Sermon on the Mount part 4 “Christian Influence” Matthew 5:13-16

INTRO> In the summer months if you where to come to our house during the day and sit in the living room you would hear vans blasting and our curtains would be closed. The reason, the sun rises and sits on our house and we have big bay windows. If you where to go look at the thermostat it would look like this. (PIC) The one on the left reads 80* and the one on the right reads 70*. One is a thermometer and one is a thermostat. One changes the environment, the other is changed by the environment.

CONTEXT> That is the description that Jesus gives us in these verses today. He follows up his proclamation of kingdom characteristics, the description of WHO is in the kingdom with what and how those people impact the world around them. He says to the affect, you go out into the world and these type of people change their environment.

Big Idea > Kingdom living changes lives.

APP> The funny thing about Christians and the church is, there is a great tension and pressure from the world, to live like the world. And there is a great lie that many Christians believe, that I have to live like the world and live like non-christians in order to attract them. “The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first.” Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones APP> Jesus tells us how to do this by giving us 3 things in this text: 1) Who we are. 2) What we do 3) Why we do it.

1. Who we are. v13,14,16

• • • “ You are…” In the original language Jesus uses what’s called an indicative, he is stating a fact. He is not telling them TO BE something.. he is telling them WHAT THEY ARE.

APP> What does this mean? Our identity precedes our activity. Who we are determines what we do, not the other way around. Jesus doesn’t tell them to first do something.. he tells them who they are.

• • • “ your Father…”  This is the first time is Jesus’ teaching that God is revealed as Father. For the first time this week that hit me in the face. YOUR father… this is what changes us, our relationship!

*ILL> There is a movie called “Blood Diamond” which shows the horrors of the diamond trade in south africa and how these vigilantes kidnap kids, brain wash them and literally send them out to war. The movie shows a man Solomon and how he is pursuing his kidnapped son, Dia. Did has been brainwashed by the rebels and now fights and kills for them. There is a scene when Solomon see’s his son, his son is holding and gun and about to shoot Solomon, his son barley recognizes him. “ Dia. What are you doing?! Dia!! Look at me. Look at me!! What are you doing? (Walking towards his son very carefully…) You are Dia Vandy of the Proumanday Tribe. You are a good boy. You love soccer, and school. Your mother loves you so much. She waits by the fire making plantains and red stew. And the new baby…. The cows wait for you, and Bakwu, the wild dog who minds no one but you. Mmm? I know they made you do bad things. You are not a bad boy. I am your father, who loves you. And you will come home with me and be my son…again. APP> Before he told him what to do… he told him who he was..

• • Jesus uses household items to tell us what we are, Salt and Light. These where common objects to show us who we are. But I think Christians are confused… so i put together a list of household items:

Christians are not like:

• • • • Camouflage (blend in, don’t ruffle feathers.
      • Gasoline (we don’t blow up on everybody)
      • Lemons (sour and not happy about anything)

2) What we do.

• • • Jesus uses’s salt and light to describe us. Salt and light do specific things.

1. 1. 1. Salt prevents decay. “salt of the earth” There are a number of things that salt does, specifically Jesus is referring I believe to the preservation. There where no refrigerators back then, so if you had meat, you would rub salt on the meat and burry it or if you had fish you would smack the fish in salt water.

APP> What is decaying?… the world! I love this, Christians and non-christians agree, the world is decaying it is falling apart.

If you don’t agree with Christianity, what is your solution? Legislation? Knowledge? What does this practically mean? It means when the family nom is decaying, kingdom citizens preserve it. “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of your time. Let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Colossians 4:5-6

1. 1. 1. Light penetrates darkness. “you are light of the world” The world is a dark place isn’t it? Jesus is the light of the world… and he gives his light to use. The church is the bright spot in a dark world. “For at one time you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.)” Ephesians 5:8-9 *ILL> Christiane Caine, “Mommy lets go find darkness…”

3) Why we do it.

• • • “good works… glory to your father..” Jesus said that these things are seen in our actions… “good”= beautiful in the greek and God get’s the glory.. that’s the way we live our life.

Close> Do you know the name Harry Dixon Loes? He went to Moody Bible school in Chicago, he wrote some hymns… most famous was “This little light of mine” But he is not who made it famous. The civil rights movement adopted this song as the theme song for the movment. One lady in particular, Fannie Lou Hamer,the youngest of 20 children started working in the cotton fields at age 6. On August 31, 1962, not long after attending a voting rights meeting organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Hamer joined 17 of her neighbors on a bus to Indianola, the county seat. Officials blocked most of the group from even attempting to register; Hamer and one man were the only ones allowed to fill out the application and take the literacy test, which both failed.

On the drive back to Ruleville, the bus was stopped and the driver arrested — the bus was too yellow, the police claimed. While the passengers were held on the bus, the deeply religious Hamer began to sing . Singing, in particular, “This Little Light of Mine”

Big Idea > Kingdom living changes lives.