1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 All right, I wanna start this morning 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:04,900 in our sermon, our time together in God's word 3 00:00:04,900 --> 00:00:06,960 with a, I'm gonna poll the audience here. 4 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,360 This is, who wants to be a millionaire, all right? 5 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:12,140 And we're gonna poll the audience. 6 00:00:12,140 --> 00:00:16,880 How many of you, yeah, Mr. Bingo Man over here. 7 00:00:18,540 --> 00:00:21,340 How many of you have heard a sermon preached 8 00:00:21,340 --> 00:00:24,860 on this passage of scripture at least once before? 9 00:00:24,860 --> 00:00:26,700 If you've heard at least once before 10 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:28,700 on this passage of scripture, go ahead and raise your hand. 11 00:00:28,700 --> 00:00:33,700 All right, how about twice, at least twice, yeah? 12 00:00:35,140 --> 00:00:37,500 Okay, how many of you think you've probably heard 13 00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:39,820 a sermon on Matthew five, 13 through 16, 14 00:00:39,820 --> 00:00:41,740 maybe 10 times or more? 15 00:00:43,620 --> 00:00:45,860 Yeah, that's what I figured, right? 16 00:00:45,860 --> 00:00:50,100 Some of you, you've grown up in and around the church 17 00:00:50,100 --> 00:00:52,320 and you'll immediately hear in your head 18 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:56,340 as we're reading this, especially verses 14 through 16, 19 00:00:56,340 --> 00:00:59,540 a child's Sunday school song, anyone hear it? 20 00:01:01,540 --> 00:01:04,420 This little light of mine. 21 00:01:04,420 --> 00:01:05,740 Yeah, I'm gonna let it shine, I don't even remember 22 00:01:05,740 --> 00:01:06,740 how it goes, but yeah. 23 00:01:08,300 --> 00:01:11,140 This little light of mine, right, hide it under a bushel. 24 00:01:11,140 --> 00:01:13,260 No, right? 25 00:01:13,260 --> 00:01:15,900 So anyone who grew up in and around the church culture 26 00:01:15,900 --> 00:01:20,140 or in Sunday school, these words are very familiar. 27 00:01:20,140 --> 00:01:22,740 And for you and for me as well, 28 00:01:22,740 --> 00:01:25,780 having been raised in the church, 29 00:01:25,780 --> 00:01:30,780 we particularly run the risk of knowing the word of God, 30 00:01:31,260 --> 00:01:32,900 in this case, this scripture, right? 31 00:01:32,900 --> 00:01:35,060 Oh, oh, I know this one, right? 32 00:01:35,060 --> 00:01:36,860 All right, man, I'm gonna get a chance 33 00:01:36,860 --> 00:01:39,820 to catch up on my Zs today, pastor's gonna preach, 34 00:01:39,820 --> 00:01:43,420 I'm gonna doze off, I've heard this passage before. 35 00:01:43,420 --> 00:01:46,360 We run the risk of knowing the word of God, 36 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:49,780 but maybe not always doing it. 37 00:01:49,780 --> 00:01:54,220 Maybe not always living it. 38 00:01:56,180 --> 00:01:59,620 You ever heard the phrase, begin with the end in mind? 39 00:01:59,620 --> 00:02:01,760 It's a good phrase and I use it oftentimes 40 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:03,740 as I'm thinking about whether it's vision 41 00:02:03,740 --> 00:02:06,380 or something I want to do, what do I want to get to, 42 00:02:06,380 --> 00:02:08,660 what's the goal here? 43 00:02:08,660 --> 00:02:13,660 Well, Jesus ended the greatest sermon ever preached, 44 00:02:14,340 --> 00:02:17,200 the Sermon on the Mount, with these words 45 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,420 over in Matthew seven, just listen as I read them. 46 00:02:20,420 --> 00:02:22,780 Therefore, this is the final conclusion 47 00:02:22,780 --> 00:02:25,260 of the greatest sermon ever preached by Jesus. 48 00:02:25,260 --> 00:02:29,700 Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine 49 00:02:29,700 --> 00:02:32,740 and acts on them will be like a wise man 50 00:02:32,740 --> 00:02:34,900 who builds his house on the rock. 51 00:02:34,900 --> 00:02:38,000 The rainfall fell, the rivers rose and the wind blew 52 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,840 and pounded that house, yet it did not collapse 53 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:43,840 because it had a foundation that was on the rock. 54 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:46,900 But everyone who hears these words of mine 55 00:02:46,900 --> 00:02:50,740 and doesn't act on them will be like a foolish man 56 00:02:50,740 --> 00:02:53,660 who built his house on the sand. 57 00:02:53,660 --> 00:02:57,020 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew 58 00:02:57,020 --> 00:03:00,740 and pounded the house and it collapsed. 59 00:03:00,740 --> 00:03:05,140 It collapsed with a great crash. 60 00:03:05,140 --> 00:03:07,120 What's the end of the greatest sermon? 61 00:03:08,020 --> 00:03:11,100 Hear and act, right there he says it. 62 00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:13,760 We just finished the section on the Beatitudes, right? 63 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:15,780 It's a person whose life is blessed, 64 00:03:15,780 --> 00:03:19,300 whose flourishing, a person who is fully satisfying 65 00:03:19,300 --> 00:03:21,560 because of God and here in Matthew seven, 66 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,020 we have a person, what do we have? 67 00:03:23,020 --> 00:03:25,060 We have a person who's flourishing 68 00:03:25,060 --> 00:03:27,500 and we have a person who's not flourishing. 69 00:03:27,500 --> 00:03:30,100 A person who builds on the rock and a person who doesn't 70 00:03:30,100 --> 00:03:32,780 and one has a life that is secure and firm 71 00:03:32,780 --> 00:03:36,460 and one has a life that falls apart and crumbles. 72 00:03:36,460 --> 00:03:38,000 See that illustration again. 73 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,100 The flourishing, fully satisfied life because of God. 74 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:44,600 The other. 75 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,540 One hears and acts according to Jesus' words. 76 00:03:47,540 --> 00:03:51,860 One hears and doesn't act according to Jesus' word. 77 00:03:51,860 --> 00:03:54,500 Another risk that we have when we approach scriptures 78 00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:57,180 like this where we have some familiarity with it 79 00:03:57,180 --> 00:04:00,540 or maybe for you, you have no familiarity with it 80 00:04:00,540 --> 00:04:03,620 and your first question is, what's he talking about? 81 00:04:05,380 --> 00:04:07,500 What is he really talking about 82 00:04:07,500 --> 00:04:10,700 or I don't know if I really understand that 83 00:04:10,700 --> 00:04:13,140 and I think that there is some genuineness 84 00:04:13,140 --> 00:04:14,820 and there's definitely a sincere place 85 00:04:14,820 --> 00:04:16,100 that sometimes we come from 86 00:04:16,100 --> 00:04:19,420 but some Christians will use those same excuses. 87 00:04:19,420 --> 00:04:20,980 Oh, I don't understand that. 88 00:04:20,980 --> 00:04:22,740 I don't know what that means. 89 00:04:22,740 --> 00:04:24,220 I don't know how that's supposed to look 90 00:04:24,220 --> 00:04:28,420 and Soren Kierkegaard, he was a 19th century scholar 91 00:04:28,420 --> 00:04:31,780 and philosopher, a theologian, he made this observation. 92 00:04:31,780 --> 00:04:32,820 I love this, we have a quote, 93 00:04:32,820 --> 00:04:34,180 we can put it up on the board. 94 00:04:34,180 --> 00:04:37,260 The Bible is very easy to understand 95 00:04:38,460 --> 00:04:42,880 but we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. 