Salt and Light

one. Good morning. Good morning. Kids are staying in here for us for for today. No kids class for today. Um go ahead, grab your Bibles, open up to Matthew 5.

While you're turning there, um I want to give a bit of a preface to this sermon. Um, when you do this for a little while, I think this is my 19th year um, in full-time ministry, you tend to know the the different types of topics or uh, teachings that that prompt the most emails or frustration. And so, I just want to throw this out there out of the gate that this might upset some people in the room because I don't know everyone's background. And that's totally fine. But here's what I do ask. I do ask that some of the things that I might say today um again have not been anything that's originated from me but is something that has been distilled out of scripture.

And in regards to that also I want you to have an open mind because these are even some truths that I used to not believe. Um, these are some things that just kind of how I was brought up, how I was raised was was a different way of thinking that the more that I steeped in the scriptures and the more that I believed in Jesus and trusted in Jesus, it shifted mindset for me. And at the same time, I just ask that if there's something that I say today that does rub you the wrong way, I ask that you ask the question, why? Why is this rubbing me the wrong way? Is it because of um maybe a way that I was raised or maybe a way that I think or maybe a way that I feel or maybe because of a political party that I belong to or because of what I think is best for culture. Just just ask the question, why do I feel this way if it is in disagreement with some of the things that I might say today?

And so, and if that is the case, instead of just, you know, rearing up that email and getting it ready to shoot it to me afterwards, let's have like let's go back to when culture used to have like healthy conversation and healthy debate. Let's sit down and actually talk about it like lovingly like, you know, having each other's um best interest at heart, lovingly talk about it with the Bible open in front of us. And so I just kind of want to throw that out there. Now you're probably wondering what in the world is he going to talk about? And we're going to get to that. But we're continuing in a series called What is Truth?

Where we're looking at the sermon on the mount? Um because if you want to ask what truth is, you need to ask what did Jesus teach? Because what Jesus taught is truth. He is the embodied word of God and all authority is his on heaven and on earth. And so anytime Jesus opens his mouth, anytime Jesus inspires, anytime Jesus teaches, it is absolute truth. And it is what shapes kingdoms.

It's what shapes people. It's what transforms us into what we need to be in order to be in relationship with the God who created us, but then sin separated us. And so we need to listen to Jesus and what it is that he has for us. And the sermon on the mount, Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, is this sermon that Jesus delivered to his disciples. And if you were to actually sit down and just read through it, it'll take you about 15 minutes. All right?

It it's not a long sermon, per se. We're taking eight weeks to walk through it. I've got friends who have taken 13 weeks to walk through it. Others who have taken way longer than that to walk through it. Um, I feel like we're flying through it in eight weeks. Um, but and maybe that 15 minutes is something that you could do every day.

Just read through the sermon on the mount every day, especially during these eight weeks that we're walking through it because again, just let the truth of Jesus saturate your mind, your heart, um, your life. Last week, what we looked at starting off with was the biatitudes. And the biatitudes really isn't just this like separate part of the sermon on the mount. I believe it really is the foundation for the sermon on the mount. For you to truly be able to understand the meaning and what Jesus is actually teaching us, you got to understand the beatitudes. And I'm not going to like break all of them down like I did last week.

To be honest, it was crazy. You guys hung in there. 70 minutes was the sermon last week. All right. So, kudos to you. The the positive is is that most everyone that gave me feedback this last week, they were like, "It didn't feel like 70 minutes."

And so, which is awesome. Like, thank you for hanging in there. The kids workers thought it felt like 70 minutes. Um, but anyways, blessed are you who are poor in spirit, which just meant you're spiritually bankrupt. When you read the sermon on the mount, you get to the end of it and you feel like, how is it possible for anybody to get into heaven? Exactly.

That's the point. All right? You can't do enough to earn your way in. And so, you become spiritually bankrupt. I can't pay enough to get in. I can't earn enough to get there.

When you come to that realization, you then become you you mourn. Blessed are those who mourn. You're mourning your sin. You're sad about the fact that that I can't measure up, that I've sinned against a holy God that separates me from him. It then goes into, "Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the ones who who when they realize they're spiritually bankrupt and they mourn the sin that they have caused against a good and holy and righteous God.

