WEBVTT 00:00:03.766 --> 00:00:05.549 I'm really excited about this series. 00:00:05.549 --> 00:00:06.732 We're going through just this. 00:00:06.732 --> 00:00:12.051 We're calling the series Red Letters and it's a study of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. 00:00:12.051 --> 00:00:24.260 And I'll just tell you up front, prepare you up front, this is, get ready to be challenged, because Jesus' Sermon, which covers Matthew, chapter 5 through 7, it's disturbingly radical. 00:00:24.501 --> 00:00:32.469 Jesus was a disturbing Jesus and he doesn't let us get comfortable with where we are, to bring us really where he wants us to be. 00:00:32.469 --> 00:00:43.659 And I think what he wants to do through this whole series, he just wants us to reevaluate where we are in relation to him and to the kingdom and to the righteousness which he calls out in this sermon. 00:00:43.659 --> 00:00:49.186 And you know, if you were to ask someone off the street, do you think you're a pretty good person? 00:00:49.186 --> 00:00:59.851 Most of the people that you would ask that would say yes, I'm pretty good, and they would proceed to tell you what they've done in the past or maybe what they're still doing that they consider pretty good. 00:00:59.851 --> 00:01:19.730 But Jesus in this sermon goes deeper and he begins to look at us and to try to encourage us to look at our heart, to see what's really going on with us, because there we don't often look and we find in our hearts some things, that what he wants to bring us to is true righteousness. 00:01:19.730 --> 00:01:22.644 That's what this sermon is about, true righteousness. 00:01:22.644 --> 00:01:33.649 And, for example, in verse 20 of chapter 5, he says For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:01:33.649 --> 00:01:37.649 And what he shows us, I think, will surprise us. 00:01:37.649 --> 00:01:40.266 It will intrigue us and, as I say, it will challenge us. 00:01:41.161 --> 00:01:53.305 Before we get into the message this morning, which is going to be on salt and light, I want to just kind of give you a little bit of an orientation to the kingdom, an orientation to the kingdom, and I want you to picture it. 00:01:53.305 --> 00:01:55.992 As you know, if you are oriented to the king properly. 00:01:55.992 --> 00:02:01.072 Some people are, let's say, the kingdom was where you are, their backs would be toward the kingdom. 00:02:01.072 --> 00:02:08.201 But as Jesus begins to get our attention, we slowly begin to turn toward him and what he offers us. 00:02:08.201 --> 00:02:15.282 And some of us are like this and some of us are, as he said, not far from the kingdom. 00:02:15.282 --> 00:02:21.984 Some of us had made the choice to be in the kingdom and to trust him and put him first place in their life. 00:02:21.984 --> 00:02:23.847 So let me give you this orientation. 00:02:24.027 --> 00:02:35.055 I think the thing that I wanted to share first is just simply we need to define some terms here, because we hear that term kingdom, kingdom of God, jesus preferred kingdom of heaven. 00:02:35.055 --> 00:02:40.884 It's basically the same thing, all through the scriptures talking about this kingdom, and you say what is this kingdom? 00:02:40.884 --> 00:02:43.719 And whole books have been written on this subject. 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:50.413 To try to explain it, let me just kind of give you a bullet down a bit for you, just in a simple way of thinking about it. 00:02:50.413 --> 00:02:55.171 The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is God's rule and reign in human hearts. 00:02:55.171 --> 00:02:59.186 Does God reign and rule in your heart today? 00:02:59.186 --> 00:03:11.270 Very often we allow our own place on the throne to take the place of our Lord Jesus, and what he calls us to do is to put him there first place. 00:03:11.270 --> 00:03:17.133 And so this idea of God's rule and reign in our hearts, that's the kingdom that we're pursuing. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:22.639 Second, I want you to see how Jesus puts this sermon together Matthew, chapter 5 through 7. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:33.890 If we just kind of read it in selected parts, you know, sometimes we'll pull out the section on the Beatitudes or maybe some other section on, you know, murder or other things that we just are really focused on. 00:03:33.890 --> 00:03:38.512 But you know what we'll do by doing that is miss the overall message and context. 00:03:38.512 --> 00:03:41.604 And so here's what I want you to see. 00:03:41.604 --> 00:04:00.570 Jesus' sermon begins with the happy attitudes of those who live kingdom-oriented lives, and last week Tyler did such a great job looking at the first major section of chapter 5, which has traditionally been called the Beatitudes, and some people have called them the Be Happy or the Beautiful Attitudes. 00:04:00.570 --> 00:04:11.993 The Beautiful Attitudes and you might wonder why we call them the Beatitudes and that word comes from the Latin word beatus, which means blessed or happy. 00:04:11.993 --> 00:04:14.400 Oh how happy or oh how blessed. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:19.372 You see each of those in the eight qualities that are in verses 1 through 12 of chapter 5. 00:04:19.372 --> 00:04:32.882 Each one of those begins with the English word blessed, and for that reason, as I say, they're often called the beautiful attitudes, because they bring us in line with the kingdom, and this is the way Jesus begins this sermon. 