96 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:46,460 We pretend to be unaware or unable to understand it 97 00:04:46,460 --> 00:04:49,060 because we know well that the minute we understand it, 98 00:04:49,060 --> 00:04:51,960 we are obligated to act accordingly. 99 00:04:53,740 --> 00:04:56,140 Oh, I don't understand, what does that mean? 100 00:04:56,140 --> 00:04:57,280 What's salt? 101 00:04:57,280 --> 00:04:58,120 What's lie? 102 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,000 I don't understand the metaphor. 103 00:05:01,020 --> 00:05:04,140 The beatitudes, I'm playing a little bit 104 00:05:04,140 --> 00:05:06,340 but there's some truth here, right? 105 00:05:06,340 --> 00:05:08,660 The beatitudes lead to this verse. 106 00:05:09,540 --> 00:05:12,060 So we can't separate them out and say 107 00:05:12,060 --> 00:05:15,700 that list that we covered the last few weeks is separate. 108 00:05:15,700 --> 00:05:20,020 They lead to this verse right here. 109 00:05:20,020 --> 00:05:21,580 And why is that important? 110 00:05:21,580 --> 00:05:23,900 Because we are promised as we look, 111 00:05:23,900 --> 00:05:26,380 persecution will come to the believer. 112 00:05:26,380 --> 00:05:28,500 It's going to come and when it comes, 113 00:05:28,500 --> 00:05:31,160 guess what you and I are tempted to do? 114 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:32,980 We are tempted to take our mission 115 00:05:32,980 --> 00:05:35,640 and take our calling and take our citizenship 116 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,280 and go away to a monastery somewhere 117 00:05:39,280 --> 00:05:42,860 where we can shut the doors, hunker down 118 00:05:42,860 --> 00:05:47,660 and live a life of contemplative religious practice 119 00:05:47,660 --> 00:05:49,320 until Jesus comes back. 120 00:05:50,220 --> 00:05:55,220 And right on the heels of you will be persecuted 121 00:05:55,620 --> 00:05:58,100 or what we talked about, blessed persecution, 122 00:05:58,100 --> 00:06:00,940 blessed accusation, Jesus says, 123 00:06:00,940 --> 00:06:03,380 you are the light of the world. 124 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,420 Jesus will not have us running off somewhere 125 00:06:08,420 --> 00:06:11,820 and hiding it under a bushel, no. 126 00:06:12,700 --> 00:06:13,520 Why? 127 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:18,060 Because Jesus made us salt and light. 128 00:06:18,940 --> 00:06:23,060 We didn't make ourselves, Jesus made us salt and light. 129 00:06:23,060 --> 00:06:25,180 And verse 13 begins with that, 130 00:06:25,180 --> 00:06:28,280 you are the salt of the earth. 131 00:06:29,220 --> 00:06:30,860 So let's spend a little bit of time this morning 132 00:06:30,860 --> 00:06:34,180 talking about salts, that's why you came to church, right? 133 00:06:34,180 --> 00:06:37,020 So I probably get plenty of that with the doctor, right? 134 00:06:37,020 --> 00:06:39,380 Constantly bringing up salt. 135 00:06:39,380 --> 00:06:43,140 It's funny because of how abundantly we have access 136 00:06:43,140 --> 00:06:45,180 to salt in our day and age, we probably don't give it 137 00:06:45,180 --> 00:06:49,660 much thought until it's not there, right? 138 00:06:49,660 --> 00:06:52,440 We are told that salt isn't good for us in high quantities, 139 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:53,420 that's for sure. 140 00:06:53,420 --> 00:06:56,900 Have you ever seen those people who salt their food 141 00:06:56,900 --> 00:06:59,020 before even trying it? 142 00:06:59,020 --> 00:07:02,060 Anyone guilty out there? 143 00:07:02,060 --> 00:07:04,740 Okay, there's one worse than that. 144 00:07:04,740 --> 00:07:09,740 I won't name names, I'll just look to the side over here. 145 00:07:09,780 --> 00:07:14,220 You ever met anyone who goes to a Mexican food restaurant, 146 00:07:14,220 --> 00:07:19,220 gets chips and salsa and salts each individual chip? 147 00:07:22,260 --> 00:07:23,100 I have. 148 00:07:28,620 --> 00:07:31,540 If we were to rewind 2,000 years from now, 149 00:07:31,540 --> 00:07:35,140 salt had definitely a bit of a different place in society 150 00:07:35,140 --> 00:07:36,940 at that point in time. 151 00:07:36,940 --> 00:07:39,420 For starters, it was much more rare because they didn't have 152 00:07:39,420 --> 00:07:42,380 this large scale mining that we have, this is obvious, right? 153 00:07:42,380 --> 00:07:45,220 One of the interesting facts that I learned as I was looking 154 00:07:45,220 --> 00:07:47,060 at this scripture, and maybe you've heard this before, 155 00:07:47,060 --> 00:07:50,780 but Roman soldiers were often paid in salt 156 00:07:50,780 --> 00:07:54,940 for their service to the empire, they were paid in salt. 157 00:07:54,940 --> 00:07:59,940 In fact, the Latin word solarium meant to barter with salt 158 00:07:59,940 --> 00:08:02,140 in the marketplace, solarium, and it's actually 159 00:08:02,140 --> 00:08:05,820 the root word from which we get the word salary. 160 00:08:05,820 --> 00:08:08,860 Our salary comes from salt bartering 161 00:08:08,860 --> 00:08:11,340 in the empire of this time. 162 00:08:11,340 --> 00:08:13,820 And so salt had definitely a different place. 163 00:08:13,820 --> 00:08:16,660 Salt was like money, salt was valuable, 164 00:08:16,660 --> 00:08:20,220 salt was significant and rare. 165 00:08:20,220 --> 00:08:24,620 So why would Jesus say that we, those who are in Christ, 166 00:08:24,620 --> 00:08:27,540 are the salt of the earth? 167 00:08:27,540 --> 00:08:31,540 Well, let's begin with the obvious, it's a metaphor. 168 00:08:31,540 --> 00:08:34,460 If we're trying to pawn off and say we don't understand it, 169 00:08:34,460 --> 00:08:37,260 it is a metaphor, and we have to begin there. 170 00:08:37,260 --> 00:08:39,780 Salt, let's look at what salt does though. 171 00:08:39,780 --> 00:08:40,900 What does salt do? 172 00:08:40,900 --> 00:08:43,180 It enhances flavor, right? 173 00:08:43,180 --> 00:08:45,020 Salt enhances flavor. 174 00:08:45,020 --> 00:08:47,060 They say that oftentimes it takes the flavors 175 00:08:47,060 --> 00:08:49,220 that are already there, if you've ever had a great steak 176 00:08:49,220 --> 00:08:51,460 that's salted, it takes the flavors that are already there 177 00:08:51,460 --> 00:08:53,860 and it enhances them to a new level. 178 00:08:53,860 --> 00:08:55,860 Everything is better with salt, right? 179 00:08:55,860 --> 00:08:59,100 Even if they tell us it's not good, I mean think about it. 180 00:08:59,100 --> 00:09:03,100 Salted caramel, like we even salt sweet things, right? 181 00:09:03,100 --> 00:09:05,460 There's a place, if you ever get on the road 182 00:09:05,460 --> 00:09:07,900 and you ever head down south into the coast, 183 00:09:07,900 --> 00:09:10,500 there's a small town called Cayucas on the beach. 184 00:09:10,500 --> 00:09:12,940 It's between Cambria and Morro Bay. 185 00:09:12,940 --> 00:09:17,460 And in Cayucas is the brown butter cookie factory. 186 00:09:17,460 --> 00:09:21,060 And they have amazing cookies, the kind of cookies 187 00:09:21,060 --> 00:09:23,780 where you contemplate some days getting in the car 188 00:09:23,780 --> 00:09:27,300 and driving four and a half hours to get a cookie. 189 00:09:27,300 --> 00:09:29,900 Now they ship nowadays, but they charge a lot for shipping 190 00:09:29,900 --> 00:09:31,540 and I'd rather go on the drive. 191 00:09:31,540 --> 00:09:35,540 But they have amazing cookies and what makes them amazing? 192 00:09:35,540 --> 00:09:38,100 It's sweet, you can get sweet anywhere. 193 00:09:38,100 --> 00:09:42,140 But the way that they salt them draws out the flavors 194 00:09:42,140 --> 00:09:47,140 of these brown butter cookies and they're worth the trip. 195 00:09:47,500 --> 00:09:49,740 The presence of salt makes everything better. 