For some weeks now, we looked through the Kingdom Experience. That it is not enough for us to be from different tribes, different backgrounds, that the goal that God has for us is that we become united in our experience. And in spite of the fact that you could be Yoruba, and then I am Igbo, so, we are different, but we are one in Christ Jesus in His kingdom. And so, because of that oneness, we're able to share experience or experiences. But in this piece, we want to admonish ourselves together. We are examining: Finding the Right Light for A Brighter Future.
The goal is the future. You know the Scripture that says, “Surely there is a thereafter, surely there is an end, and the expectation of the righteous shall not be cat short.” That thing that a righteous man is expecting, that thing that the righteous man is hoping for; the righteous man's hope will not be dashed. If you are righteous, and you believe that by tomorrow, you will be great. The Bible is saying that you must be great, why? It is an expectation, and you are a righteous fellow. So that we may experience a brighter future, we want to find the right light.
So, let's go quickly to the Book of Mattthew chapter 5 from verse 14 to verse 16. Finding the right light for a brighter future. Perhaps somebody is saying, why do I need to find the right light, after all, I don't necessarily need a brighter future? If I can get a bright future, it is enough. All right, if that is your desire, maybe you may not join us in the search. But you know what some people say. They say “you aim for a very high place so that in case you can’t reach the sun, you're able to find the moon,” right? So, it's good to always plan for something big so that perhaps you can’t meet it, you still meet something big again. Instead of planning for nothing that is big because when you try to jump on something that is not high, your height will not be that high. So, we want a brighter future, we don't want a bright future — a brighter future. And so, how do we get there?
Now, Matthew chapter 5 from verse 14 to verse 16, see what the Bible says, “You are the light of the world…” So, we are introduced to how this affects us. Don't forget, we want to find the right light. But the Bible says, Jesus speaking to His disciples, “You are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” So, to help us gain perspective of this light, Jesus went further in verse 15 to say, “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” So, Jesus said, when people light their lamps, they don't put the lighting-lamps under a basket, because once you do that, the light that has been lit becomes useless for everyone — is not useful.
But when you light a lamp, Jesus says, “You put it on a stand.” And the goal is not for the light to benefit from his own light, the goal is for everyone in the house to benefit from the light of the lamp. So, you put one lamp in a corner of the house or a room, you lighten it, as long as you don't keep it under a basket or under a bushel. As long as you put it on a strategic place where it can be visible, it becomes a benefit or a blessing to those who are in the same house. So, you engage one, you position one correctly, the entire household benefits. Now, if it is possible for one light to benefit a whole house, then it may be possible for only you and I to become a source of blessing to a whole larger group of people.
Sometimes, we may not have to be discouraged that there's so much happening around us that seem not to be working. People seem to be struggling, things are not working, things are failing, people are failing. And so, you get overwhelmed by these happenings around you. But what the Lord says is that, “You are the light of the world.” Lest you think maybe, you must be like the sun that gives light to everyone at once, the Bible says this is how you must see it; gain perspective: You are just like that light or lamp that is lightened. And then, you must not be put under a bushel. You must be put on a stand. And if that can happen, you can be a blessing to more people around you that you think who can ever save these people.
Perhaps you're asking, “How can the situations of these people change? How will hope come to these people?” And Jesus is telling you, “Hope can come to them if you can be better positioned.” Hope can come to them, if you, a lamp, can be lightened. Now, I'm surrounded with some fine stage lights here, they have potential to brighten my face, but if you should switch off the lights, what will happen? Even though they are like lamps, they will not be lightened. We can learn from this even though that is not where we are going. These are things that can give light but if you should off them, that means they are lamps that are not lightened. But when they are lit, they must not be kept somewhere hidden. They must not be covered up. They must be exposed, they must be put in a place where everybody can see them, because it is by being there that they can lightened the whole space.
Let's get a little bit practical even though we have not gone forward too much. Now, let's assume you're a patient person, let's assume you are somebody that doesn't do anything anyhow, you take your time before you do things. Let's assume you're surrounded by impatient people. You're surrounded by people who don't think before they talk or before they do things. But you do think before you talk and before you act. So, what do you do, you go somewhere else and start complaining about them? These people talk too much. These people are impatient. These people are hasty.