They then come to this realization that because they're spiritually bankrupt and they're sinners, maybe they need to not do things their way and they need to give up the reigns of their life. They give up the reigns of their life to God and they trust his way instead of their way. Blessed are those who are meek. And then now that God provides for them a righteousness through Christ's work and not their own work, blessed are you who then hunger and thirst for this relationship with Jesus. Because when you realize you're spiritually bankrupt and when you realize you're a sinner and when you realize that you can't figure it out and you can't do things your way, you give up your life to him. You surrender your life to him and he grants you his righteousness.

And when he does that, it changes your perspective. You now hunger and thirst for the things of God rather than hungering and thirsting for the things of this world. And he says, "Blessed is that person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. Blessed are those who are then pure in heart." This is how we knew that the biatitudes aren't just these eight separate um things that you can kind of play and pluck and figure out like, well, maybe if I just become pure in heart, I'll get a blessing. Maybe if I just become this, I'll get a blessing.

Maybe if I just do this, I'll get a blessing. No. No. Because if you were to say, "Hey, Lord, I'm pure in heart." He's going to say, "You're prideful. You're not receiving a blessing."

So, this isn't something that you can just muster up and kind of go and take off the shelf at any point. The only way you become pure in heart is when you receive a new heart. Again, not something that you can do yourself, but something that you have to receive from him, which leads you to then being a merciful person because God has shown you mercy. Blessed are those who are merciful because they have been given mercy which then leads into them becoming peacemakers. Blessed are those who u blessed or because you're merciful you also then become peacemakers. And blessed are those peacemakers are not peacekeepers.

Peacekeepers are ones who just separate people who are fighting. Peacemakers are those who come in and reconcile between the two. And when we are enemies of God, Jesus is the one who comes in to reconcile us. He is the ultimate peacemaker. Which then when we receive Jesus, we now become peacemakers, taking Jesus to those who are considered enemies of God in order for them to be reconciled. Well, to be a peacemaker, you don't enter into peaceful situations.

You enter into hostile territory. You enter into war. That's the only way in which you can make peace is if you go where war exists. Which is why the last blessing was the fact that blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Because when you are taking Jesus into hostile territory, it's not going to be easy for you. It's going to be really hard, really difficult.

And that's why all throughout the scriptures when you see the spread of the gospel in hostile territory, what usually happens? Do they make do they make a a ton of money, retire, and live on a lake and have a well, you know, write a few books and and have just a great life? No. Like when you look at the life of all the apostles, they're getting they're getting killed. They're getting persecuted. They're getting imprisoned.

Like the one who who lasted the longest was boiled alive. I mean like it doesn't go well for them when when you take what Jesus is offering and enter it into hostile territory. But again, blessed are those who are persecuted for advancing the gospel of Jesus. Because those who are in hostile territory, those who are enemies of God, they have no hope of their situation changing without us taking the gospel there, even if it cost you your life. And so that shifts us into this next passage of the scripture which is us being salt and light in a world. And and this is where again I'm going to say some things to be salt and light in a world is the same thing of taking the gospel behind enemy lines and helping them realize and understand that some of the things that they're believing and some of the way that they're living is anti to Christ is against God is considered an enemy of God and is leading them down a path to hell to and they don't even know.

They don't understand. They think they're trying to figure out the good life, but have to have truth reveal the wrongness of their life in order for them to just like us come to the same three um first points of the biatitudes. So they figure out that they're spiritually bankrupt, so that they can mourn their sin and so that they can give up the reigns of their life so that God would save them. But to be salt and light means that we have to bring truth where there are lies and that's going to cause at times for us persecution. Persecution. Maybe someone hating us or calling us bigots, calling us narrow-minded, calling us hateful because we're telling them that what they're doing is wrong is wrong.

And so many times people say, they'll pull out those scriptures. Well, judge not. You're not supposed to judge. Do Okay, pull out that scripture. What follows judge not tells you everything that you can do to judge somebody. Because if you don't judge them, they'll never know that there is a greater judge who will judge them in the end.

And then they're going to get to that point and say, "Why didn't anyone ever tell me?" Well, we tried, but you told me not to judge you. Judging for the sake of saving and loving and having them come to meet Jesus who can forgive them of sins is the greatest thing that we can do for somebody. The greatest thing we can do for them. And so we we have to be willing when it comes to being salt and light as you'll see here in a moment. We have to be willing to say hard things with boldness but with calmness and patience in love.

for the sake of them coming to the understanding that the way they're living is wrong and it's not in line with what God has for flourishing and for life in order for them to be able to come to their senses like the prodigal son did when he was feeding pigs which is such an awful thing for a Jew to be doing but for him to come to his senses and realize man I've sinned against a good father who is providing so much for me. I want to come back home. And so Matthew chapter 5 looking at verses 13- 16. I want you to see this. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt have lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. What I want you to see here, and I'm going to continue pressing this point all the way throughout the the sermon on the mount, is that what we're what we're not after is just your right activity. Okay?

Because again, this is what we talk like blessed are those who um who are persecuted for righteousness sake. A lot of this is is kind of built around this idea of what righteousness is. And and for us, righteousness is embodied in the person of Jesus. He is the perfect holy person who has ever lived. There's no sin in him whatsoever. He is always good.

Every thought, every intention, every motive, nothing but purity. He is righteous. The sermon on the mount is going to kind of if you just read through it real quick, you're going to think, here's all these things that I need to do in order to be considered righteous, which is true. However, that's not what we're after. We're not after you looking this and just figuring out what do I need to do to to to act right. But what you need is a right identity first before the right activity.

Right identity is what gives you the ability to lead to right activity. If you start with right activity without right identity, you're just a Pharisee. You're just a Pharisee. You're just someone who who has some kind of moral truth in your mind. And and you might even think just from a worldview that I like that more than secularism. And so let me just do those things instead of these things because I think being a good person is going to to essentially be better for me in society and building a life for myself than living in debauchery or living in a sinful way or or doing other things that I would disagree with.

But that doesn't that doesn't give you relationship with the father in heaven. Right activity does not give you abiding relationship with Jesus. right identity does which then leads you to right activity. Leads you to be able to uphold what he has taught us to be able to observe what he has taught us to give us the fuel to be able to say no to a sinful life and to say yes to a life that honors him and glorifies him and worships him. And so Jesus begins with two you are statements. You are salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world. Not saying, "Hey, this is what you can be or this is what you should be or this is what you ought to be." This is what you are. Why? Because of the context of the biatitudes. There's been a transformation that has happened where you gave up the reigns of your life to Jesus.

He now has given you a new heart so that you are pure in heart. And therefore in receiving this new identity, this is now who you are, which gets to lead to what you do. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. And the reason why I want to start with that is because when we look at some of these hard things that we're going to talk about, I don't want you to see this as, well, that's for the professionals. That's for Dwayne.

He can enter into these conversations and have these difficult conversations with people in culture. Or this could be for those who are um way more spiritually mature, who have been around for for a lot longer um and therefore maybe they can engage in these conversations. No, no, no. Th this is for the if you consider yourself a disciple of Jesus, you are salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. You are the ones who are going to influence and shape the world around us as you bring Jesus into it.

And he begins transforming the world around you. Your uh you need to know your identity in Christ in order to know your functionality for Christ. That's so important. If you don't think you're salt, if you don't think you're light, well then you're not going to be salt and you're not going to be light. If you think that's just for the pastors, then you've missed the point. You need to know who you are because who you are leads to what you do.

Here's why this is so important. You can't scroll Instagram for more than five minutes without seeing somebody dressed up like a mut with a leash around their neck because they think they identify as a dog. This is the world we live in now. You can choose to be whatever you want to be. But the reality behind it is is they have no idea who they are. They have no idea who they are.

They have no idea what their true identity is. And this is why it's so important for us to step into these places because when they don't know who they are, we do know who they are. We do know that God specifically designed that person with a DNA. He specifically designed that person with a unique personality, with a unique fingertip. And he has created them to be in his image as male and female, not as German shepherds. He's created them as a specific unique individual unlike anyone else in all of the world.

And more than that, to bear his image, to reflect his likeness. And when you're separated from your creator because of sin, you don't know your true identity. And here's the reality is every single individual wants to know, "Who am I? Who am I?" We've all asked that question. I mean, I remember being in high school.

I remember just just kind of walking through and being like, "Okay, what what defines me? Who am I? Who is Dwayne Gibbs?" And before knowing Jesus, I thought, well, Dwayne Gibbs is a slot receiver who plays for the White House Blue Devils. Dwayne Gibbs is a cornerback. Dwayne Gibbs is below average in height.

Dwayne, like I had all these things that I thought identified me. Identification. Here's my ident. This shows you where I live. shows you my eye color, which I was confused about that because it was brown for a long time and that's not what my eye colors are. That's just what I told him.

Like, you have no idea who you are until you know the one who knit you together in your mother's womb and designed you specifically for this moment in history. We need to be able to tell them the play of secularism is to increase the perversion of God's creation in order to smear the image of God. Sin, Satan, secularism, they hate what God is about. They hate what God created. They hate that God's creation is meant to bear his image and reflect it and honor him and glorify him. And so the play that they're going to run is let's smear it as much as possible.

If if if everyone is created in the image of God, which is Genesis 1 and 2, if everyone's created in the image of God and they're created in the image of God as male and female, then let's distort that. Let's get the men to think they're women and let's get the women to think they're men. Let's distort the image. And if you want to even take it a step further, we were given dominion over all of creation, which means it's less than humanity. Let's distort it even further and get them to no longer identify as human, but identify as the animal kingdom. You can see where what they are longing for is to figure out who they are.

But when you're separated from the God who created you, you only have one option. Keep digging deeper into what the world might say or what secularism might preach. And all it's going to do is create even more perversion and even more confusion and even more lostness. the deeper you think you're getting into finding your true identity. And it's just this endless dissatisfaction, this endless cycle of never truly understanding who you really are. And as we finished with last week, Jesus commisss all of us who have received his grace and mercy to take this wonderful news to a world that is lost and in danger of the fires of hell and tell them there's a better way.

There's truth. There's life to be found in Jesus alone. No more confusion, no more dissatisfaction, no more frustration. instead clarity, satisfaction, peace, so that we can know who we truly are and also know who the one true God is and then usher in shalom peace on earth. This is why when the disciples asked Jesus, will you teach us how to pray? Part of Jesus' model for prayer is for the kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven.

for the kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus came to establish a new people chosen by the grace of God, a new city on a hill, if you will, the church, so that the earth would become like heaven, a place of peace in worship of its creator in heaven. The first time that I ever stepped foot into Gamebridge Fieldhouse where the Pacers played. Go Pacers. Game two tonight. Side point.

First time I walked into Gamebridge Fieldhouse, when I walked into it, I thought, "This feels familiar. Like I feel like I've been here before." And the reason why it felt familiar is because I've also been inside Hinklefield House, which is where Butler University plays. And the reason why it felt familiar is because Gamebridge Fieldhouse was designed after Hinklefield House. So that when you walk into one, it bears the image and likeness of the other. The same thing is with us.

What God is creating through the church on earth is for it to resemble the likeness of what heaven is going to be like. So that when you're here, there's a familiarity of what it's going to be like there. Same thing with each one of us as individuals is when someone interacts with us. There is a likeness to Jesus because of his identity dwelling within us and then coming out of us and how we are being transformed to become more like him every single day. We the best thing you can do for a world that is lost is enter into it behind enemy lines and bring your presence which embodies the transforming presence of Christ so that you're teaching his truth so that you're living out his compassion for the lost but you are doing it in such a way that you are not accepting them as they are but exposing what separates them from a good God who created them. It is so necessary for us to do that.

And that's the call for followers of Jesus. We are to take the culture and practices of another world, the kingdom of God, and inject them into this place called earth. So that earth resembles the likeness of heaven. And individually we resemble the likeness of Jesus. And so with that commission at the end of the biatitudes to be peacemakers, Jesus continues that thought with these two illustrations of salt and light. And what I want to do for you is answer a couple of questions.

What does he mean by salt? What does he mean by light? And what does he mean by these good works at the end of it? And so what does salt do? What does salt do? Since he's using this illustration, he's using an analogy.

I mean, you're not literally salt, you know, like you're you're humans. He's not he's not belittling you down to what you sprinkle on your steak, but it's an illustration. Okay? And so, we need to understand a bit more of what he means by this illustration. Well, Josh McFersonen, who's a pastor in the Pacific Northwest, gives three illustrations for salt. Salt slows decay.

Salt awakens thirst. And salt makes everything better. Right? except for ice cream. I'm gonna put that out there. I don't think salt should be in ice cream.

But beyond that, salt makes everything better. First off, with salt slows decay. It's like a preservative in society. This is why so many of our foods are packed full of salt and sodium in order to create a longer shelf life, if you will. Well, the earth has a shelf life. And as Christians, we are called to slow the decay of sin and death by preserving society.

And here's a hot topic. This includes the legislature and laws of the land. For example, speed limits keep people from going a 100 miles per hour in a school zone, right? that that helps to slow the decay of us who want to get from A to B as fast as possible. Right? Let me take it maybe a step further.

The moral law of God is like a governor on our sinful habits. And the laws of the land must be informed by the moral laws of God if we want to slow the decay of society due to our sinful behaviors. Now, you might be thinking, "Don't get political. We were just starting to like you. Just stay biblical." When politics start telling us what we need to believe to stay biblical, we must become political.

we must become political. In other words, if through policy our society is um let me reword it this way. If through policy our society is influenced and shaped, then as Christians with the Bible in our hands, with the Bible in our hearts, with the Bible in our heads, we must engage in policy to promote a godly biblically moral society. Why? Why? Because if they were completely given over to their sinful behavior, death is the answer.

It prolongs the ability for them to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ and come to know him as savior. We're preventing them from having an earlier suicide. Salt slows decay. If the Bible calls it a sin, Christians should fight to abolish it from society at every level. Think about it this way. Who abolished slavery in the West?

Was it secularism? No, it was Christianity. Specifically, if you look at the West in regards to England, ever heard of William Wilberforce? He was the one who abolished slavery in England by way of his Christian conviction. Frederick Douglas in the US. Why?

Because he believed that all men are created with the image of God and therefore have equal rights and dignity. Where'd he get that? From the Bible. From the Bible. In that same vein, we are fighting for the rights of the unborn by abolishing abortion. Humans made in the image of God who never get a chance to live a life because they are being murdered in their mother's womb.

This is one of those ones where I don't know where you land on this issue. I don't know where you land on this issue. If it makes you uncomfortable, listen to this. It's because, and this is where I probably think you you might struggle with it, where you're like, well, what about the wh what about the woman? What about the woman's rights? What about the woman's health?

Listen, it's because you have a bent towards empathy, which is a good thing, towards the vulnerable, towards maybe the little guy, towards the minority. It's a strategy of a smaller group in society to gain the support of a larger group in society by getting them to feel bad for them. It's actually now getting dubbed toxic empathy. It's not wrong to help the little person, to serve minorities, to have empathy for those who are down and out. That's a God-given human emotion meant to move us towards those who need help. However, that emotion has been hijacked by immoral, immoral agendas in order to get you to believe that what you are fighting for is justice for those who are vulnerable.

But it's actually not what we're fighting for. This would be like Jesus telling the 12 disciples that they need to be there for Judas and love him and accept him and support him in his greed. This would be like Jesus telling his followers that they need to be there for the woman at the well to love her, accept her, affirm her, and support her in her prostitution and that nothing needs to change. But that's not what Jesus did. He loved her by confronting her, gently exposing her, calmly, teaching her, and boldly telling her to go and sin no more. You see, toxic empathy, a strategy of secular culture, tells you to love people, accept people, affirm people, and support them.

But being salt of the earth does not mean loving people to hell, accepting people to hell, affirming people to hell, and supporting people to hell. That's not what it means. Instead, when someone stands in disagreement with Jesus of the Bible, being salt of the earth does mean loving people towards the culture of heaven, loving people or leading people towards accepting Christ, teaching people to affirm God's word and moral standards, supporting people by making disciples of Jesus. And what does that do when we are salt? Well, it awakens thirst. Salt awakens thirst.

It helps to again, as I say, slow the decay of our um unbelief and our belief in what we think is right for us, but it's leading us to death. It slows the decay of that, but it also then awakens thirst without surprise. Every time in our car when Wyatt is eating a bag of chips, he never has a water. And every single time in that moment, he just says one thing. Dad, I'm so thirsty right now. I'm starving.

I buddy, I have no water for you. I need water right now. I can't just make water up here. But you got to wait for us to get to where we're going to. But it's because he had those salty chips. It awakened in him a deep desire of thirst.

We are by showing truth, by showing a different way, by showing the beauty and the majesty and the glory of Jesus Christ and all that he has to offer to a world that is dying and going to hell, desperate for something different. The more that we put him forward gives the opportunity for thirst to be awakened. Salt also makes everything better. By itself, it ain't good, right? No one just eats a bowl of salt. That'd be weird if you do.

But when you add it to food, makes all food better. It's why filet minan, one of the best cuts of steak I love. I mean, it's one of my favorites is improved by adding salt to it. Amazing. Just just happens. Brings out the flavors of it.

