Eternal Lights in Temporary Darkness

Introduction

Humans have always been fascinated by powerful things - whether it be large animals, powerful soldiers, violent storms, or complex creations - we have an eye for the dramatic and dynamic. In ancient Rome the Romans were recognized around much of the known world for their ingenuity as they created massive roads for transportation and ginormous aqueducts to move water from mountain springs to large cities miles and miles away. In the middle ages many European kings and leaders began to construct massive castles and cathedrals to protect themselves and worship God - many of these castles and cathedrals remain in tact to this day and have fascinated humans ever since. As the middle ages gave way to the industrial age yet another change transpired as something revolutionary entered the playing field: electricity. Electricity changed the game as workers weren’t restricted to working whenever it was bright outside, now they could have light in a large building at midnight and continue working. Families could have heat during cold winter evenings. Electricity has changed our world in numerous ways and it continues to do so to this second.

Consider, what has powered all of these things throughout the centuries? What powered the creation of Roman highways and aqueducts? Workers used concrete from volcanic ash and lime to build these things. Castles and Cathedrals required workers to use similar materials to build these massive and beautiful structures. Think about electricity, though. What powers electricity? Not a singular structure or builder but a factory or plant that’s purpose is to produce electric energy. Electricity is extremely powerful in part because the thing that produces it is extremely powerful.

How many of you have ever been to New York City or at least seen a picture/video of Times Square? Times Square is massive and encompasses over 5 blocks of some of the busiest parts of New York City. While there are lots of places someone can go at Times Square, one of the attractions to the area is simply the lights and billboards seemingly everywhere you look. At its peak, Times Square consumes over 161 megawatts of power at any one time… Now to put that into scale, that is enough energy to power over 161,000 homes or ~ over 100 “Salem’s” - that’s a lot of power in one place at any one time to power up all of those lights! That much power requires a whole lot of work to get the electricity to that place.

In the city that never sleeps, Times Square stands out as a city of light. We live in a world that never stops and we read in Scripture that Jesus calls us to be light. As we began studying last week, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount gives practical instruction and helpful promises to God’s children. Maybe you’re here this morning in person or online and you think that what Jesus is asking you to do is impossible or impractical. You look around the world or you look at a situation you’re facing and you think that you have no hope because you lack the power to accomplish what needs to get accomplished. If that is you today, friend, remember this: You don’t win the world to Christ by looking like the world - you win the world to Christ by being different than the world. Our responsibility as followers of Jesus is to be a billboard of light pointing people to Jesus Christ! We are called to be eternal lights in temporary darkness as we warn others about the reality of eternity to come and as we encourage them to get connected to the greatest power source of all: Jesus Christ. Are you connected to Jesus today? Has His resurrection power change your life and ignited your light?

Let’s read what comes next in the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus issues a call for His followers

Matthew 5:13–20 CSB

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. 17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

Be Salt in a World that is in Decay (13)

Jesus opens up this second section of His Sermon with a declarative statement: You are the salt of the earth.

Notice, He doesn’t say to be salt as though it were an option for Christians to be salt or not be salt - rather Jesus gives us the truth that we all need to know! If you are a Christian this morning, you are salt! You stand out naturally not because of yourself but because of Whose you are!

Now, what was the big deal about salt 2,000 years ago? Salt provided several key functions in society as it kept things pure, allowed things to preserved for long periods of time, added flavor to mundane food, and served as a healing ingredient. Salt was extremely valuable and while it blows our mind today, pure salt in the 6th century was traded ounce for ounce for Gold. Salt was a big deal! So why does Jesus call His followers to first be salt?

First, just as salt must be pure to do its job, Christians must be pure. We read this last week in Matthew 5:8

Matthew 5:8 CSB

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Christians are pure in heart - not because of our inherent goodness and purity, but instead its because of Christ’s power in our lives. We are called to let Christ’s presence inside of us change the way that we live on the outside. We are expected to think, act, and speak differently as Christians because we are pure in heart. Salt that was pure was extremely useful and valuable - Christians are called pure in heart, meaning that Christians are extremely useful and valuable to God and Christ expects us to be even more valuable than salt in the world around us.

