Does Your Life Make a Difference?

I don't know if you guys have read that. Maybe the younger generation hasn't, but there was a cartoon series called Peanuts that has Snoopy and Charlie Brown in it. And in this particular Peanuts cartoon, I read of Peppermint Patty, the really boisterous, like, tomboyish girl in the cartoon talking to Charlie Brown. And she said to him, "Guess what, Chuck? The first day of school and I got sent to the principal's office."

"It was all your fault, Chuck." And the next scene, Charlie Brown replies, "My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?" In the next scene, she says, "You're my friend, aren't you, Chuck?"

"You should have been a better influence on me." Now that's a bit of a harsh call, right, from Peppermint Patty saying that her bad actions were influenced by someone else not stepping in. But in a sense, she is right in saying that Charlie Brown has an influence on her regardless. And this morning, I want us to look at the fact that as Christians, we have a great deal of influence on people and situations around us. I don't know if you've experienced this at work or school, but as soon as someone hears that you are a Christian, their eyes are on you like a hawk.

They're watching every step you make. They're watching every word you say, every decision you make. There's a story of a pastor who was building a wooden trellis to support a climbing vine, and as he was pounding away, he noticed a little boy watching him. The youngster didn't say a word, so the preacher kept on working thinking that the boy would leave, but he didn't. So pretty chuffed about his work, he thought maybe it was being admired by this little boy.

So the pastor finally said, "Well, son, trying to pick up a few pointers on gardening, are you?" "No." He replied, "I'm just waiting to hear what a preacher says when he hits his thumb with a hammer." This morning we're going to be looking at a teaching of Jesus himself that he gave regarding the idea that we as Christians will be an influence in this life, in this world. Not simply passing through, but an influence.

Let's have a look at Matthew chapter five. Matthew five. It's the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, and I want to read from verse one. But really, what we're going to be looking at is verses 13 to 16. But to get a bit of an understanding of the context, let's start at verse one.

Matthew five, verse one. "Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.'" So far, our reading. Question I want to ask this morning is, does our church make a difference? Does our life make a difference? And if it does, what difference do you make?

We've just had a new deacon installed. A deacon that would act on behalf of this church, serve the church, and be an influence for positive change in the lives of people. From Matthew five, I want us to have a look at some of the explicit implications of what Jesus is saying and apply it to how we live. From this text this morning, we see three points that I want us to look at. Three points regarding the Christian life.

Firstly, that as Christians, we are a preserving influence. That we are a preserving influence. Secondly, that we are a visible influence. And thirdly, that we are an influence to the world. Every few months, you might know, we have a service in the evening called Salt and Light, and we call it that based on the text right here.

And based on the fact that Jesus said that his disciples would be salt and light to the world. They are incredibly vivid metaphors and sum up so much teaching in this image. And so I want us to have a look at that a bit this morning. Firstly, Christians are a preserving influence. These days we may actually miss the value of salt.

Like, it is on the other side of the spectrum now where we have to devalue it because it's actually really, really bad for our diets. We have too much of it. We may miss the point or the value of salt. The Romans in Jesus' times and many other ancient societies of that time really valued salt. In fact, Roman soldiers received some of their pay in salt.

The Roman soldiers received some of their pay in salt. Now imagine bringing home a bag of salt for your wife at the end of a hard day's labour. But some have said that our saying "he's not worth his salt" comes from that. To those listening to Jesus as he preached, "salt of the earth" would have actually come across as something really valuable, a valuable metaphor. They may not have understood the fullness of what he meant, but they would have understood clearly that "salt of the earth" would have been something very special and valuable.

And this is for a particular reason. Another ancient society, the Jews of the Bible, for example, would make a covenant, make a prominent promise, make a contract with someone else by using salt. So let's say me and Jason were going to make a deal with one another. Instead of signing on a dotted line that we might do today, they would grab a pinch of salt, and they would throw it across the other person's shoulder. Pinch of salt, throw it across the other person's shoulder.

And this was called the covenant of salt. The covenant of salt. Why was this used? Again, it was metaphorical to say that we're going to preserve this agreement. This agreement is not going to rot or decay.

The salt is going to keep it pure. The salt is going to keep it lasting. Some of us actually here may remember parents or grandparents who used salt for this very same purpose of preserving something, vegetables. I think gherkins are really salty as well, the idea? So gherkins, those cucumbers, are preserved.

We have silverside, I think, also salted. So a lot of these things, salamis, those sort of things, preserved with salt. When Jesus calls us salt of the earth, he's saying among other things that Christians are a preserving influence on the world. Now, what does that mean? As salt preserves food from rotting, so Christians would preserve against moral and spiritual spoilage in the world.

