FBR Identity

(Turn to ) Brothers and Sister in the Lord,

Go to a Bible church and check out that thing. Sit in on the baptist and for many of you, that’s what you’ve done or are doing.

You go to these branches of the mainline denominations and you’ll find out that they are all pretty much preaching the same things but with a different emphasis.

Like, here’s what they would say.

“Do you want more peace? Do you want more life?”

And this is the message that would go out to Christians, not just non-Christians.

“Do you want more peace?

Do you want more freedom from your sin?

Do you want to walk in more life and vitality?

Do you want a deeper, more passionate relationship with Christ?

Then you need to ——.” And depending on where you were, the blank was different.

At the Charismatic churches, it was “You need a deeper walk with the Holy Spirit.”

In the Bible churches, it was “You need more Scripture.

If you get truth and you master truth, then you’ll have it.”

And then there were other places that were like, “No, no no, you need discipleship and

you need this planned out discipleship model or module.

And if you do that, then you’ll be there.”

And then you had others that were like, “No, no, no, it’s missions.

You’re never going to know the heart of God if you don’t know missions,

because missions is the heart of God.”

And there were other groups that are like, “No, no, no, it’s deep, deep, authentic, real community.

And if you have that, then you’re going to be there.”

And others were like, “No, no, it’s community renewal, cultural renewal.

If you get into that, then you’re there.”

And others are like, “No, no, it’s worship. God desires a worshiper.

We need to sing for an hour and seventy-five minutes,

there needs to be fireworks and tears.

And that’s what it is. If we could get into that mode of worship, then we’ll be there.”

And others yet were like, “No, it’s systematic theology and understanding systematic theology.

And the more systematic and programmatic we can make this thing, the better off we’ll be.” And on and on and on and on it goes.

Now, I don’t want to in any way discredit any of those things.

Because I believe that all of them are viable and all of them, to some extent, are commanded in Scripture.

I think what’s happened though is that churches, we’re guilty also, we’ve concentrated on like one or two of those.

Here, I’ve tried to lead us into having a heart for sound doctrine and having a heart for bible teaching.

In a pursuit of excellence, in the pursuit of doing things perfectly, we’ve concentrated on one or two

to the neglect of others, and in the end, it’s made us very unhealthy.

Imagine this. If you started to exercise. But you went to the gym for a year and only worked out the right side.

You just did armed curls, triceps, abs, right legged squats.

Now, your right side is going to be powerful. But you’re going to look a little weird.

Now the problem with that is that the body wasn’t designed that way, so here’s what’s going to happen.

As you grow and stretch the ligaments and tendons,

the muscles begin to grow on the right side of your body,

it’s going to push one of your hips forward, pull one of your hips back,

push one of your shoulders forward and the other one back,

and you’re going to get all twisted and all maligned.

And in the end, you’re going to be strong nowhere

because you’re going to throw your back out or blow out one of your hips, and

you’re just going to be a mess.

And then you’re not going to be strong anywhere or

be able to do really anything because

you’re disjointed and out of how you were designed to function.

And so what happens when the church says, “Let’s be good at these two things,” is,

in the end, she ceases to function as God designed her to function

in culture and in society.

And so you get this sickly, maligned version of what should be strong and beautiful.

So here’s what I want to do the next few weeks with you. I want to go backwards. I want us to see who Jesus says we are as the church.

That's what we're going to concentrate on today. So let's look to God in prayer and ask His help and blessing.

Our heavenly Father we bow before Thee once more and we are thankful for the opportunity just to be in the Lord’s house this day. We rejoice in the freedoms and the privileges that we have in being able to gather here.

We thank Thee for the Word which is before us. We pray Lord that You might bless the preaching and the hearing of it. And in the preaching, may You come down O’ Lord. May the Holy Spirit descend and may there be a real work done for eternity. Bless us we pray as we continue before You now as we all look to You dear Lord, even from Thy throne. We pray this in Jesus name and for His sake, AMEN.

So let’s start with a very popular passage of Scripture. Starting in

— 13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Let me point out a couple of things. I’ll tell you this: sitting in this crowd, listening to Jesus are

peasants and uneducated men and women.

