Gospel Worthy Lives, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Let your light shine.

That's all you got to do. Let your light shine. You're the light, let it shine.

Could you imagine how simple that is? He says, yeah, let your light shine. He says, before men, that's outside these walls, in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your fathers in heaven. Now he tells us what it means to let our light shine. He said, you'll see your good works. They'll see you.

They'll see the lives that you live. And that's part of evangelism. They will one day glorify your father in heaven because they see your light. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt.

Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Last week, I said that the most important thing about our church is what happens outside or beyond these walls. I believe that with all my heart. It's more important than anything that happens in here.

Look at it from this point of view. Every single thing but one that we do in what we call church, we will do exponentially better in heaven. Just imagine worshiping with billions of souls.

Just imagine what that must be like. All of us singing on tune, everybody singing their hearts out to the Lord. Just imagine the kind of fellowship we'll have. One body of believers, all conformed to the image of Christ.

It'll be amazing. We will know as we are known, the scripture says. But there's one thing we can't do in heaven at all. And that is we cannot win boys and girls and men and women to Christ. We can't do that. This is our only shot. And that always occurs beyond these walls.

That always occurs on the outside. According to the Bible, there are two elements for us to be able to witness effectively for Jesus Christ. The first one is obvious, and that is the words in which we speak. We have to know what the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is. We have to give an account for the hope that's in us. We have to use the opportunities we have to talk to people about Jesus Christ. But I believe equally as important as the words we use are the lives that we live. What kind of life do we live outside these walls? You see, what kind of life is it that we have?

Do we have gospel worthy lives? John Poulton said this. Christians need to look like what they're talking about. How perceptive.

And how convicting. Because I'm not sure for many of us we do at all. That's what I want to talk about this week. Gospel worthy lives. Next week, we'll talk about the words that we speak. All of this was personified in the life of Jesus Christ.

John Stott says this. Jesus words and deeds belong to each other. The words interpreting the deeds and the deeds embodying the words. He did not only announce the good news of the kingdom, he performed visible signs of the kingdom. That's who Jesus Christ was. The words and deeds aspect of evangelism.

You may not realize about throughout the history of the church has been a lot of controversy about this. Sometimes we say it's only the words and doesn't matter what you live like. Other times we say it's only the deeds.

That's the most important thing. All of you have heard this phrase, I'm sure. Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary. It's a very famous quote.

Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary. And it's attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. But he never said it. OK, St. Francis of Assisi never said this. Those who have dedicated their lives to St. Francis, the Franciscans writing biographies said he never said this. All of his writings that we have and look through and read, he never said it once. In fact, those words are never found historically to 200 years after he had died.

And then it was attributed to him. The problem with those words, the emphasis was totally on the lives that we live, but not on the words that we speak. It's an interesting thing that words and works are necessary for evangelism.

Duane Litvin says this. The unhappy truth is that Christians have often found the word versus deed balance difficult to set and maintain, especially over the last two centuries in America. See, something happened in America before the Civil War. Believers, just like us, had a balance of words and works. As the as the America grew west, evangelists followed them. There were all kinds of verbal evangelism taking place to win people to Christ.

But those Christians are sent out. The evangelists were also the Christians who built the hospitals. They built the orphanages. They were the ones who led the abolitionist movement.

They were very active in the life in which they lived. And then at the end of the 19th century, what happened was that liberal theology came from Europe, mostly Germany. Liberal theology attacked the credibility and the authority of the Bible and said that the Bible is not the word of God, is simply the word of man.

And you can't necessarily believe it. And that attacked a lot of mainline denominations in the United States. And so once you attack the authority and the credibility of the Bible, what do you have left? And they said, well, what you have left is you need to do good to people. That became called the social gospel.

And that is, you live your lives and you live them well. And that's what Christianity is. Well, the fundamentalists, then, which would be very much what we were described now as conservative evangelicals, they rejected that totally and they reemphasized their commitment to the word of God. But when they reemphasized their commitment to the word of God, they said, we don't want anything to do with the social gospel.

We don't want anything to do with social interaction outside these walls. We're done with that. And it wasn't until 1947 that Carl Henry challenged evangelical believers. And he said that our witness must be in both words and works.

There has to be the balance. And that's the position of the word of God. So I invite you first this morning to open your Bibles to Matthew, chapter five and verse 14. Very famous verses. Matthew five, Sermon on the Mount and verse 14. Jesus says this. You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. What do you think about how profound this is? This is the king of kings, the Lord of lords, the creator of all things, the son of God. And he's referring to you.

