Life of a Christian

Charlie Brown and Snoopy. And in one particular strip, a cartoon strip, a comic strip, there was a conversation between Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty. Peppermint Patty always has this major crush on Charlie Brown. But she's a very tough little cookie as well. And in this conversation, she said, guess what, Chuck?

The first day of school and I got sent to the principal's office. It was all your fault, Chuck. Charlie Brown replies, my fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?

She said, Well, you're my friend, aren't you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me. Peppermint Patty obviously tried to pass the buck, but in a sense, she's right. In a sense, we have influence on people. We have influence on our friends.

We have influence for either good or bad. A lot of people are watching us. A lot of people are watching us. There's a story of a minister who was once in the garden and he was building a trellis so that he could grow some vines, some climbers. And as he was pounding away with his hammer, he noticed that a little boy was watching him.

The youngster didn't say a word and so the preacher kept on working, thinking that the boy would leave. But he didn't. He stayed watching intently. Pleased at the thought that his work was being admired, the pastor finally said, well, son, trying to pick up a few pointers on gardening? 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 some of the great teaching of Jesus. Teaching that is intensely challenging but refreshing. Teaching that says that we will have an influence in this world. We will have influence in this world.

Not if, but we will. Let's open our Bibles to Matthew 5:13-16 this morning. Matthew 5. And again, it's just a small snippet of some of Jesus' great teaching on the mount, the sermon on the mount, verses 13 to 16. Jesus had begun his teaching and he said, 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. Salt and light. Salt and light. That's what Jesus said we would be.

Salt and light. They're incredibly powerful metaphors of the life of a Christian. I love how visual Jesus is. I love it. I'm a visual thinker.

Salt and light. But I'm very challenged in reading this. I'm very challenged because it's frustrating seeing so many Christians fail and fall into flabby Christianity. Unfit, spiritually overweight, having great theology, having great knowledge, but at the same time, somewhere struggling to be and to do actually what God wants us to do. The cold, hard statistics of this modern era shows that the average Christian in the average evangelical Protestant church is almost indistinguishable from the rest of society.

Jesus was not talking about being different in some artificial outward way, making the right noises, nodding at the right time, but he was talking about the fundamental moral, ethical difference that Christ makes in our lives and that we live out in practice. It's frustrating when I hear of young people supposedly living triumphant Christian lives get pregnant and do drugs at the same rate as the general teenage population. Those are the stats. When our marriages end in divorce at the same rate as the rest of society. When we cheat in business, when we lie, when we steal, when we cheat on our spouses at the same statistical level as those who say they are not Christians, then I have to ask, is something wrong?

Well, I don't think that's a question anymore. Something is wrong. Does the church make a difference? Does our life show a difference? What kind of difference are you making?

Jesus is clear, the choice whether to make a difference or not doesn't exist in his way, in his thinking. A choice to make a difference or not doesn't exist. We do make a difference. And we're going to be looking at the explicit implications of Jesus' teaching on how we are to live. The first thing we see in Jesus' teaching is that Christians are to have a preserving influence.

Christians are to have a preserving influence. He said, you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled. Interestingly, these days, we really miss the value of salt.

Salt is everywhere. In fact, we have too much of it, people tell us. But many ancient societies valued salt immensely. Immensely. It was scarce in many places.

And including the society of Jesus, the one that he's talking about right now, they understood the extreme value of salt. In fact, the Romans of this time, the Romans of this time, would desire rather to be paid in money, in coins. They would get paid in salt. And people believe that this is where the saying comes from, he's not worth his salt. Those listening to Jesus as he preached would have understood that salt of the earth was a valuable commodity. They may not have understood the fullness of what Jesus meant, but they would have understood clearly that Jesus was talking about something very powerful, very valuable, something that had a very special quality about it.

The Jews, on the other hand, so these were the Romans, these were the Gentiles that Jesus was addressing. The Jews, on the other hand, also understood the value of salt. When they would make a promise with their neighbour, with some business associate, they would go and fetch some salt from their house, each one, each person, and they would come together and throw salt over the other person's shoulder. This would mean that they have preserved the contract that they've made. The salt preserves the contract.

