11/24/2002

Father, we do ask that You would be pleased with our worship this morning. Father, the songs are not the worship, the sermon is not the worship, the offering is not the worship, they are all parts of it. As we give ourselves to You, worship is truly an offering of ourselves to You, and the thanking of You for the things You have done in our behalf. An awesome statement of our appreciation for You as a person. You are beyond anything we could ask for or imagine. And You are that rather we ever existed or not, You are still God. We thank You for that, Father. We also thank You that You loved us so much that You deemed to come down on earth in the form of Jesus Christ and You died on the cross that we might have life. Not life in this life, but life here and life to come. Father, for those who were in accidents this week, we know there were loved ones lost. Father we know that we can have an assurance that goes beyond this life, no matter how short or how long it is. A life that is beyond this, one that goes to eternity with You. Father, thank You so much for that fact, for that promise in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen

Turn to the Book of Matthew, if you would. Matthew Chapter 5. Can you tell me the difference between these salt shakers? Not to difficult is it. This one has salt in it, this one doesn't, ok. If you are going to salt your turkey this week, which one do you want.? The one with the salt in it, right? The one with no salt in it, you are going to have to go get some salt and fill it. Which is not what you want to do during lunch when you have nice warm turkey to eat. You want to be able to celebrate right away. 

What is the difference between these? Rhetorical question. One is on, one is not. This one has batteries and works, this one has no batteries so therefore doesn't work. It is easy to figure out what Jesus is talking about isn't it? When he says in these verses,

You are the salt of the earth; but it the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore ,except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on the side of a hill can not be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under a peck-measure, a bushel 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. 

Jesus uses very easy to understand illustrations because these are easy to understand truths and they are very important ones. 

Remember last week we talked about some of the words in red in your Bible. Words that are in red means that Jesus spoke these words. Of course, when Jesus speaks, it is God himself speaking. So therefore the words in red take on, to me at0 least, a little bit greater meaning than those in black. Even though it is all inspired by God. When Jesus says it is something that we should listen to and take heed to, it is very important. It says you are the salt of the earth. It is interesting He doesn't say, I want you to become the salt of the earth, He says you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. We are all God has for these things. The ones of us who trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation, those of us who are Christians.

By the way, Christian is a title that some people use, but it should be a descriptive word. Some people call me Reverend Malson. That is a title, that is kind of a static title that indicates some sort of title that a person has. If you notice in the world there are many reverends that you wonder what church they pastor. Reverend such and such, I don't know what church Reverend Jessie Jackson pastors. But the title is given to him. I much prefer the term pastor. Because it is a descriptive title saying what I do. It is a descriptive term saying what I am about, I am the shepherd of the church. That is what pastor means. So I would much prefer a descriptive title saying here is what this person does, rather than a title that suggests some kind of elevated position possibly. 

Christian has become a title, not a descriptive term for most people. Many people say, yes, I am a Christian because I live in a Christian nation. I go to church here or there so therefore I am a Christian. If somebody says, Are you a Christian? Of course, I am a Christian, I believe in God. That is not what a Christian is. A Christian is a descriptive term meaning that you personally have asked Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and commit your life to Him and ask Him to help you become like He is and you have the promise of eternal life as a result of that salvation that Jesus provides and the forgiveness. That is what a Christian is. A Christian is a descriptive term telling people about what has happened in your life and the intent and direction of your life. To call a person a Christian who has not made that step is a misnomer. It is a false title. But many in our nation, in the world, believe that a person who carries that name wherefore is a Christian just because they use the title. 

In fact, you will see many organizations that carry the name Christian. Christian Science, don't believe in Jesus at all according to scripture the way scripture teaches it. The Children's Christian Fund, one of the Children's Christian funds is not Christian at all, but they happen to use that name because people resonate with that and think it is a good thing. So, Christian can be just a title. You don't want it to be just a title. You want it to be a descriptive term telling people who you are and what you are. When they use it about you, it would be nice if they meant it because you are such a person of salt and a person of light. It describes your character in your life. So Jesus said, You are the light of the world. You are, we are, the ones that God uses for this purpose, to be the salt of the earth. 

