Salt And Light In The World

Christian movements often hostile towards Christians might be tempted to give your faith to yourself is about how Jesus told his followers to move around tuning for the throat of Jeremiah takes a closer look at what it means to what was so light culture that disparately needs to experience his driver to introduce special ed timeliness told him right in the world.

Thank you for joining us today on this last day of August. Today were going to take just sort of short little journey into the book of Matthew again and this time were going to talk about what it means to be salt and light in the world. Salt makes people thirsty like aluminum.

The darkness certainly two things we as believers are called to do, but what is it all mean Jesus teaches us about it in the fifth chapter of Matthew, and will get to that in just a moment.

Tomorrow we will begin a brand-new series here on Turning Point of the series is called God, I need some answers.

And the first messages. Who am I and why am I here were going to answer some of the questions people have some of the questions people have sent to us for answers. We brought together some of the teaching on these questions and during the month of September were going to talk about the answers to these questions. The series called God, I need some answers. Well let's get started with this lesson. Salt and light in the world. One might get the impression if you study the kids that God is mostly interested in developing us into the right kind of people. If you look at the study that one after another, all about the kind of person we should be.

Can't you just be that kind of person sort of privately, is it really important that we go public with our faith that something I have to do is it an option when Jesus leaves no doubt hard on the heels of his teaching about our attitudes, the Beatitudes, if you will. Jesus tells us what he expects. He lets us know that once we have the blessings that he has pronounced those blessings make us responsible and yes we are to be a certain kind of person but we have to be that person. In the context of the world in which we live and we can't do it quietly, anonymously without ever stepping up to the line to declare who we are. Jesus said you are salt and you are light Jesus said that the Christian in the world today has two major important ministries.

First of all, one is the preservation ministry and the other is the illumination ministry preservation you are salt when Jesus spoke these words, many women. Everybody who heard him knew exactly what he meant some of the disciples listen to his message were fishermen. Four of them at least they knew what it was like to go out of the sea of Galilee and catch a mess of fish bring a man they were commercial fishermen so the purpose wasn't just to catch fish of the data themselves. There was Sally Spanish have the same problems we have today.

Things decay if they have to move those fish to market how to keep the fish from spoiling. You say to go down to the local icehouse will not, then maybe they didn't have what they did was they took sodium chloride salt and they rubbed it into the fish layer upon layer and they packed their catch of fish and salt and ship it off to Capernaum to market when it got there, it would still be good. It wouldn't have spell because salt was a preservative.

It kept decay from happening and Jesus said that culture you you Christians. You are the salt of the earth. You have been robbed into the culture of your day to retard corruption and decay.

Jesus said all of you who have learned to be peacemakers beacon corn spirit have the right spirit have the right person you been placed into the world to be salt now read what he says about. He says if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Another problem with that illustration in our culture today is that sodium chloride is one of the most difficult contemporary compounds to break down it doesn't break down like it did them but back in Jesus day it wasn't pure salt.

It was a little sodium chloride mixed in with a few other chemicals and water down and won't happen is this when you have a huge rainstorm in Palestine. Salt preservatives that were kept together. The rain would come down and would literally wash the salt out of the salt so they would come in and just have little crystals white crystal like Saul. You would think it was salt me only what you find out it wasn't something you put a bit of it on your tongue and it wasn't any salt to it in the world you do with selfless salt. Can you think of any good use for and I can't. Jesus said this a Christian who's lost his testimony in the world. A Christian who is private and not public. A Christian who doesn't want to be involved in the preserving influence of the culture in which he lives is like a piece of salt that didn't have any taste.

It's lost its flavor, and I will ask you to raise your hands, but don't we all know some sightless Christians there just know they're just there. Did you see what Jesus said about that. He's pretty harsh. He said sightless Saul is worthless. It's all good to be put on the ground, and trampled underfoot and I read this week and Alfred enter Schein's book the life and times of Jesus the Messiah that what they would do is they would take the salt that it had the sodium chloride washed out of and piling up in big piles, and then they would use it sort of like we use gravel today, they would put it on the pathways in and on the roads and people would walk on it. It was kind of a hard surface and Jesus knew exactly what he was talking about. He said salt but doesn't have any salt in it is worthless.

All you can do is put it on the ground and use it for the ground covering ones that say about us. Who decided that it's all right for us to be Christians.

As long as nobody knows secret servants of the Lord now you can get by with that.

Not if you follow the teaching of Jesus. Jesus said you are a preservative and you know there's one other thing that salt does and I can only tell you I know this because when I was a kid I used to go stay with my uncle who was a farmer. I didn't know much about agriculture the farm.

One of the things I used to help them do was to put the salt likes out in the field and I'm everyone asking them what those were for, and he told me that it was for the cows to link it and then it would make them thirsty and that would cause them to drink in the fluid so they could produce enough milk to do what they need to do what assault do. It makes you thirsty, let me ask you a question class.

