In ancient Rome, the soldiers were sometimes paid in money, but other times they
were paid in local commodities and goods that actually held great value. And one
of those commodities that they would be paid in is actually salt. So when they
would receive their monthly allowance or payment of salt, that was called a
solarium and salt being the Latin word for salt. And it's actually the route
where we get our term salary. And so if you want to talk about someone receiving
salary, the first time that was used was really actually when someone received a
bag of salt. And so next time you get the direct deposit or your paycheck in the
mail, we can be grateful now that you're not paid in just a giant bag of salt or
if you are an employer in the room and you're thinking of ways to get creative,
who knows, maybe that could still work today. But so it was very valuable and
was used for many things. And then another image I want you to think about as we
jump into this morning's message is that in 1839 there was a gentle one
gentleman named sir John Horschel, who coined the term photography by combining
two Greek words. So a photo really means light and then graph means drawing of.
And so the word photograph really just simply means a drawing of light. And so
as for photography, as an art form was starting to take shape in the 18
hundreds. And then through the 19 hundreds, it took a lot of effort to go and
create something to use light and then various chemistry to, to capture light
and then to have the chemistry of the light to then go and produce an image of
something that would produce great value. Well, this morning's message is
entitled Salt and Light. And that's because Jesus used these two pictures to
describe the life of a Christian. We are wrapping up our series entitled Stories
of the Kingdom where we are taking a look at the stories of Jesus and seeing how
they relate to the church and practical every day life. Now, most parables are
centered around the Kingdom of God and then the heart of the king talking about
Jesus himself that, that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure found in a field
of great value that the Kingdom of God is like the master who had these workers.
And we talked about how he hired these different workers and how he paid them
the same and how in the scheme of eternity, we are like the 11th hour workers
that we are receiving God's grace and generosity. Then two weeks ago, we talked
about how you have the picture of the prodigal son or really prodigal sons. And
how there was a father owner of a house who showed both love to the rebellious
and then the religious and how rebellion and religion don't save us. But rather
it's only through Jesus Christ that we can be saved and our identity is secured.
And then last week, we took a look at the story of the good Samaritan and how
Jesus really is the great Samaritan. And then he gives us the picture that the
best time to meet a need is now and that when we love and serve people, that's
not a way to life, but rather that is a way of life that we can go and meet the
needs of the people around us. How religion really ask the question, who is my
neighbor? And by assumption then is asking well, then who is my, not my
neighbor? In other words, who can I ignore or judge or leave out? And while
religion asks, who is my neighbor? Jesus simply says to be a good neighbor and
that you can meet the needs of the people around you. Now, these are some great
stories that are called parables and a parable can be defined as a practical
story. Jesus tells to illustrate a, a spiritual truth. The root word of parable
means to bring alongside or to a line. And so you take an invisible spiritual
reality and explain it through a practical everyday story or illustration. And
we get a little bit of insight into the heart and character of God. And then we
describe the Kingdom of God as really God work uh is really the power of God
working through the people of God. Now, kingdoms were really a common
understanding and place and, and way of ruling in the time that the Bible was
written. And so when Jesus came and kept preaching on the coming of the Kingdom
of God, they thought Jesus was coming to become a physical king. Now one day he
will return and he will physically reign. But the kingdom that God was speaking
to at the time was a spiritual one. And so when he died, he died as payment for
our sins. And when he rose, he defeated sin and death itself so that those who
believe in Him, that believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior will be saved, have
eternal life and then a meaningful life now. And so now they live in a spiritual
kingdom. And so we live in this age that's seen as an already and not yet, Jesus
already came, Jesus already died. Jesus already rose again. And so the Kingdom
of God, the power of God is already working here on earth, but it's not yet
fully realized, which means that while there is good in the world there is also
still evil, there is still Brokenness, there is still sadness and pain and one
day God will eventually deal with all those things. Jesus is returning uh that
Satan will be cast into like a fire for all of eternity. And there will be,
there will be no more death, no more pain, no more suffering. But in the
meantime, every day between now and that day is an opportunity for somebody else
to get saved somebody else to come to know him. And so we in a sense, get to be
the people of the kingdom. And then we get to bring this message and bring that
with us. That's why when we pray the Lord's prayer, prayer, we pray thy kingdom
come, thy will be done. And so when you pray that you're praying a little bit of
heaven, a little bit of God, a little bit of God's kingdom into your
relationships, into your marriage, into your parenting, into your workplace. And
while most of the parables in the gospels deal with the character and heart of
God himself, today's parable actually is about you and me. It's actually a
description of who we are as people and our role and responsibility within the
kingdom of God. And so if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down,
that your faith is bigger than you, your faith is bigger than you. We live in a
culture. And in a time where we get mixed messaging. For example, it's commonly
said, it's or has been said, famously said that it's not what your country can
do for you, but what you can do for your country, right? Like sacrifice,
freedom, let's go. But then we also want everything personalized to us, right?