Now what do we use salt for? A number of different things, but primarily we use it to flavor food, don't we? How many put salt on everything? Ok, you don't have to admit it. That is not a bad thing necessarily. It is just that some people like salt, they put salt on everything. They get a plate full of food and put salt all over everything. Other people put pepper. It is interesting to watch people eat. My Dad on cottage cheese always puts pepper. Anybody do that too? Ok, really I mean really. Some people misuse salt, of course, by putting it on watermelon. And there are lots of uses for salt, it is used as a preservative, it is used a flavoring, it is used for a number of different things. In fact, in the desert areas many of the Arabic people would use it to wash there infants after birth. They would use actually salt to cleanse the babies after they were born. You may not want to try this at home, but in the absence of salt they would use camel urine to wash the babies after they were born. Ok, I don't know if your Blue Cross would cover that or not, but you can try it if you would like. If you can find the camel you are welcome to try it. You might want to use salt after that. Maybe a little bit of something to cover up that smell too. But salt is used for a lot of things, but primarily we think of salt as being flavorful. It adds flavor to things. You know a piece of turkey or a piece of roast beef is about the only two things that I ever use it on. It is ok by itself, but then you put a little bit of salt on it, it just kind of adds something, a little bit. It is interesting that salt has to come in contact with whatever it is that you are salting. You don't take a bite of whatever and then take a pinch of salt, do you? It just doesn't have the same effect. You may try it if you want to, but usually if you like it on watermelon, turkey or roast beef or whatever else you put it on the thing and it combines with the flavor to make if more flavorful. You don't take one and the other. So by its very nature salt needs to come in contact with the thing. So when you are using yourself as the salt of the earth, God is saying, the people that you contact, the people you come in contact with, you are to add flavor to their life. And salt in itself is a mineral, of course, we know that is either mind or in that part of the world where Jesus is talking, a Dead Sea area, the salt would actually crystalize on stones and plants and things around the Dead Sea, the salt sea. And so they would actually take pieces of stone and the salt would be crystalized on it and they would use that crystalized salt to season their food. And some say that when the salt has become tasteless it means that the stone that had crystalized salt on it, when the salt was all gone, the salt had become tasteless so they would actually put it out on the street and it would become only good for walking on, as part of the street.

Another application to that, explanation, I should say is that in some of the areas where they mined the salt, the salt was in veins in the soil and they would mine it from the veins in the ground, but some of it would be near the dirt, the soil, and the salt that was near the soil would become less salty. It would become tasteless as it were. And sometimes salt was exposed to the air, the rain, the sun and would actually become tasteless. Even thought it would still have the same look and the same feel, it just wouldn't taste like it. So salt, actually could I guess, become tasteless. One of the ways, is by coming in contact to much with the soil. So if you are going to be the salt of the earth, but you are in contact too much with the unsalted part of the earth, you may become saltless too. And so we don't want to lose our Savior because we are the people who by our very character, by the way, salt is a mineral so it is by its character carries that flavor. We by our very character should be the thing that brings savor, taste, flavor, to this world, in a tasteless world. We should be the flavor. We should be the people that people want to be around. When we come into a room they should say, hey I like that person, they love me and their life is a life of character and quality that I like. And so we are the salt of the earth. That is why it says. It doesn't say I want you to become, you are. You are it. That is why Christians who carry the name Christ need to be in character with the people that they come in contact with such that they make that persons life graceful.

In fact, there is an interesting term in the New Testament called grace. Do you know that word? One of the definitions of grace means to bring good things into a person's life. We are gracious people by bringing good things into a persons life. So as you make contact with people, whether it be family, or friends, or co workers, or students, or playmates, or fellow students, or whether it be people that you coach possibly, who knows who they are. But to the people in your life, that you come in contact with, you are the salt. When they see you coming they should say, hey this is great, here comes (your name). Here comes this person, because your character is such that you bring flavor to their life. It tastes good when you are there. You are the salt of the earth, but if you are tasteless, what good are you? In fact, it says you are not even good, you are worthless and in fact not only that, you are only good to be trampled on. 

Isn't it amazing that the world has expectations of Christians. We all do. Christians are to be kind and loving, truthful and honorable, and gracious and all these things and when we call ourselves Christians and aren't these things, we become less than useless. We get trampled on, don't we? How many people have you heard say, oh yea, I know I had a Christian come work for me one day, man, they were the laziest slob I have ever seen. Well, if they categorize that to everybody then pretty soon everybody is just a lazy slob. Or they are dishonest, or immoral, or whatever it might be. And pretty soon every Christian gets the name, because the one had no character. So the person you come in contact with needs to see you and taste you as the salt of the earth. 

He, also says, You are the light of the world. A city set on the side of a hill can not be hidden. Character is the issue with salt, as you come in contact with people they need to be able to see your character. Light is set on a hill sometimes. A city on a hill can not be hidden. Light gives illumination, it also gives direction. So for the world, we are the light. Jesus, of course, is the light of the world. God is the light that will light everything, of course. The Bible says, when you get to heaven there won't need any lights because God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. But in the world, among people, we are light. We are reflected light, we are the light that God develops in us so that our light is to shine around other people so that they can see direction. So they can be illuminated. They can understand truth actually. 

