This series is Part 1 of 7 of the Kingdom Handbook (on the Sermon on the Mount).
Matthew 5:1-51
January 11, 2004
Why does God let that happen to us?
You’d think that we’d get better treatment from someone who loves us.
And yet at some point in our lives we all experience terrible sorrows.
We all get into situations that we simply cannot stand, cannot handle, and cannot find a way out. We all have heard the little voice deep down inside us that says, “You’re a miserable failure.” Some of you here this morning are probably experiencing those feelings right now.
Why does God allow those unpleasant and even tragic experiences in our lives? That’s one of the questions that really bothers us.
That’s a complicated discussion and probably there is no one ultimately satisfying answer that anyone can give you to that question. I think that on some level, we’ll probably wrestle with that issue for the rest of our lives. But I can offer you a part of the answer this morning. One of the reasons God lets bad things happen in our lives is because it’s the very best thing that could happen to us.
Sounds like a contradiction, I know. But you know what? That’s the way the truth often is. That’s just the kind of paradox that characterizes our leader, Jesus, and his teaching.
The Jesus Curriculum
This is the beginning of a new year and it’s a good time to start a new series. So I thought this morning we might begin a new project that will be the backbone of our Sunday morning teaching for probably the next 2-3 years. We’ll stop along the way to explore some other topics as well.
But our main course is going to be a study of the teachings of Jesus.
In a way, that’s what we do every week, because the whole Bible is God’s Word. But specifically, we’re going to examine what Jesus actually taught his followers while he was here on earth 2000 years ago.
I’d like to call it, “The Jesus Curriculum”.
During his ministry, Jesus performed many miracles, healed the sick and spoke in parables to huge crowds of people. But the majority of his time, Jesus spent with his followers, teaching them, training them.
Jesus taught many things on many occasions. But in the pages of the New Testament, we find three major lessons that he gave specifically to those who were following him and wanted to learn from him.
Basically, Jesus taught his followers about:
Popularly, these three lessons are known as:
Today we’re going to begin our study of the Sermon on the Mount.
I’ve called it “The Kingdom Handbook” because essentially, it is a manual for citizens of God’s Kingdom. In other words, an instruction manual for those who want to follow Jesus, the King.
The “Kingdom of God” has a deep and significant meaning in the Bible.
It really begins with the kingdom that God established for Israel in the days of Moses. That kingdom developed into the kingdom of David, Israel’s greatest king. After hundreds of years of unfaithfulness to God, the kingdom finally fell apart. But God promised through the prophets that one day the kingdom would be restored by a future king, the Messiah. When Jesus began his ministry, his message was, “The Kingdom of Heaven is coming soon.” The ultimate arrival of God’s Kingdom is still in the future when Jesus will return and establish his kingdom on earth. As Jesus said at his trial, “My kingdom is not of this world.” But in the meantime, there are some aspects of his kingdom that have already begun. We who follow Jesus are all citizens of God’s invisible kingdom. Jesus is our King and he is sovereign over us.
While we await entrance into the future kingdom, we live on this earth, but we acknowledge that our citizenship really lies in God’s kingdom. Therefore we live our lives according to the principles of God’s kingdom, not according to the principles of this world.
“The Kingdom Manual” tells us how things in God’s Kingdom work and we discover that things work very differently in God’s Kingdom that they do in our world. In fact, sometimes it’s almost exactly the opposite of what we might expect.
G.K. Chesterton describes the Kingdom Handbook this way:
“On the first reading of the Sermon on the Mount you feel that it turns everything upside down, but the second time you read it, you discover that it turns everything right side up. The first time you read it, you feel that it is impossible, but the second time you feel that nothing else is possible.”
The message Jesus taught to his followers is radically different than the conventional wisdom of our world. But it comes from the one who created us and asks us to believe that he knows best how life is supposed to work.
Well, let’s take a look at exactly what Jesus taught his followers and you’ll see what I mean about the paradoxes of the Jesus Curriculum.
[5:1] Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, [2] and he began to teach them, saying:
Notice that there are large crowds of people following Jesus around, but here he specifically sits down to teach his disciples.
What is a disciple?
We often think of the 12 apostles when we hear the word disciple. The apostles were some of the disciples, but apostles and disciples are very different. The word for disciple means literally, a learner. It was used of someone who followed a rabbi (that is, a teacher) to learn from him.
Jesus, like other rabbis of his day, had a group of people who attached themselves to him for training. When Jesus told the fishermen, “Follow me,” he was inviting them to be his learners, his disciples.
So the teaching in Matthew 5-7, then, is not directed to the world. It is directed to us, to those who would follow Jesus and be trained by him.
When Jesus sat down, he assumed the typical position of a rabbi who was training his disciples.
His message about the kingdom begins with the characteristics of the kingdom’s citizens. What kind of people belong to God’s kingdom? The answer might surprise you.
Title: Lifestyles of the Poor and Nameless
One might expect the citizens of God’s kingdom to be the best and the brightest, the most noble, the most worthy, the most beautiful, the strongest and the bravest. But instead we find that God’s kingdom belongs to the poor and the nameless. It belongs to those who in this world are outcasts.
As Jesus describes the surprising characteristics of the citizens of God’s kingdom, he begins with the word “Blessed.” The first few verses of the Sermon on the Mount are known as “the beatitudes.” They speak of those who are blessed. The word “blessed” means “fortunate” but without the idea of chance; someone who is envied for his condition; someone who should be congratulated. It doesn’t mean “happy” in the sense of a feeling of happiness, but rather it describes a state that should make someone ultimately satisfied, fulfilled and joyful.
The surprising part is not that citizens of God’s kingdom are blessed. The surprising part is the characteristics for which they should be congratulated.
[3] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The word poor is the word for a beggar, but it refers here not to those who lack material wealth, but to those who lack spiritual wealth. Blessed are those who are spiritually destitute, the spiritual paupers, the spiritually bankrupt. Blessed are those who don’t have any spiritual resources whatsoever—no great acts of kindness to commend them, no deep insight into truth, no moral backbone to keep them on the straight and narrow. Blessed are the spiritual washouts for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Ok, see what I mean? Not at all what you’d expect. Very upside down from our perspective. But that’s what Jesus says.
How fortunate it is to be a spiritual nobody. Why? Because the spiritual nobody is the one who is completely convinced that there is nothing he can do to have a relationship with God. There is nothing he has to offer. He is totally dependent on God’s grace and mercy. He recognizes that he needs God because he’s bankrupt on his own.
In Luke 18:10-14 Jesus tells a story about "Two men [who] went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself:
'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
The Pharisee was a spiritual somebody. He had his resources and he was counting on them to impress God.
[13] "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,
'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
The tax collector was spiritually bankrupt. He had nothing to offer. All he could do was plead for God’s mercy. And Jesus says,
[14] "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
The point of the story is not that we should be humble about how good we are. It’s that we all need to recognize that we’ve got nothing in us that we can use to impress God. All of us fall short of the requirements. All of us need God’s grace. If you’re a pretty good person, then sometimes it’s hard to see that, to recognize how much you need God.
But if you’re a spiritual beggar, if you’re spiritually bankrupt, then Congratulations! You’re so fortunate that your need for God is so obvious that you can’t miss it. You’re so blessed that you know just how desperate your situation is, because some people will never understand.
You know, this is one of the disadvantages of growing up in a Christian home with godly parents. This is one of the disadvantages of being a basically good guy. I’m not advocating that we dive into sin headfirst so that we’ll all know how vile we are. Sin is a poison that destroys life.
But those who have known the destruction of sin are fortunate because it’s often easier for them to understand how much they need God than it is for a basically good person to understand how much they need God.
The good news is that we all need God and we all can discover that.
St. Paul grew up in a godly home and he had some pretty great spiritual resources, yet he discovered how little they meant compared to his great need:
Philippians 3:4-8 I myself have reasons for such confidence. … [5] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
[6] as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. [7] But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
[8] … I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.
The spiritual resources that we put in the plus column can become an obstacle that keeps us from understanding that we are God’s only because of grace and not because of what we have done. Before we can enter God’s kingdom, we need to recognize our spiritual resources for what they are—rubbish! List your spiritual assets. They are rubbish.
If, on the other hand, you are one of those who basically has no spiritual brownie points at all, then congratulations! You’re just the kind of person that belongs in the kingdom of heaven. No wonder Jesus attracted such a collection of prostitutes and sinners. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The second characteristic is in verse 4:
[4] Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Happy are those who are sad. What an oxymoron!
Are you troubled? Are you suffering? Are you terribly hurt and disappointed? Are you discouraged or crushed or despairing? Congratulations! The comfort of God’s kingdom belongs to you.
