Untitled Sermon (4)

University talking to a classmate, it came up I was a Christian “Ohh I didn’t know Christians still existed, I thought it was a dead religion like believing in Zeus”

We may have bought a popular culture that to be blessed our happy we look at the bottom one Blessed are those who are adaptable, popular and don’t rock the boat.

Maybe for some of us, when we get asked about being a Christian or we try the

St Francis “Preach the gospel at all times if necessary, use words”

This is a wonderful reality of embracing the gospel in all our lives but in application it can look at lot more like we are nice people not God’s people.

Our neighbors and co-workers think of us as nice people who work but have no idea, we are Christian or what that could mean in the slightest.

Qualities of adaptable and popular don’t have to necessarily be wrong, but as Pastor Pat preached last week peacemakers are not peacekeepers or conflict avoidant.

Attempting to not rock the boat is a good way to make sure the leaks of a boat are never fixed.

We as Upside Down Kingdom are called to more when our culture attacks us we are called to more. When we interact with our culture we are called to more.

More though, is not more work, more attitude, more study, more power, or more effort.

It’s more depending on Jesus.

This list isn’t our work order, it’s our foundation of how we depend on Jesus for more.

As we read our Scripture in Matthew 5

We will finish reading the Beatitudes are not an effort and impossible bar, because they are impossible to reach on our own. Looking back a little all of them from v.3 as Poor in Spirit to v.10 are not effort, they are character of the people who depend on God. The Upside-Down People.

After we realize we need to depend on God utterly for all things. We see what happens next in how we respond to a culture that thinks we are extinct, enemies, or irrelevant.

Matthew 5:10-16

10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how [e]can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a [f]hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a [g]basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus uses two powerful word pictures of being Salt and Light to the world around us.

But this is what I found frustrating, how are we salt and light? What are salt and light? What do we need to do? What does table seasoning, and lights have to do with culture and most of all persecution.

Jesus loves word pictures when He speaks, while I would love for Him to just say what he means what he does he creates a timeless thing that is beyond a single culture or time.

Blessed are the Persecuted = Not Combat Culture

Salt – Not Consuming

Light – Not Separate culture

Returning to v.10 10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you,”

I don’t know about you but if you thought blessed are the meek or pure in heart or peacemakers was a tough one.

Happy are those who are insulted and persecuted.

As we move against the current of our culture we are left with many responses from that culture. We will go deeper but one of those is persecution.

A small clarification, persecution in this context is not making a stand for our political and religious beliefs.

The Voice of the Martyr is an excellent organization and free magazine that talks about the worldwide persecuted Christians.

Persecution is not because our political, religious, or other preferences are under attack.

Persecution is for the sake of Righteousness.

A lot of the time we place persecution because our preferences are threatened.

Righteousness is not preference; in definition it means morally upright and truly just.

In the Bible it’s much more, we could do entire series and years upon it.

Righteousness though is to have Right Relations in most simple definition.

We are not persecuted because we attempt to see our symbols and powers upheld by the culture around us.

That’s how kingdoms of the world work. They work by enforcing or weeping about their symbols and powers being lost.

The Upside-Down Kingdom people are not that.

We don’t use power and preference.

When Culture attacks, the churches and Christian’s response is to attack back harder.

Fighting the culture is not what Jesus is advocating.

Unless you’re boxing, you usually don’t have a right relationship with a person you punch in the face. And even then, it’s not a great relationship.

Upside Down Kingdom people focus on that by having a right relationship with people I will do what I can to help the world have right relations with each other by being peacemakers even when I’m told to not rock the boat.

Our goal is not to cause controversy and conflict, it’s to be the ones who solve it by recognizing we are not the solution we are the ones who influence.

We live in a world that wants to go viral for anything.

I mean anything from silly videos on cats to willing to murder people live on camera.

The Beatitudes are the Characters of the Citizens of the Upside-Down Kingdom.

Our influence is our attitude of meek, pure, merciful people.

All of them are not standards to hold, they are character to live from in utter dependence.

From this place of depending on God for all that we are, being citizens of the Upside Down we move into

What Does a citizen of God’s Kingdom do?

In the persecution and the pain and in the insults. How do we respond to a culture that not only hates us, but Jesus promises will hate us?

13 “You are the salt of the earth;

The influences and that attitudes or beatitudes of the Upside-Down Kingdom create us to be influences of salt and light.

The focus is righteousness but here we see Jesus moving from here are large ideas of concept, the concepts of our Attitudes to the Actual practice of the Righteous.

Righteous are not salty. A whole lot of believers are salty about watching what’s happening in our world. We turn bitter and tasteless.

I don’t know what’s happening to make us angry, horrified, and shocked. But bitterness is not salt.

Instead of salt of the earth, we are salt in the wound of a horrified, angry, and shocked world.

Salt has many meanings in culture, it preserves, creates thirst, heals in proper use, enhances taste but it also negatively used such as take my advice with a grain of salt, salt in the wound, salt the earth to kill life, and salt water.

Wars have been fought over salt.

but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?

Jesus focuses on the taste of it, our goal as believers always is to let the Word be the Word. Not insert but let the Word intersect and impact us.

Salt of the Earth as taste and preservation means we are to be distinct.

Salt as a mineral does not lose its saltiness on its own.

What’s Jesus mean here?