00:04:32.882 --> 00:04:38.211 They orient us to the kingdom and picture that turning toward it. 00:04:38.211 --> 00:04:53.103 So let me I can put a diagram here up for you just to kind of give you an overall picture of the whole sermon, and it might picture it in chapters five through seven like this Three words attitude, identity and action. 00:04:53.103 --> 00:04:54.449 Attitude is foundational. 00:04:54.449 --> 00:04:56.117 It's what we're talking about. 00:04:56.117 --> 00:04:58.747 What we're talking about on Wednesday night it's the first one is critical. 00:04:58.788 --> 00:05:01.278 I won't get too much far into Eben's sermon. 00:05:01.278 --> 00:05:03.322 I just want to kind of give you this as an example. 00:05:03.322 --> 00:05:07.410 He says there the very first one the blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:05:07.410 --> 00:05:11.262 And so we ask ourselves do you feel your spiritual poverty? 00:05:11.262 --> 00:05:15.410 Do you groan because you're not what you should be? 00:05:15.410 --> 00:05:17.153 Do you feel your inadequacies? 00:05:17.153 --> 00:05:18.624 This is where we begin. 00:05:18.624 --> 00:05:26.250 You can't even get into the kingdom unless you come as a spiritually bankrupt person, and so this is foundational. 00:05:26.521 --> 00:05:34.673 Now I feel like all of these, all of these beatitudes, all of these beautiful attitudes come with a measure of emotion. 00:05:34.673 --> 00:05:38.326 You should feel it, and this is what draws you in. 00:05:38.326 --> 00:05:42.480 And you know, if you're not poor, you can't get into the kingdom. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:48.228 But you hold and carry and I'm talking about spiritually poor but you hold these attitudes in your heart. 00:05:48.228 --> 00:05:51.807 These are inward qualities, these are things that come from inside. 00:05:51.807 --> 00:05:57.869 As someone said, attitude determines altitude and that's altitude, and that's never more true than in the spiritual life. 00:05:57.869 --> 00:06:07.002 Your attitude toward the kingdom will determine your progression in the kingdom and every one of these progress as you go higher and higher in our relationship with Jesus. 00:06:07.002 --> 00:06:14.221 So these attitudes, these inward qualities, you can't live them out in private. 00:06:14.221 --> 00:06:16.245 You just can't. 00:06:16.245 --> 00:06:17.247 They have to be. 00:06:17.247 --> 00:06:20.661 They only work, they only have power when you put them to work. 00:06:20.661 --> 00:06:23.346 So we're going to see that as we go through the weeks. 00:06:23.745 --> 00:06:28.254 This is the foundational thing, and back in that diagram attitude, the second one. 00:06:28.254 --> 00:06:37.673 This is why Jesus goes on to crown these with two brilliant and searching metaphors salt and light, which we'll talk about today. 00:06:37.673 --> 00:06:53.754 He uses this to describe our identity, our identity in the world, and so, as I say, we'll look at those today, and once we get those the attitude, the identity then we, and only then, can we begin to live these out. 00:06:53.754 --> 00:07:01.423 These things that we look at from chapter later on, in chapter 5, begin talking about the ethics of the kingdom. 00:07:01.423 --> 00:07:13.411 It's how we ought to live if we are following Jesus, and so this is revealed in our behavior before a watching world, and so this gives you really a picture of the sermon. 00:07:13.411 --> 00:07:21.701 The design of Jesus' sermon here is to give a complete portrait of a true disciple, and so keep that in mind as we go through these. 00:07:22.322 --> 00:07:32.654 The main theme, as I said, is true righteousness, and the main thrust, really, of the whole message I think is found in Matthew 7, verse 24. 00:07:32.654 --> 00:07:42.449 He says everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 00:07:42.449 --> 00:07:43.552 You want to build your house on the rock? 00:07:43.552 --> 00:07:45.987 Then follow and obey the words of Jesus as we go through here. 00:07:45.987 --> 00:07:59.309 So with that in mind, let me just kind of this morning let's bring what we look at in salt and light to the teaching this morning from Jesus and about a disciple's identity Matthew, chapter 5, verses 13 through 16. 00:07:59.309 --> 00:08:00.781 So read with me, if you will. 00:08:01.423 --> 00:08:04.622 He says Jesus says to us, you are the salt of the earth. 00:08:04.622 --> 00:08:08.360 But if Jesus says to us, you are the salt of the earth. 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:13.963 But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 00:08:13.963 --> 00:08:16.168 It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. 00:08:16.168 --> 00:08:19.360 You are the light of the world. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:31.401 A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house, all in the house, in the same way. 00:08:31.401 --> 00:08:39.208 Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. 00:08:39.208 --> 00:08:45.269 Let's pray, father, we're thankful that you teach us from the great truths that are in your heart. 00:08:45.269 --> 00:08:57.020 And, lord, I just pray for every one of those folks, including myself today, that Holy Spirit, you would move among us and speak, and, lord, call us to greater and higher things in terms of your kingdom. 00:08:57.020 --> 00:09:05.774 Lord, open our eyes and our ears and our mind, lord, to understand, and we give you praise for that in Jesus' name, amen. 00:09:07.421 --> 00:09:13.754 So let's now see what Jesus teaches us about our identity in this kingdom, the Christian identity. 