Mourning hardly seems like occasion for congratulations. When things don’t go well for us, we want to complain as if this verse said, “Blessed are those who moan.” But Jesus says, sorrow is an occasion for joy, for celebration. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be sad. It means you should also rejoice if you’re sad. Because if you’re mourning, then you get it, you understand just how broken and ugly this world is. You’ve experienced the trauma and tragedy that comes from a fallen world; the mess that comes from man run amok; the wages that come from sin. You’ve experienced the sting of death, the corruption of disease, the pain of broken relationships.
Because of that, you have a much better chance of recognizing that this world is not the way it is supposed to be and we are just not equipped to live like this. It really stinks! You have a much better chance of recognizing that we were really meant to live in a world without sin, and so you have a much better chance of seeking reality in God’s kingdom. How fortunate! Congratulations! You’re just the kind of person that belongs in the kingdom of heaven.
When things go well for us, it’s easy to get comfortable living on this planet. But ultimately we don’t belong here. This planet isn’t our home; it’s just a layover! And if things are comfortable for you here, you might be inclined to fool yourself into settling down for a long stay. But if your life is full of pain and sorrow, then congratulations! You are the kind of person who can’t wait to get out of this place and start our real lives in the kingdom of God.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
A third characteristic is found in verse 5:
[5] Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
In the Bible, Moses is described as the meekest of all men. The word “meek” sounds to us like a weakling, but we see Moses act with great courage and authority. But his meekness is found in his sense of inadequacy. When God asked him to do a job, Moses said, “I can’t do it. I’m not your man. I don’t have what it takes. I’m completely inadequate.” And Moses was right. However, by God’s power, by God’s ability, and by God’s leading, Moses acted and led with great courage and ability.
I think at heart most everybody is either an “I can do it” kind of person or an “I don’t have what it takes” kind of person. You probably know already which kind of person you are.
The “I can do it” people are resourceful and self-confident. They’re optimistic. They take charge and seem to instinctively know what to do.
The “I don’t have what it takes” people are more hesitant and halting. They have little confidence in themselves or in others. They expect they will fail. They’re often paralyzed by inaction. They feel completely inadequate. If that’s the kind of person you are, then congratulations! You are just the kind of person that belongs in God’s kingdom.
If you’re the kind of person who has a lot of resourcefulness and self-confidence, then it’s easy to try to do it yourself, to count on your own strength or your own smarts. But if you feel completely inadequate, congratulations. You are much more likely to turn to God and rely on his resources. You are much more likely to understand just how much you need his guidance and his strength and his wisdom. “Can do” people have a much harder time learning to trust God in their everyday lives. But people who are completely inadequate are forced to look outside themselves for resources. How fortunate you are! If you could visit a first-century church, what kind of people would you mostly likely find?
Paul writes to the Corinthians,
1 Corinthians 1:26-30 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
[27] But God chose the foolish things of the world … God chose the weak things of the world …[28] He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--…
[29] so that no one may boast before him. [30] It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus.
All of us need to depend on God, but that truth is easier for some of us to recognize than others. Those who are foolish and weak and lowly and despised are those who more easily recognize that they need to depend upon God everyday. And so those are the kind of people that populate the kingdom of God. That’s the same idea Jesus had in mind when he said,
Matthew 18:3 “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
A child is completely dependent on his parents and he knows it. In fact, a normal child just assumes that his parents will take care of him. That’s the kind of attitude we need to have toward God. We can’t do it. We don’t have what it takes. We are completely inadequate. But God can do it and he wants us to depend upon him.
[5] Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
I’m not a very meek person. I’m more of a “can do” kind of guy.
However, there was one meek moment in my life I can remember: when I was approached about becoming a pastor at this church. I remember saying, “I’m not the guy you’re looking for.” I was persuaded to come anyway. But there have since been many times when I feel completely inadequate for this job. And that’s good, because I am completely inadequate for this job. I hope I never forget that. And I’d like to say thank you to all of you who periodically remind me that I’m completely inadequate to be your pastor. That may sound like sarcasm, but I really believe that even if criticism is unfair or untrue, it can still remind us of the truth that we do not have what it takes. Nor are we meant to. We’re meant to be uncomfortably in over our heads, because that’s when we will be forced to rely on God’s resources and not on our own. Do you feel completely inadequate for what God has you doing? Congratulations!
Congratulations to
the Spiritually Bankrupt
the Deeply Dismayed
and the Completely Inadequate
Why does God allow unpleasant experiences in our lives?
Why does God let us experience terrible sorrows?
Why does he put us into situations that we simply cannot stand, cannot handle, and cannot escape?
Why must we hear that little voice inside us that says, “You’re a miserable failure”?
Because those are the kinds of experiences that expose the thread-bareness of our self-sufficiency. They help us find the end of our own resources and thus they force us to find strength and comfort beyond ourselves.
They drive us to God, which is the only place where we can find true and lasting strength, comfort, and fulfillment.
So the next time something happens to you that brings you great pain, the next time someone reminds you how completely inadequate you are, the next time failure exposes your own spiritual bankruptcy…
Congratulate yourself. The kingdom of heaven is yours.
1 Copyright 2004 by Lewis B. Bell III. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 1 in the The Kingdom Character series delivered by Chip Bell at Fellowship Bible Church Arapaho in Dallas, TX on January 11, 2004. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with credit.
Matthew 5:6-81
January 18, 2004
Last Sunday, I began with a question, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to me?” There’s another question that usually goes along with it, particularly when the bad things that happen to me are caused by someone else. Our second disturbing question is, “How can they get away with it? Why doesn’t God make them pay for what they did to me?” People have been asking God that question for thousands of years.
Deep within us, we all long for evildoers to be brought to justice.
Last week I was in court for jury duty. People come seeking justice.
But for some who come to court, the last thing they want is justice.
They know they’re guilty. They know what they deserve and they are in court, not seeking for justice, but hoping for mercy.
One month ago, December 18, in Seattle, Washington, Gary Ridgway, also known as “The Green River Killer” was sentenced for murdering 48 women. Because Ridgway helped police to locate the remains of some of his victims, he was spared the death penalty and instead was sentenced to 48 consecutive life terms. The Associated Press reported:
“The sentencing gave the victims' relatives a chance to confront Ridgway at last. With an eloquence honed by years of grief, they stepped forward and cursed the killer, or forgave him.
The brother (Tim Meehan) of one of the victims said, "It was not your right to decide who lived and who died. …I can only hope that someday, someone gets the opportunity to choke you unconscious 48 times, so you can live through the horror that you put our mothers and our daughters through. ... May God have no mercy on your soul.”
Others lashed out at prosecutors, investigators and the news media.
"I believe we've been sold by the prosecutor for not giving us the justice that we could expect," said the mother (Helen Dexter) of one victim.
But another mother (Kathy Mills), whose 16-year-old daughter was killed, offered Ridgway forgiveness. "You have held us in bondage all these years because we have hated you — we wanted to see you die — but it's all going to be over now. That is, provided we can forgive you. Gary Leon Ridgway, I forgive you. I forgive you. You can't hold me anymore. I'm through with you. I have a peace that is beyond human understanding."
One of the fathers (Robert Rule), said, "Mr. Ridgway, there are people here who hate you. I'm not one of them. I forgive you for what you've done. You've made it difficult to live up to what I believe, and that is what God says to do, and that is forgive, and he doesn't say to forgive just certain people, he says forgive all. So you are forgiven."
Looking inside myself, trying to imagine how I would feel if this horrible man had killed my little girl, I don’t know how these parents could forgive.
I would want to have this man pay for his crimes. I would want to see him dead. I would probably volunteer to pull the switch myself. In fact, I think death is not enough punishment for him. I would like to have him toasting in hell just as soon as we could arrange for it.
As one victim’s daughter (Sarah King) said to Ridgway, "I'm glad you didn't get death. Death is too good for you. Someday you will die and you'll go to that place and you'll get what you deserve."
I saw a Clint Eastwood movie in which the bad guy tries to kill Clint’s daughter. In one scene, as the daughter lay badly injured in a hospital bed, the killer comes in to finish her off. But Clint gets the jump on him and sticks a needle in his neck. The killer, feeling groggy from the poison entering his body, can only manage to get out one word to Clint, begging for his life: “Mercy?” Clint looks at him with that steely Eastwood glare, and, as he injects the remainder of the poison into the killer’s neck, he says, “Mercy? Fresh out.”
You want to know the truth? That’s pretty much how I feel about Gary Ridgway. I want justice. How about you? Are you that kind of person to wants to see someone pay for their crimes? If you are, then Congratulations! The Bible says that you’re just the kind of person that will appreciate the Kingdom of God. Because in the Kingdom of God, justice will be done.
Last week we began a new series, which is part of what I call
“The Jesus Curriculum”, the lessons that Jesus gave his followers while he was here on earth. Today we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. I’ve called this part of the curriculum “The Kingdom Handbook” because essentially, it is a manual for citizens of God’s Kingdom. In other words, an instruction manual for those who want to follow Jesus, the King and be trained by him.
Jesus’ message about the kingdom begins with the characteristics of the kingdom’s citizens. What kind of people belong to God’s kingdom? The answer is surprising.
One might expect the citizens of God’s kingdom to be the best and the brightest, the most noble, the most worthy, the most beautiful, the strongest and the bravest. But instead we find that God’s kingdom belongs to the poor and the nameless. It belongs to those who in this world are outcasts.
As Jesus describes the characteristics of the citizens of God’s kingdom, he uses the word “Blessed.” The first few verses of the Sermon on the Mount are known as “the beatitudes.” They speak of those who are blessed. The word “blessed” means “fortunate” but without the idea of chance; someone who is envied for his condition; someone who should be congratulated.
These are the kinds of people who recognize their insufficiency. They have found the end of their own resources and thus they have been forced to seek for strength and comfort beyond themselves. They have been driven to God, the only place where anyone can find true and lasting strength, comfort, and fulfillment. And because of that, they are to be congratulated.
Title: With Liberty and Justice for Me
Today we move on to the next three beatitudes, three types of people that Jesus says are blessed, three types of people that should be congratulated. Last week we looked at three great needs. This week, we look at three great desires. They all have to do with the issue of justice. If you are among those who have these three desires, then Congratulations! You’re just the kind of person who will appreciate the characteristics of God’s kingdom.
Let’s look at the fourth beatitude in verse 6:
[6] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
The word “righteousness” often refers to uprightness, doing the right thing, obeying God’s rules. But the same word is also used for what in English we call “justice” and I believe that here that is exactly what Jesus has in mind.
In many places throughout the Bible, God’s people cry out for him to give them justice, to punish those who murder their loved ones, invade their land, steal their possessions, tell them lies, and cheat them in business. God’s people cry out to him and ask him to act on their behalf and bring them justice.
Jeremiah 12:1 You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
Sometimes it seems like people who do evil things will get away with it. But throughout the Bible, God also promises that one-day, justice will be done. No crime will go unpunished. No wrong will go unanswered.
I believe that is the promise in view here.
Are you that kind of person who doesn’t like to see the wicked get away with their crimes? If you are, then Congratulations! The Bible says that you’re just the kind of person that will appreciate the Kingdom of God. Because in the Kingdom of God, the demands of justice will be satisfied.
Acts 17:31 [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.
Psalm 9:7-8 The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. [8] He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.
Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
[7] …He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Psalm 45:6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
2 Peter 3:13 In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
There will be justice in God’s kingdom. If you like justice, then Congratulations! That’s just the way God feels. And you’re going to like what you see in God’s kingdom.
[6] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Jesus says that in the kingdom of God, justice will finally be fulfilled. All those who hunger and thirst for justice will be ultimately satisfied by the justice of God’s Kingdom. That means that Gary Ridgway’s crimes will be punished. Adolf Hitler’s crimes will be punished. Sadaam Hussein’s crimes will be punished. Chip Bell’s crimes will be punished.
Oh, no. Wait a minute. Did I just say that I was hungry and thirsty for justice? Maybe I should think about this for minute. However much I want justice for everyone else who’s offended my sensibilities, what I really want for myself is to go free. I want justice when it comes to everyone else. But when it comes to my crimes, what I really want is mercy. It’s a strange combination: liberty AND justice for me.
Fortunately for me (and fortunately for all of us), God is merciful. And he congratulates all those who reflect his quality of mercy in their own lives.
[7] Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Mercy is unexpected forgiveness. Justice is a punishment that someone deserves for what they have done wrong. Mercy is unearned. It’s a surprise. It’s forgiveness that someone does not deserve. There is nothing they’ve done to justify it. God forgives your sins, not because you said you’re sorry, not because you’re trying to make up for it. God forgives your sins just because he is merciful. And since God has been merciful to us, he expects us to be merciful toward others.
Congratulations to those who demonstrate mercy, to those who forgive others even though they’ve done nothing to deserve it. Congratulations to the merciful, because that’s just the kind of thing God would do. And if you appreciate mercy, guess what? That’s exactly what you’re going to get in God’s Kingdom.
Jesus tells a story about mercy in
Matthew 18:23-35 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. [24] …A man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
[25] Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. [26] "The servant fell on his knees before him.
'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' [27] The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
[28] "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
[29] "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' [30] "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
[31] When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. [32] "Then the master called the servant in.
'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. [33] Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'
[34] In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
[35] "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
Why should we show mercy to a criminal that clearly doesn’t deserve it? Because God has been merciful and we didn’t deserve it either. Since God has been merciful to us, we should be merciful to others.
It’s odd that these two qualities should stand side by side in the beatitudes: justice and mercy. They call for opposite responses: one for punishment, the other for liberty. Yet both of these characteristics are qualities of God, and both are qualities that God would like to see replicated in us: the desire for justice and the exercise of mercy.
Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice:
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
[7] Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
The sixth beatitude is found in verse 8:
[8] Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
The word “pure” means without any contaminant, stain or spot. Here Jesus is saying that those who are citizens of the kingdom are absolutely innocent of anything wrong. Not only is their outward behavior completely perfect, but so is their heart: their innermost thoughts, their motives, their desires, their dreams. They are absolutely innocent through and through.
If you were among the disciples who were listening to Jesus that day on the mountain, you would probably find yourself coming abruptly to a halt at this point. Congratulations to those of you who are spiritually bankrupt, to those deeply dismayed by this world, to those who feel completely inadequate to live life. Congratulations to those of you who long for justice. So far, so good. Most everyone is probably thinking, “Not a problem. That’s me. I’m in the kingdom for sure.”
When we get to congratulations to those who are unexpectedly forgiving, there are probably a few people squirming. “I really need to be more merciful. I’ll have to work on that.”
But when we arrive at the sixth beatitude, it all comes screeching to a halt. Congratulations to you who are absolutely innocent—inside and out—because you are the ones who will see God. Oops! Congratulations to someone, but it isn’t me.
Psalm 24:3-4 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? [4] He who has clean hands and a pure heart.
God’s standard is absolute innocence. Not one spot or blemish is allowed. Do you ever use the 5-second rule at home? You know, if it’s on the ground for 5 seconds or less, then it’s not really dirty, you can stick it in your mouth. Well I don’t know if you ever noticed, but in surgery, there is no 5-second rule. If it touches anything not sterile, then it’s dirty.
That’s the way it is with God’s holiness. He requires absolute perfection.
Hebrews 12:14 without holiness no one will see the Lord.
So much for the congratulations. But wait a minute. There is a way. Because the Bible says that if you are in Christ, then not only are all your sins forgiven, but you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. If you are in Christ, then you do have a pure heart. In God’s eyes you are absolutely innocent. So congratulations! You will see God after all.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
It’s through God’s mercy and grace that you have been declared clean. If you are in Jesus, then you are the pure in heart. But wait a minute. What about God’s justice? How can God be a God of justice if he lets me go free? How can God be a God of justice if he lets anybody go free?
Romans 3:25 God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement. …He did this to demonstrate his justice.
God can be just and merciful at the same time because of the death of Jesus. The death of Jesus meets the demands of justice. And because of that, God can extend to us his great mercy and forgive our sins.
Jesus alone is pure in heart and because we are in him, we will see God.
[8] Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Congratulations to
because you’re just the kind of people who will appreciate God’s kingdom. In the kingdom, God will bring justice to all, and through his mercy he will proclaim that all who trust Jesus are absolute innocent. Only in God’s kingdom can I experience liberty and justice for me.
The beatitudes are commonly thought of as characteristics that we must strive to attain so that we may qualify for the blessings of the kingdom. But that’s not what Jesus has in mind at all. Rather, the beatitudes are pronouncing God’s blessing on those who have certain inadequacies because that is the kind of people who most need God’s kingdom. And the beatitudes are pronouncing God’s blessings on those who long for certain perfections because that is exactly what the kingdom will bring. But all these people are going to receive the kingdom strictly out of God’s grace, not because they have mastered the Kingdom Character.
When Jesus spoke the beatitudes, he was not setting a new standard of holiness and asking the people to rise to meet it. Rather, this was the introduction to his lesson, designed to meet people right where they were and give them hope that God’s kingdom would satisfy their deepest needs and fulfill their deepest desires no matter how unworthy they might be.
If you will permit me just a little silliness, I’d like to try to express what I think is a modern-day equivalent of the spirit of the beatitudes:
Do you have the feeling that you’re spiritually bankrupt?
Maybe you’re one of the thousands of people who long for the day when all the criminals get what’s coming to them.