Salt does more than simply purify things, it also preserves them. Salt could help meat stay good much longer than it would’ve been able to otherwise. This enabled farmers to make more money in the market with this beef and pork. Salt fought off decay. Christ calls His followers to be salt in part because salt fights off natural elements such as decay. We know that our world is in decay right now and that its dying. We see this on the news with natural conditions on the decline but we also see it on a broader scale with humanity… We are to be agents of purification and preservation for our God in a world that is dying and in decline. This is the task before us and its only possible by allowing Christ’s power to work through us.

But what if we fail to do this? What if we fail to provide the benefits of salt to our society? Jesus answers this in verse 13 as He says that tasteless salt is useless. It’s good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. How many of you play the 5 second rule whenever something falls on the ground? It probably depends on where you’re at, right? Why do we play that game? Because we tell ourselves that if something just barely touches a dirty surface it’s probably ok… But what if something is on a dirty surface for a prolonged amount of time? There’s no way you’re going to think about eating it!

Think about our lives as Christians. Even though we have been saved by Christ and transformed by His power, we live in a world of decay and we are tempted to go back to our previous way of living. To go with the flow. To be contaminated by the dirty surface around us. Yet, Jesus provides another way for us. Whenever Jesus lived He interacted with the sick both physically and spiritually often. In the Old Testament times, some people were considered unclean and to touch them would then make you unclean. This is like a french fry touching the dirty McDonalds floor. The moment it touches that floor whether you admit it or not, it’s dirty! Yet, we see Jesus in His ministry interact with dirty people and instead of them making Him dirty and unclean, we see His goodness and holiness make them clean! We see that Jesus reverses the natural cycle of our world specifically in relation to sin and death.

Jesus flavors those He touches and He calls on His followers to do the same - He simply says that we are the salt of the earth. Look at what Paul says about this idea in Romans 6 as he answers an objection about remaining in our sin

Romans 6:1–4 CSB

1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

What are we to do? Be salt. We have been changed from the inside out by Christ and we are presently filled with His Spirit today. Therefore, we are to be agents of change in our world of decay. We are to be a moral disinfectant in a society whose standards are getting lower by the day. The only way we can do this is to first be filled with Christ.

Be Light in a World that is in Darkness (14-16)

So, first, we read that we are salt in a world of decay and next we read that we are light in a world that is dark. Light is extremely powerful and it’s also extremely fast. Do you know what the speed of light is? It would get pulled over on I44 as it’s 186,282 Miles/Second. Just as electricity is powerful, we know that light is powerful and it has played a very important part in the history of the church. Whenever electricity was being installed around the world, one of the first places in towns that would receive electricity was the local church. Why do you think this was the case? Because the church was the center of the community. It was where people gathered and also enabled people to gather outside of the typical Sunday morning time.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:14 that a city on a hill cannot be hidden - light is powerful and light is visible. Think of some of the things that light can do

Light serves as a warning

For those who are driving, a stop light serves as a warning that something is about to change.

Light serves as a guide

They help us see where we are going - a light helps you not stub your toe when you walk to the bathroom.

Light serves as a symbol of hope

If you are lost, a light helps you know that you are not alone. In the ancient world a lighthouse served this purpose - Lighthouse of Alexandria was one of the ancient wonders of the world and helped sailors avoid dangerous rocks/storms and navigate their way to the massive port of Alexandria.

We read in the New Testament that Jesus is the light and we are called to walk in His light

John 8:12 CSB

12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

1 John 1:5 CSB

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.

1 John 1:7 CSB

7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

So Jesus is the light of the world and we are called to walk in the light as He is in the light… What does that imply? That there is darkness and some walk in darkness

John 3:19 CSB

19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

If you are a Christian this morning, you have a light inside of you and Jesus says that you are the light of the world. Where does our light come from? What is the source of our light?

