Salt and Light.

Steve Gentry

[0:06] We’ll go ahead and have a seat. [0:07] Welcome to Village Church. [0:08] If this is your first time here, my name is Steve. [0:10] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:12] And as always, I am thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you. [0:15] If you have a Bible, go ahead and open it to Matthew chapter 5.

[0:19] We’re going to be starting in verse 13 this morning, but last week we took a look at the [0:24] Beatitudes. [0:25] And so we started this section on the Sermon on the Mount. [0:28] And the Sermon on the Mount is probably the most prolific recording of a sermon of Jesus. [0:33] It’s certainly the longest record of a sermon of Jesus that we have. [0:37] And in it, he covers a great deal of ground, a great deal of really topics.

[0:44] But the main topic that he’s dealing with in every one of these is that salvation can [0:50] come from no other source but through Jesus. [0:53] That he is the hope that we need in our lives, that he is the source of the new creation [0:58] for our lives, and he is the root of every change that needs to be made in our lives. [1:06] And so the Beatitudes, though, often are seen as these things that we kind of white-knuckle [1:11] our way towards, and these are things that should be true of us if we kind of go after

[1:15] it hard enough. [1:17] But that’s not what we saw last week. [1:19] What we saw last week is that these are works that God wants to do in us. [1:22] That this is the evidence of the new creation that God wants to do in the work of Jesus [1:28] Christ. [1:29] And so this isn’t something that you do, rather these are blessings that you receive.

[1:33] This is what faith will just create in your life, and as you grow in following Jesus, [1:39] these will just flow from your life. [1:42] And so what often happens between verse 12 and verse 13 is that we don’t really connect [1:47] the two ideas. [1:49] And so 13 through 16, these three analogies that we’re going to see today where he says [1:52] we’re the salt of the earth, we’re the light of the world, we’re a city on a hill.

[1:57] Oftentimes we treat it as completely disconnected from the Beatitudes. [2:01] But what I hope you can kind of get a vision for this morning is that what actually happens [2:05] is he’s telling us that if the Beatitudes take root in our lives, if we’re transformed [2:10] by the gospel of Jesus Christ, then this is what we will become by seeking after God in [2:17] every way that the Beatitudes tell us to seek after God. [2:19] When we are blessed, we will live to change the world.

[2:24] We will live to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. [2:27] And so I want to go ahead and start reading in verse 13. [2:31] You are the salt of the earth. [2:32] Now note these are not options. [2:35] He’s declaring something. [2:36] You are the salt of the earth.

[2:40] But if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? [2:44] It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s [2:48] feet. [2:48] You are the light of the world. [2:51] A city on a hill. [2:52] Excuse me.

[2:52] A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor to people light a lamp, put it under a basket, [2:57] but rather on a stand. [2:59] And it gives light to all in the house. [3:01] In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works [3:06] and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. [3:12] Now God wants you to take the change that he makes in your life into the world around

[3:19] you. [3:19] He wants you to engage the world around you. [3:22] He doesn’t just want to give you a deeper life. [3:25] He doesn’t just want to do a work in you so that you can become a better version of you. [3:29] Instead he wants to do a work in you that the ripple effect will flow out of you and [3:35] into the lives of the people in the world.

[3:37] And that’s the gist of what he’s talking about. [3:40] Now to kind of come together on that, we have to understand that you need to put yourself [3:45] in a posture where you believe that you can change. [3:49] One of the greatest lies that I see many people believe and I see many people perpetuate is [3:54] that they don’t believe that they can really change. [3:57] You believe things like, well my personality is what my personality is.

[4:01] Well I have ever said, I am who I am. [4:04] Have you ever said, nobody’s perfect? [4:06] You see these are actually condemning statements that you tell yourself so that you don’t [4:12] have to do the hard work of change and so that you can believe that the gospel is less [4:18] than what it actually is for you. [4:21] If the gospel is true, then not only can you change, but you will change.

[4:28] You must change. [4:29] It’s inevitable if you’re following Jesus that you will become less like who you are [4:35] without Jesus and more like who Jesus is. [4:39] And that’s the fact. [4:40] See I’m 38 years old and by God’s grace I’ll have a few more years ahead of me. [4:45] But how condemning of a thought would it be if I said that my personality is just what

[4:49] my personality is? [4:50] It will never change. [4:53] My flaws are what my flaws are. [4:55] I will never grow. [4:57] My sin is what my sin is. [4:59] I will never repent.