00:09:13.754 --> 00:09:21.193 Jesus knew that before we focus on how we are to live, we must first know who we are. 00:09:21.193 --> 00:09:26.908 We have to know who we are, and there is that who am I question? 00:09:26.908 --> 00:09:30.835 That kind of resounds, I think, in every person, every person. 00:09:30.835 --> 00:09:38.971 It deeply affects how we influence the world in which we live, and I don't care whether you're a Christian here this morning or you're not yet a Christian. 00:09:38.971 --> 00:09:41.039 Your identity is important. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:51.653 If you don't know who you are, then you really can't rightly live in this kingdom that Jesus is talking about here, because he describes it as something that we are, something we are. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:55.812 Klein Snodgrass in his book who God Says you Are writes. 00:09:55.812 --> 00:10:08.833 Every religion, every denial of religion and every philosophy or ideology seeks to tell people who they are, how they fit with the reality around them and how they should then live. 00:10:08.833 --> 00:10:15.990 If your life has any meaning, it will be because you project, and have projected, a meaningful identity. 00:10:15.990 --> 00:10:24.927 Let me just say this, and especially to us, since it's Father's Day men, your job is not your identity. 00:10:24.927 --> 00:10:28.400 It's not. 00:10:28.400 --> 00:10:33.192 You know, it took me a while to understand that, and you know when I did, when I realized that my job was not my identity. 00:10:33.192 --> 00:10:33.780 You know what I did? 00:10:33.780 --> 00:10:43.446 I took all the diplomas that I had obtained off my wall because they used to define who I was, telling me what I was supposed to do. 00:10:43.446 --> 00:10:48.364 My identity is not in my education or it's not in my job. 00:10:49.745 --> 00:10:51.870 A 24-year-old woman once said this. 00:10:51.870 --> 00:11:03.508 She said, and she was put in jail because she had really she had been she committed fraud because she'd accumulated designer clothes and she said I don't know who I am without my stuff. 00:11:03.508 --> 00:11:40.793 You are not your stuff, you're not your money, you're not your clothes, you're not your house, it's not the car that you drive, it's not the group that you belong to, it's not the political party that you hold to, it's not your country, it's not your sports team, the celebrity you try to imitate, the entertainment that you pursue, and those all may be factors in maybe forming our identity, but they're sort of failed attempts to achieve that. 00:11:40.793 --> 00:11:44.306 They're not who you are and they're certainly not who God says you are. 00:11:44.306 --> 00:11:50.741 You know what I found that, and probably you have too. 00:11:50.741 --> 00:11:58.514 Social media tries to conform us to its identity, making us what focus on ourselves instead of on the one who made us. 00:11:58.514 --> 00:12:02.908 You are made in the image of God and God gets to call that shot. 00:12:02.908 --> 00:12:04.431 He gets to decide who you are. 00:12:04.431 --> 00:12:10.688 Our identity, our true identity, flows from understanding, that made in the image of God. 00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:12.994 John Calvin once said. 00:12:12.994 --> 00:12:17.226 He said without knowledge of God, there is no knowledge of self. 00:12:17.226 --> 00:12:24.767 So to fail to live out of our identity you know what it does it results for us in a crisis. 00:12:24.767 --> 00:12:27.793 I'm talking about disciples here, followers of Jesus. 00:12:27.793 --> 00:12:42.264 If you fail to live out of your identity in Christ, it creates a crisis not only for you, because you sort of live in that tension of I'm not what I should be, but I know that that's not what I am, and it also creates a crisis for the world. 00:12:42.264 --> 00:12:43.066 Because, guess what? 00:12:43.066 --> 00:12:50.788 If you are to be in the world and be what Jesus calls you to be, the world loses out, and it's so critical. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:58.950 Jesus reminds us then of who we are in this passage, and the first thing he said is you are the salt of the earth. 00:12:58.950 --> 00:13:01.904 We heard that phrase. 00:13:01.904 --> 00:13:05.028 Sometimes Somebody says, well, he or she is the salt of the earth. 00:13:05.028 --> 00:13:10.272 What did Jesus mean when he said this to these followers? 00:13:10.272 --> 00:13:16.279 Salt, you see, back in that day, had a number of uses and I don't have time to list them all here. 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:21.753 But the most important function that salt provided was it was a preservative. 00:13:21.753 --> 00:13:23.683 It preserved things. 00:13:23.683 --> 00:13:26.631 Food, specifically, we take for granted. 00:13:26.631 --> 00:13:29.847 I think that we have refrigeration in our day. 00:13:29.847 --> 00:13:31.753 We just put the meat in there and it cools. 00:13:31.753 --> 00:13:32.601 It keeps it cool. 00:13:32.601 --> 00:13:49.291 They didn't have that back then, certainly not in this day for sure, and the only way to preserve meat was to soak it, or put the salt on it and press it into the meat, or put it in brine and let it soak there. 00:13:49.291 --> 00:13:52.490 And that was true right on up into the 20th century. 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:56.004 We didn't have refrigeration Without salt. 00:13:56.004 --> 00:13:56.505 What would happen? 00:13:56.505 --> 00:14:00.432 The heat would quickly make it spoil and decay. 