Lesson 3: Kingdom Citizens and Our Influence (Part 1) | Sermon on the Mount

this is a production of world video Bible School to God be the glory thank you for continuing your study of the Sermon on the Mount we have already covered some introductory remarks an introductory lesson in the previous lesson we looked at the Beatitudes and kind of under the broader heading of Kingdom citizens and their attitudes and today we're going to continue our study by looking at verses 13 through 16 of Matthew chapter 5 as we consider Kingdom citizens and their influence and will actually have two lessons on influence as we look at verses 13 through 16 we'll will cover those in in two lessons and not just one and hopefully you'll find this beneficial and helpful as we think about how a citizen of the kingdom of Christ is to utilize his influence for good and and not for evil Jesus says in this sermon in this section in verses 13 through 16 these words you are the salt of the earth but if the salt loses its flavor how shall it be seasoned it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men you are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven Jesus begins this section by talking about salt salt is one of the most common substances on earth we mine it from the land and we extract it from the oceans I read one time that if all of the salt that is in the oceans could be removed from the ocean and spread out over the seven continents of the earth that the salt would form a layer 500 feet thick that's a lot of salt we have phrases about salt you ever heard the phrase or used the phrase he's not worth his salt that actually comes from ancient Greece as I understand it where slaves were often sold and traded for salt it was that much of a commodity so salt has a major role to play in our lives and Jesus many years ago in his famous Sermon on the Mount addressed salt and how it relates to citizens of his kingdom and so he used this analogy this metaphor when he said to those who would follow him you are the salt of the earth and what did Jesus mean by that in what ways are we like salt what is it about salts that could be used to compare to the attitudes and actions of people well the answer is not all that difficult to understand once we realize that many of the uses that we have for salt today were the same uses that they had for salt back then and that's what we're going to do in the lesson today as we think about this this one part of the sermon is to is is to think about the characteristics of salt things that it's used for and how those characteristics can parallel the lives of those who are following Jesus those that are citizens of his kingdom and they all have to do with influence and how we influence others so consider some of these characteristics of salt first of all think about the fact that salt delays decay salt delays decay see they didn't have refrigerators back at that time as we do today they didn't have deep freezes where they could take their their their meats that they would be wanting to keep for for cooking later they couldn't just wrap him up in butcher paper and put them in the freezer and so they they had another way to preserve them and we still use salt some this way today though not as much as they did but salt is something that when it's worked into meat it will preserve it it delays the decaying process so without salt back then and without working that salt into the meat the meat would become just a a rotting piece of flesh it would become rancid you know you couldn't eat it you just have to throw it away so the salt delayed the decaying process now in making that comparison Jesus in telling us that we are his followers are the salt of the earth he's implying among other things that the world left to itself would become rotten that when people are left to themselves without the positive influence of the followers of Jesus Christ that the world would become completely and totally rotten we can see some of that decay in our society and and it and it shows how much there needs to be more salt in the world to help in the preservation of it delay its increasing decay but when we think about that that need for a preservative in the world Jesus says to his followers you are that preservative you are what I want to use to delay the decaying process in the world the spiritual decay and so through our influence through the influence of children of God citizens of the kingdom of Christ Christians through our influence we in a sense keep the spiritual bacteria from completely taking over because once the meat is completely rotten it's good for nothing but to be thrown out the Bible is clear in affirming that the presence of the faithful among the unfaithful among the world helps to delay God's judgement giving the world time and opportunity to repent I want to call your attention to a couple of examples of that from the Old Testament the first of those is from Genesis chapter 18 in the the famous or infamous if you will a story an account of what happened to the cities of sodom and gomorrah those two cities were extremely wicked and the book of Genesis bears that out and God in revealing to Abraham what his plans were for Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy them because of their wickedness to bring righteous judgment upon them Abraham interceded for those two cities and the main reason for that was because he had relatives there his nephew lot lived in that region with his family and so Abraham began this conversation with God regarding the destiny of Sodom and Gomorrah and in the process of that he talked about or implied that the existence some righteous people among the wicked would have an influence or wanted it to have an influence with God so look at what Abraham says in Genesis 18 first of all verse 23 Abraham came near and said would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked and from there Abraham talked to God about the righteous and the wicked and he said for example in verse 24 suppose there were fifty righteous within the city would you also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it and God said if there are fifty righteous then I won't destroy the city and Abraham continues to talk to God and he continues to lower the number in his conversation with God to where we get down to verse 32 and he said let not the Lord be angry and I will speak but once more suppose ten should be found there and he said God said I will not destroy it for the sake of ten so what God was telling Abraham was that as wicked as those cities were that if he could find ten righteous souls there that he would spare everybody including the wicked for the sake of ten righteous souls that may have lived there now if you know the rest of