I. "Ye are the light of the world." The words are, so to speak, a reflection of a higher and more perfect truth which was to be spoken hereafter by our Lord Himself. "I am," He said, "the Light of the world." There are two different words that in the New Testament are used for light. The one signifies light in itself, shining by its own inherent rays. In this sense the word properly belongs to God. The phrase "Ye are the light of the world" applies to Christians only, because they reflect His light as the moon or the planets shine by the light of the sun, or, to use a more Scriptural metaphor, because Christ is in them, and His light shines through their humanity. Then there is another word applied by our Lord to St. John the Baptist he was "a burning and a shining light;" and this is a word which signifies artificial light a light that has to be kindled, a light which is to be applied, and which, before it goes out, has to transmit its flame to others. Now this is the word which properly belongs to us: individuals, nations, and Churches, we are but secondary lights kindled from one source.
II. We do not realize the whole meaning of the words, "Christian knowledge." What is that knowledge which is a necessity and a light to man as man? It is (1) a knowledge of things, (2) a knowledge of man, (3) a knowledge of God. The faith of Christ tinges it with a diviner life, not only in one province, but in all.
III. How is this Christian knowledge to be spread? How is it to be diffused over the whole world? I answer from history, not from theory, that it must be spread from man to man. In order to kindle the light of the Gospel, God became man, and in order to spread it He not only merely gave the word, but He founded a Church. "Ye are the light of the world." From one little centre at Jerusalem that light spread to Jew, to Greek, and to Roman; and every point of light which was formed became a new centre from which the kindling rays spread to others, until, even in this sense, the words of the Son of man flashed like lightning from one end of the earth to the other.
Bishop Barry, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiii., p. 49.
I. Note, first, the great conception of a Christian man's office which is set forth in that metaphor, "Ye are the light of the world." Christian men individually, and the Christian Church as a whole, shine by derived light. There is but One that is light in Himself. We shall be light if we are in the Lord. It is by union with Jesus Christ that we partake of His illumination.
II. If we are light we shall shine. The nature and property of light is to radiate. It cannot choose but shine; and in like manner the little village perched upon a hill there, glittering and twinkling in the sunlight, cannot choose but be seen. Take the thoughts (1) All earnest Christian conviction will demand expression; (2) all deep experience of the purifying power of Christ upon character will show itself in conduct.
III. This obligation of giving light is still further enforced by the thought that that was Christ's very purpose in all that He has done with us and for us. The homely figure here implies that Hehas not lighted the lamp to put it under the bushel, but that His purpose in lighting it was that it might give light. God has made us partakers of His grace, and has given it to us to be light in the Lord, for this, among other purposes, that we should impart that light to others.
IV. If you are light, shine. The lighthouse-keeper takes no pains that the ships tossing away out at sea may behold the beam that shines from his lamp, but all that he does is to feed it and tend it. And that is all you and I have to do tend the light, and not, like cowards, cover it up. Modestly, but yet bravely, carry out your Christianity, and men will see it. Do not be as a dark lantern, burning with the slides down illuminating nothing and nobody. Live your Christianity, and it will be beheld. And remember, candles are not lit to be looked at. Candles are lit that something else may be seen by them. Men may see God through your words, through your conduct, that never would have beheld Him otherwise, because His beams are too bright for their dim eyes.
A. Maclaren, A Year's Ministry,1st series, p. 191.
References: Matthew 5:14. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xix., No. 1109; A. F. Barfield, Christian World Pulpit,vol. vi., p. 96; H. P. Liddon, Three Hundred Outlines of Sermons on the New Testament,p. 5; J. C. Hare, The Mission of the Comforter,vol. i., p. 181.Matthew 5:14-16. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. i., p. 106; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount,p. 241.Matthew 5:15. S. Cox, Expositor,2nd series, vol. i., p. 187. Matthew 5:15; Matthew 5:16. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxvii., No. 1594.