Good Morning, it is always an honor to be with you.
Last time that we were together, we talked about the
heritage we have to pass on to future generations. This morning let’s read from a portion of “The Sermon on the
Mount” and discuss preserving heritage, the faith, and being a light to the
world.
Matthew 5:13-16
Salt and Light
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 by men. 14 "You are the
light of the world. A city 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 men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
PRAYER – Dear Lord, Mighty and Wonderful God, Father:
So here we are the Fourth of July weekend. I am sure that we all either had a cook
out between rain showers – rain that we needed. Fireworks – they were pretty loud at our house! This is how Americans celebrate our
independence from tyranny. Where a
foreign power once ruled, now there is freedom. Our flag is a symbol of our freedom.
So please allow me to start with a story about flags:
Ed Parker, a Marine Corp veteran and member of the Jake
Puryear Chapter of Marine Corp League here in Rome, some of you may know him, he
told me a pretty funny story a while back.
The Marine Corp League used to put American flags along the
bypass on patriotic holidays – I am not certain if they still do. And someone was stealing a few of these
flags at night.
So the league met with the Police concerning the flag
thievery. And at this meeting my
friend Ed jokingly told the police chief “We can have some our sniper veterans
stake out certain trouble spots and pick off anyone trying to steal a
flag.” The police chief responded
“Ed, you call me when that happens so that I can send someone to investigate
the suicide.”
I tell that story because it illustrates our love for the
American Flag, and for America.
If you go buy a US Flag, it will likely have a “Respect the
Flag” message printed on the box. Those
“Respect the Flag” rules are written because Americans hold our flag to be
sacred. Not so much sacred in and
of itself, but instead what it represents. The flag represents the best virtues of our national
character: our desire to balance justice and mercy. Virtues rooted in our Judeo-Christian heritage.
Just as Americans hold the flag to be sacred; likewise, we
are to hold our persons to be sacred in our thoughts and our behavior. We know that we are not sacred in and of
ourselves, but it is because the One that we represent is. As the prophet Isaiah said from God:
“Be thou Holy for I am Holy”.
When bought our new flag this year, I read the words on the
box: “Respect the Flag. No
disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America. The flag should not be dipped to any
person or thing.”
Let the same be said of our faith. Christ should always be respected first in our lives. Our allegiance to Christ must never
take a back seat to any person or thing.
But most remember that as our flag is the symbol of
freedom. So must we be the same
concerning the faith. Wherever you
see the Stars and Stripes you know that wherever there was once tyranny,
there now is freedom.
And make no mistake: All earthly freedom is derived from
Jesus Christ and His Cross.
Our founders knew this. That is why the principle freedom in
our constitution is the freedom of speech; that is, the freedom to worship our
Heavenly Father in the manner that His Spirit leads us.
For if mankind is to live free, then he must have the right to freely worship
God.
That Freedom is what makes our flag worth fighting for. It is a freedom is worth dying
for.
And This FREEDOM
must be EXERCISED if it is to be MAINTAINED. THE LORD WILL HOLD US TO ACCOUNT FOR OUR
STEWARDSHIP OF THIS FREEDOM.
For example, our flag still flies in Germany and in Japan,
not as the flag of conquerors, but as liberators. They were once our bitter enemies, now our better allies.
Likewise so must it be with me and with you. We were once bitter enemies with God – but
now closely allied in His cause, for Christ is not our conqueror but our
liberator! – We are allied with His will to expand the Gospel so that more
people will know of His love and the freedom that it brings.
That is what it means to be Salt and Light. To live in such a way that when the
world sees us, they see where once the tyranny of sin reigned in our
lives, they now see that we have freedom from sin in Jesus Christ. We should live lives that are truly
transformed to His likeness so that when the world sees anyone one of us, they
see Jesus. Who knows that you may
be the only Jesus someone sees in a lifetime.
You see, just as the US Flag is the symbol of America’s
virtues - likewise we are called to be the living symbols of the virtues of
Christ Jesus – to be Salt and Light.
Let’s look at being SALT:
At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He provided a bridge
between the Law of Moses and the Gospel of the Resurrection.
Matthew 5:13 - Salt
13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if
the salt loses its saltiness, that
is to say LOSE YOUR CREDIBILITY AS A CHRISTIAN,
Or put it another
way: LOSE YOUR WITNESS - How can it be made salty again?
How are you going to
gain it back? Who would believe
you?
It is no longer good
for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
Your value of your
witness is lost to the Kingdom of Heaven.
You will be MOCKED and called a hypocrite, a Karaoke Christian or
Christian in name only.
The next time you see
someone on TV stomp on an American flag – ask yourself if the same is happening
to your Christian witness. But
there are those who see our flag and feel that the promise is not there for
them.
They feel that what America once was may never have really
been. And they have no problem
stomping on the flag for that reason.
For them, and a growing number like them, they no longer see freedom but
hypocrisy. The same is true when
we claim Christ and live volitionally in perpetual sin. It confuses those who don’t know the
Lord.
And yet we wonder why we have so little influence in our
nation today. We will be held to
account for this foolishness.
Remember that we have a higher calling to be unique among our people! Be
salty!
Now let’s look at being LIGHT
Matthew 5:14-16
14 "You are the
light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
WE ARE CALLED LIGHT,
SET APART, HOLY (1 Peter 1:16).
