Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

The Journey started in our living room on Tarrent County Dr. off of Bunny Trail.

If I were completely transparent and honest with you this morning I had no idea what God had planned and in store for future of The Journey Church.

Anyone who is truly honest will tell you that planting a Church from the ground up never goes as planned.

All of the Church planting classes, seminars, and training you can take never truly prepare you for Church planting.

One thing that becomes painfully clear early on is the spiritual battle that finds itself waged against the Church and it’s people.

From the beginning of scripture after the fall it has always been Us Vs. them; the Church Vs. the World; Light Vs.

Darkness; the Saved Vs. the Unregenerate; however you define it the battle is very real and evident all around us every day.

The battle against the world is to be expected however, I believe one of the more subtle and possibly most destructive battles being waged is taking place within the walls of the Church.

This battle takes place among many who would claim to be ambassadors for Christ, those claiming to be born again believers.

When the Church truly begins functioning as Salt and Light to the World the greater attacks begin to come from our own camp, among our own people.

Notice that before Jesus gets into the “salt and light” he concludes the “Beattitudes” pointing out the struggle and persecution that will take place when you choose to be Salt and Light.

Jesus highlights in His sermon on the mount two key distinctives for how any professing Christian should relate to the world.

Both statements that Jesus uses could be defined as counter cultural statements compared to society today.

Notice that Jesus uses words “you are,” at the beginning of Salt and light to indicate a statement of fact for anyone claiming to be a Christian.

He doesn’t command us to be salt and light He just simply makes a statement of fact that you are salt and light.

Enhancing Others’ Lives

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses two sensory-rich descriptions for the people who are his disciples.

He states, “You are the salt of the earth.

… You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:13–14).

Those who trust in Jesus, therefore, are comparable to salt and light.

And both descriptions are apt when we think of our neighborhood.

Salt is a preservative.

Salt can be added to something such as pork to give it a longer shelf life (living longer).

In this clip from a MasterClass on cooking, chef Thomas Keller points out that salt enhances flavor.

If you think of flavor as the quality of life, then we should be doing what we can to enhance the quality of life, as well as preserving and lengthening the lives of those around us.

The final point about salt is this: it has to be integrated into the food.

Salt in a saltshaker, sitting next to a steak, will never make any difference to the steak.

It has to be rubbed into the meat and become embedded in it.

“Salt”

Salt functions as a preservative it is the enemy of decay, and the substance which gives taste to food.

1)Preservation

2)Flavor

TASTE: The act of tasting is used figuratively for experiencing the goodness of God his word and of a variety of experiences: misery, sin, wisdom, love, death and blessing.

If salt has not value for the taste of food what good is it, in reality it now has not purpose and is useless for the kingdom of God.

Salt in 1st century Palestine was very impure and it was possible for the sodium chloride to be leached out, so that what remained lacked “saltiness.”

Here is an odd thing, an awful lot of Jesus disciples did not completely know what he meant about the salt.

Some would assume that our job is to make the world a better place, or stop it from rotting but these explanations often conflict with each other and suffer from various problems.

Jesus was speaking of salt in relation to the earth, not food.

Salting the earth was something people did after after destroying their enemies, rather than blessing them.

Other places in the Gospels, Jesus connects salt with fire and with living at peace together, neither of which seems to fit with the idea of tastiness or preservation.

FERTILIZER: Several ancient civilizations used salt as a fertilizer for the soil, and depending on the conditions, it could help the earth retain water, make fields easier to plow, release minerals for plants, kill weeds, protect crops from disease, stimulate growth, and increase yields.

Disciples are fertilizers.

We are meant to be in those places where conditions are challenging and life is hard.

We are sent to enrich the soil, kill weeks, protect against disease, and stimulate growth, and as we are scattered life springs up in unexpected places.

SALT AS AN ANTISEPTIC: Salt can also be used to treat wounds.

While salt in an open wound can produce pain it also can bring healing.