[5:02] I am who I am at 38 and so for the next however many years of my life, this is who I’m going [5:11] to be. [5:13] That is a terrifying thought. [5:16] Maybe not as much for you as it is for me because I know who I am and I know who I [5:20] need to be. [5:21] I know who I need to become.

[5:23] I know what my flaws are. [5:25] I know what my carelessness is. [5:27] I know what my sin is. [5:29] And the thought, and this is what a Christian worldview will do for you, the thought that [5:35] this is as good as it’s ever going to get is terrifying to me because I see who Jesus [5:43] is and I see who I currently am and there’s a giant chasm between the two of us.

[5:51] The Christian hope of the Christian life is that the new creation that God has for us [5:59] will flow out of our lives every single day we grow old in this world. [6:06] Therefore it doesn’t matter if you’re five years old, it doesn’t matter if you are 75 [6:10] years old. [6:12] If you follow Jesus, there’s hope for change. [6:15] If you follow Jesus, there’s great hope for change and you can trust that you will change.

[6:20] The problem that many of you have is that you don’t want to change.

[6:25] Those bad habits, those bad behaviors, they actually comfort you. [6:30] And so the great truth that you need to be confronted with is that you aren’t following [6:34] Jesus. [6:35] If you don’t want change then you aren’t following Jesus because following Jesus always [6:39] necessitates change. [6:41] And the analogies that Jesus is going to give us this morning are going to require a great

[6:45] deal of change in our lives and I just want to talk about them. [6:48] The first one is he says that we’re the salt of the earth. [6:52] And so number one this morning he’s telling you, you need to own your distinction. [6:55] You need to own your distinction. [6:57] Now this analogy isn’t great for me and the reason it’s not great for me is that I don’t [7:01] like salt.

[7:02] I can’t explain it. [7:04] I growing up my family we didn’t put salt on anything. [7:07] Salt was not this flavorful substance for us and so to this day somebody’s like do you [7:14] need salt? [7:15] My immediate reaction is no. [7:18] I just don’t put salt on anything.

[7:20] And some of the worst experiences in my life have been, have you ever been to a Mexican [7:24] restaurant and when they bring that basket of chips?

[7:28] I tell you this gets me hot man. [7:30] I mean this is uh and without even saying anything, without asking, somebody grabs that [7:39] salt shaker and just goes to town on the communal chip basket.

[7:47] Here’s the deal. [7:49] You’re a jerk.

[7:52] Stop it. [7:54] All right. [7:55] I literally and you can call this sin if you want to. [7:58] If you do it I’ll hate you forever.

[8:01] I’m not going to forgive you. [8:02] I just won’t. [8:02] All right. [8:03] And I’ll deal with Jesus when he wants to talk about it. [8:05] But I just don’t like salt. [8:07] You want to know how crazy it is.

[8:09] I even when I go to some restaurants I sometimes and I don’t do it all the time because they [8:14] kind of feel bad because they have to make a new batch of fries. [8:16] But if I really want it I will tell them hey can I get my fries with no salt? [8:20] I love them. [8:21] I love them without salt. [8:22] I just don’t like salt.

[8:25] It’s not really my thing. [8:28] And so just a word to the wise. [8:29] Next time you go to a Mexican restaurant if you’re the salt master all right maybe just [8:35] Maybe just care. [8:36] Maybe just love and ask if everybody wants salt because here’s the deal. [8:40] I will unapologetically rebuke you and then ask for another basket of chips because I’m

[8:45] not going to die from a sodium overdose like you are. [8:49] I will die for other addictions. [8:52] Now obviously I got them. [8:54] But here’s the deal. [8:55] All right. [8:56] Salt is this amazing substance that throughout the history of the world has been used for

[9:01] many different purposes. [9:03] And one of the purposes is that it gives a distinct flavor to whatever it is put on. [9:09] And so if you want to add some more flavor to anything people will put salt on it. [9:15] There’s all types of different salts but you know also salt can be a preservative. [9:20] And so if you’ve ever had like aged meat all right salt has been used in that process [9:26] because salt has preserved it so it could age because if you just take some meat and