The influence of Christians serves to restrain evil. Micah 6:8 sums up this preserving quality saying that Christians are to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God. Christianity, in other words, holds back or even pushes back against the tide of sin that seeks to be unjust, that seeks to be unmerciful. Like salt had a preserving effect on food, so Christians have a preserving effect on the world. That's why Jesus says this in the context of these beatitudes where he talks about blessed are the peacemakers, the ones who restore peace.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are those who are merciful. These are the characteristics of being a salty person, being a preservative in society. And when Christians, friends, get it right, when Christians get this right and begin to express their Christianity through their lifestyle, society cannot help but be changed. Society cannot help but be changed.

An example of this was written by Martin Lloyd-Jones, a great preacher of the twentieth century, and he reflected on the life of John Wesley in England in the seventeen hundreds. This is what he writes. He says, "Most competent historians, whether they are Christian or otherwise, most competent historians are agreed in saying that what undoubtedly saved England from a revolution such as that was experienced in France, the French Revolution, at the end of the eighteenth century was nothing but the evangelical revival brought about by the preachings of such people as John Wesley. This was not because anything was done directly, but because masses of individuals had become Christians and were living a better life and had a higher outlook. The whole political situation, therefore, was affected, and the great acts of parliament which were passed in that century were mostly due to the fact that there were such a large number of Christians to be found in the country."

Amazing. One country, France, breaks down into civil war, England, that was on the same stage at one point as France, survives without that. And the difference, even secular historians say, was the evangelical revival of John Wesley and others. Contrary to popular opinion, friends, the world is not evolving into some higher moral level. We're actually not getting better and nicer.

While we have certainly made some amazing technological advances, and I picked up a new iPhone yesterday, very happy with that, making the routine of life a little less difficult, a little bit more easy, we are still affected by the same moral decay that has characterised humanity since the fall of Adam and Eve. We just have to turn on our news to see that. Jesus indicates that his followers are to act as preservatives against injustice, against evil that encroaches. Salt of the earth preserves morality.

It resists evil. It sees injustice and it cannot help but go to work killing it, like salt kills germs. Secondly, while salt may be a powerful influence, we are also to be a very visible influence. Jesus said that we are the light of the world. Not only are we the salt of the earth, but also light of the world.

And in Jesus' days, where he used this image of a city on a hill, in Jesus' days, we have to remember that there was no such thing as highway streets, highway lights or street lights or anything like that. When there was a hill, or city, sorry, there was usually nothing but darkness around it at night. It was, it was pitch black around this little city. And so this city on top of a hill, you could see for miles because everything else would have been pitch black. It would have stood out so dramatically.

Perhaps you've been to the country to experience that, seeing a little house somewhere out there and seeing just a little porch light on, and you can see it for ages. Jesus said that his followers are called to have a visible impact on the world around us. So how do we do that? Well, Jesus said that we needed to make the light so visible to as many as possible by refusing to have it hidden. Make it visible to as many people as possible by refusing to allow it to be hidden.

In fact, we are to position it so that it shines on everyone. "Who lights a lamp and then puts it under a bowl?" he says. Aussie culture. I love our culture. So many good things about it.

But one of the things that I really struggle with is the idea that religion is meant to be just a really personal thing that no one touches and no one's allowed to see. Yet, more than ever, so-called faith values, philosophical values are being discussed. Talkback radio. Watch Karl Stefanovic on Today. News programmes, the Channel Ten Project, YouTube feeds, the office lunchroom, they're all venues for philosophies and religious ideas, whether they call it a religion or not, to be talked about all the time.

A person's religion is definitely not a personal thing, if it ever was. But strangely enough, it's the Christian gospel, the Christian message, which is the one which we shouldn't talk about. So we can't talk about Islam at this moment because it's such a prominent thing. We can talk about New Age philosophies and meditation. We can talk about humanistic values, having humans as the highest priority in life.

But we can't talk about the message of Christianity. Now I'm not negative about the idea that these things are being talked about at all. I love the idea that we can talk about all of these things, but what it means for us as Christians is that we don't have to be afraid to confidently talk about what we believe. We don't have to be afraid of it, even though there's an unspoken rule that we should be. Don't allow the culture of religion, aka Christianity as a personal thing, to stop you from very explicitly talking about what makes you tick and why Jesus and his love for you is important.

Jesus teaches that a person's faith is to be openly shared and lived before a watching world. It is to shine for all to see. There's a story of the US president Woodrow Wilson, who was president in the eighteen hundreds. And he told of an encounter like this. He said, "I was in a very common place sitting in a barber's chair when I became aware of a powerful personality having entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as myself to have his haircut, and he sat in the chair next to me.

Every word the man uttered, though it was not in the least bit didactic, meaning intended for teaching, every word showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with what was being done to me, I was aware that I had attended an evangelistic service because mister D. L. Moody was in that chair, one of the most prominent evangelists of the nineteenth century. I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular effect that his visit had brought upon that barbershop. They talked in undertones. They didn't know his name, but they knew something had elevated their thoughts.

