The Christian as Light

“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.” –Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV).

Perhaps no song or teaching is as expressive of the Christian as light in the world as the chorus we learned to sing as children in Vacation Bible School, complete with the actions that accompanied the song:

“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine;

This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Put it under a bushel, No!  I’m going to let it shine;

Put it under a bushel, No!  I’m going to let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m going to let it shine;

Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m going to let it shine,

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Jesus said in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Several Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament foretold of the Light of the world coming to dwell among men.  One is found in Isaiah 60:20b:  “the Lord will be your everlasting light and your days of mourning shall be ended.”

Where there is light, darkness scatters.  Light also has the connotation of truth.  Where light is, people cannot dwell in the darkness of spiritual ignorance.  “I am the light of the world,” said Jesus of Himself.  Light reveals, and part of Jesus’ earthly mission was to reveal the truth of God to a world in spiritual darkness.  Jesus is the Light of the world.  So are his disciples.  The light/dark contrast is basic to Christian theology.  “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’ has shone in our hearts to give the light (Greek photismos) of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV). As lights, Christians are to be fundamentally different from the world.  And we are to bear witness of the Light, the Christ who reveals the truth of God and leads us to the true Light.

Like a lighted city on a hill and a light not hidden under a bushel, the Christian shines for the Lord, giving Him honor and glory.  Let us pray that we may reflect and spread abroad the true light found complete in Jesus Christ.

                                                                                               -Ethelene Dyer Jones  05.25.2014

The Christian as Salt

“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.” –Matthew 5:13 (ESV).

            Jesus used the metaphor of salt to teach how important Christians are as they live out their lives in the world.  Comparing the disciples to the familiar commodity of salt, He reminded them to think of the value of salt.  It is used as a preservative, a seasoning and a purifier.

            As a preservative it keeps food from spoiling.  Growing up on a farm, we raised hogs. About Thanksgiving time, my father set a “hog-killing” day when the hogs were butchered and the meat laid out in the smokehouse by hams, shoulders and “middlings” to be preserved and cured.  I recall how he took salt, rubbing it well into the meat to start the curing process.  He also had his own formula using a mixture of brown sugar and spices to sugar-cure the hams, but always there was the salt application first to preserve the meat.

            Salt is also a valuable seasoning, making food taste better.  Many of us who have experienced heart difficulties may have to forego salt in our diets, or, if salt is used at all only minimally or a “lite” or “sea” salt.  Salt permeates food and makes it more tasty.

            Other valuable uses for salt include as a cleansing agent, as a medicine in warm water to gargle sore throats, as a product to purify water.  All of these can be likened to the influence of the Christian’s life in society and in interaction with others.

            Coming immediately after the Beatitude on persecution, the comparison of the Christian to salt shows how important the influence for good is that the Christian wields in the world.  We are to help preserve, flavor and purify the society in which we live by setting a godly example and counteracting corruption.  To do this, the Christian must be genuine, holy and obedient to God’s direction.  Think of as many good qualities of salt as you can.  It was an everyday product with valuable uses to which Christ compared a true believer in Him.  Salt was ordinary, but oh, so extraordinary and useful!

            In historical research for columns I’ve written, I came across some Civil War letters posted by leaders in Fannin County, Georgia to Governor Joseph Emerson Brown, the man who served our state for four two-year terms during the years leading up to and during that war (Nov. 1857-June,1865).  More than one of the letters begged the governor to ship salt as soon as possible to the mountains, for they had none for their cattle salt licks or for use in curing meat or for seasoning food.  It was an urgent appeal and one expressing genuine need: salt, a necessity.  Likewise, in thinking of the Christian’s influence as salt, we think of the necessity of good example and virtuous living.

            Jesus said that if the salt loses its savor, or saltiness, it is good for nothing except to be trodden under feet of men.  We have historical accounts that ancient roads were actually paved with such salt—that which had lost its potency as a preservative and a flavoring.  The alternative, rather than to waste what had been taken from the salt mines or else extracted from sea water in a slow process was to spread it on roadways when the product became flavorless to make roads smoother.  That may not have been the original intent for the salt, but it was a way to make it useful.  Relating the metaphor to a Christian, the “salt that has lost its savor” applies to those who take on the characteristics of worldliness and are no longer an influence for good.  Christians must feel that they have a flavor given them by the Lord Christ, different from the world, and making a definite difference in society.  Let us pray for this “saltiness” in our own lives! 

                                                 -Ethelene Dyer Jones 05.18.2014

Happy Mother’s Day: The Example of Lydia’s Witness

“So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.  We remained in this city some days.  And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.  One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.  The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.  And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’  And she prevailed upon us.”-Acts 16:11-15 (ESV).

     We do not know whether Lydia, a citizen of Thyatira, whom Paul met in Philippi and won to the Lord was a mother, but her example surely speaks well of characteristics of a Christian mother.

     Today is Mother’s Day. When we are gifted to have a Christian mother, we are blessed indeed.  If we are a Christian mother, we have a built-in gift from God.  We cannot be sure Lydia was a mother, but reference to her “household” indicates that she may have been.  She demonstrated in her invitation to the missionaries to come into her home that she recognized their needs and responded.  We can imagine that she offered them all the amenities of food for their hunger, and rooms where they could rest and gain restoration from travels and work.  “A Christian home is a home with an ever-open door,” writes Dr. William Barclay in his commentary about Lydia.  Lydia and her household have the distinction of being Paul’s first European converts.  As we honor mothers today, let us thank God for the influence and blessings of Christian mothers.

