Getting back on track

Have you ever been on a trip where you got really far off from where you were supposed to be?

At the last church we were at there was a woman named Ruth and she was actually over 100 years old and was the sweetest lady you could ever meet (Arika actually lived in the same house as her for awhile)

But Ruth told us how there was one time her and her husband took a trip to Flordia and they ended up trying to drive there.

And so you can picture them loading up the car with short sleeve clothes, lounge chairs, bathing suits and just excited to get to the beach.

But there was an issue, because they were driving and they noticed something just wasn’t right.

Because they saw aa city skyline and it didn’t look like Tampa or Orlando, but they noticed it actually looked like New York’s skyline.

And what they found out is somehow they traveled to New York instead of Florida (almost opposite directions)… I glad I was not in the car when they realized that.

But you know when we get far off track the almost immediate question that comes to our minds is how do we get back?

How do we find are way to where we are supposed to be?

And you know today we are looking at a passage that is actually right after where we were last week in the passage that is called “The Sermon on the Mount”

And in this passage Jesus is talking to a diverse group of people, but we can guess their are a lot of people who are religious in this crowd.

They were followers of God, some of them may have been religious leaders,

but whats odd is if you looked at them a lot of them probably looked far off from where God had desired them to be.

And I believe Jesus addresses this question of how do we get back to the place we are supposed to be.

And you know we can look at this group of people and think wow, I am sure glad I do not look like them.

But here is the thing, If we were to look at a lot of our lives, and even occasionally the church, I would imagine there are areas where we might say I don’t know if this is where God is calling me or if this is where God is calling us.

And so the question becomes how do we get back on track.

And I love this because this morning Jesus is talking to us!

And in this passage he lays out what us as the church and us as Christians should look like.

So we will be in Matthew 5:13-20 and I want you to notice that Jesus does not start with saying “oh you guys should be doing this, or you should really get some good outreach programs going, but it actually starts with Jesus reminding them of who they are.

And so we are going to divide this into two sections and the first part will be Matthew 5:13-16 and it says this:

Matthew 5:13–16 NIV

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

So Jesus started by saying before anything else that you are the salt of the earth.

And a days salt is everywhere so this does not seem like a huge deal right?

But its actually a big deal because in Biblical times salt was worth a lot.

In fact there are records that show occasionally the Roman soldires at this time would get paid in salt.

And a lot of times we just over this a little to fast, but this is a really powerful illustration that Jesus give us, because He says you are valuable!

Did you know that?

Did you know that whether you consider yourself a Christ follower, whether you are just here checking out what Christianity is, whether you have your life together or whether it is falling apart, your life has value.

And its because you are created in the image of God and not only that, but Jesus even dies for you because your life is worth that much to God.

I mean you are valuable, never let anyone tell you anything different and never tell anyone else anything different.

And I have to keep going because salt in the Old Testament was not just valuable, but it had a ton of uses.

Probably the biggest thing that we are familiar with is it added flavoring.

I mean we love our salt right? because it enhances the flavor of things.

I mean you go to a fast food resterunt and they are not generous with slat we get sad because it gets blan.

And Jesus is saying look when you are a Christ follower, you should be someone who enhances this world

You should make it better!

But this is actually a hard subject, because a lot of times you here of Christians that actually make others lives worse.

They judge them

They maybe make them just feel like they don’t have value

And we see hurt

But Jesus is saying we need to be people that bless this world- (we are the slat of the earth)

We should be seeing blessings not harm.

And whats amazing though is that salt did not just flavor, but at this time they would use it when they were sacrificing something to God.

they would cover that sacrifice in salt

And at this time they viewed that sacrifices were things that they gave to God to atone for sins or as an offering to Him

But by Jesus telling them they are salt it would have been mind blowing for them,

because He is moving them from a place of you give sacrifices to God to you are the living sacrifice to God

meaning you have looked at your life and said God have every single part of me,

because the truth is every part of us is something God has have either given us or created so how could we hold it back from Him.