Makes everything better. Brie Lingle's chocolate chip cookies are absolutely dynamite. All right. If you think yours are better, I'll accept that challenge. You can drop off a dozen at the house anytime you want and I'll gladly let you know. But I'm sure when breeze come out of the oven, they're already perfect.

But then she just sprinkles that sea salt right on top of it and it just takes it transcends it to another level. Like people ask what do the men do on the Sunday nights? We sit around and we eat these cookies and we worship God for creating this beautiful flavor and then salt makes it better. It's what we do. All right. So if that sounds good to you, June 22nd, come join us.

But as salt of the earth, are you making your home better? Are you making your neighborhood better? Are you making your workplace better? Why? Because you're introducing Jesus to it. You're focusing on Jesus in it.

Like you're you're you're going back to the Deuteronomy that that everything in our house is going to be focused on Jesus. It's going to be on our doorpost. It's going to be on the the gates. It's going to be on the signs. is going to be everywhere we turn around. We're promoting Jesus because it's through Jesus that we have life and have it abundantly.

We want more of that. Jesus makes everything better. And being salt of the earth is us bringing Jesus into every domain and sphere so that it improves instead of dies. It's why we're there. All right, we got to move on. And I'm not trying to do another 70 minute one.

You are the light of the world. Well, what does light do? Three things. Light is a beacon of hope and a warning of danger. Light exposes the darkness, and light guides your steps. Light guides your steps.

Ezra, back on that uh sound booth is my water bottle. Could you bring that to me, please? Thank you, my son. Um, light is a beacon of hope and a warning of danger. I was sick this week. That's why my voice is where it's at.

But think about the purpose of a lighthouse. I love lighouses, but it embodies both of these realities. Thank you. Go and sin no more. Um, in a lighthouse, you're getting closer to land or ships are getting closer to land. And the lighthouse is helping them realize two things.

One, we made it. All right. Where we're going, we made it. This is awesome. At the same time, don't get too close. You might shipwreck.

All right. And so, two things did this. We are getting closer to land that we've been searching for and also we're getting closer to becoming shipwrecked if we don't adjust course. When we preach Jesus who is the true light of the world, he is a beacon of hope for the hopeless and also a warning that if they don't surrender to the light, they'll shipwreck their lives for eternity. Like that's what the sermon on the mount is doing for everybody. It's helping you see that the way I'm living's not going well, but Jesus provides for me a way out.

That's a beacon of hope. At the same time, I'm not measuring up and if I don't change things, if I don't give up the reigns of my life, I'm going to shipwreck my life and I'm going to enter into a judgment and a judgment that's going to last for an eternity. light is doing both of these things simultaneously where it is showing us that there is a hope because Jesus is the light of the world and it's also exposing the second point here the darkness of our life the darkness of our society the darkness of our culture light illuminates everything and I want you to see this in John 3:16-21 because we love to go to John 3:16 the most famous passage throughout all of the world. John 3:16, for God so loved the world. I mean, it makes God unfortunately the culture has tried to weaken John 3:16 by showing that God is just so loving, right? God's so loving.

He loves you. He accepts you. He affirms you. God is love. But that's not what it's actually about. God so loves the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish.

It's like they forget the fact that wait, we're perishing. Why are we perishing? No one's talking about the perishing point. They're just talking, man. God so loves you. Do you be you find your true self?

No, no, no. Your true self is perishing. It's shipwrecked. It's in judgment. You don't realize that. The reason they don't realize that is they don't continue on in the context of John 3:16.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Lighthouse. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Great. That's awesome news. But whoever does not believe is condemned already.

They're condemned already. You don't have to come in and tell them that they're condemned. They're condemned already. You're like, you're not coming in to try to like win an argument in this moment to try to condemn them. They're already there. You're trying to throw the life preserver here.

You're trying to give them a way out. You're trying to help them come to their senses and say, "Hey, Jesus. Jesus wants you to see him and he wants you to see yourself rightly because this is judgment. The light has come into the world and the people listen to this. They love darkness rather than the light because their works were what? Evil.

Evil. For God so loved the world. An evil one. an evil one that's already condemned. Does he love that you're evil? Does he love that you're condemned?

No. No. No. No. No. What he loves is what he created you to be that sin distorted and fractured.

