So Shine

Scripture

Matthew 5:13-14

“You are the SALT of the EARTH. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the LIGHT of the World - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise you heavenly father”

Introduction

Have you ever been afraid that:

You are different

Dont fit in?

Not like other people?

Worse than that -

if anyone actually knew what you were really like:

that you wouldn’t not be accepted,

would be laughed at,

critized or worse yet rejected?

And so you hide your real self anyway and pretend to be someone that your not.

You pretend to like the things that you dont really like.

You put on a personality that you dont really have.

So you do the things that you don’t want to do.

You go to the places that you don’t want to go.

Yo listen to the things and the people that you doth really want to listen to.

all in an effort to fit in.

All in an effort to be liked and fit in with everyone else because after all you wouldn’t want to be different?

You dont want to stand out.

You dont want to be weird.

You dont want to risk attention.

Illustrate:

You know I hate to say it but I went through most of my year 11&12 life pretending to be someone I wasn’t.

I would go to youth on saturdays and want to connect with Jesus but then when I would get to school I was to afraid to share my faith or to stand up and be different - so I hid.

I hid my convictions,

I hid my personality

I hid my gifting

I hid my values and I hid my christianity.

Yes I loved Jesus, Yes I wanted to follow Jesus - But mostly I was scared to be different. I was so scared to not be in the IT crew that I hid anything that would comprise my standing as the cool kid.

And truth be told, I finished VCE but the truth is that I never really did anything significant in VCE. Yes I got an OK enter that let me get into uni, and yes I made some friends - but I never did anything significant - I never touched any lives - I never shared God to anybody - Because I was afraid I wouldn’t fit in.

So let me ask again now that Ive explained it …have you ever had the feeling you couldn’t be yourself?

Transitional Statement

And heres what I want to say tonight young person,

As long as we allow this fear to live in our hearts we will always give into the pressure to be someone and something that we are not.

FCF

Have you ever noticed that there are real pressures

The Pressure to be Perfect

Have you ever fe3lt like your parents just want want you to be perfect, particularly in in the areas of behavior and school.

No kid is perfect and when youin enevitably fail at it you will feel even more pressure.

The Pressure to Be in the Right Social Group

have you ever felt the pressure of having to hang around a certain type of person.

And all the while you are missing out on real friends that can help you because of the pressure you feel to hang out with the cool kids,

The Pressure to Have the Perfect Body

Instagram sells us the fake.

The Pressure to Wear the Right Clothes

The Pressure Around Sexuality

At this point i need to be doing this…

Transitional Statement

If you do not decide that you will be the person that Jesus has created you to be THEN you will become whatever others are pressuring you to become.

You see, the reality is that you and I were never suppose to be like everybody else. The reality is that as a Christian you are not suppose to just hide who you are to fit in.

In this world the Bible says you are not like everybody else.

It doesn't matter what you do, no matter how much you hide. If you have Jesus living in you, you are not the same, you cannot stay the same, you cannot be the same as everybody else.

If you have Jesus living inside of you “You are different, because you belong to him.”

In Jesus you belong.

In the family of Jesus you are accepted.

There is no condemnation for those that are in Jesus…He has called you as his own.

You are his child. He accepts you. He loves you. You belong to him.

And because you belong to him…YOU NEVER HAVE TO FEAR BEING DIFFERENT

Proposition

“In fact tonight I want to propose to you that the very fact that you belong to Jesus means that you are different”

Jesus never called us to fit in.

He has not called us to settle for the status quo.

He has not called us to be like everyone else.

He has called us to be distinct.

To be unique.

To be different.

In fact, in one translation the Bible says that christians are a peculiar people. In other words theres something different about you.

You are to be in the world, but not of the world.

This means that our:

Language

Habits

Friendships

Actions

Passions

Are different. They have to be.

Not try to be. Not strive to be.

They just are. If Jesus is really living inside of our hearts then we are these things by birth.

We want to talk right, we want to have the right habits, we want to serve, we want to have the right passions…if these are not in our desires then we need to go back and ask God to help us.

Passage Explanation

You see in this passage that we just read together, this is exactly what Jesus is telling his disciples.

He says to them listen, you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

You are the Light of the world.

The way that you live your life now that you have Jesus inside of you is suppose to be seen by the world.

When the world looks at you they should see someone different Jesus says.

You are the light. You have been lit up. Jesus has lit you up.

So shine out.

You have not been lit to hide.

You need to position yourself to shine.

You were never meant to be like everyone else.