Have you seen a house with solar panels on it? Solar panels are pretty cool and can save you a lot of money, but what if you live in a cloudy place and you rarely get sunshine? Those solar panels aren’t going to do you a lot of good because the source of power for the panels isn’t able to get its light there. Our light source isn’t our sun, it’s not ourselves, and it’s not even a loved one - the source to our light is none other than Jesus Christ! Spurgeon once said, “Christ has lit us that we might enlighten the world.” Think about the candlelight service we had at Christmas… Everyone had a candle but it wasn’t lit at first. As the service continued the Christ candle was lit and that candle began to light other candles and those candles lit other candles until eventually all of our candles were lit and burning. What was the source to our light? Christ! His light is the source for us to be light in our communities and lives! So, if Christ is the source for our light and if His power is infinite, then nothing should ever stop us from shining our light for Christ, right?

Enter verse 15. We are our own worst enemies - we often give Satan credit that he doesn’t deserve when the fact remains that we often put a blanket over our light and don’t let it shine. This makes no sense, yet it’s what we’re tempted to do. We’re tempted to water down the message of Scripture and make it more acceptable to our world. We’re tempted to go along with the flow of our world and not let others know that we belong to Jesus. We’re tempted to keep the status quo or we’re tempted to think that the light is ours to choose to shine at certain places and not others… We forget that we have a borrowed light. A light entrusted to us from our Savior and given to us to shine before others so that they will ultimately glorify God!

Our world wants us to stop shining our light and to compromise our faith. To dilute our life and light. We have to fight against this urge, church, and allow our light to shine just like the light of a city on a hill shines for the whole countryside to see!

Ask yourself these questions:

Does my fear of rejection keep me from shining for Jesus?

Does my pride keep me from shining for Jesus?

Does my sin or comfort zone keep me from shining for Jesus?

We’re all tempted by these things and there are times where we’ll drop the ball… Perfection isn’t the point - progress is! This is discipleship. This is sanctification. This is the growth that Christ brings to our lives. Are you growing in these capacities today? Is your testimony that of world champion cyclist/turned missionary, Ion Keith-Falconer who said, “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.” ?

As the children’s song says, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” Let your light shine wherever you are, Christian. Don’t be a secret disciple - be a soldier of the cross.

Be Faithful in a World that is in Danger (17-20)

In our world, people are divided over many things. Which sport is the best? Which truck is the best? Are beach or mountain vacations better? Is war morally acceptable? Is the Bible relevant in 2022?

Think about how divided people are about the Bible in our day and age. Some people say that the Bible is outdated and does not matter - others say that the Bible determines how we should live each and every day. This isn’t a slight disagreement - this is a massive difference! Certainly, as Christians, we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and absolutely relevant and important for us in 2022. But what parts of the Bible are important? Some people would tell you that the only book that matters right now is the book of Revelation. Others would tell you that the book of Acts matters most. Others might say a Gospel account or Old Testament book. Others will try to break the two testaments apart and claim that the Old Testament no longer matters for us as Christians because Jesus fulfilled it and “we’re no longer under law but under grace.” Have you ever heard someone say that?

In the Old Testament we read of a bunch of laws - laws that Jesus’ listeners in Matthew 5 would’ve been very familiar with. There are 613 laws found in Genesis-Deuteronomy… Now, we think of the 10 commandments and we know how hard it is to keep those… Can you imagine trying to keep 613 laws?! That’d be impossible. Yet, this is exactly what some people tried to do. This is what some try to do in our world as well! They try to keep all of the dietary, ceremonial, and civil laws found in the first 5 books of the Bible. Consider, why was the law given? To point out our sinfulness and desperate need for God. To ultimately point to Christ who would fulfill the law in its entirety as Hebrews 5:7-10 and 9 talk about! Jesus gives us the Great Commandment - Love for God and Love for Neighbor fulfills the law and is our responsibility. Jesus fulfills the law in order to transform our heart - Jeremiah 31:33-34. The scribes and pharisees had the outside covered! They knew all the right stuff and appeared to do all the right stuff… However, on the inside they were dying.

They tried to keep all of the laws and they were very legalistic about things - they were the staunch rule followers - but Jesus isn’t interested in hollow actions, He’s interested in heart transformation!