That's why we have restaurants, you know, you have in and out or you want your
burger put this way together at Chipotle. I want this, I don't want this right?
And you go through down and everything we want is customized. And now we watch
entertainment that's customized to us. We have shows and movies recommended to
us when we order things on Amazon that get there within like 10 minutes, which
isn't crazy that it can happen. I, I swear not only does Amazon listen to you,
it knows your thoughts, you can think of something and then all of a sudden it
will appear in a sponsored ad the next day and it's crazy how it does that. But
we want everything personalized to us. And so out of that vein, people often
then say, oh, well, religion, faith. That's, that's me. That's, that's my thing.
It's a private thing. It's a private matter. No, that kind of makes sense on the
surface but not in reality. Here's what I mean by that. Uh take your
relationships, for example, if my marriage, there are aspects of a marriage that
are private, right? But if we went in public and I never acknowledged my wife as
my spouse in public. There would be problems, wouldn't there? Like, if every
time I left the house I took off my ring and just set it down and say, don't
worry, hun the marriage is private. So no one will know that I'm married out in
public. How do you think that would go? Not good. Right. Like if you're married,
you're married, like, it changes your aspect, it changes how you speak to
people, it changes what you do, how you treat somebody. Same thing when it comes
to your faith. If your faith is foundation to your being, then there is no such
thing as a private faith. There are private disciplines. There are moments that
you have for God that's between you and God. But really your faith should be
seen in all areas of your life because it is a foundation on upon which you
stand. Another way to think of. It is personal. Influence creates public impact.
If something influences you at your core, then you're gonna change how you treat
people and you can influence from afar, but you really can't impact someone
until up close, kind of boots on the ground, kind of stuff. Like what are you
doing in the relationships that you have with people that you can make a change
or make a difference? That if you're really saying that a relationship with God
changes you, then doesn't it make sense that your relationships then would
change. You know, faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone. You know,
if, if someone sets you free from a prison cell, the door is flung wide open and
they come back the next day and you're still just chilling in the cell and
you're like, what's going on? You're like, whoa, no, trust me. I'm free. I
really am. But I just don't want to go anywhere. Like no, if, if you've been set
free from a prison cell, you wanna be as far away from that prison cell as
possible and to live free in the same way, if, if Christ has set you free, then
shouldn't we be people who live as free? People who live with joy that we
proclaim about. And so we're gonna take a look where Jesus describes the kingdom
and I wanna give you some context before we jump into the passage together. It's
found in the gospel account of Matthew who is a tax collector and turned
disciple of Jesus. And if you don't have a Bible, we actually have some nice new
ESV Bibles out there. We'd love to give you one just as a gift to you today.
Verses will also be up on the screen. But in Matthew chapter five, really, this
story of Salt and Light. This parable is found in what's called the sermon on
the Mount. This is the most famous sermon of Jesus, right? They didn't have
podcasting back then. But this would be the one that would have gone viral. Ok.
