Hand The World A Shaker And Turn On The Light Part 2

HAND THE WORLD A SHAKER AND TURN ON THE LIGHT

THE SIMILITUDES, PART 2

MATTHEW 5:13–16 “YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH. BUT IF THE SALT LOSES ITS SALTINESS, HOW CAN IT BE MADE SALTY AGAIN? IT IS NO LONGER GOOD FOR ANYTHING, EXCEPT TO BE THROWN OUT AND TRAMPLED BY MEN. 14 “YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. A CITY ON A HILL CANNOT BE HIDDEN. 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. 16 IN THE SAME WAY, LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE MEN, THAT THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD DEEDS AND PRAISE YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.

PROPOSITION: BE WHO WE ARE

OPENING ILLUSTRATION: IN 1833, HORATIO GREENOUGH WAS PAID $5,000 TO SCULPT A HEROIC STATUE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON FOR THE NATION’S CAPITAL ROTUNDA. HORATIO WENT TO FLORENCE, ITALY, EMERGING SEVERAL YEARS LATER WITH A 20-TON MARBLE STATUE. WHEN LONGSHOREMEN STARTED TO HOIST THE STATUE ONTO A BOAT, THE ROPE BROKE AND THE GIANT GEORGE WASHINGTON SANK IN THE MUD. SO U.S. NAVY SENT A BATTLESHIP TO ITALY, FISHED POOR GEORGE OUT OF THE DRINK AND TOOK HIM TO NEW YORK.

BECAUSE RAILROAD TUNNELS BETWEEN NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON WEREN’T BIG ENOUGH, THEY TOOK THIS HUGE STATUE ALL THE WAY DOWN SOUTH TO NEW ORLEANS AND FORWARDED HIM BY VARIOUS ROUTES, WITHOUT TUNNELS, TO WASHINGTON, D.C. THIS ARTISTIC ENTERPRISE NOW HAD GONE FROM $5000 TO $26,000.

THE UNVEILING CEREMONY FINALLY CAME TEN YEARS LATER ON GEORGE’S BIRTHDAY, 1843. THE NAVY BAND PLAYED AND LAWMAKERS MADE SPEECHES TO THE CROWD THAT HAD GATHERED FOR THE WONDERFUL OCCASION. THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE PULLED THE STRING TO UNVEIL THE STATUE, AND THERE WAS GEORGE WASHINGTON, TWICE AS BIG AS LIFE, SCANTILY CLAD AS A ROMAN SENATOR!

OVER CAPITOL HILL ROSE A HORRIFIED GASP. AFTER WEEKS OF BITTER DEBATE, CONGRESS DECIDED TO BUILD A WOODEN SHED FOR $1,600 TO NOW HIDE THE STATUE. BY 1908, AROUND 65 YEARS LATER, THE SHED WAS SO WEATHER-BEATEN, AND THE LAWMAKERS SO MORTIFIED, THAT THEY APPROPRIATED A FINAL $5,000 TO TEAR THE SHED DOWN AND HAUL THE SEMI-NAKED WASHINGTON, IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, TO THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE. SO, FOR DECADES IT LANGUISHED IN THE WEST WING OF THE MAIN BUILDING, ALONG WITH A ROW OF ANTIQUE PRINTING PRESSES. ALL THAT EFFORT, ALL THAT EXPENSE, ENDED UP BEING GOOD FOR NOTHING.

INTRODUCTION: WE, AS FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST HAVE THE DIVINE OPPORTUNITY TO BE A CONDUIT FOR RADICAL CHANGE IN OUR WORLD – FAR MORE THAN BEING USELESS OR GOOD FOR NOTHING. THESE TWO DECLARATIONS BY JESUS TO HIS DISCIPLES AS TO WHAT WE ARE SHOUTS LOUDLY THAT IN THIS WORLD WE ARE TO BE SOMETHING. THAT TO BE NOTHING CARRIES WITH IT DIRE CONSEQUENCES THAT ARE ETERNAL

THIS WEEK, WE CONTINUE OUR STUDY OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, WITH THE STATEMENT OF CHRIST THAT WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

TRANSITION: AS WE GET INTO THIS PORTION OF SCRIPTURE, LET US TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO REVIEW WHERE WE WERE TWO WEEKS AGO WHEN WE LOOKED AT THE FIRST SIMILITUDE – “YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.”

I. RECAP OF OUR MINISTRY AS SALT

a. SALT IS OUR DEFAULT CONDITION – “YOU ARE” IS MORE ABOUT WHO WE ARE THAN WHAT WE DO

i. WHAT WE DO PROCEEDS OUT OF WHO WE ARE

ii. THE AMERICAN DIPLOMAT AND WRITER, ELIHU BURRIT WROTE THIS, “NO HUMAN BEING CAN COME INTO THIS WORLD WITHOUT INCREASING OR DIMINISHING THE SUM TOTAL OF HUMAN HAPPINESS, NOT ONLY OF THE PRESENT BUT OF EVERY SUBSEQUENT AGE OF HUMANITY.

iii. WE HAVE A TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITY IF WE WILL EMBRACE OUR SALTINESS

ILLUSTRATION: WOODROW WILSON TOLD THE STORY OF BEING IN A BARBERSHOP ONE TIME. “I WAS SITTING IN A BARBER CHAIR WHEN I BECAME AWARE THAT A POWERFUL PERSONALITY HAD ENTERED THE ROOM. A MAN HAD COME QUIETLY IN UPON THE SAME ERRAND AS MYSELF TO HAVE HIS HAIR CUT AND SAT IN THE CHAIR NEXT TO ME. EVERY WORD THE MAN UTTERED, THOUGH IT WAS NOT IN THE LEAST DIDACTIC, SHOWED A PERSONAL INTEREST IN THE MAN WHO WAS SERVING HIM. AND BEFORE I GOT THROUGH WITH WHAT WAS BEING DONE TO ME I WAS AWARE I HAD ATTENDED AN EVANGELISTIC SERVICE, BECAUSE MR. D. L. MOODY WAS IN THAT CHAIR. I PURPOSELY LINGERED IN THE ROOM AFTER HE HAD LEFT AND NOTED THE SINGULAR AFFECT THAT HIS VISIT HAD BROUGHT UPON THE BARBER SHOP. THEY TALKED IN UNDERTONES. THEY DID NOT KNOW HIS NAME, BUT THEY KNEW SOMETHING HAD ELEVATED THEIR THOUGHTS, AND I FELT THAT I LEFT THAT PLACE AS I SHOULD HAVE LEFT A PLACE OF WORSHIP.”

JOHN F. MACARTHUR JR., MATTHEW, VOL. 1, MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY (CHICAGO: MOODY PRESS, 1985), 236.