And the reason I’m telling you women is that, in the 1st century,

most Jewish men began in the synagogue with a daily prayer that says,

“Praise You, God creator of heaven and earth, that I was not born a gentile or a woman.”

But Jesus here is speaking to gentiles and Jews and uneducated peasants and

educated Pharisees.

He’s talking to this massive cross section of society, and He’s saying,

“You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.”

So there’s not a type of person that God is after, but rather the door seems to be

wide open for all who would believe and repent.

The other thing I would notice is it doesn’t seem to be the plan of God to get us into monasteries

“You are the salt of the earth, so get in the cupboard.”

That’s not what happens. “You are the light of the world, so hide it under a bush … oh no.”

I just wanted to point those two things out.

Those are universal truths that Joel has just begun to get across here in the church.

What is salt? Think with me as Jesus compares us to salt.

Salt is a preservative.

So then, we are as the church a preservative against moral decay in society.…

Salt brings flavor,

so we as the church flavor society.…

Salt is a fertilizer,

so we as the church create ground where spiritual growth can occur.…

When you eat salt, you become thirsty,

so we as the church, when people are around us see our lives and how we live, they become thirsty for the things of God.

And as we think about the church being those things, I want us to get to the core issue of salt.

So, here’s what salt is: Salt is breathing spiritually. That’s what it is.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

The Holy Spirit grabs a hold of our heart and begins to chisel and shape and mold us

more and more and more, over a period of time,

into the image of Christ.

So we’re not talking about integrity or character but rather

the root or the well

that integrity and character come out of.

And so the Holy Spirit begins to work Christ-likeness in us,

our soul, our spirit,

transforms in us,

moves in us,

chisels at us,

creates in us,

so that we become the type of people that

preserve against moral decay,

add flavor to life,

cause other people to be spiritually thirsty …

we could go on and on in all the other illustrations of what salt does.

And that transformation of the Holy Spirit working in us and

us submitting to Him

then enables us to become light to the world around us.

Notice that this text starts by saying, “You are the salt of the earth,” and that

becoming the salt of the earth leads to then being the light of the world.

So what ends up happening to make us salty, if you will, is a

submission to the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives

to shape and mold us that leads to transformation

that then is attractive to the world around us.

I’m wondering as a whole, do we understand the gospel and

do we understand the Kingdom of God?

I believe that we know some of these things well. But in some, there seems to be

an undue, unhealthy passion for information and knowledge and

little to no passion or zeal for transformation.

So in the end, we’ve got belief down, but we haven’t been changed at all.

In fact, it seems like there is a mountain of sermons that are meant to increase our knowledge,

but there’s no accountability or structure of authority

that enables us to apply the information that we’ve gained.

So in the end, we’ve become masters of information but not necessarily masters of life.

And just the way that we are structured right now as a church,

doesn’t seem to be conducive to allowing us to become salt.

So guess who has to change? We do!! But it’s God who’s changing us.

As a whole we can cry out and confess the things that we believe and so forth,

but only a few are operating in those things at all.

Well, why is this a big deal? Let’s look at the text. — 13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

The salt from the marshes and lagoons or from the rocks in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea

easily acquires a stale or alkaline taste,

because of its mixture with gypsum, and so forth.

It is then literally “good for nothing” but to be thrown away and trampled underfoot (cf. ).

Jesus, as he walked on earth, saw many Pharisees and scribes, people who advocated a formal,

legalistic religion in the place of the

true religion proclaimed by the ancient prophets in the name of the Lord.

Thus by and large the salt had lost its flavor in the religious life of Israel.

Many “sons of the kingdom” would be cast out ().

The implication is clear. Just as salt having lost its flavor cannot be restored,

so also those who were trained in the knowledge of the truth

but who then resolutely set themselves against the exhortations of the Holy Spirit and

become hardened in their opposition are not renewed unto repentance (; ).

Therefore, let that which is named salt CHURCH let us be salt indeed!

Ever so many people who never read the Bible are constantly reading us!

If in our conduct we are untrue to our calling our words will avail very little.

So listen to what the Scriptures just said.

