in 1 Thessalonians 5 is about. He's telling you that you need to have a church and you need to have a pastor who is your pastor. And I don't say a lot about pastors because I don't try to build followers to myself. I am a very flawed man. I am far from perfect. And I don't stand in front of you because I think that I'm some special person you should follow. I stand in front of you because I have a calling and purpose to teach you the Word of God and to try to lead you to help you to be better Christians. And he says that you need to have a pastor that you're submitted to him, that's your pastor. Just like all you ladies, your husband may not be the best guy out there. You can certainly find someone who's better looking. You could probably find someone you like more, but he's yours. And you've already committed, so it's too late to change your mind. Now, the good news is you can change your mind on a pastor. If I become a heretic, you're not stuck here with me. So this is a less serious commitment from you than to your husband or wife. But God wants you to come and get under a pastor and under his authority that he can help lead you. That's why he's using language like submit. Same way he wants a wife to be under the authority of her husband to submit to him. It's not a forceful submission. That's why he talks about not leading that way. There's clear scripture to teach pastors not to behave that way. But His will does expect you to have a pastor who is your pastor. Someone you can be there with them You can grow under their teaching, be involved in the ministries, be a light with them. Now that's not somebody on the other side of the world who you like their YouTube channel. That's somebody who you can be in that church and be a part of that local church. And be a part of that assembly. And it may take some driving because this is not a part of the world where you have one on every corner. We got plenty of people in this church who prove you can drive every week two hours or more. And yet we have people who live within 20-30 minutes who are too busy to be here. I'm telling you the possibility to be in a church is there. It just requires that you want to do your part to keep the lights on. It requires you being committed that this is my church. That this is my family. That I'm going to do what I can to make my family succeed. I don't want to just be a visitor who comes in from time to time to see how everybody's doing. That I'm not going to be absent from my family. But that I'm going to be there and do my part to make sure it succeeds. That I'll be committed, I'll get involved, and I'll be faithful. If you'll do that, the lights will stay on. If you'll do that fully, the lights will get brighter. But every person who thinks it's somebody else's job to be faithful, one more of those little LEDs burning out. Everyone who thinks it's somebody else's job to be committed and have that heart that this is my family and I want it to succeed, it's one more of them burning out. Everybody who's not willing to get involved, but they just come to enjoy the service. You don't have a church like this without somebody doing the work. Somebody was out reaching souls with the gospel. Somebody's teaching children. Somebody's trying to run a sound ministry. One person by herself is playing a piano. If anybody else knows how to play, that's a conviction for you. The reason why you have peace and quiet right now is because somebody is in the nursery. And you can't see them, but they can see you through that window. And all that stuff you were doing bad, they saw it. You have the ability to sit in a church and have all the things you've had this morning. Because somebody was involved. Somebody was committed. Somebody was faithful. But if you want to keep the lights on, that somebody needs to be you. If you want to see the church grow, that somebody needs to be you. We got plenty of room to grow. There's about a hundred chairs in here right now. I got enough to set up to make it 120 no problem. We have room to grow. We just need each of us to be committed to be part of the light first. When we start doing that, we'll see some growing. Because the more involved you are, the more that light will shine further out. The more faithful you are, the more that light will shine. And just like all those people who contact me because they saw us on the internet, they got a track, their friend comes to the church, there's a whole lot more people out there in a world like that. who needs you to be a light to them. So what we need you to do is to be committed that this is your church. That you want it to succeed. You're not complacent and don't care. This is your church. That you're going to be faithful. that you're not going to count on other people to get the doors open and be here, but you're going to do it. And while you're here, you're going to do what you can. You're going to get involved and be part of the ministry. Because while I didn't go through and explain those verses in any thoroughness, Every verse on that list speaks to that in some way. That that's what God wants from you. Father, we thank you and praise you, God, for all that you do. We pray that you watch over us, help us to serve you. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness, your blessings. Pray that you just take care of us. Pray that you strengthen this church and that everyone in here, Lord, we'd be convicted, Father, today to just be a greater part of your work and your ministry. And we thank you, Lord, for all this. And we ask it in your Son, Jesus' name. Amen.