Why Witness?

Around the New Year you hear a lot about “resolutions” and people trying to start the year off by doing something new in their life in order to either live better, become healthier or save some money. Experts say that roughly 80% of people fail to keep their new years resolution and that the vast majority of those 80% begin to fall short in February (just 5-6 weeks after they started their resolution!). Some of the reasons that people give for failing to keep their resolutions include a lack of accountability, temptation, laziness and busy schedules. In 21st century America, this makes sense, sadly. Many people want to make a positive change but simply do not follow through because it is difficult. It can feel that way in our spiritual lives as well, can’t it? For Christians one of the resolutions that many people attempt is to read the entire Bible in 1 year. So many Christians try to do this that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of reading plans that will get you through the entire Bible in 1 year! Resolutions are good things. It is a good thing to try to live a healthier life. It is a good thing to start a budget in order to save money instead of waste it. It is a good thing to read Scripture on a consistent basis and to include it in your life. With that said, resolutions by themselves are things that will likely only benefit people for a short period of time before they either go back to their previous way of life or are unable to maintain the resolution.

Our world is temporary. Yet, we know that there is something more waiting for us. Last week we looked at the Beatitudes in and saw how Jesus turns the world upside down. Our text today in will continue the idea of the Beatitudes and show how children of God are called to be salt and light in the world. Friends, we live in a world that is in decay and darkness. A world that is in desperate need of salt and light. As citizens of heaven, we are tasked with the responsibility to live a Christ centered life right now, today!

So, as we begin this new year and new decade, let our goal not be to make a resolution that only lasts 2-3 months, but rather let us commit as individuals and as a church to be witnesses for Christ because He commands it of us.

Matthew 5:13–15 NASB95

Matthew 5:16–18 NASB95

16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Matthew 5:13–20 NASB95

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:19–20 NASB95

19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Be Salt to a World in Decay (13)

Whenever a Christian makes a stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ they will look radically different than non-Christians around them. As we looked at the Beatitudes last week in , one of the things Jesus talked about is that those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness are blessed. Friends, we should expect to be persecuted as Christians because we are called to be salt in a tasteless world. The question that we have to ask ourselves as we begin a new year is this, “Is it worth it to be persecuted for being a Christian?” We are called to be salt and light. First, Christ calls His followers to be salt in verse 13.

Robert Mounce offers some help in understanding why Jesus uses salt and light in this metaphor. “Salt permeates and performs its vital function in society. Light illuminates the darkness and points people to the one who is the source of all light and life.” Salt has a role and function in society - preserve things and make them taste better. Salt had at least 5 functions in the ancient world: purity, preservation, flavor, healing and cause people to thirst. Followers of Jesus Christ are to be salt in a world that is everything but salt. We especially should perform the first 2 functions: purity and preservation.

As Christians, we are called to be pure. We are called to live a different life than those around us because we have been called out of the grave by the King of Kings. As a result, we live, think, speak and act differently because we have the Holy Spirit inside our hearts. Just as salt is supposed to be pure and purify things, Christians are called to be pure and purify others as we become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and let the Spirit act in our lives. Not only does salt purify things but it also preserves them.

Just as salt preserves meat and is an enemy of decay, Christians should apply the same things to our lives. We know that our world is in decay and is dying. We see it in the news, in natural disasters and in the general moral decline in our society. While the world is in disarray and decay, we are called to be salt.

As verse 13 continues to say, what good is salt if it is tasteless? We all know the 5 second rule and how if you drop some food on a dirty, germ-y floor then there is a high chance that the food now is dirty as well. In the same light, we know that whenever we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ we are to not become tasteless but we are to remain salty. The temptation exists for us to revert back to our old ways of life and to continue on sinning and indulging in the desires of our flesh, but that’s not what Christ calls us to do! We are called to be the salt of the earth. As Paul notes in

Romans 6:1–4 NASB95

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:1-2

We are to be salt and even whenever we are tempted by the darkness and those around us, we are to remain in the Word and stand firm on what the Bible says.

Be Light to a World in Darkness (14-16)

Not only are we to be salt to a world in decay, but we are to be light in a world that is dark. Light is powerful, friends! Light is fast. It travels throughout space at 186,282 miles per second! Light revolutionized the way that people live their life as well. Back in the day, people generally did not go out after the sun set because there was not electricity, only torches or lamps. However, whenever electricity came about it completely changed the way that people lived! In fact, whenever electricity first came about one of the first places in towns that received electricity and light bulbs was the church. This also brought about the tradition of the Sunday evening service. Because there was light, people began coming to church on Sunday evenings not just to worship but also to fellowship at a time in which they likely would not have been able to anywhere else. Light is important in our history!

