INFLUENCE IS…..
Matthew 5:13
Intro. I heard of a minister who was making a wooden trellis to support a climbing vine. As he was pounding away, he noticed that a little boy was watching him. The youngster didn’t say a word, so the preacher kept on working, thinking the lad would leave. But he didn’t. Pleased at the thought that his work was being admired, the pastor finally said, “Are you trying to pick up some pointers on gardening?” “No,” he replied. “I’m just waiting to hear what a preacher says when he hits his thumb with a hammer.” [Brian Bill, What we are called to be; sermon central ]
. People are watching
Bill was a drunk, converted at a city mission. Before his conversion he had gained a reputation as a tramp and alcoholic for whom there was no hope. But when he was converted everything changed. He became the most caring person at the mission. He spent all his days there doing whatever needed to be done. There was never anything he was asked to do that he considered beneath him. Whether it was cleaning up vomit left by some alcoholic or scrubbing toilets used by men who left them filthy, Bill did it all with a heart of gratitude. He could be counted on to feed any man who wandered in off the streets and care for his needs when he was unable to care for himself.
One evening after the mission director delivered his evangelistic message to the usual crowd of solemn men with drooped heads, one of them came down to the altar and kneeled to pray, crying out to God to help him change. The repentant drunk kept shouting, "O God make me like Bill! Make me like Bill! Make me like Bill!" The director of the mission leaned over and said, "Wouldn’t it be better if you pray , Make me like Jesus?" After thinking about it for a few seconds, the man looked up and asked, "Is he like Bill?" [sermon central ]
. People are watching.
. Way back in 1936 what people refer to as the grandfather of all self help books was written. The title of the book was, How To Win Friends And Influence People and it was written by Dale Carnegie.
. It seems that the world forgot that the definitive work on influencing people was written close to two thousand years ago.
. Our scripture today is about how we as Christians influence the world.
. Our scripture talks about how we are to preserve the goodness that is found through Jesus Christ.
. Before we read our scripture, let me give you a little history.
. In our text, Jesus is going to use a metaphor. He is going to compare His disciples top salt. As salt had a very important role in Jesus time, so did His disciples and so do we as His disciples today.
In our contemporary society, we may miss the real value of salt. For many of us, it’s just this blue container tucked away in our cupboards. Ancient societies understood the value of salt far better than we do. The Romans believed, for instance, that there was nothing as valuable as salt, except for the sun. 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 to the soldiers with salt.
. In Jesus’ day, when someone was not a very good worker the phrase “not worth his salt” was used. Now you know the rest of the story.
. In our scripture Jesus says that we are salt and light.
Matthew 5 :133“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
.The first thing I want you to see that Jesus didn’t say that you can become salt or that you should strive to become salt.
. Jesus says that you are The Salt of the world.
. You are to perform the same function in the world that salt does.
. You don’t have a choice if you are my disciple.
. If you are here this morning and have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are salt.
. To truly understand this, we need to understand the function of salt.
. The first thing we need to understand about being salt is that we are very valuable.
. Jesus could have used gold or silver or rubies to describe His followers but He didn’t.
. He chose Salt. A very costly thing in those days. The people who were listening to the sermon there on the mountain would have realized that Jesus was telling them that they were a precious commodity.
. That they were important to Him.
. Folks if you don’t hear anything else I say this morning, hear this.
. Jesus loves you today and He has plans for you.
. You are an important part of His kingdom here at MCBC.
. He describes his disciples as the most important element of their times.
. You, just like those sitting on that mountain over two thousand years ago are very valuable to Him.
. The next thing that we need to understand about being salt is that as salt, we are to PRESERVE.
. In those days there were no refrigerators or coolers to keep meats fresh so they used salt to preserve the meats.
. As you go through the grocery stores even today, you see packages of ham just sitting out on a rack with no refrigeration. They can do that by processing this meat and part of that process is the use of salt. The salt helps to cure and preserve.
. The salt stops the decay that will occur naturally in the meat.
. Christians are given the task of arresting the decay of our world.
. Christians are given the task of arresting the decay of our world.
. As salt, Christians have had a positive effect on the world.
. The most dramatic impact of Christianity on the world is that it has attached new value to human life. Prior to Christianity infanticide, and abandonment of children was a common practice.
. In Leviticus God warns the His people not to engage in child sacrifice that was common in those days.
. Hospitals as we now know them began through influence of Christianity.
. The Red Cross was started by an evangelical Christian.
. Almost every one of the first 123 colleges and universities in the United States has Christian origins, founded by Christians for Christian purposes.