You were never meant to fit in.

You were meant to shine brighter

You were meant to be a star

Don't try to be normal

Don't try to fit it.

SHINE.

Transitional Statement

Jesus has not called us to look, sound, talk, or walk the same as the world.

Jesus wants us to be different.

He tells his disciples.

1. You are Salt

2. You are Light

Now why would Jesus say that we are salt? Has he been watching too much masterchef?

Was he tripping out?

Salt

No see, when the disciples heard the word Salt, something important came into their minds.

See when you hear the word salt, you think that Salt is used to just put on your food to add some taste.

But in the Bible days…

So when they heard Jesus telling them they should be salt I believe that there are 3 things that would have come to their minds.

1. They are Influential

You see they use to use salt as a means of exchange..It was valuable. It was just like money. If you had salt, you had influence.

You see, the truth is that Jesus has called you as a young person to be an influence to your friends.

He has not called you to be influenced by everything and everybody around you, but he has called you to lead.

If I had $5 for the amount of times that I have heard people say, oh theres nothing wrong with me going clubbing with my friends because I’m just influencing them..or theres nothing wrong with me going out drinking with my buddies..Im just trying to be a witness to them….To these people I say…STOP FOOLING YOURSELF.

The truth is that you are just going along for the ride and you have not influenced nobody or anything.

When was the last time that you lead someone to Jesus after you got drunk with them?

When was the last time you told someone about the love of Jesus after you went out clubbing together.

Its time to STOP Kidding ourselves. Jesus was saying that he wants us to influence the world, not be influenced by the world.

Thats why we want to encourage you to be the best at what God has called you to be.

Guitarist.

Singer.

Painter.

Teacher.

Nurse.

So that when the world looks for help, they would look to you for it and since you have Jesus living inside of you. You will be the influence that God wants you to be.

When you walk into your school, work, uni…walk in with your head held high and with a purpose in your step because you know that you have been called to leave a

The next thing that they would have known from hearing that they should be Salt, is that they

2. They bring Flavour

In other words, when people hang around you, you should leave them with a flavour in their mouth that they would go…WOW why would they do that, why would they say that, why would they act like that?

You see Jesus wants the way that we live our lives to be so full of the flavour of Jesus, that when people are around us, they would want what we have.

Illustration -

Im not talking about faking something or telling them lies so that they will like what you have to say - Im just talking about genuinely loving them and leaving them with something different.

Heres the thing though..Jesus said if you lose your flavour you are of no value.

You know how salt loses its flavour? When it is mixed with other additives that over power its flavour. And so as a result, when people taste it. They can no longer taste the Salt.

When we mix our purity for Jesus with other additives…there is no longer any flavour. So people don't leave thirsting after what we have.

The truth is that some of you in here have so mixed yourself up with the desires of the world, that when people come into contact with you you taste the same as everyone else.

No we are to be flavour that leaves people thirsting after Jesus.

The third thing that they would have thought of is that ..

3. They Preserve

A preservative stops something else from decaying.

You know, we live in a society that is constantly moving away from Gods standards.

We spoke at the start of the year about purity and how we live in a youth culture who is saturated by sex…

We live in a world that is dying.

The truth is that we live in a world where people are decaying in the core of who they are.

And we have the privilege to tell them how stop the decay in peoples hearts.

Not because we are any better.. Not because were wiser or better looking…But simply because our hearts were also once decaying and we found the answer to life and now we get to help tell others how they can stop the decay.

Listen, this is the most important thing in your life…

Trust me…let me tell you something…there are some people who should be at youth and aren't here because they have decided that this isn't the most important thing in their lives. There are people who should be here, but they have decided that having fun is more important than following Jesus. There are people who have decided that finding a husband or a wife is more important than finding Jesus. They are people who have decided that building their own fame and name is greater than following Jesus.

Listen, I don't know much but I do know that if you put Jesus and his righteousness first, everything else will fit into place.

Will you get everything you want…No…but your heart will be so changed that you wont care because you will have so much Joy that Jesus has given you everything you need.

Tonight is one of those sermons where we have a choice to make.

Will I chose to be the light in this world…or will I chose to live for myself.

Which one is it?

There are people in your life right now that you know you have not been a light to.

Maybe you have compromised your christianity. Maybe you have not spoken when Jesus asked you to say something. Maybe you have not done what Jesus has asked you to do.

Right now…I want you to think about the people that God has put in your world that you know need the light of Jesus..

How will you shine your light?

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