Jesus makes a profound point in verse 14 as He says that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Light is powerful and it cannot be hidden. There is a song by David Crowder that came about about 10 years ago entitled “Shine” and the chorus says this, “Shine Your light so all can see it Lifted up, 'cause the whole world needs it Love has come, what joy to hear it He has overcome, He has overcome”

Friends, Christ (the light of the World as and tell us) has overcome the world and has won for us the victory! We have that light inside of us as children of God as the Holy Spirit dwells within us. The world is in desperate need of that light as it is in darkness yet so many times we fail to shine our light into the darkness. We have an opportunity to share our faith with someone at the grocery store or the doctors office and we pass it by in order to stay in our comfort zone or in order to hurry on with our day. We have an opportunity to help someone or call someone who is hurting and we pass it by in order to get something else accomplished. Life is busy, but we have a responsibility to let our light shine before others!

Spurgeon said it well when he said, “Christ has lit us that we might enlighten the world. . . . God intends his grace to be as conspicuous as a city built on the mountain’s brow” Christ didn’t die on the cross to give you a trouble free life or reap the benefits of an early retirement and live your life as though you have a “get-out-of-hell-free-card”, no! He did not save us to be silent saints. We are to be the light of the world because no one else will be! That responsibility falls upon us. The task of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is to bring light into the whole world. The disciples who heard Jesus’ message would have understood the consequences of this statement: they could not look like the world around them, they had to look differently. Sadly, this is where the American church especially can get it wrong.

Akin, D. (2019). Exalting jesus in the sermon on the mount. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Many people think that it is ok to mix Jesus with culture. It’s ok to come to church and watch a secular movie during Sunday morning worship and do a 5 minute devotion at the end and call it “church”. Others will say that it is ok to bend Scripture to support current issues or, better yet, to ignore certain passages of Scripture to make our message sound more inclusive to those around us. Church, whenever we fail to preach the full counsel of God’s Word (even the tough parts!) we willingly sacrifice our light and we willingly put a basket over our lamp. We might have great reasons for doing so, but we are called by the King to shine our light without shame, even in the midst of persecution as Christ declared in !

Giving light is not an option for Christians, it is part of being a disciple. To be more direct, is your light your own? Christ says in verse 16 to “let your light shine before men...” so is the light our own? I pray that it is not because I am a sinner and if I shine my own light the credit and glory will go to myself. Friends, the light that we shine is a borrowed light. It is what we receive from Jesus Christ the moment that we are adopted into His family. That is the light that we shine to the world around us, not to be congratulated or praised by men, but so that others will give the glory and honor to our heavenly Father!

So, a couple of questions to ask ourselves as we begin a new year and look at the Biblical mandate to witness to others:

Does your fear of others keep you from shining your light for Jesus?

Does pride keep you from shining your light brightly for Jesus?

Does sin or comfort keep you from shining your light brightly for Jesus?

Does peer pressure or your own personal agenda prevent you from shining your light brightly for Jesus?

If any of these things do, repent and ask for forgiveness right now! As Paul declared in , nothing can separate us from the love of God. We should not allow trivial, earthly things separate us from doing what we are called to do, either.

As Ion Keith-Falconer (a world champion cyclist turned Scottish Missionary and Arabic scholar who passed away at 31) noted, “I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light.”

Friends, ministering among the saints is one of the greatest things that we can do as Christians, but heaven forbid we fail to go out into the darkness and let our light shine. “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.”

Believe in Scripture (17-19)

Did you know that there are some “Christians” out there who do not believe what Scripture says? Some Christians say that the Old Testament is out of date and irrelevant for the 21st century church. Others say that the Bible teaches horrendous things and supports murder, genocide and incest, therefore we have to skip over those parts. tells us that

2 Timothy 3:16 NASB95

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

All Scripture is inspired! It all is important, even the tough passages and stories. Jesus Himself tells us in that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. The Old Testament points to the coming Messiah, all the way back in

Genesis 3:5 NASB95

5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:15 NASB95

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The people of Jesus’ day would not have had any New Testament to go off of, their Bible was simply the Old Testament. Christ makes it clear that He is not here to abolish it but He is also not here to let things continue to go by, He is here to fulfill it. Because of this, whenever we read the Old Testament today as Christians, we must do so carefully and understanding how Christ brings about the fulfillment. As we spent several weeks last month in Isaiah looking at the Messianic prophesies and how they found their fulfillment in Christ, we see other key figures in the Old Testament and how they acted as a priest, prophet or king who led the people or taught them about God. These individuals, however great they were, were supporting characters in the Bible story which has Jesus Christ as the main actor.

The Jews in Jesus’ day would have been extremely familiar with the Old Testament. For example, the books of Law or the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy) contained 613 commandments (248 positive and 365 negative). You think that keeping 10 commandments is impossible, imagine trying to keep all 613! The issue is that this gave the people a very legalistic mindset when it came to following God. The law, therefore is not abolished by Christ, but rather fulfilled. We cannot keep the law. We fall short each and every time, the same was true in Jesus’ day. That is why the people had the annual day of atonement in order to make sacrifices for their sins. Yet, Christ comes in and shows how its not about keeping the law, it is about grace. He accomplished the law. Christ was the perfect atoning sacrifice and He paid the price in full!