.The same could be said of orphanages, adoption agencies, humane treatment of the insane, the list goes on and on of dramatic impact of Christianity in our world. [ called to be salt, John Hamby, sermon central]
. We are the preservers of the truth. We are the preservers of Gods word here on this earth.
. As the morality of the post-modern society is sliding, we must be the preservers of the morality of mankind.
George Barna, the church statistician, says that research shows that, “… 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 are a distinct and different people. When people can no longer see or tell the difference between a Christian and a lost person, we are no longer salty. We cannot be the preservative that Jesus calls us to be.
. In 2 Thessalonians 2:7 Paul writes; For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.
. Paul is saying that evil is here, it is all around us and at work day and night and Jesus is holding this evil back.
. This week we remember the attack on the twin towers in NYC and we remember the sacrifices that those firemen and policemen gave us. We pray for peace and comfort for the families that lost loved ones on that day.
. I want you to think for just a minute. Can you imagine what this world would be like without Christ in the world.
. Without salty Christians to stand up for what is right and cry out that there is a God and that He is in control through all of this.
. Without the salt of the earth to hold evil back, all hell would break lose on this world. We see what’s going to happen when the salt is removed recorded in the Revelation of John.
. This evil is held back by the church, Jesus’ disciples being salt and preserving the morality of mankind.
. Jesus uses us, the Church, to hold back the madness that will come upon the earth when the church is taken out to be with Him.
. Scripture tells us that after the rapture, when the Bride of Christ is taken to the marriage supper of the Lamb, all hell will break loose.
. Why, because, the salt, the preservative has been taken away.
. When the salt is removed, decay sets in
. We as salt are to be a preservative.
. The next thing we need to understand about salt is that it creates Thirst.
. Back when I was in high school I played football. At the end of practice everyday, one of the coaches would be at the door as we were leaving practice and he would have two of the biggest pills you would ever see. What they were was salt pills. We would work hard and loose so much salt as we practiced in this Georgia heat that they wanted to replace the salt that we had lost through sweating. These were the most gosh awful things that you have ever taken but I remember one thing about them distinctly is that after you chewed and swallowed them you could not get enough water. The thirst was almost unquenchable.
. That what salt does it creates thirst.
. Jesus is telling us that as salt. We should be creating a thirst for Him. A thirst for God in the people we come into contact with.
. As we go through our lives, people should be able to look at our lives and crave what we have. This sense of peace that comes along with being a born again Christian.
. In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul writes: 6Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.7Then you will experience God’s kpeace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
. When people see these 2 verses lived out in our lives, we are salt and people will thirst for what God has given us through Jesus Christ.
. They will see our inner peace and though they will not understand it, they will thirst for it.
. As the salt of the earth, we should create a thirst for Jesus.
. Lastly, Jesus says something here that is very hard. This is one of those hard truths that we find in the bible.
. Jesus says that if we lose our flavor then we will be thrown out and trampled underfoot and that we are good for nothing as the NKJ version puts it and the NLT that I use here says that then the salt is worthless and if we are salt, could He mean that we are worthless.
. Those are hard words so I did some research and found that in the area where Jesus lived they gathered salt all around the dead sea and many times the salt would get impurities in it. other compounds that would not necessarily make it lose its flavor but the salt would be so contaminated that it would be worthless. People would use it but with the contamination in it, it would seem to have lost some of it’s flavor and it would then be thrown out into the streets that everybody used.
. So what is Jesus telling us here.
. Is He telling us that we are worthless people? No
. What he is telling us though is that we can contaminate our lives with all kinds of things that are not pure salt and when we do, we are no longer effective salt.
. Our testimony has been compromised and people can’t see the peace that we should have in our lives anymore and we are no longer an effective witness for Him.
. Jesus sys that in order to be of value, to be worth our salt, we can’t let our lives get contaminated and cluttered with things that don’t belong there.
. When we do, We are good for nothing or worthless when it comes to witnessing for Him.
. We are to remain pure salt and share this salt with the world.
. We can’t be salty just at church, we must be salty people as a way of life.
. I read this in another sermon but it is true.
. Someone said; “Whenever the church becomes a salt warehouse rather than a distribution center it has lost its effectiveness.” [ sermon central, The influence of one, Tom Shepard ].
. Christian, you are the salt of the earth. It doesn’t matter if you want to be or not. Jesus gives you no choice.
. Will you be a salty Christian or one who lets their life get contaminated and is of no use in influencing the world for Jesus Christ.
. Are you here this morning and have never accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on he cross at Calvary. Is there a thirst for this peace that we talk about. The peace that only a relationship with Jesus Christ can give you?
