Being and Becoming a City on a Hill

Introduction

Read Matthew 5:13-16

Salt and light - things highly important in our lives

Same in the culture of Jesus’ day

One commentator states that there was a Roman saying in Jesus’ day, “There is nothing more useful than sun and salt.”

In fact apparently, Roman soldiers were often paid in salt

The salt of their day was separated from the waters of the dead sea and had a lot of impurities and so it would not last forever.

So again when Jesus said these things those there knew

These are statements to those who would follow Jesus

These are not statements of who they are going to be but who they are

These are statements of purpose and calling for those who follow Jesus

We have to be careful of the mindset of “I am saved and now I wait for heaven”

First we will not spend eternity in heaven but on earth

Secondly these statements by Jesus don’t allow us to just wait for “heaven” If we claim Christ as Saviour he is also our Lord that we must follow

And if we follow Him then we are salt and light

Those there that would follow Jesus were to impact their world just as we are

Interesting, in Matthews record, these statements follow the Beatitudes

This is Jesus’ proclamation that his kingdom is available even to the lowly, broken, mistreated etc.

The unlikely to make a difference, impact the world etc.

Probably most, if not all, of us feel this way. Who am I to make a difference?

Therefore, these will be the ones who are salt and light, who will impact the world, in a hostile culture of their time

So how can we in our day and age live out what Jesus has said we are

I. City on a Hill

The first is to understand that this is who we are and are to be....

The picture of a city on Hill came to my mind while I was preparing to come back

I believe it has become so important for the church, our church to be and become this

Matthew (Brazos Theological Commentary | BTC) Matthew 5: The Sermon

But, according to Bonhoeffer, in the Sermon on the Mount and especially in the sayings of Jesus, Matthew challenges all attempts to make invisible what it means to follow Jesus: “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid” (Matt. 5:14). Bonhoeffer observes that any Israelite could not help but be reminded of Jerusalem by an appeal to such a city, only now that city is constituted by a community of disciples. Accordingly,

the followers of Jesus are no longer faced with a decision. The only decision possible for them has already been made. Now they have to be what they are, or they are not following Jesus. The followers are the visible community of faith; their discipleship is a visible act which separates them from the world—or it is not discipleship. And discipleship is as visible as light in the night, as a mountain in the flatland.

To flee into invisibility is to deny the call. Any community of Jesus which wants to be invisible is no longer a community that follows him. (Bonhoeffer 2001, 113)

But for years I think we blended in

John Howard Yoder give an interesting insight to the time of Constantine

Matthew (Brazos Theological Commentary | BTC) Matthew 5: The Sermon

John Howard Yoder makes the striking observation that after the Constantinian shift the meaning of the word “Christian” changes (1984, 135–49). Prior to Constantine it took exceptional conviction to be a Christian. After Constantine it takes exceptional courage not to be counted as a Christian. The establishment of Christianity had the ironic result of making paganism morally compelling. This change in status of what it meant to be Christian, according to Yoder, called forth a new theological development, “namely the doctrine of the invisibility of the church.” Before Constantine, Christians assumed as a matter of faith that God was governing history even in the person of the emperor, but they knew that God was present in the church. After the Constantinian establishment, Christians knew that God was governing the world in Constantine, but they had to take it on faith that within the nominally Christian mass there was a community of true believers. No longer could being a Christian be identified with church membership, since many “Christians” in the church had not chosen to follow Christ. Now to be a Christian is transmuted to “inwardness” (1984, 136–37).

Roman emperor in 3rd and 4th century, made Christianity legal and the main religion of Rome

In many ways I believe our culture was similar in many ways for a long time

Christian values and morality was commonly accepted and it was actually more difficult to not be, at least religious if not Christian, as you were perhaps seen as the outsider.

All that has changed

The distinctions between the culture and the church are growing rapidly (it should be)

In a reality we are being put on a hill to be seen - Cochin lighthouse

What will we do with it?

And how do we remain failthful in the midst of it.

II. Jesus’ Description/Prescription

Jesus says don’t lose your saltiness, don’t hide the light that you are in Christ

Jesus equates this to being people who do good works that point to the glory fo Christ

Isn’t this what we’ve seen in Peter and many of the apostles letters

We don’t show our salt and light by our separation but by our service to those who don’t believe.

Instead of pulling back we are to move out with lives of gospel truth, love and service.

However, I believe that the many years of cultural comfort we have previously lived in have filled us with impurities and hid the light that we are.

But now...

How do we return

Jesus in Matt 22 tells us this,

Matthew 22:34–40 ESV

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

In other words, the way to be salt and light is first to Love the Lord with all our being

Heart - emotions, desires, will

Soul - deep place of connection with God, eternal part

Mind - thoughts, understanding, wisdom

Strength - body - health, sexual sin,

We all have areas that we struggle or don’t love the Lord

Some chosen, some learned, others put on us

We need to learn how to take those things and turn them toward Christ

III. So How?

Jesus statements here were not just to individuals but to all those who would be His followers, the people of the Kingdom

We are the people of the kingdom, the church

In other words, we are to be and become salt and light together

A City on a Hill

And so we want to help you and each other move towards that

So here’s what we are looking at:

Sermon series: Abide - Character

Life Groups - to walk together

Marriage helps

Counseling

Groups: Grief, addictions

Mental health/Illness teaching and helps

We want to be and become a city on a hill, a “safe place where the hurting, the lonely, the seeking and lost souls of this community will find salvation and life in Jesus Christ.”

Conclusion