[9:31] just throw it out and leave it there it’s going to go rotten. [9:33] It’s going to spoil. [9:35] And so what many people will do and I don’t know the whole process but they will use [9:38] salt in order to preserve the meat during the aging process. [9:44] It’s a salt is this amazing substance that adds taste. [9:48] It’s an amazing substance that preserves but it is ultimately a substance that adds distinction

[9:56] to whatever it is used for and for whatever environment you put the salt into. [10:02] And in that way Jesus is embracing this analogy for the salt because he is telling the follower [10:07] he is telling the Christian you need to be distinct in this world because it is your [10:15] Christian distinction that is going to show uniqueness. [10:20] It is going to be a noticeable different flavor and will act as a preserving agent [10:26] in this world because that is an aspect of your testimony for Jesus Christ.

[10:32] Sameness with the world does not do the world any good nor does it do you any good. [10:40] And he furthers the analogy when he actually tells us he says that if the salt has lost [10:46] its flavor or its taste what good is it for. [10:52] So he’s talking about there is an actually in the original language there’s this idea [10:55] of defiling the salt. [10:58] He’s saying that many times if you would go to buy spices what people would do is that

[11:03] they would actually devalue the salt because you can’t take the taste out of salt. [11:08] That’s just not something that can happen. [11:10] But what you can do is you can add other substances that are cheaper than the salt [11:16] thus watering down the salt so that you can sell it for the same price and make a greater [11:22] profit on it. [11:23] And Jesus says if somebody does that you would not knowingly continue with that purchase.

[11:29] You would not knowingly continue to use that contaminated salt because you don’t know what [11:34] it is contaminated with. [11:37] You don’t know what’s going on in there. [11:39] He says at that point what would you do with it. [11:41] You’re just going to throw it away. [11:43] You’re just going to throw it out and you’re going to trample under your feet.

[11:47] What’s interesting with this analogy is that when it is going to ice we call what we put [11:52] out and I don’t think there’s there’s really a lot of salt in it these days because all [11:55] the chemical breakthroughs that we’ve had but we salt the sidewalks. [12:00] Now I got to tell you maybe you do but you don’t run into the kitchen and grab your [12:05] shaker that you’re going to use on your potatoes later and just go start salting the sidewalks [12:11] do you know because that’s not what that is for you’re going to go to Home Depot you’re

[12:15] going to bag you’re going to buy a bag of that D Icer and you’re going to put that on your [12:19] sidewalk and that’s the salt that you’re going to use nor would you think I had any sanity [12:23] left if I went to Home Depot bought some of that D Icer and said bring me some french fries. [12:30] All right no hopefully you would stop me or at least ponder what’s going to happen. [12:34] All right you do those two things and so what Jesus is telling us here is that we live in a [12:41] world that values sameness and wants us to be the same as it but Jesus is saying I’m bringing a

[12:48] different kingdom with different values a different allegiance I’m a different king [12:52] own your distinction because if you don’t own your distinction you will be corrupted [13:00] by the different spices of this world and God is saying avoid that you must be distinct you must [13:09] protect that which is distinct about faith in Jesus Christ and following Jesus Christ what does [13:14] that look like in Romans chapter 12 the apostle Paul puts it this way he says don’t be conformed [13:20] to this world don’t see sometimes we will believe the lie that we need to be conformed to this world

[13:27] a little bit we need to be as much like the world as we are like Christ because that’s a balanced [13:32] life and that’s not the message of the scriptures that’s not the message of Jesus that’s not the [13:36] message of Paul here he says be transformed or be changed by the renewal of your mind that by testing [13:43] you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect see he says there’s [13:49] going to be a change that goes on and he brings it to the mind because this is how you think [13:54] he says you need to transform the way that you view yourself the way that you view your life the

[14:00] way that you view your God and that will cause distinctions in a world that does not believe in [14:05] Jesus in a world that believes it has its own kingdom that’s not the kingdom of heaven and in [14:09] a world that does not have a vision for the work of God in its life and then he says and if you do [14:15] that you will know what the will of God is see sometimes we treat the will of God as if it is [14:22] dot in the space time continuum and if you find that dot and then when I was growing up they used [14:28] to call it you were in the center of God’s will and there’s no greater place to be than the center

