Pray for Your Church: Impact (1)
“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 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.” Matthew 5.14-16
Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. 1 John 2.8
Do all things without complaining 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, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Philippians 2.14-16
The Lord gives the increase
In this final segment of our study, “Pray for Your Church”, we turn to consider the impact our church can make and to focus our prayers on that impact, that for which Jesus is building as His Body.
But we must first be clear about this much: We have no control over the impact of our church’s presence, works, or witness in our community. We, along with other churches, are part of the process of “Good Newsing” our community and bringing near to it the Kingdom of God in righteousness, peace, and joy of the Holy Spirit. Whatever fruit or flourishing results from our efforts will not be something for which we should take any credit or puff ourselves up: “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase” (1 Cor. 3.5-7).
Thus, we seek the increase—of worship, conversion, transformation, and restoration—which God alone can bring by doing the work assigned to us of making disciples, equipping the saints, shepherding the flock, evangelizing the lost, working for unity, and all the other tasks God has assigned us as His people.
It is clear that Jesus has in mind specific kinds of impact for the churches He is building. We must understand and embrace those aims, making them our own and seeking ways to collaborate with other believers and their churches to realize the impact our Lord intends.
Jesus spells out the impact He intends in a series of images and strategic efforts.
Taking aim at the darkness
The first image that Jesus gave to guide our efforts is that of light. Our church, all Bible-believing and Christ-honoring churches in our community, and each of us believers and disciples of the Lord are designated to be light to our world.
The world is described as languishing in darkness (1 Jn. 2.8). Darkness suggests uncertainty, fear, lack of clear direction and purpose, and danger. One never knows what can happen in the darkness. This image fits the times we live in quite well, for those who have no faith in Jesus Christ are trapped in enveloping darkness of one kind or another.
That darkness is not so much one of unbelief as of wrong belief. Everyone who does not believe in Jesus does not not believe in something. That is, everyone clings to and practices some kind of faith in some object, aim, goal, or vision. All people are made in the image of God and thus they cannot not believe. They will believe and they do believe in something. But because their beliefs are wrong they only plunge themselves and their societies and cultures deeper into darkness, despair, and death (Rom. 1.18-32).
We who believe in Jesus are sent as lights into this darkness, and, by the power of God’s Spirit at work within and through us, we fully expect to see the darkness fade around us as the Presence of Jesus in us becomes clearer and more pronounced and consistent.
We shine the light of Jesus in the darkness of our wrong-believing age by our good works and our consistent witness (Prov. 28.4). Paul tells us what to expect as we take up these “light-works” (Acts 17.32-34). Some will scoff at the light and flee from it. Others, piqued and curious, will want to step into the light a little further by continuing to know its shining from within us. And others will, by the grace of God, step into the light with us and begin the journey of leaving the darkness increasingly behind.
“You are the light of the world,” our Lord declared. We must not hide our lights under a bushel. Why do we teach this assiduously to our children—“Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m gonna let it shine!”—while we fail to do so ourselves? Through prayer, study of God’s Word, and submitting to the teaching and equipping of our church, we may improve the quality and consistency of the light that shines from us into the dark souls and places of our community, until the darkness begins to fade and the light of Jesus shines more brilliantly.
Pray for more light
This is Jesus’ aim for us and our churches. We must pray that we will be faithful in our callings and do all that is appointed to us for shining the light of Jesus and His love in all we do and say.
Here’s a prayer for your church that you can use to help yourself and your church intensify this focus and shine this light:
Jesus, You are the Light of the world!
You have appointed us as lights
to our world, our neighbors
and our community.
Teach us, Jesus!
Fill us, Jesus!
Help us to see how dark
is the darkness around us,
and enlighten our souls
with your love,
that we might be
lights to our world
for Your glory, honor, and praise.
For reflection
1. In what ways can you see that much darkness is present in your community?
2. What can you do to improve the intensity and consistency of the light of Jesus shining through you?
3. What can we expect if our church and the churches in our community hide the light of Jesus under bushels of fear, doubt, inconvenience, or disobedience?
Next steps—Transformation: Where will you shine for Jesus today? How? How should you prepare for this?
T. M. Moore
Give thanks
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
For a more complete study of worship, order a copy of our book, The Highest Thing. There you will be able to study, from throughout the Scriptures, the details of corporate worship and how to realize the promise of it.
You can order the workbook by clicking here, or the free PDF download of the workbook by clicking here.
Other columns of interest this week: We continue reading excerpts from the book, Revived! in our Read Moore column. Why not listen in? Last week’s Crosfigell letter called us to make sure we have the right priorities.
Thank you.
Many of you are faithful and generous in praying for and supporting Crosfigell and The Fellowship of Ailbe. Thank you. I encourage all our readers to seek the Lord about becoming a supporter of The Fellowship of Ailbe. It’s easy to give to The Fellowship of Ailbe, and all gifts are, of course, tax-deductible. You can click here to donate online through credit card or PayPal or Anedot, or send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved
