Valley View Chapel September Identity Theft, 2 Who Stole My Salt? 2 Matthew 5:13. Introduction

Transcription

1 1 Valley View Chapel September Identity Theft, 2 Who Stole My Salt? 2 Matthew 5:13 Introduction I had an unsettling experience a couple of weeks ago. Emily showed me my credit card bill and over $100 worth of unauthorized charges was on the statement. I immediately called the bank and reported it to the fraud department. The bank had to deactivate the old card and issue me a new one. For the thief to make those charges, my identity had to be stolen. Identity theft is an all-too-common problem in our world. It costs individuals and financial institutions tens of millions of dollars. But there s another kind of identity theft that is even more dangerous. That is when Christians have their identity stolen. And when Christians have their identity stolen, they lose sight of who they are. And when they lose sight of who they are, they become powerless to fulfill their Christ-directed mission in the world. Over 20 years ago, Pastor Calvin Ratz warned the church in an article that appeared in Leadership magazine: The church must know why it exists and what God expects it to accomplish. If you had 30 seconds on an elevator to tell someone why Valley View Chapel exists and what God expects us to accomplish through us, could you? If you couldn t, then your identity has been stolen. The purpose of this sermon series is to recapture our true spiritual identity and clarify our God-given mission based on who Jesus says we are. Your elevator speech about why Valley View Chapel exists and what God expects us to accomplish should reference Matthew 5: In 4 verses Jesus stated clearly

2 2 what his disciples relationship is to the world and what he expects his people to do in his name: "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. Matthew 5:13-16 (NLT) Jesus said that the Christian s core identity is connected to the concepts of salt and light. We are to exercise the functions of salt to food and light to darkness. It s important to recognize at the outset that the word You in verses is emphatic. Jesus was saying You, only you and no one but you. Only fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ can serve as salt and light in the world. When it comes to salt and light, one word captures their importance and that word is influence. Salt influences food and light influences darkness. Near the end of his life, the world-renowned philosopher, mathematician, and atheist, Bertrand Russell, said that nothing he had thought or heard that other philosophers taught had changed the world for the better. He felt that the basic causes of man s problems, not to mention the solutions, had evaded the best minds of every age, including his own. In other words, Bertrand Russell, looking back on his 96 years, could not think of one positive contribution he had ever made to anything. He had lived his life with no influence. Jesus said that no disciple of his should ever feel that way. Christians have an identity and inseparable from their identity is a purpose. And the heart of that purpose is to influence their corner of the world for the glory and praise of the God who created and redeemed them. Last week we uncovered two uses of salt and applied them to the Christian life.

3 3 First, salt adds flavor to food. Christians ought to bring a certain sparkle and sizzle to their sphere of influence. They ought to be characterized by a spirit of joy and service for others. Second, salt has to be pure to be effective. Salt is a stable compound. It doesn t lose its saltiness unless it is mixed with a contaminant of some sort. Jesus said that impure salt isn t good for anything. To be useful, salt has to retain its pure characteristics. In the same way, if Christians are going to add flavor to their world, they too must keep a safe distance from the values, standards and priorities of a world that doesn t care about Christ and his principles for living. For the remainder of our time together, I d like to mention two more characteristics of salt that Jesus followers need to demonstrate in their lives. Salt is a preservative Perhaps this was the main value of salt in ancient times. Centuries before refrigeration, salt was the only means by which food could be kept from spoiling. Most of the fish consumed in Judea to the south came from the Sea of Galilee in the north. It would take Galilean fishermen at least 3 days to transport their catch to Jerusalem for sale. Their only means of preserving the fish was the generous use of salt. The fact that Jesus called his disciples the salt of the earth meant that, left to itself the earth, like fish, will naturally deteriorate. John Stott observed: It cannot stop itself from going bad.

4 4 While there have been wonderful advancements in areas like medicine, science, transportation and technology, there has been a steady regression in things like ethics, morality, integrity and even civility. In his book The Civility Solution: What to Do When People are Rude, Pier Forni of Johns Hopkins University wrote: In today s America, incivility is on prominent display: in the schools, where bullying is pervasive; in the workplace, where an increasing number are more stressed out by coworkers than their jobs; on the roads, where road rage maims and kills; in politics, where strident intolerance takes the place of earnest dialogue; and on the web, where many check their inhibitions at the digital door. One of my favorite country artists is Darius Rucker. In his song Southern State of Mind, he laments the loss of common courtesies: Those girls out in California, they don't understand. They don't like it when I hold the door, when I say yes ma'am. They act like I've done something wrong, and they give me the evil eye. I say "Honey, I'm sorry, I'm in a southern state of mind. The earth as we know it needs the presence of the church to hinder the process of corruption, immorality, dishonesty and, yes, even incivility. The late New Testament scholar R.V.G. Tasker summarized the church s task: Disciples are to be the moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing, and non-existent. Is it possible to make a difference? Let me give you two examples from real life.

5 5 My father worked in a shipyard most of his adult life. I worked in the same shipyard for five summers when I was in college and grad school. Shipyard workers aren t known for their civility, their high standards of morality, or their careful use of the English language. Yet none of the workers ever used profanity in front of my dad. One day, as men were taking God s name in vain, my father simply said: Guys, you re talking about the best friend I ever had. He died on the cross to save me from my sins. I d really appreciate it if you wouldn t use his name like that. When men would utter a curse word around my father, they d apologize. Ellis Fanning took on the function of salt in that little corner of General Dynamics Shipyard. Sue and George Hale were members of the church we served in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Sue was active in the PTA. They were planning a school fair and someone suggested having a fortune teller. Sue quietly explained that fortune telling was a practice related to the occult and that having a fortune teller would be offensive not only to members of the Christian community but to those of other religions. They decided to scrap the fortune teller idea. Sue Hale acted like salt in that situation and hindered the moral and spiritual decay of that achool fair. We re probably not going to stop Internet pornography, exploitation of children, or identity theft. But we can have an influence in our workplace, our school, our neighborhood and our family. We can halt the spread of corruption in our corner of the world. Salt must engage its object For salt to preserve the fish that Peter, Andrew, James and John caught, it had to come into contact with the fish. For salt to bring out the flavor of corn-on-the-cob or French fries, it has to leave the security of the salt shaker and come into contact with what is intended to season. Haddon Robinson declared: If we don t relate to non-christians in our culture, we won t make much difference in society. I would

6 6 go a step further: If we don t relate to non-christians in our culture, we won t make any difference in society. If we claim to be followers of Jesus, then we need to follow Jesus! Our Lord summed up the opinion of the religious crowd toward him in Matthew 11:19, The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. " (NIV) Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. Are we? Jesus never intended his people to be an exclusive, members-only country club. He never intended his fully devoted followers to spend all their time in their ecclesiastical salt shakers, enjoying Christian fellowship with all the other little grains of salt. Jesus intended his people to be poured out into the messy stew of peoples hang-ups, foul-ups and mess-ups. In Jesus last prayer, he cried out to his Father: My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. John 17:15-19 (NIV) Perhaps you re wondering: There s so much evil in the world. What s the use of even trying? What difference can one person make? There s a reason why Jesus called the Church the salt of the earth. Take a 16 ounce slab of prime rib (medium rare, please). How much salt does it take to influence the flavor of that piece of beef? Just a few grams. Jesus knew that salt has an influence way out of proportion to its volume. And so can we if we are fully committed to Jesus Christ and passionately devoted to what he s passionately devoted to!

7 7 There s an African proverb: If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito. Talk about having an influence all out of proportion to its volume! But the fact is that you re not alone in making a difference for Christ. And neither am I. The Church of Jesus Christ millions and millions strong is all in this together. Together the fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ can have a positive influence for God and for good one person at a time, one block at a time, one office at a time, and one classroom at a time. The cumulative effect of hundreds, thousands, and millions of grains of salt on a corrupted, decaying, and dying world would be astounding if every person who claims to be a Christ-follower would make a commitment to be a functioning grain of salt. Conclusion In the July 30, 2011 edition of the New York Times, editorialist Nicholas Kristof wrote a column praising the work of many evangelical Christians: Evangelicals are disproportionately likely to donate 10 percent of their incomes to charities, mostly church-related. [They] go to the front lines, at home or abroad, in the battles against hunger, malaria, prison rape, human trafficking or genocide, and some of the bravest people you meet are evangelical Christians who truly live their faith. I'm not particularly religious myself, but I stand in awe of those I've seen risking their lives in this way and it sickens me to see that faith mocked at New York cocktail parties. What was Mr. Kristof saying? He was saying that Christians are hindering the spread of social, spiritual and moral corruption. He was praising Christians who took seriously their task to be the salt of the earth.

8 8 We can t be everywhere. But we can be somewhere. We can t be everybody but we can be somebody. We can t do everything. But we can do something. We can maintain our purity; add some flavor to life; preserve our corner of earth from decay; and be poured into a needy world to be the hands and feet of Jesus. You only you and nobody but you are the salt of the earth!