SERVANTS OF CHRIST
TEXT: MATTHEW 5:1-16
INTRODUCTION
A. Early in Jesus’s public ministry at a time when His popularity was on a rapid rise, He preached what was to become one of His best known sermons. Though Jesus Himself did not give it a title we in the church throughout he years have given it one, "THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT".
Some have referred to this as Jesus inaugural address, much like that of a President of the United States. Who after all of the campaigning and all the things said has an opportunity to set the story straight about who they are and what they want to do.
Jesus in this message is going to set the story straight. No doubt there were a lot of things being said about Jesus. And I am certain that there was much confusion about who Jesus was and what His plans were.
The Jews wanted a Messiah who would set up an earthly kingdom:
Defeat the Roman Empire.
Place the Jews in power.
And naturally the Jewish Leaders would have a position of high prominence.
B. It is interesting to note here, the contrast between Jesus here, ushering in the New Covenant, with Moses ushering in the Old Covenant on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19.
One difference that we see, is where the events took place;
Mt. Sinai was a desert mountain located in a dry barren wilderness.
The mountains off the sea of Galilee were full of life with green rolling hills and a large sea within view.
Another difference that we see is in the way which the messages were, both received and delivered.
@ Mt. Sinai there was thunder, lightening, a thick cloud and a very loud trumpet blast. The mountain was covered with smoke because God had descended on it in fire. The whole mountain trembled violently and the sound of the trumpet blast grew louder and louder. The people were terrified (who wouldn’t be) and they were warned not to try to see the Lord or they would die.
But in comparison in the Sermon on the Mount we find Jesus sitting down among the people. He was with them, when he spoke, their eyes saw His face, their ears heard His voice.
Now please don’t misunderstand me , I am not implying that the Old Covenant was bad. Just that it was different and that the New Covenant that Jesus established is far, far better. For in the NC we have salvation and in the new covenant we each can come to know God personally.
C. The great multitude that was crowed around that mountain who would hear Jesus speak that day: The Jews, The Rulers, The poor men, The rich men, The gentiles, The women, The Children, The pharisees, the Priests. All who were there would be shocked by the authority in which Jesus spoke, and by many of the things that Jesus said. For many of things that Jesus said on that mountain side, were in direct opposition to the thinking of that day.
Today, I want us to look at the beginning of this great message. And as we look at the first 16 verses of Matthew chapter 5, we will be challenged by what Jesus has to say about the meaning of being His servant.
[1-2] The mountain range provide Jesus with a natural amphitheater from which to address the people.
I. IN VERSE 1-9 WE SEE 7 CHARACTERISTICS THAT DESCRIBE
WHAT A SERVANT OF CHRIST IS?
A servant of Christ is:
A. Poor in Spirit; Jesus says blessed (or JOYFUL, and being joyful is different then being happy. Happiness is based on what happens, joy is based on a relationship,with Jesus Christ.) Joyful is the one who is poor. I’m sure that, the statement joyful are the poor made no more sense to the people sitting at Jesus feet, then it does to most people today.
The specific word used for poor here means someone who is so poor that He has to rely on others for support or else they would not survive. This is not a poor that doesn’t have the money to go to the movies or eat out at the Olive Garden. But this is used to describe someone who is so poor that he can’t supply any of his needs. And w/o help he would not make it. Those starving in Somalia would fit this definition.
Therefore the man or woman who is poor in spirit is one who realizes that he is spiritually bankrupt, that without God he can’t make it and therefore must depend solely on God for His spiritual needs. This is the one who in humility comes before God falls to his knees and gives God His life, saying "God I need you.
I can’t make it without you."
B. One who mourns, Joyful are those who mourn?, this also seems like a contradiction doesn’t it.
The mourning that is meant here is the mourning that one does when he is sorrowful and deeply concerned with his own sin. Perhaps even to the point of tears, where he comes and casts his burden upon the only one who can truly comfort him.
C. One who is Meek; again we see a characteristic that is really not that popular. Who wants to be thought of as meek. Today’s heroes are men who take action and take names, Rambo, Arnold Swarz. , Clint Eastwood, Steven Segall....etc. Not many heros today are meek are they?
But let me tell you that the greatest hero that ever lived was meek, Jesus Christ. We need to understand that Meek does not mean wimp. Rather, it means God controlled, God molded. It is strength under control. The word was used by the greeks to describe such things as a wild stallion that has been tamed, soothing ointment or a doctor tenderly treated a child. Someone who is meek let’s God call the shots. He lets’s God control him.
He submits his will to God.
Could there be a more vivid picture of strength under control then Jesus Christ on the cross. He had the power, he had the ability, to come down off the cross, and really take action and take names, yet He stayed on the cross.
