How Do I Live? • Michael Sciarra

Introduction

If you would, we'll continue on with our worship this morning and please open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5. If you're in need of a Bible and you don't have one, we do have some in the lobby right when you enter in. If you do have one of the church's Bibles, Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 13, where we'll be this morning, is found on page 810.

This morning we'll be looking at Matthew chapter 5, verses 13 through 16.

Prayer

Please join me and turn your attention to God's word because man must not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Here is God's word for us.

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand. And it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Would you please join me in another word of prayer?

Lord, we thank you and praise you for your word. We are glad that we can come to it and trust it because it is true. Help us this morning not just to read words on a page that might be familiar to us, but to truly grasp the intentions of your word for us. Spirit, we ask that you would work in our hearts now to bring your word to bear in our lives, that you would transform us from the inside out. That you would give us eagerness and strength to apply your word to our lives, to not just understand the glory of God within it, but to live it out. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Review of The Beatitudes

Well, as we've been going through the Sermon on the Mount, we continue to pick up where we left off. And we have just found ourselves finishing the Beatitudes. As we've studied the Beatitudes, we've seen more than anything the internal realities and the internal characteristics of kingdom citizens, of Christians. We have seen that those who are part of Christ's kingdom are poor in spirit. They understand their spiritual status before God, not as rich but as impoverished. They understand their great need before a holy God.

Blessed are those who mourn, or those who understand the severity of their sin and have true godly sorrow over it. Blessed are the meek, the humble, who have come to experience the character of Almighty God, seeing themselves as they are and respond in humility, not in pride. And therefore, hunger and thirst for righteousness, looking for a righteousness, first and foremost, that is not their own. They're satisfied in coming to and finding the righteousness of Christ. They are then characterized, verse 7, by mercy. Blessed are the merciful, those who have come into contact with the mercy of God, and they themselves are compassionate towards other sinners. Blessed are the pure in heart, those who have a pure and whole devotion to the Lord and He alone.

Blessed are the peacemakers. This is where a bit of action gets put into it, where we understand because we have come to have peace with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, so also we are eager to bring that peace to others and herald it. Peacemaking is first an evangelistic reality before it is anything that has to do with peacemaking in relationships in the world around us. And then finally, in verses 10, 11, and 12, blessed are the persecuted. Those who embody these kingdom realities are not promised an easy life, but as they live righteously in the kingdom for the King, they will be met with opposition. And yet we're told in verse 12, rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who are before you.

Introduction to Matthew 5:13-16

These next verses continue on what is basically Jesus's introduction to His Sermon on the Mount, before He starts giving more specific and pointed teaching. Verses 13 through 16 are basically the exclamation point here to the Beatitudes. And they're helping us understand how do kingdom citizens take up the character traits of the Beatitudes? How do we live in our blessedness? How does this play out in the world around us?

The Main End Goal: Glorifying God

Christ is not calling us to be hermits. He understands we live in a world that has great need. How do we live in that world? What does it look like for us to be Christians in all of our endeavors? This is what Matthew 5:13-16 answers for us. And this is all for one main end. Sometimes, to understand something, it's good to start with the end. Look down at verse 16. Why are we salt? Why are we light, which we'll talk about shortly? We're to let our light shine before others, so that - here's the purpose of it all - they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. This is all for one main end. Our lives in the world are meant to culminate in one purpose: the glory of God. The end goal of the Christian life lived out in the world around us is that others would come to glorify God with their lives as well. So we want to make much of our good and gracious Father in heaven. Do we not?

Six Points for the Sermon

So how do we do that? Well, this morning, as we examine the realities of salt and light, we're looking at six points. Yes, six of them, but I don't think this sermon should be much longer than any of the rest we've endured together. Here they are. I'll give them to you up front.

1. Christian living starts with Christian character. I will repeat these throughout if you miss them now and you're taking notes. Christian living starts with Christian character.
2. Christians preserve society. (By the way, these all start with Christians, so you don't have to write that in every time.)
3. Christians flavor the world around them.
4. Christians are faithful in every endeavor.
5. Christians illumine the darkness.
6. Christians live to be seen.

