Jesus in All of Life - Part 1: Salt and Light | Pastor Andrew Gardener

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Such a privilege and honor

to be with you all. I've been following your

community online for the last number of years,

so it feels a bit surreal also for me to be here

and to be with you. I bring you greetings from

God's favorite city in Asia, of Hong Kong. It

is true, the truth hurts sometimes. When Jesus

returns, he will not be returning to Jerusalem.

He will return to Hong Kong. That is very clear.

It's in Revelations. I want to start by sharing

a little bit about my story and my background,

like Pastor Phil said. At the age of 25, I worked

for an international investment bank, an American

investment bank, based in our Hong Kong office.

but a lot of my clients were based in Tokyo,

and so I would travel up to Japan quite regularly

to work for a couple of weeks with my colleagues

in Japan. On this one particular trip, at the

age of 25, I show up on this particular day,

and my boss says, oh, your colleague, she's sick

today, so you're going to need to replace her

in this meeting that she was going to take, and

the meeting's in about an hour's time, and the

meeting is with the top four bankers for our

bank in the whole of Asia. Now, I'm 25 years

old. By that point, I knew nothing really about

banking and finance. And here I am going into

a meeting solo representing my department in

front of four of the biggest bankers in Asia.

These men were feared and revered. Everybody

knew them. Everybody knew the kind of lifestyle

they lived, the kind of way that they worked.

Pretty strong, powerful individuals. And suddenly,

in an hour's time, I'm thrust into a meeting

with these people. I wasn't prepared. Have you

ever been in a meeting where you're the dumbest

person in the room? Anyone? If not, you need

a new job. So I'm pretty worried. I'm sweaty.

I'm like, my heart rate is going crazy. I decide

to get to the meeting super early. Like that's

the right thing to do in a meeting like that,

right? You do not want to be late to these men.

So I get there like 10 minutes early and I walk

into the room and it's this massive conference

room. There's only supposed to be five of us

in this meeting. There's this massive conference

room. There's a huge conference table right in

front. And I'm like, where do I sit on this table,

right? Like that's the first challenge. Where

do I sit on this table where when they come in,

everybody, It's going to meet each other. It's

going to be great. So I decide I'm going to sit

in the middle of the table, right? That seems

to be the obvious place. Sit in the middle. When

they come in, we'll all gather around the middle.

So I'm sat there for about 10 minutes. Sure enough,

right on time, the doors open and these four

men walk in. They're chatting to each other because

they know each other super well. They're chatting

in loud voices. They're chatting with the kind

of bravado and confidence that really wealthy,

powerful people kind of talk in. And I'm sitting

there just kind of like looking at them. They

walk in. They totally ignore me. They go to the

farthest end of the conference table away from

where I am. The four of them sit there and they

just keep talking to each other. And so I'm sitting

there kind of feeling like super awkward, right?

And they're chatting for like another couple

of minutes. And then eventually one of them looks

up and it's almost like he notices me for the

first time. And he looks up and he goes, who

are you? Not a great way to start a meeting,

right? Like, who are you? I'm like, I'm Andrew.

I'm Miko's replacement. well today, so I'm in

this meeting with you today. All four of them

stare at me for about that long. And then they

turn together and they start talking again, totally

ignoring me. And I don't know what to do. Do

I butt into the conversation? Do I move up the

seats? I'm not sure what to do. So I'm just sitting

there, super awkward, listening to their conversation.

Now, fascinating. Their conversation had nothing

to do with the meeting at all. But they were

talking about the state of the world. In particular,

they were talking about the state of humanity.

Fascinating. And I realized as I was listening

in that they were debating the state of humanity.

And two of them had one perspective and the other

two had a different perspective. Two of them

were arguing basically that humanity is essentially

sick and in need of a doctor. And that if we

can work out what's wrong with the human condition,

we might be able to kind of work out the ways

in which humanity can get better, and then maybe

the world will thrive more. The other two were

arguing, no, humanity is essentially well. Like,

humanity's fine. We're resourced. We're smart.