Its kinda like if I decided I was going to buy one of you a car as a gift.

And so you drive us to the car dealer we decide we are going to buy you a 2022 Lambragenee (fully loaded leather seats)

I mean it is beautiful!

And we finish signing the paper work- I am basically financially ruined because I sacraficed so much for you

And I ask can I have a ride home

And you say sorry pastor better get an uber

And I know thats a little bit of a silly example, but in reality we do that to God

Because God has sacraficed and given everything, but he might ask us for small things and we say sorry God this is mine.

This is my time

This is my money

And a lot of times we ultimately say sorry God, this is my life.

But God is saying I want to have all of you! How much different would we look?

And there are a lot of other uses for salt, but I want to look at one more before moving on because Salt was also used as fertilizer to give the soil nutrients and help plants grow.

meaning we are supposed to be a people that helps people grow

Grow in their walk with God and grow closer to eachother

I mean we are called to be the salt of the earth.

And Jesus is saying please do not waste your life- you are valuable, but when your life is not sacrificed to the will of God, when you are not blessing others, or not helping others grow we see that those parts of your life a lot of times just end up waisted.

I mean you are the salt of the earth.

And the passage changes a little because Jesus tells them you are not just the salt of the earth, but you are the light of the world, you are a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.

You know when there is something good happening you usually do not hide it right? I mean we usually post good things on Facebook right?

Because we want people to know about it

When we get this renovation done in the church we will probably share with everyone because it will look great and it will be neat to see how God uses our facility to reach others.

But you know when God renevates our lives somthing really good is happening and the question becomes how can we hide what God is doing?

Because we want to share it with just about anyone who will listen!

But so often we accept Christ, but its not clear to others because we act pretty similar and really we do not ever talk about Him a ton.

But when we do this we are hiding something where God can do something really neat in others lives!

Please do not hide what God is doing in your life,

Invite people to church, but more importantly show and tell them what God has done personally for you.

(MAYBE SHARE ABOUT JACK OR ARNOLD SHARING WITH OTHERS)

Well lets look at this second part of the passage because Jesus moves from saying who we are, to talking about the laws that were part of the Jewish religion.

So look at Matthew 5:17-20 it says:

Matthew 5:17–20 NIV

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

So Jesus talks about the law- and if you are not familiar with the law- Before Christ the Jewish religion had all these laws that dictated how they lived, how they made sacrifices and it was very legalistic.

And there is a fear that people had the Jesus was here to destroy the Jewish religion and get rid of all the laws.

But whats amazing is here Jesus says that is not the case, but I am actually here to fulfill the law

And I want us to understand what it means because a lot of people followed the laws because thats what you were supposed to do

But Jesus is saying I want to actually have it do this law is written on your heart.

Its kind of like laws we have occasionally.

I am not sure if anyone else gets this way but, occasionally I really do not like the speed limit,

I mean it is good that the highway has a 55MPH speed limit, but it would be great if they bumped it up to 80MPH.

But then if you look at the speed limit in your neighborhood, I bet a lot of us go I wish people would listen to the speed limit.

25 is the limit, that means 25 or under!

But I want you to notice the difference

One of the speed limits are written on your heart- and the other is a legalistic thing you have to do.

And Jesus is saying I want to move these laws to be written on your heart, so the way we live is where we want to live out what God has called us to do.

And Jesus has us look specifically at what this looks like, and we will be talking about this in a couple weeks,

But let me just summarize it with how Jesus started today.

We will be the salt of the earth, a city on a hill, a light that cannot be hidden.

But heres the issue, so often we get off track.

As we finish up can I just ask are you on track with where God is calling you?

Because I can guerentee that God might be just burning somthing on your heart this morning

Whether your finances are not in line with him

Maybe a relationship

Maybe your relationship with Him

What would it look like to get back on track?

And this might be hard for us, but I really believe when we become the salt, when we are a living sacrifice; we can do it.

We can live a life for God.

Do not accept where you are this morning but live a life for God.

Let’s Pray.