And the only way to get you back to what he created you to be that he loves is to redeem you by him paying your penalty on the cross. Forgiving you of your sins, giving you a new heart and then new identity in Christ so that God now sees you as he sees his son Jesus and calls you a son and daughter and brings you home. That's what he loves is an image bearer that is rightly reflecting his image. Not a sinner who is distorting his image, who is painting a false picture of what God created. He loves who he's going to make you into when he gives you his identity. And that's why he comes to this earth to redeem us and to save us.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. You hear that? This is our job. This is our job. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light. Well, if I just if I just live a good life, if I'm just a good example around my neighbors, man, they'll ask me.

They'll ask me, "Hey, we see that you don't cuss. We see that you don't, you know, beat your wife. We see that, you know, you you don't do these crazy things. What must we do to be saved?" They're not going to ask you that question. They're not going to ask you that question.

They're not going to come to the light lest their works should be exposed. We've got to step into their life with the truth of God's word so that it shines a light on their life and exposes where they are falling short of God's good glory and it exposes them. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God, not their own selves. Again, light exposes the darkness. It illuminates everything. Now, it's important that understand what kind of light we are because we think about light.

The greatest light, the sun, su n, lights our world up, right? You realize though that our earth is the same 24 hours a day. Nothing changes about it other than the fact that it rotates. And so for 12 hours of the day, it's illuminated. And for 12 hours of the day, it's darkness. But even in that darkness, there's still somewhat light because there's a moon, right?

And the moon reflects the light that is coming off of the sun. You're not the sun in this situation of being the light of the world. The true light of the world is Jesus. You're like the moon reflecting his light and being able to provide a bit for those around you. What I mean by that is when you enter into these difficult situations and you start having these conversations about, hey, I I just don't think you're a dog or hey, I I see that you're a transgender woman, but but I believe God created you as a man. or hey, I know that you're in a difficult spot and you're considering an abortion, but I want you to understand that Psalm 139 says that God is knitting together right now in your womb a human being that has dignity, value, and worth.

And also like according to our constitution should have every equal right that you do. The issue we have right now is that we disagree on when we believe life begins. And you're trying to come up with all these irrational arguments. And I'm just trying to help you say that that that's a person. That's a person that we want to protect, that we want to have an an ability. And and I just want you to be able to see of shining a bit of a light on this that like Jesus knows their name before you've even given them a name.

Jesus knows every single hair that's going to be on their head before before you even know which color it's going to be. And I want you to reconsider what you might choose to do right now. Like we have to step into these places because and and and be the moon that reflects the sun to shine a bit of light. And the more that we do that, the brighter it gets because they start learning a bit more about the true son s o n Jesus Christ and what he has for them in this life. That is greater than again us believing like Proverbs 14:12 says that there's a way that seems right to a man and it leads to death. We don't want you to lead to death.

And so we want to enter into some of these arguments with grace with what Jesus offers so that the light can guide your steps. Like a flashlight, we use the light of Christ to show us where to go, what to do, who to be, and how to live for the glory of God and joy of all people. We shine it out. You don't shine it yourself. That just blinds you. But we shine it out so that he can show us how to live a life.

This is the righteous identity that now becomes a righteous activity. He is guiding us on how to think, on how to feel, and we're constantly constantly this is it. We're measuring it against this. We're measuring it against this. If you're even debating, like if you're a Christian with another Christian and you're trying to figure out whether or not well, what should we believe about this when it comes to culture? How should we handle this situation?

Like right now, I am like lit I have had conversations with other brothers and sisters in Christ who want to affirm same-sex marriage. And I'm asking the question, where where are you getting it from? Where are you getting it from? I'm going to come back to this every single time. I'm going to come back to Genesis 1 and two every single time. I'm going to come back to Ephesians 5 every single time.

I'm going to come back to what God's design was. Because here's the thing is I get it wrong so many times. This never gets it wrong. And so if you're going to have a conversation, we're going to have a conversation with our minds open and this open and hope that we're going to submit to this, not what I feel. Not what I feel. Now, again, I know that there's going to be a bit of that empathy of like, well, we just feel bad for them.

We want them. You should be able to love whoever you want to love. I think you should be able to love whoever God wants because that's going to be a more fulfilling life. than what we think is right or feel is right that is not scripturally based. We want to be based in what scripture is telling us. And here's the dumb thing we do sometimes.

What if salt has lost its taste or people light a lamp and put it under a basket? It's just hypocrisy. I'm a Christian but I don't live like it. I'm a Christian and I don't preach like it. I'm a Christian and I don't share the good news of Jesus. Well, he's like they use the example that that kind of salt was no good for food anymore, so they just throw it out and people trample it.

That's the way that they handled it back in that day. Or just the idiocy of who lights a lamp and then covers it up. Who becomes a Christian? Why would you become a Christian and not share the reason why you became a Christian? It makes no sense. Like if I was lost and going to hell and someone shared with me that truth and said that Jesus Christ is the only way that provides you a path to heaven that gets you there because of his life, his death, and his resurrection.

And then all of a sudden now instead of going to an eternity of hell, I believe in Jesus. I'm going to an eternity in heaven. And I'm going to have life and have it abundantly. And then just start living a life where I'm like, I don't know if that's good to share with anybody. That's weird, right? Like, that's weird.

Like, could you imagine having a conversation with the Apostle Paul and just being like, "Hey, Paul. Um, want to talk to you a little bit about just my Christian life and my like, you know, how I'm sharing my faith." Man, it's so difficult. It is so hard. And then Paul be like, "Oh, I know. Like, are you getting like thrown in prison?"

No. No. But it it is hard. And one of the reasons why it's hard, oh, did they throw you in a lion's den? Or did they threaten to crucify you? Or did you get the 40 lashes minus?

No. Um, it's it's hard because it's just awkward. Paul's going to be like, "Huh? What? What do you mean? Like he has no category for thinking that it's awkward.

So much so that he would preach and proclaim, "Hey, um, fear God, not man." Period. Period. Fear God, not man. Period. Just ingrain that in.

Fear God, not man. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give your give glory to your God, your father who is in heaven. I struggled with this one this week. I'm I'm going to try to fly through this. I know, guys. I struggled with this one this week because in reading through the sermon on the mount, when you get to chapter six, so much of it is don't let people see this.

Don't let you know don't try to like pray in front of other people and as if like don't let them see your good works. Don't but here it's saying let them see your good works. And so how do you reconcile the difference between these two things? Again you got to remember this was Jesus preaching this in one sitting in a context and I think it's still linked to the biatitudes. I think it's linked to this idea that it's easy for us to miss the forest for the trees. What I mean by that is it's easy to take the sermon on the mount and dissect it into sections when this was to be heard and caught at one time.

When Jesus says, "You are the salt and light of the earth," it's in the context of what we just heard and being blessed. So, I think it's less about your right activity that leads someone to Jesus. I think it's more about your right identity, regardless of your circumstances, that creates a person who is unwavering and unshakable. when life throws some curve balls at you. In other words, when when your life looks like it's falling apart and in that moment you're you're like content and you're like, "Hey, it things are going to be okay. I'm going to be fine."

You want to know why? Because Jesus is all that I need. [Music] That is salt for the world that they're not getting anywhere else. Anywhere else. Because when life is falling apart, the world says you need to change some things. If your marriage isn't great, break it off.

Start a different one. If your kids are driving you nuts, get rid of them. for kids. If your parents are driving you nuts, get rid of them. That's literally what they're teaching right now. You don't like your difficult job, just go get a different one.

Like everything is just about changing whatever it is rather than being content in Jesus and then dealing, managing, stewarding what your circumstances are. And I think that is something that the world when they look at that, they'll think, "What's going on with you? Why are you so content? Why are you Why are you laughing when your cars are falling apart? Why are you okay? How are you okay?"

Philippians 4:12, "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in any and every circumstances. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's salt and light in a world. That that good work when they see it, they'll want to know where does that come from? because deep down that's what they're striving for and searching for new identities, new wives, new cars, new houses, new careers, new 401ks, new drugs, new music, new everything.

What they're searching for is this reality. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Why? because Christ created you and sin separated it. And that's what we've been longing for this whole time. Father, we thank you so much for your good news this morning.

We thank you for your word. We thank you that your word is living and active. as we read it, it reads us. And we thank you that God, you give us the opportunity to see your word embodied in your son Jesus, to see his truth, his way, his life. And it gives us an opportunity to to give up, to lay our lives down, to say we we're tired. We're exhausted.

We're heavy burdened. We want to stop trying to do things our way and we want to trust you and follow you and do things your way. The only way that can happen is Lord, if you give us a new heart, you save us by the work of your son Jesus. We believe that and we trust that. It's in your name we pray. Amen.