Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

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.

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 6:1-2

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!