But ironically enough, it really wasn't a massive mountain that was there. It
was really more of a rolling hill. But sermon on the rolling hill didn't really
catch on so much. And, and I would go as far to say that it's not so much the
location of the message, but the weight and the meaning of it. And so while it's
called the sermon on the mount and has been for 2000 years, I think it's more
accurately described as the mountain of the sermon because there is so much
material here, there's so much depth and richness to it. Imagine just a mountain
with, filled with, with gold that you have to go in and mine. There is so much
power and freedom and truth found in the words of Jesus, it can change your
life. And so the story is in the middle of that. And the second thing is that I
want to take note of is that not only is this found in the sermon on the mount
or what I would call the mountain of the sermon is that it follows directly when
Jesus teaches the beatitudes and there's nine blessings that he says in there.
So some of the common ones there would be uh blessed is the poor in spirit. For
those inherit the kingdom of heaven or blessed are those who mourn for they will
be comforted. Blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the kingdom of God.
And it goes on and those things kinda make sense. I mean, it's flipping the
world upside down. It's seen as an upside down kingdom because in a world that
valued pride and power and oppression and strength and riches, Jesus comes in.
And also, uh I wanna make note here too when he starts the sermon on the mound,
there's this huge crowd. And in Matthew chapter five verse one, it actually
says, and Jesus sat down and began speaking to them. So he didn't speak from
this place of like, ah, you need to listen to me. He's like, OK, you know what
you want to know the meaning of life and like sits down, he says, all right,
listen, listen in, lean in and he starts teaching them. It says as the world
values one thing, let me tell you what it means to be blessed. Let me tell you
what it means to be in the kingdom of God, to be humble, to be meek, to be the
peacemakers. And all of those sound religiously good. But then one of the last
ones was blessed are those who are persecuted. I don't know if I want that one
though. Blessed are those who arrival in their name in for my name's sake and
for righteousness sake, it says, because they will be connected to those who
have come before. So the great saints of the past, but then also they will be
rewarded in heaven. And so there's this crazy picture, a huge crowd. You got the
crowd, you got the disciples. Jesus is chilling on this rolling hill. He's
speaking to them, the meaning of life. He said, here's the way of the kingdom.
Blessed is this, this, this, this this and it kind of builds on each other. In
fact, we could probably do a whole sermon series sometime in the future on that.
It's such a powerful picture. And he gets the last one, he said, blessed are the
persecuted. And it's like, wait a second. And he goes, ok, I describe for you
what the Kingdom of God is. But let me just tell you what it looks like on a
practical basis. And so this is the context which he tells his story. So he just
listed out the, the blessings blessed are the meek blessed are the poor in
spirit. Blessed are those who mourn all those things. And then he comes in, let
me tell you what, what your life will look like if you do all these things.
Verse 13 in Matthew chapter five, he says, you are the salt of the earth. But if
salt has lost its taste, how shall saltiness be restored? It is no longer good
for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. Verse 14,
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, all in the house in the same way, let your light shine before
others. So they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in
heaven. So Jesus to this crowd, to these people, the most recorded repeated
sermon of all time says you can be salt and it can be light. So let's break this
down. Why? It was so helpful? Well, salt was really used for three things.
Number one, salt preserves the good before they had refrigeration before they
had measures of keeping things when they had meat and, and foods, they would
douse it in salt because salt would preserve and, and really keep things from
decaying. And what I want you to consider in these uses for salt is what it
says, what it does and then what it assumes or implies. Ok, what it says, OK. So
it, it preserves the good. What does it do? I mean it keeps things for longer.
But what does that assume? It assumes that by on its own something is decaying,
not only preserving food, but actually, it was seen as an early antiseptic. You
know, you now we say the phrase in a negative sense like, oh you just put salt
on the wound and because it hurts, it's painful. But the reason they would put
salt on wounds back then is that it would help prevent infection. And so it
would burn a little bit, it would cattery things, but it would prevent further
decay or further spread of bacteria even today in today's age. Now, when you
think about the winter weather that comes, if you go up to Flagstaff or up north
and people put salt on the ground, why? Because it prevents the hardening or the
freezing of the ground and it keeps things, it gives traction. Ok. So it
preserves the good, the second use of salt during that time frame is that salt
adds flavor. It adds flavor. You know, they talk about, uh, you know, are, are
you a savory person or a sweet person? Right? Usually that people lean one way
or another real quick, just turn to your neighbor to say, just share with them.
