Faithful for the Faithless

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, plese turn to Matthew 5:13-16

We are in our fourth and final sermon in the You Asked For It Series

We surveyed the church and of the responses, the most common ones was taken and so we are preaching through and answering these questions

Three weeks ago we talked about singleness and marriage

Two weeks ago we talked about faith in adversity and suffering

Last week we talked about sexuality and homosexuality

And this week we are going to talke about being faithful in the faithless places

I heard this story, I don’t remember where I got it from but there was a man at a job

Lets call him Bob

And Easter was around the corner and so he had been sharing the gospel and inviting people to church

And he believed the Lord was leading him to share Jesus with one of his co-workers (Rick)

Rick his co-worker was hard in demeaner and would often poke at him for being a Christian

And so Bob was dreading going to share the gospel to him but he knew he had to do it

And so he is trying to share but all while he is sharing Rick wasn’t having it

He was laughing, being rhetorical, mocking, - but what was interesting is that he didnt send Bob away

And so Bob continued to share and got through his gospel presentation and invited him to his church’ Easter service

He told him the name of the church, address, service time, gave him a card, etc. and then left

A couple of weeks later at the church, Bob was at church and a random guy came up to him to shake his hand

And so they shook hands and the guy introduced himself as Jerry and Jerry said, Bob I just want to say thank you

And Bob said for what?

And so Jerry responds, man I am a contractor for your company and we do janitorial services and so one day I was taking care of a problem at your office and I heard you share Jesus with this other guy

And man I know that guy was not having it, like I felt bad for you and couldnt believe you kept sharing with him

But you know what perplexed me more than that is the message of Jesus you were sharing

And so I memorized the church you invited him too which is this church and I went home and talked with my wife

And so we decided to come to church on Easter and Both my wife and I gave our life to Christ and got baptized

And now we are sharing with our kids and bringing them to church and are prayign that they get saved as well

And I just want to say thank you for sharing the gospel with that guy because even though we need to pray for him, God was using you to talk to me

And so of course Bob was blown away and they ended up hugging and became friends

And I tell this story because what it represents is Bob - living his life for Jesus, being faithful to the gospel and to Jesus, he was open about his Christianity and was living in a way where he was ready for God to use him to share and influence others

And I hope a common theme you have seen in this sermon series is that no matter if you are single or married, in a good circumstance or bad circumstance, struggling in guilt or shame, - That the only person that can ground you, the only person that change you, the only person worth devoting your life too, is Jesus

And today we will focus on what happens after this heart chane - when he changes your heart, when he makes you a new person, you now follow him and you experience him, and so now you have a responsibility to share your newness and influence the world

And because God gives you this responsibility, there will also be opportunities

You will find yourself in environments & around ppl who don’t share your faith

How do you react in that environment?

How do we live for Jesus in places & environments that DONT live for Jesus?

Your workplace? Secular Coworkers?

Your family members..

Your friends you grew up with before you got serious about Jesus

Your kids, friends parents?

Your neighbors?

Why is this importnant and how can we do it?

And so we will read Matthew 5:13-16

And now I ask that you please stand and follow along as I read God’s word

Matthew 5:13-16 ““You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

This is the word of the Lord, you may now be seated

Salt

I think if we are being honest

Many of us think that It’s hard to share Jesus

We don’t know how to do it

Then we feel bad that we don’t

But this is nothing new.

Jesus had to teach his first followers how to do it

Sermon on the mount - Longest recorded sermon of Jesus

And the beginning of his sermon is first and foremost for his disciples

Jesus has a crowd of people before him and he is talking to the crowd but he addresses his disciples first

And he starts out with the beatitudes

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

“Blessed are those who mourn,

“Blessed are the meek,

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness

“Blessed are the merciful,

“Blessed are the pure in heart

“Blessed are the peacemakers,

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

Jesus is telling his followers that these are the characteristics of those who follow him

Jesus has changed your heart to act out these things in your life and in the world

And because you do these things, peope will revile and persecute you

But rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you

But even through persecution, the disciples needed to understand that as followers of Jesus, they were to influence the world for him

Salt is known for being something that brings flavor and preserves

As Christians, we have a responsibility to bring the goodness of Jesus to the faithless

And as Christians, we have a responsiblity to preserve God’s goodness on this earth

And so first,

Brothers and Sisters I want you to know and realize that you bring flavor to this world

When you enter the workplace or the grocery store or your family gathering,

You are to be bringing the goodness of Jesus with you to influence the faithless

And as you bring Jesus, you serve others, you smile at people, you will stand out -

And you have to realize that one of the responsibilities not given to the Christian as salt, is to bring fun

Now I am not saying Christians arent fun - I believe I am fun, I believe Marianne is fun, and we have plenty of fun times with fellowbelievers and with non believers

But we have to realize that the world will say that Christians arent fun

The world will say that you are dull, that you are boring,

The world will say that you are restrictive and domineering

And so the world will say that we do not bring any flavor

And we know that this is simply not true. Just because we do not have fun like the world wants us too, doesn’t mean that we arent fun and its not our responsibility to bring fun