[14:33] of God’s will and if you missed it well you’re just going to have a second or third class life [14:38] because you missed the dot all right that dot was God’s will that’s not biblical all right that’s [14:44] really subjective and a lot of people convince themselves that they’re in the will of God when [14:48] they’re completely contrary to scripture because they just they’ve convinced themselves they found [14:51] the dot that’s not what he’s talking about in this passage what he’s talking about in this passage [14:55] is saying that when you are transformed by the renewal of your mind you will submit to God’s

[15:01] vision for your life that you will find in scripture and the more and more you submit to God [15:06] the more and more your life will align with scripture the more and more you will feed off [15:09] of the word of God and the more like Jesus you will become and the less like you without Jesus [15:16] you will become he says that is what the will of God is all about God though also does not want [15:24] to change you just for your sake see much of the spiritual development that I see people seeking [15:30] in their lives and the spiritual growth is very selfish it’s very self excuse me self-centered

[15:36] where you’re living your life just wanting to be a better you you’re living your life wanting to [15:41] find a deepness in Christ that you have not found yet and so so often it’s just this self-seeking [15:48] mission and it’s frustrating because ultimately you will reach the end of you but with Jesus [15:54] there’s a greater mission at hand where he desires for you to be the salt of the earth [16:00] for the sake of the world for the sake of others he wants you to grow and he wants you to develop [16:07] he wants you to be and become a disciple of Jesus Christ for the sake of others in 2nd

[16:13] Corinthians chapter 2 the apostle Paul puts it this way he says we are the aroma of Christ to God [16:17] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing to one a fragrance from death [16:23] to death to the other a fragrance from life to life who is sufficient for these things [16:28] are you saying there’s something going on as you follow Jesus that your life is a transformed [16:35] sacrifice to God and he uses the aroma offerings of the Old Testament as the analogy he says that [16:41] you are sending an aroma to God where he is being worshiped but also understand that when you worship

[16:47] God you have an entire world around you seeing you and they they can kind of pick up on the scent [16:54] as well they sense that there’s an aroma about you that is different from them and he says there’s [16:59] two things that happen with that and he says who’s sufficient for these things in other words you [17:04] can’t control it he says to some it is the aroma of death to death in other words they’re going to [17:11] see what is distinct about you they’re going to understand that you are following a kingdom that [17:15] is not of this world that you are worshiping a god who is not of this world and you have a vision for

[17:20] your life that is different than this world and they are going to reject you that is why being the [17:26] salt of the earth immediately follows blester you when you are persecuted for my name’s sake [17:33] he’s saying that there will come times when you are insulted when you are ridiculed when you are [17:38] rejected because of the gospel of jesus christ and he says own it because he said there’s also [17:45] times when you will be living this distinct life and it will be an aroma or a fragrance of life [17:51] to life in other words god is going to use your distinction to bring others to faith in jesus

[17:57] so he says keep going keep living keep following jesus because as we seek god we are becoming like [18:04] jesus and that will bring life to some people that is our hope and only god can control those [18:11] things god is not changing you for your sake he is changing you for the sake of the world [18:17] so number two this morning understand that you need to live to show the work of jesus to people [18:22] you need to live to show the work of jesus to people and that’s tough [18:26] that’s hard because we’ve already seen the ballgame he’s already told us not everybody’s

[18:31] gonna like it he’s been honest he’s told us there are going to be people that reject you [18:37] there are going to be people that persecute you you’re going to take some losses in this [18:40] life for following jesus but he says believe jesus more than you believe any fear in your mind [18:47] and he then he goes on and he says you are the light of the world a city set on a hill [18:55] can not be hidden and that’s interesting because he’s talking right there about the church of jesus [19:03] christ you know that it takes more than one person to form a city there’s a whole group of people

[19:08] it takes an entire culture of people and so he’s saying not only are you distinct [19:15] but you are to form a distinct culture in which the gospel of jesus christ is what you are forming [19:23] your culture around so when jesus talks about shining a light in darkness and forming a city [19:29] on a hill he is telling us that his mission is going to form something that the world will take [19:35] note of because it will be a completely different culture that’s why when we talk about the culture [19:41] the gospel we always understand that it is different than the culture of this world

[19:45] and we should take joy in that we should own that type of distinction and we should flaunt [19:52] that distinction to everyone around us that we do need to be different and of course i gotta [19:57] qualify that this is about being distinct because of christ this is not about being distinct just [20:03] because you want to be different all right being weird is not a spiritual gift all right and some [20:10] will be like distinct well i know i’m distinct i’m a weirdo all right i’ve actually met people [20:17] that will say things like that all right that’s not what we’re talking about here this isn’t about

[20:22] your desire just to be an outlier all right this isn’t about your desire to just explain away [20:27] why you’re quirky all right or why you know everybody else is running from a movie and you [20:32] flock to that movie all right everybody says that’s terrible and you’re like this is great [20:37] everybody else thinks something tastes terrible you think it tastes good you’re just a contrarian [20:42] all right and quite frankly that’s why no one likes you all right and you just need to stop [20:47] being so contrarian i’m just giving you some free life advice here all right that was for free if

[20:52] you’re a contrarian stop it you’ll make friends all right but here we’re talking about a distinct [20:58] mission that god has and here it is jesus says this in luke 19 10 he says the son of man came [21:04] to seek and to save the lost that’s our mission that’s what jesus came to accomplish he said that [21:12] there are lost people in this world but a lot of them don’t know they’re lost a lot of them don’t [21:17] even realize it a lot of them don’t even know what they’re seeking and so what does jesus do [21:21] he doesn’t wait for them to look for him he seeks the lost so fascinating i read this news article

[21:29] yesterday and it’s been on the news since i read the article but there was this young lady in in [21:35] hawaii it must have been very hard she’s in paradise but she went on this hike and she got [21:41] completely lost all right she didn’t show about show it back home that night and they looked for [21:46] her for three days and this is part of the story i don’t understand is like they looked for her [21:49] for three days and then they gave up all right it was just like a bunch of jerks but two weeks later [21:57] somebody found her and she had somehow gotten lost between these two waterfalls and she was

[22:02] in this ravine and i don’t know the whole story but after two weeks they found her and she’s she’s [22:08] okay some you know somehow she found some grapes or something and she ate them i mean she was in [22:12] hawaii you know it’s paradise i’m sure you know somebody angels came to her and ministered to her [22:17] but uh but she lived after two weeks and could you imagine the joy because it takes me about two [22:25] hours to give up all right so if i got lost in the woods and i got lost in the woods one time [22:29] when i was a kid and it was awful i got lost with one of my friends i went over to his house to

[22:33] play and he was like hey let’s go uh you know walk through the woods and we did and we got lost and [22:38] we were lost for like two hours and i had given up hope i was ready to become a wilderness person [22:45] and and just you know just start naming turtles and they were going to be my friends and stuff [22:49] and and i was smart enough i realized the sun is up right now but what’s interesting is is it doesn’t [22:55] stay up forever it’s going to get dark at some point the good news is clearly i found my way out [22:59] of the woods but once you know that you’re not lost anymore that’s great isn’t it if you’re a

[23:08] parent have you ever lost one of your children if you say no you’re a liar all right we’ve all at [23:14] some point doesn’t matter if it was 30 seconds or 30 minutes we’ve we lose some you know there’s a [23:24] hard to keep an eye on all of them and you know you’ll be in the shopping center and this is what [23:28] i used to do when i was a kid is i would hide in the clothes rack at jc penny from my mom [23:32] and what a great sanctifying experience it was raising me but but you know you you lose your [23:39] child and so usually it’s for like 10 15 seconds and for those 10 or 15 seconds ted bundy found

[23:45] them and it’s it’s all over but when you finally find your child who usually they don’t even know [23:53] they’re lost just before you crack the whip and discipline them for that five seconds it’s the [24:01] happiest either of you have ever been in your life because there’s no greater joy under heaven [24:08] than a lost person becoming found and jesus is telling us he’s saying that’s your mission [24:16] he says the lost are all over the place find them because jesus has fulfilled the mission [24:24] he died on the cross for people’s sin rose from the dead to give them new life and he says this