Are you a sweets person or you're like a salty savory person? Ok. You can share.
I, uh, I am a both and it's probably not appropriate there, but I'm a both. I,
you give me some brownies and cookies I'm in, but it's hard to pass up some
chips and salsa, right? Like if you like, I rarely finish a meal at a restaurant
if there are chips and salsa involved because by the time the meal comes, we
finish like 10 baskets, it feels like right, like, and I feel like you even have
an a separate chips and salsa stomach. You know, because like, oh, I'm not that
hungry and then you start eating and the next thing, you know, the basket or the
bag of chips is gone. Like it's not good. Right. But, but I love it. I love it.
Well, salt, I add flavor. If you ever, now you don't want the chip that has all
the salt on it. Right. That's a little much. But if you ever had a chip that had
no salt on it, it's like, uh, it's kind of bland, right? It's like it's missing
something. And then even on food itself, not only does it add seasoning, does it
add flavor? It actually helps bring out the flavor within the food. So there's
existing flavor within food that if you put some seasoning on it, it helps bring
that together, which is awesome. Um, well, I was on vacation this summer with
family and we were staying in a little air BNB and it was a nice condo. I had a
kitchen and everything but it didn't have salt and pepper. And so we were making
food. I was like, oh, I'll just run to the store and get salt and pepper and I
was like, oh, that'll be cheap. And uh, I went to like the little gas station
right next to where we were staying and I swear they charged me like a million
dollars for like a smallest thing of salt and pepper and it's, and I looked at
the cashier, it was like, really, it costs a million dollars and they were like,
and it's like, all right, here we go. Why? Because we wanted it for the food
because without seasoning food can be very bland. I am. And so it adds flavor as
well as brings out the flavor. And so it adds flavors what it says what it does,
it brings it out. But then what does it imply? It means that without it, it
could be tasteless and bland and b OK. Now the the third thing that salt does is
that salt creates thirst. Salt creates thirst along with eating this endless
baskets of chips and salsa, you find yourself going through so many cups of
water or whatever you're drinking at the time, right? Because when you eat it,
it's delicious. But then you become very thirsty. And so what does that imply?
It implies that there is something to thirst for? Now, Jesus gave this picture
to an audience that valued salt, who people were receiving their paycheck in
forms of salt and says, you know how valuable this is, that is what you are to
me and that is what you are to this community. So what are we called to do as
Christians? Number one, we're called to preserve the good. We are living in a
decaying world. We are living in a world filled with wounds filled with things
that have goodness but is is going away when left by itself. And so as
Christians, as people of the kingdom, we can preserve the good, we can bring
healing to wounds, we can, we can preserve what is healthy. But then secondly,
we can add flavor, right? Life apart from God is flavorless and I worry a little
bit because the people in the church really, we we've got to get better at this
one, especially, right? We need to be the most fun, most joyful, most excited
people in the community. Why? Because we have the answer for eternal life. And I
just mean, in a general sense, I'm not picking on anyone in particular, I'll
include myself in this. But we go through life. We have been forgiven of our
sins. We were dead in our sins, raised again in for eternal life and for
abundance and meaning and joy and purpose. And then we come in. It's like my
father, like come on church. We gotta add some flavor in here. We got a God
whose first miracle turned water into wine. We have a God who preached when the
prodigal son return. It's steak dinner, baby. Let's go. Let's get the music
rolling. When you look at the Jewish calendar, there are festivals that go for
days and days and days because they add flavor to life. Do you add flavor into
the relationships? Do you add meaning and season? And then do you bring out the
flavor out of other people. It's not about just simply putting good stuff on
people, but rather pulling the God stuff out of people. You've been created in
the image of God. That means that everyone in your life has a God piece inside
of them. They've been wired in personality and gifting and we've been wired
differently and together we create this incredibly beautiful mosaic meal. OK?
You don't have a charcuterie board with just one item on it, right? Is there all
these different flavors, all these different tastings? It's really just an adult
version of a lunchable, but I'm in for it. And so you have these things here and
like there's this great feast that as the church, we should be able to bring the
the flavor that comes and pull the flavor out of our relationships because we
have been given the keys to the kingdom. And then the last thing about salt is
that it creates a thirst. So what you do create a thirst for the living God
because Jesus offers the woman at the well in John chapter four and then refers
to it again. And John chapter seven offers what's called living water that when
we drink of which we'll never thirst again, referring to eternity. The apostle
Peter writes a letter first Peter 315 says always be prepared to give an answer
for the hope that is within you. But if you have to be prepared to give an
answer. That means that your life begs the question. I don't know if our lives
are begging questions, right? I've shared this before but you know, when you go
to Costco and you have to show your receipt before you leave the purpose of the
receipt checker is that they, they wanna make sure that the receipt matches
what's in your cart, right? You wanna know what's already been paid for is in
your cart? I think the world is like that they're checking the receipt of
Christians, right? Oh, it says here you've been giving blessing but I see
bitterness in your cart, right? It says here, joy has been paid for, but I don't
see any joy in there. Now, the beautiful thing is that God works through all
people and we we see this because God used a hated man like Matthew to write the
letter that we're talking about. And so he's not saying perfection. He's not
saying be perfect, but our lives should create a thirst for God. Our lives
should be different because as the church, as people of the kingdom, as people
of faith, it's not just something we hang on to in our private moments of the
private days, but through those private moments, we are strengthened so that we
can go out and live publicly to make an impact, to preserve the good, to add
flavor to people's lives, to pull flavor out of their lives and then to create a
thirst that can only be answered by God. Now he doesn't stop there. He continues
on and says, yes, your life is like salt. But then he says, but it's a warning,
don't lose your saltiness. In this case, it's good to be salty, right? Use it as
slang, not so much now because as soon as parents use the phrase, then it's no
longer cool, which is fine, right? But like 5, 10 years ago, right? You don't
wanna be salty. He's like, oh, quit being salty and all this stuff. Well, in
this case, I really want you to be salty, like God wants you to be salty. He
says, but don't lose, don't lose it. Don't lose that taste. Don't lose that
flavor. I don't think he's talking about salvation when you get into it because
it's really a parable. It's just the way of life and he's just really giving us
a picture of it. But how does salt actually lose its effectiveness? Well, it
loses its effectiveness when it becomes contaminated or diluted. And I wonder as
a church both here locally expressed through Mission Grove, but then globally
are at our large capital C church. I wonder if there are spaces where we have
become really contaminated or diluted, that we have lost our effectiveness and
our voice in the community because we're really not that different than the
person next to us, right? We're not really preserving anything. We're not adding
flavor. Right. If you've ever thought to yourself or had someone say, you know,
well, I wanna be a Christian. I don't want to be like that guy. Don't be like
that girl. Sadly, Christians are probably the number one thing that keeps people
from Christ. But before we get there, it starts with self. Right. We don't want
a church of hypocrites. But if we didn't allow hypocrites into the church, no
one would come because we all have areas in our lives where we judge. But let's
not be that, let's not, don't be the person that, that keeps people from Christ,
right? We're called to be different. That doesn't mean you have to be weird. Ok?
Some people are like, oh, I'm being persecuted now. You're just odd. You know,
you know, you're just mean, you know, you're not being persecuted. Just don't be
a jerk, you know, like, like, like we love them like, oh man, I was like, uh I
don't know, you know what if we were, the place that comes and thankfully
through the power of God can be renewed in our saltiness, renewed, in our
flavor, renewed in our preservatives and said, I know the world is decay, but
I'm gonna preserve what I can. I know that the wor world is tasteless, but I'm
gonna add flavor of the joy of the Lord. I know that the world is craving, but
what they're really craving at their soul is God. And then Jesus gives this
other picture and I love that Jesus speaks to the senses because one is on
taste, right? And feeling. But next he goes to light which can be seen. Light
does 1000 different things. But let me just share three of them with you. First
light illuminates, light illuminates, you know, Children growing up, growing up,
all of them at some point are scared of the dark and let's be real. Even adults,
sometimes we're scared of the dark, right? I mean, for different reasons, right?