Point 1: Christian Living Starts with Christian Character

Look down at verse 13 and verse 14 at the very beginning with me and see first that Christian living starts with Christian character. I want to draw your attention to the way that Jesus describes the reality of salt and light in our lives. He says, "you are the salt of the earth." And then you look down at verse 14, "you are the light of the world." Not, "try to be salt," "do what you can to be light," but "you are salt" and "you are light." We'll talk about the unique qualities of each of these in just a moment, but consider this first. Christ has made you something. If you are redeemed by Christ, He has made you something. He's designed you in a particular way. And He has designed you to function as salt and as light. It's part of your new life as a Christian. It's not something that you have to grow into and then become. It is what you are. You are salt, you are light.

There's two sides to this reality that we should consider. One is a great encouragement and one prods and warns us. First, consider how that reality, that we are these things, is encouraging. Know this Christian: you are not a problem that God needs to solve in order to use. God is already beginning to use you. Redeemed by Christ, you have been made a new creation and now you are defined. Definitively you are called a saint. That is one who is holy, set apart, sanctified for God's purposes. God has plans to use you. He wants to use you. I think I can say this for every Christian in the room. Friends, Jesus is using you. It's a comforting reality to know that God delights to bless us, and all of those Beatitudes, blessed are, and give us divine happiness, and that He has made us into something wonderful that He can use for great and glorious purposes. His plan to make His name known in the world is not to work around you because you're so deficient, but it is to work through you. Christ at work in you. And that includes who you are today. Yes, the Lord wants to grow you. Yes, there's ways that you can grow up into these realities all the more, but Christ intends to use you, Christian, as you are today. Do not discount yourself. Even when you fall, even when you fail, even when you don't measure up perfectly, and you wonder, "does Christ actually want me to be a part of this?" "This week, the way I've been, am I really going to be used by Christ?" You can confidently answer, "yes, Christ desires to use me. I was created for His purposes. He has wired me as a Christian to be salt and light. He has welcomed me into this glorious plan of bringing glory to the Father."

But there is a side to this that equally not just comforts us and encourages us, but prods us, that warns us. That keeps us alert. Our character, what we are, shapes our lives. I've said this over and over again. Who we are internally drives what we do. Christian living always starts with Christian character. Think with me about the context of these verses. We've understood these are the qualities here of the Beatitudes. Those qualities are the qualities that make us salt and make us light. The function of salt, the function of light that we will soon discuss, goes hand in hand with the substance of salt and the substance of light. There's no separating the two. So God welcomes us into His plan. He makes us something for it, but we have a part to play. We cannot neglect our Christian character. We can't become, as Jesus says, salt that loses its saltiness, or a light that's hidden under a basket. Still salt, still light, but really not adequate or effective any longer.

We've all known those Christians who are nominal Christians, meaning they're Christians in name only. They profess the name of Christ, but the way they live and what is shown from the inside out in their lives looks like something completely different. We want to be Christians that not only profess the name of Christ, that bear up well the name of Christ, that show that Christ is at work within us. A life that is saved by Christ is a life that will be shaped by Christ, marked by Christ, continually transformed into the image of Christ. Our character comes then before anything we do, and we want to deal with the matters of our hearts, our loves, our desires, our motivation, our worship, what we treasure. They are important. It's really important for us to understand then that our Christian lives are not about keeping busy with things to do.

You are salt. You are light. Pauses us for a moment. It's not, "go fill your schedule and be busy. Do this, do that, be here, go there, fill a role, find a slot," you name it. Busyness is not godliness. They do not necessarily equate to the same thing. Being tired from ministry activity doesn't mean that we're fulfilling our God-given calling necessarily. Our primary call is not "do, get busy." Our calling as Christians is first to be, to have a life that is defined by fellowship with Christ and therefore becomes marked by the fruit of Christ in our lives. When we start with our Christian character, which leads us back to our connection to Christ and what He has made us, it helps everything else become fruitful. Faithfulness internally, faithfulness to Christ, faithfulness there will produce fruitfulness out there, everywhere else.