Well, Congratulations! You’re just the kind of person we’re looking for.
You probably thought all this was impossible. But now there’s a solution to all these problems and more.
It’s God’s Kingdom. That’s right, God’s Kingdom.
Just listen to all these blessings you will receive through this special offer:
You’ve probably heard offers like this elsewhere. You probably have friends who tried to purchase cheap imitations. But God’s Kingdom is the one-and-only original, the genuine article, the only way you can experience all these blessings.
And all this comes with an eternal lifetime guarantee. That’s right. These blessings will last forever! They never run down. They never expire. They never wear out. There’s nothing you can do to destroy them.
You’ve seen the price that others are asking for these blessings.
Well, how much would you be willing to pay to enjoy these blessings in your own heart?
Well, put away your wallets, because right now you can have all these blessings absolutely free! That’s right. You heard me. They are all absolutely, 100% free. God even pays for the shipping and handling.
That’s right with just one incredible payment of someone else’s sinless life, you can have every one of these amazing blessings. And they are all guaranteed forever.
Sounds too good to be true? Just wait.
There’s even more!
Along with this special offer, you also get:
Nowhere else can you get all these amazing blessings for our incredibly low price of absolutely nothing. This offer is not available in stores. In fact, it cannot be purchased anywhere. The only way you can be part of God’s Kingdom is through this special limited time offer. So don’t delay, act now. Don’t send any money.
Just call out this number today, 1-800-I-TRUST-JESUS, and you can begin to enjoy the blessings of God’s Kingdom in your own home this very day. Remember, that’s 1-800-I-TRUST-JESUS. Call him today.
This offer was paid for entirely by God’s Grace.
1 Copyright 2004 by Lewis B. Bell III. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 2 in the The Kingdom Character series delivered by Chip Bell at Fellowship Bible Church Arapaho in Dallas, TX on January 18, 2004. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with credit.
Matthew 5:9-121
February 1, 2004
You know, if Jesus were here, I think he’d do things a lot differently. You know the saying, “What would Jesus do?” It makes us stop and think about how Jesus would behave in our situation. Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about that this week, with the Super Bowl coming up and all. And I think that if Jesus was in charge of the Super Bowl, I think he’d do things a lot differently. So, I’ve come up with a list of the
Top Twelve Things Jesus Would Do at the Super Bowl
(one for each of the twelve apostles)
Ok, I admit it’s a little silly to think about what Jesus would do at the Super Bowl. But it is true that Jesus had a way of thinking about life that was very different than the way we people usually think about life.
The New Testament tells us about the things that Jesus taught his followers as he tried to change their way of thinking to get them to think from God’s perspective instead of from a limited human perspective.
We are exploring his teachings in “The Jesus Curriculum”, a study of the major talks that Jesus gave to his followers. Today we continue our study of the “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew 5-7. I’ve called this part of the curriculum “The Kingdom Handbook” because it tells us how things work in God’s Kingdom. It is an instruction manual for those who want to follow Jesus and pattern their lives after his thinking.
Jesus’ message about the kingdom begins with the characteristics of the kingdom’s citizens. There are nine phrases that describe the kind of people that will really appreciate God’s kingdom. They are nine phrases that describe us.
These nine phrases are sometimes called “The Beatitudes” because they each begin with the word “Blessed” and describe how happy you will be when you realize what God’s kingdom is like. The word means someone who should be congratulated. So if you’ve discovered God’s Kingdom, then congratulations! You’re really going to like it.
But the characteristics Jesus describes are a little surprising. You’d think that the citizens of God’s kingdom would be the best and the brightest, the most noble, the most worthy, the most beautiful, the strongest and the bravest. But instead we find that God’s kingdom belongs to the poor and the nameless:
the Spiritually Bankrupt, who have nothing worthy of qualifying them for a relationship with God. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
the Deeply Dismayed, who are grieved by the pain and suffering of this world which is caused by sin. They will be comforted.
the Completely Inadequate, who recognize that they just can’t do it, that they don’t have what it takes to live life. They are the ones who will inherit the Kingdom.
And we saw that God’s kingdom is going to be particularly satisfying for those who are Crying for Justice because there will be justice.
Those who are Unexpectedly Forgiving will love God’s Kingdom because they will undeservedly find forgiveness.
But the only way both these things can be true is because Jesus has died for our sins, satisfying justice, providing us with forgiveness, and giving us his own perfect righteousness so that we can be Absolutely Innocent and worthy to see God in the Kingdom. Because of Jesus, I really can have both liberty and justice for me.
The first three beatitudes tell us that God’s kingdom meets three great human needs: spiritual bankruptcy, grief, and inadequacy. The second set of three tell us God’s kingdom satisfies three great human desires: justice, forgiveness and innocence.
Title: Peace Without Honor
Today we come to the final set of three beatitudes. They each have to do with relationships between Kingdom citizens and all the other people in the world who do not belong to the Kingdom. Once again we have a paradox, because the citizens of the Kingdom are called to pursue peace with the citizens of the world, but Jesus says that their peaceful overtures will generally be answered with hatred and violence. The life of a Kingdom citizen in this world is a life of peace without honor.
If you are experiencing these three things in your relationships with the people around you, then congratulations! What you are experiencing is normal for a citizen of the Kingdom. That’s exactly the way God’s Kingdom works.
The seventh beatitude is found in Matthew 5:9,
[Matthew 5:9] Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
This verse is not about those who are peaceful nor about pacifists, but rather about those who actively try to promote harmony in the world. Making peace is not a passive activity. Sometimes it requires confrontation when we would personally feel more peaceful if we simply ignored the problem and walked the other way. Sometimes making peace requires taking a tough stand and not giving up. Making peace is a pursuit. It is action, not apathy.
A citizen of the Kingdom is a peace peddler, representing Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), representing the God of Peace (Romans 15:33; 16:20; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 13:20). That is why those who promote peace are called “sons of God” because they act just like their Daddy, the one who is the inventor of peace.
There are three aspects of the ministry of peacemaking mentioned in the Bible. First of all, the peace that we promote on earth is peace with God.
Romans 5:1 Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
We have peace with God. But we are also meant to help others find peace with God.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 God…has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us…. Be reconciled to God.
We bring a message to the world we live in. God is not their enemy. He loves everyone and wants to have a relationship with them. Part of making peace is promoting harmony between man and God.
But a second aspect of making peace is to try to get along with people while we’re here on this planet. To me there seems to be a good deal of antagonism these days between the American church and the people of the world. There’s a lot of “us vs. them”. But listen to what the Bible says about the desired relationship between the church and the people of the world.
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men.
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, [12] so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders.
The third aspect of making peace is promoting harmony in the church. Even in the healthiest church, there will be conflicts and clashes. A peacemaker is one who works for reconciliation and harmony between brothers and sisters in the fellowship.
1 Peter 3:8-11 all of you, live in harmony with one another; … [9] Do not repay … insult with insult, but with blessing, … [11] seek peace and pursue it.
Romans 14:19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
Romans 12:16-18 Live in harmony with one another. …[18] If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Are you a peace promoter? Do your words and actions bring people into harmony with God, with you and with each other? If so, then congratulations! You are just like your Daddy, the God of Peace. You are experiencing one of the qualities that characterizes life in God’s kingdom.
Unfortunately, however, your attempts to promote peace will not always be met in kind. The eighth beatitude is in Matthew 5:10,
[Matthew 5:10] Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I seem to remember someone telling me that doing the right thing has its own reward. But sometimes, doing the right thing will bring you trouble. That’s the message behind this beatitude. If you have ever been mistreated because you did the right thing, then congratulations! You have just experienced another one of the qualities that characterizes life in God’s kingdom. However strongly you try to promote harmony in your relationships with those outside the kingdom, you are destined to experience their hatred, their abuse and perhaps even their violence.
When we read the word “persecution” in the Bible, we usually think of people who have been tortured or even executed because of their faith.
When I was growing up I remember reading the stories of people like Richard Wurmbrand, a pastor behind the Iron Curtain, who was imprisoned and tortured because of his faith. And I read about Jim Elliot, the missionary to South America who was killed by the Auca Indians.
When Julie became a Christian in college, she read Foxe’s book of Martyrs, which tells of people down through history who have been killed only because they would not renounce their faith in Jesus. Although we don’t experience that kind of persecution here in the United States, there are many countries in the world today where followers of Jesus are still murdered only because they are Christians. Many parts of the world are completely antagonistic toward Christianity.
The Bible says that is what we should expect. Why we don’t experience it in the United States, I don’t really understand. I think that we would do well to expect though that in our lifetime we may yet see that kind of persecution in our own country.