that story from book of Genesis unfortunately tragically Abraham couldn't find ten righteous there so the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were ultimately destroyed but that doesn't change the fact that God would have no doubt kept his word if Abraham would have found ten righteous then the whole area would have been spared and so in that sense and in that way the righteous had would have had a an effect of delaying the judgment of God if there had been a more righteous influence there think about another example from the Book of Jeremiah Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 1 here we're talking about Jeremiah who is a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah and God's people in Judah had become so corrupt and so wicked themselves that they were destined for for slavery for captivity and we find this in Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 1 where the the Prophet is told run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem see now and know and seek in her open places if you can find a man if there is anyone who executes judgment who seeks the truth and I will pardon her the Prophet is told search Jerusalem search through the whole place see if you can find someone there who executes justice someone who's righteous someone who's following me and he said if you'll do that if you can do that if you find that person I'll spare her I'll spare the whole place so the concept is there that the the presence of the righteous can delay not only the decay of people through the influence of the righteous but the righteous presence in a wicked place can even delay the judgment of God for the sake of the righteous and when we think about that concept think about that as it pertains to our culture our nation think about America there's no doubt that that American culture is headed in the wrong direction has been for a long time as people get farther and farther away from biblical principles and biblical morality is it possible that God could delay his judgment against our nation because of the existence of righteous souls within it well I'm not going to stand before you and speak for God I I don't know what his plans are he hasn't revealed them to me nor anyone else in for that matter but I do know that that from what we're told in certain places in Scripture Genesis 18 Jeremiah 5 that it's possible that God could delay his judgment for the sake of righteous souls who live within this country but not just this country what about other countries where the general tenor of the culture is to be against God and yet there may be righteous souls that are wielding an influence there that could in a very real way delay perhaps God's judgment against whatever nation it is simply because of the existence of the righteous so the principle is there in Scripture now how it may apply in our day we certainly don't know God hasn't revealed that but the principle is there that salt delays decay how about this characteristic of salt salt also enhances flavor we put salt on things today to enhance their flavor not necessarily to preserve them though we do sometimes use salt for that but many times salt is used to enhance flavor and some foods can be very bland and tasteless until you sprinkle a little salt on them and then the flavor comes to life when you think about this world this world can be a very bland flavorless unappetizing place when you think about some of the things that are characteristic of our world that make it unappetizing bitterness so much bitterness in our world selfishness anger cynicism there are a lot of characteristics of our world like that that make our world tasteless and and unappetizing when you think about think about it just in terms of individuals if you if you come across an individual who's just constantly negative he's constantly bitter constantly sin : and angry and all of that isn't that kind of an unappetizing person is it that somebody that you really don't want to be around but with the influence of godly principles sprinkle a little salt on that person when they embrace a more biblical view of things and embrace more godly attitudes then that person is no longer unappetizing that person is someone that you want to be around and so salt does that it enhances flavor and you can see in in our world some of this bitterness you know there's something that we have in our culture today that I never heard of when I was growing up we just got a term for it now road rage I suspect it always existed we just didn't call it that was just just good old-fashioned anger but road rage people that get get so mad at others when they're driving that it results many times in violence and and death murder it's a terrible characteristic of our culture you see this kind of of anger and bitterness and unpleasantness around the holidays people are shopping for presents and they get in fights over the last item that that two people want at the same time and people come to blows people get in fights or parking spaces and who got there first so many examples of things like that that show that the the bitterness the tastelessness the the unappetizing nature of our culture and I ain't even said anything about politics but it's the same thing salt enhances flavor when we think about our influence in the world if you're going to be a follower of Jesus Christ then you need to be one of those people not that falls into that category of bitterness and hatred and cynicism and all of that but to possess attitudes that enhance the flavor of the world when Christians life with the joy of Jesus Christ in their hearts when they live above all of the bitterness and anger that's so characteristic of the world those people give a flavor to the world that desperately needs that kind of flavor that's what salt does but what's tragic is that too many times people see the same incident at claim to be followers of Jesus that they see in the world and that just should not be the case sometimes the road rage and the fights in stores and fights over parking spaces and all that sometimes the people who are perpetrating those things are people who would claim to be followers of Jesus they would claim to be members citizens of his kingdom well not as Jesus defines those terms see Jesus wants us to not be that he wants us to be salt and enhance the flavor of the world in which we live I read a quote one time that was attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson the author and the quote was this attributed to him that he wrote in his diary these words I have been to church today and am not depressed in that a sad statement that he could write in his diary that he had been to church and yet he didn't feel depressed as if that was some kind of