The bushel over our lights
Matthew 5:14-15 “Ye 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.”
You remember the children’s song….This little light of mine,
I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel….no! I’m going to let it shine; hide 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.
Shine till Jesus comes again; I’m going to let it shine; Shine till Jesus comes again; I’m going to let it shine; let it shine; let it shine; let it shine.
But since the last time we sang that, has our light been dimmed,….or hidden under a bushel?
Just what is that bushel….that our light is under?
Well, one thing I have found over the years….is weariness.
Sometimes we feel as if we can not do just this one more thing….
….no one has appreciated us…..no one cares,…..so much indifference….
….we all have a reason that we let the wile of weariness creep in….
….but once it is there, it is like a bushel over our light.
Galatians 6:9 “Let us not be weary in well doing: for for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
We are going along fine, then something takes a turn we did not expect….whether in loss, or hurt, or illness….
….then we’re not sure what to do! We sure do not feel like shining our light!
We feel like curling up and hiding.
We are often like the disciples, at Gethsemane, who were saddened by Jesus saying He was going away.
Jesus asked them to watch with Him for a while….but they fell asleep…..never dreaming failure was just around the corner.
Another thing that hides our light, is the past.
The Holy Spirit is guiding now, correcting now, giving us grace for now….
….but when we let the past enter the door of our thoughts (good past, or bad past)….it throws the “now” aside…
…and we are neither yielding to the moments guidance, or listening for the warnings….
…we are “back there”….and our light is hidden.
Philippians3:13 “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, “
Fear is often the bushel that covers our light….and gives us confusion of feeling, in it’s place….until the love of Jesus conquerors the fear.
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night for fear of retaliation from the rulers, and Joseph of Arimathaea, who gave Jesus his tomb, was also a “silent disciple”.
John 19:38-39 “And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. he came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.”
They were “silent disciples”….till the love of Jesus conquered that fear.
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
Bushels are made of guilt….
…when we sin, as Christians, there is a darkening of our light…..that “bushel” comes between us….and fellowship with the Lord, breaks down.
Guilt is there,….and it needs to be confessed and cleansed.
1 John 1:5-7 “This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Strife or quarrels are bushels….
….they cover our good works, and….we “walk as men”….just like everyone else of the world……not as Christ’s representatives.
1 Corinthians 3:3 “For ye are yet carnal (not growing up into Christ): for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men.”
Doubts are bushels. When we lose some confidence in Christ and His Word….we come into shadows.
It is not unbelief yet, but it is as though we are groping for the handrail…..we are just not going forward….for we are trying to find something to hang on to….
….when we should be trusting Christ.
Isaiah 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.”
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
Sympathy with ourselves is a bushel….
….it is not self-pity…..but just a feeling that we “deserve something else”…..whatever that “else” is.
For this puts us into a mind that God is not giving us “the best” He should….
….when a little honest conversation with the Lord, would straighten our thoughts out.
Psalm 77:8, 10, 12 “Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for evermore?
And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
I will meditate also of all Thy work, and talk of Thy doings.”
Every time our light is hidden, opportunities are lost.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4, 7 “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
And how do we keep, from hiding our lights?
Colossians 3:16-17 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”
First, know God’s Word……let it dwell in you richly…..or copiously.
Second, praise God for the grace He has given you…..testify of it to help others.
Third, whatever you do….do as if you were saying a prayer over it in Jesus Name…..that will elevate every act into a blessing….for it is for “His sake” it is done.
We need not have a bushel over our lights…..we can be a bright out-shining of His life, who was the Light of the world.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 