Good morning, Please be seated. We're in Epiphany Tide, and this
is when the church celebrates. The light of.
Christ shining in the darkness, all of our.
Texts. This morning are about the light
shining in the darkness and this epiphany.
We're doing a short sermon series on from Matthew's Gospel
on spreading the Kingdom to remember Our Calling as
ambassadors of Jesus. You'll find the Gospel lesson
which we'll be looking at together in the church.
Bible on page. 760 it's Matthew. Chapter 5 let.
Me pray as we begin. Thank you Almighty God that you.
Speak to us through Your word, We praise You for it.
Your word is marvelous and wonderful and full of life, full
of instruction and wisdom. Teach our hearts.
This morning what you would have us understand and guide our.
Steps. As we go from this.
Place give us courage to live faithfully according to what you
teach us. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.
So today's. Lesson from Matthew. 5 is a very
brief excerpt. From the Sermon on the Mount and
in it Jesus gives us 2 vivid images.
Of how his disciples will. Spread his Kingdom.
We're going to talk about. Both of those images.
But before we do, let me set the context.
For what Jesus is. Doing and saying here.
It's the early days of Jesus's. Ministry, his campaign, and
we're in the north of Israel, in the region of the Sea of Galilee
and what the prophets long. Foretold has.
Begun to unfold in Roman. Occupied Galilee.
It's along the Viamaris. The way of the sea the prophets
foretold. That something would happen
there, and now it seems to be happening with Jesus.
He's come, He's preaching, He's healing.
He's. Casting out demons and he's
calling. Disciples to follow.
Him and everyone is wondering could this?
Be. The Son of David, the Messiah
King that we've been long waiting for.
And what Jesus does next certainly confirms it.
He leads. The.
Crowd from down by the sea. Of Galilee, up, up, up.
The mountain up Mount Aremos, as it's sometimes called, and he
leads them up. To a place where he is able to.
Sit and teach this enormous crowd and he gathers.
His disciples. Around him and he begins to
proclaim to them what is now called the Sermon on the Mount.
And that's a, that's a particularly unfortunate.
Title because especially. For us here in the United.
States because we. Have a constitutionally
determined separation of church and state, and we know how to.
Sort the word. Sermon and the word sermon goes
in the church bucket and not in the state bucket.
But what Jesus is? Doing is something very
monarchical. Very regal.
Very. Kingly.
Because he is. Proclaiming a law.
So this. Is a sermon, but it is a sermon.
That is all. About government.
It's all about law. And he is crossing the boundary
from church into state. And.
This is just what you would expect a new king to do, isn't
it? And here's another confirmation
that Jesus is the long-awaited Messianic King.
His law is. The Sermon on the Mount, and it
is. All fresh.
Teaching and yet. It's all very.
Familiar. There's actually nothing new.
About what Jesus says. In fact, he goes on to.
Say that he. Has no intention of abolishing
the former law that. Is the law of the old.
Testament, he says. Instead, he plans.
To keep it to uphold. It and to.
Fulfill it. Through his reign only the Son
of God. Would do that.
Only the son of. God could do that.
And as Jesus begins to. Speak.
There's. Even more good news?
His law overflows with. Blessings.
With Beatitudes, that's how his law.
Begins. Like God had.
Promised through Moses to future kings.
Of Israel, if they kept God's law.
But instead, Israel's kings had turned away from God.
They had fallen into sin and instead of blessings.
Curses had. Fallen upon them, not least of
which was the Roman occupation, but now.
Here. Is the Messiah the son of David,
the long-awaited King, and he is proclaiming God's law?
Afresh. And promising not.
Curses, but beatitudes? Blessings once again.
So far so good. So Jesus calls these blessings
beatitudes, but they're. Surprising.
They're not what one would. Expect, he says there's.
Blessing upon blessing upon blessing.
For God's people. Who mourn, who are poor in
spirit, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.
Doesn't sound like the good life, does it?
Everybody knows that the. Blessed are those who are rich.
And happy and stuffed with good food and drink, right?
