Influencing Your World
Influencing Your World
Goal: Introduce the series by giving the background to the discourse. Call Christians to actively determine they will be both salt and light and call unbelievers to faith in Christ.
Introduction
If you want to know how a Christian is to live it would seem evident that listening to what Jesus taught would be a good place to start.
This discourse of Jesus is often called the Sermon on the Mount.
It took place on a hillside at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, probably not too far from Capernaum.1
Background
It was given about half way through Jesus’ ministry.
It was during the time of his popularity.
The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is the first of 5 discourses that Jesus gave and that are recorded for us.
Presuppositions for our study.
1. The Sermon does not present the means of salvation but rather the way believers are to live.
a. The way we are to live is radically different from that of the world.
b. The principles taught are covered in other NT passages.
2. This discourse clearly shows the necessity of the new birth.
a. Every topic we will cover will point people to the Savior, Jesus Christ.
b. The religious leaders of the day taught that righteousness was an external thing, a matter of simply obeying rules and regulations.
c. Jesus shows it is a matter of the heart!
3. The discourse reveals the only way to true and profound happiness.
a. As I apply the truths of these chapters to my life, not only do I benefit my life pleases God.
4. Living out these principles is the best means of evangelism.
a. In a culture that espouses the idea that there are many truths,
b. and that there is no one truth for everyone,
c. people are like buoys a drift on the ocean.
d. They may not even realize it but they are looking for something real that is truly life transforming.
Living out these principles is evidence of a transformed life.
I. The Foundation for Righteous Living
Verses 3-12 are called the Beatitudes. Warren Wiersbe’s has a very simple outline of these verses.2
A. Our Attitude toward Ourselves, 3
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
1. 1It refers to man’s total spiritual poverty and establishes the starting point for true blessedness.
B. Our Attitude toward our Sins, 4-6
4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
1. 1Refers to grieving over sin. When there is grief over sin, there is comfort from God.
5 "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
2. Gentleness1 recognizes God’s Holiness and man’s rightful position as He relates to God. The result is to reign with Christ.
6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
3. Hunger and thirst recognize the intense drive within the believer to be righteous before God.
C. Our Attitude toward our Lord, 5-9
7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
1. Mercy is active compassion, reaching out to someone in need and meeting them at their point of need.
8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
2. This refers to having a mind that is pure and clean, not tarnished with a desire to be both in the world and with the Lord.
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
3. We are to carry the message of peace, the Good News of the forgiveness of sins in Christ.
D. Our Attitude toward the World, 10-16
10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 ¶ "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
12 "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
1. In Christ we can rejoice regardless of the world’s response to us.
2. Why? Because there is eternal reward.
3. John MacArthur writes of the beatitudes:
A Christian who has all those qualities will be so far above the level of the world that his life will rebuke the world-which will bring persecution from the world (5:10–12) and light to the world (vv. 14–16).3
E. What is the Foundation for Righteous Living?
1. The foundation is knowing Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
a. This is not simply knowing about Jesus.
b. It is coming to the realization that I am “poor in spirit.”
c. Totally destitute of spiritual power.
d. I need to come to Him in humility and seek His forgiveness for sin.
2. After coming to Jesus there will be a “hunger and thirst” to be like Him.
a. If that hunger is not there then question whether or not you have come to Christ.
3. Our study this summer is entitled Radical Christianity.
a. We are going to develop the various subjects Jesus taught on.
b. Today it is “influencing the World.”
II. Influencing the World for Christ
Introduction
In 1988 our family was invited back to Shawinigan Quebec for the 20th anniversary of the church I had pastured for 9 years.
I spoke Sunday morning and after the service a woman who had been seated right up front that came up to me.
She asked if I recognized her.
I didn’t.
Her family had purchased the house next door to us just prior to our moving into our house.
They knew I was the pastor at the Baptist Church. We were neighbors for 5 years and I don’t think we spoke together more than a couple of times.
But after we had moved to VT someone in their family became very sick or had an accident or something like that. I no longer remember the details.
What she told me was they didn’t know where to turn. She said for the 5 years we lived next to them they watched us.
We knew there was something very different about you and so we decided to come here to church and we found Christ.
The only reason for sharing the story is to illustrate the fact that we are to influence the world for Christ.
But to do that, there has to be some very visible difference in the way we live.
We are to be “salt and light.” These refer to the influence the Christian is to have on the world in which he lives.
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.
A. Salt
1. Salt is linked to three concepts in ancient cultures:
a. Purity – because of its whiteness.
1. The Romans believed it was the purest of all things.4
2. In that sense then if we are to be salt we must be an example of purity.
b. Flavor (savor)
1. Most foods need a little salt to enhance the flavor.
2. It is true Christians are to enhance the good things that God has given us in the world.
3. Down through the ages some of the greatest masterpieces of literature, music, and art were done by Christians.
4. Within the Chinese Christian culture salt is viewed at that which produces thirst.
The Christian is to make others “thirsty” for the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. That goes well with Christians adding savor to the culture.
c. Preservative
1. There is no doubt but that the most obvious understanding of the ancient world is that salt is a preservative.
a. If you’ve studied any history you know that meat could not be kept without some sort of preservative.
b. Salt was that preservative.
2. Christians are to be a preservative in the world.
a. We are to seek to retard or inhibit the moral and spiritual decay of the world.
2. How can we be Salt?
a. We will never be salt in the world if we are happy with how the world is!
1. If I am not affected internally when I watch filth on television, I will never be salt in the world.
2. If I can listen to music that is filled with filthy lyrics and enjoy the music, I will never be salt in this world.
3. I will never stand in opposition to something I participate in.
4. I might give lip service to opposition, but that’s all it will be.
b. Christians have to come to the realization there exists an all out war for the minds and hearts of the children.
c. There is a conflict of cultures going on in this country today like we have never faced in our history!
1. If Christians do not exercise their saltiness our American culture which was founded on the principles of the Word of God will be lost.
2. I know most of you have heard this:
Supreme Court Decision, 1892 (Church of the Holy Trinity vs USA)
Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian... This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation...we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth. These, and many other matters which might noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.5
3. The major conflict today is between Christian Theism and Naturalism.
a. Christian Theism holds as its foundational belief that there is a transcendent God who created the universe.
b. Naturalism holds as its foundational belief that natural causes are sufficient to explain everything that exists; there is no room for God.
c. The answers to the foundational questions of existence cannot be more diametrically opposed.6
1. Is ultimate reality God or the cosmos?
2. Is there a supernatural realm or is nature all the exists?
3. Has God spoken and revealed absolute truth to us, or is truth something we have to find or even invent for ourselves.
4. Is there a purpose to our lives, or are we simply a cosmic accident emerging from slime?
d. Whether you believe it or not the public educational system has as its foundational philosophy, naturalism.
4. What difference does it make if they believe that and we don’t?
a. Naturalism results in moral relativism.
1. If nature is all there is there is no transcendent source of moral truth.
2. Each person must construct their own morality.
3. Because there is no standard morality becomes nothing more than personal preference.
b. Naturalism results in multiculturalism.
1. Multiculturalism teaches that all cultures are morally equivalent.
2. No one culture has the right to seek to influence another’s culture because no culture is morally superior to any other.
3. Christianity is not morally superior to Islam or Buddhism or atheism.
4. All are moral equivalents.
c. Naturalism leads to pragmatism.
1. Pragmatism simply says that truth is whatever works.
2. Said another way, “whatever works is right.”
3. If what I do helps me reach my goal, that is right, or truth for me.
4. Christianity cries out “no.”
5. Actions must be judged by an objective standard – the Word of God.
d. Naturalism leads to utopianism.
1. Utopianism believes people are basically good.
2. Society has created the evil that exists and if we can build the right social and economic structure we will have an age of peace.
3. But Scripture teaches the opposite.
4. Man is born sinful and it is our sin that has brought evil into the world.
5. If salt has lost its savor it is useless.
NAU Matthew 5:13 ¶ "… 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.
a. We know today that pure salt can’t lose its savor.
b. But in antiquity salt was often contaminated with impurities.
c. Because of the impurities salt could lose its savor and when it did it became useless.
d. Can there be a better analogy for Christians?
e. When we become contaminated with the impurities of the world’s way of thinking, we lose our influence.
6. Christians are to be Salt.
a. Salt as a preservative works from the inside out.
b. It is absorbed in and it retards the putrefying process.
B. Light
NAU Matthew 5:14 ¶ "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.
1. Light works from the outside in.
a. Light not only reveals what is wrong it reveals what is true.
b. If you try to do anything in the dark you know how difficult it is.
c. So when the light comes you know what you’ve done, both right and wrong.
2. We are the light.
a. Jesus tells His disciples, “You are the light.”
b. When Christ walked the earth He was the Light, He said, “I am the Light.”7
c. When we come to Christ we become the light.
NAU Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
d. If you belong to Christ you are the light.
e. You are the only light the world sees.
3. We are not to hide the light.
a. Remember, salt is sort of invisible; it works from the inside, as it were.
b. Light on the other hand, must be visible or it is not light.
c. A city on the hill can be seen both day and night.
d. That influence is direct.
Application
In closing let me give you a couple of ideas as to how you can be salt and light.
Salt
We become salt when we make a conscious decision to espouse (to champion) and live out the Christian worldview.
That worldview holds
1. there is a personal Creator God who is both holy and loving.
2. Man sinned and brought evil into God’s creation.
3. Jesus Christ, God in flesh, came fulfilling God’s requirements for forgiveness and paid our debt of sin.
4. We are to live to bring God glory to God.
Light
NAU Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
“Walk as children of the Light!”
Lights are placed in dark places.
Wherever you are you are to be the light.
Our lives are to be “radically different” so as to draw people to Christ.
1 BibleWorks 7 – Maps Module
2 Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1, pg 21
3 QuickVerse 7 – MacArthur Commentary, Matt. 1-7, chapter 13
4 Barclay, Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1, pg. 115
5 The Birth of Amercia, pg 21
6 Colson, How Now Shall we Live, pg.20f
7 John 8:12