00:14:01.501 --> 00:14:05.043 I want you to listen to one of the early missionaries who kind of describes this. 00:14:05.043 --> 00:14:12.383 In a place like the Mideast where he served, he said and this was years ago he said this was absolutely imperative. 00:14:12.383 --> 00:14:19.894 Under the high temperatures and hot weather of the region, decay and decomposition of meat was astonishingly rapid. 00:14:19.894 --> 00:14:22.802 We had no winter weather or cool, frosty nights to chill the flesh. 00:14:22.802 --> 00:14:24.765 We had no winter weather or cool, frosty nights to chill the flesh. 00:14:24.765 --> 00:14:30.615 Besides this, swarms of ubiquitous flies soon hovered over the butchered carcasses. 00:14:30.615 --> 00:14:43.179 The only way to prevent them from ruining the meat was to soak the slabs of meat in a strong solution of salt. 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:45.543 You know those missionaries in that day that was kind of the norm. 00:14:45.543 --> 00:14:55.275 They said that when David Livingstone died and they were wanting to get his body back to England, they used salt to preserve it. 00:14:55.275 --> 00:15:12.169 The person who was his servant actually took out his heart and buried it there in Africa and they sent his body back, after soaking it in salt, to Westminster Abbey for burial, and so those things were really common. 00:15:12.250 --> 00:15:14.861 So possibly Jesus, then I just say all that. 00:15:14.861 --> 00:15:26.491 To say Jesus possibly meant he's saying that we prevent the decay of the world, and that's true when we step out and do what Jesus calls us to do. 00:15:26.491 --> 00:15:35.260 The world, you see, is decomposing, it's decaying, it's rotting away and Jesus is calling us to step out and be a preservative. 00:15:35.260 --> 00:15:39.890 Left to itself the culture, just like you're seeing right now. 00:15:39.890 --> 00:15:41.453 It will deteriorate. 00:15:41.453 --> 00:15:43.764 So what does that say about the church? 00:15:43.764 --> 00:15:46.412 Where's the church? 00:15:47.820 --> 00:16:00.846 You know, years ago, and just trying to give you a little understanding of what it means to be Saul here, I think I was eight years old and I was standing out at a church right before the service began and most of the people had gone inside. 00:16:00.846 --> 00:16:11.894 My dad and the rest of my parents were inside, brothers and sisters, and my uncle, who was the worship leader, was a little bit late, but he was there in the front. 00:16:11.894 --> 00:16:20.725 There was a little yard in front of the church and all at once I heard him yelling stop it, stop that right now, stop it. 00:16:20.725 --> 00:16:30.583 And then I saw him hurriedly run into the church and I followed him in there and I was like what in the world, even at eight years old? 00:16:30.583 --> 00:16:33.371 He says Sonny, sonny, which is my dad's name. 00:16:33.371 --> 00:16:33.880 He says Sonny. 00:16:33.880 --> 00:16:40.629 I told the man that he was beating his wife and I told him to stop, and he's coming after me. 00:16:40.629 --> 00:16:45.649 So you know he was sometimes, you know, spoke before. 00:16:45.649 --> 00:16:53.780 He thought a lot of times, but he was willing to step out and have enough courage to tell the man something he needed to hear. 00:16:53.780 --> 00:17:02.884 And this is what we do if we're following Jesus At sometimes the cost, the risk to ourselves could be greater than we know. 00:17:02.884 --> 00:17:06.252 And I don't remember what happened to that guy. 00:17:06.252 --> 00:17:13.989 I suppose he got afraid and he quit because there was a whole church full of people in there, maybe, but I don't know. 00:17:13.989 --> 00:17:15.011 I don't know what happened. 00:17:15.011 --> 00:17:28.086 Just that memory stuck in my mind that my uncle was willing to say something when nobody else would Right, you know, our presence in the world is meant to retard decay. 00:17:28.086 --> 00:17:52.096 And if you think of yourself as a salty Christian and I'm not talking about in a self-righteous or condescending or condemning way, but generally through our presence and through the words we say, we can make a tangible difference by what we are in the world, through the words we say, we can make a tangible difference by what we are in the world. 00:17:52.156 --> 00:17:56.840 Question let me ask you who was the first salty Christian in the New Testament? 00:17:56.840 --> 00:17:59.123 You think let's ask Jesus. 00:17:59.123 --> 00:18:05.248 John the Baptist is who I'm thinking? 00:18:05.248 --> 00:18:07.450 John. 00:18:07.450 --> 00:18:08.691 Remember what John John? 00:18:08.691 --> 00:18:19.198 He not only looked the part, but he acted the part, right, rough, but willing to say what needed to be said. 00:18:19.198 --> 00:18:20.760 Remember what he did More than one time, john the Baptist. 00:18:20.760 --> 00:18:32.356 He rebuked King Herod if you remember the Gospels for divorcing his wife and marrying his niece Herodias, who had been his brother, philip's wife. 00:18:32.356 --> 00:18:34.622 And you remember what happened to John? 00:18:34.622 --> 00:18:37.488 He got his head chopped off. 00:18:38.875 --> 00:18:42.969 But remember what Jesus said about him in Matthew 11? 00:18:42.969 --> 00:18:44.755 I'll just read it, matthew 11,. 00:18:44.755 --> 00:18:48.460 He says truly, I say to you, john was Jesus' cousin. 00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:55.530 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. 