You go about complaining, your complaint does not change then. So, what the Lord Jesus is saying is “Come as a patient person,” you that, you don't do anything without thinking, come and make yourself visible to them. Do things beside them, do things with them, let them see how you do your things. Does it not look like discipleship? It looks like discipleship. So, we have two choices to make: you either choose to be a complaining person, or you be a strategically position light.
Don’t forget, light has an excuse, light can choose to complain about darkness, but what does the light do? The light focuses on what it can do best, what is it? Shining! And as long as those light shines, I benefit, you benefit, we all benefit. What is it that you know how to do best, do you do it or do you hide it? Do you cover yourself up? Or do you keep yourself under? Do you keep your good in the secret? Do you keep your excellence hiding from everyone? And so, what happen? Your complaint continues and our mediocrity continues.
You are an excellent person, you know how to do things well, but you don't do anything in front of us. You don't let us see how you do your things. You don't let us know when you do and how you do; the mistakes you make and the mistakes you don't make, you keep everything hidden. Then what happens to us? We don't know how to shine. If you're a discipler, that is a word of wisdom. The brothers of Jesus said to Him, “No one who wants to be known do things in secret.”
Let's read verse 15 again as we continue. He says, “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house,” because of this, “let your light so shine before men.” There's a difference between let your light shine and let your light so shine. Jesus was particular about the degree of your brightness. You know, we're looking at the brighter future, and I was announcing in the beginning that somebody could say, “I don't need a brighter future. I just want a bright future.” So, Jesus says, “Let your future be so bright.” If you want to apply it again: let your marriage, be so peaceful, let your finances be so organized. Let your cooking be so good. When I come to your house: I eat your food, I move on from there knowing how to cook. “This man, I don't want him to know that I'm good in cooking.” You cook anything, too much salt, too much pepper, and too much everything. And then, I leave that place telling myself that nobody knows how to cook in this world. But after eating your food, I'm like some people know how to cook. Some people know how to talk. Some people know how to pray, why? I spend five minutes with that brother, what I saw, my prayer is not around it.
So, when we want to do our good, we wait for our brethren to pass first, and when he has gone, you now begin it. And in 10 minutes, sweat is all over you. And then, who saw it? Nobody. There is a stage in your life that your life could be fine on that. The moment you begin to tell yourself I'm translating from being a disciple to a discipler, then anything you do, you must make sure that you let others see it; it is not pride. You are not showing off, you are shining so bright. I can imagine Jesus going to pray, and He says, “These people must not see how I pray. There is a way we do it in heaven,” and He make sure they didn't even follow.
Don't forget that they stopped at a point. Imagine they were just in their houses. How would they have asked what we now have in Matthew chapter 6 when they said, “Lord Jesus teach us how to pray,” it was because they saw Him pray, maybe He knelt down and covered His head. He did somehow. He was there for one hour and they were ‘gisting’. And they were like after gisting small, and they look at Him, and they were like “He's still praying”. So, something tells them that, “But we do 10 minutes prayers, 5 minutes prayers; How does He do it?” “Lord Jesus, teach us how to pray”. They saw Him do it, they asked that they may do it themselves.
When you tell yourself you want to get to that point, this is how you must do it. You cannot seek to be known, so to say, you want people to know that you belong to the true God, you want people to know, but you are the same one keeping everything from everybody, it can’t go together. So, maybe it's a word of wisdom for our private people who are still called into ministry; how can I be private, and still be a blessing? How can I be secretive, and yet be a blessing to a larger proportion of people? Many of us are sitting mile’s part, but sometimes there are people in the body of Christ across the world that we can talk about their families, have we ever met them? So, they must have done something that somebody captured and somebody's telling us. What are you doing that people are capturing that they can tell another? So, let people see your good because the Bible says, “That they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” That's an aspect of this piece.
