Sermon Tone Analysis

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GREET THOSE AROUND YOU (Worship Team to Stage)

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Someone asked the gentleman the secret of their marital bliss.

“Well,” the old man drawled, “the wife and I had this agreement when we first got married.

It went like this: When she was bothered about somethin’ she’d just tell me and git it off her chest.

And if I was mad at her about somethin’, I was able to take a long walk.

I suppose you could attribute our happy marriage to the fact that I have largely led an outdoor life.”

Some marriages MIGHT NOT being doing as well as you think.

In fact, as our culture is deteriorating, marriages are dissolving, many children are lacking examples, the media is cramming crude messages down our throats, and the divide between the culture’s worldview and the Christian’s worldview is eroding.

What are we supposed to do?

Some choose to insulate themselves, bury their heads and protect their families, but this is NOT what our King has commanded.

Jesus has called us NOT to stay home and insulate ourselves but to go out and influence our world.

So rather than be on the defense, God calls us to invade the culture.

Jesus calls us to SALT & LIGHT Living.

Salt & light were 2 word-pictures everyone around the Sea of Galilee would have understood.

Salt & Light INFLUENCES what it comes into contact with, and that’s EXACTLY what Jesus wants His disciples to do.

Let’s read it and then we will break it down.

READ IT WITH ME.

Matthew 5:13 (NIV)

You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Matthew 5:14–15 (NIV)

You are the light of the world.

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

Matthew 5:16 (NIV)

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

As is always the case, if we are going to understand what the Scripture means to US, we must first understand what it meant to the original audience.

Matthew 5:13 (NIV)

You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

In Jesus’ day, SALT was primarily used as a preservative for meat, keeping it from spoiling and rotting.

Fishermen around the Sea of Galilee certainly knew that this would keep their catch preserved as well as adding flavor.

As such, salt was very valuable.

Ever heard the phrase, “He wasn’t worth his SALT?”

Jesus uses this word picture to demonstrate how He expects His followers to be a preserving influence in the middle of a rotting culture.

So what does Jesus mean when He talks about the salt losing its saltiness?

First, it is not scientifically possible that salt becomes flavorless.[1]

But there was a common problem in the ancient world where salt was mixed with many impure substances OR that those substances were never filtered out.

Salt from the Dead Sea was easily attainable when water evaporated and the salt was left…along with residue from crystals of gypsum [2] - a mineral that looks like and could be mistaken for salt but sure didn’t preserve nor taste like it.

Salt Shaker [Hold a salt shaker while talking about salt] I grew up in Sarasota where the sand of siesta beach is super white.

Imagine mixing a half bottle of salt with a half bottle of sand.

It might look good, but it won’t taste good.

It might LOOK like salt, but it isn’t doing what salt is intended to do - preserve & add flavor to what it touches.

Do you see the implication?

In order to PRESERVE the culture we must not become POLLUTED by the culture.

We must remain PURE.

If we’re going to make a DIFFERENCE, there’s got to be one…a DIFFERENCE.

So, If our lives are POLLUTED/DILUTED, we will never influence others to walk in PURITY.

BUT…if we’re going to make a difference for people in our culture, we can’t distance ourselves from them.

So many Christians form holy huddles but don’t pursue opportunities to share Jesus with others.

We can’t influence others from a distance.

We must be in proximity to people.

Pure salt influences what it comes into contact with.

However, polluted/diluted salt makes no difference, and is no longer good for anything except for throwing out to be a part of the pavement.

Jesus expects His disciples to know that...

BIG TRUTH: We influence others to HONOR GOD by our Purity, Proximity, [and as we’re going to see in a moment] - Passion.

Next, Jesus uses another metaphor to vividly portray the influence His followers should have on others.

Matthew 5:14–16b (NIV)

You are the light of the world.

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

In the daytime, a town built on a hill would not be hidden as the sun shone on it.

At night the multiple oil lamps of homes (Prop: Candle) would cause the surrounding area to glow (much like today, as you are driving from a dark area towards a city).

Cities lit up at night could not be hidden.

So too, Jesus says…You are the light of the world.

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Many of you might also be aware that Jesus had called HIMSELF “the light of the world” (Jn.

8:12).

You might think of it this way.

Jesus is the focus of the New Testament.

Everything revolves around HIM.

Jesus is like the sun, powerful, brilliant, & life-giving.

Here in this passage, Jesus says His disciples are the light of the world too -

Think of the moon, no light in and of itself, yet REFLECTS the light of the sun.

In the same way, followers of Jesus are His representatives reflecting His light to the world until the Son rises once again.

Of course, the purpose of a LIGHT is to illuminate the darkness around it.

So Jesus uses a laughable illustration for those who claim to be His disciples, yet who refuse to impact their surrounding culture.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

It is unthinkable to light a lamp and then immediately hide it under a bowl.

The purpose of a lamp to illuminate everything around it.

It defeats the purpose to cover it up.

Disciples of Jesus are expected to be the light of the world - and let that light shine before others - to influence the dark culture that they live in.

Don’t camouflage your commitment to Jesus!