And I felt that I left that place as I should have left a place of worship." Our lives should be lives that reflect something more than this world has. Our lives should be lives that reflect much more than this world has. Christians have a light to shine that is different from anything else in this world. So why put it under a bowl?

All throughout scripture, God and Jesus is connected with this metaphor of light. But then we get to one Peter 2:9, and we understand that this light is now reflected onto His people. The apostle Peter writes in one Peter 2:9 saying, "You are a chosen people. The church is a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God so that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His wonderful light." You were in that darkness, but now you've become this shining city on a hill.

Jesus said that we are to let our lights shine. And then he adds, "Shine it in such a way that those people who see your good works will glorify the Father who is in heaven." It is a reflection. Good works, amazing light. Wow.

What is that pointing to? What does that mean? I'm able to love you because God has loved me first. We shine the light of God's goodness in such a way that they are attracted to God. Therefore, in our words and in our deeds, wherein our colleagues see that we are people who care because we are people who have been cared for by Christ, the light shines.

And like a bright city on a hill, it becomes a beacon to draw and attract others in from the darkness. Lastly, I want us to see that this influence is an influence to the world. We are to influence the world around us. We are to be light and salt to the earth and to the world, Jesus said. So often we get caught up in our own righteous living, and sermons like this may get us feeling guilty or down or unworthy or maybe just downright annoyed.

Like, "K. J., come on, man. I was doing good this week. Why?" Because we feel we need to start looking inwardly trying to figure out ways we can change our lives. But I want to tell you that if we were to go down that path of looking inwardly, we completely miss the point of what Jesus was actually saying here.

The Greek used in this passage is in the present tense. "Now, K. J., thanks for that grammar lesson. Excellent." What it means is that Jesus explained to the audience that they are already the salt of the earth, that they are already the light of the world. Sometimes we can become so preoccupied with our sin, with our shortcomings that we fail to realise that we've actually been redeemed.

We have been redeemed. We've been made new. We've been taken in our brokenness and have become salt and light. We are still messing around, maybe trying to perfect and fail to see how self-absorbed we can actually become. But that is missing the greatest truth that you and I, you and I have received, and that is that Jesus has dealt with our sin once and for all.

And He has drawn you to Himself. And as He is drawing you to Himself, becoming more and more like Him, He's telling you to face outward and away to the world that still needs Him. He's saying, "Look here. You are to shine to that world. You are to reflect what you are experiencing of me and in me and be a preserving, amazing influence and flavouring to the world out there."

Wherever you find yourself today, whether that is in good times or in hard times that we've sort of talked about already or steady times, wherever you find yourself today, know that in all of this, God is in control and He doesn't have you in that situation where you are at without a reason, without a purpose. Even in those situations, the good ones or the bad ones, you are, you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. And our job is to search out for ways that we may overcome that little bit of injustice in our little corner of the world, the little veggie patch that God has given us. To search out that bit of injustice, to overcome it, to be a preserving influence there against evil.

Understand God's mercy to you so that you can show mercy to someone else who needs it. And let's never, never be afraid to shine this amazing light, this amazing truth of God's redemptive love and work in us to the world around us. Let's never hide it under that bowl because people are watching you. Like Peppermint Patty, what do they see? Jesus said that we do and will have an influence.

It's not a question of if. We will have an influence. He said that we are a preserving influence, so let's be salty. We are a visible influence, so let our light shine very far. We are an influence to this world.

So in the part of this world that you own, be an influence for God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we, we get smashed by the words of your Son Jesus. And they are so profound, and they are so, they are so true. They, they just strike, strike to the core of our beings.

They're so simplistic and yet so profound. Lord, I pray that, wherever we find ourselves, that we will realise that we have a purpose, that we have an amazing love to share, that we have an amazing, an amazing joy in you that we can shine. But, Father, that you've also equipped us. You've given us the Holy Spirit. You've given us gifts and abilities to be used for your glory in a world that is corrupted and in pain.

Help us, Lord, to be a preserving influence. Help us to be a visible influence. Lord, if we've struggled with this, if we have not understood this correctly, I pray, Lord, that you will change our thinking. But more than that, that you will change our will, that you'll change the passions of our deepest deepest part of our heart, that we may live lives that reflect you more and more to those around us. Father, may our church be known as that city on a hill, as that little lighthouse, that for this area, this Gold Coast, Father, that people will desire to be drawn into the warmth and the light of what is displayed here.

So we pray for your encouragement. We thank you, Lord, that we are already redeemed, that we have already been drawn into that purpose, and we just pray, Lord, and give you permission to do that even more in us. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.