But we must understand that Jesus is more concerned with Christians pointing people towards him and for him - Jesus is actually implying that the world is dull and it is his disciples that he uses to bring flavor and to add more salt

Unlike steak, this world can never have too much salt

This world needs as much salt, as much flavor, as much of the goodness of Jesus as possible and the believers are the primary means of which to carry this flavor

And then, believers are to preserve

This does not mean that you are responsible for preserving Christianity

Rather, you are responsible that you preserve your own flavor

And because you preserve your own flavor, then your flavor will naturally influence the world

And therefore God will use that to preserve Christianity in the world

But this is more than a religion that we are preserving - we are preserving God’s design, God’s commands, God’s plan

We preserve God’s goodness in an immoral world

No matter the envoroment you are in, you are to influence it with the gospel

And so Jesus asks the question, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Salt on its own does not go bad - but if you add water to it, if you water down the salt, then the salt can grow microbacteria -

And so Jesus, being familiar with the Dead Sea and all the salt in it, knows that the salt in the dead sea cannot be seperated from the microbacteria in the dead sea and so that salt is worthless

And as believers, being salt to the earth, we need to make sure that we are not being watered down

We do not let the world influence us, rather we influence the world

Light

And so Jesus gives another analogy - That believers are the light of the world

Jesus again, implies that the world is dark

You as the light will go into faithless workplaces that are dark

That is full of people that are in the dark

But you are the light of Christ

You are a light that points to the great light who is Jesus

Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

And as we reflect the light of Jesus in the world, others are to see it and brought to it

And so this, as our responsiblity, is active and not passive

There is a song I learned as a kid this little light of mine,

This little light of mine, im going to let it shine (2x)

Let it shine let it shine let it shine let it shine

Hide it under a bushel? No!I’m going to let it shine

Don’t let Satan [blow] it out! I’m going to let it shine

And I have to admit that even though I sang this song and new that I am suppossed to share Jesus,

Still, the temptation to hide the light, to blend in with darkness has always been present

And if you are here today and you are like, man thats me, you are not alone

It is a temptation dangled in front of every believer today

But Jesus tells us that the world needs us because the world needs him

And so we arent to give into this

Common Types of Christians In Faithless Places

Cultural Christian - You change based on who you are around

Social media - Can’t hide it anymore

Different social groups - you adapt to the group you are with

If they are christian then you act christian and if they dont - you dont

You are dangerous because you can actually hinder the gospel. Repent. Be the light.

Your unbelieving friends are a way of you staying engaged with your former life that you should have given up a long time ago. Let it go. Give your life fully to Jesus.

Undercover Christian - You are different, but no one knows why

I empathize with you! You are truly wanting to follow Jesus, committed ethically,

There are morally good people in the world

I know many unbelievers that are “good” according to the world

There are many that volunteer and dedicate themselves to good causes

And you can blend in with them just by doing good work and helping people

But what happens with the morals of the world are oppossed to the morals of God?

Business men - Don’t go to the strip club because you have a family, or you don’t like staying up late..

Forceful Christian - You impulsively force faith & it turns people off

OCD is not the Holy Spirit

Fear is not the Holy Spirit

Your flesh can actually make you share Jesus, but when you do it does the opposite of draw people because they can sense it’s the Spirit

This is where it must be genuine - Russell midweek

Faithful Christian - You are who you are & you do what you can

Faithful - not forceful

Witness - not hidden

Application/Pro Tips

Pray for opportunities to be a light in the darkness

We so quickly forget this is a spiritual work

Jesus tells us to be a light in the darkness because it’s possible

Pray changes things & keeps our eyes open

Prayer removes the pressure by reminding us it’s not in our hands

Commit to being like Jesus wherever you are & let the chips fall where they may

We follow Jesus because He’s good and we want to bring that goodness with us everywhere

How we live and act is also the way we shine

When we change who we are, we lose our purpose for being there

You don’t have to police people or be the moral police, but you need to maintain your integrity

Be very open to who God would impact through you

Okay to move on

We usually limit it, but we should be VERY open

Come out of the “Christian closet” asap. Then recover.

Pastor.. Lol.. My technique. Where do you work?

Social media underrated big help

People’s weird/uncomfortable reactions are a clear reminder how secular of a life they have built, they don’t want to admit that, but it’s true. I don’t care what you believe, if it’s “weird” or “uncomfrotable” for you to have a person in your life who is serious about thinking about God and seeking Him that says a lot about the life you’ve built. You reveal something in them.

Never lose heart

People often don’t respond to first engagement.

Not used to truly serious or meaningful conversation

Guys are the worst - We can be so shallow

Get us off sports or politics and we nearly implode

Community

You’re gonna take hits, accept it.

Jesus died on the cross for us

New Members - David and Belinda Arcizo

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Action Steps

‌Child Dedication on May 14th, talk with Pastor John or sign up online

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‌New Day Reading Plan - Mon-Fri - John 13-17

Romans 15:5-6 “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”