We're good. What humanity needs to thrive is

opportunity. So they're having this debate, the

four of them back and forth. Humanity is sick.

Humanity is well. Humanity is sick. Humanity

is well. I'm just sitting there listening to

it. After about, and I kid you not, about seven

minutes of this debate, one of them turns to

me and he goes, Miko's replacement. Doesn't even

say Andrew, right? Miko's replacement. He's like,

what do you think? Do you think that humanity

is essentially sick and in need of a doctor?

Or is humanity well and just needs opportunity?

all four of them stare at me. This is about the

worst situation that you could possibly be in.

Because think about it for a second. Because

no matter how I answer them, I'm going to upset

at least two of them, right? Because if I go

with one, the other two is going to go with it.

And so I'm like, I'm backed into a corner here.

I don't know what to do. And so I'm thinking

about this. I'm kind of like catastrophizing

the scenario in my head. As I'm thinking about

it, the Holy Spirit speaks to me. And here's

what the Holy Spirit says. The Holy Spirit says,

Andrew, How would the Apostle Paul answer that

question? I wonder if you've ever been in a situation

where you didn't want Jesus to speak to you.

Anyone in that situation ever been in one of

those? I'm like, I don't know if I want to wrestle

with this right now. Like, Jesus, could you just

go away for a little bit, please? I'll go back

to being a Christian after this meeting. But

I thought to myself, if I tell these guys, the

four most powerful bankers in our company, if

I tell them what Paul thinks about that question,

they are definitely going to fire me. I will

lose my income and my wife will probably divorce

me. I'm like totally spinning in the head. But

the Holy Spirit doesn't give up. The Holy Spirit

says, Andrew, if you really believe what Paul

taught, then you should say so. So I lean in

on the table. All four of them are still looking

at me. And I said, I think there's a third way.

I actually don't believe that humanity is sick

and in need of a doctor. I don't believe humanity

is well and just needs opportunity. I believe

that humanity is dead and in need of resurrection.

That was exactly their response. They all just

stared at me for like awkward amount of time.

And then they turned back to each other and just

started talking. And for the next 45 minutes,

totally ignored me in the room. I think they

must have thought I was some religious fanatic,

some crazy guy. They just ignored me basically.

And I'm sitting there and I realized for the

first time in my life that I'm actually feeling

what Paul had taught in the scriptures. I knew

at that point that my career was dead and desperately

in need of resurrection. You may also realize

that today I'm no longer a banker. I'm a pastor.

Yeah. That's my story. When I said earlier that

it's an honor to be with you today, I wasn't

just meaning that it's an honor to be in this

room and be a part of this community for the

day. I meant actually that it's an honor to stand

before you today in such a moment of history

as the one that we are in. I don't know if you've

been feeling it lately, but the world is in a

pretty desperate place. I believe that we're

in a time in global society where the world is

more divided, more hostile, more broken, more

wars, more pain, more hurt than perhaps we've

seen in our own lifetimes. And it feels to me

that this grand story that we as Christians hold,

this story of death and resurrection, a story

of life breaking into the most broken of places,

is a story that this world desperately needs

to hear. And I sort of feel that we as the church

in Asia, we're at an inflection point for the

gospel. That I think that if we as the Christians

here are holding this narrative that can say

something to the darkness and the hurting and

the brokenness and the structures of injustice

in our world, then surely now more than ever

is our time to rise. Now more than ever is our

time to shine. But here's what I've noticed as

I've traveled around Asia and speaking in different

contexts. I've noticed that our church in this

part of the world, and I'll put my church into

this category as well. I think our churches are

struggling because we are, as we've emerged from

COVID, I think the temptation is for us to just

kind of stay insular. Just kind of like rebirth

the gatherings and get everything going well

again and just kind of like focus on our healing

and our restoration. And I think church in general

is being very inward thinking and not very external

focused. And I think because of this, what I

would say is that the greatest danger that I

think faces the Asian church today is the privatization

of faith. I think our greatest danger. Is that

we would gather in moments like this and in rooms

like this as wonderful as this is. And have an

amazing time worshipping, an amazing time hearing

the word, amazing time being ministered through

prayer and not bothering to do anything. To bring

anything of that into the places and the spheres

of influence where God has planted us. The privatization

of my faith, just making it something personal

and private and something that's good for me.