196 00:09:49,740 --> 00:09:51,540 Anyone like beef jerky out here? 197 00:09:51,540 --> 00:09:52,860 Any beef jerky out here? 198 00:09:52,860 --> 00:09:53,820 Any beef jerky lovers? 199 00:09:53,820 --> 00:09:55,740 Yeah, I love beef jerky. 200 00:09:55,740 --> 00:09:56,820 Well, what else does salt do? 201 00:09:56,820 --> 00:09:59,220 It preserves meat as well, right? 202 00:09:59,220 --> 00:10:00,500 It preserves meat. 203 00:10:00,500 --> 00:10:02,780 This was really useful in the first century, 204 00:10:02,780 --> 00:10:06,420 long before freezers and refrigerators were invented. 205 00:10:06,420 --> 00:10:08,780 Meat packed in salt, the salt preserves the meat 206 00:10:08,780 --> 00:10:10,780 and keeps it from turning bad, right? 207 00:10:11,820 --> 00:10:16,820 Another quality of salt is that salt makes you thirsty. 208 00:10:19,100 --> 00:10:19,940 It makes you thirsty. 209 00:10:19,940 --> 00:10:22,220 You don't dig into a bag of beef jerky 210 00:10:22,220 --> 00:10:25,020 without also having a drink right next to you. 211 00:10:25,020 --> 00:10:27,940 You need the drink to offset all the salt in there. 212 00:10:27,940 --> 00:10:30,180 So its presence makes everything better. 213 00:10:30,180 --> 00:10:33,780 It preserves and it is an enemy of decay 214 00:10:33,780 --> 00:10:35,860 and it causes thirst. 215 00:10:37,100 --> 00:10:38,820 And one last thing, we have writings 216 00:10:38,820 --> 00:10:40,300 from the end of the first century, 217 00:10:40,300 --> 00:10:43,420 going into the second century from Jewish rabbis 218 00:10:43,420 --> 00:10:46,300 and they used to use salt as a metaphor 219 00:10:46,300 --> 00:10:48,500 for the idea of wisdom. 220 00:10:48,500 --> 00:10:50,180 Salt was like wisdom. 221 00:10:50,180 --> 00:10:53,700 And so think about wisdom, think about its presence 222 00:10:53,700 --> 00:10:56,700 making things better, its preserving qualities 223 00:10:56,700 --> 00:11:00,700 and its ability to make us thirst. 224 00:11:01,700 --> 00:11:04,220 And let's get back to the statement in verse 13. 225 00:11:04,220 --> 00:11:06,460 You are the salt of the earth. 226 00:11:06,460 --> 00:11:10,900 Well, the first observation there is you are. 227 00:11:10,900 --> 00:11:14,380 It's not a promise, it's a statement. 228 00:11:15,220 --> 00:11:16,620 If you are in Christ, if you have made it 229 00:11:16,620 --> 00:11:20,100 through those beatitudes, you are the salt of the earth. 230 00:11:20,100 --> 00:11:22,780 If you are the kingdom citizen, 231 00:11:22,780 --> 00:11:27,020 you are the salt of the earth. 232 00:11:27,020 --> 00:11:30,340 You, the disciple and kingdom citizen, 233 00:11:30,340 --> 00:11:31,500 you are the salt of the earth. 234 00:11:31,500 --> 00:11:34,540 The earth isn't about the physical dirt and rock. 235 00:11:34,540 --> 00:11:38,020 It's really more like saying you are the salt 236 00:11:38,020 --> 00:11:41,940 sprinkled among the people of the earth. 237 00:11:41,940 --> 00:11:45,620 You are the salt sprinkled among the people of the earth. 238 00:11:45,620 --> 00:11:50,300 Your presence among the people is to make them better. 239 00:11:50,300 --> 00:11:53,300 Jesus says, I have made you the active agent 240 00:11:53,300 --> 00:11:57,620 among the peoples of this earth against natural decay. 241 00:11:57,620 --> 00:11:59,260 The natural decay of morality, 242 00:11:59,260 --> 00:12:01,660 the natural decay of righteousness, 243 00:12:01,660 --> 00:12:04,020 perversion and sin and death. 244 00:12:04,020 --> 00:12:06,780 I have sprinkled you among the people 245 00:12:08,420 --> 00:12:12,620 to restrain evil by doing good. 246 00:12:12,620 --> 00:12:15,180 I have sprinkled you among the earth. 247 00:12:15,180 --> 00:12:16,940 I have made you and placed you among the peoples 248 00:12:16,940 --> 00:12:21,620 of the earth so that you can cause them to thirst for me. 249 00:12:21,620 --> 00:12:24,220 When they look at your life and they see 250 00:12:24,220 --> 00:12:26,500 what ultimately satisfies you, 251 00:12:26,500 --> 00:12:29,340 a thirst will rise in them that is unquenchable, 252 00:12:29,340 --> 00:12:32,300 having been in your presence and seen the way that you live, 253 00:12:32,300 --> 00:12:36,180 that they will reach out and want the one who satisfies. 254 00:12:38,300 --> 00:12:40,460 You are the salt of the earth. 255 00:12:40,460 --> 00:12:43,580 You are the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus 256 00:12:43,580 --> 00:12:46,580 among the people of the earth. 257 00:12:46,580 --> 00:12:50,900 But if that salt should lose its taste, 258 00:12:52,140 --> 00:12:53,980 how can it be made salty? 259 00:12:53,980 --> 00:12:55,900 It is no longer good for anything 260 00:12:55,900 --> 00:13:00,580 but to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. 261 00:13:00,580 --> 00:13:04,020 This is a hard, hard saying. 262 00:13:06,180 --> 00:13:10,660 A saltless saint is a worthless disciple. 263 00:13:10,660 --> 00:13:15,660 A saltless saint is a worthless disciple. 264 00:13:17,660 --> 00:13:19,140 Remember in Matthew seven, 265 00:13:19,140 --> 00:13:22,740 who hears Jesus' words and acts accordingly? 266 00:13:22,740 --> 00:13:24,500 The wise builder. 267 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:28,380 Who hears Jesus' words and does not act accordingly? 268 00:13:28,380 --> 00:13:29,500 The foolish builder. 269 00:13:29,500 --> 00:13:31,540 And that's what's so interesting about, 270 00:13:31,540 --> 00:13:32,940 I love the scripture and I love 271 00:13:32,940 --> 00:13:34,580 when there's little nuggets in it. 272 00:13:34,580 --> 00:13:38,140 But if the salt should lose its taste, 273 00:13:38,140 --> 00:13:41,060 the word taste there in the Greek, 274 00:13:41,060 --> 00:13:44,380 it actually means to become foolish. 275 00:13:44,380 --> 00:13:49,380 It means to become foolish or to be convicted of folly. 276 00:13:49,660 --> 00:13:53,380 If anyone, if salt should become foolish, 277 00:13:53,380 --> 00:13:57,820 if salt should become convicted of folly, 278 00:13:57,820 --> 00:14:00,420 how can it be made salty anymore? 279 00:14:02,540 --> 00:14:04,460 Wise and foolish builder. 280 00:14:04,460 --> 00:14:07,060 If you become foolish, how do you become foolish 281 00:14:07,060 --> 00:14:10,340 in Jesus' illustration in chapter seven? 282 00:14:10,340 --> 00:14:13,900 You become foolish when you hear God's word 283 00:14:13,900 --> 00:14:17,380 and you don't act accordingly. 284 00:14:18,340 --> 00:14:21,540 How can you be made salty again? 285 00:14:22,980 --> 00:14:25,620 A saltless saint is a worthless disciple. 286 00:14:27,620 --> 00:14:29,580 If the once wise becomes foolish, 287 00:14:29,580 --> 00:14:32,020 they cannot again become wise. 288 00:14:32,020 --> 00:14:35,340 If the once foolish, they cannot again become wise. 289 00:14:37,700 --> 00:14:40,860 There is a rabbinic saying from this time 290 00:14:40,860 --> 00:14:42,140 that I just got a crack out of 291 00:14:42,140 --> 00:14:44,780 and I really hope that it doesn't offend too much. 292 00:14:44,780 --> 00:14:46,140 Ha ha. 293 00:14:46,140 --> 00:14:47,460 Gear up. 294 00:14:47,460 --> 00:14:49,740 Any kids in, oh yeah, they won't know. 295 00:14:49,740 --> 00:14:50,580 Ha ha. 296 00:14:52,140 --> 00:14:55,100 The rabbinic saying begins with a question. 297 00:14:55,100 --> 00:14:58,220 What do you salt tasteless salt with? 298 00:14:58,220 --> 00:15:01,540 What do you salt tasteless salt with? 299 00:15:01,540 --> 00:15:02,620 And the answer? 300 00:15:03,500 --> 00:15:05,620 The afterbirth of a mule. 301 00:15:08,060 --> 00:15:10,380 Yeah, disgusting, right? 302 00:15:11,540 --> 00:15:12,860 And I think that's part of the point. 