City on A Hill

Introduction

Salt, Light, HOW WE NEED TO LIVE

Main Point: You are Called to Live Differently By Connecting People with Jesus

Body

As we pick up in Matthew 5, I just want to very quickly remind us what we saw last week.

Jesus is preaching to a crowd of people who has gathered on a hillside.

And last week we saw 8 GOSPEL DECLARATIONS THAT SHOW US WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO BE A DISCIPLE AND TO FOLLOW JESUS!

That’s the first thing that Jesus addresses. He starts off by telling the crowd what it looks like to be a disciple!

And Matthew 5:13-16 is going to carry on this theme of what it looks like to be a disciple. Matthew 5:13-16 is going to tell us HOW our LIVES SHOULD LOOK!

Jesus is going to give us three analogies to help us visualize what it looks like to FOLLOW HIM AND TO BE A DISCIPLE!

Matthew 5:13

Matthew 5:13 CSB

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Jesus starts off by comparing us to salt.

His statement is simple- YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.

Salt was valuable in the 1st century. It was for most of human history. In the 12th Century we can find records of merchants desiring SALT more than Gold!

See, there was no refrigeration as we think of it, so to preserve food, salt was required.

But salt also was rare. Salt was found in a few ways- it was found on the coast (sea salt) and then in salt mines like in SALZBURG. But outside of that? It was hard to find salt.

Salt was VALUABLE!

And salt was NEEDED!

So Jesus compares us to the salt of the earth.

Then, Jesus says, “But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trample under people’s feet.”

Salt can’t be made salty again. There’s something about the taste that just can’t be replaced.

I have some relatives who needed to cut back on sodium and salt intake a few years ago. So I was in the grocery store one day and I saw a “Sodium free BBQ seasoning.” I figured it couldn’t be that bad. Honestly I was thinking, “It’s July, but I think I just figured out my Christmas gifts for these people!”

Friends, it was awful. As soon as I tried it I could just tell that SOMETHING WAS OFF!

There was something missing!

Or consider one of my favorite late night snacks- I love a good Persian cucumber (mini cucumber) with some sea salt on it. But listen, one time I cut up the cucumber, I put the salt on it- and it really isn’t much salt- and then I realized I needed to do something else.

I came back like 20 minutes later and it wasn’t salty anymore. Instead, I was eating a soggy, gross cucumber. (Yes this is humorous)

There was NOTHING THAT I COULD DO TO BRING BACK THE SALTINESS TO IT UNLESS I ADDED MORE SALT!

The saltiness was PERMANENTLY GONE!

Look at what Jesus says happens if salt stops being salty- WE THROW IT OUT! IT’S USELESS!

So let’s put this verse together- we are the salt of the earth- this means that we are VALUABLE AND WE ARE CALLED TO BE DIFFERENT!

I could say it like this- salt brings out a NEW AND BEAUTIFUL FLAVOR IN FOOD- WE ARE CALLED TO BRING A NEW AND BEAUTIFUL WAY OF LIVING AS FOLLOWERS OF JESUS WHO BRING THE BEST NEWS OF ALL TIME!

And we are then warned- DON’T LOSE YOUR SALTINESS!

To say this another way- don’t stop following Jesus! Don’t throw in the towel, don’t live how the world lives! We are called to BE ALL-IN DISCIPLES OF JESUS WHO ARE MAKING MORE DISCIPLES!

Salt can’t be half-in, half-out. SALT IS EITHER SALTY, or it is not!

And we are called to be the same way! We are called to BE ALL-IN FOLLOWERS OF JESUS!

Matthew 5:14

Look at Matthew 5:14 with me- Matthew 5:14

Matthew 5:14 CSB

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

This is the second thing that Jesus addresses. Jesus calls us the LIGHT OF THE WORLD!

We are the salt of the earth and we are the light of the world- in other words, we are to be a light in a dark place!

Jesus then shifts a little bit to using this example of a city.

Jesus paints the picture of a city on a hill.

And this city that is on a hill CANNOT BE HIDDEN!