And so it says we're not going to break this. It was called actually the covenant of salt. It was a symbolic gesture of a preservation of a contract. And so when Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, he was saying that Christians are a special breed. And the main thing about Christians is the act of preserving something.

Preserving something. Salt was used to preserve and to keep things from rotting, keep things from turning bad. And so Jesus is talking about combating moral and spiritual spoilage in the world. The presence of Christians in Jesus' eyes serves to restrain evil, serves to, in fact, push back against the tide of sin. Like salt had a preserving effect on food, so Christians would have a preserving effect on this world.

When Christians get right with God and begin to express their Christianity through their lifestyle, the society that they live in, the society that they exist in cannot help but be changed. It is not a question of if. They will be influenced. They will be changed. There's an amazing example of this, a historical example of this happening in the ministry of John Wesley.

An amazing man, an amazing story of how God can powerfully use someone to bring about amazing changes. He had his ministry happening in the late seventeen hundreds. And as a result of this man's preaching, many thousands, tens of thousands of people came to Christ. Martin Lloyd Jones later would write that most competent historians are agreed in saying that what undoubtedly saved England from a revolution such as experienced in France at the end of the eighteenth century was nothing but the evangelical revival that was led by John Wesley. France went through a revolution that resulted in the death of many, many people, overthrowing the economy.

But it didn't happen in England. Although historically, it was on the verge of going down the same track. He goes on, Martin Lloyd Jones goes on to say, this was not because anything was done directly. No, no act of parliament, no better control of police or military or anything like that, but because masses of individuals had become Christians and were living a better life and had a far greater, brighter outlook. The whole political situation was affected, he says.

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 found in the land. Secular historians will say this. That's an amazing, an amazing event. That's an amazing example of how Christians can change a country. How it can totally change the course of history.

Contrary to popular belief today, the world is not evolving into a higher moral level. While we have certainly made some awesome technological advances to make our life easier, to change up the routine, to make it less burdensome, we are still beset by the same moral decay that has characterised humanity since the fall of Adam and Eve. You just have to watch the news to realise that nothing is getting better. Sixty odd years ago, we had a world war. This is still in some people's memories today.

But God has brought something amazing. He has brought a revival. He has a different plan in mind. There is another alternative. And He's brought renewal to humanity in order to preserve this world until the day He comes.

Salt of the earth preserves morals. Salt of the earth preserves justice. Salt of the earth pushes back against injustice, pushes back against things that are rotten, things that stink, things that are foul. Like salt cleaning up a festering wound, Christians are to clean up this world. God can't stand idly by.

And therefore, Christians, His children, cannot stand idly by seeing injustices go on, seeing bullying in the workplace continue, seeing people being preoccupied with gossip and trivial things, succumbing to our sexualised society. We cannot stand idly by. Christians are to push back. The second thing Jesus says that Christians are to be, or are, a visible influence. Christians are a visible influence.

Jesus said, 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.

Salt is a hidden, powerful influence, but light is a visible and revealing influence. It's very in your face, and it reveals. Not only are we to be the salt of the earth, but we are to be the light of the world. We are made. We are called to make a visible impact.

While salt has a real, down and dirty, get your hands dirty sort of impact, light is visible. It is seen. It shines so that everyone can notice it. How do we do that? Well, Jesus said that we need to make our light visible to as many people as possible by refusing to have it covered, but rather positioning it so that everyone around us will see it, will notice it.

There's some people that claim, and I've met a few of them, that religion, spirituality is a personal thing. It is so personal that I don't want to talk about it. And don't challenge me on that because it's a thing between me and God. And how dare you? How dare you want to come into that space?

I agree with them. Spirituality and religion is a personal thing. It is a matter between you and God. But people usually make the statement in order to avoid sharing what they do believe and what they don't believe. It's a way to protect. But Jesus teaches us that a person's faith is to be openly shared, is to be openly lived out in this world for people to see.

It is not a thing to cut out a chunk of your week on a Sunday and to be a Christian on Sunday. And that's very cliche and we all know it. But what is the reality in your life? Jesus teaches that a person's faith is to be lived out before a watching world. It is to shine forth for all to see. And it's not to show what a great person we are, how good we are, so we can feel really proud or really self-righteous.

