INTRODUCTION: In an episode from the classic TV series from the 1960's, "The Andy Griffith Show," Andy Taylor, the sheriff of Mayberry, is out of town. His deputy, Barney Fife, is in charge, and he has deputized the local mechanic, Gomer Pyle. The two deputies are walking down the street one evening when they notice that someone is robbing the town's bank. They quickly duck behind a car. They are afraid and don't know what to do. Finally, Gomer looks at Barney and says excitedly, "Shazam! We need to call the police."
In utter exasperation, Barney shoots back: "We are the police!"
We could say the same thing about the church, the body of Christ. We look around and realize: “We’re the ones who should do something!”
[READ Matthew 5:13-16]
POINT: Our identity in Christ implies influence for Christ
Note Jesus didn’t say “you could be salt” or “what if you were light.” He said, “You ARE the salt of the earth … you ARE the light of the world.” Who is this “you” Jesus is talking to? His disciples; his followers; us. The salt and light metaphors indicate our influence for good in the world.
Yet the very notion that Christians can exert a healthy influence in the world should give us pause. As John Stott asked, "What possible influence could the people described in the beatitudes exert in this hard, tough world? What lasting good can the poor and the meek do, the mourners and the merciful, and those who try to make peace not war? Would they simply be overwhelmed by the floodwaters of evil? What can they accomplish whose only passion is an appetite for righteousness, and whose only weapon is purity of heart? Are not such people too feeble to achieve anything, especially if they are a small minority in the world?"
In light of the countercultural perspectives that Jesus enunciated in the Beatitudes, it would be easy to assume that Jesus was calling his followers to a separatistic or quasi-monastic lifestyle. But here Jesus proclaims precisely the opposite. Christians must permeate society as agents of redemption.
The world will undoubtedly persecute the church, yet it is the church’s calling to serve this persecuting world with love and truth. Incredible as it may sound, Jesus referred to that handful of Palestinian peasants as the salt of the earth and the light of the world, so far-reaching was their influence to be.
POINT: We are the salt of the earth (13)
In the ancient world, salt was used primarily as a preservative, and secondarily for flavoring. In this first metaphor Jesus likens his disciples to salt. Implicitly he is saying that apart from his disciples, the world tends to rot; but Christians delay that decay. Christians delay decay. If our lives conform to the norms of his kingdom, we cannot help but be an influence for good in society, morally and spiritually.
The purpose of salt is to fight deterioration, and therefore it must not itself deteriorate. The worse the world becomes and the more its corruption proceeds, the more it stands in need of Jesus’ disciples. “Loses its saltiness” reads more literally “is defiled.” Salt can't actually become flavorless, but if gets mixed with various impurities (e.g. sand) it becomes useless as a preservative.
I don't believe Jesus is making a statement about eternal security with the phrase, “to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Rather, he is referring to the world’s response to Christians if we do not function as we should. Believers who fail to arrest corruption become worthless as agents of change and redemption. The church may make its peace with the world and avoid persecution, but it is thereby rendered impotent to fulfill its divinely ordained role. It will thus ultimately be rejected even by those with whom it sought compromise. It doesn't matter which party--that's just how politics works.
ILLUSTRATION: Dennis Kinlaw, former Asbury Seminary professor and Asbury College president, tells a story about growing up in rural Lumberton North Carolina during the depression. It was Dennis’ job, as a young boy, to rub salt into the meat his father brought home from hunting. He would rub salt into the meat until his young muscles ached. Finally, when it was thoroughly salted, he would hang it up in the storehouse.
One day company arrived, so Dennis’ mother asked him to get some pork out of the storehouse. Dennis ran out, got a piece of pork off of a hook, and brought it into the kitchen. He laid it on his mother‘s cutting board and left the room. The boy was just about out the front door when heard his mother yell, “Dennis!”
Young Dennis knew from experience that whenever his mother screamed his name like that he was in trouble, so he slunk his way to the kitchen and stood in the doorway afraid to go in.
Looking up at his mother from the doorway, he noticed she was not glaring at him but rather staring down at the meat.Dennis looked and noticed something unusual. He would say that it was the first time in his life he ever saw meat move. Stepping closer, he noticed maggots pouring out of the slice his mother had made into the pork.
Dennis thought for sure he was going to get it. But all Mom said was, “Not enough salt, Dennis. Not enough salt.”
Now our tendency is to want to blame Hollywood, or TV, or liberal schooling, or the government for the decay of our culture. But maybe, just maybe, the real problem is “not enough salt.” If we feel the world is decaying around us, the problem may very well be “not enough salt.”
POINT: We are the light of the world (14-16)
The second metaphor our Lord uses to describe the witness of the Christian is light. Christians are the light of the world—a world which, by implication, is shrouded in thick darkness. Light is also an evocative image. A light can be a warning (e.g. a lighthouse). It can be an attraction (a lighted window in the dark). It can be a guide (a flashlight or ligthed path). Above all, light is visible. You don’t hide a lamp under an inverted barrel; you put it on a lampstand. There is no excuse for secret discipleship. “A city set on a hill cannot be hid.”
This first light source, the city on the hill, is often underappreciated by people who live in the industrialized world where light is readily available. They do not know how very dark nature can be.
But if there is a city nearby, even a hundred miles away, the darkness is relieved. The light from the city is reflected off the clouds, and the night, once inky black, is now not so desolate. Likewise Christians who let their light shine before others cannot be hidden; and the good light they shed dispels the darkness which would otherwise be dominant.
Both metaphors of salt and light raise important questions about Christian involvement in society regarding all forms of separatism or withdrawal. We are not called to seize control of secular power structures; neither are we promised that we can Christianize the legislation and values of the world.
But we must remain active preservative agents, even irritants, in calling the world to heed God’s standards. We dare not retreat into isolated Christian enclaves to which the world pays no attention.
ILLUSTRATION: Richard Stearns, former president of World Vision, said: "The predicament of the American church is that we live in a kind of Magic Kingdom. Like going to Disneyland, you buy your ticket, and once you are inside the gates, everything you experience is controlled. The rides, the food, the shows are all there to entertain and amuse you. All you have to do is be there and observe.
"Yet just beyond the walls of Disneyland is Anaheim and the rest of Los Angeles, including the streets of Compton. This is the real world with real problems: pollution and congestion, drugs and violence, islands of upscale neighborhoods surrounded by slums. Inside the Magic Kingdom, the outside world is invisible and almost inconceivable.
"As Christians, we too are tempted to see our world that way. We can start thinking that our job is to invite a few fortunate others into the theme park, away from the troubles outside. But our job is not to increase the attendance at Disneyland; it's to tear down the walls and transform the world outside."
We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. Salt is good for nothing if its saltiness is lost; light is good for nothing if it is concealed. Our identity implies influence. Salt and light are not just distinct from their environment; They are to have a powerful influence on their environment. The salt has to be rubbed into the meat in order to stop it from rotting. The light is to shine into the darkness. It is to be set upon a lamp stand and it is to give light to the environment. That is an influence on the environment that is quite different from mere existence or survival.
But how? How do we do that? Following John Stott again, let me suggest to you four ways in which we have power to be an influence for Christ in our world.
POINT: We have power in Christ to be an influence for Christ
1. We have the power of prayer.
Now please don’t roll your eyes when I say that and dismiss this as some pious platitude. It isn't! It’s the power of prayer. There are some Christians who are so busy with ministry or so socially active that they never stop to pray. That’s a problem, isn’t it? Prayer is an indispensable part of the Christian's life and of the church's life. And the church's first duty toward society and its leaders is to pray for them.
Paul writes to Timothy, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). If in our community there is more violence than peace, more indecency than modesty, more oppression than justice, more secularism than godliness, is the reason that the church is not praying for these things?