Is there something in your life that makes people thirsty for the Lord, you know that not be true of us is there to be something that people see in us that when they see in us. It causes them to first for what we have God's call is to be preservatives in this will now Jesus goes on and says you are lights you he said, are not just preservation for decay but your light or illumination for darkness. You are the light of the world. He said well if we are the salt and we influence the world through preservation. If we are the light, we influence the world through illumination. Jesus said I am the light of the world unite your watch this progression. I think it's in the ninth chapter of John just as he was moving toward the cross of Jesus, then modified his statement and he said as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world and then just before he's ready to die and go out of the world. He's turns to his disciples and he says you guys are the light of the world now let me ask you question how many of you saw Jesus personally this week. Don't you raise your hand you may have seen him in prayer. You may have seen them in your heart but not one of you here saw Jesus personally did you why he's not here hands. We are the light of the world light is there. We are his reflectors and I want to say to you men and women that the only Jesus.

Anybody's ever going to see in this world today. Apart from reading the Scripture is the Jesus they see in us. We are the light of the world and our Lord tells us some things about this like I want to just give you a quick little outline I do this very quickly and you won't even write it down.

Probably just listen to notice the prominence of the light. Jesus said if you are the light of the world put it on a candlestick, put up where money can see it. Let it shine brightly. We are to be conspicuous in our witness says the Lord. Notice how he put it, he says you don't light a lamp and put it under a basket, but you put it on the lampstand so that it gives light to everyone who in the house we suffer a little bit from this illustration because we walk into the house and we turn on the light and everything is lit up in Jesus day.

The only light they had were candles and he says in a house were you trying to get like what you do is you put the candle on a candlestick and you get it up as high as you can so that it sheds as much light as possible.

The greatest possible area now is saying to us. If you going to be a light in the world don't do it inconspicuously, but do it prominently and secondly it talks not only about the prominence of the light. He talks about the purpose of the light and honor just to be this little thought that God gave me this week we have to jump over the culture to do this.

My wife is a candle person. I've been the lots candle shops all over the world and we love candles which you know what we don't buy candles so we can take him home light up our house.

We don't we do it for ambience once in a while sometimes for romantic reasons I love to go on candle shop, not so much for what I see. Don't you just love the smell in those places all the wonderful would say that's totally different than it is in the day of our Lord, our Lord, that they never knew a candle necessarily for beauty's sake. I don't think in the home of Mary and Martha. They had beautiful little candles all around in the home were people came in my, isn't that a lovely candle arrangement. Noah candle was the purpose of light. Now watch carefully what was the light of the candle, illuminating the candle know the purpose. Watch this of a candle is to illuminate something else. The purpose of you. The purpose of me as a light is not to draw attention to ourselves what that through our light.

We make sure light on the Lord will reflect his life and then when we let our candles be lit and shown.

We shall light back on the Lord demonstrate and we radiate and we illuminate the Lord Jesus Christ. There's another thought about being a light that I've written down the nets that it's costly. There's a price to all of this. You can't use a candle less you use it up so you can give witness to the fact that when you go to be a light for Jesus cost you something to pay for the little bit. There's a sense in which you can't be a candle and not burn up. Did you ever remember what Jesus said about John the Baptist. Let me tell you what he said them in a misquoted, he said. John the Baptist was a shining light that what he said no he listeners. He said John the Baptist was a burning and a shining light did John the Baptist burn up in his light.

Yes he did. You remember what he said when Jesus came on the scene. He said he must increase how I must decrease John the Baptist earned in his testimony to Jesus Christ and I'm not talking about burning out and destroying ourselves physically. I'm just saying that if you let your light shine.

There's a price to pay. You might burn up one of your opportunities to move up the ladder to be a light you might lose some friends in your community. If you're going to be a light I'm not talking here about being weird. I'm talking about just being a normal Christian who lets his light shine for the Lord and is unashamed that he knows Jesus Christ personally. The price then there's a perversion of the light. Jesus said don't put your light under a bushel, why in the world would you do that. Why would you take a light that was given for the purpose of illuminating an area and then covered up with a bushel basket. I can't think of any reason to do that but I see a lot of people to do it today as Christians, how many of you ever put your light under a bushel.

I have some of you worked in the companies where you work and there's not one soul there that knows you even know the Lord.

That's wrong there to be something about you that so different and distinct summers going to come and ask you some questions why are you the way you are, let me just finish this up by telling you what Jesus said about the light in the last verse. He said this is about the praise of the light. He said let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Now there's a definition here of letting your light shine. Do you see it letting your light shine is in this verse at least equal to good works. I know there's a lot of stuff that people say about good works don't matter, but good works do matter. It just depends on which side of salvation you put them good works don't matter. On the other side of salvation but once you're saved. What is the Bible say the Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves but is a gift of God, for we are his workmanship, created to good works. The reason God saved us with so that we might do good works. Just make sure you get them on the other side of salvation because good works won't help it all to you come in faith believing in trust Jesus Christ.