But in the meantime, I think it is important to understand that though the word used here for “persecute” certainly includes torture and murder, it is not limited to the most extreme forms of persecution.
diwkw, means “to pursue”, to chase after something or someone. In this context, it is pursuing someone to hunt them, mistreat them or hassle them. While persecution can be torture, it could also be teasing someone, discriminating against someone, or refusing to tolerate them. In Greek, it was used in the legal profession as a technical term which meant “to accuse” someone. The English word means to treat someone in a cruel or unfair way.
This beatitude says that if you are mistreated because you did the right thing, then you are to be congratulated. Your mistreatment is evidence of your citizenship in God’s kingdom.
2 Timothy 3:12 Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Waiting tables. Serving alcohol. Once I refused to serve a customer because he was drunk. When I went back for a job, my manager wouldn’t hire me. He told me it was because as I Christian I had sometimes refused to serve people alcohol.
1 Peter 3:14, 17 If you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. … [17] It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Another time, I was specifically asked by my boss to keep my eyes open to see if anyone was taking food from the restaurant. When she asked me if any food had been taken, I told her what had happened. She fired one of my co-workers and that night he came back to the restaurant and threatened to kill me.
If you do the right thing, sometimes you will suffer for it. That’s OK. In fact, congratulations! That’s part of being a citizen in the Kingdom.
Acts 17 tells the story of Paul’s trip to the Greek city of Thessalonica. He was there only three weeks but during that time several people trusted Jesus and formed a church. However, at the end of the three weeks, citizens opposed to Christianity started a riot and arrested some of the new believers, accusing them of treason against Caesar. They were released after posting bond. A few months later, Paul wrote a letter to the newly formed church.
1 Thessalonians 3:2-4 We sent Timothy… to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, [3] so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them.
[4] In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.
Experiencing persecution for doing the right thing is a normal part of being a follower of Jesus. If you’re lucky enough to be persecuted because of righteousness, congratulations!
The ninth and final beatitude is a different, but very similar point.
[Matthew 5:11] "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Notice the differences between verses 10 and 11. For one thing, the mistreatment has broadened. Verse 10 mentions “persecution”. Verse 11 has a whole menu of mistreatment: insults, persecution, and slander (spreading lies about someone that damages their reputation). We have added to persecution two forms of verbal attack. Insult has the idea of saying something damaging directly to someone. Slander has the idea of saying untrue, smears about you to someone else.
The second difference is a cause of the mistreatment. In verse 10, it is mistreatment because of doing the right thing. But in verse 11, it is mistreatment because of Jesus.
In the same way that a follower of Jesus will imitate Jesus by promoting peace, a citizen of God’s Kingdom will also imitate Jesus in another way. Just as he was mistreated, so will we be mistreated.
John 15:18-21 If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ... If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. …They will treat you this way because of my name.
But suffering mistreatment because of Jesus is an honor.
1 Peter 4:14-16 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed.
(same word).
About a year ago, the Barna Research Group took a poll in which they asked non-Christians how they felt about certain types of people. The Dallas Morning News reported “Of the 11 people groups whose image was evaluated, evangelicals came in 10th, trailing lesbians and lawyers but beating out prostitutes.” (Bill, if it’s any consolation, lawyers came out more favorable than Republicans.) Barna’s research shows that 22% of non-Christians have a generally favorable impression of evangelicals. About the same amount have a generally unfavorable impression of evangelicals. And more than half are either somewhere in between or they don’t know. The younger and more educated the person, the less likely they were to have a favorable impression of evangelicals.
Barna attributes a lot of this to ignorance. “The survey data suggest that people form impressions of others on the basis of one-dimensional images created and communicated by the mass media. …‘People’s impressions of others are often driven by incomplete, inaccurate or out-of-context information conveyed under the guise of objectivity when, in fact, there is a point-of-view being advanced by the information source.’”
I think we’ve all heard reports on the news or seen characters in a movie that portrayed believers as backward, stupid, gullible, nave, prudish, judgmental, insensitive and cruel. When these insults are not true and they are delivered as a result of our association with Jesus, then we should congratulate ourselves. Because we have just experienced some-thing that characterizes life in God’s kingdom and confirms our citizenship. We live in a world that is becoming increasingly intolerant of anyone who believes in absolute truth and will dare to advocate a moral position. When that behavior is slandered, you are being persecuted for following Jesus. Congratulations!
But you know, one of the problems with this whole thing is that sometimes when Christians are criticized as backward, stupid, gullible, nave, prudish, judgmental, insensitive and cruel, it’s because they are!
Peter goes on in the same passage to say that not all suffering is noble.
[15] If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. [16] However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
Sometimes we suffer because we bring it on ourselves. It makes me cringe when I hear a born again leader in government or a publicly known church leader open their mouths and say backward, stupid, gullible, nave, prudish, judgmental, insensitive and cruel things about other people. That kind of behavior justly brings the ridicule of the world and that is not being persecuted because of doing the right thing or because of having a relationship with Jesus. Again, Peter says,
1 Peter 3:15-16 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect, [16] keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
Providing that the insults, the persecution and the slander are really because of Christ and not because we deserve it, this kind of mistreatment is actually cause for celebration: Jesus goes on in verse 12,
[12] Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
If you are being insulted, persecuted or slandered because of Jesus, congratulations! You’re in good company. Many have gone before you who endured the same experiences because they too were following God, trying to do the right thing and proclaiming the message of peace. What awaits both them and us is a great reward: the Kingdom of God.
Hebrews 11 tells the stories of some of these men and women who believed God and suffered for it, looking forward to the reward that awaits them.
Hebrews 11:13-16 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. [14] People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. …
[16] they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Are you promoting harmony? Are you also being mistreated either because you’re doing right or just because you belong to Jesus?
If so, then congratulations! You are a citizen of the kingdom. Don’t worry. Be happy. Because the kingdom awaits. Your reward is great and it’s worth whatever you have to endure while we’re here on our layover on planet earth.
1 Copyright 2004 by Lewis B. Bell III. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 3 in the The Kingdom Character series delivered by Chip Bell at Fellowship Bible Church Arapaho in Dallas, TX on February 1, 2004. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with credit.
Matthew 5:13-161
February 8, 2004
Welcome back to the Jesus Curriculum. We’re studying Matthew 5-7, also known as the Sermon on the Mount. It’s one of the lessons Jesus taught to those who followed him. Here Jesus introduces them to something called God’s Kingdom. That’s why we’re calling Matthew 5-7 “The Kingdom Handbook”, because in it Jesus tells his followers what they need to know as citizens of God’s Kingdom.
For the last three lessons, we’ve been looking at the Beatitudes, nine values that characterize God’s Kingdom.
The Kingdom isn’t something you qualify for by leading an upright life and performing great acts of service for mankind.
Instead, the Kingdom belongs to those who are spiritually bankrupt, to those who are filled with grief because of what sin has done to our world, and to those who cannot handle on their own everything life throws at them.
The Kingdom is the place where we will finally have justice, but at the same time we will be forgiven of all our mistakes and misdeeds. This is possible because Jesus himself died for us, satisfying justice and providing us with his own purity, allowing us to enter into God’s presence absolutely perfect.
In the meantime, while we wait for the Kingdom, we live here on this earth. As kingdom citizens we work for peace between God and man and among men. But as followers of Jesus Christ, we also expect that our efforts will be answered with persecution, with insults, and with slander. We will suffer for doing the right thing and we will suffer just because we are associated with Jesus.
Making these observations about what life on earth is like for a citizen of the Kingdom, Jesus naturally goes on to discuss the issue of living on earth more thoroughly.
In the next verses, 13-16, Jesus uses two metaphors—two word pictures—to describe the role his followers will play during their “layover” here on earth. These are also characteristics of Kingdom citizens. If you are a follower of Jesus, these two pictures tell you what you’re here for.
Jesus says you are salt and light.
For the next two weeks, we’re going to study these two pictures. They are found side-by-side in Matthew 5:13-16. This week, we begin with the first picture in verse 13:
Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth.
Salt was very common in Jesus’ day, but also a valuable substance.
Sometimes Roman soldiers were paid in salt (Pentecost, p. 78) and if one of them was not performing his duties well, it was said that “he wasn’t worth his salt”.
Just like today, salt was used to flavor food and it was also used to preserve foods. There was no refrigeration, so, for example, fish that were caught in the Sea of Galilee were packed in salt and sent to market in Jerusalem. The salt kept the fish from spoiling.
That is the image Jesus uses to describe his followers. You are the salt of the earth. You add distinctiveness to the flavor of life on earth and you help to preserve human society; you keep it from spoiling. What is it about a believer that makes life more palatable and pure? I think that it’s clear that Jesus is talking about the basic goodness that should characterize those who follow him and obey his teachings.