And to me. And he says you are the light of the world. That's his assessment of us. Do you feel like that?

You're the light of the world. Understand that God has a plan. He has a plan to impact our world. God wants people to come into a relationship with him.

He offers them forgiveness, grace, mercy through the life and finished work of Jesus Christ. But he said, the way I'm going to execute my plan is this. You.

You're going to execute the plan. Because you are the light of the world. He doesn't say you ought to be the light of the world. You see, he said, no, you are the light of the world.

He said a city on a hill can't be hidden. You can't be hidden here. You're the light of the world. You ever think of yourself that way?

You ever start your day that way? Lord, I'm the light of the world. I've got to light my world up.

That's my responsibility. He goes on and then he says, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. And he said, and he gives light to all that are in the house.

He says, look, you're the light of the world. You don't turn it on. You can't turn your light on. This is not like the Neil Diamond song. Turn on your heart light.

You know, that's not it. You don't turn your light on. You are the light. You see, and the thing about light is once light is released, you can't do anything about it. Once there's light from a light here, this light's moving. There's nothing you can do to stop the light now.

Well, except one thing, and that's what he says next. He says, nor does anyone like the world and put it under a basket. I can't turn the light off, but I can hide it. I'll put it under a basket and no one will know.

Sadly, that might describe some of you. I just keep my light under the basket. Jesus says, don't do that. You're the light of the world.

Whatever you do, don't do that. You see, it's a very, very simple message. He goes on in verse 16, and he says, let your light shine. That's all you got to do. Let your light shine. You're the light. Let it shine.

Could you imagine how simple that is? Next time you light a lamp, and once you turn it on, it's lit. You say, let your light shine. You say, it's going to shine. He says, yeah, let your light shine. He says, before men, that's outside these walls, in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your fathers in heaven. Now he tells us what it means to let our light shine. He said, you'll see your good works. They'll see you. They'll see the lives that you live. And that's part of evangelism. They will one day glorify your father in heaven because they see your light.

Why should we do this? See, I think often we'd say, well, I need to do this because I know I owe the Lord a lot. I mean, he saved me and everything, so I owe him. I'll let my light shine. Listen, what you owe the Lord, you'll never repay back.

Don't even try. You don't pay the Lord back for what he's done for you. Now some of you may say, but I want to follow his example.

I want to have his compassion on people. That's good. That's certainly part of it. But I think what the Lord's saying here to us, and the rest of the scriptures do as well, is you need to let your light shine if you're going to win boys and girls and men and women to Jesus Christ. You need to let your light shine because it's an effective precursor to evangelism for people who so desperately need Jesus Christ. That's what you find in the word of God. This has become completely the missing ingredient of American evangelicalism.

We don't have it in our country. Christians' lights don't shine. We have orthodox fundamental beliefs.

We have tremendous Bible teachers. We have all kinds of media and books, radio, television, all kinds of ways to get the message out. The words are coming out everywhere.

But the culture doesn't respond. And the reason is we don't shine at all. Just go outside these walls and find out how much we're shining.

See what our reputation is outside these walls. Does our light shine? Because it did in the first century church. In fact, I believe one of the most important reasons the first century church won the Roman Empire was not how well they articulated the gospel, which they did.

But how did their light shine in the culture? There's an Athenian philosopher named Aristides. And in AD 125, he wrote a letter to the Roman emperor Hadrian. And this is what he said in the letter describing Christians. He said, they do not worship strange gods. They go, he said, and they go their way in all modesty and cheerfulness.

Falsehood is not found among them. And they love one another. And from widows, they do not turn away their esteem.

And they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he who has gives to him who has not without any boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him into their homes and they rejoice over him as a very brother.

They don't call him brother because of his flesh, but brother because of the spirit of God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them, according to his ability, gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their numbers imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if possible, to redeem him and set him free. And if there is among them anything, any of the poor or needy, and if they have no spare food, they'll fast for two or three days in order to supply the needs of food to those who need it so desperately. They observe the precepts of their Messiah with much care, living justly and soberly as the Lord their God has commanded them to do so. That's a pagan philosopher, right?

We are a Roman emperor. And he says, that's the way Christians are. That's the lives they live. Just imagine that our media would report on the evening news. That's how we are. That's how they would describe us.

And you know what you say. That can never happen now. Things were different then. They were no different then. There were two groups of people on the earth then just like now, saved people and lost people.

There were those of the church and those in the mission field. That's all there's ever been. And by the way, I think I could prove that. A couple of months ago, I read an article about the government in China. Now, the government in China is communistic. It's an atheistic government. Religion is, in that sense, outlawed. No Bibles are supposed to be in the country, no meeting places, nothing. All the children are taught secularism.