As verse 19 shows us, it is vitally important to preach and teach all of God’s Word. If you believe that salvation is by grace through faith and that through confessing your sin and believing in Jesus’ death on the cross in your place then you will be saved. But, if you go on with your life and do not abide with what Scripture says and teach others to do the same then Jesus says clearly that you will be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven. This ought to give us reason to pause this morning, church, because we are all guilty of failing to practice what the Bible commands, but do we pass our guiltiness on to others and tell them that they don’t have to do what Scripture says too? This is certainly a warning for us and especially should cause those of us in leadership positions to ask if we are guilty of doing exactly this? Do you practice what you preach?

Scripture provides tracks that guide our Christian life just like a train has rails to guide it along its journey. Some people say that the Bible is a life manual and while it might not have specific scenarios for how to balance how much TV time your child should have, it does offer wisdom for and a guide for how you can answer those types of questions: pray, and ask God for wisdom as tells us.

Spurgeon, upon reading , made this his prayer, “Lord, make me of this thy kingdom a right loyal subject, and may I both “do and teach” according to thy Word! Whether I am little or great on earth, make me great in obedience to thee.” Let that be our prayer as well, that we truly believe in Scripture and that we are faithful to apply it to our daily lives and to teach the full counsel of God’s Word, regardless of the consequences, knowing that all of Scripture points to Christ.

Akin, D. (2019). Exalting jesus in the sermon on the mount. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Focus on your Heart (20)

The final thing that we must strive to do as Christians is to focus on the heart. We see in verse 20 that the scribes and pharisees are mentioned and these individuals were highly respected in Jesus’ day. As a result, many people would have been shocked at what Jesus says. Jesus says that you have to keep the law and have righteousness that surpasses the greatest law keepers in all of Judaism! How on earth is this even possible? These pharisees had their 613 laws but their righteousness was only skin deep. They kept the law but they did so to have the outer appearance of being righteous rather than having righteousness from the heart. Verse 20 warns us of the deadly consequences associated with legalism. Our righteousness is from the heart.

Jesus says that you require something greater. You don’t need a surgery, you need a transformation from the inside out in order to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Friends, you cannot make it there on your own. You can’t go on enough mission trips. You can’t memorize enough Scripture, you can’t give enough to your local church and you can’t tell enough people about Jesus in order to get in on your works. Many people say that they simply hope that their good outweighs their bad on judgment day and that they pray God has mercy on their soul. Just be a good person and it’ll all work itself out. Christ spells it out clearly here: Your works and actions can’t save you. Don’t even try it because the scribes and pharisees have been doing it for generations! Don’t focus on the external, focus on the internal.

Ask yourself right now, have I been changed from the inside out by the power of the Holy Spirit? Am I a new creation? Do I still live for my fleshly desires or have my desires been changed?

Whenever I was in 6th grade my uncle moved in with me and my parents. He was from Oklahoma City and was caught up in some rough stuff at the time and my dad felt convicted to do something about it. He laid out some ground rules and told him that we were here to help him out as long as he abided by those rules. At first I thought it was about the most strange thing in the whole wide world, having to share my downstairs tv and living room with a person who I knew had struggled with some serious stuff and was frankly a person that I barely knew at all. What I saw happen as I went through my teenage years was God use a man who was broken and struggling and turn His life around. I saw my uncle turn around from his worldly ways and I saw God perform a miracle in my own household. Craig still struggled, but man oh man did Jesus transform His heart. First Baptist Ozark gained a faithful new member, my family gained a 4th person in our household but the Kingdom of God gained a soul. This didn’t happen due to the rules that my dad gave Craig to keep (although one of them was that he had to attend church if he was going to live with us), it didn’t happen because Craig prayed a special prayer or did something unique, it happened because the love and truth of Jesus brings the dead back to life and because only Jesus Christ can melt the heart of stone.

Conclusion

So as we begin a new year and find ourselves at a time in which many people begin to make life-changing resolutions to better their life, I beg of each and every one of you to ask yourself the question: Why am I here? Why do I come to church? If you don’t exactly know why, I’d love to talk with you sometime.

If you do know why you come to church and what Jesus Christ has done for you on the cross, I want you to ask yourself this question: Am I salt in this world? Am I light in the darkness? Do I believe what Scripture says or do I simply take someone else’s word for it or do I pass over the hard parts?

These questions are difficult, but our faith is a difficult one. As Paul writes in

Philippians 2:12 NASB95

12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

Ask these hard questions and conclude with focussing on your heart. I pray that that would be our goal in 2020, that we would focus on our heart and that we would do great things for the Kingdom of God, not to enter into heaven based upon our works but because Christ is worthy and because He calls for us to be His witnesses in our neighborhood, our community, our state and to the very end of the world! Let’s strive to witness for Him. Let’s pray.

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