303 00:15:12,860 --> 00:15:14,820 The afterbirth of the mule. 304 00:15:14,820 --> 00:15:19,060 Who's gonna wanna eat that stuff after that? 305 00:15:19,060 --> 00:15:20,700 Well, that's pretty gross, right? 306 00:15:21,740 --> 00:15:25,020 I mean, not only that, there's a feature about mules 307 00:15:25,020 --> 00:15:25,860 that's unique. 308 00:15:25,860 --> 00:15:26,700 Some of you probably know this. 309 00:15:26,700 --> 00:15:28,660 I didn't know this until I was looking into it. 310 00:15:28,660 --> 00:15:30,420 But mules are sterile or infertile. 311 00:15:30,420 --> 00:15:33,020 They're a cross between a horse and a donkey 312 00:15:33,020 --> 00:15:35,060 and they don't give birth, right? 313 00:15:36,140 --> 00:15:39,460 That makes the saying all the more ridiculous. 314 00:15:39,460 --> 00:15:40,900 Mules don't give birth. 315 00:15:42,460 --> 00:15:45,660 So what is the great wisdom of this rabbinic saying? 316 00:15:46,780 --> 00:15:48,300 It's something like this. 317 00:15:49,380 --> 00:15:53,900 Ask stupid questions, get stupid answers. 318 00:15:53,900 --> 00:15:57,500 You can't make tasteless salt salty again. 319 00:15:58,380 --> 00:15:59,500 You can't salt salt. 320 00:16:00,500 --> 00:16:03,500 When it's lost, it's taste, it's gone. 321 00:16:03,500 --> 00:16:05,300 Now, I mean, obviously you can get into the science 322 00:16:05,300 --> 00:16:07,940 of salt and the fact that it's a very stable compound 323 00:16:07,940 --> 00:16:09,540 and it can't lose its saltiness. 324 00:16:09,540 --> 00:16:11,820 But in the first century, they were dealing with 325 00:16:11,820 --> 00:16:14,220 kinds of salts that came from near the Dead Sea, 326 00:16:14,220 --> 00:16:16,860 which oftentimes had other compounds mixed in with it. 327 00:16:16,860 --> 00:16:19,900 And you could definitely get a batch of bad salt, 328 00:16:19,900 --> 00:16:21,540 dirt and other compounds. 329 00:16:21,540 --> 00:16:24,540 You can't make salt salty again. 330 00:16:24,540 --> 00:16:28,540 You can't salt tasteless salt. 331 00:16:28,540 --> 00:16:31,540 And we are told you are the salt of the earth. 332 00:16:31,540 --> 00:16:34,300 Are the relationships in your life better 333 00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:36,060 because you are there? 334 00:16:39,020 --> 00:16:43,020 Are you an enhancement, a flavor, 335 00:16:43,020 --> 00:16:47,020 a peculiar flavor of heaven in your relationship? 336 00:16:47,020 --> 00:16:49,100 Are you a flavor of the earth? 337 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:53,020 Are you a flavor of heaven in your relationships? 338 00:16:53,020 --> 00:16:55,980 How about the conversations that you and I engage in? 339 00:16:55,980 --> 00:16:58,540 Are they, as Colossians 4.6 says, 340 00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:02,260 gracious, seasoned with salt? 341 00:17:02,260 --> 00:17:07,100 Are our conversations gracious, seasoned with salt? 342 00:17:07,100 --> 00:17:10,020 Are you an active agent, an enemy of decay 343 00:17:10,020 --> 00:17:14,740 in a culture bent on corruption, sin and chaos? 344 00:17:14,740 --> 00:17:17,380 Or have you run to the monastery 345 00:17:17,380 --> 00:17:21,460 to separate yourself from this life and its corruption 346 00:17:21,460 --> 00:17:23,700 and hide away till Jesus comes back? 347 00:17:25,420 --> 00:17:27,660 No, go, you are the salt of the earth. 348 00:17:28,700 --> 00:17:30,860 Do the people around you see the life that you have 349 00:17:30,860 --> 00:17:33,580 in Christ in hunger and thirst for righteousness 350 00:17:33,580 --> 00:17:35,340 in their own lives? 351 00:17:37,260 --> 00:17:40,580 Or are you a saltless saint? 352 00:17:40,580 --> 00:17:45,580 Verse 14, you are the light of the world. 353 00:17:46,700 --> 00:17:48,100 You are the light of the world. 354 00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:51,900 Remember that Jesus is the second person of the Trinity 355 00:17:51,900 --> 00:17:54,180 or the triune God by whom and through whom 356 00:17:54,180 --> 00:17:55,380 everything was made. 357 00:17:55,380 --> 00:17:58,380 And what was written on the first pages of the Bible? 358 00:17:58,380 --> 00:18:02,020 Where are we first exposed to light 359 00:18:02,020 --> 00:18:07,020 when God himself says, let there be light 360 00:18:07,180 --> 00:18:08,540 and there was light. 361 00:18:08,540 --> 00:18:11,140 And what does Jesus say to his kingdom people 362 00:18:11,140 --> 00:18:13,660 in the first sermon he preaches? 363 00:18:13,660 --> 00:18:15,940 He says, you are light. 364 00:18:16,780 --> 00:18:18,060 Be light. 365 00:18:18,060 --> 00:18:20,820 You are my kingdom people, you are the light of the world. 366 00:18:20,820 --> 00:18:24,580 In fact, 2 Corinthians chapter four, verse six, 367 00:18:24,580 --> 00:18:27,620 Paul connects the God of Genesis and his work there 368 00:18:27,620 --> 00:18:29,220 with this work of Christ in us. 369 00:18:29,220 --> 00:18:33,580 He says, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness 370 00:18:33,580 --> 00:18:37,460 has shown in our hearts the light of the world. 371 00:18:37,460 --> 00:18:40,380 Has shown in our hearts to give the light 372 00:18:40,380 --> 00:18:45,380 of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ. 373 00:18:45,900 --> 00:18:48,260 In the book of James, we are told that every good 374 00:18:48,260 --> 00:18:50,340 and perfect gift comes from who? 375 00:18:50,340 --> 00:18:54,020 The father of lights who doesn't change 376 00:18:54,020 --> 00:18:55,980 like shifting shadows. 377 00:18:57,260 --> 00:18:59,620 In John chapter eight, verse 12, Jesus says 378 00:18:59,620 --> 00:19:02,180 the very same thing of himself that he says of us 379 00:19:02,180 --> 00:19:05,180 here in 14, I am the light of the world. 380 00:19:05,180 --> 00:19:08,500 You who follows me will never walk in the darkness 381 00:19:08,500 --> 00:19:12,220 but will have the light of life. 382 00:19:14,540 --> 00:19:17,180 The prologue to John's book, John's gospel, 383 00:19:17,180 --> 00:19:19,820 we are told that in Jesus was life 384 00:19:19,820 --> 00:19:23,300 and that life was the light of men. 385 00:19:23,300 --> 00:19:25,300 That light shines in the darkness 386 00:19:25,300 --> 00:19:28,740 and yet the darkness did not overcome it. 387 00:19:30,860 --> 00:19:33,180 Finally, in this survey of scripture, 388 00:19:33,180 --> 00:19:35,540 in Revelation, we are told that a heavenly city 389 00:19:35,540 --> 00:19:37,540 comes down, the new Jerusalem. 390 00:19:38,660 --> 00:19:40,540 And what is one of those peculiar features 391 00:19:40,540 --> 00:19:42,820 of this new heavenly city? 392 00:19:43,860 --> 00:19:47,460 Oh, that city, it doesn't need the sun. 393 00:19:49,260 --> 00:19:50,540 That city doesn't need the sun. 394 00:19:50,540 --> 00:19:53,300 That city doesn't need the moon to shine on it. 395 00:19:53,300 --> 00:19:54,700 Why? 396 00:19:54,700 --> 00:19:58,900 Because the glory of God illuminates it 397 00:19:58,900 --> 00:20:03,460 and its lamp is the lamb, Jesus. 398 00:20:04,460 --> 00:20:07,780 My friends, we are children of the glory of God. 399 00:20:07,780 --> 00:20:08,700 We are children of God. 400 00:20:08,700 --> 00:20:12,660 If Christ is alive in us, then he is the undemiable 401 00:20:12,660 --> 00:20:16,260 nuclear power source within us, 402 00:20:16,260 --> 00:20:17,900 shining in and through us. 403 00:20:17,900 --> 00:20:20,700 I've heard a lot of people use the idea of reflection 404 00:20:20,700 --> 00:20:22,500 in relation to this scripture. 405 00:20:22,500 --> 00:20:23,940 And I had a little bit of a problem with it 406 00:20:23,940 --> 00:20:26,020 because Christ is alive in me. 407 00:20:26,020 --> 00:20:27,620 Christ is alive in me. 408 00:20:27,620 --> 00:20:29,340 He's not outside. 