Those are the blessed at. Least in the.
Cutthroat secular world. In which we Live Today.
But Jesus Beatitudes. Turn the world upside down
because. That's what his.
Reign is going to do. The law that he is.
Proclaiming is setting the stage.
For what he. Will do as king as he turns the
world upside down. Before he was born, his mother
sang a song. It was a prophetic song called
the Magnificat. And in that song she sang that
this king that she was about. To give birth to Will.
Bring down the mighty from their Thrones and exalt those of
humble estate. He will fill.
The hungry with good things and the rich he will send empty
away. In other words, the Messiah King
is going to turn the tables on those.
Who've rejected God? And who currently live luxurious
lives apart from God living on the backs?
Of the faithful poor. Good things will come to God's
people in due time at the great marriage supper of the Lamb, but
for now? While the world.
Is contested territory King Jesus?
Blesses those who. Follow him in spite of their.
Poverty. In.
Spite of their. Hunger and thirst, King.
Jesus blesses. Those who join the resistance
and. Suffer for their.
Allegiance to him, and here's how he sums it up at the end of
his. Beatitudes, the last Beatitude
pulls it all together, he says. Blessed are you.
When others revile you and persecute you, and utter all
kinds of evil against you falsely on my account, rejoice
and be. Glad for your reward is great.
In heaven for so. They persecuted the prophets.
Who came before? You, if you follow Jesus
faithfully, you will suffer because of it.
But don't think that God is angry with you.
You are eternally. Blessed to have.
Jesus as your King. You will live.
Forever with him in the Kingdom come and.
As Jesus. Goes on to say.
You will have the. Extraordinary privilege in the
present. To serve him to be a part of
what? He is doing right now, and
that's what the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.
Is all about. It's the law of.
How he is going to rule? It's the.
Plan of his administration and the Messiah King has chosen you.
To be a part of his. Administration to.
Play a strategic role. In his reign as king.
As with every other. Job in politics, this means
that. You will have.
Chosen a side and you are going to make enemies as well as
friends. Others will revile you, he says.
They will persecute. You and they.
Will utter all. Kinds of evil against you.
Even so, it's the opportunity of a lifetime.
It's worth it. Because the king has.
Called you. Into his service in his campaign
to reclaim the world from greed, from gluttony, from abuse, he's
reclaiming the world and remaking it.
As a place of peace. And harmony under his reign and
the way that it begins, the way he intends to.
Use you. In a nutshell.
Is salt. And light.
So looking at Matthew. 5. 13 I'd like you to remember that King
Jesus intends. To use you.
To preserve and. Flavor his world.
Verse 13. You are actually second person
plural here. Y'all are the salt of the earth.
Prior to the invention of modern
refrigeration, people used. Salt as a preservative.
Against decay because. Salt draws water out of foods.
And makes them too dry for microbes to grow.
So when Jesus says. You are the salt of the.
Earth, he's saying something not only about you.
But also about the world. He's he's saying he's intending
to use you as salt on the rotting flesh.
Of the world. The reason why the world needs
the church according to Jesus. Is because the world.
Is like raw meat. It's filled with.
Death and decay, but thankfully we are uniquely equipped to do
something about it. Jesus sends us in to.
Cover over that. Decay and to.
Stop the spread. Like EMTs who were sent to the
scene of an accident, most people want to get away.
They want to flee. They don't want to be around all
of of that blood and mess. But the EMTs arrive, and they.
Rush towards. The accident they.
Rush towards people. In need, they come to cover over
them, to aid them and bring healing.
And Jesus calls. Us to do.
The same thing in our sick and dying world.
Early Christians did this famously when the.
Plagues broke out. And those who weren't Christians
fled, and the Christians remained behind, sacrificing
their own lives to. Care for those with the plague.
Who were dying? Today, many of you are deployed
in places of death and decay, caring for a dying world in
Jesus name. And you're probably suffering
for it. Jesus.
Said that would. Happen.
Don't be discouraged, King. Jesus delights.
In your saltiness. Blessed are you Beatitudes.
