Salt and light - Making a difference
Introduction: A Peanuts cartoon showed Peppermint Patty talking to Charlie Brown in which she said, "Guess what, Chuck? The first day of school, and I got sent to the principal’s office. It was your fault, Chuck."
Charlie Brown responds, "My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?"
To which she declares, "You’re my friend, aren’t you, Chuck? Then you should have been a better influence on me."
There comes a time when the influenced must take responsibility for themselves rather than blaming the influencer. One of the things I have been praying for more and more is that the light would penentrate through the darkness of this world. As I go through this message I hope you will understand why and what that means.
We often speak about the evil and darkness that is around us and it's good thing too, we must acknowledge the present state of the world. As much as we detest wickedness growing in our culture, the world detests righteousness growing in it as well.But sometime you can tell what’s really going by your opponents reaction. It seems the world can smell a revival before the church does, and it will try everything it can to keep it from happening. They flaunt their wickedness trying to beat back the light. So we have a continuous struggle between righteousness and wickedness.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." -Eph 6:12
This may surprise you but as Christians we are called to struggle, Jesus said in John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." We are not called to struggle against people who are flesh and blood, our struggle is against the spreading infection of wickedness in world systems. Do you not think that Satan is behind abortion? Do you not believe that Satan is behind Homosexual marriage? Do you not think that Satan is pulling the strings to open up gateways to demonic possession through drugs? Can you not see that what the world is calling progressive is in truth normalizing immorality and forcing it on others?
Knowing the state of the world long ago, Jesus tells us to be the difference makers in this world. Our message comes out of Matthew 5:13-16. First He tells us to be the salt of the earth.
I. Being the Salt
"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." -Mt 5:13
Salt is used to give food flavor. Some of you know I collect vintage signs, gas pumps, coke machines and a variety of things mainly from the 30's -50's. I had the opportunity to visit a place Friday that was essentially an un-opened museum. A massive collection of old porcelain, paper, metal, neon signs, old visible gas pumps, old fans, taxidermy, barber poles, old toys, old pop machines, old neon clocks, old movie posters, old advertising pieces, oddities and on and on and on. And among these wonderful things was an old piece that had a little chef at the base of plastic display with a round space near his legs and a spiral chute that you would put a hard boiled egg at the top and watch it roll down where a spike at the end would crack the egg and beside it was a salt holder. So you would pay 5 cents and roll your hard boiled egg down the chute and then peel the shell and salt it and eat it.
In that day, the piece is worthless without the salt. The earth is worthless without the Christian flavor He sprinkles on it. But if we are no longer an influence to those around us, then what good are we? If our works were once alive but are now dead, if our disposition that was once zealous for God but is now unloving, if our words that were once anointed are now graceless and our gifts that were used for God's service are not being employed at all. What good are we?
All ministers must be the same outside the pulpit as they are behind it. All Christians must be the same on the sports bleachers as they are in the pew, they are the same in the company break room as they are in the church fellowship hall. You should in no way be a blemish on the character of Christ. Packs of starving wolves are always lingering around waiting for one of the Lord's sheep to fall so they can ravage it to satisfy themelves. How sad it is to see a minister full of fire and faith suddenly become the example that nay-sayers use to justify blasphemy.
If a 100 dollar bill is shredded, it would only be good to put in confetti or stuff a pillow, but it won't have the value it used to. Spoiled meat may be fine for the dogs but not for men. Once you lose your flavor you lose your worth.
Case in point; Salt was used as an antiseptic keeping germs from growing. Dentists today tell us to rinse with salt water after a tooth is pulled for the same reason. They want to keep infection from setting in. You were placed on earth to keep the infection of sin from spreading across the earth and corrupting its people, When Lot's wife turned to look back at the sin of Sodom, she was turned into what she should have been in the first place - a cure to the spreading infection of sin.
If you are not part of the cure, you are part of the problem.
Transition: Jesus goes further into illustrating how we are to influence the world, by being the light
II. Being the Light
"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." -Mt 5:14-16
The analogy is simple: light reveals what is happening in darkness. There is an old addage that coaches used to tell their players to keep them out of trouble. "Nothing good ever happens after midnight." Many bad people operate under the cover of darkness. The earth is inherently evil since the fall of man, but Jesus is the light that uses us to shed his light to reveal the wickedness in this world so that they may know their shame and repent and accept the only way to redemption.
light is a beacon in the night shining the way to safety. A city on a hill can be seen from far away, it could not be hidden if it wanted to. Jesus is calling for us today LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!!!
The boundaries between right and wrong are dissolving. Victories are being won but unfortunately for the church they are being won for the wrong side. Because Christians are afraid to stand out. They hide their light under a bowl. They feel secure and happy because they have the light, but they hide their light rather than let it shine. They think "I can avoid the heat, if I live on easy street." "I can avoid both lanes of traffic if I stand on the center line." They are not completely in and not completely out. Lukewarm Christianity is a false Christianity. These chameleons do just enough to not be seen in the church they attend and just enough to not be seen in with the world. Jesus rebukes you! If you are not willing to get in the arena and fight the good fight with me, why do you call me your brother? I'd rather you call me your enemy because that's what you called by God!
"Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." -James 4:4
A person who loves Jesus and his agenda to shed light in dark places can not yield to a sinful world to gain its favor. This is the problem with modern church. "What fellowship does light have with darkness?" Light and darkness can not be partners.
I'm an independent contractor who does moving estimates for various moving companies and there is a rule of thumb in estimating moves for home owners. "If you made your job easier you just made it harder for someone else." That principle applies in the church. Christians have a bad habit of letting others do their working, their praying, their helping, and their fighting for them. That just makes it more difficult on your champions. These people may rejoice when a champion defends the Faith, but they rarely rally around him or defend his honor once he is attacked.
Many Christians want to ride in the victory parade but few want to put on the armor. I am so frustrated with self professed Christians who refuse to enter the arena in which God has called them and take a stand against the enemy who blatantly lies about what the Bible says or what the Bible means or about those good soldiers of Jesus Christ who are constantly harassed, insulted, slandered and mocked. The remnant with integrity in Christ fights on, but if they should stumble their faltering might well be your fault because you lacked to the courage to defend and encourage them.
Paul wrote Timothy "Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus." Join with Me! Not “pray for me” or “think of me” but J O I N. W I T H. M E.
Praise God for those who have the spine to defend the faith and are willing to charge down into the valley and fight against all the false prophets, false brethren, and false Christs who try to supplant the gospel with doctrines of demons! Praise God for those who bear the scars of ministry and whose faces are marred with blood and dirt from several tours of spiritual war. I salute the martyrs of our past who refused to trade in their Christian virtue for the worlds approval, they accepted death over the approval of their worldly peers.
Author and Lecturer Brene Brown said “If all you can do is hurl criticism from the cheap seats (while the doer of deeds fights this war for you,) then your feedback does not matter to me! Amen! If you refuse to fight the good fight with us, why should I hold your opinion in high regard?
Others need know how you feel about certain things. Some people seem to think that Jesus expects nothing from them. Not so, Jesus expects his followers to be earnest. Hebrews 11:6 says he ".. rewards those who earnestly seek him." Think of all of those who are indifferent when comes to things that are clearly condemned or commanded in God's Word, but they are fired up about things of lesser importance. One reason for their indifference is from delusion.
The way they see themselves and the way Jesus sees them are totally different. Sadly there are many who are in the outer darkness of hell that thought they were standing in and headed toward Heaven's light.
Transition: Finally tonight I want everyone to know that...
III. There is no Light without Jesus
"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12
Without Jesus there is no light within us. There are people who put on a spectacular show of righteousness that even evil men applaud, not because it glorifies God but because it glorifies man. As if goodness can come from ourselves? (Environmentalism, Veganism, Political Correctness = man making his own morality)
Even if we try to obey the word perfectly Isaiah 64:6 says “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” Rm. 3:10- “There is no one righteous not even one”
We must get it out of our minds that we can do good by ourselves. We can not! because there is no good in us. Jer. 17:9 - “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it.” However there is not only an abundant, overwhelming, unending eternal source of goodness in Jesus, Jesus IS THE ONLY source of goodness there is!
Science tells us the only reason there is darkness on earth in the first place is because the earth turns. The sun doesn't move, The earth does. The only reason we experience darkness is because we have turned from the light. When we turn ourselves away from God we have turned ourselves away from the light.
Conclusion: The only good influence we have for others is only made possible through and by Jesus.
If you think you are not making a difference in others lives, then it may be because you are not letting your light shine, you may need to examine yourself or it may be making a difference that you just are not seeing at the moment. Paul told the Corinthians "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow." Paul could've walked away discouraged, but he left it in God's hands. Apollos could've been discouraged, not seeing any fruit, but he left it in God's hands. And in the end God was making it grow.
Ill. One of the strange sights on the Dutch Windward Islands in the Caribbean is the Divi-Divi tree. Because the winds blow almost constantly from the east, all of the branches grow on one side of the tree. You can look at a Divi-Divi tree and always know which is east and which is west. The wind didn’t accomplish that in a day or a week. We do not always influence others suddenly. Sometimes it takes years. (Sermon central illustration: Robert Shannon)
Pray often and for as many as you can think of, because that alone is a large part of making a difference against the evil around us. Pray for yourself (forgiveness confession repentance) and pray for others. before you pray for others.
If you have never prayed for God to clean you on the inside, I'd like to invite you to come forward and accept the gift of salvation and begin the journey of faith with us.