[24:29] is the mission that you are now to live it is a mission to find those who are lost so they can [24:36] get home and he says the way you do that is you build a city on a hill because it’s unmistakable [24:43] if you set a city up on a hill you will be able to see it from so many different directions and [24:49] so he says he wants the kingdom of god to be profoundly findable he wants us to be a distinct [24:56] people that forms a community that have a city on display that follows jesus into distinctions [25:04] rather than avoiding distinctions and that is what we hope to build here at village church this is

[25:10] a perfect church if i’m the lead pastor trust me it is not a perfect church it is flawed [25:16] all right but the deal is that we are seeking to build a gospel-centered culture [25:24] so that we can be a distinct people that live as a city on a hill because we are in this together [25:31] because in aphesians chapter 3 the apostle paul writes about the purpose of the church and here’s [25:36] what he said he says so that through the church the manifold wisdom of god might now be made known [25:42] to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places this was according to the eternal purpose that he

[25:47] has realized in christ jesus our lord in other words what god is doing in the church is putting [25:53] on display the eternal purpose of god and he says the spiritual realm is looking at it the demons [26:00] and the angels are looking at what god is accomplishing on the earth through the church [26:05] and they are in awe because this is what god has been planning for eternity there’s no bigger [26:10] vision than that there’s no better vision than that and so when you think that the church of [26:17] jesus christ is just this secondary thing and it’s not worth your commitment and it’s not worth your

[26:23] total buy-in because you’ve got better stuff going on i know you might have some good stuff going on [26:29] but you don’t have the eternal purpose of god going on and that’s what the church is as imperfect [26:34] as we are that is what the church of jesus christ is is that we are on display for the spiritual [26:40] realm to see and so when we call you into environments of discipleship this is what [26:45] we’re calling you into to be a part of that and we have four core values here at village church [26:50] that we believe shows our distinction and will breed that type of worldview into your life

[26:56] redemption mission community and multiplication that is what we exist for redemption sometimes [27:03] i’ve tried to change it because redemption is just jesus all right redemption is our first core [27:09] value because it is the work of jesus in your life it is what was accomplished on the cross [27:13] it is what he did in the resurrection is that he’s done that so that he can save your life [27:18] and until you experience redemption through jesus none of the rest of it matters you need [27:23] to trust jesus but when you trust jesus he changes you he begins a work of transformation in your life

[27:31] and that is what mission is about mission is the life that the holy spirit wants to empower you for [27:37] mission is the life that jesus wants you to live in this world to make him known to other people [27:43] and the place that you learn how to live his mission is in community with other believers [27:48] now community can be misunderstood some people they they get a little frazzled because community [27:53] just means making friends to them all right that’s not what we’re talking about friendship is a great [28:00] byproduct of community but it is not the purpose of community i hope you do find friends in biblical

[28:06] community but that’s not the entire purpose because that’s very man-centered community is about [28:13] discipleship community is about being and making disciples of jesus christ and so when people come [28:19] and they say man you know i went to a community group and good night there were these three [28:23] weirdos and i just i can’t go back to that one give me a new one here’s the deal all right there [28:29] are weirdos in every community group all right and if you’re in a community group and you’re like i [28:34] don’t think there are any in mine i’m not saying i’m just saying could be you all right

[28:44] but here’s the deal you don’t go there to find people just like you [28:51] you go there to love christians and become a disciple of jesus christ right and sometimes [28:58] people will come back to us like oh my goodness the prayer request time if i have to pray for [29:04] their second cousin’s friend percy one more time all right here’s the deal all right [29:12] i get it all right that’s just who are these people you know i don’t even know but what you’re [29:19] doing in community group this is not about your convenience this is not about your preferences

[29:24] this is not about your personality this is about literally loving god and loving people [29:30] and your need to grow in all those areas and so if you go into community group and you find people [29:37] and you say they’re just not enough like me you have to ask yourself why are you the standard

[29:44] we have different backgrounds you know we have different lifestyles so what this is about jesus [29:53] so often the reasons that people bring me about not wanting to invest in community not wanting [29:58] to commit to that above other things not wanting to be in environments of discipleship [30:02] and i don’t i don’t often you kind of retort with this because i think it will will hurt the issue [30:08] more than help the person graciously but i can do it in here and none of you know it’s about you [30:13] but the deal that you have to realize is is would jesus say the same thing