If you’re following Jesus, putting his words into practice in your life, then you will become like Jesus—basically a really nice person, mostly pleasant to be around, helpful, compassionate, truthful, honest, kind and loving. Your life will be characterized by two things: the presence of good deeds and the absence of vices. You will be the kind of person that others are attracted to just because you are such a good person.
Please be careful here. Jesus is not saying that if you work hard at becoming a really good person then you will earn a place in the Kingdom. He is saying that if you have a place in the Kingdom (which comes only through God’s grace), then you will become a really good person as you allow Christ’s character to be formed in you. Christ’s followers will be good people.
The cumulative effect of that kind of goodness has an effect on the world. Through their moral decency and charitable works, believers have made this world a much better place to live. Many of the world’s hospitals, orphanages and universities were opened in the name of Christ. Missionaries have brought literacy, medicine, education, and practical training to millions of people in the name of Christ. American believers in particular have been extremely generous in their gifts to the world.
It is true that self-proclaimed “Christians” have also murdered, stolen and fought wars in the name of Christ. There have been unbiblical, selfish, misguided attempts to promote racial and gender discrimination (and even slavery) with the claim of biblical authority. These people acted in the name of Christ, but they did not obey the teachings of Christ.
Because it is the teachings of the Bible (almost exclusively among the world’s beliefs) that elevated women to their proper place as human beings equal in value to any man. The Bible inspired the prohibition of slavery and promotes the equal treatment of all people on the planet because they are all equally valuable to God. The Bible formed the basis of western law and inspired democratic freedom. The Bible has been a reliable moral compass that has served mankind well for thousands of years despite all the attempts to distort it or misrepresent it. The Bible teaches the principles of honesty, fidelity, respect for others, respect for property, justice, generosity, and non-retaliation. The Bible promotes peace and encourages men to treat each other with kindness, patience, compassion and understanding.
Those who follow Jesus and put the words of the Bible into practice have had and continue to have a tremendous impact on this world for good. That is what Jesus means when he says, “You are the salt of the earth.”
If we follow the Kingdom Handbook, “conforming to kingdom norms”, then, as one writer says, we will be “a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing or non-existent.” (Tasker) And we will greatly benefit the world by the good deeds we do. You are the salt of the earth: a preservative, a flavor enhancer. As you follow the teachings of Jesus, pursuing good deeds and personal purity, you make this sorry world a much better place to live.
Notice the end of the verse:
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.
Salt in Jesus’ day was not the kind of pure salt we have today. It was mixed with impurities and if it was exposed to moisture for a long time, the salt could leach out, leaving only sand behind—it lost its salty characteristics. When that happened, the “salt” became worthless. It no longer tasted good. It no longer preserved anything. You just threw it out on the ground with the rest of the dust. You’ve all seen a saltshaker with grains of rice in it to absorb the moisture. Well, picture a saltshaker where all the salt has been shaken out and only rice is left in the shaker. That’s the idea here. It’s no longer real salt; it’s just tasteless trash.
That can happen to us too. If our goodness is compromised—if we stop doing good or if we permit moral corruption in our lives—then we cease to become salty—we cease to have the purifying and enhancing effect on the world that Jesus intends his followers to produce while they are here.
OK, so we know what Jesus says we should be: an influence on the world that makes it more pure and palatable. But how do we go about that? How do we function as the salt of the earth? How can we have a positive influence on the morality of a crooked and depraved society?
In the rest of the time we have, I’d like to look at some of the things we’ve tried. I believe that unfortunately many of the things we’ve tried have failed and I’d like to talk about why they have failed. And then I’d like to suggest what we need to do—what I think Jesus had in mind when he told us through this metaphor that we should have a positive moral impact on our world.
Here’s one of the things we’ve tried: confronting sinners and condemning their behavior. This is a picture from CNN of a member of Operation Rescue. He’s standing outside Disney World, protesting on “Gay Day”, a specially organized event for homosexuals at Disney World. (Read quotes from article.)
Just this last year we had a similar event at the Ballpark in Arlington when the Rangers had a “Gay Day” and it, too, was marked with protests by some local churches.
The ProtestGayDay website says, "We praise God that through the media we were able to deter the homosexuals from buying the tickets. …Three young men got saved and came to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 10 adults and 2 children were spared from unknowingly participating in festivities with homosexuals. Several Christians were enlightened to the need to stand against immorality. Thousands were exposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Concerned Women of America reported: “Despite claims from the Resource Center of Dallas that they would draw 1,000 homosexual baseball fans to Sunday night’s game, the group was able to sell only 200 tickets for the special roped-off section. …300 Christians rallied outside the stadium in protest of what was billed in the media as “Gay Day at The Ballpark.”…The 8 by 4 foot neon green sign outside the Texas Rangers’ Arlington stadium near Dallas on Sunday night pro-claimed the outcome: “Christians 300, ‘Gays’ 200, Jesus wins.”
While homosexuals seem to inspire the most attention, groups like this have also been active in protesting in front of abortion clinics as well.
Perhaps you can think of some other examples, but it seems to me that homosexuality and abortion have become the two hot-button issues that Christians are concerned about today. Does it seem strange to anyone that Christians organize protests about homosexuality and abortion, but don’t call for protests and marches against greed, gossip, adultery, lying or self-righteous pride? Maybe it’s just me.
Please don’t misunderstand. I think the Bible is clear that homosexual behavior is wrong and that killing another person—even one who is not yet born—is wrong. I believe there is no question that the Bible identifies both these actions unequivocally as sin.
My question is, “By protesting and marching with inflammatory and offensive placards, by writing unkind editorials, by boycotting businesses who make charitable contributions or try to provide equal benefits to all their employees, by treating this as a war of us vs. them, are we effectively making this world a purer and more palatable place?” I think not. On the one hand, I believe that these protests do very little to promote morality. On the other hand, I believe these protests do much to communicate a false impression to the world that Christians are unloving, unkind bigots who hypocritically believe they are morally superior and are selfish and insensitive enough to think that their views of right and wrong should be forced upon others.
Sometimes the desire to promote morality in our society motivates the Christian community to try to legislate against sin. I believe there is a legitimate place for morality in politics (and we’ll talk about that in a minute). But I also believe that we have not been either careful, fair or kind in some of the laws that the Christian community has promoted and endorsed.
What does the Bible say about this warfare against sin in society?
I think it’s interesting to notice that even Jesus didn’t approach the issue the way we do and he didn’t tell us anything that would indicate we should. Jesus said once,
John 3: 17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
If anyone had the standing to condemn the world over its sin, it was Jesus. And yet he did not. If that is what we are supposed to be doing, then why didn’t Jesus do it? And why didn’t he specifically tell us to? This verse immediately follows a verse that you’ve probably heard of:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It’s clear in the Bible that the message of Jesus and his followers to the sinful world is one of love and forgiveness, not one of condemnation and confrontation.
But you might be saying, “Yes, the message is all about forgiveness. But these people don’t know that they need forgiveness and they won’t know unless I tell them.” You know what? The Bible says that job belongs to someone else.
John 16:8 When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convince people that they are guilty and need forgiveness. That’s not our job. That shouldn’t be our approach. Instead, we are there to offer forgiveness to those who recognize they need it. Remember this verse from last week?
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 God ... gave us the ministry of reconciliation: …[20] We are . Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
The preachers in the early church took a much different approach than the protestors of our day. They lived in a society that was terribly corrupt; a society in which abortion was commonplace and homosexuality was accepted as an alternate lifestyle. And yet the New Testament says ab-solutely nothing about any protests, confrontations, boycotts, or petitions against sin in society. When speaking to unbelievers, they did not con-demn their sin. They did not even try to point out how sinful they were. They only stressed that God was offering them forgiveness and pleaded with them to turn to God and accept his forgiveness for their sins.
There are many passages in the New Testament that confront sin and talk about how inappropriate it is. But you know what? As far as I know, every one of those passages is addressed to Christians and deals with the issue of sin in the church among believers. They do not reproach unbelievers for their sin. Rather, they plead with them to accept forgiveness if they recognize they need it.
That brings us to the question of what we need to do in order to be the salt of the earth, in order to have purifying and palatable influence on the world. First, I believe we need to
Philippians 2:14-15 Do everything without complaining or arguing, [15] so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.
The word “in” here actually means “in the middle of”, like salt rubbed into the meat. When you live in the middle of a crooked and depraved society, it can be difficult to maintain the kind of goodness that Jesus teaches us to pursue. It’s easy to let our moral standards lapse. It’s easy to take care of ourselves instead of serving others. In other words, it’s easy to lose our saltiness.
But if we really want to have a moral influence the world, the biblical way to do it is to actually live moral lives ourselves.
You know, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but as a parent I’ve noticed that kids worry a lot about whether their brothers and sisters are doing what they’re supposed to do. They come in and say, “Mom, Johnny’s got one of those things you told everybody not to touch.” I get really tired of all the help I get from my kids raising my other kids. I find myself saying like a hundred times, “Look, you worry about you. You’ve got more than enough work to do making sure that you’re doing what you’re supposed to do and not doing what you’re not supposed to do. Leave your brother alone.”
You know, I think that might be good advice for us as Christians. Is there some reason, biblical or otherwise why we can’t concentrate on our own morality and quit worrying about whether or not the sinners are sinning?
Research shows that the incidence of adultery, pre-marital sex and divorce is roughly the same inside the church as it is in society as a whole. Christians can be ungenerous, stingy and hard to please. We’ve got a man in our church that says, “When I go to work in someone’s home, I hate to see that fish symbol on their door, because I know they are going to be a pain to work with.” It is a shame that often society cannot tell the difference between the behavior of a Christian and the behavior of a non-Christian. If followers of Jesus are to be the salt of the earth, we must begin by working on our own morality. Personally, I think we’ve got more than enough to keep us busy. At least I do.
Can you imagine what kind of impact the church would have on society if Christians really practiced what they believe, if they purged themselves of sin and concentrated on being good, decent, kind people?
I believe that God’s instructions to us are not arbitrary. He told us to avoid sin because it isn’t good for us. If the church was pure, then I think people in the world would see that and long for the sense of peace and fulfillment that they saw in the church. I think you wouldn’t be able to keep people away. All by themselves (along with the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives) they would begin to recognize the futility of sin and they would long for forgiveness and the life of kind, quiet integrity that they might see in the church—if we passionately pursued our own personal morality.
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now? Is there something that you need to surrender? I’m not going to picket your house. I’m going to remind you that Jesus offers you forgiveness so you can be rid of the sin that feels comfortable but is eating away at your soul. The church is meant to be a place where sinners are forgiven and then commit themselves to living a life of moral purity. That’s how we will influence our world.
A second thing we need to do is
We live in a somewhat unique government. In a sense, we the people are the rulers of our country. As Christians, I think it is appropriate that we ask ourselves, “What kinds of laws should a Christian ruler make?”
We don’t have time to go into a lot of detail about this issue but I think it is very appropriate that we vote, write, speak, and persuade other citizens to pass morally upright laws. There are just two observations I’d like to make about how we do it.
First, I think we need to be kind. We are called to be peacemakers not rabble-rousers. Again, let me remind you about a verse we saw last week,
1 Peter 3:15-16 Do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.
For the Christian, I believe there is no place at all in the political process for cruelty, anger, or belligerence. If we cannot speak about politics kindly then let’s not speak about it at all.
What about protests? I don’t know. It depends what look like. Are they kind and respectful or belligerent? If someone did the same thing to our church because they disagreed with what we believed, would you con-sider it persecution? If so, then what authority do we have for persecu-ting those who disagree with God that a certain behavior isn’t sin?
The second observation is that we need to be concerned with biblical morality as a whole. Political conservatives are usually focused on two or three moral issues and almost completely ignore some others. The Bible does teach that homosexual behavior and abortion are wrong. But it also teaches that it is wrong to deny justice to the poor, or to discriminate against a person because he has a different parentage, or to abuse the environment, or to wage war for selfish or capricious reasons. It also teaches about many other sins, the kinds of things that none of us want our government to police, prosecute or punish.
Some of these moral issues are priorities for political liberals. And yet the war cry of the political conservatives is so loud in the church that often these other “liberal” moral issues get lost in the din.
If this is how a believer feels about the political views of the typical evangelical church, just imagine how we come across to unbelievers.
I believe there is a place for a Christian to promote morality in society through the political process. But whether we like it or not, we live in a country that is ruled by the majority of the people. And the law of our land says that, whether or not it conforms to biblical teaching, the majority gets to decide what will be allowed. Is there any reason that we cannot join in the dialogue and advocate our personal support for a particular moral position without demonizing those who disagree? That would be an appropriate way to influence the morality of our society—as one citizen, respectfully expressing a personal opinion that is informed by the teachings of Jesus in the Bible.
The existence of moral laws will not bring morality to our society. But, if we pursue our own personal morality, if we live like the good, decent, honest, generous, upright people that God wants us to be, then we will have an purifying and palatable effect on the world. We will be the salt of the earth.
1 Copyright 2004 by Lewis B. Bell III. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 4 in the The Kingdom Character series delivered by Chip Bell at Fellowship Bible Church Arapaho in Dallas, TX on February 8, 2004. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with credit.
Matthew 5:14-16 1
February 15, 2004
Just about a week ago, on a flight from Los Angeles to New York, an American Airlines pilot came over the loudspeaker on the plane and asked all the Christians to raise their hands. Then he asked those who didn’t raise their hands to use the four and a half hours of their flight to talk with the Christian passengers about their relationship with God.
Although he denies it, some passengers claim the pilot said that anyone who wasn’t a Christian was crazy. Given the super-sensitive security consciousness of air travel after the 9-11 attacks were carried out in the name of religion, the pilot’s remarks caused some passengers to fear for their safety. One of them said,
“Just given the history of what’s happened on planes in this country, anything can happen at this point. So we weren’t sure if something was going to happen at takeoff, if he was going to wait until JFK to do something, but there was definitely the implication there that we felt something was going to happen.”
I imagine that the pilot is now having some second thoughts about whether that was the most effective way to encourage people to consider a relationship with Jesus Christ.
In fact, Jesus might also have something to say about that question. We’ve been studying Jesus’ words in Matthew 5-7, also known as the Sermon on the Mount or what I’m calling The Kingdom Handbook, designed to tell us about life in God’s Kingdom. It’s part of the Jesus Curriculum, our study of the major lessons Jesus taught his followers.
At the beginning of the Handbook, Jesus talks about the character of God’s Kingdom. He describes what we’re really going to like about the kingdom and then he turns to the question of life here on earth while we’re waiting for the kingdom to come. Jesus tells his followers that here on earth, we can expect to be insulted, persecuted, and slandered. But he also tells us that we have a special role while we’re here on earth.
In verses 13-16, Jesus uses two metaphors”two word pictures”to describe the role his followers will play during their “layover” here on earth. If you are a follower of Jesus, these two pictures tell you what you’re here for. Jesus says you are salt and light.
Last week, we talked about his first picture, “You are the salt of the earth.” Jesus wants us to make this place more palatable and pure. He wants us to live a life of goodness”a life of moral purity and good deeds. This week, we move on to the second picture,
Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world.
Light is a very common metaphor in the Bible. Along with darkness, light is often used to contrast knowledge and ignorance. Here, it almost certainly stands for the world’s opportunity to perceive the truth about Jesus. The world is “in the dark” about God, but Christians “turn on the lights”. Light allows people to see. Christians allow the world to understand how much God loves them and what Jesus has done to restore their relationship with him.
Being the light of the world, we actually carry out the same purpose that Jesus had in coming to earth. The gospel of John says that when Jesus was born,
John 1:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
Jesus himself said,
John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
John 12:36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light."
Jesus came to earth to show men that God loved them and to demonstrate what he was prepared to do to have a relationship with them. In a dark, dark world, that revelation was like a piercing bright light.
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God… made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But now, Jesus is gone. He has left the earth and he has left us to fill the role of bringing light to the world”of bringing the world knowledge of God’s love and forgiveness. That’s what Jesus means when he says,
Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world.
If you remember, we saw last week that salt can lose its saltiness”that Christians can become ineffective in their witness if they lose their purity.
In the same way, light can also become ineffective. How? By being hidden. Light is meant to be seen and to allow people to see. Hiding it defeats the purpose of light. Jesus uses two examples to demonstrate that hidden light is ineffective:
[14] "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
A city in Jesus’ day was usually built on top of a hill and could be seen for miles. It was very visible.
[15] 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.
The bowl Jesus is talking about here was about as big as this bowl and was used for measuring grain. The purpose of lighting a lamp was so everyone could see. If you put it under something, then the purpose was defeated.
In the face of persecution, a Christian might be tempted to hide their identity. But Jesus says if people don’t know about our relationship with Jesus, then it defeats the purpose of our “layover” here on earth. That’s the way it is with our witness in the world. If we are going to be effective in the role that Jesus gave us as his followers, then we need to be visible.
[16] In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
We must allow ourselves to be visible to the world around us. Notice the emphasis here in verse 16 is allowing the world to see our good deeds. This refers back to the basic goodness we talked about last week that should characterize us as followers of Jesus. Not only should we be good, but we should let the world see our goodness.
The hope, the goal, is that people will give praise to God. This is an important point to catch. The goal is not that people will say, “What great people those Christians are. Look at all the wonderful things they do to help people. Look at how honorable their lives are.” Rather, the goal is that people will say, “What a great God they follow.”