Like when you're a kid, you don't like the dark because you don't want monsters
to come get you as an adult, you don't like the dark because you don't want to
bang your knee on something when you get up to use the bathroom in the middle of
the night. Right? And you laugh because it's true. Right? All the bladders of
Children anyway. That's weird. Too much information anyway. Um, so what you do
typically? Right, as a dad, I say, ok, good night, sweetie. I love you daddy.
What if there's monsters? And I say, wow, you'll be the appetizer and I'll be in
the other room. So I'm I'm fine. Good night and close the door. Hey, you put on
a night light, right? So that you can see when you can see things are less
scary. Ok. Now they make the night lights where like they don't come on unless
the lights are off and that's really the picture of illuminating. You are
illuminating the path Jesus. This is a big deal. Jesus calls himself. I am the
light of the world in John 812. But in this case, he actually looks at the
disciples, looks at the people and says you are the light of the world, you and
all your Brokenness and all your issues. You are the light of the world. Now,
ours is a reflected light, right? We're not the sun, we're the moon. In this
case, we're reflecting the light from that and then illuminates there. It says
in the Psalms that your word is a lamp unto my feet. Well, if you have a lamp to
your feet, that assumes two things, one that you're on a path and then two that
you're surrounded by darkness and in a world that is increasingly darker, the
Gospel is actually shining brighter and I think we need it more than ever. So
light illuminates. Number two light captivates. You are looking at me right now,
looking as lights are on the stage. If the lights are, are cut right, then you
can't see something but your attention goes to where the light is. But what's
interesting is that when Jesus says shine your light, he says shine your light
before men similar to light the path for people. He doesn't say shine your light
at men. Because if you give a flashlight to a child with siblings nearby, what
will they do in under 30 seconds immediately, shine it in their eyes
immediately. Right? Or if you're the one kid, every family's got one, you shine
it in your own eyes like, oh, right. But Jesus doesn't say shine your light at
men. All right, we like to do that as a church like God sin. Ah, it's like, oh,
man, calm down, shine your light before men. And then the third thing it says
that, that light radiates. My first stop in ministry world was, I was a youth
pastor in a little town called Cedarville, Ohio. And I just, uh, read this verse
and I loved it so much as well as it was the Newsboys Christian band og days. If
you grew up in the church, like, you know, the original Newsboys, they swapped
guys out for years now. But like the original ones, you know, they had songs
like shine. You know, it was great. It's a great lyrics shine. Make him wonder
what you got, make you wish that I was really hoping he'd sing it with me. But
that's ok. I was ready for it. Nathan was with me. Ok. That's your homework to
go listen to that. Um, but we would sing these songs and about Shining and I
read this verse and it was shining. So we actually called the first student
group. My first ministry I ever led was called Radio Eight. And the reason I
like that and, and we, and we had the little symbol radio eight like, oh, it's
cool. And then we had the thing, it was like gospel grow and go and like all
this fun stuff. But the reason I like the concept of radiating is that it's not
only visible light, but it's actually you can feel it light like it emits it to
where you can actually feel it to your core. Think of it this way. If you are at
a campsite and you see a lamppost far away or you see a campfire, what are you
gonna be drawn to in a cold evening? You're gonna be drawn to the campfire
because not only can you see the light but you can actually feel the light. You
can feel the warmth that comes and that's why we get a chance as the church to
go and radiate that light to shine it before men. But then they can actually
feel the warmth that comes from knowing Christ. And he actually shares three
different images and three different pictures that goes from the large scale
into the most intimate moment because it says here that you're called to shine
your light around the world. Then throughout the city and then in the home, he
says you are the light of the world that's pretty powerful. It's pretty
expansive. Then he says a city on a hill cannot be hidden says you notice that
city and this is before electricity before all of these things. And so even just
the candlelight or a campfire or a torch was noticeable, but then it gets even
more personal and it says even in the home, you don't put a basket over a lamp
stand or rather you shine it so that everybody in the home can experience that.
