Well, I want to begin this morning by praying for our youth.

Transcription

1 Youth Camp prayer. Well, I want to begin this morning by praying for our youth. The church in our society is so fragile in so many ways. I think theologically we are fragile. I think morally we are fragile. We are under intense pressure. The future of the church is in the next generation. And the next generation is under challenges yet unconceived. I don't think anyone has any appreciation for where we are in history in this regard. We just live it. But things are changing so quickly. And we have yet to see what single cycle of what this tech-saturated, media-saturated, society will give birth to. When that sickly child emerges from the womb, who will be there to nurse it back to health? Who will be there to point

2 them to the source of life? It will be those to whom we are passing the baton. The young people of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. Hitler was not fool. He focused on the young. And in the few short years of his rise to power, not a single general remained who hadn't been brought up through his training programs. We must pray for our youth that God gets ahold of their heart quickly. This week is winter camp for the youth. Let's pray for them. Review Alright, we are studying the greatest sermon ever preached which as we said is really a sermon about what Jesus' kingdom values are all about. You want to be part of my kingdom. You want me to be king? Well then, here's what my kingdom is all about. The beatitudes describe what a Christian disciple values and the divine approval, the blessing of those who love those values. So if you want to put it in bullet point form we'd see:

3 And just by way of making this more than just words, If I were to ask you, "Give me a list of a few things you want most in your life?" What would you put on that list? I'd like to look a certain way. I want to be ripped. I'd like to have a certain amount of money. Any one of the billionaires would be fine. I'd like to have my relationships look like this. I want to be funny and popular and well-liked I'd like to hold this position of influence. I also want to be respected as wise and strong. I'd like to have these abilities. I want to be the best in sports. I want to beat Jay in golf. Now what is going on there? Consciously or subconsciously you would reach into your mind and say, "What problems are there that I could fix if I had this?" "If only this were different

4 than I think I'd experience a lot more joy." And we'd all make our list which basically would have all the same stuff on it in different formats. But here's the deal. I don't think many people would come back with this list. If I could have anything in life, I'd choose to have: A spirit that was just spiritually bankrupt. to be emotionally devastated over my sin. to be truly gentle and meek with people a voracious spiritual appetite an ability to be concerned with only those things that God cares about so that I can live openly before others a peacemaking spirit a healthy willingness to be persecuted for the sake of the gospel. Not many of us would come back with a list like that. But here's the question, and I want you to take it super, super seriously. Do you think that real blessing is to be found elsewhere? Be honest. Do you? If you really don't believe that these things will bring you blessedness, then you need to discard Christianity all together because the whole point of the gospel is that true blessedness and the associated happiness comes by being approved by God. It's always all about Jesus. The things on the other list are the values of the god of this world. These are the values of Jesus' kingdom. Which

5 kingdom are you a part of? I think we tend to like the idea of a guy living according to these values. We'd love to see our kids live according to these values. We'd be proud of them. Oh, but me? You must be joking. You really want me to change what I put on my list? Jesus' words back then are just as applicable today than they were 2000 years ago. Whose kingdom are you part of? If you don't value God's blessing and the necessary path to receiving God's blessing, then you are not part of his kingdom. So Jesus opens up his sermon with giving us his kingdom values and the associated kingdom blessing in aligning with those values. But we are going to see one element of Jesus kingdom message in the next two verses:

6 Now read with me in Matthew chapter 5 Now there is an important verb tense to notice right away. And it's super simple and super basic but it is significant.

7 Very, very simply the text says you "ARE" the salt of the earth. It does not say, "YOU MUST BE" the salt of the earth. The verb is an indicative (a statement of fact) not an imperative (a command to be something). Why is that significant? Jesus is not telling his disciples to be something they are not. He is telling them what they are as his kingdom people. This is such a liberating concept. The focus is not on evangelism as much as it is on living according to the Beatitudes. Because it is when the Beatitudes are true of us that we are salt and light. Just forcing our bland, dark selves onto people will simply result in people discarding us. What is there to appreciate about bland food and what use is flashlight without batteries. I'm not attracted to them. I don't need that. There's plenty of darkness in the world. I don't need too add your darkness to my darkness. I don't need your tasteless food to add to my tasteless food. No thanks. I am attracted to salt and light. That's what I need! The effectiveness is in being not so much in doing. There is doing that comes out of being. But the focus is on the being. When you are living in this way, when you value these things, when you are blessed by God and our experiencing his approval he says, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." But when you don't live this way your salt has become

8 tasteless and your light is hid under a basket. So that's no good. Don't do that. So beatitude living has impact causes you to become salt and light. Let's take a look at these two word pictures individually and think about how they apply. The Imagery of Salt Now this image of salt has to of course be understood in the context of the first century world. There are two main usages of salt in the ancient world both of which I think apply here. Salt was used both as a preservative and as a seasoning. First let's think in terms of a preservative. Salt as a Preservative Salt was vitally, vitally important as a preservative. If you don't have refrigeration, your meat will spoil in a matter of days. And since you can't eat an entire cow in a couple of days, that's a problem. Salt will make it last months and months. Salt was an incredible preservative. And the image of course is that this world is decaying. This world is breaking down. It's quickly becoming foul and rotten.

9 It's spoiling. And so God has put some restraining influences in the world to prevent it from breaking down. He has himself established certain institutions in his common grace, which curb man s selfish tendencies and prevent society from slipping into anarchy. Chief among these are the state (with its authority to frame and enforce laws) and the home (including marriage and family life). These exert a wholesome influence in the community. Christians are to be this preserving additive in the workplace, in the home, in the community. Now I want you to think about what this means in our communities. What this means is that you are interacting with the rottenness of the world and arresting the decay. There is a book that was written about this topic that is entitled, "Out of the saltshaker." And I haven't even read the book but I love the image. In order to stop the decay process you have to leave the safety of the church. You have to be evenly dispersed over the soon-to-be rotten meat. The solution to the decay is right here in this shaker. But in order for it to be effective, it's got to go from here to here. There are certain forces at work in the world that if left unchecked will destroy our societies. There are forces at work that are like rotting bacteria. Unless they are checked, unless those forces are halted, it will spread through the world.

10 It's easy to look at the world and give up, to clam up, to say nothing. When you engage in conversation you immediately sense that you don't have the same values. Man, we are so different. I'm not going to say anything because it's pointless. He's not going to change. What good is to just talk about morality when he's not even a believer. His motivations are all wrong. And that's just staying in the salt shaker. The idea here is that the way you live your life, the way you carry out the Beatitudes is a testimony to the power of Jesus Christ. If you back out philosophy to its highest level, it's one giant experiment. There are no rules. You can try what you want to try and I'll try what I want to try. You create your own way of thinking about the world and I can create mine. But what's undeniable is the outcome. What is the outcome of your philosophy lived out? What does your philosophy do when turned loose? What does Jesus' truth do to the world when turned loose? Give the world an alternative! Homosexuality Now I want to talk about one area of decay in our society that needs the salty influence of Christ. There are a thousand possible applications of how Christians can be salt and light in the world. We could talk about being salt and light to our neighbors, our coworkers, the LDS community, overseas missions. Each of these little micro-communities have unique

11 challenges and opportunities. But we are choosing to take this opportunity to talk about an issue that we have had many requests to talk about. For the next two weeks we are going to talk about what it means to be salt and light to the gay and lesbian community. So here's the plan. Next week I will be opening up with a message about how to think about the issue from a high level principle point of view. Then that same day in the evening (6:30-8:30), we are going to be showing a DVD by Greg K. who tackles the issue from more of an apologetic point of view. God designed marriage to be for the good of society. What happens to society when we upset God's plan. From a purely pragmatic point of view, is homosexuality good for us? Then the following week we have invited Preston Sprinkle in to take the issue from more of a relational point of view. He recently wrote a book entitled, "A people to be loved." He has interacted with a lot of people who are entrenched in these camps and the question that always arises is this: What do I do? Yes the Bible says that this is a sin. We can't deny it. The cultural pressures are huge to affirm the lifestyle. So how do we help? What do we say? So he's going to help us with that and then at the end of the service we will have Q & A time where you can ask any questions you might have. It's a big issue and we want to be light and salt. Some in attempt to defend the truth have lost love and ended up being a noisy gong and a clanging cymbol. Others have focused on only being loving and never got around to the truth which has

12 resulted in inadvertently affirming the lifestyle. Listen, God has made us to be rubbed into the secular community, as salt is rubbed into meat, to stop it going bad. And when society does go bad, we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-christian world; but should we not rather reproach ourselves? To try to improve society is not worldliness but love. To wash your hands of society is not love but worldliness. One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: where is the salt? Alright so Christians are to be salty in that they prevent the decay on a social scale, on a interpersonal scale, and on a personal scale. Salt is used to prevent decay. But there's a second thing salt is used for: seasoning. Salt as Seasoning Salt is the earliest and still the best seasoning. I watched a cooking show once where 10 chefs tried to cook the absolute best steak. And there were wild concoctions and flavor combinations. But you know who won? They guy who seasoned his steak with nothing but salt and pepper. Somehow, salt has a way of taking the flavor that is in the

13 steak and making us appreciate it. Now translate that. Friends, what it means to be salt and light is you are not a wet blanket. We are not supposed to be scrooges whose presence and entrance signals the end of all joy and pleasantness. This is what s really tough, because on the one hand, we just said the beauty of your life can arrest and halt corruption and evil, right? So if your friends are enjoying evil and you show up well, then they can't enjoy evil int he same way. And of course that can get you some persecution. The beauty of your life will confront racism. It can get you persecution. The beauty of your life should confront greed and materialism. The beauty of your life should confront the sexual exploitation of women. But, on the other hand, one and the same, at the same time, you are the joy of a particular group. You are the stability in your neighborhood. You are the glue in your office, because a Christian doesn t look at a situation and say, What can I get out of it? but the Christian acts like salt and gets in there and says, There is a sting to salt and yet it's the sting that gives it the flavor.

14 Jesus did not say to be the honey of the world. We are not to sweeten and sugar the bitterness of life with an all too easy conception of a loving God. He said, You are the salt of the earth. Salt bites and it's in the bite that there's flavor. There is an unadulterated message of the judgment and grace of God has always been a biting and simultaneously beautiful thing. Jesus was the perfect example of this. Constantly confronting people and arresting the corruption and in the very act of halting the corruption, seasoning society. The crowds were attracted to him in amazing ways as he overturned the money changer's tables ending the corruption. He was a preservative and a seasoning at the same time. How does this work itself out. Most people walk into an office or company and say, "What can I get out of this place? How can I enhance myself? Nearly every business in the world operates in selfish exploitation. That is corruption at its finest. That is rotting meat. But not a salty, bright Christian! He says, "What can I do to bring joy to this place? How can I stand up for good and arrest corruption and evil. What can I do to be like Jesus here (simultaneously confronting sin and showing grace and hightlighting a beautiful alternative?) Sometimes, if the thing is mighty big and mighty corrupt, you realize you can only

15 season just the little teeniest bit around you, right? Your cubicle, maybe one or two cubicles around you, and that s about it. But a salty bright Christian brings joy. A Christian brings joy to the people around him or her. I watched a documentary and Jeremy Lin who is a Christian basketball player who bounced back and forth between the NBA and the semi-pro teams and he said this was one of the most depressing times of his career. Because when you are in the semi-pros the only thing anyone cares about is your own personal stats. You only get called up when your stats improve. So to be selfless in that environment is career suicide. And so everyone is in it for themselves. Everyone is fighting to improve their own stats. They will walk all over you if necessary. They will use you, abuse you and move on. The Imagery of Light Now there is a second image he uses here that is even more powerful than the first. And I think that image was very powerful. Now I'll actually illustrate this; and you could predict this couldn't you. I was a wildland firefighter at one point in my life and you know that all firefighters are really pyromaniacs. So every chance I get, out comes the flame. You know, you can see a light in itself, and then the light shows you everything else. Because we have lights on, we can see one another and the objects in the room. But it doesn't work the other way around. The objects in the room

16 cannot show us the light. The light is the revealer of truth. The difference between light and everything else is that the light is the way in which we see everything else. Jesus Christ, then, is the ultimate reality when he says, I am the light of the world. He who walks in my light will have the light of life and never walk in darkness again. When he says that, he is saying, I am the true guide. I, and I alone, show you the way. This is why Christianity is exclusive. Jesus says, I am the light of the world, he is saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. A lot of people hate that, and a lot of people consider that absolutely repugnant, and yet that is at the essence of the Christian message. Some people say, Listen, the real problem with all this is if you believe that, then you re saying other religions don t have as much truth in them, that Jesus is the light and all the other religions don t really have light, do they? The answer of the Christian to that is, Yes, that s right. What do you say beyond that? It's so awkward and in a sense it does feel arrogant to say that. Here's a concept that I really appreciated. And I came upon it by accident. I was searching for John 1:5 and I accidentally typed in 1 John 1:5 and both of them have to do with light and darkness and they

17 complimented each other nicely. So that's saying what? God is pure light. Pure moral, ethical, spiritual light. And he is shining into the world. Now if you put that together with what I was trying to search for.

18 Now back there on the wall we have a switch. We call that what? A light switch. You use that switch to turn up the light. But there's isn't a darkness switch. You can't turn up darkness. You can't add darkness to swallow up light. Darkness is just the absence of light. Darkness has no power. Light alone is power. Darkness is the abasence of light just like evil is the absence of good. Evil is darkness. And so what do you do when someone says, "Jesus can't be the only truth?" Jesus can't be the only light? What do you do? You just shine. Darkness can't win. Do your best darkness to overcome the light. The beauty will be seen. But you have to shine. Jesus himself is the light, but we are mini lights. I saw a quote by John Piper that said, every hero is a shadow of Jesus.

19 What does he mean by that? He means that the good that happens to make it's way through the clouded flesh of our spirit is the pure light of Jesus flickering through. We are told that the Holy Sprit is in us. That light is going to make it's way out. It's going to flicker through. Listen how Colossians 1 describes it. I love this word picture.

20 In other words we are not perfect light, but we are like the light of dawn. We are that blush of light on the hill signaling that their is a flaming ball of hydrogen about to explode over the horizon. Now what does that mean? If we are to be light and the world is darkness one of the most obvious things to say about that analogy is that we are different. Please, please, please don't apologize for being different. I have heard people witness in these terms. You shouldn't think that Christianity is here to take away our fun. I can enjoy all the same things you do. It's not a list of dos and don'ts. And in many cases that is true. Religion has a sterotype of forbidding card games, alcohol, dancing, etc. And God does not forbid those things. That is true. There

21 seems to be this hungry desire to emphasis how similar we are to the world. But why would you take that approach? If I was in the unbeleiver's shoes I'd say, "Well why then do I need your religion. We are exactly the same. There is no difference. You offer nothing compelling." The emphasis of evangelism should be to point out the difference. To highlight them. To focus on where the sharp corners really are. If the conversation gets derailed on to cards and alcohol, you say, Oh no you've missed the point. It has nothing to do with that and you direct it back to Jesus. Because he is the thing that makes the difference. He has the sharp corners that cut. That is what makes it brilliant and bright. That's what makes him so bright and effective and salty and powerful. If Jesus was the same as every other religious leader he would have had the same minimal influence. So we are to be salt and light. Application Now there is a corporate application here that I don't want to miss. Notice that the image is we are likened to a bunch of salt in a salt-shaker. Salt has to work together. One little grain of salt is not going to season anything, and that means we have to be a unit. We are also a city on a hill. My analogy here works fine if your in a room this size. But if you take that one little light and

22 put it on top of bogus, your not going to see it. There's too much darkness for one little light to really stand out and be noticed. We need to work to gether. All of us need to cluster together in a community and the community becomes bright in a dark world. You can see the glow of the city before you can even see the light itself. It s true, to be salt and light means that individually you get involved with people s lives and show them the beauty of Christ, but actually, it s only as a group that Jesus Christ is talking about it here. Do you realize that? Really it's talking about the reputation of the church in the world. It's the way in which we do our business practices, the way in which we conduct our professional lives, the way in which we involve ourselves in the arts is going to be a way the rest of the world can see who Jesus Christ is. The church is not a club. A club is a place where people hole away into a private room and rally around their shared hobby in isolation from the rest of the world that couldn't care less about your niche interest. The church is not that. It s supposed to be a colony, a city, a new humanity where people can see what race relations and what business practices and what family life and what friendships can be under the lordship of Christ. That means we are not allowed, really, inside the church, to only talk to the kinds of people we would talk to outside the

23 church. Do you ever look at somebody, a brother or sister, and rejoice to say, If it weren t for Christ, there s no way I would be loving you like I do, but I do. If you have nobody you can talk to like that, you re not being salt, and you re not being light. Now, I'm going to ask you again, "who are your two people?" Who are those people that you are going to intentionally invest in? Who are you going to show mercy to? Who are going to bring peace to? Who are you going to show purity of heart to? Who is seeing your light? Who is tasting the seasoning of Christ? I hope you have them identified. Now you have to start doing something. At some point, you have to start having meaningful, direct conversations about the gospel. What can Jesus offer them that the don't already have? What possible relevance could a man who was killed 2000 years ago have in my life? A lot of us get stuck on how to start that conversation. Well, we can help. I'm going to invite up Larry Krum to speak about a little booklet he wrote that can help you in that process of starting the conversation with your unbelieving friend or neighbor or student or coworker.