(Mt 5:14) "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

(Mt 5:15) Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

(Mt 5:16) In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

You may see panels on the wall.  They are calligraphies that Elder Kim wrote with a brush.  He wants us to learn a lesson and truth when we look at them. I believe that it is his love toward us. I prepared today’s sermon when I recalled my High school precepts while I put them on the wall.  It was “Light – Matthew 5:14.”  Dr. Hall established my High school named Kwang Sung in 1894.  He wanted us to be the light of our Korean people during the Japanese colonial period.

Experiments led by Solomon Asch of Swarthmore College asked groups of students to participate in a "vision test." In reality, all but one of the participants was confederates of the experimenter, and the study was really about how the remaining students would react to the confederates' behavior.  In the basic Asch paradigm, the participants — the real subjects and the confederates — were all seated in a classroom. They were asked a variety of questions about the lines such as how long is A, compare the length of A to an everyday object, which line was longer than the other, which lines were the same length, etc. The group was told to announce their answers to each question out loud. The confederates always provided their answers before the study participant, and always gave the same answer as each other. They answered a few questions correctly but eventually began providing incorrect responses. In a control group, with no pressure to conform to an erroneous view, only one subject out of 35 ever gave an incorrect answer. Solomon Asch hypothesized that the majority of people would not conform to something obviously wrong; however, when surrounded by individuals all voicing an incorrect answer, participants provided incorrect responses on a high proportion of the questions (32%). Seventy-five percent of the participants gave an incorrect answer to at least one question.

The result would be helpful for a Christian to understand why people turn their face away from the truth and righteousness.  I would like to share how Jesus wanted us to be His people. 

I. The Light turns out the Darkness.

(Mt 5:14) "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

In 18th Century England, it was disordered because of Deism.  They recognized God.  But, they thought that they were under natural rule and science, which was that they did not need God.  Their thoughts and wrong belief led Epicureanism, drinking, extravagance, incontinence, and immorality.  All Europe was in the same situation.  Then, a good Christian named John Wesley saved England.

When we go back to the experiments led by Solomon Asch, the unanimity of the confederates has also been varied. When the confederates are not unanimous in their judgment, even if only one confederate voices a different opinion, participants are much more likely to resist the urge to conform than when the confederates all agree. This finding illuminates the power that even a small dissenting minority can have. Interestingly, this finding holds whether or not the dissenting confederate gives the correct answer. As long as the dissenting confederate gives an answer that is different from the majority, participants are more likely to give the correct answer.

Even if only one confederate (one Christian) tells the truth and righteousness, experiments could resist the urge to conform.  It could happen to our life.

If we are the light of the world, we turn out the darkness of the world.  Light overcomes darkness.  We are so proud of how many percentage of Korean would be Christians.  It is supposed to be more than 25%.   But, it would be hard to find out our conscience and morality in our society.

It would be shameful confession that we could not turn out the darkness of the world.  Because of ourselves we cannot enlighten our society about what we have, what we want other to know, and who Jesus is.

It would be those who stole, cheated, and lied among many Christians.  It makes us sad and confused.

One day a woman drove her car.  When she followed a van that a man drove, she could not pass through a traffic signal because of front van.  She stopped at a crossing line.  She became angry.  She honked.  She opened the window and shouted out.  Then, a following police car stopped.  A policeman felt strange.  He arrested her.  But, he could not find any suspicion.  He could not understand her reaction because there was a sticker “Fish sign and What would Jesus do” on its bumper. So, he investigated her.  He thought that she stole a car. 

II. The Light shines the World.

(Mt 5:15) Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

People do not put the light under a bowl.  It would be foolish when one covers and hides the light.  We put it on its stand at the highest to shine.  Jesus explained what the shining of the light was in the following verse.

(Mt 5:16) In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

It is a good deed, which has us praise God in heaven.  It shows how Christians could be who they are.

I would like to share a story.  The people who rushed Bannock, Montana were not only miners, but they also included many deserters of the Civil War, outlaws, and businessmen intent on profiting from the gold.  In search of their fortunes, few men climbed a mountain. But they could not find gold any more.  They spent food that they brought when they left home. They decided to go back Bannock.  Fortunately they found the gold on the way.  So, they promised not to say anything about it.  They arrived at the village in order that they prepared to come back to this secret place with food and tools.  They did not tell the truth.  For a while when they were going to the place that they found the gold, they were surprised that most people at the village knew what happened to them.  Their face showed them whether they found gold or not.  They made sure it.

Likewise as a Christian we could not hide what happened to me because of the Gospel in Christ.  Our faces and lives including our words and deeds contain the true pleaser and joy in Jesus.  What would be the Light?  It is the truth, good deeds, our words, hope, and etc.

(Jn 1:9) The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

It is Him, Jesus Christ, who tells us that you are the light of the world.

(Jn 3:21) But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

If we fear God and follow Jesus, we become the light of the world.  We shine Jesus and the truth of the Gospel through our deeds and love in Christ.

We are living in the Grace age.  It is the “church age” where no one expects this current time frame.  God gave an idea about His time frame in the book of Daniel.  It was 70 ‘sevens.’  According to his time schedule it passed 69 sevens when Jesus was on the cross. But, God holds one of the sevens, which is the seven year tribulation because of the church.  The Church protects it.  You are the light and salt to be against the darkness.

God wants us to be the Light of the Word, which shines the world through our good deeds and love sharing the Gospel.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments