Matthew 5:13-16
The influence of the King
Read…
Matt.
Matt.
Matt. 5:15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Matt. 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Pray
Intro
√ The influence of the King
In our study last week we learned about the attitude of the King, and how He has called us to have that same attitude….
To think like Jesus and to see…
Ourselves
God
Others
…the way that He does.
That transformation happens by the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit as we yield our lives to Him.
In our study this morning we learn how these new attitudes in our life influence the world around us through...
Salty lives
Shiny lives
Because as people in the world observe the attitude of the King in our lives they will be influenced to want what we have…
…it is if you will the Influence of the King!
Ap. The Lord left us here to influence our world for Him
The most effective way that we can influence those around us is by living like Jesus…
…manifesting the beatitudes in our life.
Ex.
Asked Mahatma Gandhi what Christians could do to make
Christianity more accepted in
“To begin with Christians should start living like Jesus.”
You and I will have the greatest influence on those around us when we’re living like our King.
Salty (vs. 13)
Matt.
√ Salty
Note that Jesus says…
“You are the salt of the earth”
Interesting that He didn’t say…
“If you work really hard you can be the salt of the earth”
“Someday you’ll be the salt of the earth”
Rather, Jesus says that those listening, His disciples…
…are presently the salt of the earth.
The point is that those who chose to follow Jesus become salt in this world when they become citizens of the Kingdom.
As such they have a “salty” influence on the world around them because they’re behaving like their King.
So what does it mean to be salt? To have a salty influence on the world around us?
√ Look at the influence of the King!
To understand what Jesus means when He calls us the…
“salt of the earth”
…it is best to look at how Jesus’ life had a salt-like influence on the people around Him.
1) Salt makes people thirsty
Ex. Salted nuts at bars
Look at Jesus’ interaction with people in the Gospels and you’ll find that the way He lived His life made people thirsty for something more.
The woman at the we – hadn’t found satisfaction through immoral relationships
Nicodemus – hadn’t found satisfaction through religion
The disciples – hadn’t found satisfaction in career
The people that Jesus spoke to and lived His life in front of saw and heard something different…
…something that made them want more in life!
Jesus’ life, like salt, made people spiritually thirsty.
Ap. Salty lives are changed lives
Our lives make people spiritually thirsty when they observe the changes in us as a result of our relationship with Jesus.
The manifestation of the beatitudes!
That is, living the way that Jesus did. As we’ve already discovered, the beatitudes are a description of the way that Jesus thought…
Himself
God
Others
But more than just having the right attitudes, Jesus actually lived those attitudes!
When we manifest those same attitudes in life the people around us will become spiritually thirsty because they can observe our changed lives.
2) Salt restrains corruption
Most of us don’t remember a time without refrigeration. But there was a time not to long ago when the only way that people had to preserve meat from rotting was to cover it…
…in salt!
Salt has chemical properties that prevent the corruption or putrefaction of meat.
In the same way that salt inhibits corruption we find that Jesus’ presence restrained corruption and evil.
Zacchaeus the tax collector
Peter the fisherman
The sinful woman who washed His feet with her tears
Jesus shows up and sinful people stop sinning!
Ap. Salty lives are holy lives
The testimony of the power of the Gospel has been demonstrated throughout history whenever a true revival comes…
Bars close
Prostitution ends
Violence ceases
The reason? Lack of patrons for one, but also because as people begin to live holy lives the unholy find themselves uncomfortable practicing their unholy ways.
Ex. The Aucas tribe
Anthropologists who have studied this people group tell us that they were headed for self-destruction because of their self-centered murdering ways.
But, they abandoned their blood feuding when they saw the reality of the Christian faith being lived out by Elizabeth Elliot and her children.
The Elliot family was “salt” to the corrupted society of the Aucas.
Ex. Evil restrained today
What we observe in the Aucas tribe is a microcosm of the power of holy lives in the world today. In fact, the Bible tells us that the presence of Holy Spirit in the Church is what keeps corruption and evil from taking over!