Point 2: Christians Preserve Society

So now what does it look like to be salt and light? What does it look like to embody the reality that Christ has made us? Thinking about salt and how we live as God's purpose in the world, secondly, understand, Christians preserve society. Jesus calls us salt, the salt of the earth. And he draws our attention to one of the primary uses of salt in ancient times that we still have today. Salt preserves things. Friends, there were no refrigerators, there were no freezers. They didn't even have vacuum sealers back then. They had barrels, they had clay pots, there were no Ziplocs, and what did you do when you didn't want something to go bad? You preserved it with salt. You shoveled salt into all the nooks and crannies of a carcass of meat that you didn't want to go bad. You cured it in that way. Even vegetables and fruit. You can think of like we eat sauerkraut or pickles or different things like that today. Maybe you don't. Maybe just my family does. Some of you are looking at me very quizzically when I said sauerkraut. But what does salt do? It preserves. And it keeps at bay the decay and the rottenness that would soon set in in any produce, in any vegetable, and any meat, and anything that we've made or were consumed. Your favorite beef jerky today uses salt as a preservative and so many of the other snacks that you enjoy.

The point here does not need much belaboring at all, but it does call for serious and costly application. Those of us who bear the name of Christ are meant to have a preserving effect upon the world around us. Because left to itself, like a meat left out on a table, society is going to rot. It is going to be infested. It is going to be decaying. And so it is imperative that we have influence that brings the gospel to bear on every facet and every avenue of our lives. If we do not have gospel influence, gospel-shaped lives influencing society and lives around us, then you and I are going to find ourselves in a world of moral putrescence, even worse than you might think it is today. It will be wasting away, and it will not be fit for the consumption of anybody who's good.

Your life is meant to make a moral impact. And this preservation, this preserving reality of your life, is an act of love to those around you. It's a sign of God's general benevolence and kindness and common grace to the world around you. You're meant to be an influence. Notice, I'm not saying that you're meant to be a leader. Certainly, some of you will lead in certain avenues and lead the charge in certain areas of society and life, and you will be a preserving influence. But more than anything, it is just that your presence bears weight around you. You're meant to shape by simply being somewhere, a new kind of culture. You're meant to round those out around you. Salt will not regenerate a society. It's not going to birth a new heart, but it will bring God's goodness into it.

So, when you think about friends that you have in school or colleagues, students in college, you think about co-workers, you think about the person that lives next door to you or that you see regularly at any kind of restaurant. You think about sports companions or people that share the same hobbies as you, anybody that you might interact with, any kind of relationship that you have, your presence ought to make it difficult for sinful attitudes and dispositions to persist. Sinful habits to become ingrained in that place, and for sinful words to become the norm among those with whom you interact. You keep those things at bay. This isn't rule-creating, this isn't domineering, but it is influence, creating a culture around you. It's going to look less grand than you might imagine, but there will be large effects. Most often your presence is going to lead to some moderated language, perhaps the name of Christ being less blasphemed more easily. It'll help those around you to develop somewhat of a conscience as to the standard of how they live and the work ethic that they have in their work. It will help conversations lean less toward the wild and the worldly and more toward what is good and true and beautiful because of your presence with those around you. The lives of those around you will begin to develop more respect for fellow image-bearers. Your life will save others from going into immoral pressures and ungodly pleasures that our world is comprised of and that would destroy their life. When you are the salt of the earth, you help keep the decay at bay in the lives of those around you and anyone you interact with.

Point 3: Christians Flavor the World Around Them

Salt has other purposes as well, though, so consider number three. Christians flavor the world around them. The way that you and I use salt most often mirrors this. You're scrambling eggs in the morning, or you're cooking dinner, you're sauteing vegetables, you're putting potatoes in the oven, and what do you do with so much of it? You sprinkle some salt on it. Now, understand here the purpose of salt. The purpose of salt added to asparagus or chicken or anything else is not so that people would eat it and say, "Man, that's really good salt." "I like the salt. Thanks for, I guess the chicken's good with it, too." No, what does salt do? It enhances the flavor of everything that it touches. Salt enhances flavor. It brings a certain zest to the reality. It highlights the good characteristics in any particular dish.

So how can Christians distinctively enhance the flavor of the world around them and highlight the good, the true, the amiable? Christians, you need to understand this. As salt in the earth, you're meant to enjoy life. Being a Christian is not a dour reality. It's not like being like Eeyore in any way, shape, or form. We don't season society by being scrooges. The kind of personalities whose presence brings a depressive mood in is not a Christian disposition. We don't want our entrance into a room to mark the exit of joy. Rather, we want joy to come in with us. We want the grace of Christ to follow us everywhere we go.

So, how can you and I flavor life? Think about John 10:10. Jesus tells us that He has come to give us life and life to the full, life abundant. And so everything about us should express the attractiveness of Christ and the attractiveness of following Christ. Yes, that's going to include the holiness of following our Lord, but it is an enjoyable reality. You and I have been given joy, settled happiness, that blessedness that the Beatitudes talk about. This is why Charles Spurgeon has said, "I commend cheerfulness to all who would win souls. There are more flies caught with honey than with vinegar." Joy, true joy is part of the unique flavor that Christians bring to everything and everyone around them. It's not a flimsy joy that is just a film that covers everything and dissipates quickly. This is true. This is settled. Can be had in any circumstance. It's not a reality that's aiming for attention that's our own. Jesus, when you think about Him, He wasn't necessarily going around with a billboard trying to draw attention to Himself, but Christ was noticed because He was distinct. He stood out. He was unique. And so, too, are His followers. Our joy affects everything we do.

Here's one specific way that you can flavor the world around you. One category of life that you and I should pay close attention to. Consider your words, your speech, what you say. The Christian speech should particularly be seasoned with salt. And that's a Bible reference. Colossians 4:6 tells us, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Interestingly, in the context of Colossians 4, Paul also warns us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, because our speech is one of those areas that we walk a fine line with often and that grieving the Spirit would be easy. It's one of the Our speech is one of the mess- best ways to measure our own internal spiritual life. You can remember James 3: The tongue can do as much harm as it can good. It in and of itself is a deadly flame, a world of fire, a world of ungodliness. James even told us that it's set on fire by hell. How do we use our tongues as Christians? Ephesians 4:29 tells us that our words can be a conduit of great blessing to others, that we can give grace to those who hear.

Speech can lift the spirits of the lowly and build them up with fitting words. It can bring life into a godly perspective and make sense of things. Our words are where we most clearly proclaim Christ and make the gospel known, not just by the content of what we say, but yes, even how we say things to others. Our speech is one of the primary ways you and I value others or devalue others, even by the simple tone or one word over another. Speech is also very much like salt. Too little and there's not enough flavor. Too much and it overpowers. Speech is not meant to be about us. It's meant to bring out the flavor, the aroma of Christ in our lives in everything. We don't want to mix too much of ourselves into the equation and oversalt the thing. It'll become sour and bitter and unpleasant. We want to highlight Christ even with our words. Christians bring a unique flavor to the world around them. A unique aroma of Christ, a tincture, a vibe, you might say, of the gospel. Everywhere we go, we bring gospel culture with us.

Friends, the church as well is unique in this way. The church is special. It's different from anything the world has. We don't want people to enter these doors or come into contact with us as a church and think, "Oh, this is just like everything else I see in the world, and they just kind of put a Christian spin on it." That's not what the church is. We don't do what's comfortable or intuitive to the world and just tack on Christ. Our goal is not to take the methods of the world or the sentiments of the culture and to try to fit in. We're distinct, and it's good. A non-Christian does not need to feel comfortable in our services. They should come in in some way and they should feel welcomed and loved. But by the amount that we pray and praise and hear the preaching of the word of God, if you've not been here, it's not going to be a comfortable reality. You're going to wonder what these Christians are doing. Why are we spending 90 minutes on this? But it's okay. We don't want to water things down. Christians non-Christians should feel welcomed. They don't need to feel like this is akin to everything else they see in the world. Part of the way that you and I are salt of the earth is by joining together with the local church and being built up together and keeping ourselves ever focused on Christ. And so we don't shy away from being unique and having a particular Christian flavor to ourselves. Christians flavor the world around them. It's part of our influence in the world. It's part of how we're salt.

Point 4: Christians Are Faithful in Every Endeavor

Number four, consider this, still looking here at verse 13. Christians are faithful in every endeavor. Christians are faithful in every endeavor. Look at verse 13. "But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet." Now, understand this. Salt actually can't become less salty. If salt is not salty, it's actually a different compound. Now, don't get into the science with me. I can't tell you what actually makes up salt. I could at one point, I'm sure. But how does salt get watered down, so to speak? It gets diluted. You can picture salt water. And if you keep adding fresh water, eventually it might not taste like salt water at all. In Jesus's day, salt could have been easily contaminated by contaminated by a number of things. I mean, just imagine life with a toddler for a moment. And there you are in ancient times, and you have your clay pot of salt that's probably been gathered from something like the Red Sea, or the Dead Sea. And there it is. And your toddler, because you live in an ancient hut, goes and scoops up some dirt on the ground and throws it in with the salt. You're like, "No! Sand with the salt! This is not going to taste good! This isn't going to work as it's supposed to! Get the dirt! Can we scoop out the top so that we can preserve the rest?" Salt doesn't actually lose its taste. It gets diluted. It gets contaminated. It becomes polluted by other things. Its purity becomes compromised because other things have entered into the mix and infiltrated it. It doesn't become another mineral. Its reality doesn't change, but its effectiveness begins to wane.

