Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

Our God and our Father. We would ask that your spirit would come as light upon these words from your word and father, that we might not only read these words, not only study them, but by your spirit. That they would be singed upon our minds, that we might recall them, and that these words would change us, that we might understand more what it means to be a light bearer for Jesus Christ. For we ask that in his name. Amen. You are the light of the world. You. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. You, through Jesus Christ, are all the light that this world will ever see about Christ. The apostle Paul knew that every Christian who had been changed by the power of the Holy Spirit through the forgiveness of their sins, trusting in Jesus Christ, that God had placed in that person the light of his son, that Jesus said, the work that I do, you will be able to do far more. And so, immediately upon the death of Jesus, there were twelve who were able to go out immediately and multiply the work of Jesus Christ by twelve. Today, the church of Jesus Christ is the light of the world.

If you place upon your life a basket and that light becomes dimmer and dimmer, then the light that you have for a friend, a neighbor, a relative will be so small that in the economy of things, hardly significant. Jesus Christ calls us to be light bearers. Let me ask you, how brightly is your light shining? Is it one candle power or is it a massive floodlight, that when people think about you, they say, oh, yes, that person really cares about Jesus Christ, and their life reflects the light of Christ. Paul having in the previous verses talked about Jesus Christ as God, that Jesus came as a man, a servant, and that the name of Jesus is above every other name, and that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Having declared these great truths of doctrine, Paul now declares in Philippians two, verse twelve, therefore, as a result of the faith that you have in Jesus Christ, as a result of Jesus coming as a man, of Jesus coming as God, of Jesus coming, and being exalted to the right hand of his father, because those things are true because you have already believed that, because you are part of the family of the living God. Paul says, therefore, now he is going to continue his conversation, not about the things of salvation. He has already talked about those things. He is now taking those great truths and saying, well, because these things are true, therefore. And that is the part that we want to look at today. Exactly. How can I be a light bearer for Jesus Christ? And here’s the assumption I’m working off of.

That you have already put your faith in Jesus Christ, that you already know that he’s the son of God, that you already know that he came as a man to serve, to die on the cross, and that you already believe that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, is seated at the right hand of his father. That’s my assumption. If that is true in your life, therefore, be a light bearer of Jesus Christ. You say, well, how? Well, Paul’s very practical, and he immediately begins to point our attention to how you and I can be light bearers of Christ. I was surprised as I studied over the past week, looking at these verses, and I thought to myself, well, to be a light bearer. He wants us to do great and mighty things. He wants us to take on great tasks.

He wants us to do marvelous things, hard things. Well, he begins, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. If you and I want to be light bearers for Jesus Christ. The truth that Paul has in these verses is that it involves work. Now notice these verses do not say, work for your salvation. These verses do not say, work towards your salvation, nor does it even say, work at your salvation. No. Instead he says, work out your salvation. This verse is not an explanation of how a person becomes a Christian.

This verse is directed to people who have already become Christians, for whom the work of Jesus Christ is alive in their heart, and they know that he is in there. And now the question is, how do I work that out practically into life? Do you remember when you first became a Christian and the issue was, is Jesus Christ the son of God? Was he really raised from the dead? Can my sins really be forgiven? And you wrestled with that question and by faith came to the conclusion, yes, I can trust that much of Jesus. But when you first became a Christian, did you have any other misconceptions about God? Or was it all resolved upon that decision to follow Christ. Were there any problems that you had before becoming a Christian that were still there an hour after you put your trust in Christ?

A year later, ten years later? Any habits that you had before becoming a Christian that you’re still wrestling with today? Were there things that you did before becoming a Christian that you knew were against God’s will? And today, on occasion, you do things that you still know are against God’s will? Then if it is true that you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, then I would say to you, according to the authority of God’s word, that you must begin to work out that salvation in such a way that there is harmony between the things you believe internally and the person you are publicly. The word that Paul uses, work out. This word work really has as its root the word energy or energize. And so we have battery commercials that will tell us to be energized.

The apostle Paul is telling you and me, if you’ve already trusted and you are a true follower of Christ, then energize your faith so that it accomplishes the tasks that God has for you to do. Live in such a way that when people see you, they say there is a spiritual energy in that person that is directly in relation to Jesus Christ. He is telling us whose batteries have worn down. Energize your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God who wills and will do in you. How full of energy is your christian life? Are you working that energy through the power of Jesus Christ? Are you able to get up and fling off your coat, roll up your sleeves, and say, I’ve got some work to do upon myself and upon my community for the name of Jesus Christ?

Or have the batteries tired down so much that you simply recall the day that you became a Christian? And then all of your get up and go just got up and went. When the Lord comes into a life and the light of his grace comes into our life, he will show us what we need to do, and he will give you that ability to do according to his will and his purpose. But he calls upon us to put it into practice to energize the things that we believe. Do you know what you have to energize in your own life? Do you have a bad temper? And the scriptures say to you, energize your salvation. Work out your salvation. Work that quality of the flesh out of your system through the power of Jesus Christ.

Are you undisciplined because of your inability to get things done? You can see that you are not participating in the kingdom of Christ. The apostle Paul says to you, and work out that salvation. Work out those qualities of your flesh that need to be taken and discarded. Work in through the power of Jesus Christ, that energy to look directly at yourself and to call upon the power of Jesus Christ to help you accomplish the work of salvation that he has for each one of us. The principle is simply where there is true faith, it will show itself in true works, that God, as he saves us through Jesus Christ, wants to see us energized, to make a change in our world and to see ourselves changed through the power of Jesus Christ.

Wycliffe Bible translators has been around quite a while, and originally they began simply as translators of the Bible. And so if you, in the beginning days of Wycliffe, wanted to become a missionary, you had to be a linguist. Well, it’s an interesting thing about God’s word. Wherever God’s word is taught, it produces an effect upon people that has to be actually worked out among the people who hear it. So the Wycliffe Bible translators today not only need linguists, but they need doctors and nurses and teachers and printers and pilots and radio technicians and secretaries. Virtually anyone but the barkeeper can be used, said Wycliffe head Cameron Townsend. And if he gets converted, we’d take a second look at him.

You see, the gospel, the word of God, comes into a life, turns that life around to face Jesus Christ, to be converted, and then begins to work out in that life through the energy of the Holy Spirit, the work that God has prepared for every one of his children to accomplish. If you and I want to be light bearers for Jesus Christ, it has something to do with work and accomplishing through the energy of God’s spirit, the task that he has for you, and he will help you. For we are told it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure.

There’s a second principle, that if we would truly be light bearers, and it may come as a rather simple lesson for us, he tells us in verse 14, do all things without murmuring and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, do you truly, practically want to be a light bearer for Jesus Christ and simply do this? Learn not to murmur. Learn not to be a person who is constantly involved in disputes and arguments. Paul takes this portion of scripture from the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verses four, and five, the context of deuteronomy is Moses has completed his last lap. He has run the race well.

He has led the people out of captivity from Egypt, brought them into the wilderness, where for 40 years they have now marched and wandered, and they are prepared to come into the promised land. Moses reminds them of all that God had done, his delivery, God’s provision of food and water, of God’s provision of his word and the commandments that he had given Moses. And then he reminds them that these people murmured. They constantly murmured. And you and I as christians. The apostle Paul says, do you really want to let your light shine in a way that will bring great light into the world? Then learn to be a person who does not murmur. Now, the word murmur is found in number of places in scripture. In Matthew 20, verses one through 16, Jesus told the story of a man who owned a vineyard.

And he hired some people to come early in the morning. And so they began to labor. And he promised them, you work for me all day. I’ll give you one Daenerys a day’s pay for a day’s labor. And they agree. Then sometime later on in the morning, another group of workers comes along, and he hires them. And then around noontime, a third group, he hires them. Comes the end of the day, everyone’s hot. Having worked in the vineyard, labored hard, what are they going to be paid? He pays everyone. One Daenerys did the response of the man who worked just a few hours, was that a response of disappointment? No. He was glad to receive a full day’s work for a half day’s labor. But the murmuring comes from the people who looked at the owner and concluded to themselves, this isn’t fair.

And so they began to murmur. We find, too, in Luke, chapter five, verse 30, that when the Pharisees saw the disciples of Jesus talking and eating with tax collectors, the Pharisees began to murmur. In the Old Testament, murmuring occurs continually. We find that the Israelites, having been in Egypt while they were in Egypt, they murmured when they were taken out of Egypt and given freedom, they murmured. When they had nothing to eat, they murmured. When they had an abundance of things to eat, they murmured. They murmured for 40 years. And when they would finally come into the promised land, they continued to murmur. We’re a lot like that. Do you ever think to yourself, well, here I am living in an apartment. Murmur, murmur. But when I move into a house, and now you’re in a house, murmur, murmur.

Did you ever think to yourself, when I get the promotion and we have that extra money. murmur, murmur. Now you’ve got it. Still murmuring. What is it that God wants us to do as christians that would truly hold up a light for the world to look at and look at you and say, what an amazing person. And you know what would amaze the world if you did not murmur? Because that would be totally in contrast with the world of darkness in which we live, where murmuring is conversation. And if you were to take murmuring out of the words of the world of darkness, you listen, and you will find that very few things that are ever said are not related to some form of murmuring. Discontent and a sense of someone has taken advantage of me.