Let's go quickly to Matthew chapter 6. You know, our goal is to find the right light. We are being told that we are the light of the world. But our goal is to find the right light. Let's go to Matthew chapter 6 verse 22, we'll stop in verse 23. The Bible says, “The lamp,” I'm sure we still remember what the Bible says in that earlier chapter 5, It says, “nor do they light a lamp”. So, we were introduced to lamp earlier. A lamp is a device that can produce light if you lighten it. All right! Now, let's continue with Matthew chapter 6 verse 22. The lamp, that device that has the capacity to show light, if you light it, the Bible now says, “The lamb of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye which is the Lamb of your body, if therefore your eye is good,” “let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works”.
You may be doing it but if they can’t see it, they won’t recognize that is good or bad. He says, “If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” Do we connect it with that place we read in Matthew 5? When you have lit a lamp, you don't keep it under a bushel; you don't keep it under something and bury it there. You must put it on a lampstand and when you do that, it gives light to the whole house. When you lightened the lamp, the benefit is not for the light to feel good that I am shining; no. The benefit is for the whole house.
The Bible says, “The lamp of the body is the eye,” and we all know that if you want to say ‘one, two,’ you don't have more than two eyes. You don't have more than two, but you have many other parts of your body. From your head to your toe, you are plenty, But the Bible says, from this height to this dept. The only place that the body gets light from is the eye. And once that eye is good, your whole body from head to your toe will be full of light. So now, your hands cannot see, but since your eyes can see well, they will be full of light. Every part of you that God did not make to see, will have access to light because your own eye is good. Just one part of you will be a blessing to the whole of you. And once that part of you is messed up, it becomes the opposite of blessing to the whole of you.
So, your life can go to a wrong path, your life can take a wrong turn, not because the whole you made a wrong decision or has a wrong understanding, it is because that you, that has the responsibility of seeing has been messed up. The Bible says verse 23, “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” I don't know how we are seeing it, there's a way this message is affecting me. The whole body is not guilty, or the whole body is not deliberately guilty. The whole body is not deliberately wrong. What made the whole body wrong is just that eye that became bad. Jesus said, “Make the tree good, and the fruits will be good. And make made the tree bad and the fruit will be bad”.
Let's assume that somebody is a tree, and let's assume some people are fruits. So, the Bible says, “If you can make that one person that is a tree good, the other people who are fruits will be good.” Now, the tree is one but the fruits are plenty. Many of us, we want to focus on the fruits, why is this one not ripe? Why is this one not right? Why is my marriage not right? Why is my business no right? Why is my ministry not right? Why are my children misbehaving? Why is it that I'm not thinking straight? Why am I forgetting things? We want to focus on the fruits. But the Bible says, “Don't focus on the fruit, focus on the tree.” If you can fix the tree, the fruit will be good. So, let's go to the light issue.
The light of the whole body is the eye, if that eye is good, your whole body be full of light. All of us are reading this blessed by God with eyes. We have at least two each. There's nobody here that God did not give at least two eyes to. Do you know that there are some creatures that God gave more than two? Anybody that reads the Book of Ezekiel, revelation. You know, some of us don't go to some pages of the Bible, maybe they scare us, alright. So, some creatures have more than two, but we are blessed with two. Now, even though we are many, each one of us, even though we are many, we all put our trust in the two to supply light to us. Whatever they show us, we take it as the light. Whatever they inform us, we believe it to be the truth. But if the eye is now bad, even though the whole body has put trust in the eyes, the entire body will be full of darkness.
Now, the situation will be like that place in the Bible where Jesus said, “If the blind lead the blind the two will fall into the ditch.” So, if your eye is full of darkness and your whole body has put so much trust in the eye and you are following the leadership of the eye, what will happen to the body? The body will fall into errors, into mistakes. We are great people, but there are instances and moments of our lives that we put our hope on different things, and set our minds on different things. You know, when they say, “Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered” it is because the sheep depend on the shepherd, if not, there wouldn't be a point.
So, what part of you has that leading responsibility? And when I'm saying you, it may not necessarily mean you as a person: It may be someone around you, someone in your life, somebody very far but you look up to for direction, you look up to as a source of hope, you look up to as a source of inspiration. If that person is good, good for you! If that person is bad, let me not sound like a comedian, but we know that person whose eye is bad, you know the eye now, is ow a person; it is only God that will help the person.
