“Your Life Matters”
Matthew 5:13-20
blessed: supremely happy
How can your life matter greatly?
1. When you preserve what is valuable v.13
2. When you reveal was is reliable vv.14-16
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
John 14:6
3. When you discover what is eternal vv.17-20
Jesus is essentially revealing two truths here:
a. That He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament
b. That righteousness is different than you think. v.20
Righteousness: being made right with God
Pseudo-righteousness: works from the outside in.
Genuine righteousness: works from the inside out.
John 3:3 Philippians 3:9
“Your Life Matters”
Matthew 5:13-20
One of the posts on our website during the Secrets series (logo) was one that said, “My life doesn’t matter. I am just a waste of human skin.” It’s sad how many people believe that to one degree or another. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 5:13-20. If you don’t have a Bible, we’ll put the words up on the screen for you. A person who not only owns a Bible, but reads it, studies it, and lives by its principles is a person whose life genuinely matters.
This reminds me of a story I read recently about a lady who had 4 sons. Each left home, went to college and became successful doctors and lawyers. One evening the 4 sons were having dinner together and were discussing what to do for their elderly mother for her 90th birthday. The 1st son said, “I’ll build a big house for her.” The 2nd said, “I’ll pay for a huge media room/theatre in that house. The 3rd said “I’ll get her a new Mercedes SL600. And the 4th said, “I’m way ahead of you boys. I know Momma loved reading her Bible and since she can’t read because she can’t see, I found a parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took ten preachers and almost 8 years to teach him, but you name the chapter and verse, and the parrot can recite it word for word. It cost me $50,000 to buy it, but I sent it to her just the other day.
The mother received the gifts and sent each one of them a thank you note. To the 1st she said, “The house you built is huge, but I live in only one room but I have to pay to have the whole house cleaned. Thanks anyway.” To the 2nd she wrote: “Thanks for the Dolby sound and huge screen and the theatre that holds 50 people, but since all my friends are dead, I’ve lost my hearing, and I’m nearly blind, I’ll never use it. Thanks for the gesture.” To the 3rd she said, “Thanks for the Mercedes, but I can’t drive, I stay at home, I have my groceries delivered. But it was a nice thought.” To the 4th she wrote, “Dear Marvin: You were the only son to have the good sense to give some thought to your gift…. The chicken was delicious. Thank you so much." Love, Mama
We begin a new series today, picking up where we left off a month ago, right in the middle of the greatest sermon ever preached: The Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus revealed the secrets to kingdom living, to living the way we were created to live.
He starts out with what are called the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, blessed are the merciful, blessed are peacemakers. That word blessed: supremely happy This happiness he taught about wasn’t the happiness our culture seeks. This happiness is not based on favorable circumstances or positive feelings, it’s based on something deeper than that. It’s a SUPREME happiness that comes by living life they way He taught, the way He lived, and the way we were created to live.
And so Jesus is giving a whole new perspective on life and living. You know, most people live life a certain way thinking it will serve them well, but in the end, it doesn’t. I was visiting with someone this week who had a friend win the lottery a few years ago. What would you do if you won the lottery? Wow! I’d buy this and this and do this and this. Money would be no object and life would be awesome! But having all that money ruined his friend’s life. In fact, it’s fairly common knowledge that those who win the lottery, think it will enhance their lives, but it ends up having ruining their lives. Wrong perspective.
http://www.archimedes-lab.org/monthly_optical_ill_14.html 2 separate slides
This is what Jesus is all about—this is what Easter is all about: a whole new perspective. He points the way on how to live life to the max.
By conquering sin and death on the cross and walking out of that tomb that 1st Easter morning 2000 years ago, it means that He has a purpose and a plan for each of us. This should give us the perspective that our life matters. Your life matters to God. He wants you to live in a way where your life matters greatly.
How can your life matter greatly?
1. When you preserve what is valuable v.13 (on screen)
I’m a salt-freak. No matter what the food, as soon as I get it, I add tons of salt. When I go to the movie, I put so much salt on my popcorn, Sue can’t even eat it.
But in the ancient world, salt was absolutely critical because it was the only preservative available. Nowadays, we have all kinds of preservatives: sulfates, nitrates, benzoates. But in the ancient world, there was only one real preservative, and that was salt. Jesus is saying that when you live the way He prescribed in the Beatitudes, your life will act as a preservative.