When a Christian is a murmurer, he actually becomes for himself a basket that he simply puts over his own head and the light is extinguished. Do you think that people know of your personal struggles? I guarantee most people know the things that are happening in your life as well as you know. Do you have illness, financial problems, difficulties with kids? Problems with a roof that leaks? People somehow know these things, and the light of Christ is lifted high. When christians, unlike the world, don’t murmur, they are willing to say to the Lord, your will be done. You have given me life. You are my redeemer, and I will sing praise to your name. We learn to murmur at a very young age. Seems to come instinctually. Do you remember? With three boys, I recall this seems just last night.

Kids, it’s time to go to bed. Get dressed, put on your pajamas, brush your teeth. Murmur, murmur. What was that? Oh, nothing, dad. Even our little daughter Mary, not yet two years old already. The other day, she was pulling out the eyes of a stuffed cat. And I said, mary, don’t do that. I said, mary, what? And off she went. It seems to come naturally, doesn’t it? We are told that if we would truly want to hold high a light for Jesus Christ, then be the kind of person who, when things are not going well, when everything seems to be going in the opposite direction, when it seems to you that the blessing of the Lord has not fallen upon your head, instead a tile has fallen from your head on the roof, and you look and you say, Lord, what is happening?

Be very careful. Do not become a murmurer. But instead, let your light shine and speak well of the Lord. Because we are told in verse 15 that we are to become blameless and harmless children of God without fault. In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, do you look at the world in which we live as crooked and perverse? Or do you somehow look upon the world and have concluded, well, parts of it are wicked and perverse. But other parts of it are full of wonderful light? Then you have made a tragic mistake. Because the only things that are good in this life. Come directly because of Jesus Christ. Or are a reflection of the things of Christ. That others have brought into this world.

I was reminded of this the other night, listening to Peter Jennings give a special on the sexual revolution. And for an hour he went through the sewerage of facts. As he talked about divorce rates and abortions. He showed the complications that are now happening. In untold hundreds of thousands of homes with stepparents. And the mass confusion that is happening with children of one family marrying into another family. And no one knows to call one father or mother. Or do you call him Dick or Jane? And there is such confusion. And as he went from one dismal statistic to another without comment at the close of the program, speaking only for less than two minutes. Peter Jennings took all of the massive problem of the sexual revolution. And the consequences that we’re living with today. His conclusion?

If the courts would fairly give finances to the divorced woman. Then these problems, in a large extent would be taken care of. And I thought to myself, what a wicked and perverse generation we live in. To conclude that a problem as disastrous as the one that we face as a nation. Has a solution in the divorce court. And with a higher appropriation of money. Nothing was said about the Lord, about sin being a reproach to a nation. Nothing was said about the murmurings that undoubtedly occur in many of those homes that eventually led to divorce. And if I had closed that program. And I could only choose one thing to say. I would have said to the american public. Husbands, wives, don’t murmur among yourselves. Do not be discontent. But instead give thanks for your family. And if simply murmuring would begin to disappear.

I believe that we would begin to see a great change in families, individuals. But we live in a crooked and perverse generation. One in which we are called to be blameless. We are called to be holy and blameless before God. We are called to be holy and blameless before the world. Daniel lived in an ungodly world. Babylon. He lived in the king’s palace. His enemies wanted to destroy him. They looked at his behavior, and they could not find anything in his external behavior. The way he interacted with people for which they could hold him guilty. They said, we shall not find any occasion against Daniel. Except we find it concerning the law of God. Are you holy and blameless so that your neighbor, your coworker, looks at you and concludes, this man, this Woman is holy. They are blameless.

There is nothing for which they can be found to be guilty. We are called upon to live in such a way. We’re called upon to be light bearers for Jesus Christ. If we would do that one we would work out of our life and work in the things of Christ. If we would learn not to murmur, not to spend our time in idle disputes, if we would be blameless and harmless and hold fast the word of God, then I believe that the light of Christ that he has placed in your life would turn from a spark, and then it would turn into a flame until your entire life is consumed by the light of Jesus Christ. And it’s my prayer that at that time the world would come and watch you burn as a light for Jesus Christ.

For we are told that we are to be blameless and harmless children of God without fault. In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, let your light shine for Jesus sake. Our God and our Father, we ask that the light of Christ that has changed us, by which we declare that we are your children. We pray,

Father, that you would take us and work in us, that the work of salvation through Jesus Christ would be not one only that we know about, but that the world would know about. Be with our tongues and our murmurings. Help us to live as blameless and harmless. Help us to hold fast to the word of truth. Help us to be a light for Jesus sake. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton ministries Post office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. That’s Princeton Ministries, post office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. The Lord bless you, and Dr. Smith looks forward to hearing from you. We would like to thank Rone’s web development company for making this webcast possible. You can find their link at the bottom of our website, princetonministries.org.