Authentic or Accepted

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13 “You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

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

15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Authentic of Accepted

Too many times I have heard someone share that they know someone who says they are a Christian, but the way they live does not back it up.

It literally destroys the witness of Christ when believers do not live out their faith.

So, are you the real deal?

Dr. Evan Kane was the chief surgeon of Kane Summit Hospital in New York City.

He had practiced his specialty for 37 years.

Over the course of time he came to question the wisdom of using general anesthesia for every surgery.

He believed people would recover quicker if they only had local anesthesia.

Yet, no matter how convinced Dr. Kane was about his theory, he had one problem.

No one wanted to go under his knife while they were awake.

Everyone he talked to had the same fear.

They did not want to feel the pain of the scalpel while they were awake during the surgery.

After much searching, Kane finally found a willing subject.

It helped that it was a relatively common procedure.

According to Dr. Kane's own records, ...... during his practice he had performed around 4,000 appendectomies, so the procedure was almost second nature to him.

The patient was prepped and brought into the operating room. The local anesthesia was carefully administered.

As he had always done, he cut into the right side of the abdomen and entered the body cavity.

He tied off the blood vessels, found the appendix, excised it, and finished by sewing the incision back up.

To his own credit, he proved himself right.

Throughout the surgery the patient felt very little discomfort.

In fact, the patient was up and about the next afternoon, which was remarkable since this was back in 1921.

Back then when people had appendectomies they stayed in the hospital from 6 to 8 days.

It was a milestone in the world of medicine.

However what made it particularly noteworthy was that the patient and the doctor were the same person.

Dr. Kane operated on himself. (Pause)

Believe it or not, that is what I am going to ask of you today.

What I want you to do is something like "spiritual exploratory surgery."

I want you to root around a bit in your soul,

take a hard and honest look at your spiritual health,

and to see if your faith walk is as healthy as it should be.

Our scripture reading from Matthew is near the beginning of Jesus most famous sermon, …..

The Sermon on the Mount.

In this message, ......Jesus called his followers to the highest standards of conduct. (Pause)

He challenged us ......to "turn the other cheek."

He commanded us.... to love our enemy,….

to forgive those who do us wrong, …….

and to be sure we act with the purest motives.

He said there were two roads, a wide road that leads to destruction and a narrow one that leads to life.

And here in these verses Jesus calls those who follow Him to choose to be a godly influence on the world in which they live.

Those are tough commands.

Jesus clearly expects the world to be transformed by our presence.

Hear Jesus words to us: "You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

Now at first look this is a little difficult to understand.

There is no such thing as "un-salty salt."

If you pour the granules out of your saltshaker and it's not salty,

somebody played a trick on you because pure salt does not go bad.

Sodium Chloride, table salt like the one that you buy at the store is pure.

But the Morton Salt Co. did not exist back in the first century.

When they mined salt from the salt pits it was never completely pure.

Occasionally the salt they gathered was so impure that it was not very salty at all.

When that happened they would cast it out the door to harden the pathway that led to their home.

So what Jesus is saying in these verses is that;

if we as His followers are going to change the world we have to be pure salt, .......

we have to be the real deal.

Our lives cannot be a mixture of impurities.

We have to be un-compromised, pure, and authentic.

That is the word I want you to remember.

When Jesus says:"You are the salt of the earth." Jesus is saying "Be Authentic."

One thing that has limited the influence Christians have on the world;

is that many who claim to follow Christ, are not authentic.

Friend; hear me today, an inconsistent lifestyle repels people from the church.

I can’t tell you how many times I heard someone say that they know someone who claims they are a Christian, but their life is impure.

It literally destroys the witness of Christ ......

We may be the only Bible that many will ever see.

Our life needs to portray grace.

Our life, our actions may be the only Scriptures that others will ever encounter.

So, the question is;

How authentic is your walk?

Are the people around you drawn to faith by your life?

Do people who cross your path recognize that there is a difference ...... in the way you live?

In the letter to the Galatians Paul informs us what a life looks like when the Holy Spirit is active.

You will be filled with love

You will be filled with joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.

Do the people you go to school with, your family members, your neighbors your friends see the "fruit of the Spirit," growing in your life?

Are you the real deal,

or is there so much impurity mixed in with your faith that it is not good for anything?

The key is being authentic; the key is being real, is not trying to appear perfect.

Nobody likes a phony, and if you think you are fooling everybody,

then the only person you are fooling is yourself.

And you can be assured you are not fooling God.

If you want people to think you never struggle, that sin is only a distant memory in your life, then you are not authentic.

You are just wearing a mask. (Pause)

In ancient Greece they had great theatrical events, plays, in large amphitheaters.