Upon you and. Jesus celebrates.
What you are doing? But he says.
Verse 13 if. Salt has lost its taste.
How shall? Its saltiness.
Be restored it. Is no longer good for anything
except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
Today we're able to purchase salt that's.
Almost 100% pure, but it wasn't so in ancient times when ocean.
Water evaporates it. Has a lot of impurities and it's
just it's not all sodium. Chloride that's left.
As salt, there are many impurities.
It's about like. 85% sodium chloride.
Or table salt. And the remaining 15% could have
things that are toxic to human consumption.
And in ancient Palestine, the closer you get.
To the Dead Sea the. Worse, that percentage gets
something like 15% of salt from the dead.
Sea is. Edible, and most of it is toxic
one way or another. So in those days, impure.
Salt would go. Bad over time as the sodium
chloride washed out and the impurities remained, and
whenever that happened, the salt did more harm than good and so.
As Jesus said it would. Be better used on the road than
in the kitchen, and in the same way we can become so
contaminated. By the world.
We can become so impure. That.
That we no longer have any preservative effect in the
world. Think, for example, of all the
abuse scandals in the church in recent years.
People who were supposed to be. Preserving the world from death,
but instead became contaminated by the world and turned into
predators themselves. They lost their.
Saltiness and we're no longer good for anything.
But Rd. dust. The scandal isn't the only way
that we can lose our saltiness. What's more common, much more
common, is when we choose to play it safe in the eyes.
Of the world we choose to preserve our.
Standing instead of preserving the world from decay in a world.
That absolutely delights. In rebellion against God, we're
often tempted. To opt out of the risk.
Of being salty in order to save our own skins.
But remember how Jesus introduced?
His law Blessed are those who. Blend in comfortably.
With the world, he said. Not at all.
Blessed. Are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, not those who blend in, and again Jesus said.
Blessed are you. When others.
Revile you. And persecute you and utter all
kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
And then his very next point. Is to say you are the salt of
the earth. Blessed are you when they.
Revile you. You are the salt of the earth.
That's the context. That's why he.
Said don't lose your saltiness. He knew that opposition would
come and he warned us in advance.
So today. If you hear his voice, take up
your. Cross and follow the King.
Friends and neighbors, coworkers and classmates around us will
die apart from God's EMTs at the scene of the accident.
Take the. Risk be the.
Salt that brings them to. Jesus the Savior.
King, Let's look at the next verse.
Chapter 5 Verse. 14 and as we look at.
This I'd like. For you to remember that King
Jesus intends to. Use you to light the way.
To him. Chapter 5 Verse. 14 says you.
Are the light of the world. King.
Jesus poured out his. Spirit upon His Church, so that
his disciples might shine like. Stars with his light.
If you want to know what this should.
Look like. Just think of all.
The ways that Jesus. Is the light himself in the?
Gospels wherever Jesus. Went.
His light. Shone in a way that brought.
Both. Discomfort and comfort, and
that's instructive. For us, the light of.
His presence exposed sinful thoughts and actions that tend
to flourish in the darkness. People got.
Angry with Jesus routinely. Because he.
Caught them in the act. Yet He kept reminding everyone
that God prefers mercy over judgement, and He kept inviting
them to repent of their sins and follow him, turning back to God
on Good Friday. Jesus's light.
Went out on the cross, but on Easter, the son.
Of God rose. And his light shone more
brightly than ever. So in US.
The light of Christ should expose.
Sin and evil likely causing people around us discomfort,
but. Also it doesn't.
Stop there, and we can't stop. There as well the light of
Christ also. Points the way to.
Jesus or it? Should point the.
Way to Jesus. And then through US.
The light of. Christ should point people to
Him to provide them comfort for their discomfort.
Comfort. That will last.
For all eternity. Look again at verse 14.
Just as Jesus did with salt, so also would.
Light he added a condition to our vocation as light of the.
World, he said. 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 in 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.
There are two lessons here for us in this warning.
First of all. Just as we shouldn't lose our
saltiness, so also we mustn't. Hide the light.
Within us, hide it under a bushel.
No got to let it shine right that's.
What we teach. Our kids to sing, it's very
important. For us as adults.
To think the same way, Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said a community
of Jesus which seeks to. Hide itself has ceased to.
Follow him. Don't.
Hide the light, but there's a. Second lesson here that I find
very encouraging. Jesus didn't.
Say that a. City on a hill shouldn't be
hidden. He said.
That it cannot be hidden, and that's certainly the case if
you've ever been to this. Part of.
Palestine down by the. Shore of the.
Sea of Galilee and walked up this mountain to the place.
Where it's very likely Jesus. Taught from because on that
mountaintop you can see not only down.
To the sea. Below and the the fisherman's
boats and all of that. But you can also.
See. Up on the next mountain, the
city Zephat, that is up on that mountain, it's unmistakable.
It can't be hidden. You can see.
It very. Clearly from there, especially
at night, it can't be hidden. It's in Plainview for all to.
See. And in the same way, if you are
genuinely a Christian, then you are the.
Light of the world, you. Can't be hidden.
Try as you might your. Faith will out you.
Let it shine verse 15 Jesus says, nor do people light a lamp
and put it under a basket. And the Greek.
Word he uses. For lamp, here is a particular
kind of lamp. It's that clay.
Version of the Aladdin's lamp. Kind of looks like a gravy boat,
you know, and has a little ring on the side that you can put
your finger through and you carry it around like this.
That's the kind of lamp that he's describing.
He wasn't talking about something.
Heavy. You know, like a table lamp
sitting in the corner or a floor lamp or something.
He's talking about something small that can be carried
around. It's like a tool.
It's like a hand tool that you can take with you to different
places, and I think that's a very important way of of
conceptualizing what he's saying to us.
This is a picture of our. Relationship with him he intends
to use. Us as salt.
And light he intends to to. Carry us.
Around and to put us where he wants.
Us he holds. Us in his hand as he moves from
place. To place as he pleases.
To shine his light. Where he chooses because.
He is the king and he wants to shine his light in places.
And so it's a joy to wake up every morning and say, here I
am, Lord, I want to shine for you.
Where will you? Shine me can't be hidden.
He puts us on a stand here for a little while to light up.
The place. Where he's working, then he
moves us somewhere else, another place of his choosing in order
to shine the light where he wants it.
And on it goes. For the rest of our lives.
Shining for Jesus. So what no one does with a
candle, Jesus won't. Do with you?
He will not. Light you, bless you.
And put you under. A wastebasket.
Nobody does that. Jesus won't do it either.
Rather, he points. Us like flashlights.
Wherever he wants to shine his light.
So in closing. Let's recap.
King Jesus came to. Set our upside.
Down world, right when he began his public service as king, he
proclaimed a new. Law which deploys us his
disciples. In mission.
As salt. And light, but it's not really a
new. Law because.
God made nearly the same promise to Abraham many centuries.
Before he. Said that he would multiply his
offspring. As the stars, the lights of the.
Heaven, and that's the sand or the salt along the sea, and now
God. Calls us to be a part of this.
Great mission. So don't hide your light under a
bushel. You can't actually.
Rather, as Jesus says, let. It shine.
Before others that. They may see your good works and
give glory. To your father.
Who is in heaven? And Saint Paul follows up when
he writes. As we heard in the New Testament
lesson, do everything without grumbling or complaining, that
you may be blameless and innocent children of God without
blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation
among whom you shine as lights in the world.
Hold fast to that word of life. Jesus is the rightful.
King over all creation. He has.
Chosen to. Use us.
In his administration. As salt.
And life, we mustn't keep it a secret.
Go forth into the world to shine.
As his lights. Rejoicing in the risen Christ.
Let's pray. Thank you Almighty God.
For the gift. Of your son Jesus, thank you for
saving us through him, and thank you for using us to turn this
world upside down. With his love.
And his light. Give us the courage to live this
we. Pray in Jesus name, Amen.