409 00:20:29,340 --> 00:20:34,340 He's in me alive, shining out forth through me. 410 00:20:36,780 --> 00:20:39,660 He is the undemiable power source. 411 00:20:40,500 --> 00:20:43,740 It is impossible for light not to illuminate. 412 00:20:43,740 --> 00:20:46,900 It is impossible for light not to illuminate. 413 00:20:46,900 --> 00:20:49,940 In fact, light gets a little bit of a bad rap nowadays. 414 00:20:49,940 --> 00:20:52,020 I don't know if you guys have heard of light pollution. 415 00:20:52,020 --> 00:20:54,980 But light pollution is the unspoken, you know, 416 00:20:54,980 --> 00:20:59,980 I guess, threat to humanity. 417 00:21:00,060 --> 00:21:02,700 I was reading an article earlier about the effects 418 00:21:02,700 --> 00:21:06,260 of light pollution on human health and so on and so forth. 419 00:21:06,260 --> 00:21:09,620 And some of it has to do with unwanted light 420 00:21:09,620 --> 00:21:12,220 flooding in to places you don't want it 421 00:21:12,220 --> 00:21:13,420 and not being able to sleep. 422 00:21:13,420 --> 00:21:14,260 And why? 423 00:21:14,260 --> 00:21:19,180 Because light, it is impossible for it to not illuminate. 424 00:21:19,180 --> 00:21:22,540 It can't be, light is by any very nature 425 00:21:22,540 --> 00:21:25,060 piercing darkness and spreading it. 426 00:21:25,060 --> 00:21:27,100 I'm obviously not being scientific here. 427 00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:31,500 But light, you can't hide light 428 00:21:31,500 --> 00:21:33,540 unless you put something over it. 429 00:21:33,540 --> 00:21:35,340 You put something in its way. 430 00:21:35,340 --> 00:21:37,380 Light will illuminate. 431 00:21:37,380 --> 00:21:39,900 And we are told that we are a chosen people, 432 00:21:39,900 --> 00:21:43,060 a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God, 433 00:21:43,060 --> 00:21:45,340 that we may proclaim the praises of the one 434 00:21:45,340 --> 00:21:46,500 who called us out of what? 435 00:21:46,500 --> 00:21:50,140 Darkness into his marvelous light, 436 00:21:50,140 --> 00:21:55,140 into his marvelous light, for you were once darkness. 437 00:21:56,340 --> 00:21:59,820 Ephesians 5, 8 tells us, you were once darkness. 438 00:21:59,820 --> 00:22:04,820 But now you are light in the Lord. 439 00:22:06,700 --> 00:22:10,300 And then he gives a command, walk as children of light. 440 00:22:11,380 --> 00:22:13,540 So I wanna give you this morning three places 441 00:22:13,540 --> 00:22:16,900 that we are to shine according to Matthew 5. 442 00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:20,620 The first place is we're to shine in the world. 443 00:22:20,620 --> 00:22:21,740 To shine in the world. 444 00:22:21,740 --> 00:22:24,020 And we don't necessarily shine in the world 445 00:22:24,020 --> 00:22:25,820 as individuals very well. 446 00:22:27,060 --> 00:22:28,980 However, the collective light of believers 447 00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:31,660 is a powerful light in the dark world. 448 00:22:31,660 --> 00:22:35,860 You guys ever own a large spotlight LED? 449 00:22:35,860 --> 00:22:38,260 Like a LED lamp, right? 450 00:22:38,260 --> 00:22:40,100 If you took out, maybe it has 100, 451 00:22:40,100 --> 00:22:42,540 maybe it has 200 little LEDs in there. 452 00:22:42,540 --> 00:22:44,380 If you took out all of them but one, 453 00:22:44,380 --> 00:22:45,700 how bright would that be? 454 00:22:45,700 --> 00:22:46,780 Not very bright. 455 00:22:47,660 --> 00:22:51,060 But together all of those LED lamps side by side 456 00:22:51,060 --> 00:22:53,420 can make a stream of light pierce. 457 00:22:53,420 --> 00:22:55,260 We have an awesome little spotlight at home 458 00:22:55,260 --> 00:22:57,300 that we use whenever we hear something crazy 459 00:22:57,300 --> 00:22:58,140 going on in the woods. 460 00:22:58,140 --> 00:23:01,260 We'll pull out that spotlight and we can shoot that thing, 461 00:23:01,260 --> 00:23:03,100 clear beam all the way into the force 462 00:23:03,100 --> 00:23:04,180 and see what's going on. 463 00:23:04,180 --> 00:23:05,860 It's an LED, it lights up, 464 00:23:05,860 --> 00:23:09,980 but it takes lots of little LEDs to make it bright. 465 00:23:09,980 --> 00:23:14,340 In this world, we may seem like we're one tiny little light. 466 00:23:14,340 --> 00:23:17,340 What can we do but together, 467 00:23:17,340 --> 00:23:22,220 collectively, believers, both here and across the world, 468 00:23:22,220 --> 00:23:25,580 we are a force because of the light of Christ. 469 00:23:25,580 --> 00:23:28,020 And that is why it's so important to be connected 470 00:23:28,020 --> 00:23:31,380 to the people of God in the body of Christ. 471 00:23:31,380 --> 00:23:34,620 Our light shines in the world when we shine together. 472 00:23:34,620 --> 00:23:36,100 When we're on mission together, 473 00:23:36,100 --> 00:23:39,660 when we're in the world together, our light shines. 474 00:23:39,660 --> 00:23:41,900 Even Jesus, when he sent his apostles out 475 00:23:41,900 --> 00:23:44,620 to go and teach and evangelize and heal, 476 00:23:44,620 --> 00:23:46,300 did he send them alone? 477 00:23:46,300 --> 00:23:48,460 No, he sent them two by two. 478 00:23:49,460 --> 00:23:50,540 Don't go it alone. 479 00:23:51,420 --> 00:23:55,100 Go out, strengthen that light, let it shine brighter. 480 00:23:55,100 --> 00:23:56,220 We are to reach the world. 481 00:23:56,220 --> 00:23:58,820 Individual lights spread out and apart from one another 482 00:23:58,820 --> 00:24:01,860 will have very little impact on a global scale, 483 00:24:01,860 --> 00:24:03,420 but together we shine. 484 00:24:04,500 --> 00:24:07,820 And together, we shine bright. 485 00:24:07,820 --> 00:24:11,100 The second place that we are to shine is in the city. 486 00:24:11,100 --> 00:24:13,860 He began by saying, let your light shine, right? 487 00:24:15,060 --> 00:24:15,980 To the world. 488 00:24:15,980 --> 00:24:18,300 And then he said, but a city on a hill, 489 00:24:18,300 --> 00:24:20,180 a city on a hill can't be hidden, right? 490 00:24:20,180 --> 00:24:22,820 We're to shine our light in the city 491 00:24:22,820 --> 00:24:25,220 because in the city, you can be known. 492 00:24:25,220 --> 00:24:27,060 You can be known individually. 493 00:24:27,060 --> 00:24:28,980 In your job and in your neighborhoods, 494 00:24:28,980 --> 00:24:31,500 people will know you and know who you are. 495 00:24:32,860 --> 00:24:35,860 Do they see the light of God shining through you 496 00:24:35,860 --> 00:24:40,620 in your neighborhood, at work, at the local coffee shop? 497 00:24:40,620 --> 00:24:44,980 Do they discern that you are a child of light? 498 00:24:46,860 --> 00:24:51,620 Do they have to metaphorically shield their eyes 499 00:24:51,620 --> 00:24:56,140 if they don't want to see light when they are around you? 500 00:24:58,380 --> 00:24:59,860 This is an interesting stat 501 00:25:01,180 --> 00:25:04,180 related to our light shining in our city. 502 00:25:04,180 --> 00:25:07,940 Did you know that 82% of people who were surveyed 503 00:25:07,940 --> 00:25:11,180 in a large survey done by a Christian organization, 504 00:25:11,180 --> 00:25:14,260 82% of the people who surveyed said that 505 00:25:14,260 --> 00:25:18,780 they would come to church if a friend invited them. 506 00:25:20,140 --> 00:25:23,700 82% of people said, I'm gonna say that again, 507 00:25:23,700 --> 00:25:27,660 82% of people surveyed said we would go to church 508 00:25:27,660 --> 00:25:29,580 if a friend invited us to go. 509 00:25:29,580 --> 00:25:33,260 And in that same survey, they found that only 2% 510 00:25:33,260 --> 00:25:36,740 of Christians said, I invite my friends to church. 511 00:25:39,540 --> 00:25:42,660 82%, just waiting for the invitation, 512 00:25:42,660 --> 00:25:44,300 it hasn't arrived yet. 513 00:25:44,300 --> 00:25:46,180 I don't wanna go alone, I don't wanna go through 514 00:25:46,180 --> 00:25:47,740 those doors alone, it's weird, it's scary, 515 00:25:47,740 --> 00:25:49,580 I don't know what it's like, but I'm waiting 516 00:25:49,580 --> 00:25:52,100 for that invitation to arrive from my friends. 517 00:25:53,300 --> 00:25:56,580 And 2% of Christians saying, yeah, I'm gonna go to church. 518 00:25:56,580 --> 00:26:00,820 And 2% of Christians saying, yeah, I invite my friends. 519 00:26:02,220 --> 00:26:03,260 That's crazy. 520 00:26:04,380 --> 00:26:08,220 Let your light shine, you are the light of the world. 521 00:26:08,220 --> 00:26:10,540 That 82% doesn't just mean, wow, look at them, 522 00:26:10,540 --> 00:26:12,820 they're just on the edge, that means that the light 523 00:26:12,820 --> 00:26:14,940 is shining out there and they're interested, 524 00:26:14,940 --> 00:26:16,860 they just need someone to bridge the gap, 525 00:26:16,860 --> 00:26:19,460 to pull them in, they wanna know what's going on in here. 526 00:26:19,460 --> 00:26:21,180 They just need an invitation. 527 00:26:22,300 --> 00:26:26,260 Only 2% of Christians invite their friends. 528 00:26:26,260 --> 00:26:29,940 But 82% of people said they would go. 529 00:26:29,940 --> 00:26:32,540 That also tells us that we need more friends. 530 00:26:34,380 --> 00:26:36,620 Because they didn't say just anyone inviting them, 531 00:26:36,620 --> 00:26:37,980 they said friends, and if you go, well, 532 00:26:37,980 --> 00:26:40,460 I've already invited all my friends. 533 00:26:40,460 --> 00:26:41,740 Make more friends. 534 00:26:43,740 --> 00:26:45,420 Chances are you're gonna run into someone 535 00:26:45,420 --> 00:26:46,980 who wants to go to church. 536 00:26:46,980 --> 00:26:48,380 You can build a kingdom that way. 537 00:26:48,380 --> 00:26:51,780 Be a friend factory and an inviting person, 538 00:26:51,780 --> 00:26:54,980 a person who just puts out the invites to more friends. 539 00:26:54,980 --> 00:26:56,540 Maybe be friendly. 540 00:26:56,540 --> 00:27:00,620 I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but be friendly. 541 00:27:00,620 --> 00:27:03,780 Open the doors to friendship with you 542 00:27:03,780 --> 00:27:06,900 and through that friendship, there is an obvious, 543 00:27:06,900 --> 00:27:10,140 clear doorway to reach the lost. 544 00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:14,940 I'm so off script here, sorry. 545 00:27:14,940 --> 00:27:17,980 But it's one of those things that I'm really passionate 546 00:27:17,980 --> 00:27:22,540 about because one of the dangers that a small church 547 00:27:22,540 --> 00:27:27,220 always has is that I'm comfortable with where we're at now. 548 00:27:27,220 --> 00:27:31,940 Oh, I like our size, I like to know everyone. 549 00:27:31,940 --> 00:27:34,220 But the truth is studies show us over and over again, 550 00:27:34,220 --> 00:27:36,900 you actually don't know everyone in this room. 551 00:27:36,900 --> 00:27:39,380 You know maybe five to 10 people. 552 00:27:39,380 --> 00:27:40,780 And most of the people in this room 553 00:27:40,780 --> 00:27:43,180 have never sat at your dinner table. 554 00:27:43,180 --> 00:27:44,180 Most of them haven't. 555 00:27:45,580 --> 00:27:48,780 But there are people out there who wanna be in here 556 00:27:48,780 --> 00:27:50,860 if a friend would invite them, and all we have to do 557 00:27:50,860 --> 00:27:53,300 is open our heart and our life to them, make friends, 558 00:27:53,300 --> 00:27:55,340 and then say, hey, come with me. 559 00:27:56,180 --> 00:27:58,180 And we'll go out to lunch afterward. 560 00:27:58,180 --> 00:28:00,540 And they'd say, okay, I was waiting. 561 00:28:01,900 --> 00:28:03,420 There's so much we can do. 562 00:28:03,420 --> 00:28:06,100 I've been thinking about this in relation to church 563 00:28:06,100 --> 00:28:08,100 and what the Lord is doing here at Village 564 00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:10,980 and where we might be going and what we should hope for 565 00:28:10,980 --> 00:28:12,580 and what we should pray for. 566 00:28:12,580 --> 00:28:14,180 And we're always gonna push against that, 567 00:28:14,180 --> 00:28:15,740 oh, but I like it the way that it is, 568 00:28:15,740 --> 00:28:19,340 or the way that it was, or the way that I wish it was 569 00:28:19,340 --> 00:28:20,740 before, back when. 570 00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:24,060 But I'll ask you this question. 571 00:28:25,380 --> 00:28:28,500 How many people does God want us to reach? 572 00:28:30,020 --> 00:28:32,220 How many does he want us to reach? 573 00:28:32,220 --> 00:28:35,140 Are you willing to put a number on that? 574 00:28:35,140 --> 00:28:37,740 Oh, I think he only wants me to reach five. 575 00:28:37,740 --> 00:28:39,620 Like, he created me, he made, 576 00:28:39,620 --> 00:28:41,140 I think he only wants me at five. 577 00:28:41,140 --> 00:28:42,460 That's my limit. 578 00:28:42,460 --> 00:28:43,300 I'm gonna reach five. 579 00:28:43,300 --> 00:28:48,300 In fact, I reached those five in 1975, and I'm done. 580 00:28:48,300 --> 00:28:52,260 You really wanna put that number and that limit on Jesus 581 00:28:52,260 --> 00:28:55,100 and what he's doing here in this world? 582 00:28:55,100 --> 00:28:56,380 I don't wanna do that. 583 00:28:57,700 --> 00:29:00,060 And anytime we say, oh, I like it the way it is, 584 00:29:00,060 --> 00:29:03,140 one, two, three, four, I like this right here, 585 00:29:03,140 --> 00:29:06,500 what we're saying is, that's enough, Jesus. 586 00:29:06,500 --> 00:29:07,940 Calm down. 587 00:29:07,940 --> 00:29:10,180 Calm down on that reaching thing. 588 00:29:10,180 --> 00:29:12,260 And I say, no, let's blow the doors open. 589 00:29:12,260 --> 00:29:14,980 Let's make friends, more friends and more friends, 590 00:29:14,980 --> 00:29:16,700 so that we can invite those friends 591 00:29:16,700 --> 00:29:18,780 to come and join the kingdom of God 592 00:29:18,780 --> 00:29:21,100 and be a part of what God is doing. 593 00:29:21,100 --> 00:29:23,100 You are the light of the world to the city. 594 00:29:23,100 --> 00:29:24,780 I'm back on script, here we go. 595 00:29:27,300 --> 00:29:28,180 Number three. 596 00:29:31,300 --> 00:29:33,900 The third place you are to shine. 597 00:29:33,900 --> 00:29:36,740 You are to shine in your house. 598 00:29:37,900 --> 00:29:40,820 You don't light a lamp and hide it under a bushel 599 00:29:40,820 --> 00:29:44,740 or hide it under your bed, but you put a lamp on its stand 600 00:29:44,740 --> 00:29:48,340 so that it illuminates the whole house. 601 00:29:48,340 --> 00:29:52,020 You are to light and be the light of the world 602 00:29:52,020 --> 00:29:53,180 in your house. 603 00:29:53,180 --> 00:29:56,820 And here truly is where it all starts, really. 604 00:29:57,860 --> 00:29:59,180 And this can, for some folks, 605 00:29:59,180 --> 00:30:01,940 be the place where it's most difficult to shine. 606 00:30:03,540 --> 00:30:05,860 Does your household experience 607 00:30:05,860 --> 00:30:09,100 the illuminating light of God because of you? 608 00:30:09,100 --> 00:30:14,100 Do you fill the house with the light 609 00:30:14,100 --> 00:30:15,780 of the knowledge of Christ? 610 00:30:17,100 --> 00:30:19,460 Is the word of God described in the Psalms 611 00:30:19,460 --> 00:30:23,180 as a light unto our feet and a lamp to our path? 612 00:30:23,180 --> 00:30:26,420 Is the word of God regularly read, 613 00:30:26,420 --> 00:30:30,100 regularly taught, discussed and meditated on 614 00:30:30,100 --> 00:30:33,460 in your house because of you? 615 00:30:33,460 --> 00:30:36,060 Do you talk about the word? 616 00:30:36,060 --> 00:30:38,140 Do you talk about the word as it relates 617 00:30:38,140 --> 00:30:40,140 to decisions you need to make? 618 00:30:41,260 --> 00:30:44,860 How does the word inform what I should do 619 00:30:44,860 --> 00:30:46,340 in any given situation? 620 00:30:46,340 --> 00:30:50,380 What does the word tell me about taking on this debt? 621 00:30:51,300 --> 00:30:54,340 What does the word of God, the wisdom of God, 622 00:30:54,340 --> 00:30:56,940 tell me about whether I should invest 623 00:30:56,940 --> 00:30:59,740 in this relationship or that relationship? 624 00:30:59,740 --> 00:31:03,620 What does the word of God tell me about maintaining those 625 00:31:03,620 --> 00:31:06,340 connections with that relative over here or visiting here? 626 00:31:07,220 --> 00:31:09,100 What does the word of God tell me about whether 627 00:31:09,100 --> 00:31:11,140 I should give my kid a cell phone 628 00:31:12,860 --> 00:31:15,060 or whether I should marry this person 629 00:31:16,260 --> 00:31:18,900 or whether I should go to church today? 630 00:31:20,260 --> 00:31:22,820 What does the word of God tell me? 631 00:31:25,100 --> 00:31:27,700 Bring the word of God to me. 632 00:31:27,700 --> 00:31:32,700 Bring the word of God, the light of God, 633 00:31:32,740 --> 00:31:37,500 to our houses and from there reach our cities 634 00:31:37,500 --> 00:31:40,580 and from there together we reach the world. 635 00:31:43,260 --> 00:31:45,700 It's often been said that integrity, 636 00:31:49,660 --> 00:31:52,660 integrity is what you do when no one's watching, right? 637 00:31:52,660 --> 00:31:56,940 Those doors close to your home, do you let it down? 638 00:31:56,940 --> 00:32:01,100 Is that hallelujah and amen all gone at home 639 00:32:01,100 --> 00:32:05,180 or does it have a place in your four walls? 640 00:32:06,340 --> 00:32:10,060 What about though, when it comes to our enemies? 641 00:32:10,060 --> 00:32:11,260 What about shining our light, 642 00:32:11,260 --> 00:32:12,980 the light of the world to our enemies? 643 00:32:12,980 --> 00:32:14,980 And if you remember, this particular passage 644 00:32:14,980 --> 00:32:17,380 was right on the heels of that beatitude 645 00:32:17,380 --> 00:32:20,780 where it culminated with blessed, blessed persecution, 646 00:32:20,780 --> 00:32:25,780 blessed accusation for ours is the kingdom of heaven. 647 00:32:25,780 --> 00:32:29,300 And our tendency is that when someone takes something 648 00:32:29,300 --> 00:32:32,060 from us, be it our emotional well-being 649 00:32:32,060 --> 00:32:34,460 or something that we own or our status 650 00:32:34,460 --> 00:32:36,900 or someone takes our job or whatever it is 651 00:32:36,900 --> 00:32:39,380 that they take from us, we want to withhold 652 00:32:39,380 --> 00:32:40,780 something from them. 653 00:32:41,780 --> 00:32:43,140 We all have that tendency. 654 00:32:43,140 --> 00:32:50,140 You took from me, I'm not giving to you. 655 00:32:50,140 --> 00:32:52,140 But what's one of the properties of light? 656 00:32:52,940 --> 00:32:57,940 Light shines, light cannot not illuminate. 657 00:32:58,900 --> 00:33:01,340 Light shines where? 658 00:33:02,620 --> 00:33:07,620 In the darkness, in the darkness. 659 00:33:08,340 --> 00:33:09,780 Light does not shine into light, 660 00:33:09,780 --> 00:33:10,900 light shines in the darkness. 661 00:33:10,900 --> 00:33:13,980 And 1 Peter chapter three, verse 13, 662 00:33:13,980 --> 00:33:16,500 this is a great companion verse to that last beatitude 663 00:33:16,500 --> 00:33:17,700 we studied last week. 664 00:33:17,700 --> 00:33:20,100 Who then will harm you if you are devoted 665 00:33:20,100 --> 00:33:21,540 to doing what is good? 666 00:33:21,540 --> 00:33:22,940 That's a good question, who's gonna harm you 667 00:33:22,940 --> 00:33:24,740 if you're doing what is good? 668 00:33:24,740 --> 00:33:28,100 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, 669 00:33:28,100 --> 00:33:29,580 you are blessed. 670 00:33:30,780 --> 00:33:33,020 Do not fear them or be intimidated, 671 00:33:33,020 --> 00:33:37,380 but in your hearts, regard Christ the Lord as holy, 672 00:33:37,380 --> 00:33:41,140 ready at any time to give a defense to anyone 673 00:33:41,140 --> 00:33:44,780 who asks you for the reason for the hope that you have. 674 00:33:44,780 --> 00:33:47,980 Yet even when you do this, do it with gentleness 675 00:33:47,980 --> 00:33:50,780 and reverence, keeping a clear conscience 676 00:33:50,780 --> 00:33:53,180 so that when you are accused, those who disparage 677 00:33:53,180 --> 00:33:56,700 your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. 678 00:33:56,700 --> 00:33:59,780 For it is better to suffer for doing good 679 00:33:59,780 --> 00:34:04,180 if that be God's will than for doing evil. 680 00:34:04,180 --> 00:34:06,780 Who are you to be giving to God 681 00:34:06,780 --> 00:34:10,140 to be giving a gentle, reverent defense 682 00:34:10,140 --> 00:34:11,180 of the hope that you have to, 683 00:34:11,180 --> 00:34:13,460 to those who are making you suffer? 684 00:34:14,460 --> 00:34:16,460 Those who are making you suffer, 685 00:34:16,460 --> 00:34:20,860 you are to be giving a reverent, gentle defense 686 00:34:20,860 --> 00:34:22,900 for why you have hope. 687 00:34:22,900 --> 00:34:24,700 That means as they're making you suffer 688 00:34:24,700 --> 00:34:27,140 and causing suffering in your life, 689 00:34:27,140 --> 00:34:30,740 and they see, wow, what I'm inflicting on them 690 00:34:30,740 --> 00:34:33,780 will not break them, they still have hope. 691 00:34:33,780 --> 00:34:36,820 We still have to be prepared to give the reason 692 00:34:36,820 --> 00:34:39,380 for that hope, even to the person 693 00:34:39,380 --> 00:34:41,180 who's causing the suffering. 694 00:34:41,180 --> 00:34:44,380 Yes, even to them, the light of Christ in you 695 00:34:44,380 --> 00:34:45,660 is to shine through. 696 00:34:46,540 --> 00:34:50,660 Jesus says that if they take from over here in my life, 697 00:34:50,660 --> 00:34:54,020 my physical body, my money, my physical well-being, 698 00:34:54,020 --> 00:34:56,980 my security, if they damage my emotional, 699 00:34:56,980 --> 00:34:59,260 no matter, if they take from over here, 700 00:34:59,260 --> 00:35:02,380 I still have something to give to them over here 701 00:35:02,380 --> 00:35:05,940 out of the light within my heart to show them 702 00:35:05,940 --> 00:35:07,500 this is the hope that I have. 703 00:35:08,420 --> 00:35:12,740 And it's not like, well, I'm a Jesus follower, brr, right? 704 00:35:12,740 --> 00:35:14,820 With gentle and reverence, right? 705 00:35:16,100 --> 00:35:20,460 Why, because you're trying to win the lost. 706 00:35:20,460 --> 00:35:24,020 You're trying to win them over. 707 00:35:24,020 --> 00:35:26,700 You're trying to show the light of Christ 708 00:35:26,700 --> 00:35:28,700 and allow it to shine through you. 709 00:35:28,700 --> 00:35:32,260 You still have something that he wants you to give them. 710 00:35:32,260 --> 00:35:35,220 Even when they're taking everything from you. 711 00:35:37,540 --> 00:35:41,860 But how can we shine in the darkness of suffering? 712 00:35:41,860 --> 00:35:43,860 I'll close with these two points. 713 00:35:43,860 --> 00:35:46,700 First, we pray. 714 00:35:49,300 --> 00:35:51,020 Pray for your enemies. 715 00:35:53,220 --> 00:35:55,180 Pray for their well-being, 716 00:35:56,740 --> 00:35:59,620 even as they negatively affect yours. 717 00:35:59,620 --> 00:36:04,620 Pray for their prosperity, even as they steal yours. 