FOCAL POINT: A VIBRANT CHURCH
ME: So, I am really not a fan of bland food. When I eat food, I want it to taste good. I want it to wake up my senses, I want to be like, yeah this is awesome. And there are just some foods that need to be seasoned so that they wake up your senses. You know, like a baked potato. I mean, have you ever eaten a baked potato without anything on it? It tastes bad doesn’t it? But if you add butter, some sour cream and most importantly some salt, it is like a party going on in your mouth. Salt makes a huge difference in the flavor of a lot of things. I mean, fresh tomatoes taste great, but have you ever added salt to one? Or cottage cheese, have you ever added salt to cottage cheese, doing that really makes the flavor of cottage cheese pop.
Have you ever thought about how important salt is for our daily lives? I mean right now, we use salt to help melt ice and snow on the sidewalks, and the streets to keep people safe, and to give us traction. Salt is also used as a preservative and purifier in canned food, and in the past salt was used to cleanse wounds and heal infections. And in Jesus’ day did you know salt was so important that it was sometimes used for money. The Roman soldiers of Jesus’ day were at times paid with it. In fact, our word “salary” comes from the Latin word salarium, which referred to the payments of the soldiers with salt. We still use the phrase saying that someone either is, or is not, “worth their salt.” We don’t think much about salt because we can get as much of it in pure form as we want. But when you are completely dependent on salt to preserve your food, and when it is so valuable that it is used in the place of money, you get a completely different perspective on salt.
WE: Take a look at our memory verse for this week. It is from Matthew 5:13. It says, “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.” Would you underline the words, you’re here to be salt seasoning that brings out the God flavors? As Christians, that is what we are here to do. We are here to be salt. We are here to be flavorful, exciting, and lively, we are to be a preservative by helping come to know Jesus Christ, to help people find healing from their wounds and pains of life, and to be compassionate, merciful and loving of all people, including our enemies so that we can help to melt the hardness of people’s hearts to the words of God.
We should be living such full flavored lives that people are drawn to God because of our saltiness—People should be drawn to God because of our joy, our peace, our patience, our kindness, our faithfulness, our gentleness, our loving attitude and our self-control. How salty, how flavorful is your life? Does your life bring out the God flavors of the earth? Do you want to live a more salty life? Well, that is what we are going to look at today. We are going to discover how to live a more salty life.
SO, TO BE SALTIER CHRISTIANS WE MUST…
GOD: LIVE EXEMPLARY LIVES
Take a look at 1 Peter 2:12. It says, “Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.” Let me ask you a question. If you were to ask the people you work with, the cashier’s at the store’s you shop at, your next door neighbors, your children, your spouse, your friends or anyone else that you spend time with, if by your life they see Christ through you, what would they say? I mean, how do you handle conflict? Do you get angry and lash out, gossip about people, or yell at the cashier? Does your speech glorify God? Do you get in on the dirty jokes at work? Do you complain about everything that you don’t like? Would your kids say that what you watch on TV reinforces your values as a Christian?
George Barna, the church statistician, says that research shows, “… the average Christian in the average church is almost indistinguishable from the rest of society. The fundamental moral and ethical difference that Christ can make in how we live, is missing. When our teens we claim to be saved, get pregnant and do drugs at the same rate as the general teenage population - when the marriages of Christians end in divorce at the same rate as the rest of society - when Christians cheat in business, or lie, steal, and cheat on their spouses at the same statistical level as those who say they are not Christians - something is horribly wrong.”
We have got to live excellent lives. But to live lives that show a watching world, which lets be honest, is tired of watching Christians who say one thing and do another, we have got to get more of God in our lives. We have got to stay connected to Him. We must constantly reflect the brilliance of Christ. But how do we reflect the brilliance of Christ? Take a look at John 15:4 in your notes. Lets read it together with a lot of enthusiasm. “Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.”
Would you underline the words, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me? You know, God has called us to be people who are salty. He wants us to be flavorful, so when we become followers of Jesus Christ, God sends the Holy Spirit to live in our lives. So we should be showing evidence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our lives. And what evidence should there be? Take a look at Galatians 5:22-23 in your notes. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Are those fruits more evident in your life today than they were a year ago? Are you more joyful and more patient, or do you find yourself still complaining about stuff as much as last year? Are you more peaceful than a year ago? Do you trust God more with your life, your money, your job or are you still worrying uncontrollably? Are you kinder than a year ago or is it still all about you and what you want? Are you more faithful than a year ago or are you less committed to your wife, your job or your church? Are you more gentle this year than last year? Or do you still lose your temper easily? You know, a couple of weeks ago, Arianna decided to warm up some of her Doritos in the microwave because they were cold, and she left them in the metallic lined bag and guess what! It started a fire in the microwave. Now, a couple of years ago, I would have flown off the handle and yelled at her for not thinking. But, God has been dealing with me on what I say to my children and how I say it. Instead, I chose to be gentle because she didn’t know any better. Are you more loving this year? Would your spouse your friends and people you don’t know say that you are devoted, caring or warm? Are you more self-controlled this year? Do you have more restraint? Are you more self-disciplined?
(Read devotional from John Piper book pp. 124-125, section that is in parenthesis.)
To be a vibrant church, that is salty, and flavorful, it is important that we live exemplary lives and living excellent lives means we will be characterized more and more every day, every week and every year by the fruit of the spirit. And to be characterized more and more by the fruit of the Spirit we must be in constant contemplation of the glory of Christ. In other words, we should constantly strive to reflect the brilliance of Christ. And for that to happen we must do what Jesus told us to do in John 15:4. Look at it again. Jesus says, “stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you…you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.”
YOU: Do you want to be a saltier Christian? Do you want to be part of a vibrant church? Then stay joined to Christ. And maybe you are wondering, how do I do that? How do I stay close to Christ? Set aside time each and every day to read and apply the Bible to your life. Get familiar with the Bible, let it soak in and become part of you. And one way you can do that is by weekly committing to memorize the memory verse each week. Another way you can stay joined to Christ is by staying connected to the church. You know, whether you believe it or not, church attendance plays a big part in our commitment to God staying strong and growing in personal holiness. Maybe committing to regular attendance at church is a step you need to take today. Another way you can stay connected to God is by getting involved in church outreach events. We are going to be giving away washer fluid today down on main street from 3-4. Maybe that is a next step you want to take today. Another way you can stay connected to God is through a strong prayer life. How often do you pray? How often do you set aside time to talk with and listen to God on a daily basis? To maintain personal holiness, we have got to stay connected to God by talking with Him on a regular basis because He is the source of holiness. And as we stay connected to God through prayer, and strive to live more holy lives, our church will be more vibrant, and powerful things will be accomplished through us. James 5:16 says, “…The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.” And a fifth way you can stay connected to God is by joining a growth group. Growth groups are starting again in about 3 weeks and we are going to be discussing a book called, the bait of Satan. Let me ask you, have any of you ever been offended by someone? Someone ever hurt your feelings? Do you want to learn to get over that? To let go of that offense and not allow it to hold you hostage anymore? Then sign up to join this growth group and together we will learn to be people who overcome the hurts of life instead of being controlled by them.
WE: So, where do you need to change your life to more vibrantly reflect the holiness of God? I hope today that each of us will seriously look into ourselves and commit to personal holiness. Personal holiness will bring out the God-flavors on this earth, and help those who don’t know God yet to see and taste the effects of God on our lives. And by being more flavorful Christians, we will be a vibrant, alive, exciting church.
Lets pray
Ushers/worship team