Once you're saved and you see this over and over in the Bible you're saved unto good works, letting your light shine seems to be synonymous with good works. Jesus said, let your light so shine that men will see your good works and glorify you as a good worker. Now some people get mixed up. There they think they should get the price for their good works. That's not the way it works. The Bible says let your light so shine that man may see your good works. Now watch this and when they see your good works, what they do they glorify your father was in heaven say pastor Jeremiah does that ever happened absolutely one of my best and most favored stories in the Bible is the story of Daniel. Daniel is a prototype of today's cultural Christian as you remember back in the fifth century before Christ. Nebuchadnezzar came from Babylon and he proceeds Jerusalem, and in his plan for taking over that part of the world took some hostages out of Jerusalem to Babylon for the express purpose of amalgamating them into the Babylonian culture know this is what Nebuchadnezzar wanted to do.

He wanted these boys to look Jewish on the outside but be Babylonian on the inside and his purpose was to send them back into the Jewish culture looking like they were Jews, but really under his control as Babylonian so we could quell the riots, and the problems in the future, and Daniel was one of the hostages that was taken and they tried to brainwash them remember they try to get them to eat the king's meat and drink the Kings wine and Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself and do that, they changed his name. They took away the name Daniel which related him to Elohim in the call, Belshazzar, which was related to some evil name of God.

Everything they did. They tried to take away from Daniel, the integrity of the state. I wrote a book on Daniel call the handwriting on the wall and I signed hundreds of thousands of those books and always write a little verse in the front of them and I've had people come back to me said are you sure that's right verse you went to put in their it's Daniel 121 and this is what it says I love this verse. Daniel continued if you read the book you will understand the power that verse.

He went through four different dynasties for different cultures experienced everything there was to experience. They tried to brainwash him. They try to keep them from doing the thing that God wanted him to do in that culture and everything they tried was formed because Daniel just continued Darius to me, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, through Cyrus the Persian. Daniel just kept rising to the top. Every time they threw him into a mix. Daniel came out you know why he kept accurate budgets. He turned in faithful reports he lived the godly righteous life he did walk around looking like some weirdo he dressed the way he should.

He was a powerful person.

But every time his faith with challenge. Daniel stood up to the line and he was salt and light in that culture. They threatened him with the loss of his life.

He said I don't care what you need to do on God's man in God's place, doing God's work and God's man in God's place, doing God's work is immortal to God's done with them. A man and one day he confronted Nebuchadnezzar, by his own life. Nebuchadnezzar the proud and wicked king who said look what I've done. Look built the city. This is my creation, God said okay Nebuchadnezzar I'll tell you what you're worth and he created a with man out of them literally.

He was a like Odeon which means with man and he crawled on the grass and eight.

The grass until God, he taught them a lesson. You know what happened. We got done.

I haven't time to show you but you read the last part of the fourth chapter of Daniel. It is the greatest tribute to God you find in the Old Testament saws good works and glorify his father who is in heaven. I want you to know, and I believe this with all my heart that the greatest threat we face as a church and his people are all the good things we have here all the wonderful things God has done for us. We have great classes of great teaching and great ministers. I read the bulletin every week and it makes me tired. Somebody said when you join catamount community church. You don't need a spiritual exam as much as a physical exam so you can keep up with things you know that's wonderful and God is been so good to us with our facilities and is blessed us men and women.

The Christian life is not about what's in here the Christian life is about what's out there. God has called us here to equip us to be saltier Christians than we could ever be and could barely life is testimony to our community and what happens to churches like ours that are Bible taught, where they have good worship where they have all kinds of ministry programs that reach out to their needs is we have a tendency to sit back and be comfortable and be satisfied, and feel well fed and well nourished and forget that we have a ministry of preservation in the world and a ministry of illumination in the world. We are here to retired the decay and we are here to light up the darkness. If we don't do that.

And God will remove his blessing from our church to say how does that start there's really a program to do that starts with you and you and you and all of you in your place, wherever God is put you to shine a little prayer that I find myself praying quite often. Dear Lord help me to bring the influence of Jesus into this meeting that I'm attending. Help me Lord God, that when I go to this seminar when I go to work when I'm just hanging out with my friends.

Help me to bring the influence of Jesus into that discussion. Internet meeting when you ask God to do that he will heal help you, he'll give you. You will have to go and find that you will have to push for it. Somewhere along the way. In the discussion, you'll be given an opportunity to shine your light and to retard the decay that is so much a part of the world today, salt and light that's who you are in your salt in your life. No friends will see tomorrow. Hope you will join us next time on this station for Turning Point in more information on Dr. Jeremiah's visit salt and light in the world. Visit our website where we offer two free ways to help in strengthening monthly magazine to influence the email device.

Sign up today@davidjeremiah.g/ready when you do ask for your copy of the Bible study John Christ Jeremiah Bible study series individual study for the gift of any amount you can also purchase Jeremiah study Bible and the English standard and new international version as well as in standard or large print. King James and your choice of several attractive cover options, visit Jeremiah.org/radio tiles Gary who flicked on this tomorrow as we begin the series God, I need some time to listen to and from these in question