Paul wrote…
2Th. 2:5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
2Th. 2:6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.
2Th. 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
2Th. 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
That is, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church is the salt that restrains corruption from taking over.
Ap. Holy lives restrain corruption
When you’re living a holy life (marked by the beatitudes), you’ll find people are less likely to act as corruptly.
Ex. Language
I’ve found that the people who come to know you as a “real” Christian will make an effort to control what they say!
“Don’t talk like that around him, he’s a Christian!”
So, when we live like the King then we’ll find that our lives act like salt by restraining the corruption around us.
√ Unsalty
Jesus also warns us that we can lose our saltiness!
Matt.
The warning is that if we cease to have a godly influence on others because we no longer live like the King…
…then our lives become valueless to the King and the world.
Ex. God’s rejection
of
This is where some folks would argue that Jesus is speaking
to only
That is, God had not yet brought the Church into existence.
Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience with whom He had established a national covenant to be salt and light to the world.
They failed in that duty historically, but most poignantly in their rejection of their King!
Therefore, they were “thrown out” of the land and trampled by the Gentiles.
Ap. The Church
However, even if one could argue that the Lord’s comments here don’t apply to Christians…
…this truth is applied to Christians by Jesus and His apostles.
Speaking to Christians, Jesus says…
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
And…
Rev. 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
In both cases the picture is that Christians who are not useful…
No fruit
No light
…are treated the same way that the unsalty “salt” is.
Ap. Salty lives
Keep in mind that Jesus’ commentary on how believers influence society immediately follows His instructions on our attitude in life.
That is, when we begin to manifest the beatitudes in our life…
…we will have a salt-like influence on those around us.
Creating a spiritual thirst in their life when they observe our holy Christ-like conduct.
Shiny (vs. 14-16)
Matt.
Matt. 5:15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Matt. 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
√ Shiny
Jesus communicates the same principles here that He did when He compared our lives to salt…
…but this time He uses light it illustrate (or illuminate!) the truth.
1) Lighting the path to righteousness
Jesus compares our lives to…
A city on a hill
A lamp on a lampstand
In both examples the point is that neither can be hidden! That is, you can’t ignore them because they’re in your face.
Ex. Night
In the time that Jesus ministered there weren’t streetlights along the roads that connected cities and villages.
However, a city (like
…because of all the lights burning in the homes and along the walls.
In the same way when a person entered a home their eyes would be drawn first to the lamp on the lampstand because it gave light to the whole house.
Ex. KC Day Lighters – can’t ignore them!
Ex. The life of Jesus
Examine the life of Jesus and whether you like Him or not, the one thing that a person can’t do is ignore Him!
His life, death and resurrection are so profoundly different than every other person that has ever lived that even the enemies of Jesus can’t ignore Him!
His life shines throughout the history of Man in such a way that it can’t be hidden, or missed.
Ap. Shiny lives
When the beatitudes of Jesus become a reality in our lives then we will become like…
A city on a hill
A lamp on a lampstand
…in that the people of the world won’t be able to ignore us.
Specifically they won’t be able to dismiss the truth of the Gospel because they observe it in our lives.
Augustine said…
“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.”
The point is that our most effective witness is living a life like Jesus.
Close
√ Salty and shiny
Our king has called us to be…
Salt
Light
So that the people in this world might see something different in our lives. Something that would make them….
Spiritually thirsty
Desire to be holy
Light the path to true righteousness
Therefore, we must interact with the people of the world!
That is, to be salt and light means that we must be involved with people who are trapped in the Kingdom of Darkness.
We’re called to be in the world, but not of it.
One reason that I reject Christian groups that isolate themselves from the world.
To do so puts them in a place where they can be neither salty or shiny.
Ap. We have great opportunity to influence the people of the world (and Christians) by getting involved with the relief work and rebuilding work in the areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina.