Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray

Introduction

We’re into our 4th week on our essentials series, and today we’re looking at culture…and we’re slowing it down a little, because I noticed when I looked at some of the other weeks, there’s a bit of overlap.

So today we’re slowing it down and before we jump ahead we’re going to look at where we are right now.

Because God has placed you - each of you - in a particular place in a particular setting and in a particular time.

That’s where you are right now.

So where you live is in a particular place where God has placed you.

Where you work is in particular place where God has placed you.

In other words, we live and work and play sport and interact within the world around us.

We are part of a culture wherever we are.

In church, we’re part of the church culture, but outside of the church -

in the world, we live in and work in and play in part of a culture that is different to that of the church, but it’s a culture in which God has placed us.

And in our passage today, Jesus is calling his disciples to be different WITHIN the culture in which they live.

There were some back then, called the Essenes - who were a bit like the Pharisees, but more hard-core…and they separated themselves from culture and lived away from society - but Jesus is telling his followers, don’t separate yourself from the world, make a difference in the world.

Because, there are two options that Christians can take when it comes to our interaction with the world...

We can be like the Amish, who separate themselves completely.

In other words we can escape the world.

Or we can adopt what the world does and look NO DIFFERENT from the world....In other words, we can embrace the world around us.

Jesus is offering a third way - to ENGAGE the world for him.

Pause

In our passage today, Jesus is teaching this to his disciples as part of the sermon on the mount, which we went through in our midweek last year…and I’m recapping some of what was mentioned last year this morning.

And in a culture where the rich were deemed the blessed, the hard-hearted, the ruthless were considered the role-models in society - or at least it was the rich, merciless, bullies that tended to get their way - Jesus is offering an alternative to his disciples...

‘If you want to follow me and be my disciples, then you need to be different to the rest of the world.

You need to love mercy, justice, truth, grace, kindness, peace.

You need to be meek, pure in heart, poor in spirit if you want to follow me.

And you’re going to be different.

You’re going to be set apart.

You’re going to look different to the rest of the world.

Because when we live out the teaching of Jesus where we work or where we live, we will stand out like a sore thumb.

Because the world is in darkness, and WE have the light of the world in us.

And if WE have the light of Jesus in us and we are shining lights in a dark dark world, then we will be noticed.

If you imagine the church hall late at night with all the lights off, it’s dark.

If someone was to stand at one end of the hall and another person was to stand at the other end and strike a match, you would see that match from the other end of the hall.

It MIGHT NOT light up the whole hall - that’s not the point…The point is that in all that darkness, the small match is noticeable…it stands out.

And where we live and work is in a world of darkness.

And as a follower of Jesus we can bring light into that darkness, and we can bring salt into that flavourless place.

Pause

Let’s read the verses from our passage again...

Jesus says that the disciples are salt and light.

And as disciples of Jesus, so are we.

And he makes an emphatic statement.

This isn’t a promise…follow me and you will some day become salt and light.

Jesus is saying that BECAUSE you are following me, you ARE NOW salt and light - salt of the earth and light of the world.

You ARE the salt of the earth.

You ARE the light of the world.

Let’s look at what he means by each...

Pause

First of all Salt...

Salt had various uses, and if you put all the uses together you can get a better view of what Jesus was getting at in this passage.

But here are the uses and characteristics of salt...

We all know the difference between a meal that has no salt and one that has salt and one that has too much salt.

We get that.

And how many of us add salt to a meal before even trying it to see if it needs salt?

I went on a tour of the Tayto factory with Kate before we even moved to Magheralin and before the children were born.

We were in Tandragee for no real reason and decided to chance our arm and see if we could go on a tour of the factory.

We knew they did free tours of the factory but weren’t sure if you needed to book.

Turns out you did need to book, but they let us go on a tour anyway along with a bunch of primary school children.

So here are Kate and myself - in my late 20s, are on a tour of the factory with 6 and 7 year olds.

Any time they asked a question I was first with my hand up, because getting questions right meant prizes - forget the kids, I was after the prizes.

Anyway, the point of this story is that as part of the tour we got to sample some crisps before they were seasoned.

And they tasted bland.

There was no real taste to them.

They kinda tasted like an oily potato, but it wasn’t that nice.

Then they took us further down the production line and we go to taste the same batch of crisps but this time with salt on them.

The difference was amazing.

But we know this and I’m not going to labour the point anymore…Salt flavours.

Salt takes a bland thing and makes it taste nice.

In fact, often what salt does is to bring OUT the flavour of the food.

It brings it to life.

Before salt there’s nothing there - no flavour…but salt brings food to life.

Pause

The second thing about salt is this…Its other use back in Jesus’ day was in preservation.

Salt is a preservative.

There were no fridges or freezers, so when you killed your cow or goat or chicken or fish for food - you could never eat it all there and then, and you couldn’t afford to either.

So the meat was covered in salt - salt is a disinfectant.

It has antibacterial properties and so meat could be stored in salt for an indefinite amount of time.

It stopped the meat going off or decaying.

Pause

The third thing about salt is one of its characteristics.

Salt was connected with purity - possibly because of its white crystalline properties.

Pure salt is white like snow, which was also considered pure.

The Romans said that salt was the purest of all things.

Pause

Now, if we put all this together, which I think we need to do - then we can see how we, as disciples, are the salt of the earth.

Disciples of Jesus are people who are trying to live the way Jesus lived and taught how to live.

And as a result they will stand out from the world.

They will be different because they will be acting in a counter-cultural way.

And we can flavour the world for Jesus - we can bring people to life.

Like salt brings food to life, we can bring people to live by flavouring their life with Jesus.

And with the disinfectant properties of salt, we can have a disinfecting effect on the world as we bring truth and love to a sinful world.

So at work, when the person who nobody likes is having a hard time, YOU can be the one to come along side them and help them out - and you’ve flavoured that person’s life for Jesus.

Or in your street, the neighbour who is a real piece of work that nobody likes, but they’re struggling with their shopping, YOU can be the one to come along side them and subtly flavour their life for Jesus.

We’re not talking dumping a whole tub of salt on their life and ruining everything.

I’m not suggesting you go up to them quoting scripture…Salt is to be added subtly to a meal - just help them out..as Jesus puts it, ‘a cup of cold water offered in his name.’

By doing that you’re flavouring the world for Jesus.

I’m not even talking about evangelism here.

I’m just talking about living as a Christian.

And, like salt is pure, the purer the disciple is - or, the more the disciple is living like Jesus - striving for mercy, peace, love, and so on, the saltier they will be, and the saltier they become - the greater they will flavour the world around them for Jesus.

But it requires us, as disciples, to be pure salt.

Jesus said...