To believe but not to practice is worthless. I mean, it’s worthless. And I don’t know if you know this or not, but we’ve lost our saltiness.

Why do you suppose that we’re pretty much a generation away from God completely being removed from any and all expressions in the government?

Because the church has lost her place in culture.

The salt has lost its saltiness. Because we believe but we’re not different.

So what’s left except for us to be trampled on by man?

Because there’s no difference; we have nothing to point to.

We can’t say, “See, marriage works best when you do this,

you submit, you love each other like this,

the man loves his wife like Christ loves the church,

the woman respects the husband.

See, it works.”

Instead, we’re saying, “Divorce is a sin for Christians. You shouldn’t do that.” Yet we have divorces everywhere.

We’re saying, “Lust will eat up the mind, it will make you look at women, it will make you look at men as objects.”

And then our pastors are getting busted all over the place doing the same things.

And then our pastors are getting busted all over the place doing the same things. You see, we have belief but we have no transformation, and it helps us play the role of fool in our culture. Is that not what is going on? Is that not our role here? Do you guys watch television? When was the last time we were painted in this really great light?

You see, we have belief but we have no transformation,

and it helps us play the role of fool in our culture.

Is that not what is going on? Is that not our role here in the culture?

Do you guys watch television? When was the last time we were painted in this really great light?

Let me close with four reasons of how I think we got this way ok?

1. Many churches (including ours) has had a recovery of sound doctrine. Good solid bible teaching.

This has led us to a unbalanced view of width rather than depth. I’m not talking numbers here. That’s a given in any baptist church. It’s always, “How many are you running in your morning worship?”

That’s not what I’m talking about. See in our church there is an overload of information delivered to you

versus the amount of emphasis placed on you actually doing what you know.

As a church we want to find the balance.

Teach you God’s Word and equally help you

carry out God’s Word which equals = transformation.

Instead of the church being a place where every believer has accountability and authority

(which is the way that God shepherds His flock)

As a church, you just get God’s Word thrown at you.

This is as foolish as asking someone to do long division that doesn’t yet understand how to add.

And we’re gathering information, gathering information, gathering information, and on one side in the church and

no level of accountability is actually going, “Are you practicing what you know?” on the other side. So it derails us.

This becomes so clear when you see the church overseas. Many of us simply cannot relate

But when they have a paragraph of one of the Epistles that they have to teach out of for two years and

yet their faith goes well beyond what we see here in the States most of the time.

And they don’t have the information that we have.

They just have good old obedience that’s been blessed with God’s grace.

2. I don’t just see this in our church but in Roselawn and the whole surrounding area (in America even).

But there has been almost an absolute disintegration of genuine, real community.

Look at how foreign some of the hospitality commands are to us.

When I entered into the church (by God’s amazing grace) things were a bit more difficult that I had anticipated.

When God opened my eyes to discover that there is real sin in my life and

that there’s certain sins that derail your life and takes away from your life

No one was there to reach out or disciple us. And over the years, I realized two things that I desperately needed.

I needed encouragement and I needed rebuking, constantly.

Because there were days that I was overwhelmed with my own junk and

I felt like it was moving impossibly slow and I felt like I just wasn’t getting it and I was confused.

I needed people to be able to encourage me.

I also needed people to be able to come up and grab me at the right time

when I wasn’t strong enough to be honest about my own struggling heart,

that they could sense it and feel it because they knew me so well.

I needed men and women who knew me well enough, who I trusted well enough to receive,

“Come over here. What are you doing? You know this is sin. You know this is not right before God. What are you doing?”

So we need that type of community and that type of relationship that we can be encouraged when we’re weak and

we’re not even strong enough to confess that we’re weak,

but people know us well enough.

And then we need the kind of community that can support a good spiritual spanking that we all need often.

But the truth is few of us have found that kind of love in church settings.

But I don’t think that’s just the church’s fault, which leads me to the next problem.

Not only has there been an undue emphasis put on width over depth and the disintegration of community, but

3. I also think there has been a lack of submission to authority.

And what I mean by that is the church has been created by God to be that place

where those who are spiritually strong care for, love on, encourage, rebuke the spiritually weak.