A servant of Christ is meek, He may have the physical or intellectual strength to destroy another person, to cut them down to size, but His strength has been tamed by God and he allows himself to be controlled of God and is therefore meek.
D. One who hungers and thirsts after righteousness.
What’s your favorite food; pizza, ice cream, french fries, shrimp, lays potato chips. It’s pretty hard to eat just one slice, to have just one scoop, to partake of just one fry or shrimp or to eat just one Lays Potato Chip. When you really enjoy something, when it’s your favorite thing you just have to have more.
A servant of Christ is to hunger and thirst after righteousness (right relationship with God and man) much like a man in the desert hungers for food and drink.
A servant of Christ is one, who has done what the Psalmist said to do in Psalm 34, he has tasted of the Lord and has seen that he is good, so good that he must have more of Him. A servant of Christ hungers and thirsts more for more of Christ then for anything.
What would happen to someone if they never were hungry?
He wouldn’t eat, and he would die.
Do you the progression of thought in the first 4 characteristics: The first thing we must do is to recognize our need for God’s intervention into our lives. We must come to the point where we understand that we can’t do it on our own. We then need to mourn over our sin. And we need to be meek, to quit calling the shots in our lives and surrender control to God. And as we stand in His presence, we find that we are satisfied, and we hunger for more of Him.
The more time we spend with Him, the more like Him we become.
E. And we as servants of Christ show mercy.
The word for mercy describes compassion and pity that expresses itself in action, and not in mere thought only.
James in 2:15,16 "suppose a brother or sister is w/o clothes or daily food, if one says to him go I wish you well, keep warm and well fed but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?"
William Barclay in his commentary says of mercy, "the ability to get right inside the other persons skin, to see things with his eyes, to think things with his mind, to feel things with his feelings."
Jesus Christ was certainly a living example of what showing mercy was all about.
F. WE as servant of Christ will be pure in heart; to the greek the heart was the physical, spiritual and intellectual center of man. It was seen to be the seat of man’s emotions, feelings, motives, instincts and passions.
The pure in heart is one who is uncontaminated in his thoughts and honest in his motives.
He is a man who lives in such a way, that he can lay open his heart to the eye of the Lord at any time without shame.
G. And finally a servant of Christ is Will be a peacemaker.
It is a lot easier to be a troublemaker and to stir up dissension, than it is to be a peacemaker. A peacemaker is willing to stick his neck out get involved in the affairs and troubles of others, risking his own peace and tranquility. "who do you think you are, it’s none of your business. A peacemaker seeks to bring about the absence of hostilities and to teach men to love one another.
And the ultimate role of God’s peacemakers is to reconcile sinful man with God. A role that Christ performed and a task He has left for His savants to continue.
WHEN A SERVANT of Christ is who he should be, one who depends solely on God, one who mourns for personal sin, one who is meek, one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, shows mercy, is pure in heart and is a peacemaker, he will be different then the world, and he can not Help but be an influence in the world, despite all it’s sin and corruption. And this is what Jesus describes for us in (13-16), as he tells us what a servant of Christ is to do.
II. WHAT A SERVANT OF CHRIST IS TO DO [13-16]
A. A servant of Christ is to influence the world, and he or she does that by being salt and light.
Did you notice that Jesus said "you are" salt and "you are" light. Jesus didn’t say that we might be, should be or could be light, But rather that this is what "we are", because we are a servant of Christ. we are either a servant of Christ or we are not. There is not a 1/3 or 2/3 servant anymore than there is such a thing as a 1/3 or 2/3 pregnant woman, we either are or we are not.
Let’s see what we can learn about the influence of a christian servant by looking at the qualities associated with these 2 words. It is amazing how much Jesus has said in these 2 small words.
B. SALT
1. Preserves;
{TUPPERWARE RITUAL; back corner of refrigerator and no one wants to open it}
Before the days of the refrigerator salt was used to preserve meat. Meat can not preserve itself, something must come form the outside and be applied to the meat in order to save it. Likewise with the world. Preservation was most likely the primary meaning that Jesus had in mind when he called his servants salt. The world was then and is now decaying like rotten meat, and it could not then & can not now do anything to save itself, something from the outside must be added to save the world, Jesus Christ.
Though this was the primary meaning that Jesus had in mind, as we reflect on some of the other qualities of salt we can also gain valuable insights into what we are to do as servants of Christ.
2. Salt is also a HEALING AGENT; ocean w/cut. we are salt.
3. Adds Flavor; We should add flavor to the world. The world should be a more palatable place because we are there.
we are salt.
4. Creates a Thirst; our lives should create a thirst in others for Christ.
5. Salt is shaken,not poured;
a. too much salt ruins food. (lose lid trick)
Schillings cramming religion down kids throat.
b. we need to spread out to be most effective.