Instead, it can be seen by people who are ALL AROUND THE CITY!

If you were traveling at night, you’d be able to look up and SEE THIS CITY ON A HILL!

When I was a Freshman in college I coached basketball at a high school.

I was coaching at a place called Rock River. Rock River was outside of Laramie and to get there you had to drive straight north of town on US-30 through a bunch of ranch land and a town called Bosler.

If we can put up the picture of Bosler- I assure you, it somehow is even more deserted than this picture looks.

But one night I was coming back from Rock River after a basketball game and it was dark and snowing and there’s like 0 lights on this entire drive. Plus, I was having an issue with MY HEADLIGHTS, so it was a TRULY TERRIFYING DRIVE!

And from out of nowhere I saw this one light up ahead of me on a hill.

It was Bosler. Low and behold, there was one light for the railroad out there. And I’m being totally serious, I sat in my car as I figured out the issue with my headlights and I literally just was praising God because I didn’t know if I’d make it! (Let’s put up the picture of Bosler- see, it really isn’t much! It isn’t anything spectacular, but IT POINTED ME IN THE RIGHT WAY!)

That’s the importance of a city on a hill!

And like Jesus says, it CANNOT BE HIDDEN!

EVEN A TINY LITTLE LITERAL GHOST-TOWN CANNOT BE HIDDEN IF ITS ON A HILL!

And Cornerstone Family, WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD AND WE ARE LIKE A CITY SITUATED ON A HILL!

Let me ask you very simply- do you embrace the fact that you can’t be hidden, or do you try to blend in and fit in with the world around us so that no one notices?

I am going to challenge you that there’s a lot of people going through life just like I was driving that night. THEY ARE GOING THROUGH IT IN THE DARK AND WITH NO IDEA WHERE THEY ARE GOING!

BUT YOU! YOU CAN BE THE LIGHT THAT THEY NEED! YOU CAN BE THAT CITY ON A HILL THAT KEEPS THEM GOING!

You can be THAT LIGHT THAT POINTS THEM TO JESUS!

Matthew 5:15-16

And that leads us perfectly into Jesus’s last example in this stretch.

Matthew 5:15–16 CSB

15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Jesus’s third example is a lit lamp.

When you light a lamp, you don’t put it under a basket.

Let me give you this example. Say that you hear something go off in your house in the middle of the night. Maybe its your sump pump- this may or may not be a lived experience for me. So you go check it. When you go, you bring your phone to be a light.

Now, you turn that flashlight feature on and you shine that light. You don’t just hold onto your phone while you fumble in the dark and say, “Wow, it would be great if I had a light right now!”

That’s just silly!

In the same way, we don’t light a candle and cover it! And in Jesus’s example, you don’t take a lamp and put a basket over it!

Instead, YOU LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!

You let your light shine to the WORLD!

Because remember, what are we? WE ARE THE LIGHTS OF THE WORLD!

We are to be LIGHTS!

And in the same way, a lamp is designed to GIVE LIGHT TO EVERYONE!

Jesus gets at this in verse 16- He says- LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE OTHERS!

And how do we do that? He tells us that also- OUR GOOD WORKS SHOW PEOPLE AROUND US OUR LIGHT! WE INVEST IN OTHER PEOPLE!

Jesus even tells us what people’s responses will be- as they see us doing good works- they will eventually GIVE GLORY TO GOD!

Our good works are not just about people and loving people, it is really an act of WORSHIP AND PRAISE! IT IS AN ACT OF OBEDIENCE, IT ISN’T LEGALISM, IT IS RIGHTEOUS LIVING!

To help us digest this idea of letting our light shine, I want us to look at our mission statement.

Our mission statement here is 4 words:

Connecting People With Jesus

Let’s look at each one of these words.

First, we CONNECT. That’s what we do. We believe that we need to connect people- this idea comes from so many places in scripture.

It comes from places like Acts 2:42-47 and it comes from places like Matthew 5:14-16! We need to be that light! We need to CONNECT PEOPLE!

