Rise Daily: April 6

Rise Daily: April 6

THIS WEEK’S THEME & PASSAGE

Counter-Culture for the Common Good – Matthew 5:11-16

This week’s sermon from the series “Where We are Going: The City and the Mission“

 

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THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE

Memorizing scripture is a way to keep God’s word close to our hearts. Each week we will select one verse of scripture to remember as a community.

Matthew 5:14

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

 

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THE WORD

Each day’s devotion will focus on one part of the week’s passage.

Matthew 5:14

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

 

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MEDITATION ON THE WORD

In our busyness and distraction, it is easy to skim through our reading rather than taking it in. Yet we believe this is the inspired word of God. Take a moment to pause, thank God for the scriptures and ask him to speak to you through them today.

Light is one of the central images used in scripture to convey truth about God. In John 8:12 Jesus calls himself “the light of the world.” But here in Matthew he calls his followers the light of the world. Because they are joined to Christ, one with him, buried, risen and commissioned to carry on his work in the world, the same words Jesus uses to describe himself also apply his followers.

Perhaps because all of life depends on light from the sun to exist, the consequences of the loss of that light are terminal. Yet often humans shy away from light. Light exposes things we would rather keep hidden. The fluorescent lights of the dressing room reveal all our bodily flaws. The bright light of the doctor’s office discovers an even deeper level of flaws in our flesh.

If it is a privilege to be the light of the world in the way Jesus was, Christians will need to be prepared to be avoided and shunned, even when they bring life and healing. But by the same token, it is not always for our “goodness” that we are rejected. Our words and acts are only as good as the manner in which they are conveyed. Considering this, we must do everything in our power to avoid adding unnecessary offense to the gospel. It is hard enough for a person to hear that his sins were so heinous that they sent the Creator of the universe to his death. Adding abrasiveness, insensitivity, and insult to the light already shining into a fellow sinner’s life is neither necessary nor kind. And it is certainly not reflective of “the light of the world.”

 

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THIS WEEK’S RISE REFLECTION

Since Redeemer’s earliest days, God has worked through the deep, passionate, urgent prayers offered up by people across the country and around the world on our behalf. Today, we are in need of your prayer support like never before. We cannot accomplish a plan of long-term gospel renewal in our city without thousands of people, inside and outside of Redeemer. We need you. Will you join us to pray for this movement and your role in it? Sign up here to join thousands of our friends for a special day of unified prayer on Saturday, April 16.

 

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TODAY’S PRAYER

For your Heart: Pray for God to search your heart for hidden darkness, and then confess it freely as a loved, forgiven child of the light.

For your Church: Pray for our church to be a bright, stainless mirror, reflecting back to God his own glory in our relationships that cross social, racial, and economic boundaries. Pray that our stewardship decisions, our mercy and justice ministries, our care for the lonely, hurt and sick among us, would reflect God’s glory and not our own.

For our City: Pray that Christians all over the city would rise up to share with others the gospel of light and that those who don’t know Christ would be drawn to the light.