Communities and society experience decay, don’t they? Social injustice, hatred and prejudice, theft, murder. Jesus says the one hope of the world is for you and me to be salty and preserve what is valuable.
And what is valuable? Love, compassion, mercy, generosity, humility, peaceableness, gentleness. Not that Christ-followers have the corner on the market in those values, but Christ-followers must be at the forefront of preserving these values by how we live, how we talk, how we spend or moments and money.
Through the centuries, it has been Christ-followers who have been at the front of issues like caring for orphans, abolition of slavery, & prison reform. In the 21st century, it is Christ-followers who are working to stop the slaughter of the unborn while others are putting themselves in harms way to stop human trafficking.
If you’re not involved in one of our compassion ministries, you’re missing a real blessing. Whether it’s fixing the plumbing of an elderly widow or the car of a single mom or handing out food in our food pantry to the under-resourced, when you involve yourself in that kind of activity, your life matters because you preserve what is valuable. Easter is all about preserving what is valuable, and your life matters most because you are doing just that.
2. When you reveal was is reliable vv.14-16 (on screen)
What does light do? It reveals what is real and reliable, doesn’t it? If you don’t have light, you can bang your shins on the footstool in the den or step into a hole in the back yard.
All of us have been in a conversation where the other person is explaining something we didn’t understand, and they shed a whole new light on it, right?
I’ve taken a couple of golf lessons lately because I want to beat Gary Smith every time I play him! So the instructor said, “You’ve got so many bad swing habits, you may be beyond help! But here’s one of the most obvious: you’re hands are going back here, but they ought to be out here.” When she shed light on the issue, I understood.
Jesus said that a life matters when we reveal what is reliable to those around us. There is nothing more reliable that the life and claims of Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6 So when we declare and demonstrate the good news of Jesus, we are shining for Him and pointing people to the truth.
It’s been interesting how folks are intrigued with Tim Tebow (pic) He prays before the games, he hangs with special needs kids before the game, he points to Jesus when he scores a touchdown, he gives his money away generously instead of raising his lifestyle dramatically. There is even something called, The Tebow (demo). He unashamedly gives glory to God—he shines brightly for Him.
That 1st Easter morning, Jesus shined brightly in His radiant garments when He walked out of the tomb, and ever since then, His followers have been shining for Him and pointing to Him and when we do, our life takes on a whole new meaning.
3. When you discover what is eternal vv.17-20 (on screen)
Admittedly, this passage can be a bit confusing. But when you study it, Jesus is essentially revealing two truths here:
a. That He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament
We’re going to talk more about this in the weeks to come, but it must be said here that everything the Old Testament talks about, finds its fulfillment in Jesus.
But this passage also warns us that:
b. That righteousness is different than you think. V.20 (on screen)
The Pharisees were a group of folks who knew the O.T. frontwards and backwards. They were considered THE most righteous people on the face of the earth. If you were to google their names, you’d find they were the group most likely to get to heaven. If they were your fb friends(is there a way to put a Hassidic Jew in a facebook page????), everyone would look at their lives and just know that God was happy with them. So do you get the craziness of what Jesus said? The Pharisees are not going to heaven? Are you kidding? Talk about a new perspective!
So what do you think righteousness is? Righteousness: being made right with God. Now, there is a false understanding of righteousness and a true understanding.
Pseudo-righteousness: works from the outside in. I often ask people a question: If you were to die right now, do you know for certain you have the gift of eternal life and you’re going to heaven? Many times they say something like, “I sure hope so.” Then I ask them another question: Suppose your were to die today and stand before God and He asked, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” what would you say? More times than not they say, “Well, I’m trying to obey Him, I’m trying to live right, I’m trying to do the best I can.” That’s trying to be righteous from the outside in, trying to do what you can to be in right standing with God. See, that’s the pseudo righteousness that the Pharisees had—and God is NOT impressed by that. Jesus said this approach to righteousness will keep you out of heaven.
Genuine righteousness: works from the inside out. Jesus is announcing that the righteousness that gets you into heaven is an internal righteousness; one that comes from a radically changed and regenerated heart. That’s what Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus: “I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 HCSB This is the internal regeneration necessary to enter heaven. How does it occur? The Scripture is plain on the matter. “[That I may] be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith.” Philippians 3:9 HCSB
You life matters because Jesus died for you and purchased the gift of salvation for you which He offers as a free gift. You can’t earn it. You don’t deserve it. But it is yours for the asking.
Closing illustration of someone whose life was radically changed by Jesus