You know, the only way that will happen is that if we make it clear that the reason why we are living moral lives and doing good deeds is because we are following Jesus. If we don’t give God the credit, then we are not being a light to the world. I think this means that in every good thing we do for our fellow man, it is important that we give God the credit. If we do good, but fail to point people to Jesus, then we haven’t done what light is supposed to do. Being “salt” means that our lives should be characterized by goodness. Being “light” means that people are able to SEE that God is the source, and purpose and cause of our goodness.
Several years later, Peter repeats the same idea in his letter.
1 Peter 2:11-12 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
[12] Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Once again, the emphasis is on people giving God glory because they can clearly see our goodness. That is why our purity is so important.
OK, so we know what Jesus says we should be: a visible presence in the world that attracts people to God because they experience our goodness.
But just how do we go about that? How do we function as the light of the world? How can we make sure that the people of the world get to see the good things that God has produced in our lives?
In the rest of the time we have, I’d like to look at some of the things we’ve tried. (I believe that unfortunately many of the things that we’ve tried to do in order to be good have not helped our visibility.) And then I’d like to suggest what we need to do”what I think Jesus had in mind when he told us through this metaphor that we should be a visible example to the world of the goodness that God can produce in a human being.
As we consider the issue of our visibility in the world, first, let’s look at some of the things that we’ve tried.
The first is isolation. It probably first started as an attempt to preserve our own goodness, to keep ourselves, as James 1:27 says, from being “polluted by the world”. But in an effort to do things differently than the world, we created organizations that would allow us to spend our time with believers instead of unbelievers. Besides various church activities, we created Christian businessmen’s directories so we could do business with other Christians. We built Christian schools for our kids or schooled them at home. Soon many other organizations started popping up: Christian radio stations, Christian publishers, Christian counselors, Christian musicians, Christian newspapers, Christian artists, Christian television and Christian movies. The more immoral the world around us has become, the more alternative Christian organizations have multiplied.
I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with these things. They all have their advantages. They all have their place. My point is, they also all tend to isolate believers from the culture at large. Though Jesus decided NOT to pull us out of the world, sometimes we have pulled ourselves out.
While there is nothing wrong with these Christian alternatives in and of themselves, the more occupied we are with other believers, the less involved we are with unbelievers”the more isolated we become from the people of the world and the more we need to work at building new connections with the folks that God intends to see us. Isolation makes us invisible”it hides the light that we are meant to shine.
But isn’t this isolation necessary in order to keep the church morally pure? Listen to what Paul said to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 5:9-11 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people” [10] not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral…
In that case you would have to leave this world. [11] But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is . immoral.
The way we keep the church pure is by dealing with sin in the church, not by isolating ourselves from sinners in the world. If our lights are going to be seen by the world, then we must be involved in the world, not isolated from it.
A second thing that we have tried is proclamation. Usually from our isolated position, we try to spread the good news about Jesus with persuasive words. Stop to think for a minute about how most non-Christians might hear the message of the Bible today. It’s true that some people wander into churches and hear the gospel, but most do not. Some of the most prominent tools are TV evangelists and preachers, or big evangelistic crusades like Billy Graham. Then there are gospel tracts or books, people who go door-to-door, and street preachers.
Once again, there is nothing wrong with these tools of communication. Each of them has helped people meet and trust Jesus. But you know what else? Each of them tends to be impersonal and non-relational. Each of them relies heavily on words instead of example. But listen to what Paul says about his ministry among the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 2:4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power.
It isn’t that Paul didn’t speak to them. He certainly explained the gospel. But he also lived out the power of the gospel in his own life, right in front of them, right where they could SEE it. Again, I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with crusades or tracts or street preaching. What I’m saying is that it is not enough. If we are going to be the lights of the world that God intends us to be, then we need to be seen and not just heard. To be visible, we need to get up close and personal.
I think that whenever these tools we’ve mentioned incorporate personal contact between an unbeliever and a believer, then they tend to have a greater impact. Let’s continue to use whatever tool will help someone discover Jesus.
But I also think that there are other, more visible, more effective ways for us to shine the light of truth on the world. Here are some things we can do to become more visible:
Get out and rub shoulders with the people of the world. Many of you work in environments everyday with unbelievers. Some of you belong to the Boy Scouts or PTA or a community sports team. What a great opportunity to get to know people and allow them to see the light of Jesus in you through your goodness. When Jesus left us here, that’s exactly what he intended. Listen to the words of his final prayer for his followers:
John 17:11, 15, 18 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. …
[15] My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. … [18] As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
We are to remain “unpolluted by the world” but the place we belong is “in the world”, right in the middle of it, involved everyday with people who need to see the light of Jesus in us.
I think it’s clear that the normal avenue for the truth of the gospel is through relationship. It doesn’t need to be a long-standing relationship, but it must be relational. We must care for unbelievers as people, not as potential converts. Our love should be demonstrated in our willingness to serve. Here’s the way Paul described his own ministry among unbelievers in the Greek city of Thessalonica:
1 Thessalonians 1:5 You know how we lived among you for your sake. …[2:7] We were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.
[8] We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
Notice that the message was communicated in both words and works. Paul and his partners let these people see them live life. They demonstrated on a day-to-day basis what life in Jesus looked like. The Thessalonians could see the goodness that Jesus produced in his followers and so they longed to experience that kind of life too.
[9] Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel.
When you live that kind of goodness out in front of others, it will cause some to desire the same kind of life we have. The third thing we need to do is be ready for the day when someone, drawn by our goodness, asks us where we got it. We need to be ready to tell them where they can get it, too.
1 Peter 3:15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
I once worked with a waiter named Kevin. He was about as immoral and godless a person as you can imagine. Kevin knew I was a Christian and occasionally he’d tease me about being such a goody-goody.
He didn’t seem to have any interest at all in spiritual things. But Kevin was married and had a little girl. And one day he and his wife decided that in order to give their little girl a proper upbringing, they ought to do something for her spiritual education. They were looking for a church. How would they find one? Well, Kevin knew this guy at work. That’s right. He came to me and asked me if I could recommend a place where they could go. When he wanted to find a Christian, he knew where to find one, because I was not afraid to be a visible light in a dark place.
The final point is that we need to point people to Jesus. It isn’t enough to let people see our goodness. We need to let them know that it is Jesus that makes us good and produces that goodness in us.
You probably remember this verse from last week:
Philippians 2:14-16 Do everything without complaining or arguing, [15] so that you may become blameless and pure,
children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe [16] as you hold out the word of life.
I want you to notice the last phrase. “You shine, AS you hold out the word of life.” It’s really important that we follow up our good behavior and our good deeds by pointing people to Jesus. If we don’t then we are shining our light on emptiness instead of shining it on the world’s only hope.
You are the salt of the earth. You are meant to live morally pure lives and to do great good deeds to benefit the people of this planet.
You are the light of the world. As you live out this goodness visibly in front of the people of the world, your life will point them to Jesus where they too can find life that is real life.
That is the task that Jesus has left you on the planet to accomplish. We can still worship him when we get to heaven. We can still serve him when we get to heaven. We can still fellowship with each other when we get to heaven. But one thing we cannot do in heaven is help other people discover how they can get there too.
In April, our church is going to do something that we have never done before. We’re going to have a program called “Forty Days of Purpose”. It involves 7 weeks of Sunday morning worship services. It involves everyone in the church reading together for 40 days through a devotional book. It involves meeting in a small group for six weeks. I think this experience will revolutionize our church. We will probably never be the same. I’d like you to be praying about this, because God can use this to do some exciting things in our church.
But there’s something else I’d like you to be praying about. 40 Days of Purpose is also a great opportunity for you (yes, I mean you, not the person next to you). 40 Days of Purpose is a great opportunity for you to put into practice what we have been talking about today, being a light to your world. You can host a small group at your home and invite anyone to come over and be part of your group. This book is a national best seller and a lot of people have heard of it. You don’t need to know anything about the book. You don’t need to teach. All you need to do is ask people to come over to your house for six weeks.
I’d like you to start praying now about doing that. Some of you are probably feeling like you cannot do something like that. Start praying about that. This is an easy opportunity to make contact with non-Christian friends and build a relationship in a very normal, non-threatening way. It’s a great opportunity to be a visible Christian to your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers or your relatives. Let them see the light of Christ in you and then be available to talk, because they might just ask you how they can find what they see in you.
If you’re feeling nervous, don’t worry. You don’t have to do it now. All I’m asking is that you begin to pray about what God would want you to do and start thinking about who he’s brought into your life to see your light.
1 Copyright © 2004 by Lewis B. Bell III. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 5 in the The Kingdom Character series delivered by Chip Bell at Fellowship Bible Church Arapaho in Dallas, TX on February 15, 2004. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with credit.