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Last week we began a new teaching series from The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). If you missed it, listen online at FellowshipOfMadison.com (along with almost 400 other teachings).

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 s’ppose 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 be on the defense, God calls us to invade the culture. Let’s look at His words.

Matthew 5:13–16 (NET) 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. 14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to 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 t298659047622: SALT & LIGHT LIVING (Mat 5:13-20)If we’re going to make a difference, there has to BE a difference. Today we discover how Jesus expects & empowers us to be Salt & Light to our desperate world.2: SALT & LIGHT LIVING (Mat 5:13-20)If we’re going to make a difference, there has to BE a difference. Today we discover how Jesus expects & empowers us to be Salt & Light to our desperate world.2: SALT & LIGHT LIVING (Mat 5:13-20)If we’re going to make a difference, there has to BE a difference. Today we discover how Jesus expects & empowers us to be Salt & Light to our desperate world.2: SALT & LIGHT LIVING (Mat 5:13-20)If we’re going to make a difference, there has to BE a difference. Today we discover how Jesus expects & empowers us to be Salt & Light to our desperate world.o the original audience. In Jesus’ day, SALT was primarily used in that day as a preservative for meat, keeping it from spoiling and rotting. As such, it was very valuable. Ever heard the phrase, “He wasn’t worth his SALT?”

2: SALT & LIGHT LIVING (Mat 5:13-20)

If we’re going to make a difference, there has to BE a difference. Today we discover how Jesus expects & empowers us to be Salt & Light to our desperate world.

2: SALT & LIGHT LIVING (Mat 5:13-20)

If we’re going to make a difference, there has to BE a difference. Today we discover how Jesus expects & empowers us to be Salt & Light to our desperate world.

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people.

Jesus uses this prop to demonstrate how He expects His followers to be a preserving influence, to keep their culture from becoming polluted and rotten.

So what does Jesus mean when He talks about the salt losing its saltiness? First, it is not scientifically possible that salt becomes flavorless. But there was a common problem in the ancient world where salt was mixed with many impure substances.

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 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. Also, if we’re going to make a difference, we have to close the DISTANCE between us and those don’t follow Jesus. So many Christians form holy huddles but don’t pursue opportunities to share Jesus with others.

After all, If we live like them, we will never influence them to change. That kind of salt that Jesus warns us of has become so impure, so diluted, it will never accomplish what it’s there for in the first place. Pure salt however, influences what it comes into contact with. So too,

BIG TRUTH: We influence others to honor God by our purity…

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

14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden.

As many of the ancient towns were built of white limestone.

In the daytime, a city gleaming in the sun on a hill would not be hidden during the daytime.

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…

14 You are the light of the world. A city located 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 gives a silly illustration for those who claim to be His disciples who refuse to impact their surrounding culture.

15 People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.

It is unthinkable to light a lamp and then immediately hide it under a basket. The purpose of a lamp to illuminate everything around it. It defeats the purpose to cover it up.

Don’t camouflage your commitment to Jesus! Instead, our passion for Jesus should be visible and obvious, not secret and hidden.

We are to be salt and light to our world meaning...

BIG TRUTH: We influence others to honor God by our purity & passion.

Take one of those away, live pure (salt) but show no passion (light), or demonstrate passion without purity, and our influence is gone. We can blame politicians and the economy. We can point fingers at others. But the truth is...

BIG TRUTH: We influence others to honor God by our purity & passion.

Questions:

Who is the LIGHT God has used in your life to point you to the true LIGHT OF THE WORLD?

Who is God using YOU to reflect the glory of Jesus to?

Do you HIDE the LIGHT? Or do you SHINE the LIGHT wherever you go? Do your words, actions, & attitudes point to the LIGHT of Jesus…or does it leave people wandering in the dark?

Last week we noted how the people responded at the end of Jesus’ teaching - He was different from the “experts in the law” - different in a good way. (Matt. 7:28-29) Many of those “experts” believed that Jesus was twisting the Scriptures, because He didn’t fit the mold of their traditions. Many were even saying that Jesus was breaking God’s laws. And now Jesus is about to confront that charge with the most powerful response in history.

Imagine someone actually saying the words, “You don’t believe the law or the prophets!” - as Jesus responds:

Matthew 5:17 (NET) 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.

WHAT?!!!? Can you imagine one of US saying that? We fulfill what the Scriptures say??!!! We LIVE OUT what the Scriptures say???!!!

Listen to Jesus’ view of the authority of the Scriptures.

18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. 19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus had the highest view of Scripture (Old Testament writings) of anyone I’ve ever known. The Greek word for smallest letter is the word iota…as in what I personally think about watching GOLF - “I don’t give one iota.” I doesn’t matter to me…in the slightest way. As Jesus was likely speaking Aramaic/Hebrew, this word would have been the Hebrew yod (pr. yōde), (looks something like an apostrophe). There are approximately 66,420 yods in the Old Testament.

A stroke (keraia) literally means “little horn” - small marks that help distinguish one Hebrew letter from another (an extension of a letter).

In other words, what some might think are the most insignificant letters of the Scriptures not be erased, until everything it says takes place.

19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Based on the words of Jesus, what do you think He would say to those who say God winks at sin? Many in our culture would say obeying God’s laws would be legalistic. Jesus thinks it’s all about trust. Remember what Jesus later says to His disciples.

Matthew 28:19–20 (NET) 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

To be sure, we can’t do that WITHOUT Him. We need Jesus to walk with us through it.

God doesn’t EXPECT us to do what He doesn’t EMPOWER us to do.

And just to clarify what Jesus thinks of their religious leaders, and their attempts to fulfill the law without God’s grace, Jesus drops this bombshell.

20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Many might ask, how do you do THAT? When we see that we have broken the laws of God, this drives us to the GRACE of GOD. We need a righteousness that comes from beyond ourselves. We must turn to the one who IS righteous, the ONE who CAN fulfill the Scriptures…enter stage right - Jesus the Messiah.

This is why we run to Jesus. HE is our salvation! He is the one who makes us right with God. He is the one who empowers to do what He expects us to do.

I like how Kent Hughes puts it: “This takes us right back to ground zero of the first Beatitude. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God’ (5:3). [Hughes comments further] “Blessed are those who are spiritually bankrupt, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed are those who realize they cannot make it on their own, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

So…

BIG TRUTH: We [DO] influence others to honor God by our purity & passion.

But our passion & purity comes from the ONE who has lived out the Law, the ONE who can make us righteous by His LIFE, DEATH, & RESURRECTION. This is where our hope is found - in Jesus alone!!!

And now it’s our privilege to go live it out and tell people about the ONE who has made us RIGHT with God - the ONE worthy of our lives. If there’s ever been a time we need to LIVE IT & SHARE IT, it’s now!!!!

Ed Stetzer - leader within our denomination - recently wrote these words:

Francis of Assisi is attributed the statement: "Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.” I’ve seen it on Facebook about a billion times.

I can appreciate living in such a way that our lives point to the person and work of Jesus. However, two basic problems exist: 1) Francis never said it, and 2), the quote is just not biblical.

Saying “preach the gospel; when necessary, use words” is a lot like saying “feed the hungry; when necessary, use food.”

PRAY.