The world is looking for a salt and light, it is looking for the goodness that Jesus alone offers. But they look at a church that is not peacemakers but peace killers or peacekeepers of passiveness.

People look for strong marriage and see a divorce rate in churches at or greater than the world around us.

People look for rest and help and see a church and workaholic who is unable to sustain themselves or their rest.

Kingdom people depending on Jesus. This question, it’s a question that the answer is nothing.

There is nothing we can do in ourselves to make ourselves salt again,

Jesus + Something = Nothing

Jesus + Nothing = Something

Upside Down Kingdom people recognize that depending on Jesus is everything, not effort, work routines, or ability but dependence.

When salt is mixed with other minerals it loses its ability.

Salt to lose its ability must be diluted by water or other to have a chemical reaction.

Christians lose our salt because instead of being a preservation of righteousness and help to a world around us, we mix.

The first reaction Christians have to a culture is to fight it, the second reaction we have is to conform and consume it.

When Christians appear exactly alike all other people we dilute and lose our influence.

We aren’t distinct, we are diluted.

If we were to assess our spending, our relationships, our work conduct, our language, our sexual conduct, our living arrangements, our marriages, our anxiety, our fears, our reactions.

If we were to look at all this, and it’s matching the world around us. We have consumed and conformed,

Many denominations have believed that if they loosen up on beliefs or doctrine, the world responds.

Historically, this has never worked. It’s opposite when we surrender Biblical perspective for worldly preference we lose.

When we dilute our worlds to conform and consume in any place in our lives, we sell our influences for trinkets.

“If we Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christians, we are useless. We might as well be discarded like saltless salt.” - Dr Lloyd-Jones

From being saviors of society to supplying material for footpaths!” A.B Bruce

Any choice, anywhere that we make that blurs our distinction of us and the rest of the world is a step in the wrong direction.

We are to hinder the decay of the world, we can only doing that by being people of salt who are different than those around us.

Not because we are wearing T-shirts, listening to worship music, not swearing, or what we don’t do but by being what we are always called to be.

How we help the world around us is we depend utterly on Jesus

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a [f]hill cannot be hidden;

Light vs darkness is unmistakable, when we do the candle service we see the difference of darkness and light.

Light reveals. It can’t be hidden the source of the light is unmistakable.

We are the light of the world but Jesus the source of light for Upside Down Kingdom people.

Light makes reality and truth seen. That is why we can’t hide it and isolate from the world around us.

Christians are made to be seen, not for influence but for displaying what God has done. Not what we have done.

Jesus warns us

15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket.

Christians respond to culture in a lot of ways, we fight it when we are attacked or feel persecuted, we consume it when we want to fit alongside of it, or finally we separate from it and alienate from it.

A tragedy of a social circle ins when it’s full.

Inside that circle we are wonderful, people are loved, and feel at home.

Outside of it, it is wounding, painful, and hard.

Churches and Christians separate and hide our light under a basket.

Instead of welcome and hospitality, its hidden and secrets.

A young man born in India walked into a white church in India. He hated the social inequality happening around him. He hoped Christians had a better answer. He sat in the back and the deacon came up to him and said “Get out and worship with your own people, don’t make a fuss”

He left realizing “Christians have the same problems and can’t welcome others in.”

His name was Mahatma Ghandi

When Christians are more focused on separating and dividing, this is not distinguishing this is light hiding.

We absolutely should have ways to welcome others in and reaching out to others.

But if we have lives that are focused on inward circles, inner families, and inner preferences no amount of activity will change it.

““Flight into the invisible is a denial of the call. A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased to follow him” Bonhoeffer

How though do we do this? It’s not a flurry of more activities, or more dinner parties, or broken boundaries and forgetting family and work.

What is it?

16 Let your light shine

The world is way to dark to be people who fight it, consume it, or separate from it. Let your Light Shine. Not because we are the light that helps reflect the true light.

We are to make visible the character of the Father and the love of the Son for us.

We are to be people of good works and glorify, good works don’t get people into heaven.

Good works though give a reason people start to see heaven though.

Bad works convinces people that hell should be real.

Good works convinces that God is still real.

A lot of universal type belief systems all say “Do good works and do good” Every religion believes this is good. The problem isn’t good works it’s who gets the credit.

For those systems it’s all about society, self, being an influence,

Mr Beast is a youtube personality that has built a billion-dollar empire upon doing good works to others.

It helps the world, but it also helps his bank account.

Prosperity gospel works from the same belief. It’s not about good it’s about elevating ourselves.

The point of seeing good works is so that others see God, not your platform.

The King of the Upside-Down Kingdom wants us to know what it involves a deeply personal relationship with God. It is so much more than a religious, social, or organizational thing.

These word pictures of Salt and Light, raise important questions of how we influence society and that is what the Sermon on the Mount is about. How do we as Upside Down Kingdom members transform, revive, and preserve the culture around us.

We are not to fight it like a warrior, consume it like a buffet, or hide from it like a turtle.

We are to be the city on the hill in which all come to find their help, and when they persecute as they should because we are not of this world.

We can’t blame unsalted meat for going bad. It’s what it does.

The real question is where is the salt and the light?

We do what Jesus does.

Gives himself fully over to those who hate him, so that they may see the glory of the Father.

The culture around us to broken for us to fight an already broken one, consume it to be like them, or separate and hide from them.

Salt and Light, that an Upside Down Kingdom because it looks to preserve and lights up the world as Jesus did.