Perhaps Jesus metaphor shows that the presence of believers in the world stings the consciences of the ungodly because it is a painful reminder that God requires holiness and that the wages of sin is death.

“Light”

The light of the world implies that the world is in darkness.

“The Light of the World” is an expression that is applied to Jesus therefore, it is interesting to point out that it is also a term used to define His followers.

Why? Ephesians 5:8 Paul states that you were at one time in darkness but you are now light in the Lord, therefore, walk as children of the light.

Philippians 2:15 tells us that we are to shine as lights in the world.

The greater picture this gives us is of our reflection.

Every human being reflects one of two things, either we reflect light or we reflect darkness.

There is no middle ground when it comes to light and darkness.

Ephesians 2 reminds us that we were all at one time waling in the course of the world, following and doing the work of Satan, carrying out the desires of the body, and mind, which makes us by nature children of wrath.

BIG IDEA: We must repent of Christian pessimism and reaffirm our confidence in Gods power.

Pessimism: a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future.

Note: I think one of the greater factors which hinders Christians from being salt and light in society and the world is a pessimistic attitude as to whether anything they could say or do will really make a difference in the world.

I think every apostle of Christ would disagree.

They each went to a martyrs death with the message of Salt and light on their lips.

Christians are the Light of the World

In his recent documentary titled Light On Earth, David Attenborough tells of an unbelievable experience of the S.S. Lima.

On January 25, 1995, as this British Merchant vessel sailed the waters of the northwestern Indian Ocean, the seas beneath them began to glow.

On a clear moonless night, while 150 miles east of the Somalian coast, a whitish glow was observed on the horizon.

And after fifteen minutes of steaming the ship was completely surrounded by a sea of milky white color with a fairly uniform luminescence.

It appeared as though the ship was sailing over a field of snow or gliding over the clouds.

While stories of glowing seas have been a part of maritime folklore since the 1700’s, they have never been scientifically confirmed.

But a group of scientists had an ingenious idea.

Using a Defense Meteorological Satellite, Dr. Stephen Haddack and his team discovered a large luminescent area.

Roughly the size of Connecticut (110 miles long), the phenomenon was identified in the exact area where the captain had reported his ship that night.

Marine biologists discovered that the glowing sea was caused by massive swarms of bioluminescent bacteria feeding on large populations of algae.

Imagine that for a moment.

Bacteria are microscopic.

But when they congregate together, these tiny creatures, that cannot even be seen by the naked eye, can suddenly radiate their light 600 miles into orbit

There is no place our light cannot reach if together we will let it shine before a searching humanity.

WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEING SALT AND LIGHT?

1. Being Salt and Light is a Holy Pursuit

How do we pursue Holiness?

“Without Holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

The difference between us and God is that He is completely and inherently Holy and we are not.

The New Testament emphasizes the pursuit of holiness in this world and the final attainment of holiness to come.

To be “Holy” means to be set apart for honorable use.

Where we were once foolish, disobedient, and enslaved to this world with it’s pleasures and passions we have now been washed and regenerated through the Holy Spirit.

(1 Cor.

6:11).

The pursuit of Holiness does not end when we become a follower of Christ, it just begins!

There is a positional holiness that we inherit at the point of conversion.

*The Church does not EXIST for the sake of the World

According to scripture the people of God have a higher purpose!

Ephesians 1:3-10 Paul gives us a history and theology of the church.

There are several things we learn from this text.

1. God’s first and primary purpose was to create a people for Himself, who would live with him Holy and blameless.

(“you were once dead in the trespasses and sins you once walked, following the prince of the air, but God being rich in His love for you has now made you alive in Christ”)

2. God did this accordance with the good pleasure of His will and to the praise and glory of His grace.

(“He did this for the immeasurable riches and grace of His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus”)

Note: It appears then according to Paul that the Church is not a means but an end.”

The Church is the visible sign of God’s universal will which is living before the Father in Holy Love for His Kingdom and For His glory.

IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD