Influencers

We live in a digital age. We live in a time when one hopes to avoid a virus, but also one hopes to go viral. This is of course the terminology of social media. This is the age we live in and there is no sign of it going back. In the year 2021 half of the worlds population are on social media. In the next 5 years that number will be 80%. The average social media user spends approximately 2.5 hrs a day on social media. Corporation spend millions on marketing for social media adds and 73% of those marketers say social media has been good for improving business. But, the social media world is not run by marketers. People also , don’t spend most of their time on social media watching programs. The movers and shakers of social media are those who have come to be known as “social media influencers”. Once a person accumulates a large enough following they begin to receive checks in the mail by the platform because they generate people. Also, those same marketing corporations will pay these influencers money to wear and advertise their product on their personal pages. These are normal people who can become overnight sensations because of one video that accidentally goes viral and now they are an influencer. In 2015 nobody had tasted a Patty Pie until James Wright took a bite and sang like Patty Label as he ate it.

Well, in this world the church should be influencers. We are not called to follow trends but to be those who should make a difference in this world in all spheres of existence from social media to the workplace to school, to the gym, everywhere we should stand out and stand up for Jesus and the Kingdom of God.

Set Apart

We are different. We are not of this world. We are in the world but not of the world. This is demonstrated immediately in this sermon on the Mount but now Jesus gets into the functionality of that difference. That our differences is not for the purpose of observance, but practical. We are the salt of the earth. We are something that does something.

Salt has many uses, and more uses then than it does now. But we should’t assume that Jesus had all the uses in mind. In fact Jesus doesn’t even elaborate on the work of the salt as much as he warns against the salt loosing is savor. His concern for the salt is not so much on how it servers, but on the salt maintaining its distinction. He raises a scientifically impossible suggestion. If the salt looses its flavor. This does not happen to salt. Salt is always salt this is a fact. And it is not something a first century Jew would be ignorant of. The only way for salt to lose its flavor is if it gets mixed with other minerals that would drown out the distinct flavor of the salt. When that happens they would throw out the salt and minerals on the street and people would walk on it as sidewalk.

Apparent

You are the light of the world. Jesus tells his disciples a truth that they had never heard before. We know what light does. It illuminates, right? It makes things that were once lost in obscurity now visible. So when Jesus says you are the light of the world he is contrasting it with the darkness that the world is in. Light is apparent. When light is present, it is visible. Have you ever experienced darkness? The confusion it brings. That is the condition that the world is in. And that condition is simply because they reject the Light that came into the world, who is Jesus himself.

Darkness is when you blend in world and will not stand out

Darkness is when know the words to every song but no words of scripture

Darkness is when our women are still discriminated in the work place

Darkness is not knowing if I will be killed for being Black

Darkness is when the city of Flint Mi. is without clean water and the government won’t act.

Darkness is when politicians put their agendas over our children's lives and send them to school to be babysat by people with no intention

Darkness is when our communities over polices 4-1 than the suburbs

Darkness is real food is expensive and process food is cheap

….(Pray and Preach)

And what gets me is that people get used to being in darkness to the point that they don’t realize it any longer. I know I’m right. Have you ever got up in the middle of the night to make your way to the refrigerator for to sneak a late night snack? I tried it too. On my way to the kitchen I passed by my room light switch, the first hall light switch, the second hall light switch, the living room light switch, and the kitchen light switch. But because I was so confident I could navigate in the dark I was unaware of the Mine Mouse doll that lay in wait on the kitchen floor. After picking myself up off the floor I realized that even though the dark was familiar it was not my friend. And I had ample time to get the light but passed it up every time. That’s how it is with the darkness of sin. It will have you thinking you ok when you’re not ok. Have you thinking you know where you’re going when you’re really headed for a trap. (Preach) But if you would just accept Jesus along the way you will be saved from falling in the future.

You have to BE the light and it has to be apparent. Here is how. Jesus. He is the Light of the world, and calls us the light of the world essentially telling us to be like him and to do what he does. (Moon Sun, Us Son)

Broadcast

Jesus gives the first illustration of the relationship between the disciples and the world as light and darkness using a city on a hill. What you must first understand is that cities in that time were usually built on the top of mountain or along the side of a mountain. That’s why we say the city of Zion, or Mt. Zion because Jerusalem and other cities like it were built on a large hill summit. Jesus points out that as you consider the obvious location of a city, at night, being lit up, and unavoidable, you should be broadcast like that. You can’t hide a city on a hill because it’s too high and it’s too fortified. If it’s in a valley you might pass by and never see it but if it’s on a hill everyone can see it. The same is for you, your light should shine in such a way that everybody that passes by you can see it. There should be no question as to if you are who and what you say you are. Because it should be obvious, and obvious because people are watching. There is no confusion. So you have to ask yourself, “does your deeds line up with you declaration?” Does your actions line up with your personal accusation? Does your behavior line up with you beliefs? Does your life line up with your Light? Jesus wants them to know that they are to illuminate the world and in order for them to do that they must be positioned as such so that their light is broadcast for everyone to see.

So Jesus says, “…nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket…” The point is that once you recognize your role as light don’t try and hide your diminish your light for the comfort of other people. This is one of the greatest struggles for Christians in this day in age. We are easy to say we are Christian, or “Spiritual” because saying doesn’t really amount to much. But when it comes to living it out, now all of a sudden we are ashamed. We become afraid of what people might say if they see us living right. We get self-conscious when it’s time to pray. Get embarrassed when asked what be believe. But don’t keep you light away for it is to help somebody else. So he says that, “they put it on a lampstand so that it gives light to all who are in the house.” In order to broadcast you light you’re going to have to place yourself in a position where people can see you, that means you’re going to have to be Christian outside of church on Sunday. You’re going to have to participate in ministry. You’re going to have to tell other people about Jesus when you get a chance. That means you’re going to have to spend time in prayer daily, read the word daily. It means you’re going to have to shine.

Contagious

In this last verse Jesus challenges His disciples to let your light shine publicly for the purpose of getting others to share in the light. The test however is in your works, that is, what you do. Check the text. Jesus says, “…that they may see your good works,” so then, the quality of light that we shine is determined by what people see us going. In this way when people see your life, see how you’re living, see how you have peace when hell is breaking loose, and see how you didn’t cuss out the driver who cut you off, see you praise God when things didn’t go the way you planned. They will have NO OTHER OPTION but to glorify God. Have you ever heard the expression, “like a moth to a flame?” Because the light attracts them. Well this is like a “sinner to Jesus”. Ain’t that how light works. When you light one candle it’s not too bright in the room. But, if my light touches your candle then we both have the light. And if your light touches someone else’s candle then are shining now.

Gary Fishbone on 9/11 used a small flashlight to light the way leading 14 people to safety through the dark debris and smoke fill chaos of the 9/11 attacks. The story is that he had a flashlight and caught the hand of one person. As they proceeded to move to safety the one person he had been leading grabbed another person. Then that person grabbed another person, and so on. Eventually they where waling to safety because they were following the man with the light.

Your light should be contagious! Your worship should be contagious! You praise should be contagious!