Living Out of Mission

Good morning we are in our sermon series the Upside down Kingdom and we have been looking at the Sermon on the Mount.

If you have done any small group ministry …you would have come across one of the common ice breaker question…it comes up from time .. and it is this.. “If you were stranded on a deserted island and were permitted to have only one book, what would it be?”

The English writer G. K. Chesterton was asked this same question. .. Most of his his friends chose the pious answer and they all said the Bible. When Chesterton’s turn came, he simply said that if he were stranded on an island with only one book, he would choose Thomas’s Guide to Practical Shipbuilding. 1

That’s a great sense of humor… If you had to choose a portion of the Bible to be stranded on the Island… the sermon on the Mount be a good choice.. The sermon on the Mount is considered the greatest sermon (words) ever preached.

In three chapters Jesus gets into the nuts and bolt of what it means to be a part of the Kingdom of God.... then Jesus tells us how pursue our calling in his Kingdom in a very practical way .

A large crowd has gathered from all around the region and some even travelled from beyond the Jordan to listen to Jesus teach...

Matthew 5:1–2 (ESV)

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them.

Here is a crowd who are eager to hear from Jesus...

We get excited to hear teachings from our favorite speakers.... Several years ago Frank and I had the opportunity to hear from the world renowned theologian.. N.T Wright..

It was a real treat... When you listen to some like that… Can you imagine sitting in the audience and listening to Jesus himself?

Over the past couple of weeks we have looked the beatitudes... These are character traits of the followers of Jesus...

They have been called the beautiful attitudes.

Jesus starts with having a beautiful attitude towards God and then having a beautiful attitudes to towards others...

If we honest…we often don’t have a beautiful attitude… Have you ever been frustrated with that driver in front of you… if we honest we are also sometimes there very driver we get frustrated with..…

Jesus challenge us to have the right attitudes..-

As we go through the sections of the sermon... each thought IS connected to THE NEXT… We sometimes treat the beatitudes as it section and then next… It is building on the next idea.

Jesus makes the smooth transitions from our the beatitudes to OUR mission... From our Character to our Calling in His Kingdom

The last be-attitude was blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness

The passion translation

Matthew 5:10–11 TPT

10 “How enriched you are when you bear the wounds of being persecuted for doing what is right! For that is when you experience the realm of heaven’s kingdom. 11 “How ecstatic you can be when people insult and persecute you and speak all kinds of cruel lies about you because of your love for me!

Now this is not a normal or natural response to persecution…Enriched by wounds and ecstatic about being insulted?

We as humans beings have two responses to opposition and conflict.

We have the fight or flight response... we run towards or we run away from conflict..

Jesus offers a third option... and that is Salt and light... .. Jesus says..

Mat 5:13.You are the salt of the Earth...

Mat 5:14 You are the light of the world...

Jesus is saying rather than being tempted to flee or to fight… We are to represent his kingdom in the midst of an often broken and chaotic world.. The church is called to be a missional community The very word for church come from the Greek word Ekklessia… means called out…

As the "the called out" we have a purpose and mission... an a Calling… That is to have influence

One greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture.

The thing about both salt and light is that they are both change agents... They dramatically Change whatever they come in contact with..

the question is..

Ts How do we Live Out of Mission?

1. We Need to Be Poured Out of the Salt Shaker

The outside of a Salt Shaker can look impressive...

It can be an intricate part of the decor on the table…

It would be strange is we admired the salt shaker without using its content..

The Salt Shakers true value is not the shaker but contents...

Jesus tells us that purpose of every disciple of Jesus is to be Salt in the world...change agent...

Matthew 5:13 ESV

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Jesus says that you are (or we are) the salt of the earth... the "You" is emphatic... He was making a distinction ....It is not the religious leaders of the day… It is not who you think are the hope for the world…

Jesus is saying that you yourselves are the salt and light of the world.

Salt in the Roman world was quite valuable during the day. In fact Roman soldiers were often paid in salt… He is talking about something valuable… If you old enough you will remember the saying ath some one is worth their salt....where did that saying come from… people were paid in actual salt...

Salt had a number of uses.. one of the main uses is that salt was a preservative.

1. Salt is a Preservative.

Ancient cultures all knew about the preserving power of salt... They didn't have refrigerators... and it was they preserved their meat... If they didn’t salt their meat it would spoil and rot…

The implication is that Christians are the preservative in a decaying world.. t. In physics they have the second law of Thermodynamics... where things move from order to chaos... from warmer to cooler... IT is part of the law of entropy where everything is winding down…

We know this when things get left alone and not given attention and energy has a tendency to deteriorate..We see it this with buildings and Equipment… I had one of these expensive apple pencils and didn’t plug it in… and the battery died… It was useless.. The law of entropy affects our things but it also impacts our relationships..

What happens in a marriage when you stop communication regularity? What happens where you stop looking appreciating each other? What happens when you stop dating? It doesn't take long for your to drift apart... Thing naturally go in that direction...

What happens when you ignore a friendship... slowly you drift apart....

What Jesus is teaching is that earth needs Salt and it needs to be intentional… without the influence for Christians being change agents...Everything is going to decay... We are already seeing signs of enthropy in our culture today… in our ethics and morals..

There is a calling to be Salt in world that is decaying..

John Stott quotes..

R. V. G. Tasker who says ..that .

The disciples of Jesus ‘to be a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing, or non-existent’. R. V. G. Tasker

The calling is to be an influence in the world for good..

2. Salt brings out the Flavors

I was given a Dehydrator for my 50th Birthday... It was sent from south Africa... and I have been experimenting with curing different cuts of meet... A big part of the process of curing and preserving the meat.. You have salt and then let it marinade in vinegar… over night.. You want the seasoning to get into the meat itself..

How many times have we asked the question what is my purpose… I want to do something significant with my life… I want to live out my calling...

Well it all comes down to marinating and seasoning.. and it begins in the home… If you are married you have a calling to your spouse… God has joined you to your spouse...

And just like Seasoning brings out the best flavors of food. Out role is to bring about the best in the other person... The scripture is clear that marriage is all about mutual submission and that means alway seeking the best for our spouse..

What is my calling as parent? The purpose is to bring out the best out of my child... We do that by being salt… sometimes marinating takes along time..

Jesus says what happens to salt when it looses its saltiness? It is no good and its only use is to be trampled under foot...

We need to make sure that we don't loose our flavor....

In church history in the 3r Century Christianity had become the religion of Rome under the Roman emperor Constantine.. The next emperor Julian wished to set the clock back and bring back the old gods.. the play-write Henrik Ibsen put it this way

"Have you looked at these Christians closely? Hollow-eyed, pale-cheeked, flat-breasted all; they brood their lives away, unspurred by ambition: the sun shines for them, but they do not see it: the earth offers them its fulness, but they desire it not; all their desire is to renounce and to suffer that they may come to die. Henrik Ibsen...

True Christianity can not loses its flavor... pure salt can never lose its taste..

What happened in the ancient world... salt often not sold in a pure form it was mixed with other ingredients and the humidity could cause it to become tasteless.

If we start adding all the ingredients -- attitudes and actions that don't reflect the kingdom...It will dilute our impact.. and eventually.. there will come a point when salt has absolutely no use...

Salt will no longer preserves or bring out the best in a community... but rather become of no effect... In fact out of sight only good to be trodden on... hidden out of sight... .

If are going to have any effectives in the world ... and communities .. we have to retain our saltiness.... Our saltiness is the Character traits depicted in the beatitudes.. beautiful attitudes of Spiritual poverty.. meekness, humility.. hunger for God... Mercy, purity...

When we take on the characteristics of Christ the natural out come will be light.

Ts How do we Live Out of Mission?

1. WE need to Be Poured Out of the Salt Shaker

2 We need be Lifted out of the Basket

When I was a child my grandparents would visit us…we live several hours aways and so they would aways stay for a week and then leave.. Well I came up with a plan stop them leaving… I decided to hide the pair of shoes that my grandpa always wore… I climbed up to top of closest and hid the shoes and then went to school… Well on the morning they were leaving they searched the house for hours and eventually found that hidden shoe...

The gospel is not to be hidden (illustration)

Charles Spurgeon the prince of preaches… once said… that Christ never contemplated the production of secret Christians,—Christians whose virtues would never be displayed,—pilgrims who would travel to heaven by night, and never be seen by their fellow-pilgrims or anyone else.”

Jesus said his disciples are the light of the world..The light of the world_ implies that the world is in darkness...

.. He doesn't say you are like light... he says you are light... It implies that there is no other option.... If the disciples do not provide light in the world there is going to be a noticeable absent...

The very purpose of being a follower of Jesus is to give light..

Matthew 5:14–15 ESV

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

The passion Bible puts it like this.

.... You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand.

Jesus calls his disciples the light of the world and then qualifies what they looks like… You are to be visible…

Living in Richvale it gets pretty dark at night… and when you drive towards Chico and Oroville… there is a glow in the sky… Cities have a way of attracting our attention.. this is what Jesus is getting at… we are to live our lives in such a way that people get to see the beauty of God’s work in our lives..

You are a City on a Hill that cannot be hidden.

Jesus called us to be City set on a Hill. David Guzik tells us that Not far from this hill [where Jesus taught] is the city Saphe… and that it was quite possible that those sitting on the mountain would been able to a city in the distance....

Where lights are placed are important...

The houses in Palestine were very dark, with only one little circular window perhaps not more than eighteen inches across. The lamp was like a sauce-boat filled with oil with the wick floating in it. It was not so easy to rekindle a lamp in the days before matches existed. Normally the lamp stood on the lamp stand, which would be no more than a roughly shaped branch of wood

Jesus says Just like the oil lamp in your house... It function is to provide light for all those in the house... it is not designed to be hidden.. People don't put light under a basket... but rather put it out on the lamp stand...

It is all about position... If your light is under a basket..it is going to be hidden... the best place for light is in the highest place of the room.

Ts How do we Live Out of Mission? We Need to

1. WE need to Be Poured Out of the Salt Shaker

2 We need Be Lift out of the Basket

3. We Need to Be Moved Out of our Comfort Zones

What is comfort?

We tend to think of comfort as something that makes us feel better, like our favorite food, a shoulder to cry on, or someone telling us that everything's going to be okay. Comfort is soothing; it eases our pain, relieves our distress. The hotel chain Comfort Inn, for example, promises fresh linens, fluffy pillows, cable television, and a good night's sleep after a hard day on the road. When we call something comforting, we usually mean that it makes us feel better.

The problem with comfort is that we don’t want to move…

Jesus sermon on the Mount was not comfortable it was challenging..

Jesus did not say: ‘You are the light of the Church; he said: ‘You are the light of the _world_’—and in our lives in the world our Christianity should be evident to all...

I don’t know about you but evangelism can make us uncomfortable…

When it comes to evangelism and outreach... There are generally two response... first of all we are intimidated to share faith... secondly we feel inadequate...The reason is that we see Evangelism is an Event... We got to memorize verses of scripture the Romans road to salvation.... (there is nothing wrong with that...)...

In Math 28:19... The great Commission -- command us to go and make disciple..

Jesus says to his disciples

Matt 28:18-19 All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me..

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus says 19 Therefore go and make disciples.. the greek word for Go... means to travel or to go out... As you go your way... make disciples... This is about being a missional community… living our lives daily on mission… making it normal part of our lives..

This should bring us some freedom when it comes to evangelism..

Jesus gives us a methodology for making disciples...

The message says ..

Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven

Frank made the comment at our Bible study on Tuesday saved by good works but for good works....

OUR mission is accomplished, not only BY words but but our deeds that we do on daily basis..

In Greek, there are two words for good. There is the word _agathos_, which simply defines a thing as good in quality; and there is _kalos_, which means that a thing is not only good but that it is also captivating and beautiful and attractive

The good deeds of the Christian must be not only _good_; they must be also _attractive_. There must be a certain charm in Christian goodness.

Good works are important...

One of the questions that I have had on my mind is how do we love our community well…

How do we have greater impact on our community?

Our families and relationships?

The goal of Good works — is not Social Justice… the purpose is to give glory to the Father… When we help the needy when we do events in our community… the point isn’t that we about good works --- but we are about giving glory to the Father… Our goal, our purpose… Is that God will be glorified… that applies to our marriages, our families, our church…

Conclusion..

One of the iconic attractions when visiting New York City, (NYC) is Times Square. Times Square stretches out over five blocks along Broadway and then spreads out several blocks covering the entire theater district. What draws tourists to the area is not only the world-class theaters but the city lights.

Times Square is lit up by "arguably the largest concentration of electronic billboards on the planet. " According to a New York Power Company (Con Edison), the Theater District estimated that peak consumption is around 161 megawatts at one time.

To put that into perspective, that is enough energy to power 161 000 homes. That is twice the amount of electricity used in all theCasinos in Las Vegas! That's a lot of power!

In ancient times Rabis were called Lights… they were the teachers of the day… they brought illumination to the scriptures… Jesus upped the wattage… He says He is the light of the world..

John 8:12

John 8:12 ESV

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus qualifies that he is not another is the light.. He is the … Light… the Luminary light of lights.. that lights up the would… Then he turns to his disciples in the sermon of the mount — He say to you and I… are the light of the world.. A city that can not be hidden..

Where do we get the wattage..

The radiance which shines from the Christian comes from the presence of Christ within the Christian’s heart… The indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We often speak about _a radiant bride_, but the radiance which shines from her comes from the love which has been born within her heart.

If we have lost our influence how does salt regain it’s saltiness? What do we do when we have lost our power?

When we lived

in Africa power outages were a normal...part of life... They had different days that your section of town would have no power...Pam's dad worked at a merchant bank and they bought a whole apartment block... and filled the basement with back up systems and generators... to protect their assets... power-shortages…

We living in a day when we need to be salt and light.. and When we connect to “His power" and "His people," light will break through the darkness