Now, before I continue, because some of us are looking like what's going on? That's why I said it is not a teaching, is an exhortation. So, let’s come home; let's make it practical. Let's say, Me and someone, we go together on a trip. And then, I cannot see, he can see. So, but we've started the journey a long time, and he is the one seeing for both of us. We have gotten to this point, this progress, because he has been faithful. Now, if I am not mindful of the fact that if he should mislead me, both myself and him will go into error, then I will just continue to follow him, myself doing nothing. Now, what can I do? What can we draw as a wisdom?
I cannot see, he can see, he is the one telling me to take a step and I take. He's the one telling me what to do, what do I do to make sure that this my eye does not go bad? Is like a responsibility. He is the one that is seeing for me. Do I just follow him and do nothing? Or do I pray for him? Or do I encourage him? Or do I uphold his hand? Or do I support him? Or do I perhaps challenge him because once he can go wrong, I am wrong? So, if you're a married person here, and in your marriage, the authority of leadership has been handed over to your husband. You don't just say, “I will just follow him wherever it takes me to. What if he takes you into the ditch? Of course, you have to follow him into the ditch, but is that good news? No!
So, what do you do? This eye of my body shall not be bad. This eye that supplies light to my whole body shall be full of light. It shall remain good. It shall not be weary. You know, one thing I've also noticed, and I am sure we have noticed, the eye of our bodies doesn’t always protect themselves alone. If we do a practical now, and I go to Bro. John, with my fingers like this going to his eyes, is it only his eyes that will protect the eyes? What will happen sister joy? His hands have the responsibility to protect that part of the body that gives light? The eye is good but the eye on his own is not enough. Somebody, something else needs to guard it.
Sir, when something wants to enter your eye and you close it, is it the eye closes or the covering of the eye? So, the eye on its own, if you just open it like this does not have capacity to protect itself. God wants you to protect it, gave you the 1st covering but that is also not enough. Do you know, when it is really a serious matter, it is not only your hands that will protect your eyes; it is the whole body: your mouth will even join in the protest. If you can bite the person’s hand, if you can shout — the mouth is shouting, every part of the body is working hard, why? You need to protect this.
So, the responsibility, you know we started as disciplers, if you are a discipler, let your good be done in the midst of your people. Don't go about complaining: they are not doing it well. They don't know how to do it well; how often do you do your good in front of them? Don't forget, what you are doing is good. Jesus said, “Let your good works,” Sir/Ma, there's an assumption that all we do as disciplers are good works. When you sing, is good, when you pray, is good, when you teach, is good. When you greet people, you are good at it. When you talk to people, you are good. When you fast, you are good. When you drive motor, you are good. Everything about you is good. But how often do you do the good before the people?
You know how to talk; you know how to manage; you know how to lead; you know how to do anything, it is good that it is good, but let that good be before the people. And on the second side, don't forget, the first one is on the discipler. On the disciple’s side, if you have an opportunity to be led by somebody even in your own household, you don't just tell yourself, don't forget, the first one is the leader should not complain about the people. The second one is the people should not just be complaining about the leader. Yesterday when you were leading us, there is a way you led us, I didn't like it — it seems your eyes don’t use to see correctly?
Don't just be doing that: be praying for the eye. I saw something few days ago, they said, “Eye Ointment,” you put it on the covering of your eye, it's supposed to help to protect your eye or to take good care of your eye. It is not the eye that needs it that will apply it, it is the hand. So, you stumble on something that your eye needs, what do you do? you get it for it and then you apply it: “my eye, this thing will help you; this thing will help you to lead us well”. “My eye, there's something that you need,” Bro. Dennis, has your eye ever eaten food before? But your eye is eating, not eating directly, it is eating from what the mouth has eating. So, if the mouth should stop eating, then the eye will ultimately shut down.
So, are you that leader, you're fantastic for seeing, but not more than that? That's why you must not be proud because you need the other person to survive. So, as a disciple, don't go about complaining about your leaders. What do you do for them? you keep them alive with your prayers; with your thoughtfulness; with your concern, if there's anything like that. And as you do that, the eye keep seeing, and as the eye keep seeing well, your whole body is full of light: everybody is happy; everybody is excited. I pray the Lord will help us in Jesus’ name!
Now, we are concluding. You know, we're finding the right light. We've seen the discipler, we've seen the disciple. What do we see now? Let's see God. Psalm chapter 36, I will read verse 9. See what the Bible says, “For with You,” the capital letter ‘Y’ shows this is a matter of God. “For with You is the fountain of life. In your light, we,” You are one God, but we are multitudes; we are many. We are uncountable, yet we see light. “For with You is the source of life.”
I need to live a better life. I need to live a brighter life. “For with You is the source of life,” I can't get it elsewhere, others can claim they have it, in the long run, I don't know for those of us that browse online, you know, in those days, it doesn't even happen for me now, in those days when I was browsing in university, I would just go and buy overnight browsing because that was the cheapest one. I wouldn’t sleep overnight, sat down in front of computer by 10pm and then I would stand out by 5am. Maybe then, I paid #100 for overnight. So, what do I do throughout overnight? Everywhere websites, just be clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking, but now, fast forward till even after then, when I'm browsing, I want to download something, this one will say, “Don't worry we have it”. They will say, “Click this link,” I will click the link, the link will advertise something and then give me nothing. How many of us have clicked links and then you never got anything? All they gave you was adverts. So, that's what I'm saying: people may say they have life, all they want to do is just advertise their ministry, their business, their family, their everything. They don’t have life, but who has the life?
“For with You [God Almighty] is the source, the fountain of life. In your light, we see light.”
So, that means God is the eye of all of us, and as long as God sees, His children across the world, they see. As long as God shines, we all have light. So, what do you do to God who gives you light? You worship Him. You thank Him. Sis. Joy, you give Him praise. You give Him your devotion, your heart; knowing fully well that you have not made mistakes thus far, it is because of Him. It's not because you have correct head. You could say, “Me I get sense well, well,” nobody has sense outside what God supplies.
Bro. John, do you believe? when God withdraw that sense from Nebuchadnezzar, he became a living creature that we call an animal. Immediately, he began to eat grass. In those days, you wouldn’t give grass to this man, even if he wanted salad, you must mix it with other things. But he was no more waiting for Salad. He was feeding on grass. What did God do? God withdrew the sense. So, since it is in His light we see light, let's give Him glory, let's not share in the glory of God. I know how to do it; it is not by my making. I know how to do it, it is not on my own, it is not on this earth. The Bible says, “Every good gift comes from above, it comes from the Father of light with whom there is no variableness neither any shadow of turning.”
That I know how to do it is not my own making. I didn't sit down to calculate it. It is the Lord’s doing and it must remain marvelous in my sight. How do we take the things that God do in our lives? What attitude do we have? Or do we compare ourselves with ourselves? I have food to eat but my food is not as fine as somebody else's food — food is food.
You know, some days ago, I was passing a place and I saw some children. Their parents are not well to do, but they don't look skinny. And they came, they were sitting in front of the house, no fence, you know, no cement or any on the floor. They were sitting in front of the house. And they were eating Massara or something; it looks like pap that is solid. Then with Something like a stew, you know. So, it looks like Massara in my mind. There is no protein in that thing they are eating to me, and this boy was eating with his hand, and he was eating close to nature, the floor. And the floor is not neat and the boy doesn't look skinny.
So, what's the secret? You are even rich, but your children are even skinny, people are not rich, they are not skinny. So, you must understand that there is God in heaven. It is not about the food you eat; you can eat all the food and still be skinny. And some people could eat less, and be fat. The Bible says, “The Lord’s blessing makes a man rich and adds no sorrow to it”. So, you can drink garri, and somebody will eat rice, and your garri is still producing a better nutrient for you than the rice. So, whatever you have, you don't go about comparing yourself, you must thank God for it. God is the one supplying you. God is the one keeping you alive. God is the one keeping you to know that you should wake up, you should walk.
They say some people have partial paralysis. And then, like children, they still have to be teaching an adult how to take leg or to walk. So, that you can stand up, and you think, it is your doing, it is the Lord's doing. And I want us to rise up and really give God praise in our heart, from the depth of our heart. That I shine, it is because He is shining. That I know how to do, Jesus said, “I can of Myself do nothing, but as hear my Father, I judge my judgment is true”. The things we do, they are the things He has helped us with.
Amen!