00:18:55.530 --> 00:19:03.434 Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 00:19:03.434 --> 00:19:04.855 And I think Jesus was just. 00:19:04.855 --> 00:19:05.317 Why did he say that? 00:19:05.317 --> 00:19:12.309 I think he was so admiring what Jesus, or what John was willing to do to step out and be what he needed to be. 00:19:12.309 --> 00:19:14.281 This is Jesus who's calling us all to this. 00:19:14.281 --> 00:19:16.962 We're to be salty, you see, because, why? 00:19:16.962 --> 00:19:21.429 Because God so loved the world that he was willing to send his son. 00:19:21.429 --> 00:19:25.306 Can you imagine a more salty action than that? 00:19:25.306 --> 00:19:28.965 Willing to send his son to die, to take on the sins of you and me. 00:19:28.965 --> 00:19:33.444 That's a salty God and a salty Savior. 00:19:38.715 --> 00:19:50.076 I can still remember my trip to Israel years ago I think I was in college and during the travels, you know, you travel days and days and days and you start to get tired and I sit down. 00:19:50.076 --> 00:20:08.362 We were riding on the tour bus and I sit down to this German lady who was on the tour with us and she had lived through World War II in Germany, had gone through that whole thing and her family had experienced that, and I said that's interesting, could you tell me about that? 00:20:08.362 --> 00:20:12.265 And she just kind of did like this, shaking her head. 00:20:12.265 --> 00:20:17.281 She said I can't talk about that and I thought why not? 00:20:17.281 --> 00:20:19.740 And I asked her about it. 00:20:19.740 --> 00:20:24.259 She said it's difficult, so many knew, but they never said anything. 00:20:24.259 --> 00:20:33.846 When the Nazis came and killed all the Jews, she said we knew, even the Christians knew, but no one said anything. 00:20:33.846 --> 00:20:41.761 And I think she was just ashamed because she had not spoken up and become like this. 00:20:41.761 --> 00:20:43.266 What Jesus was calling us to. 00:20:43.266 --> 00:20:51.463 So Jesus, I think, is at least telling us to be a preservative for the world and the evil that's going on around us. 00:20:51.954 --> 00:20:55.506 Number two there's another primary use of salt that I think Jesus is getting at here. 00:20:55.506 --> 00:21:04.083 He specifically ties salt and look at the text to salt affecting our taste or the world's taste. 00:21:04.083 --> 00:21:06.181 And boy we understand that, don't we? 00:21:06.181 --> 00:21:08.887 How many of you like salt to salt your eggs Good. 00:21:08.887 --> 00:21:09.672 How many like them without salt? 00:21:09.672 --> 00:21:10.154 To salt your eggs Good. 00:21:10.154 --> 00:21:12.521 How many like them without salt? 00:21:12.521 --> 00:21:17.705 Sometimes you have to Salt, or maybe your steak off the grill or a burger. 00:21:18.715 --> 00:21:22.365 Most of the time we put salt in a lot of foods because what does it do? 00:21:22.365 --> 00:21:29.924 It adds flavor, it enhances the taste, and salt gives just a little tang to whatever we put on it. 00:21:29.924 --> 00:21:31.441 And it's just kind of amazing. 00:21:31.441 --> 00:21:32.740 It doesn't take a lot, does it? 00:21:32.740 --> 00:21:35.022 Just a pinch sometimes will do the job. 00:21:35.022 --> 00:21:39.025 And I think we need to keep that in mind when we think about what Jesus is saying here. 00:21:39.355 --> 00:21:40.180 But he says this. 00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:46.817 He says in verse 13, if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 00:21:46.817 --> 00:21:52.442 It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. 00:21:52.442 --> 00:21:56.305 And his words seem a little bit obscure. 00:21:56.305 --> 00:22:00.387 If you know anything about salt, a pure salt never loses its flavor. 00:22:00.387 --> 00:22:04.329 Sodium chloride it's stable, it has a stable chemical property. 00:22:04.329 --> 00:22:05.730 It doesn't lose its flavor. 00:22:05.730 --> 00:22:07.932 So what is Jesus talking about? 00:22:07.932 --> 00:22:10.195 What's he getting at here? 00:22:10.195 --> 00:22:24.747 Well, back then most natural salt was either taken from salt marshes or maybe even the Dead Sea, and when it was there it would dry out in the sun and the deposits would contain a lot of times, a lot of impurities. 00:22:24.747 --> 00:22:28.825 And whenever it was exposed to the elements, guess what would happen? 00:22:28.825 --> 00:22:29.428 The salt would wash away. 00:22:29.428 --> 00:22:29.801 And what would happen? 00:22:29.801 --> 00:22:34.631 The salt would wash away and it would just leave essentially the dirt, no salt. 00:22:35.372 --> 00:22:54.446 And I think this is kind of the imagery that Jesus is trying to get at, maybe trying to say when the world gets into the church, it dilutes our testimony, it dilutes what we have to say to the world and carelessly allowing the impurities of the world to get into us. 00:22:54.446 --> 00:23:02.268 And I think this is a powerful indictment on disciples who have lost their distinctiveness. 00:23:02.268 --> 00:23:08.665 The title of the message is the Christian Distinctive, so we no longer have anything to contribute to society. 00:23:08.665 --> 00:23:12.656 Maybe that's where we, a bit we are today. 00:23:12.656 --> 00:23:30.364 When the church looks like the world, when it compromises, when it, when it gives up its truth and its values and the practices it holds, jesus says it becomes tasteless, bland, even worthless to God's purposes. 00:23:30.364 --> 00:23:30.945 In the world. 00:23:30.945 --> 00:23:34.082 The world, you see, doesn't respect Christianity. 00:23:34.082 --> 00:23:36.327 When it gets like this, what does it do? 00:23:36.327 --> 00:23:41.857 It just ignores it and kind of. 00:23:41.857 --> 00:23:45.106 You know this is a sort of deserved persecution. 