And so when we are the light, by the way, if we are light but there are no batteries. How many times have you gone to get a battery, because the battery was dead, makes you really happy doesn't it? Usually try to blame somebody else for using the light, but the batteries just tend to go bad on their own. If they set around very long, they just aren't very bright. Sounds like some of us. But you sit a flashlight on the shelf and you get it off later on and try it, this has actually been pretty good, these things have been in here for a couple of years and they are actually pretty good. This one has none in it so it is not going to work at all anyway. 

But if you are a light, people expect a little bit of light out of you. And you are dark, what good are you? What good am I? If we have no more illumination in our lives as Christians, then we can't give light to anybody else, what good are we to them? What good are we to God? Not much. He says, why would a person light a light and put it under a bushel?

Ok, suppose I have a light, say I have got the light and you are going to go out and do something in the dark and by the way, it is really nice to have somebody who has a flashlight when you need it one isn't it? We went out a few weeks ago and had to go trail a deer and somebody actually had a flashlight. A lot easier in the dark with a flashlight. Well, somebody says I got a flashlight, you can use it. What good is this, why would anybody put there hand over a light? Do you know? I don't know why either. Because they are being mean. That is the only thing I can think of, they are being mean. Actually, it is an old fable or explanation, I guess. One of the commentaries I read said, The only reason a person in those days would hide a light under a bushel was because they had evil motives. Because the lights were not things you could turn on and off, they were actually lamps that you would have to light. There was some effort involved. So the lamp would be lit by an evil person, something to cover it then when people all went to sleep, he would have light and he could do bad things, because he had light. So he would cover it until it was time to do his dirty deeds. That is interesting, isn't it? 

Why would you not tell somebody you were a Christian? Because if they knew you were a Christian, they would have high expectations, wouldn't they? See if I want to maintain some of my sin, I don't want you to know that I am a Christian because that way you don't expect much out of me. Well, this says, No, you are the light of the world. You are the light of the world. But if light is dark what good is that. Why would you hide your light anyway? So put it on the lamp stand, give 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. You are the light. You don't hide your light. If you are a Christian, you don't hide the fact that you are a Christian. If there are expectations, that is ok. God has expectations. In fact, He tells us in Hebrews, through the writer of Hebrews He says, By this time you should be able to teach, but I have to go back and start with the elementary stuff. He says, by practice you should have your senses trained to know good and evil. There is an expectation of growth, there is an expectation of holiness that God has upon us. Jesus said, you should be holy as I am holy. You should love your neighbor as I have loved you. So there is an expectation that God has given. If we refuse to tell others about our faith in Christ, it is because we probably want to keep our sin. If we said we were Christians they will expect higher things of us. This says, tell them. Because light has to be on before people can see it. It does no good if it is hidden. And so if you are a Christian, don't be ashamed of that fact. If you need to fix the problems in your life, do so. I appreciate what Scott said a while ago. The fact that sometimes we need to lay some things down and get rid of them so that our light can shine more brightly. Because there are things that God expects of us. There are things that people expect of us. It is wonderful to be around a person who knows and understands life.

The Bible says in Psalms 119, I understand more than all my teachers because I meditate on Your word. God gives us spiritual insight, gives us insight for life, but if we never take advantage of it, we are in the dark like anybody else. There is an expectation that children of the light ought to be able to see. There is an expectation that children of the light ought to be able to understand more about life and those who are in the dark as it were. The Bible says that the spiritual man understands natural life and spiritual things. If we are just like everybody else who doesn't know much about anything spiritual, we are no help. So we need to be able to put ourselves, by our own effort and by God's grace, in a place where He can teach us. That by experience, and by obedience, and practice of obedience our life becomes more and more conformed to the light. The Bible says in 1 John, as we walk in the light as He is in the light, He cleanses us from all sin. We are at fellowship with Him. Means we become more like Christ as we walk in the light. So the light means the truth of God's word and as we find the truth of God's word, we live it. Then we become light. We are the light of the world, but if we are disobedient, our light is not much good. If we are not even trying our life is not much good. If people have questions and concerns and they come to us with their questions and concerns and we say I don't have a clue what to do. It is like the guy over here, the unthankful Mr. Carper. If you didn't catch it, Dave was from the Eternal Revenue Service, not the Internal. I don't know if you caught that. That is why he called it the ERS. Just like this guy, he was clueless that all of your blessings in life come from God.