6. Needs to get out of the shaker to be effective; it does your food no good to have a bottle of salt on the table if it does ever get out of the shaker. For us to be salt and really do the world any good, we have to make contact with the world. 7. [13] If salt does not do the things that God intended it to do, it is as worthless as dust on the street.
we are to be salt. Are we salt?
C. LIGHT
1. It is both significant and exciting that Jesus uses the same word to describe his followers, as he used to describe Himself, "LIGHT".
2. Light dispels darkness, always. we are light.
3. Light gives direction. The light of the gospel makes it easier for people to travel the dark roads of this world. we are light.
4. Light is silent, no big noise, it’s not loud it just quietly goes about it’s job. we are light
5. Light by it’s very nature attracts attention; you don’t have to tell people in a room you’ve turned a light they know. we are light.
6. Light is not hidden; Christ in our text illustrates the inherit visibility of light by describing the absurdity of hiding a light. Because a light that is hidden is not is not doing the job of light and is therefore not really a light.
When men have been in darkness for so long, their eyes become accustomed to the dark that when a light is turned on it hurts their eyes, so much that they will do, anything to turn out that light.
This brings us to our final point.
III. WHAT A SERVANT OF CHRIST CAN EXPECT
(He can expect 2 things 1 bad/1 good).
A. The Bad News Is Persecution
1. Notice that verse 11 says "WHEN" persecuted not if.
Persecution is not an option for a servant of Christ it is a guarantee.
(John 15:20) "Remember the words I spoke to you, No servant is greater than His master, if they persecuted me they will persecute you also".
2. Why are we going to be persecuted? verse 11 says "because of me". We are persecuted because of our faith in Christ and because of the life that we live and the action that we take as servants.
3. In the 1st century countless men, women and children lost their lives because of their faith in Jesus. All of the 12 were called to seal their faith with their own blood.
4. In many parts of the world Christians are still called to suffer greatly for the Gospel.
5. We in America, do not (at least not yet), suffer this extreme type of persecution. But many Christians are nevertheless persecuted when they stand up for Christ: they are insulted, ridiculed, may lose their job because they want compromise their beliefs, may lose a promotion because they won’t go to their parties and they may even lose and election.
Did you ever wonder why Dan Qualye received such abuse from the media, I really feel that a large part had to do with his Christian faith, he was not afraid to stand up for the Bible, even telling Barbara Walters "yes I believe the story of Noah and the flood is true". He was not afraid to stand up for Christian value like abortion and homosexuality, calling them what God calls them.
We all need to honestly look at our lives and see if we are being persecuted for our faith. If we have trouble finding any examples is it because we are lucky or is it because we are not really taking a firm stand for the Lord.
Now the rest of the story!!!
B. The GOOD NEWS!!!
Jesus can also expect to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. To "leap for Joy" as Lukes Gospel puts it, rejoice because we are persecuted?
Not in the actual acts of persecution but because of what it means and because of it’s results.
1. it means we must being doing something right. Peter says in I Peter 4:16 "However, if you suffer as a Christian do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name."
2. and the results are definitely reason to jump for joy, Because the kingdom of God is ours now, as God rules in our lives (And I can you from personal experience, that there is no better road to walk then the road that leads to heaven).
3. And even better than that the kingdom of God is ours as we move into that mansion that God has prepared for us.
4. A final reason that we can rejoice is that we are not alone. We can find courage in the fact that we are treading in the steps of God’s great spokesmen of the past, me like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Peter and Paul. We can know we are part of a movement that is greater than ourselves. And that when we stand we are not alone, when we are persecuted we are not alone because these men and the Lord are standing right beside us.
CONCLUSION
We need to be what a servant of Christ is.
And when we need to remember that we are influential. When we are at school, at work, at the restaurant after church, at home, in the neighborhood, on the football team or anywhere we are with non-christians we are salt and light. What kind of job are we doing, what kind of picture of Christ are we painting.
And we must not forget that the world is not going to applaud us as we serve Christ. But we have a reward and we will receive an even better one in ther future.
Henry Morrison, after serving for forty years on the African mission field, headed home by boat. On the same boat also rode Theodore Roosevelt. Morrison was quite dejected when, on entering the New York harbor, President Roosevelt received a great fanfare as he arrived home. Morrison thought he should get some kind of recognition for forty years in the Lord’s service.
Then a small voice came to Morrison and said "HENRY-- YOU’RE NOT HOME YET!!!!!!!"
Friends we are not home yet!
But can you imagine the celebration when we get there.
Christians let’s really be as servant of Christ.
Non-Christians Come home to God now!