major accomplishment but maybe that was his experience maybe being around those people who claimed to have been Christians was under normal circumstances to him a very depressing thing it shouldn't be that way that's not the enhancement that the flavor enhancement that salt is supposed to have and so we are to be salt and enhance the flavor of our surroundings in Philippians chapter 4 verse 4 we see this principle where the Apostle Paul wrote rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice that's enhancing the flavor of your surroundings where in whatever circumstance you find yourself you're able to rejoice Peter wrote in first Peter chapter 1 verse 8 speaking of writing of Jesus Christ he said whom Jesus having not seen you love though now you do not see him yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory isn't that the kind of person that you want to be around the person who possesses joy inexpressible so much joy that that it it you can't even explain the depths of it that's the kind of joy that we need to have and the kind of disposition we need to have to be that kind of an influence to the world around us another characteristic of salt is that salt causes thirst don't salty things make you thirsty how do you handle life's circumstances specifically I talk about things like like tragedy or even life's little annoyances even life's little disappointments how do you handle those kinds of things do you handle those kinds of things in your life in a way that others can look at you and say I want what you've got whatever it is that you have that enables you to handle tragedy with such grace with such calmness with such peace in your heart I want that in other words the question is do you make people thirsty do you make them thirsty for what you have for the the peace of mind that allows you that the stability that allows you to face the difficulties of life with grace can you maintain a level of joy a level of optimism a level of satisfaction and peace that makes others thirsty for whatever it is you're drinking Jesus talked about being able to give people water living water that if they would drink of it they would thirst no more he talked about that in John chapter 4 verses 13 and 14 to the Samaritan woman and later in the book of John chapters chapter 7 he would talk about how his followers would one day be like Springs of water for others that's who we're supposed to be that's the kind of influence that we can have and should have for others we should make people thirsty for what we have found in Christ if you are a Christian if you're a follower of Jesus say a member of his body his church a citizen of his kingdom then you by being that close to him by being a part of his kingdom can have at your disposal for your use that which will enable you to face life in such a way that people will say that I want that I want what you have which will open up an opportunity for you to explain to them that the reason why you can handle life and face those situations the way you face them is because you follow Jesus because your life is characterized not just by empty promises and empty claims of allegiance but you actually do follow him and his word that his word has free course in your life that he calls the shots and that you follow him wherever he goes salt makes people thirsty well how can we exert these influences how can we be like salt to delay decay to to enhance flavor to to cause thirst how do we go about doing that specifically well I would say in the context of the Sermon on the Mount we could start with the Beatitudes you want to make people thirsty you want to delay the decay of our culture and enhance the flavor of the world around you then start by admitting your dependence on God recognize your poverty of spirit be a person who is so bothered by his own sin that he seeks to avoid it at all cost you want to be that kind of salt then be a gentle person but your gentleness be known to all Philippians 4 verse 5 blessed are the meek right Matthew 5 so be a meek person be a gentle person that'll make a difference in the world be someone who's constantly hungry and thirsting for righteousness don't allow your passions and your appetites to be focused in unrighteous things but hunger and thirst for righteousness be a person who's merciful be genuinely and truly moved by the circumstances of others keep a pure heart you want to influence your society you want to be salt purify your heart because from a pure heart will come pure actions so purify your heart how about seeking peaceful relationships you want to have a positive influence on your culture be a peacemaker we've got too many people in this world already who are just looking for a fight the slightest thing just sets them off don't be that person be be somebody who loves peacemaking and you'll make a difference in the world and then you want to make a difference then learn how to properly handle being treated we're all going to be mistreated in this world it's too much of an evil influence in it that we're gonna face that especially if you're facing mistreatment because of your righteousness handle that the right way and you'll have an influence so start with the be aunt you want to be salt be what the Beatitudes describe and you'll delay decay you'll enhance flavor and you'll cause people to be thirsty and say I that's what I want I want to be able to do what you do I want to have what you have and these characteristics are characteristics that have to be worked into our relationships with others think about that salt is only going to preserve an effect and enhance the flavor of and all of that salt is only going to affect what it touches if we're going to affect the world around us it's going to be through our interaction with the world around us and so we can't you know we can't separate ourselves from the world and still influence it Jesus said in John chapter 17 verse 15 through his praying to God about his disciples he said I do not pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one if we lose our saltiness then we've lost it all because not only does the world become destined for destruction so do we so I'll leave you with this question how salty are you are you helping to preserve your culture by your godly influence are you rising above the poor attitudes of the world and enhancing the flavor of the world are you making people thirsty if not it's time to figure out why figure out the reasons and make the changes that you need to make in your own life you this is a production of world video Bible School you

Channel: World Video Bible School (WVBS)

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Length: 29min 34sec (1774 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 21 2017