00:23:45.106 --> 00:23:54.608 When the world doesn't oppose us and it just doesn't care, you know what it does. 00:23:54.608 --> 00:23:58.742 It's just a simple contempt for us, just complete disinterest in the church. 00:23:58.742 --> 00:24:18.045 I don't want you to feel like Jesus' words are hopeless, because when he says it's lost its savor, I think he's trying to tell disciples don't lose this, because you know what he doesn't say you should look like salt. 00:24:18.045 --> 00:24:21.661 He says you are salt, this is your identity. 00:24:21.661 --> 00:24:23.118 You carry this. 00:24:23.118 --> 00:24:28.126 But for Jesus, a tasteless Christian is an ineffective Christian. 00:24:30.316 --> 00:24:38.268 Our English word is kind of a good word to think about this, and I put this on here because I think it is a good word to look at this definition by Webster's. 00:24:38.268 --> 00:24:47.247 The word insipid may not be a common word for you, but it's a word that Webster's describes it. 00:24:47.247 --> 00:24:51.586 It describes us losing what we offer really well. 00:24:51.586 --> 00:25:03.106 The word means lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate or challenge Dull, flat, lacking taste or savor. 00:25:03.106 --> 00:25:06.423 You know what Jesus is, I think, warning us about. 00:25:06.423 --> 00:25:09.663 He's warning us about being boring Christians. 00:25:09.663 --> 00:25:12.623 The world doesn't have anything to look at. 00:25:12.623 --> 00:25:18.667 We ought to be the most dynamic, exciting, creative people in all the world. 00:25:22.016 --> 00:25:30.086 Here's something else, and I think it's a little bit more subtle even than that, and maybe warning us of losing something that's more significant. 00:25:30.086 --> 00:25:36.923 Even the word for taste here in verse 13 is the word merino in the Greek, and it's not the normal word for taste. 00:25:36.923 --> 00:26:00.486 This word literally means to become foolish, and so what sounds like a totally inappropriate verb in the sentence really is a metaphorical way of symbolizing the wisdom which the disciples ought to be showing, ought to be exhibiting, and when we lose the wisdom that God gives us, we have nothing to give away to the world. 00:26:00.486 --> 00:26:01.107 Because why? 00:26:01.107 --> 00:26:11.907 Because the church a lot of times loses the wisdom that God gives us, and we reject the truth of God and prefer the way we think of things worldly wisdom. 00:26:11.907 --> 00:26:13.560 And guess what this is saying? 00:26:13.560 --> 00:26:37.007 It's the church that takes on the character of a fool, so that there's a little bit of suggestion here of there's a moral deficiency going on that's inherent in the idea of being a fool, and so this is a failure, a moral failure, and so we fail to align ourself with the truth of God, we lose our ability to be salt in the world. 00:26:37.007 --> 00:26:42.242 It's what I think he's getting at, and so it's a significant warning. 00:26:42.423 --> 00:26:48.363 Someone can ask, I think, at this point, how do you then become a salty Christian? 00:26:48.363 --> 00:26:50.528 And that's the wrong question. 00:26:50.528 --> 00:26:57.683 You already are, simply by being in vital connection to him. 00:26:57.683 --> 00:27:10.804 So we're not challenged to be salty, we're challenged to stay salty, to remain faithful to what we are, what he's made us to be, and so I think this is a good reminder for us. 00:27:10.804 --> 00:27:12.916 You are the salt of the earth. 00:27:12.916 --> 00:27:15.823 Think about that. 00:27:16.944 --> 00:27:19.636 Jesus gives us another metaphor about our Christian identity. 00:27:19.636 --> 00:27:20.638 I think it's so essential. 00:27:20.638 --> 00:27:22.804 It's you are the light of the world. 00:27:22.804 --> 00:27:25.175 You are the light of the world. 00:27:25.175 --> 00:27:28.440 Salt is different, isn't it, than light in its purpose. 00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:35.307 Light gets rid of the darkness by just doing one thing shining. 00:27:35.307 --> 00:27:37.269 Shining. 00:27:37.269 --> 00:27:42.498 And where there's light, people can find their way. 00:27:42.498 --> 00:27:44.102 In the darkness, everything becomes clear. 00:27:44.102 --> 00:27:50.877 If they don't stumble, they're not lost when the light is turned on and I'm talking about spiritually. 00:27:50.877 --> 00:27:53.000 For us, ours is a reflected light. 00:27:53.561 --> 00:27:55.726 Think about these verses John 8, 12 through 13,. 00:27:55.726 --> 00:27:57.608 Jesus said I am the light of the world. 00:27:57.608 --> 00:28:06.869 Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. 00:28:06.869 --> 00:28:11.423 And in John 9, 5, he said as long as I'm in the world, I am the light of the world. 00:28:11.423 --> 00:28:12.266 Now think with me on. 00:28:12.266 --> 00:28:16.522 This is what happened when Jesus left this world. 00:28:16.522 --> 00:28:17.444 Who did he send? 00:28:17.444 --> 00:28:19.848 He sent the Holy Spirit, right. 00:28:19.848 --> 00:28:23.363 And when he was gone he said the Holy Spirit would do one thing. 00:28:23.363 --> 00:28:29.326 He said the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. 00:28:29.326 --> 00:28:34.842 So how does it happen if the world doesn't know, doesn't have that connection with God? 00:28:34.842 --> 00:28:38.602 Because you're going to carry that? 00:28:38.602 --> 00:28:52.198 Only through us, because we're indwelt by the Spirit, have the capacity to give the world what it needs to hear the message about Christ and the gospel, about sin and righteousness and judgment. 