But so that others can know that there is a God who loves this wretch called KJ. This guy that messes up all the time, but loves him so much that He can overcome that and that He can change him from the inside out. We are to influence others for God visibly. There's a story and a reflection of a president, one of the presidents of the US called Woodrow Wilson. He didn't do anything amazing, you know, for the most part.

But he once wrote a story of an encounter that he had. He said, I was in a very common place. I was sitting in a barber chair when I became aware that a powerful personality had entered the room. A man had come in quietly upon the same errand as I found myself, which was 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 didactic, which means intended for teaching, 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 was attending an evangelistic service because Mister D L Moody was sitting in that chair. I purposely lingered in that room after he had left, and I 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 had left a place, as though I'd left a place of worship. Our lives should be lives that reflect something more than the world has. Our lives should reflect something more than this world can offer us. Because we have much more than they have. We have Jesus.

He has saved us. He has forgiven us. He has changed our hearts. He has made us new people. He has changed our motives.

He has changed our outlook. The Christians of this eighteenth century who were struggling in coal mines ready for a revolt didn't, because they knew that God is in control. God is in control of England. God is the ultimate authority. God, if they will pray to Him, will change the situation.

Jesus said that we are to let our lights shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. In other words, there must be an intentionality. There must be an intentionality about why we live these good lives. And the reason is so that people will praise our Father who is in heaven. It's an evangelistic experience.

It's an evangelistic model. Living such great lives, showing people this amazing new lifestyle that God has given us becomes a way of attracting people back to Jesus. There's intention in living that way. We must determine to be deliberately evangelistic through our good deeds and our acts of kindness. When people see that we are people who care because we are people who have been cared for by Christ, they will understand much more clearly.

The light will shine on them. Then the last thing, the interesting thing, is that we are an influence on the world. Jesus said we are the salt of the earth. Jesus said we are the light of the world. We often get caught up in our own righteous living.

And you might be sitting right now thinking, man, how have I failed doing this in my life recently? Some of these sermons make us feel guilty. It makes us feel unworthy. If you're honest, slightly annoyed. Just another one of those sermons.

Why? Because it makes us look inwardly. It makes us look at ourselves trying to figure out how we can change ourselves. But let me tell you, that is the opposite of what Jesus was intending to say here. If you have a look at the English words here, if you look at the Greek, the present tense is being used.

Jesus is saying that we are already an influence on the world. Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. He doesn't say you should be as if you're not and now you have to be. As followers of Jesus Christ, you are.

The important thing to remember is that we are those things outside of us. I once read someone saying that Satan would like to isolate the Christian who is a carrier of the Christian disease. Satan wants to isolate Christians who are carriers of the Christian disease. Isolation. Isolation is one of Satan's best tools.

We often say that isolation from the church is like a little sheep that gets isolated from the flock. That little sheep will get hunted down and will be devoured by the wolves. In the same way, we can isolate ourselves by being preoccupied, so preoccupied with our sins and our shortcomings that we fail to realise that we are redeemed and we become so self-absorbed with ourselves, obviously, and not absorbed with the needs of those around us. Jesus, if you are a believer, says that our sins have been dealt with once and for all on the cross. So we have to stop trying to help ourselves because Jesus has already helped us.

Jesus says go and help others. Be light to the world. No more need to impress yourself. Don't be a light to yourself. Don't be salt to yourself.

It is very outward focused. How many of those statistics that I mentioned earlier could have been resolved if they had looked outside of themselves? So many times I've heard people say to me, I'm just trying to get to the next level with God. I'm just trying to become really right with God. While at the same time, ignoring the needs of their wife.

At the same time, forgetting their kids. Allowing their fellow man to go to a Christless eternity. Meanwhile, being so centred on how great they can be, how many boxes they can tick. Jesus said we are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world.

We are already preserving influences. We are already visible influences in this world. So let's just be that. You are already. Now be it.

People are watching us. People are watching us. What are they seeing? Jesus said that we do have influence. He said that we are a preserving influence.

So how salty are you? Jesus said that we are a visible influence. How far does your light shine? We are an influence on the whole world. How big is your world?