They did not have microphones to make their voices heard, and they didn't have cameras to magnify their images, so they invented a system.

They developed large masks.

The masks made them look like the characters they portrayed.

Built into the masks were megaphones to amplify their voices.

The actors on stage, got behind their masks and they became somebody else,

someone different than they really were.

These actors were called the "hypocrites." (Pause)

There are many people whose lives are nothing more then a big act.

They play the role.

They too are Hypocrites.

Listen to what Jesus says to us in Mathew. 23:25-28: .

Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!

You are like whitewashed tombs,

which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.

You see, God wants to change us, but not superficially.

He calls us to be conformed to the image of His Son.

He does not want to just change the way we look.

He wants to clean us up from the very core of our being.

Jesus calls us to influence the world. ……

and To do it; “we must be authentic”.

We must have faith in Him that changes us from the inside out.

You will be able to influence people for Christ if they can see that Christ has made a difference in you.

"Christians must be good news before they share “the good news." (Pause)

A Peanuts cartoon, showed Peppermint Patty talking to Charlie Brown.

She said, "Guess what, Chuck.

The first day of school and I got sent to the principal's office.

It was your fault, Chuck."

He said, "My fault? …….

How could it be my fault? …..

Why do you say everything's my fault?"

She said, "You're my friend, aren't you, Chuck?

You should have been a better influence on me." (Pause)

While Peppermint Patty was seeking to pass the buck, she was in a sense right.

We should be a positive influence on our friends.

We do have an influence,

whether it be it for the good or the bad.

We are always some type of influence to those in our lives.

Much like the preacher who was building some rails on his front porch

As he was pounding away, he noticed that a little boy was watching him.

The youngster did not say a word, so the preacher kept on working, thinking the boy would leave.

But he didn't.

Pleased at the thought that his work was being admired,

the pastor finally said, Are you trying to pick up some pointers on construction?

No,.....the young boy replied.

I am just waiting to hear what a preacher says when he smashes his thumb with a hammer. (Pause)

We are always influencing others ..... either positively or negatively.

Salt is a seasoning, a preservative, but unless it is brought into contact with another object its influence is wasted!

Salt by itself is nothing more than little fine particles......but in that state it is worthless ...... like losing its saltiness.

But when it is rubbed onto and into meat, or added to food it becomes invisible and then becomes what it was intended for

to influence the flavor!

Salt that just sits in the shaker is of no use.

It is much like believers, who become complacent,

who no longer share grace;

who refuse to take a moral stand;

who refuse to share their faith.

They are sitting in a shaker!

Are you authentic

are you the real deal or are you wearing a mask

Is your salt sitting on the shelf or are you in contact with and bringing flavor to those that God has sent you? (Pause)

I recently heard about a business owner who became interested in Christianity, but he maintained a distance and just observed for a while.

He employed many Christians in his company and he watched them like a hawk.

He said, "You know, I was naturally drawn to God by observing Christian workers who were conscientious and kind.

But I'll tell you what really impressed me.

One day a guy who I knew to be a fresh convert asked if he could see me after work.

I agreed to meet with him, but later in the day I started to worry that this young religious zealot might be coming to try to convert me."

"I was surprised when he came in my office with his head hanging low and said to me,.....Sir, I'll only take a few minutes, but I'm here to ask your forgiveness.

Over the years I have worked for you I've done what a lot of other employees do, like borrowing a few company products here and there.

And I've taken some extra supplies;

I've abused telephone privileges;

and I've cheated the time clock now and then."

He went on, "But I became a Christian a few months ago and it's real .......

In gratitude for what Christ has done for me and in obedience to Him, I want to make amends to you and the company for the wrongs I have done.

Could we figure out a way to do that?

If you have to fire me for what I've done, I'll understand. I deserve it.

Or, .....if you want to dock my pay, dock it whatever figure you think is appropriate.

If you want to give me some extra work to do on my own time, that will be okay too.

I just want to make things right with God and between us." (Pause)

In the end they did work it out.

That business owner said that one conversation made a deeper spiritual impact on him than anything else ever had.

That employee did not influence his boss because he had some clever presentation of the gospel.

He did it because he was living out a faith that was both authentic and available.

Friend: we can do that.

But to do it, we have to be willing to be the good news before we tell the good news.

What you say and do influences those God puts into your life.

You are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world.

Let both your life and your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Listen too me tonight:

It will cost you nothing up front to do things to be accepted by others,

But It will cost you later in life (i promise you that)

it will cost you everything up front to be authentic;

But the dividends are to great to be number.

I ask of you tonight

Quit playing games

Quit being fake.

Quit wearing a mask.

Be real

Be Authentic.

There is enough fakes in this world.

People need the real deal.