Jesus was the perfect atoning sacrifice and He paid the price in full! Through His sacrifice on the cross, He fulfilled the Old Testament law in full

Hebrews 10:11–12 CSB

11 Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. 12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

Read Hebrews 9 and you see that Jesus fulfills this Old Covenant and brings about the New Covenant. Jesus did for you and I what we could never do for ourselves! He fulfilled God’s law. He kept it in its entirety. You and I fall short each and every day. Yet, Jesus didn’t. Where we fall, Jesus stands. Where we sink, Jesus swims. Where we drop the ball, Jesus catches it and keeps on running.

So, because of what Jesus has done, what should we do?

In verses 18-19 Jesus stresses that we must simply teach and obey what Jesus says. Scripture is like the tracks that guide our Christian life just as a train has rails that guide it along its journey. While the pharisees might’ve known all of the 613 laws by memory, we see from Jesus that their righteousness still wasn’t good enough! Jesus shares that the situation is black and white:

Options before us:

Have perfect righteousness > Enter Kingdom

Romans 3:10 puts a damper on this as we are reminded that there is no one righteous, not even one!

Have imperfect righteousness > Don’t Enter Kingdom

This is where we are at - and it seems as though there is no hope to enter the Kingdom… Enter option #3

Have Jesus’ perfect righteousness credited to your account

This is what Paul shares in 2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

We must have an imputed righteousness! A righteousness that is given to us, because in and of ourselves we are not righteous and we fail to meet God’s perfect standard.

Our response to what Jesus has done is to simply be faithful to His Word. So many people think that they can figure it out for themselves and say that they don’t need help, not even Jesus’. While this might be the response of others in the world, this cannot be your response if you hope to enter the Kingdom. Consider the apostle Paul, he says in the book of Philippians this

Philippians 3:4 CSB

4 although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

Paul goes on to mention all his reasons for confidence in himself: he was circumcised, a pharisee of pharisees, from the right background, he was a rule keeper and he went as far as to say that he was blameless before the law.

Philippians 3:7 CSB

7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

Jesus tells us in verse 20 that our righteousness has to be even greater than that of Paul’s and these pharisees… It has to be a perfect righteousness which is unattainable for us outside of Christ. So what do we truly need? We need a new heart.

Only Jesus Christ can melt the heart of stone. In the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the white witch would turn people her enemies into stone. She wouldn’t just do this to a few people, she did this to thousands of folks who disagreed with her or opposed her. To be turned to stone was a death sentence - your loved ones would be reminded of the cost of opposing the white witch because they’d see a stone reminder every day. Enter the lion, Aslan. Aslan not only opposes the wicked witch but he is able to reverse the curse and melt those turned to stone and bring them back to life… You don’t have to be a genius to see the brilliance of CS Lewis in this scene. Jesus Christ melts even the hardest of hearts. Jesus Christ saves sinners - not perfect pharisees, He saves sorrowful sinners who repent of their sins and place their faith in Him. Contrary to the cultural voice that says that we have to let people live their own truth, the most loving thing that you can do today is tell people that faith in Jesus is the only thing that can save us. We are incapable of saving ourselves. We aren’t good enough. We all need a Savior!

Friend, have you been saved by Jesus Christ today?

If you have, ask yourself this question: Am I salt in this world? Am I light in the darkness? Do I believe that Jesus alone saves? Do I water down Scripture to fit in or am I tempted to go with the flow?

Don’t give in to this temptation - fulfill Christ’s call for you today. Remember what Christ says about you as a Christian - you are salt… You are light. This is who you are. This is your DNA! Don’t put a cover over your light - allow it to shine and let it shine bright for all to see!

“the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” CS Lewis

Where is your focus today? Is it on the present temporary world or is it on the eternal world to come? How you answer that question will determine how much peace you have today. Let 2022 be the year where FBC Salem stands boldly as a church on a hill that has a bright light on display not because of our goodness, cleverness, or ideas but because Christ has lit us ablaze and we long to have others see Him through us. This world is in danger - it will not last forever… But Christ’s Kingdom will stand. Be faithful to Him even in a world that is anything but stable. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 34:8, Taste and see that the Lord is good - blessed is the person who takes refuge in Him.