I think most of us, myself included, are more personal than global in our prayers. But are we not global Christians? Should we not share the global concerns of our global God? And these concerns should express themselves in our prayers. Let's exercise the power of prayer.
2. We have the power of truth
We believe in the power of the truth of the gospel. With Paul we say, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). We are convinced of the power of the gospel in evangelism that it brings salvation and redemption to those who respond and believe in Jesus.
ILLUSTRATION: Something tugged at Ronald Reagan one August weekend in 1982. The President noted in his diary: “More of Saturdays work plus a long letter I have to write to Loyal. I’m afraid for him. His health is failing badly.” Loyal Davis, Reagan’s father-in-law and a neurosurgeon, was just days away from death.
Something else worried Reagan: The dying man was an atheist. Davis once wrote, “I have never been able to subscribe to the divinity of Jesus Christ nor his virgin birth. I don’t believe in his resurrection, or a heaven or hell as places.”
Reagan, on the other hand, believed everyone would face a day of judgment, and that Davis’ was near. So the most powerful man in the world put everything else aside, took pen in hand and set out on an urgent mission—to rescue one soul.
This letter was found in the Reagan Library as part of Nancy Reagan’s personal effects:
“Dear Loyal, I hope you’ll forgive me for this, but I’ve been wanting to write you ever since we talked on the phone. I’m aware of the strain you are under and believe with all my heart there is help for that. . . .
It was a miracle that a young man of 30 yrs. without credentials as a scholar or priest had more impact on the world than all the teachers, scientists, emperors, generals, and admirals who ever lived, all put together. Either he was who he said he was or he was the greatest faker & charlatan who ever lived. But would a liar & faker suffer the death he did?”
Reagan wrote out John 3:16 for his father-in-law and then added:
“We have been promised that all we have to do is ask God in Jesus name to help when we have done all we can—when we’ve come to the end of our strength and abilities and we’ll have that help. We only have to trust and have faith in his infinite goodness and mercy.”
Did the letter have any impact? Nancy Reagan, who was with Loyal Davis when he died, and who saved the letter he received from his son-in-law, would later claim that her father did turn to God at the end of his life.
Regardless of our politics, we can appreciate Mr. Reagan’s heartfelt concern and his clear presentation of the gospel.
But it isn't only the gospel that is powerful. All God's truth is powerful. God's truth of whatever kind is much more powerful than the devil's lies. Do you believe that? Do you think the devil is stronger than God? You think lies are stronger than the truth? The Christian believes that truth is stronger than lies and God is stronger than the devil.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:8, "We cannot do anything against the truth but only for the truth." John said in his prologue to the fourth Gospel, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it." Of course it cannot; it's the truth of God.
3. We have the power of example
Truth is powerful when it's argued. It's more powerful when it's exhibited. People need not only to understand what we believe. They need to see the benefits of that belief with their own eyes.
In better days and other lands, the faithful and Spirit-empowered declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ (who himself is the Light of the World, John 8:12) so transformed people that they in turn became the light of the world (14). Prison reform, medical care, trade unions, regulation of the liquor trade, abolition of slavery, abolition of child labor, establishment of orphanages, the civil rights movement—in all these areas, followers of Jesus spearheaded the drive for righteousness, and darkness was alleviated. This has always been the pattern when professing Christians have been less concerned with personal prestige and more concerned with living the kingdom.
ILLUSTRATION: John Marks, a producer for television's 60 Minutes, went on a two-year quest to investigate evangelicals, the group he had grown up among and later rejected. He wrote a book about the quest called Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind. The church's response to Hurricane Katrina turned the corner for him and became a key reason to believe. One Baptist church in Baton Rouge fed 16,000 people a day for weeks; another housed 700 homeless evacuees. Years after the hurricane, and long after federal assistance had dried up, a network of churches in surrounding states was still sending regular teams to help rebuild houses. Most impressively to Marks, all these church efforts crossed racial lines and barriers in the Deep South. As one worker told him, "We had whites, blacks, Hispanics, Vietnamese, good old Cajun … We just tried to say, hey, let's help people. This is our state. We'll let everybody else sort out that other stuff. We've got to cook some rice."