So let me ask you, is there a space where you need to shine? I think
collectively as a church, we can shine throughout the whole world. We've been
called to go and make and multiply disciples to reach the world with the good
news of the gospel. But I think sometimes you think, oh wow, that's massive.
That's overwhelming. So I can't do anything. But then he gets a little more
narrow and says, hey, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. What would it look like
for the city? This town, these suburbs, this valley to see the light of Christ
shining through Mission Grove church. And if you're sitting there thinking, OK,
but where do I start? Let me just ask, are you bringing light into your home
into the most intimate relationships with spouse, with kids, with friends?
Because our chance right now as a church is to shine, it's not your job to res
to control how people respond. But your job is to shine. We can't be afraid of
that because the world will be changed by it because when they see it, they're
not gonna look back at you and be like, whoa, nice lights, bro. It's, it, it's
not like, you know, you're the person holding the spotlight onto the stage.
Right? Unless your kid is like the spotlight holder, no one notices that person
in the play. You know, like no one goes. Wow. Did you see the spotlight worker
in that play? I mean, it's amazing. Right. But that's our job. We shine the
light, we reflect it so that people then can give glory to God. The true light.
See, I said at the beginning of this morning, I said, your faith is bigger than
you. It's because you have a job to do and that faith alone saves. But faith
that saves is never alone. And and half brother of Jesus James wrote this in
James chapter two verse 18. He says, someone will say to you, you have faith and
I have works. So show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my
faith by my works. What he's saying is be salt and light. And so here's why I
would go even bigger is that it's not just your faith that's bigger than you.
Our faith is bigger than us. Mission Grove is not just simply about the people
in these seats, but it's about all the people who are not yet in these seats.
It's in the empty seat next to you. Is it to the coworker and the family down at
the cul de sac? It's a conversation. It's a text message because this is so much
bigger than us. Next week is a great opportunity as we have these cards just to
pass out just to text, to invite someone. And so I challenge you to go and to do
that because this message is too good not to share and you don't have to be
perfect. You don't have to have a seminary degree. You don't have to have your
life all together and all figured out. You simply have to be salt and light to
the people around you, right? Like man, John, I'm messed up. How can I invite
someone to church when my life isn't right? Like use it to your advantage. Go
out and be like, hey man, you should come to church. They even let me in, you
know, right? When you allow the gospel to change you to change how you speak,
what you watch, what you see your attitude, your actions, you start to preserve
the good. You start to add flavor in the meaningless things of life. You create
that thirst that only can be answered by God and then we shine our light. Yes,
we're broken. Yes, we're messed up, but we can shine, we can share, we can
encourage because our world needs it. And God's invited us into the process. He
looked down and all of our Brokenness and all of our issues he looked at, I
mean, think about it. He looked at Peter, who was gonna betray him, who's gonna
fall, who's gonna mess up? And he knew that ahead of time. And he said, you are
the sultan. You are the light. And 2000 years later, God's looking at us,
invites us into his kingdom, invites us into a relationship and says, I know the
world's dark, but that's why I sent you. I know the world is bland but that's
why I sent you. Let's go and be so night this week. Will you pray with me dear
heavenly Father? Thank you for all that you've given to us that in our
Brokenness, God, you save us, you've blessed us, you've given us forgiveness of
sins, joy, and meaning and purpose. So let us go and be salt and light to the
world that desperately needs you. We pray for every single person that's in this
room or watching online or listening later. But God, then we pray for everyone
who's not here yet that we think the best is yet to come. So let us reach this
world, let us reach this city and let us start in our home, shining our lights
for you. We love you, God and your son and we pray amen.