Reference

Matthew 5:16

How often do you look for things with excellence or things that are the best?

  • For the hotel with the most stars?
  • For the restaurant with the most stars?
  • For the best ways to travel, and the best reviews?

When you want the best possible experience, you save for it and work for it because you want to experience the "finer things in life". What's something you're working towards?

What does it look like to work towards being the church that God wants us to be? Could we be a church that God gives the most stars? A church established and built on the Word of God?

  • Romans 12:1 - that we would be a living sacrifice.
  • Matthew 5:16 emphasizes how we present ourselves - shiny.
    • My responsibility as a Christian is to be seen and to be like Christ.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:17 - we are called to be a new creation, leaving the old things.
  • Isaiah 43:18 - we are commanded to forget the former things and make space for the new

God wants to build you for Kingdom purpose and increase you for His purpose. 

"Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results." If we want change in the new year, a great year, a better church, there must be change.

If God is going to make changes, the changes first must be in you and those changes must be seen. According to Matthew 5:16

    1. We are called to SHINE! The light within us must be so bright that others see.
    2. We are called to "do" - for others, unto God.
      1. We don't have to broadcast what God is doing in our life, because we will shine as God reigns in us.
    3. Then they will say good things about God.

So how do we respond? We must examine ourself. Like when we get dressed and then check out how we look before we leave. It matters how we look - not to others, but to God. 

What does it look like to be a 5-star person before the eyes of God? What does it look like to be a 5-star church so that God is most glorified? Are you doing your best to shine so that others will see your light and give God the glory?

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." - Jesus in Matthew 5:14