718 00:36:06,980 --> 00:36:11,020 Pray for their peace, even as they intimidate 719 00:36:11,020 --> 00:36:12,140 and terrorize you. 720 00:36:14,460 --> 00:36:16,300 Pray for their salvation, 721 00:36:16,300 --> 00:36:18,660 that they may be made right with God. 722 00:36:20,100 --> 00:36:22,700 Something powerful happens when we see people, 723 00:36:23,700 --> 00:36:26,780 even our enemies, in their relationship to God. 724 00:36:26,780 --> 00:36:30,500 When we see people and how they are in relation to God. 725 00:36:33,620 --> 00:36:35,380 When we see their darkness, 726 00:36:36,260 --> 00:36:37,660 when we see the darkness within their heart 727 00:36:37,660 --> 00:36:39,380 is due to the separation that they have 728 00:36:39,380 --> 00:36:42,700 from the light of God, it does something in us. 729 00:36:42,700 --> 00:36:45,100 Their actions are just symptoms of a root problem. 730 00:36:45,100 --> 00:36:47,340 They're enemies of God. 731 00:36:47,340 --> 00:36:48,380 They're enemies of God. 732 00:36:48,380 --> 00:36:50,500 They're ruthless and unsettled in their life. 733 00:36:50,500 --> 00:36:52,940 The truth is, they're half human. 734 00:36:52,940 --> 00:36:54,100 They're living half lives. 735 00:36:54,100 --> 00:36:57,300 They're not embracing the glory for which they were created, 736 00:36:57,300 --> 00:36:59,940 but instead, they're tools in the hands of Satan 737 00:36:59,940 --> 00:37:01,780 to destroy God's good work. 738 00:37:04,220 --> 00:37:06,580 We can see that so clearly, 739 00:37:06,580 --> 00:37:10,780 but can we also see that God loves them? 740 00:37:13,100 --> 00:37:15,580 God loves them. 741 00:37:15,580 --> 00:37:18,900 And he has not, this is killing me. 742 00:37:18,900 --> 00:37:23,900 As I was preparing, he has not yet returned to take me home 743 00:37:24,220 --> 00:37:27,500 because he's waiting on them to come to the knowledge 744 00:37:27,500 --> 00:37:29,860 of the light of Christ through me. 745 00:37:31,300 --> 00:37:32,500 There's days I wanna go home. 746 00:37:32,500 --> 00:37:33,820 I know I'm young and all that, 747 00:37:33,820 --> 00:37:35,420 but there's days I wanna be in the presence of God 748 00:37:35,420 --> 00:37:38,140 for eternity and I wanna be with my Lord and Savior 749 00:37:38,140 --> 00:37:39,460 and I wanna be in the new heavens. 750 00:37:39,460 --> 00:37:40,700 I want it all. 751 00:37:42,260 --> 00:37:43,740 He ain't coming for me yet. 752 00:37:43,740 --> 00:37:47,740 Because that person who's at enmity with God, 753 00:37:47,740 --> 00:37:49,580 who's in rebellion with God, 754 00:37:49,580 --> 00:37:52,460 who does sinful things that I don't like, 755 00:37:52,460 --> 00:37:56,460 he's waiting on them to come to him. 756 00:37:56,460 --> 00:37:59,660 His patience for them is why we're all waiting. 757 00:38:02,260 --> 00:38:05,700 When we see it in relation, their relation to God, 758 00:38:05,700 --> 00:38:07,580 it does something to our prayers. 759 00:38:07,580 --> 00:38:12,580 Pray, awaken them, show them your light. 760 00:38:12,580 --> 00:38:15,380 May they experience peace and prosperity in their life 761 00:38:15,380 --> 00:38:18,060 that it might awaken them and if suffering is necessary 762 00:38:18,060 --> 00:38:21,620 as well, but whatever it takes, as they take from me, 763 00:38:21,620 --> 00:38:24,260 if this will do it, if they can see in me 764 00:38:24,260 --> 00:38:27,100 the light of Christ as they take everything from me 765 00:38:27,100 --> 00:38:30,100 and they go, why the heck can I not break this guy? 766 00:38:30,100 --> 00:38:33,100 If that's what it takes, I'm gonna break this guy. 767 00:38:33,100 --> 00:38:34,420 I'm gonna break this guy. 768 00:38:34,420 --> 00:38:35,740 I'm gonna break this guy. 769 00:38:35,740 --> 00:38:39,740 If that's what it takes to get them over the line, 770 00:38:39,740 --> 00:38:42,340 do it, Lord, do it. 771 00:38:45,980 --> 00:38:48,140 His patience is for their good 772 00:38:48,140 --> 00:38:51,420 and his light that is in you and me is there 773 00:38:51,420 --> 00:38:53,700 so that you and I can shine. 774 00:38:55,140 --> 00:39:00,140 Second and final, we first pray and then we forgive. 775 00:39:00,140 --> 00:39:02,140 And then we forgive. 776 00:39:03,500 --> 00:39:05,340 How do we shine in the darkness of suffering? 777 00:39:05,340 --> 00:39:06,180 We forgive. 778 00:39:06,180 --> 00:39:09,940 What did Jesus pray for his enemies while on the cross? 779 00:39:09,940 --> 00:39:12,980 It was the same thing, the same idea that Stephen prayed 780 00:39:12,980 --> 00:39:15,940 as the crowd is pelting him with stones 781 00:39:15,940 --> 00:39:19,780 and he is dying right before their eyes. 782 00:39:19,780 --> 00:39:21,380 They both prayed the same thing. 783 00:39:22,700 --> 00:39:23,540 Forgive them. 784 00:39:24,540 --> 00:39:26,140 Do not hold this sin against them. 785 00:39:26,140 --> 00:39:28,140 Do not hold this sin against them. 786 00:39:30,020 --> 00:39:32,500 This is truly the ministry of reconciliation. 787 00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:34,700 You want to see light pour out of you 788 00:39:34,700 --> 00:39:37,860 in volumes that you can't imagine, forgive. 789 00:39:39,020 --> 00:39:39,860 Forgive. 790 00:39:41,340 --> 00:39:45,660 Psalm 24, 17 says, do not gloat when your enemies fall. 791 00:39:45,660 --> 00:39:47,100 How hard is that? 792 00:39:47,100 --> 00:39:50,420 How hard is that in the political season that we're in? 793 00:39:50,420 --> 00:39:54,420 Do not gloat when your enemies fall 794 00:39:54,420 --> 00:39:57,820 and let your heart rejoice when he stumbles. 795 00:39:58,820 --> 00:39:59,660 Don't let it. 796 00:40:00,860 --> 00:40:02,540 We forgive. 797 00:40:02,540 --> 00:40:03,380 Why? 798 00:40:03,380 --> 00:40:06,140 Because we are the forgiven ones. 799 00:40:06,140 --> 00:40:08,060 We are the forgiven ones. 800 00:40:08,060 --> 00:40:13,060 We forgive one another because God in Christ forgave us. 801 00:40:13,340 --> 00:40:16,540 And so we let our light shine before others 802 00:40:16,540 --> 00:40:19,100 so that they may see our good works, 803 00:40:19,100 --> 00:40:21,740 prayer and forgiveness in so many others 804 00:40:21,740 --> 00:40:25,740 and give glory to God, their Father in heaven. 805 00:40:25,740 --> 00:40:28,420 This is not about your own congratulations. 806 00:40:28,420 --> 00:40:30,580 Good job, chap. 807 00:40:30,580 --> 00:40:32,260 You've done well. 808 00:40:32,260 --> 00:40:35,380 This is about God's glory and his radiance 809 00:40:35,380 --> 00:40:37,980 shining on this earth through his people. 810 00:40:40,060 --> 00:40:42,020 I encourage you this morning. 811 00:40:42,020 --> 00:40:43,500 You are the salt of the earth. 812 00:40:43,500 --> 00:40:45,540 You are the light of the world. 813 00:40:47,020 --> 00:40:49,860 For some of you, that means making a phone call today. 814 00:40:49,860 --> 00:40:51,420 For some of you, that means setting up 815 00:40:51,420 --> 00:40:52,940 a lunch meeting with someone. 816 00:40:55,060 --> 00:40:57,660 Or if that's not possible, at least going to the place 817 00:40:57,660 --> 00:41:01,500 of the hard work necessary to release them from the debt 818 00:41:01,500 --> 00:41:04,220 that their harm has incurred on you 819 00:41:04,220 --> 00:41:07,900 and release them from what they owe you in your heart. 820 00:41:10,020 --> 00:41:11,820 Friends, this is the gospel. 821 00:41:13,340 --> 00:41:15,940 When we owe the insurmountable debt 822 00:41:15,940 --> 00:41:18,380 of our failure to perfect our faith, 823 00:41:18,380 --> 00:41:22,380 of our failure to perfectly obey God, our holy creator, 824 00:41:22,380 --> 00:41:26,220 Christ still died for us. 825 00:41:26,220 --> 00:41:28,940 And he procured our forgiveness of our debt 826 00:41:28,940 --> 00:41:32,700 and the restoration of our relationship to God. 827 00:41:35,340 --> 00:41:37,580 The servant is not greater than his master. 828 00:41:37,580 --> 00:41:47,580 This is only our duty.