True Christian light cannot be hidden. I believe that God made the US free so that our churches
would spread the Gospel around the globe. We must exercise our freedom in order to maintain it by
being light in a dark world.
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.
We should LIVE OUR
FAITH for the benefit of those around us.
Notice that “it gives light to everyone in the house”. That means faith begins at home. We are to live this life 24/7, at home,
at work, at play. Your children
should have no confusion as to who you are in Christ.
If you are truly
following Christ, people will know it.
We should so order our lives in prayer and scripture so that the
promise of God becomes evident in our very nature.
16 In the same way,
let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise
your Father in heaven.
We let our light
shine in outside the home as well, bringing light to the world! We should give to the needy, comfort
those that suffer, and encourage those that struggle. We should be excited to share their sorrows and our
joy.
When we live holy
lives of SALT and LIGHT it brings GLORY to our Heavenly Father!
Know that when you become light, it will illuminate
corruption. Be prepared.
So how does on one become “salt and light”? Let’s look at Jesus said the verses
prior to verse 13:
They call this section the “Beautitudes” as a contraction of
“Beautiful” and “attitudes” – Now I like that, don’t get me wrong - But I call
this the “BE ATTITUDES” : what we
are supposed to BE. Please allow
me to paraphrase:
BE BLESSED BECAUSE
Blessed are the poor in spirit, those that are dependant on
God – so depend solely on God, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, mourn their sins and the sins
of others, your heart will be full.
Blessed are the meek; so be humble, be gentle, for the world
is yours.
Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they eagerly await the return of the Savior -
Blessed are merciful – for you will gain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart – for you will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the
sons of God.
Blessed are the persecuted . . .
The persecuted . . .
That brings up the question: “Are you willing to be
Salt and Light”?
Take notice of verses 10 through 12. These verses are about COMMITMENT. Jesus is putting us on notice that this
isn’t going to be easy. It is not
going to be a cakewalk. You are
going to meet some resistance.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute
you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in
heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Notice in the verses that Jesus puts emphasis on
Heaven:
-
theirs is the kingdom OF HEAVEN
-
great is your reward IN HEAVEN
Even though we pledge allegiance to the US Flag, a
Christian’s permanent citizenship is in HEAVEN. BUT we in the church behave as if we have renounced our
heavenly citizenship:
Do you know how to how to tell the difference between an
American Christian and an American non-Christian.
You can’t. And
that is the problem.
Our primary focus is on the earth and not on Heaven.
We watch what the world watches.
We listen to what the world has to say.
We read what the world reads.
We hold the same standards that the world holds.
We pursue our personal comfort, our personal success, and our
personal glory instead of God’s Will.
We look to political leadership and nine people in black
robes to solve our problems instead of going to God in prayer.
For all outward appearances, we in the church are of the “nothing
is sacred” world.
It was GK Chesterton, early 20th century
apologist who said:
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been
found difficult; and left untried.”
G.K. Chesterton Whats
Wrong with the World
The flag is sacred.
We are called to live sacred lives. But we are living in times when little is held sacred at all. Our children and grandchildren, barring
a new great awakening, will have to face a world in which there will be
incrementally less and less freedom as the years go by, because the church is stepping
away from Jesus and the Cross bit by bit every day.
Much of what we see now in the culture would have been
inconceivable ten years ago.
Before we go blaming the politicians, the media, and the
misguided, we must realize that Christians, that would be me and you, need only
look in the mirror of Matthew 5 to see the nation’s problem. It is we ourselves. It is the church.
The church is the problem. How can we expect the world to understand the value of moral
certitudes when we do not live the example?
The good news, however, is this: if the church is the
problem, then it a revitalized and committed church is the answer!
Let me close by saying this:
Like the flag is the symbol of America’s virtues, we are to
be the living symbol of God’s love.
We are called to be set apart, sacred, to be HOLY.
Just a few weeks ago, hatred walked into a church in South
Carolina and gunned down nine of our brothers and sisters. I wept when I heard the families of the
slain forgive the assailant through tears and pain. They set aside their own personal grief and anguish to follow
God’s Will, giving glory to Christ in the process. They obediently spoke the words though their hearts did not
feel it yet. They were actively
being salt and light in a very, very dark place.
Then the Saints of all races from across the country
gathered in Charleston and around the country to mourn, to pray, and sing hymns
to be salt and light . . . And the world was amazed that unlike other cities,
Charleston did not burn.
But evil would not tolerate all the attention focused on Christ
being glorified by all His people.
So the world had to divide
us by worn out distractions. But
that’s okay. God calls us one by
one through His people. God
doesn’t need the media for He is not like a distant celebrity that can be heard
and viewed, yet not touched, not hearing.
Jesus wants a personal relationship, intimate, close and loving.
Would you not want this in your life today? That no matter what happens, that you
will have a close personal intimacy with the One who made the stars? To have fellowship with the One by
whose stripes bring healing?
Now that is freedom worth singing about!
Let is be with all of us that our light so shine in glare of
world events where there was once the
TYRANNY of sin in our lives and now there is the FREEDOM of Christ in our
hearts!
Being Salt and Light:
The true freedom we exercise because
it maintains our hope of Glory in Heaven.
Remember, we serve a mighty and permanent God. Unlike the world, we have hope. Unlike the world, we have light. Be that hope and light this week to the
people around you.
Let us pray.