[30:19] like would jesus offer the same excuses would jesus really put a commitment that doesn’t [30:28] breed faith in him that doesn’t breed real spiritual growth above a commitment to enter [30:33] environments of discipleship see the key is is that what you commit your life to does reveal [30:40] how much you are becoming like christ and the amount of boredom that you believe you have [30:47] because nothing exciting is happening happening in a community group is only serving to reveal [30:52] your own self-centeredness because things tend to get a little bored when they aren’t all about

[30:58] you and what you want see when you commit to a group over the long haul it takes a while but [31:06] you will see growth if you will just invest in lives if you really will walk into a group and [31:13] saying what am i getting out of this and start saying how can i love these people

[31:20] because i’ve learned a long time ago that my hope in life is not finding a group of people [31:25] just like me that might be the worst thing i could ever find my hope is finding people who will help [31:32] me become more like jesus that’s the hope of this life and so community is about discipleship it’s [31:43] about education you know that just simply means that if we’re following jesus we will see people [31:48] come to faith in jesus then instead of rearranging the chairs we need to be adding some chairs [31:53] because people are coming to faith in jesus through the work that he is doing in his church

[31:58] and we have got to catch a vision for that in our lives but also in our church and that is how we [32:06] will live to show people the work that jesus is doing in our lives you need a god-centered [32:15] jesus focused vision for why you exist are you building one do you have one you see the people [32:26] that you are praying for to come to faith in jesus and i hope you all have many [32:30] is it you’re just praying god please help them to believe the gospel keep praying but also in [32:37] that prayer understand ask another question how am i showing them jesus you know do people

[32:45] necessarily see the life of christ in my life do people necessarily see a distinct culture [32:52] being formed in my life or do they just see the same thing that they themselves are going after [32:58] because one of the saddest things that could be true of us is that people see us claim faith in [33:02] jesus and then say but they’re just like me and i don’t have jesus so what do i need the jesus [33:07] that they have if we’re the same the evidence of gospel work in your life is the distinction [33:15] in you and the community of the church that you are building it’s not complicated number three

[33:22] need to light the way forward you need to light the way forward he says in verse 14 he says you’re [33:30] the light of the world then he goes on he says you don’t take a lamp and put it under a basket [33:34] instead you put it on a stand so that it will give light to all in the house in the same way [33:39] let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and just pause there

[33:48] oftentimes i think we think about jesus like he’s a holy flashlight [33:51] if we get ourselves in trouble and darkness seems to be overwhelming us

[33:58] jesus being no darkness is going to overcome me today oh all right danger’s over back in the [34:06] pocket look at john eight jesus puts it this way he says and he says again jesus spoke to them [34:12] saying i am the light of the world very declarative statement whoever follows me will not walk in [34:19] darkness but will have the light of life he is not saying you will have it in your pocket [34:26] he is saying that when you are following jesus you will simply have light it will exude from you [34:35] therefore if you’re following jesus it is impossible for you to be in the dark

[34:40] it is impossible for you to be overcome by darkness because everywhere you go you are [34:45] shining light because jesus is in you he is the one that is shining through you and when you think [34:53] about it in that way it changes your perspective about who you are as a person and what your mission [34:58] is in this life are you ordering your life around that reality or are you buying into the false [35:06] notion that you can put a basket over the light of christ in you whenever you feel like it [35:15] that’s a false notion jesus even speaks of it in this passage he says that doesn’t even make sense

[35:19] why would you do that you put a light on the stand so that everybody in the house can see [35:23] it doesn’t make any sense to live in the dark let’s say we did have a flashlight and it’s very [35:29] dark outside and so and so we’ve got our flashlight you know what i’ve never seen a person do [35:34] i’ve never seen a person walking in the dark and take the flashlight and shine it behind them [35:39] and keep looking forward

[35:44] why would you do that that doesn’t make any sense if somebody is after you now they’ve got you [35:48] all right the deal with the flashlight is it only serves its purpose if you would [35:52] shine it in front of you that’s what jesus is saying is is that the light that he shines lights [35:58] the way forward into the future as we always talk here we say god is calling us into a future that [36:05] has designed us for but some of you are so anchored to your past and you are so stuck in [36:12] your present that you cannot get the light of the future to shine on the path in front of you

[36:17] and jesus is saying if you will just follow him you will not be in darkness anymore he’s not saying [36:25] that there isn’t going to be difficulty he’s not saying that it isn’t going to be hard [36:28] he is saying that you will have the light just by virtue of having him he’s not saying you have to [36:36] be a light he’s not saying you have to form a light he’s not saying you gotta get batteries [36:40] in your flashlight he’s saying just by virtue of faith in him you have light do you believe that [36:48] you can do that then live forwards stop dealing with what’s behind you follow jesus into the life

[36:59] that he has designed for you because that is what worship looks like worship looks like you [37:04] reaching the world with faith in jesus because you are shining a light in a very dark place [37:11] you’re distinct see god is moving in the world the question is are we following him see i don’t [37:21] have to ask a question because of the way scripture just reveals the will of god to me so much [37:25] i don’t have to say man is god saving people is god moving and redeeming people in this world [37:35] no he’s clearly told me he is right in our small world because of technology we can see movements

[37:41] of the gospel all over the world in many different nations right now where the gospel is just running [37:46] wild and people are getting redeemed all the time the question isn’t is god moving the question is [37:51] am i moving with him because god wants to do a work of the gospel in our church he wants gospel [38:00] renewal to happen in our lives but he also wants to do a great work in our community [38:05] he wants to do work in our schools he wants to do work in our jobs he wants to do work in our [38:10] families he wants to do work in our neighborhoods the question is are we forming a city on a hill

[38:15] so that people can look and say there’s some distinction there yeah some people will not like [38:22] it but some people will look at that and say you know i need what they have and we will be prepared [38:29] to move with god on mission so that god can save them through faith in jesus christ you need to live [38:38] to flaunt the changes god has made in your life i think that’s kind of counterintuitive to the [38:43] way many of you think about things you think you know that oh that’s not humble but note what jesus [38:49] says he says live so that they can see your good works but the problem is sometimes if we think

[38:58] about it wrong we will think it’s a live to see your good works and tell you how awesome you are [39:05] it doesn’t say that so they will see your good works and what give glory [39:13] to your father who is in heaven you live to flaunt the gospel because when you flaunt the gospel [39:19] when you flaunt the life change that god is making in your life you don’t point at you you [39:25] jesus and when you point at jesus people come to faith in jesus alan hirsch puts it this way he [39:31] says jesus is fashioning a community of devoted selfless servants who seek to model their lives

[39:37] on jesus’s selflessness and service you see this is going to be pointed towards reaching others [39:44] with the gospel because that is the ultimate love that god has for this world and so when people [39:50] look to us they will see those who are poor in spirit because we depend on god they will see [39:55] people who mourn for their sin and mourn for the lostness of others they will see people who are [40:02] meek because we’re submitting to the will of god we have the humbleness the humility to say god is [40:09] calling us to something and we need to pursue it they will see people who hunger and thirst for

[40:14] righteousness they will see people who are merciful because we’ve been forgiven for so much [40:19] and they will see people who are pure in heart because of the sacrifice that jesus made for us [40:24] and when they want to know what this distinct culture is we will point them to the jesus that [40:31] we are obviously worshiping so that they can too this is the mission of jesus and i tell you it [40:38] isn’t complicated when we complicate it it’s because we don’t want to live it but it is [40:45] difficult it will require change but the good news is god wants to do the change for you

[40:50] every week we do something that’s very distinct we reflect on what’s called the lord’s supper [40:56] the bread on the plate plate represents the broken body of jesus the cup represents his shed blood [41:02] and when we eat and when we drink what we are professing to everyone around here is that i [41:07] believe that jesus died for me i have put my faith in him he has saved me and i will follow him [41:15] if you’re in here this morning and you can’t say that i’m gonna ask you to abstain because [41:21] this is a meal that jesus has purchased for those who’ve trusted in him and i don’t want you to lie

[41:26] and pretend you’ve trusted in him as if you haven’t i want this to be a safe space for you [41:30] but instead i do want to ask you maybe you’ll do me a favor just by faith go out into the foyer [41:35] where somebody will talk to you somebody will pray with you maybe have some questions that [41:39] you’d like to ask or maybe you just want somebody to say hey how do i put my faith in jesus [41:44] please take that step of faith today don’t hesitate don’t delay but if you’re in here [41:49] and you are a follower of jesus the tables are open come proclaim the death of your king

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