Marks concludes:
I would argue that this was a watershed moment in the history of American Christianity … nothing spoke more eloquently to believers, and to nonbelievers who were paying attention, than the success of a population of believing volunteers measured against the massive and near-total collapse of secular government efforts. The storm laid bare an unmistakable truth. More and more Christians have decided that the only way to reconquer America is through service. The faith no longer travels by the word. It moves by the deed.
That's the power of example. One Christian nurse in a hospital, one Christian teacher in a school, one Christian in a shop or in a factory or office. Christians are marked people. The world is watching. And God's major way of changing the old culture is to implant within it his new kingdom with its different values and different standards and different joys and different goals; so that, people see and are attracted. And Jesus said, "They may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
4. We have the power of the group
The power of a committed minority. Sociologist Robert Belair, at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton: “We should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a whole culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision.”
That was the way of Jesus. He began of a small group of only 12 committed people. Within a few years, Roman officials complained they were turning the world upside down. There is a great need for dedicated Christian groups committed to one another, committed to the vision, committed to Christ, who will pray together, think together, formulate policies together, get to work together in the community.
In parts of American society (especially in higher education and Silicon Valley) it’s not easy to be a traditional, orthodox Christian any longer. You may face threats to your career, your social standing, maybe even your liberty. There’s a real (and sometimes justified) concern that publicly stating the most basic beliefs of our faith could result in suffering very real personal and professional costs.
David French suggests we would do well to learn some valuable lessons from black Americans, especially the black church, a community that faced infinitely greater odds, confronted a far more hopeless future, and yet ultimately made extraordinary strides towards securing the blessings of American liberty.
Reverend Walter Fauntroy, an early member of the Congressional Black Caucus, was asked why the civil-rights movement, after so many years of subjugation and segregation, had made such rapid legal gains in the early 1960s. His response was immediate. “Almighty God and the First Amendment.” The First Amendment gave them a voice, and God softened Americans’ hearts, enabling them to finally hear the message. How odd that, in the face of far lesser challenges to liberty and equality, there are Christians who despair of the future! They act often as if God simply doesn’t soften human hearts any longer.
If we have the opportunity to speak and possess the courage to tell the truth, we have a hope that can transform a nation. What was true for our black brothers and sisters in far more dire circumstances is still true for contemporary Christians in these less trying times.
CONCLUSION: We have a part to play, and the power to play it. [REPEAT]
ILLUSTRATION: Dialing the wrong phone number can be awkward, embarrassing, and sometimes downright frustrating. When a young man forgot to notify his grandmother of a change in his cell phone number before Thanksgiving, however, the result was touching. Wanda Dench texted a number that had originally been her grandson's, inviting him over for Thanksgiving dinner. Instead of her grandson, the text went to 17 year-old Jamal Hinton. The two figured out the mistake quickly, but Hinton asked if it was possible to "still get a plate." In grandmotherly fashion, Dench responded, "Of course you can. That's what grandmas do." The story went viral online. When asked about the encounter after Thanksgiving, the young man said, "I'm thankful for all the nice people in the world. I never met her … and she welcomed me into her house, so that shows me how great of a person she is."
If the church takes its mission to love its neighbors seriously, a few words in this story could be easily replaced. “Of course you can. That's what [Christians] do. … I'm thankful for all the [Christians] in the world. I never met her … and she welcomed me into her house, so that shows me [the love of God inside of her].”
BIG IDEA: We have a part to play, and the power to play it.
Our congregation could have enormous influence for Christ here in south Indianapolis if we are totally committed to him. Let's give ourselves to him, who gave himself for us.