00:28:52.577 --> 00:28:57.228 Jesus calls us to a visible demonstration of the light within us. 00:28:57.228 --> 00:28:58.717 That's what he's saying here. 00:28:58.717 --> 00:29:02.994 He literally calls us this is the way it's written the light of the cosmos. 00:29:02.994 --> 00:29:04.416 The light of the cosmos, it's a different word than we might think. 00:29:04.416 --> 00:29:04.798 It's not like dirt. 00:29:04.798 --> 00:29:07.721 The light of the cosmos, it's a different word than we might think. 00:29:07.721 --> 00:29:11.487 It's not like dirt, it's like the world system. 00:29:11.487 --> 00:29:19.855 You're the light of the world system, not the physical earth, but the world system. 00:29:19.994 --> 00:29:21.278 And notice three things he says about us, about the light here. 00:29:21.278 --> 00:29:21.740 Number one he tells us. 00:29:21.740 --> 00:29:27.876 First of all, jesus tells us where we are light and what he's saying. 00:29:27.876 --> 00:29:29.882 Our Christian influence has to be out there. 00:29:29.882 --> 00:29:31.846 It has to be prominent, it has to be visible. 00:29:31.846 --> 00:29:35.214 This is in verse 14 and 15. 00:29:35.214 --> 00:29:41.803 And it's notable here that Jesus uses the plural when he says you are the light of the world. 00:29:42.996 --> 00:29:50.942 In East Tennessee, y'all are the light of the world, all of you who belong to Christ. 00:29:50.942 --> 00:29:56.980 And what we do, we so often think in terms of me, myself and I, what I've got to do. 00:29:56.980 --> 00:30:03.856 And I think his word to us is no, you are that, but I'm really talking about this. 00:30:03.856 --> 00:30:09.044 If anything, jesus is speaking, at some level, of many lights together. 00:30:09.044 --> 00:30:18.940 If I have a pin light and I have 10,000 pin lights, it looks like bigger than a little light. 00:30:18.940 --> 00:30:19.882 Right, I have a picture here. 00:30:19.882 --> 00:30:20.765 I want you to see this. 00:30:20.765 --> 00:30:32.247 This is a picture of a NASA space station going over the United States and you can see the cities that are out in the rural areas and they just have a little bit of light. 00:30:32.247 --> 00:30:42.124 Sometimes you can just barely see them, but for the cities that have multiple lights, it's so easy to see Cities set on a hill. 00:30:42.124 --> 00:30:44.749 So See, we're to be visible in. 00:30:45.170 --> 00:30:49.858 I think Jesus is saying we're to be visible in a practical way in the public space. 00:30:49.858 --> 00:30:53.093 Are you light where you work? 00:30:53.093 --> 00:30:56.593 Are you light out in the community? 00:30:56.593 --> 00:31:00.994 A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 00:31:00.994 --> 00:31:02.991 He's the one that sets us on the hill. 00:31:02.991 --> 00:31:05.933 Our task is to turn the light on to shine. 00:31:05.933 --> 00:31:06.689 City on the hill. 00:31:06.689 --> 00:31:07.557 Our task is to turn the light on to shine. 00:31:07.557 --> 00:31:13.617 City on the hill emphasizes what it emphasizes the corporate power of being light in the public square. 00:31:14.424 --> 00:31:22.836 Boy, this is something we're missing, something that we need, and I think also we're to be visible in our homes. 00:31:22.836 --> 00:31:25.712 Since this is Father's Day, word to you, father. 00:31:25.712 --> 00:31:33.238 He says or you put it on a stand, and it gives light to what All in the house A practical application would be. 00:31:33.238 --> 00:31:36.465 Are you being light in your house, men? 00:31:36.465 --> 00:31:39.192 You are the prophet, priest and king in your home. 00:31:39.192 --> 00:31:58.510 You're the one that carries the light, you're the one that leads out in spiritual matters to bring the word to bear on your family life, maybe the prayer life, and I just challenge you, if you're not doing that, just step out and be light in your family. 00:31:58.510 --> 00:32:04.248 This is a transformative place where everything changes is out of the family. 00:32:04.248 --> 00:32:04.990 Boy. 00:32:04.990 --> 00:32:06.011 We got to recapture that. 00:32:06.011 --> 00:32:06.393 Folks. 00:32:06.393 --> 00:32:08.617 We're going to be visible. 00:32:10.025 --> 00:32:12.451 You know, I heard a little boy one time in Sunday school. 00:32:12.451 --> 00:32:21.385 He was taught that Jesus was the light of the world and after class he went up to his teacher and he said if Jesus is the light, he's really the light of the world. 00:32:21.385 --> 00:32:24.388 I wish he'd come out and hang out at my house. 00:32:24.388 --> 00:32:25.549 It's really dark there. 00:32:25.549 --> 00:32:29.614 We need this. 00:32:29.614 --> 00:32:30.755 We need this so much. 00:32:30.755 --> 00:32:37.500 The consequences of people living in spiritual darkness, you see, is tragic and it's devastating. 00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:44.457 And Jesus is simply telling us stop hiding your light. 00:32:44.457 --> 00:32:45.207 Stop hiding your light. 00:32:45.207 --> 00:32:51.006 Jesus not only tells us where we are light in prominent places, he tells us. 00:32:51.006 --> 00:32:54.355 Secondly, jesus tells us how we are light. 00:32:55.066 --> 00:33:02.365 Our Christian influence, I think he says here, is simply when you're light, be an attractive, light, be attractive. 00:33:02.365 --> 00:33:06.031 Verse 16 says In the same way let your light shine before others. 00:33:06.031 --> 00:33:14.364 Highlight so that they may see your good works. 00:33:14.364 --> 00:33:17.037 So they've got something to look at that lets them know. 00:33:17.037 --> 00:33:20.308 There's something different about you and me, the word good in this expression. 