The Bible says, every good and perfect thing comes from the Father of lights. In whom there is no shadow, no shipping shadow or change of God. So we have everything that is good in life because God gives it to us. But if we see it all as because of our own great human effort, we are no more spiritual than anybody else. We have no more light in our understanding than anybody else. So we need to understand that life is primarily spiritual. The Bible says, we should think of the things that are above not just the things on the earth. So we are to be the lights, we are to be the ones who illuminate light for other people. They need to be able to see in us the light so that they are drawn to that light. So they can find Jesus Christ for themselves. But if we know no more than anybody else about spiritual things, what in the world good are we? Especially if we carry the name Christian, but are in the dark. That is no help. We are to be called to be people of light. We are called the light of the world. We are to walk in the light, to have fellowship with God. And He says, then our good works, hey I can read a lot better with this thing on. Your light will shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify the Father. Because by our name we are connected to the Father. So we need to live our lives as such. 

Now lets get practical. What in the world does that mean? If you are the salt and if you are the light that means your neighbor needs to know that you are a Christian because you act like one. They need to see in your marriage, Christian traits because you are a Christian. Life does get hard, marriage does get hard. So what? It does for everybody. But we forgive each other. We learn to love each other anyway. We make vows to each other therefore we keep the vows. We, in life, the Bible says if a man of God in Psalms 15, a man of God will even swear to his own hurt and not change. That means if you make a commitment and things change, you stick with your word because you are a man of your word. The Bible says don't make false vows, don't even make vows you don't plan to keep. You are a man of integrity. a person of integrity. The people you work with can count on you to be there on time, doing the work you are supposed to be doing. Your employer can say, hey here is the paycheck because I can trust you because you have been doing what you are supposed to be doing. When I come to see what you are up to, you are working hard, I like that. 

You are the light, you are the salt. People hear your language. I have seen some football lately, watching television, I saw Michigan and Ohio State yesterday. That is enough to make a person swear, isn't it? Unless you are from Ohio, which there are some here from Ohio so we won't say to much. But buckeye is a hard useless nut, I don't know what to tell you.

I have seen coaches who in the heat of practice or in the game they start swearing at the kids. And these are Christian coaches supposedly. The kids go away and say, huh, coach goes to the church, but you should hear him talk. What kind of witness is that. Is that light, is that salt? The people you come in contact with, are you salting their life with good flavor. Or are you less than useless, because they are looking at you saying, oh man you say you go to church, but listen to your language. You are a teacher, what kind of demeanor do you have in class? You are a student, what kind of attitude do you have in class? If you are a worker, a co worker, an employer do you treat your employees well? Do you treat them honorably? Do you pay them well enough for them to make it? As an employee do you give a full days work for a full days pay? Do you work hard at what you are doing? The Bible says we are not serving people, we are serving God. And so therefore we do our work as unto Him. So when you look at life people say, Oh you are a Christian. Well that is not to impressive. Because I have known a couple of them. Or are they saying, Oh, you are a Christian, that is great. I live next door to a Christian and they are the most wonderful people on earth. They were the salt of the earth. You are the salt of the earth, I am the salt of the earth in Christ. But if we are tasteless, we are useless. If we have no batteries in our flashlight, might as well not even have a flashlight. You are the light, you are the salt. So lets be the salt and be the light.
Let's pray

Father we ask that this day would be a new beginning for all of us. That we would take a new understanding, these are words that are in red. You told us these things. You said, You are the light of the world, You are the salt of the earth, but if we are tasteless, what good are we. To be thrown out in the street to become part of the sidewalk. To be trampled under foot by men. If our light doesn't work, what in the world good are we? It is like a flashlight with no batteries, we bring no light to anyone. So Father, we ask you to help us to be participants in the light, to become salt by our very character. That we by our very presence will flavor peoples lives to such a degree that they are glad to see us. They have a good thing to say about Christians, because they know one. And not bad things, because they know one. Father, help us not to hide our light under a bushel. Help us to say, Yes I am a Christian, that is why I live this way. That is why I trust God. That is why I give thanks for all the things in my life. That is why He gives me understanding of life and that is why I can help you. That is why I can explain these things to you, because God has given me insight through His holy spirit. So Father, help us to become truly the salt and truly the light so that we may be able to glorify You and bring glory and bring honor, and bring majesty to You. That we might be effective to the people around us. That they might be drawn to You. In Jesus' Name we ask it. Amen

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