And so we too are at risk of losing our preserving, flavoring, purifying qualities. We want to live lives in the world. We do not want to live lives contaminated by the world, that become the world. We are meant to live in the world. We are meant to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world. These verses alone tell us Christians are not allowed to be hermits. We don't seclude ourselves from the world. There is much God has for us to do, and we cannot go away in a compound and only see Christians. So how do we maintain purity in a crooked generation? How do you and I ensure that we preserve and season well in a world that could drag us down so easily? Friends, you hold fast to Christ. Salt stays salty when it is there with salt. When it's with its source, so to speak. When it doesn't allow other things to mix in. You and I must guard ourselves and hold fast to Christ and have Him be first and devote ourselves to Him so that we would not be dragged off or torn off by other things. John 15, if you want to turn there, is a bit of a treatise about just this, where Christ tells us to abide in Him. Jesus in John 15 in verse 4 and following says this: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me." Abide means to remain, to stick with, to be present with Christ. Verse 5: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers. And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love." These things, He says in verse 11, "I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full."

How do you and I stay faithful? How do we not lose our saltiness? We abide in Christ. Abide in my love. He says, as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. As the Father has perfectly loved the Son, intra-Trinitarian love, perfect love, eternal love, unending love, as the Father has loved me perfectly, there's not a more perfect relationship of persons there, so I have loved you with endless, limitless, glorious, beautiful, sacrificial, everlasting, steadfast love. Abide in my love. How do you stay salty? How do you live a life so that your Father is glorified by your good deeds? You ever run to Christ. You ever return back to the cross and look to what He has done. Drink deeply of Christ's riches. Dive deep into fellowship with Him and the reality of your union, your inseparable connection with Christ. Drill down into the word so that you would know more of Christ. Speak to Christ, devote yourself to prayer. Abide in me, says Christ. He paints this picture that is so glorious, and we should think to ourselves, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. And that's how we remain faithful. Friends, expect your relationship with Christ to be lively. Expect it to be life-giving, energizing, joyful, and refreshing. This is not a stagnant reality. This is a reality that you are invited into. Abide in my love. So that we would not be those, like in verse 13 of Matthew 5, who are salt but lose our saltiness. If we abide in Christ, we will be salt full, not salt less.

Then, as we are faithful to Christ, we are able to be faithful in every endeavor. And then we can be salt of the earth, like salt being put into meat to preserve it, that's pressed into every nook and cranny. We want to find faithful Christians that abide in Christ and have their joy full in Christ and are obviously marked by grace to be present in every facet of society. We need good Christian politicians who are consumed with Christ. We need good Christian plumbers who love Christ more than anything else. We need good Christian school teachers and educators and AI specialists these days, and coders, and grandmothers, and sanitation workers, and lawyers, and electricians, and you name it. Christians who are enamored with Christ and bring that into everything. Christians whose hearts adore Christ, whose minds want more of Him, who are drawn into deep fellowship with Him. And therefore are faithful salt, are faithful light in all the world. Friends, we are not meant to be isolated. Christians can shape the world around them. Imagine the impact of so many Christians, not just Christians in name only, but those who adore Christ unleashed into the world. An incredible, incredible reality that could therefore follow after. Our Christian life is meant to be lived in the public square. And so, we remain faithful in every endeavor. And it is good to pursue things in this world that will honor Christ, that you can bring Christ into, and that you can utilize to bear up the name of Christ.

Point 5: Christians Illumine the Darkness

Number five. Moving on from verse 13, now we look at verse 14. "You are the light of the world." And we understand that Christians illumine the darkness. "You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden." Philippians 2:14 is a good verse for us to remember. Philippians 2:14 says, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."