00:33:20.308 --> 00:33:23.057 There's different words for good. 00:33:23.057 --> 00:33:29.147 This one is a word that usually describes something that has an attractive form or appearance to it. 00:33:30.169 --> 00:33:39.730 So, rather than maybe the content of a thing, and I just think of practically just simple acts of kindness. 00:33:39.730 --> 00:33:56.429 I was out, I don't remember, a month or so ago and we were in Walmart and I'm not, you know, thinking anything about it, but the lady couldn't reach something at the top, trying to get some things at the grocery store and she's just kind of looking around. 00:33:56.429 --> 00:34:01.789 Nobody was helping her and it was a little taller than I am because I'm a little short myself. 00:34:01.789 --> 00:34:03.634 But I said let's see if we can get that for you. 00:34:03.634 --> 00:34:13.065 Those little things like that, simple acts of kindness, can communicate volumes and I think the Holy Spirit can give each one of us times and places. 00:34:13.065 --> 00:34:18.157 He just prompts us to say go, do that for that person. 00:34:18.157 --> 00:34:20.251 Let them know who you are. 00:34:22.465 --> 00:34:28.733 Ephesians 5, 8, 9 says for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 00:34:28.733 --> 00:34:37.159 Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. 00:34:37.159 --> 00:34:40.211 Good, right and true. 00:34:40.211 --> 00:34:48.835 This is the lifestyle that we're to lead, and I think how we do, what we do, matters to God, really matters to God. 00:34:48.835 --> 00:34:55.153 Well, there's a third thing Jesus tells us not only where and how we're to be like, he tells us why. 00:34:55.153 --> 00:35:00.536 Why we're like Our Christian influence is to be purposeful, intentional. 00:35:00.536 --> 00:35:03.192 Verse 16 says so that why? 00:35:03.192 --> 00:35:04.630 Why are we doing these good works? 00:35:04.630 --> 00:35:06.610 So they may see them. 00:35:06.610 --> 00:35:07.413 And what? 00:35:07.413 --> 00:35:10.588 Give glory to your Father who is in heaven. 00:35:10.588 --> 00:35:16.505 This is the ultimate purpose of being light, isn't it that we glorify God? 00:35:16.505 --> 00:35:18.172 You say, what does that mean? 00:35:18.172 --> 00:35:27.186 To glorify God means to let people see God's attributes, that he's good, that he's kind, that he's faithful, that he's loving All these things that are the character of God. 00:35:27.186 --> 00:35:33.375 He wants people to see that in your life and sort of, as I say, be a reflection of who he is. 00:35:33.375 --> 00:35:44.969 Proverbs 4.18 says the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 00:35:44.969 --> 00:35:50.318 Brian Bill gives a really great example of this when he writes this little story. 00:35:50.318 --> 00:35:59.541 He says During the summer between my first and second year at Moody Bible Institute, I had the privilege of teaching at a Bible college in Zimbabwe, africa. 00:36:00.425 --> 00:36:03.956 This experience marked my life and ministry in countless ways. 00:36:03.956 --> 00:36:12.331 One of the memories I have is how dark it was at night Because we were in a rural area. 00:36:12.331 --> 00:36:14.717 There were no streetlights or neon signs. 00:36:14.717 --> 00:36:17.914 When the sun went down it was pitch dark. 00:36:17.914 --> 00:36:27.313 During the first week we had an activity at the Bible school at night and when it was over I headed to the dormitory which was located about a quarter of a mile away. 00:36:27.313 --> 00:36:31.349 Over, I headed to the dormitory which was located about a quarter of a mile away. 00:36:31.349 --> 00:36:35.115 I somehow got separated from others and found myself walking in deep darkness across the soccer field. 00:36:35.115 --> 00:36:40.597 I felt disoriented, distressed, alone and afraid. 00:36:40.597 --> 00:36:44.208 I knew the dorm was at the end of the field, but I couldn't see anything. 00:36:44.208 --> 00:36:48.945 It was so dark I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. 00:36:48.945 --> 00:36:55.706 I kept walking very slowly, squinting in the hopes of finding some sort of light to guide my way. 00:36:55.706 --> 00:37:01.898 I finally saw the faint beam from a classmate's flashlight and made my way back. 00:37:04.125 --> 00:37:13.827 You think that might be how the world might see us the light that brings hope in the darkness. 00:37:13.827 --> 00:37:16.690 I saw a recent article called the Power of Light. 00:37:16.690 --> 00:37:21.313 It kind of caught my attention and it goes like this. 00:37:21.313 --> 00:37:23.034 It says there's been a light from the beginning. 00:37:23.034 --> 00:37:25.998 In all its forms, visible and invisible. 00:37:25.998 --> 00:37:27.599 It saturates the universe. 00:37:28.599 --> 00:37:30.601 No one is exactly sure how to describe it. 00:37:30.601 --> 00:37:36.914 It's a measure of light's importance in our daily lives that we hardly pay any attention to it. 00:37:36.914 --> 00:37:41.096 Light is almost like air, it's a given. 00:37:41.096 --> 00:37:46.644 A human would no more linger over the concept of light than a fish would ponder the notion of water. 00:37:46.644 --> 00:38:04.255 There are exceptions, certain moments of sudden appreciation when a particular manifestation of light, a transitory glory appears a rainbow, a sunset, a pulse of heat lightning in a dark sky, the shimmering surface of the sea at twilight. 00:38:06.065 --> 00:38:09.856 Usually, though, we don't see the light, we merely see with it. 00:38:09.856 --> 00:38:13.349