No God. And this is what the Chinese government is now saying. The Chinese government is now saying, we are going to stop persecuting Christians. Now, there's between 100 and 150 million Christians in China. Many more Christians in China than there are here.

100 to 150 million. I just found that out in the American Bible Society as they keep smuggling Bibles into them. Now, what's interesting about this to me is the Chinese government says, and this might be bad for them, we're going to stop persecuting them. And here's why. It said because they're so honest. They're so hardworking.

They're so helpful to everyone around them. And they are so great for the morale of all the people of China. That's a secular, communistic government saying, this I see the lives of Christians and this is what I think. So don't say, no, it can never happen here. You can say it doesn't happen here. You see, and I think it's because outside these walls for almost all the churches, we really don't let our light shine.

Not at all. And we've earned a reputation that we have. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1, Ephesians 4 verse 1. Ephesians is a great epistle. It's sort of a Reader's Digest version of Romans.

It's a shortened version of a wonderful book. The first three chapters of Ephesians are theological. Paul wants the Ephesians and us to know, what does it mean to be Christian? What does it mean to be a believer in the Christ?

What are the benefits that we have? And so that's what he tells us in the first three chapters. He says in chapter 1 that you and I have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He didn't say we have a lot of them. He said you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

They're all yours. So that's a gift from God to you. He also says that in you and I, the Holy Spirit of God resides.

He has sealed us off as his people. We have the actual presence of God in our lives, unique to the church age and to the church. He also said that we have access to resurrection power. That's amazing, resurrection power, not just a little more strength to get through the day. We have access to resurrection power.

He said, and all that's because in chapter 2, he says we've been saved by grace. The unmerited favor of God. We didn't earn it. We don't deserve it. We have been saved by grace through faith. It is a gift of God.

No one can earn it, otherwise we'd boast. He tells us we're saved by grace. Then he says we're all united into one body.

All over the world, all the believers in the world make up one body of Christ right now. What a benefit that is. And then he said, and to remind us, we're all the recipients of the love of Christ for each and every one of us.

Now, that should fire us up. But Paul says, the reason I'm telling you all this is chapter 4, verse 1. All these benefits you have. He says, therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Walk in a manner is a metaphor for live your life. All these benefits you have are so that you will live your life differently. You see, that's his point. You're going to live differently. You need to walk in a manner worthy of the calling.

You see, that's his point. We have to have a gospel worthy life beyond these walls. We have to be different. We have all the resources to be different. We have the Spirit of God indwelling us, the access to resurrection power. We have all these things. And yet, for a lot of us, we just hide our light under a basket.

And we don't impact our world at all. Turn with me to Colossians chapter 1. Just a couple pages to write Colossians chapter 1. And in verses 3 through 8, he's thanking the Lord for the Colossians. And then in verses 9 and 10, he says something else. Colossians 1, 9, and 10. He says, for this reason also, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you will be filled with knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Well, who doesn't like that? In fact, I'm afraid often in churches just like ours, Bible churches, a lot of the time is spent filling your head with wisdom and knowledge. And then you actually believe that if you have enough wisdom and knowledge, you're spiritual. But you're not. James said, you can't be a hearer of the word.

You actually have to be a doer of it. The only thing that measures your spirituality is how you do the word, not how much of the word you know. That's a very different thing. And so notice how he ends that verse. He said, with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that, result that, with the result or purpose that, you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. He said, the reason you have all this is so you live differently. That's the advantage of growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. As I mature as a believer, I can live more distinctly beyond these walls. And so can you.

But that's the point of it. It's all about the basis and how we live. We are to please him in all respects. He says, bearing fruit in every good work. Now, please understand what I'm not saying.

I'm not saying that if you get some conviction, you say, OK, I'm going to do better. I'm going to work harder. I'm going to make an impact. I'm going to make my light shine.

I could be missing the point, because you can't do that. What you have to say to yourself is, I'm going to stay a lot closer to my Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I'm the vine, and you're the branches.

He said, if you abide in me and I abide in you, you will bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. You see, even the Christian life, even being light in the world, is his work, not mine, not yours. It's not me bearing down anything. All I can do is stop doing it. I can put my light under the basket. I cannot do it, but Jesus says, let me do it. You stay close to me, and you'll bear light. Now, when you're not bearing light, it tells you something. You're not close to the Lord.

You're not staying with him. He said, that's what you'll do. You'll bear much fruit. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. ... ... ... ...