And what’s happened in our consumeristic society is that it’s not about growing deep into the things of God anymore,

but it’s about us feeling better about ourselves by coming into church.

So what we want is somebody who can entertain us and music that we somewhat enjoy, and that’s what we want.

So what’s happening on a massive scale (including here) is people aren’t joining churches,

aren’t submitting to any kind of real authority,

but instead they’re just coming and going to places to be entertained.

It’s sort of how we mentioned before. People treat the bride of Christ the way that the culture treats many women.

If someone used my daughter to get out of her what they wanted, I might be going to prison.

Think of how people date and flirt around with the church and when things get uncomfortable

because as any relationship, there comes a time, when it’s time to commit.

And a person who doesn’t understand membership and covenant faithfulness and what it means to be part of a local church,

they bolt. They are not submitted to anyone’s authority. They are lone ranger Christians.

People who are not under any authority and have no accountablity

do not understand how much we need men and women in our lives to be able to say,

“You’re messing this up?”

Isn’t it true that we need men and women to come along side of us and go,

“Hey listen, you’re not playing your marriage role like the Scriptures say you should. You need to repent. Here’s how you need to do that …”

Everyone needs to hear those words.

4. Isn’t really our church but it’s more of cultural issue that has effected every church.

We live in a culture that is built on speed.

I remember driving on the roads in Arizona. Even when we know things are going to be slow,

we still get frustrated by them.

Like, we’re on free-way, downtown at 5:15 and we’re like, “What in the world?!?”

It’s like, “What do you mean? It’s like this everyday at this time. 4:00–7:00, this is what we’ve got. This is what it is.”

We want speed and we want it now.

But the truth is spiritual growth isn’t a Interstate it’s more like a crawl.

It’s like your kids. You can stare at your kids all you want, but you’re not going to see them grow.

You look down on them and it looks like they grew three inches overnight.

But they didn’t grow three inches overnight; they’ve been growing the whole time,

but it happened so slowly, you can’t see it.

It’s like an addiction. If you go to a step program or a study. But what we need to realize what we’re talking about is discipleship.

You can measure it, but you can’t see it.

It’s like an addiction. If you go to a step program or a study. But what we need to realize what we’re talking about is discipleship.

It’s just discipleship; that’s all it is.

It’s not a drug/alcohols deal; it’s a soul deal.

And here’s what happens.

As you sit under God’s Word and God causes you to take some personal inventory of your heart and

you begin to walk through all the junk in your heart, and it’s not pleasant at all.

But then many people bail, and they’re like, “I gave it a shot.”

My fleshly response wants to be, “So, thirty-six years of jacking up your life, and you gave us a month? Thank you.”

And here’s the thing. If you don’t like this idea, this idea that it’s going to take time and

it’s going to require perseverance and

you’re going to have to fight through it and wrestle through it

and junk in your heart is going to get revealed that you don’t want to deal with,

if you don’t like that idea, here’s the great news.

You can find a billion other pastors out there and a thousand other churches to go to that will tell you,

“No, no, no. It’s just this one thing. If you do this one thing, then it will work.”

Now here’s the problem. That’s not going to work, but at least it’s a more fun message to listen to.

And then on a whole, it just seems that people are like, “Ah, at least the road to destruction moves quickly.

At least we’re moving instead of being stuck in traffic, just inching forward.

At least destruction gets there fast. I’d just rather have that. I’d just rather be moving.

Please shut your bibles and bow your heads and close your eyes.

Day by day, year by year, the church lose it’s position in society.

And it’s happening because salt has lost its saltiness, because so few of us apply what we say we believe.

So without inner transformation, light is bland and unappealing if not obnoxious and dangerous.

So where does that leave us? I think we need to ask ourselves a couple of things. I think we need to ask our self,

“Where do we need to be obedient?

Where’s the Lord leading us right now? Where is He calling us?

Where do you need to step out and step up?

What has He been asking me to do where I’ve said no?

Where am I not doing the things that I know I need to be doing?”

Here’s the other question I would ask, especially if you’ve been here a long time.

“What did you give up on too soon?

What did you walk away from too quickly?”

Pray....