Understanding the Call to Labor

“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. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Key Point for today

God Entrusts us to Create the Kingdom Experience

See we all understand that work is a 4-letter word, but it’s not a bad word! God has entrusted to us the call, the charge, the WORK......of creating the Kingdom here on earth. How do we do that, well there in Matthew we saw a few things hat we are to do.

You Are the Salt of the Earth

Matthew 5:13 ESV

“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.

How many people here add salt to almost everything? You can be honest, I won’t tell your doctor.

Salt brings taste. It is a flavoring agent. It brings taste to bland food. It preserves. Someone gives you a plate of food really not up to snuff and what are the first words out of your mouth? “Can you please pass the salt?”

Don’t miss what Jesus is telling us in this metaphor.

He is making it clear how necessary and important we are for the welfare of the world. Because we have experienced a transformation in our lives as we have come to the kingdom of heaven, now our presence is necessary as God’s means of influencing the world for good. Regardless of status or profession, the kingdom life that we possess is invaluable for the effect it will have in our daily circles of influence.

You Are the Light of the World

Matthew 5:14 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

In Jesus’ time they had small wicker oil lamps, which gave little light in the average home that had few windows; they were most effective when set on a lampstand. Even the smallest of lights lifted up can chase away darkness.

In the same way that Jesus’ life and message of salvation brought light to us. Then and now His disciples are a living demonstration of the arrival of the kingdom of heaven.

Light removes the darkness. We not only carry the light of the gospel of the kingdom of God, but we are that light. Because of the work of the Spirit in our lives, our transformation has produced kingdom light in us, affecting every aspect of our being, turning us into positive influencers in this sin-darkened world.

As salt and light, we bring the taste and atmosphere of Jesus’ kingdom to our world.

It amazes me to think of what God entrusts His church with!

We are to bring the taste, we are to bring the light, we are to bring the Jesus community/kingdom experience to our city so they can know God, find Him, repent, and find new life!

Think about it like this:

Don’t like how our city is?

Ask yourself if you are salting it.

Discouraged that our culture is so dark?

Ask yourself if you are lighting it up.

If the culture is bland and dark, then we need to get to salting and lighting.

When we intentionally love one another, when we intentionally use our gifting and live out the love of God toward one another and to the world outside these walls, we are salting the bland and bringing light to the darkness.

How Do We Work to Change Our Culture?

What things as believers can we do or should we do in order to change the culture that we live in and influence it for the kingdom?

People Will Experience Jesus’ Community When We Live Its Values

A few moments ago we read from Matthew 5:13-16, but we can’t separate that scripture from those that precede it. Matthew 5:2-12 describe the Beatitudes- or the beautiful attitudes of the Christ follower. They are not an intro to the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:2–12 ESV

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

They are part of the same thought as salt and light. IF you were to outline Matthew 5 it would look like this:

5:2-10—The Beatitudes—the values of the kingdom

5:11-12—The promise—promise of persecution and promise of reward

5:13-16—The charge, the call

The salt and light metaphors come out of the Beatitudes. If you show these beautiful attitudes of Jesus then you will be salt and light to those around you.

Jesus has brought the kingdom of God through regeneration and renewal by the Spirit. He transforms us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The Spirit produces in us poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, righteousness, mercy, purity, and peace.

These are the characteristics of Jesus’ disciples that allow God to establish His kingdom in His way. This is the kingdom life God puts in us and that we then demonstrate to the world. The Beatitudes are a character profile of a person who is working for the Lord.

So seasoning and shining isn't only about the message we declare with our lips, it’s about how we go about our lives—lifestyle is the emphasis here.

Being salt and light is about the message we declare with our actions, reactions, and everything in between.

We can’t separate message from lifestyle (repeat)—this is about who we are and how we are.

The values in you as you live the kingdom bring flavor to a bland, rotting world. The values in you as you live the kingdom bring the light to a world of darkness. People will experience the kingdom when we live its values; this helps us realize how to be effective agents of salt and light. These show us how to love the church outside of the church.

We live the values of Jesus’ community in our daily ordinary

It’s a lot more difficult to be Jesus in the ordinary and in the mundane.

But it’s in the trivial day-to-day stuff, at the office, at school, at the gym, on the job that people need to experience Jesus when they experience us.

Think about your daily routine. Think about your coworkers. Your classmates. Your neighbor. The person you carpool with or give a ride to.

Know this—people will experience the kingdom from you in the normal, and in those moments the normal becomes extraordinary as people taste and see … from you … that the Lord is good.

Those who have truly experienced Jesus will help others experience Jesus

“A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 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. 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.” (Matthew 5:14-16

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

I hope that if we’ve learned anything we’ve learned that the church isn’t about the building

It’s about relationships—primarily our relationship with God but also our relationships with one another. But it doesn’t stop there. We also have to love those outside of these walls.

Think about the very first week when we read John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Here’s the thing: How can all people observe us having a reputation of love if we are never around people?

You can’t season and shine when you live entirely separate from the bland darkness.

This church is meant to be a gas station. You don’t go to QT, put gas in your car, and then only hang around there all day. You jump back into your care and continue to where you need to go in life.

The church is the same way-

Sunday Church, Sunday School, and Wednesday nights assist us to grow and become a stronger community of faith. We are strengthening our saltiness and brightness if you will. But if we never are interacting with people outside of our church, then we have failed. We are to live Jesus’ values while in connection with our world. What are ways that you can begin making connections with your neighborhood?

A question sometimes asked, one which really needs to be asked by all churches, is, “If our church ceased to exist, would the neighborhood mourn? Would they say, ‘No! You can’t go!’ Or, if we were to cease to exist, would the neighborhood even notice?”

We must be a church that they would miss—not for our own sakes or our own reputations, but because they are experiencing Jesus when they experience us.

We must be sharing with our community the love of Jesus by being salt and light.will Experience Jesus’ community when we live its values

We must be sharing with our community the love of Jesus by being salt and light.