And that brings us to the second word. PEOPLE. People is who we work with. People is who we reach. People is who we STRIVE TO WORK WITH!

We work with people! As Christians that is what we are called to do. We are in the people business if we are in the business of seeing people get saved!

Third, WITH. With reminds us that we are not the stars. We connect people WITH someone else.

We aren’t matchmakers, we are lights.

And the final word shows us who IS THE STAR!

The star is JESUS! We CONNECT PEOPLE WITH JESUS!

This is what we are aiming to do! At all times, in all situations, THIS IS OUR GOAL!

And this is what Matthew 5:13-16 is challenging us with.

We are really being challenged to CONNECT PEOPLE WITH JESUS!

And we are given three analogies of this- salt of the earth, light of the world- which has two sub-applications- city on a hill and a lamp!

That’s what we are called to do! We are called TO CONNECT PEOPLE WITH JESUS by being THE SALT OF THEIR LIVES (NOT THE SALTINESS OF THEIR LIVES), BY BEING THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, LIKE A CITY ON A HILL OR A LAMP IN THE DARK!

And so this morning, I want to take some time to challenge us to APPLY THIS TEXT through a few VERY PRACTICAL WAYS.

Application

Reignite your light

(Personal Renewal)

Before you can shine as a light, you HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR LIGHT IS SHINING.

Think about it like this- if you are trying to see one night in the dark and you turn on a light but the lightbulb is dead, then it is USELESS!

In the same way, we ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR LIGHT IS ACTUALLY SHINING!

We are called to be the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, but if our LIGHT IS OFF THEN IT IS POINTLESS! We aren’t actually the LGITH OF THE WORLD!

So let me challenge us that we have to make sure that we are ACTUALLY SHINING!

I want to address this in two way

Let Jesus Ignite Your Light

Let me start with this- if you don’t know Jesus, then your light can’t be lit.

So let’s talk about that. How does Jesus light our light?

GOSPEL!

TODAY, LET JESUS LIGHT YOUR LIGHT- REPENT AND BELIEVE!

Spend Time Lighting Your Light

So you are saved, what comes next?

Well, we need to put time into this relationship.

We could look at this light analogy like this- when my house was being built, they hung the lights. Great! I have lights! But over time, I have to maintain them.

In the same way, after WE ARE SAVED, WE NEED TO MAINTAIN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!

Here’s what this is going to look like:

Spiritual Disciplines- scripture, prayer, fellowship- CG, etc. (But these aren’t a BAD TYPE OF DISCIPLINE- THIS IS A JOYOUS THING TO DO! WE SHOULD LOVE THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES BECAUSE THEY LEAD US TO SPEND TIME WITH GOD!

Shine your light

(GO!)

We talked a little bit about our mission earlier, but one other aspect of this that we cannot overlook is our values.

See, a mission statement tells us what we are doing, our vision statement tells us WHERE WE WANT TO GO and our values tell us HOW WE WILL GET THERE!

Here at Cornerstone we have three values:

Gospel

Community

Mission

These three values tell us HOW WE ARE GOING TO CONNECT PEOPLE WITH JESUS!

Let me explain.

Consider GOSPEL as a value.

Every Sunday that you are here, you are going to hear the GOSPEL PROCLAIMED! EVERY SUNDAY, YOU ARE GOING TO BE CHALLENGED TO LIVE OUT THE GOSPEL!

We are going to be RELENTLESS IN OUR DESIRE TO SEE PEOPLE SAVED!

See, THE GOSPEL needs to be lived out and it NEEDS TO SHINE BRIGHTLY!

And we can do that by INVESTING IN THE PEOPLE AROUND US! WE CAN LIVE OUT THE GOSPEL BY LOVING PEOPLE AS CHIRST LOVED US!

Our second value is COMMUNITY.

A good way to consider community as a value is- WE WELCOME EVERYONE REGARDLESS OF BACKGROUND INTO OUR FAMILY!

