Let Your Light Shine...

The Sadducees (liberal, Zionist Jews) were trying to discredit Jesus by posing a question about the resurrection of the dead and the apparent conflict that it posed on a woman who was widowed and then remarried. “In the resurrection” they asked,” when they rise again, which one's wife will she be?” (Mark 12:23)

The fact they didn’t believe in the Resurrection didn’t matter to them; all that mattered was anyone who displayed faith in anything was to be discredited so as to expose the foolishness
of their faith. They took great delight in uncovering apparent contradictions in the Torah to belittle any who might trust and actually believe the Bible.

Well, when they took on Jesus, who was the Word of God (John 1), and who spoke the words of the law to Israel at Sinai through Moses, they were uncovered as the unsanctified, secular, and unbelieving people that they were. These men were the teachers of Israel and were passing on their poison to generation after generation of children. Here was Jesus’ reply:

Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the scriptures or the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken." (Mark 12:24-27)

They didn’t understand either the scriptures or the power of God, and yet they were the leaders of Israel’s faith. Their positions on faith colored and influenced everyone.

This past Saturday, Bill Gray spoke before a gathering of about 200 Emmaus volunteers and said something that cut to the heart of a lot we do in the church. He said it isn’t just enough to be kind and benevolent, but we also need to tell people why kindness is expressed from us and the church. Our kindness isn’t based on our goodness or piety but God’s. There are some who teach, like the Sadducees, that goodness and kindness is the result of our own personal good works and piety which has nothing to do with God in us or working through us. This kind of thinking only serves to provide temporary, temporal relief and deprives the world of the gospel that gives eternal life.

Here is the challenge that faces all those who believe in the scriptures and the power of God: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16) Good works and the gospel go together. Good works validate the message that leads to life. Good works by themselves have no meaning unless they lead to God.