I. Introduction
a) Last week we established a few things for the start of this new study
o First, we established what the Sermon on the Mount is?
§ “Manifesto” for all Christians
§ These are the foundations of what ought to motivate us in everything we do
o Stott in fact argues that what is meant in the Beatitudes and verses that follow are meant to bring about a Christian “counter-culture”
§ If we keep the SOM in our hearts, we will look different from the prevailing culture and will indeed have a Christian “counter-culture”
o Lastly, we talked about the key elements of the Christian Life; the 1st of those is Christian Character – the eight principles in the Beatitudes
o What possible influence can the people described in the Beatitudes effect in this world??? – meek, poor, merciful, peacemakers, those who are persecuted.
o Stott asks, “Are not such people too feeble to achieve anything, especially if they are a small minority in the world?”
o Answer: No
§ First, nothing is impossible for God – He is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent maker of all things.
§ Second, the Gospel is the truth that we all try to suppress – though the truth will set some free, it will convict others and push others further away; But, the Gospel is the essence of all truth.
§ Third, God uses us as his instruments through which the Gospel is spread – Matt 17:20 “for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
§ We need to keep these three things in mind when discussing our influence in the world.
II. Salt & Light
a) Before we get into how we are to exemplify Christian Influence, would someone please read Matt 5:13-16?
o Jesus uses two domestic metaphors – Salt & Light
§ Why? – 1. Every household, no matter how poor used & still uses these two domestic items; 2. These two items were indispensable household commodities
§ This is ingenious since Jesus knew this would easily translate to his audiences – then & now
b) Christians as Salt
o Used as both a condiment and as a preservative – essential component of our diet (can you imagine French Fries w/out salt?!)
o Job 6:6 – “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?”
o Salt preserves meat and keeps it from decaying
o God has created several entities which keep society from falling into total decay and anarchy – the state (to enforce laws) and the home (to promote marriage and family); these exert a wholesome effect on the community
o However, God intends the most powerful restraints on society’s decay to be His redeemed, righteous people!
o R. V. G. Tasker: God’s disciples are “to be a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing, or non-existent.”
o If you look at the chemical compound of salt, technically it can never lose its saltiness; it’s a very stable chemical; however it can be contaminated by mixture with impurities and it becomes useless
§ What a great analogy!
§ Salt cannot technically lose its saltiness – we have assurance from God that we will persevere by His good grace; II Tim 4:18 – “And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His Heavenly kingdom.”
§ Salt can be contaminated by mixture with impurities – we have a warning to maintain our Christian character (integrity) in both word and deed or we can become contaminated by the world around us.
o Dr. Lloyd-Jones: “The glory of the Gospel is that when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first.”
§ One of the first martyrs of the church – Justin Martyr (103-165 AD) – challenged Rome to look at the lives of Christians as proof of their faith.
§ Who would make that challenge today? The church has nearly the same divorce rate as non-Christians; almost as much corruption in the church as outside it; Catholic church has had nearly as much issues with sexual molestation of young men as has, apparently, Penn State!
§ It is no wonder the need for a Christian “counter-culture” is as much a need today as it was when Christ preached the Sermon on the Mount!
§ As Stott says, “We might as well be discarded like saltless salt” if we as Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christians.
c) Christians as Light
o To start with, we, by derivation, are to be light in this world as Christ was. For He stated, “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12, John 9:5)
o We get a glimpse of the light of Christ in the Transfiguration and in Heaven.
§ Matt 17:2 – “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light.”
§ Mark 9:3 – “His clothes became shining, exceedingly white like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.” (I used to work at a cleaners when I was working my way through school; the chemicals that are used are so strong that there are multiple EPA guidelines on how to use them; think about that – no matter how much bleach, detergent, chemicals are used we could not get clothes as white as Christ’s at the Trans.)
§ Most scholars agree that the Transfiguration was a revelation of Christ’s deity; the light that shone was the glory intrinsic to Christ as the divine Son.
§ In heaven, Rev 21:23 tells us – “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.”
o What does this mean for us?
§ Clearly we are not deity and we are not perfect nor holy, but as Christians we bear witness to Christ and we share in His holiness
§ As the verse states, this “light” for us is our good works.
§ Light is a common biblical symbol of “truth”
§ Luther stated that the SOM is describing, “…the distinctly Christian work of teaching correctly, of stressing faith, and of showing how to strengthen and preserve it; this is how we testify that we really are Christians.”
§ Stott says it this way: “Good works are works of love as well as of faith. They express not only our loyalty to God, but our care for our fellows as well.”
§ If we openly live the life described in the Beatitudes, and not conceal the truth (i.e., willing for our Christianity to be visible for all), then the world cannot help but to see God’s glory.
§ Stott concludes his description of “light” in this way: “Even those who revile us may not be able to help glorifying God for the very righteousness on account of which they persecute us.” (v.16 – read)
III. Lessons to Learn
a) First, there is a fundamental difference between Christians & non-Christians; between the church and the world
· Write on the board:
Christians (church)
|
Non-christians (world)
|
Light
|
Darkness
|
Salt
|
Decay
|
· Stott: “Probably the greatest tragedy of the church, throughout its long and checkered history, has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian ‘counter-culture.’”
· How do we avoid this??? Keep our focus on God!
· G.K. Beale: “What we revere is what we resemble, either for ruin or restoration.”
· If we revere our Savior, we will resemble Him. If we revere the world, we will resemble this prevailing culture.
b) Secondly, we must accept the responsibility which this distinction puts on us
· This call to assume our Christian responsibility because of who God is, what He has done for us, and where He has placed us is not an easy burden.
· Often, we see the problems of humanity as so great and ourselves as small, feeble, and ineffective.
· Luther stated: “With His Word, I can be more defiant and more boastful than they with all their power, swords, and guns.”
· This is the kind of faith that I fail to exhibit – I get bogged down in the who, what, and where of my situation and I get stuck in a vacuum instead of keeping my focus on Christ and realizing that (Rom 8:28) all things will work for His glory and our ultimate good.
Lastly, we must see our Christian responsibility as two-fold
· Salt & Light have one thing in common – they give and expend themselves, which is the opposite the type of self-centered religiosity of the Pharisees
· While the two have commonalities, they still have differences – Salt has a negative function (it prevents decay) while Light has a positive function (it illumines darkness)
· Paul paints a grim picture at the end of the first chapter of Romans of what happens to society when it suppresses the truth of the Gospel for evil – the standards of society steadily decline until the Lord gives them over to their evil desires
· We as “salt” are not to remain on the proverbial spice rack; Stott warns us, “we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world.”
· Have you ever seen spices that have set in your spice rack for a long time? What usually happens if you haven’t used them in a while? Answer: they cake up; when you shake them, they won’t come out of the dispenser. We are the same – we tend to go through periods where we do not disagree with those to mock God, we don’t speak the truth, nor do we refrain for the same behaviors of the culture, so we lose our saltiness.
· Stott tells us that we as “light” in the world have to be more courageous, more outspoken. Stott tells us that we are to be “light” whether it’s in our neighborhood, profession, even in our own family.
· Sir Frederick Catherwood: “To try to improve society is not worldliness, but love. To wash your hands of society is not love, but worldliness.”
IV. Conclusion
a) It may be helpful, as a conclusion, to look at the incentives to righteousness which Jesus gives us
· First, we ourselves will be blessed – true blessedness is found in goodness and nowhere else; we’ve already seen in Rom 8:28 that the blessings will come according to God’s good purposes.
· Second, the salt and light we exhibit in this world is how the world will be served best – as we saw earlier, when we exhibit righteousness, the world will see God’s glory, and some will be brought to salvation.
· Thirdly, God will be glorified – John 15:8, “By this may Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.”