We want to PURSUE RELATIONSHIPS AND COMMUNITY! WE WANT TO BRING PEOPLE INTO COMMUNITY LIKE LIGHTS CAN BRING US TO WHAT WE NEED TO SEE!

This value needs to shine brightly also. We live in an isolated world, so if we are bringing COMMUNITY, then it will look totally different then the world around us.

OUR VALUE NEEDS TO SHINE BRIGHTLY!

Finally, consider our value of MISSION!

We see MISSION when we take what we talk about together and BRING IT TO THE WORLD!

It’s like being a peacemaker like Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:9. Part of being a peacemaker like that is BRINGING PEACE TO PEOPLE!

And that peace comes through JESUS

In the same way, we see mission when we BRING JESUS TO THE WORLD!

And Cornerstone Family, part of shining our light, part of shining our values is GOING!

And for us to go, we need to UNDERSTAND JUST HOW IMPORTANT IT IS!

I have an illustration I want to share with us.

If we can put up the map on the screen.

This is a picture showing two countries. It shows NK and SK. If you look, SK at night has many lights. It is “LIT UP!” On the other hand, do you notice how NK looks?

IT IS NOT LIT UP AT ALL

Listen, I’m not here to talk about the reasons behind this, but I do want to challenge us with something that this picture shows.

See, you could think of this picture as a representation of spiritual states of people around us.

And let me be clear- our neighborhoods are NOT LIT UP!

It’s really simple! Cornerstone Family, you may be THE ONLY CHRISTIAN ON YOUR STREET!

So how will your neighbors find truth unless you show them?

People are walking in circles, they are lost, they NEED SOMETHING ELSE, THEY NEED LIGHT!

And listen, you have that light! YOU NEED TO GO! It’s that simple! WE ABSOLUTELY MUST DEDICATE OUR LIVES TO THE GREAT COMMISSION!

That’s really the call of Matthew 5:13-16! It’s a call for us to DEDICATE OUR LIVES TO FOLLOWING GOD!

So let’s SHINE OUR LIGHT BRIGHTLY TOGETHER!

City on a Hill

(OUR CHURCH- Invest, Invite, Involve, IGNITE)

Here’s our last application today. Jesus talks about being a CITY ON A HILL!

And here’s what I love about that. Being a city on a hill implies that there are multiple lights.

And as a church there are MULTIPLE LIGHTS JOINED TOGETHER, BECAUSE THERE ARE MULTIPLE BELIEVERS!

And so this morning I want to give four steps, kind of like a map, for how we are going to be LIGHTS IN OUR COMMUNITY!.

These are 4 I’s.

Here’s a summary statement about them- Invest in your neighbor to Earn the Right to Invite your neighbor. Invite them to have the opportunity to INVOLVE them. Involve them to let them Ignite! Help them IGNITE so that they can INVEST! (It’s all a cycle)

Invest- SEE THE PERSON, CARE ABOUT THE PERSON, BE A LIGHT TO THE PERSON AROUND YOU!

THIS IS WHAT WE SAW TODAY! BE A LIGHT IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, IN YOUR COMMUNITY, ETC!

Invite- church, CG, INTO YOUR LIFE!

1 Peter 4:9, Matthew 25:35, Hebrews 13:2- BE HOSPITABLE! AND AN INVITE TO CHURCH IS REALLY AN ACT OF HOSPITALITY!

And when we have a guest- BE HOSPITABLE! THIS IS OUR CHANCE TO SHOW CHRIST-LIKE LOVE! BE A LIGHT!

Involve- Discipleship, Membership, CG

Acts 2:42–47 CSB

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Ignite- Multiply

2 Timothy 2:2 CSB

2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Let me end with that summary statement again: Friends- this is how we CONNECT PEOPLE WITH JESUS PRACTICALLY!

Invest in your neighbor to Earn the Right to Invite your neighbor. Invite them to have the opportunity to INVOLVE them. Involve them to let them Ignite! Help them IGNITE so that they can INVEST! (It’s all a cycle)

COMMUNION

PRAY AND LAY HANDS ON JOSEPH LEE