One of the ways that you and I illumine the darkness around us, and we become lights in the world, a city set on a hill, is by highlighting the goodness around us. Here's what Ecclesiastes 8:15 says, "I commend you, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun." Here's what Ecclesiastes is telling you: life is good, enjoy it. Ecclesiastes is a wisdom book in the Bible, and it is telling you it is wise to enjoy life. Ecclesiastes 11, verse 9 to 10: "Rejoice, oh young man, in your youth. And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity," not meaning that they are meaningless, but that they are fleeting. A wisdom book tells us it's good to enjoy all the gifts that life gives us to offer. Here's how Pastor Ray Ortlund puts it: "We are liberated by God, invited to look around, notice the enjoyments He is offering us, and go for it. The hobby that you love and make time for, go after it. The sport you love to play, take it up. The career track that you'd love to reach, the school subject that fascinates you, and all the more, you are approved by God to explore, discover, and enjoy. Have a blast along the way."

There's a warning that as well. We will stand before God and give an account for all that we do in this life, so we enjoy God's gifts in the right way. Not selfishly or recklessly, not with total abandon, but in good measure, honoring Christ and others in everything we do. The path of godliness in this world is not one that necessarily always holds up the, "Do not cross," line or a stop sign. But the path of godliness and being lights in the world is full of joy and vigor, helping others to see the many good gifts and the beauty of the world around us. Christians should be marked by an enjoyment of life that brings light to everywhere we are.

The primary way, though, that you and I illumine the darkness around us is by making Christ known. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." And look at verse 15 for this purpose. People don't light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand. And it gives light to all in the house. You and I have the light. We live in a dark world, but the light of life has come. The kingdom of light has been inaugurated. You and I have entered into it. We were once part of the kingdom of darkness, but now we have been transferred, Colossians 1 tells us, into the kingdom of Christ, God's beloved Son, the kingdom of light. You and I have the light, and it is not meant to be snuffed out or hidden in any way, shape, or form. You and I probably don't grasp as well as we should a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. We have so much light pollution in our world today. I've got neighbor's floodlights that pollute my bedroom at night. Right? It's like, nothing's completely dark in the modern age. But in Jesus's time, what did they have? They had like candles and torches. And at some point you're in the darkness and you're in the wilderness, and you look up, and you think, "There it is! On the hill! There's a flickering light! There's a city! There's civilization there! There's good things happening there! I'm down here in the valley. If I can just get there, then I know that I'll be okay."

And you and I are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. We are meant to have the gospel and hold it out, to make it clear, to bring it to others. It should be the message that is proclaimed clearly from our lips, clearly from our churches, clearly from our lives in everything we do. And what is that message? That Christ has come. Romans 5:6, that at the right time Christ died for the ungodly, that you and I are sinners. Yes, created by God and in His image, but that is at part lost in the fall. And now we are devoted to destruction, like we read in Ephesians 2, dead in our sin. Spiritually incapable of any good and of any right relationship with God. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, has given us His Son, Christ, offered for us as a perfect sacrifice to cleanse us from sin. Not just dying on the cross, but raising again three days later, that He would proclaim victory over sin and death, that He would begin to push back the forces of darkness and hell itself, bringing many sons to glory, drawing many into His light, illumining the world around them by His light, the light of the gospel.

We want to be like Paul in Ephesus. It's not that we are changing the world around us in such a way because we're lobbying the government to stop allowing idols to be worshiped and sold. No, Paul shows up in Ephesus, he preaches the gospel boldly. We want to preach the gospel with such power that the idol makers of the world can no longer stay in business. That the gospel goes forth and people are transformed and see the foolish ways that they've committed themselves to. See the idols of the world and the false religion, even that they devote themselves to when they do not call themselves religious, see it for what it is and turn to Christ, their only true hope, their only true source of life and hope for peace with God.

Our work in the world is gospel work. Not aiming to coerce others into feeling Christian or looking better on the outside, but being so gospel-focused and so gospel-saturated that people are saved. Then society can be transformed. Then good will begin to be propagated all the more around us. Friends, it starts with souls. We want to be concerned for eternal souls. Think of some of the ways that you're going to work to see the light of the word and of the gospel break through. You'll be pointing out to fellow sinners, brothers and sisters, Christ in Christ and others, and save them from the siren song of sin that so entices them. You're going to show a brother that Christ is better than pornography, or cheating on his taxes, or his spouse. You're going to bring a sister along to help her recognize that Christ sweetens even the hardest moments of mothering and offers joy when life can feel dreary. You're going to run after a neighbor with the gospel who's throwing away their marriage and destroying their life.

You and I get to be like Lightlings. R.C. Sproul has a series of kids' books. These are some of my favorite books. These books bring me to tears when I read them with my children. R.C. Sproul has such a way to give you a little bit of an allegory to describe the beauty of the gospel. And one of his books has what he calls Lightlings. And the King of Light has created these beautiful fairy-like creatures to embody his light. And yet at some point, they turn away from him, and their entire world is darkness. And like this is the darkest children's book I've ever looked at. You're like squinting, "Oh, there they are." And they're in this woodland, and they're they don't know where they're going. They can't find their way around, and they become so accustomed to the darkness. It's a picture of the world around us. Beautiful image-bearers created in the likeness of God, lost, stumbling, blind. No idea where they're going. And at one point, the King sends light down to the Lightlings, and this is that picture of the gospel and of Christ. And one of the young Lightlings sees it. And he's not afraid of it like the rest. And he goes up to it, and it illumines him. And throughout the book, you start to be able to see there's there's a little bit of a brightness here. And it travels to another. And they start coming, and they they see it and the beauty of it. And that the world they've been in is actually so beautiful and so remarkable and so glorious, and they've been blind to it. Friends, that's a picture of the gospel starting to spark in our lives, going from one person to the next until the world around us and all the people around us see the light, embrace the light, love the light, and commit themselves to Christ. It's no wonder our world gets things wrong. It's in the dark. How do we illumine the darkness? We bring the gospel everywhere. We push back the forces of darkness with the torch of the gospel. We illuminate the room so that people can see clearly. Nobody puts a light, a lamp, and puts it under a basket, but on a stand. Up high so that it illumines everything. Imagine if these lights on the ceiling were under your chairs. It'd be dim in here. Friends, don't keep the gospel under your chair. Don't keep it hidden. Be bold, be brave, be courageous. You are bringing the most glorious news to people who without it are destined to hell.

Point 6: Christians Live to Be Seen

Lastly and finally, how are you and I salt and light in the world? Christians, sixth, live to be seen. Christians live to be seen. In the same way, verse 16, "In the same way, let your light shine before others. Be seen by others. Be noticed by others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." We don't aim to be seen because we want ourselves to be magnified. We don't want ourselves to look pretty. We have godly perspective here. We want Christ to be magnified. You and I have been welcomed into experience and enjoy the glory of God, to know God's glory. And you and I are meant to live out the glory of God, to be God's glory, as our brother Allen often reminds us, for others to see. To know and experience it, and then to be it, to picture it, so that others are wrapped up into it. So we ask ourselves, where are our lives pointing? Think of yourself and your life like a road sign. And maybe even a series of road signs that have arrows directing you one way or another. Go this way, not that. Where is your life pointing? Where is the series of your interactions directing people towards? Does it keep them on the same path they're on, or does it point them to your Father in heaven? Does it point them to Him so that they would glorify Him?

Friends, for people to truly come and glorify our Father who is in heaven, it does include that aspect of, "Wow, look at that Christian! There's something unique. I'm intrigued. There's wonder." But to truly glorify the Father in heaven is to themselves receive the light, to see your good works, to see your profession of the gospel, to encounter it, and to have faith. So where do our lives point? If people follow us, if they follow our road signs, where will they end up? There's a simple poem that I'll close with. "You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day by deeds that you do and words that you say. Men read what you say, whether faultless or true. Say, what is the gospel according to you?" Friends, we want to preach a true message with our lives that ultimately is what it means to be salt and light. Am I faithful to Christ? Is my faith seen throughout every avenue of my life? Is the gospel made clear by my words and my deeds?

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Lord, our desire is to be used by you, and we count it a great privilege to be used by you in the world. Help us to be faithful. Help us to be effective. And Lord, use us to preserve society around us, to be a positive influence to both Christians and unbelievers throughout the world. Lord, help us to bring the grace of Christ into every situation. Help us to model well what it looks like not just to know the gospel, but to live it out. And Lord, by us, help people to see the light of Christ and so glorify you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.