     Now let us look a little more closely at how Paul met and witnessed to Lydia of Thyatira.  Paul and his mission team set sail from Troas on a northwesterly course on the northern neck of the Aegean Sea to the island of Samothrace, a journey of about two days.  The next day they boarded a ship to Neapolis.  The next lap of their journey was to Philippi, a major city of Macedonia some ten miles inland. Paul was now in Macedonia, in Europe, and was fulfilling the call of his vision, “Come over into Macedonia to help us.”  Philippi, founded by Philip, father of Alexander the Great, was a major trade center.  It was one of the chief cities on the Great Egnatian Way, an important travel and trade route that connected Asia and Italy.  Even though a populous city, the Jewish population there evidently was not enough for the city to have a Jewish synagogue, the place where Paul usually began his mission in any new city he entered.

     An ordinary practice, however, was for Jews in a city with no synagogue to gather at a river (or by the seaside of a coastal city) for prayer and worship on the Sabbath.  They would thus find water needed for the ritual purification rites before worship.  In the several days Paul and his team had already been at Philippi, they probably had heard of the place on the river where worship was held.  There they found women gathered in prayer, and a leader seems to have been a business woman named Lydia, a native of Thyatira, a district where there were many dyers and dealers in fabric. It is significant that she was a “seller of purple goods.”  The purple dye had to be gathered drop-by-drop from the shell fish.  A pound of cloth dyed with this rare dye could cost as much as 40 pounds.  This speaks of the stature and importance of this European business woman from another town, Thyatira, operating her business in a cross-roads of international trade, the busy city of Philippi.  And she was a God-fearer, one accustomed to worship on the Sabbath.

    Paul began to teach the assembled women about Jesus the Messiah.  They listened, were receptive, and were won to Christ;  and moreover, “her household” as well.  This would mean any family members and servants. They were baptized as testimony to their new-found faith.  Then Lydia, wealthy business woman, invited the mission team to her house to lodge.  Luke wrote: “She prevailed upon us.” This comment shows not only that she made the invitation but that she really meant it.  In several of Paul’s writings, he denotes the gift of hospitality as being commendable and a spiritual gift.

     Blessed are Christian mothers.  In the fifth commandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:5), God gave a promise to those who follow this teaching:  their days would be long.  Many mothers in our culture today not only rear children but also assist with (or make) the livelihood for their family and still hold the responsibilities of motherhood dear.  Like Lydia of old, they “tend well to the ways of their household.”  Today let us remember with thanksgiving the influence of a godly mother and the privilege God gave us to be a mother (and a grandmother and great grandmother, where applicable).  –Ethelene Dyer Jones  05.11.2014

Sweet Fellowship of Believers

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.  And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” –Acts 2:42-47 (ESV).

In these verses Luke gives a summary of what occurred immediately following Pentecost.  We cannot tell how long the span of time these verses cover, but this marvelous fellowship of believers happened before persecution began against the Christians in Jerusalem.  Notice the significant activities of the Christian group: 

(1) Teaching from the apostles covered what they had learned from Jesus in His three years with them and in the 40 days between His resurrection and ascension.

(2) Fellowship, Greek word koinonia, meant a close and harmonious relationship, a sharing, a common purpose and devotion that binds persons together.

(3) Breaking of bread likely included both eating regular meals together and having the solemn, memorial Lord’s Supper that Jesus had instituted, saying, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

(4)  They prayed together.  Their prayers were no doubt in the temple and wherever they gathered in house meetings or in smaller groups.

(5) They experienced awe (reverent fear) because of the signs and wonders the apostles were performing through the power of the Holy Spirit.

(6) They had all things in common; they gave of their means.  This was accomplished as they sold their possessions and brought the money voluntarily and without coercion to help with the needs.  Scholars would have us note that they still had their own homes and that the giving up private property is not mentioned in this summary account.  Later, when Ananias and Sapphira came to claim they had sold their property and were bringing all the money to offer in the Lord’s work, their lives were required of them because they told a lie.  They pretended to bring all when they withheld part for themselves (see Acts 5:1-11).

(7)  Praising and worshiping God was a daily part of the believers’ activities. Luke does not elaborate here, but they probably included the Old Testament Scriptures, especially readings from the Psalms, Prophets and Wisdom Literature. 

(8)  Conversions occurred.  “The Lord added…day by day those who were being saved.”  Because the believers’  hearts were right and their spiritual tasks done with zeal and focus, God gave the increase in souls.

Scholars believe (and there is both written and archaeological evidence for this) that the “breaking of bread” mentioned in verse 46 is what was called the agape feast, or love feast.  It was a banquet meal, usually in the evening, where the more financially able furnished the food for the poor and they ate together, saying prayers over each dish or course of the meal.  The agape feast was followed by the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion. However, later, because of excesses, greed and discrimination against those partaking of the meal, the agape feast was gradually separated from the observance of the Lord’s Supper.  By the time of church historian Justin Martyr (150 A. D.), no mention is made of observance then of the agape meal.  A good exercise is for us to examine the points of the Disciples’/Apostles’ (Early Church’s’) fellowship of believers.  Do our church fellowships follow this pattern?  Let us pray that our Christian fellowship will be God-pleasing instead of just people-pleasing.  When we please God, we will be blessed as well.  With my husband having been a pastor, I have experienced many church fellowships.  Indeed, those seeking God’s guidance instead of being just “people-pleasing” were the most outstanding, with a near-heavenly fellowship on earth!  - Ethelene Dyer Jones  05.04.2014.