The Bold Walk. Part 1 Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Have you ever given a lot of thought to how you were brought to Christ?

• Was there someone in your life that was an example to you?

• You were around them enough to know that something was different about them.

• At some point they helped to lead you to Christ. Maybe they personally lead you to Him or they got you to church where others helped in the process.

• There is a word that explains why that person was able to help lead you, INFLUENCE!

• As we spent time on the Sermon On The Mount, you will see that Jesus deals with attitudes and actions of those who are citizens of the Kingdom.

• The next two messages will deal with the issue of influence.

• It seems that the world is trying to run God out of the public arena and it seems as though the church is sitting back and letting it happen.

• How can this happen? I wonder if it is because we do not understand how God wants us to live out our faith?

• Christians need to ask themselves how they are going to live out their faith in a dying world.

• Are we to go to the hills and hide? Are we to lock the doors of the church and hope we do not get stained by the world?

• Are we supposed to blend in with the world during the week and then put on a “church face” for Sunday?

• Jesus is gives us two metaphors that deal with how we are called to influence the world we live in.

• Today we are going to do a little study on salt so we can learn how we are called to be in positive influence in the world that we live in!

• Let us look at our passage this morning.

• SLIDE #2

• Matthew 5:13 ( ESV ) “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

• SLIDE #3

• As the salt of the earth we are called to:

SERMON

As the salt of the earth we are called to:

I. HELP SLOW THE DECAY OF A DYING WORLD.

• Salt had many uses in the ancient world as it still does today.

• In the ancient world salt was used to keep food from going bad. Even today it is stilled used in that manner in parts of the world where there is not much refrigeration available.

• When things are dead or dying, they are in a state of decay. Salt was used to slow down or stop the decay. The salt could not take something that was already in a state of decay and reverse it; the salt could keep it from getting worse.

• We are living in a world that is in a state of decay because it is dying. Christians are to be the agent that keeps the world from decaying. We are to be the preservative for the dying world.

• WE cannot stop the ultimate death of the world, but we can be an influence in peoples’ lives to help keep them from dying.

• SLIDE #4

• 1 John 2:17 reminds us of the state of the world we are living in.

• 1 John 2:17 ( ESV ) And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

• Christians are primarily responsible for the preservation of morality, justice and social conscience. God has also instituted the state and the home for these purposes, but without the church even these lack salt and light.

• Historically, the church can be credited for many of the advances in science, medicine, prison reform, orphanages, abolition of slavery and child labor, education and literacy. The kingdom of God has, indeed, flavored this world in significant ways.

• Can you imagine what the world would be like today without the influence of the church and Christians?

• The world would slip ever deeper in decay.

• SLIDE #5

• 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 ( ESV ) But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,

 Christians are called to influence the society so that it does not smell bad.

• For salt to work, it has to be mixed in with what it is trying to preserve. As Christians we are called to be in the world, but not of the world. We are to be involved in all aspects of life and we are to be the preserving agent of the world. We are to get out of the salt shaker and into the world.