It may not be good for anyone else, but it's

kind of me. I'm going to do me. You do you. That

kind of approach is desperately hurting a world

that is desperately hurting. Are you with me?

And I think we're at this inflection point for

the gospel in Asia. And I think the Holy Spirit

is asking the church in Asia some pretty strong

questions right now. Are we going to be the bold

and central voice of faith, hope, and love to

a world that desperately needs it? Or are we

going to shrink back into the safety of our own

self -preservation and self -concerns? Will the

church stand up and stand out? Or will we shrink

back and fade out? Or I think most importantly,

Will the church be bold to live out the gospel

as it was always called to be? Or will we settle

for a compromised version of the gospel that

might keep our lights on in our buildings, but

diminishes our light in the public square? Some

challenging thoughts. And it's because of this

that Pastor Pablo and the team here have come

up with this new sermon series for you over the

next number of weeks, Jesus in all of life. Because

we desperately need Jesus for Christians to be

in all of life and not just for 75 minutes on

a Sunday. I don't know about you, but when I

wake up in the morning, man, I take a deep breath

before I open up my social media or look on the

news sites. That sense of, man, this world is

just kind of spinning out of control right now.

And when we're living in a time like this, I

think the Lord asks us personally. A very important

question, the answer to which I think not only

sets the direction of the global church for the

future, but also sets the direction of the world.

Here's the question. What should we do as Christians

when the world has gone crazy? I wonder if you

feel like the world has kind of gone crazy lately.

What should we do as Christians when the world

seems to be spinning out of control? Now, while

I think that this is the most important question

that faces the global church right now, it's

interesting because this is not the first time

the church has had to wrestle with this question.

In fact, if you look through history, you'll

see that the church, through its own history

for 2 ,000 years, has had to wrestle profoundly

with this question. What do we do when the world

seems to be spinning out of control, when the

world has gone crazy? I want to suggest to you

this morning that through church history, we've

seen largely four responses from the global church

over 2 ,000 years to answer this question. The

first one would be this, escape. What do we do

when the world's going crazy? Let's just pray

and hope that we can get out of it. The idea

here is that the world represented by this box

is dark and sinful and broken. And we Christians,

we're here. But here's our one great hope. that

one day we will be out of this all. That one

day we might bungee jump out of here and reconnect

with God on a cloud somewhere singing Kumbaya.

Like we do not want anything to do with this

place. The second response that I think we've

seen in church history is one that I would call

insulate. This is the one where we look at Jesus'

word and we take it seriously. And what did Jesus

say? He says, I want you to be in the world,

but... Come on ECB. Not of the world. And so

here we are. We are in the world. Our great hope

is not to escape this place. We've been planted

in this world. But here's what we need to do.

We need to insulate ourselves from the nastiness

that's around us. We need to retreat from the

world. We're in it. But we just need to insulate

ourselves. Kind of wall ourselves away from that

sin and that brokenness and the culture around

us. And so this is what we do. We Christianize

everything. We go to church as much as possible

because church is the only place that's holy.

We then create Christian movies and Christian

music and Christian clothes. I will only put

on this piece of clothes in the morning if somebody

has prayed over it. And we wall ourselves off

from the nasty world around us. The third response

is one that I would say is called control. In

this response, the world is dark, horrible. Terrible.

But here's the great Christian hope. We're going

to Christianize everything in the world. Now,

on the surface, that sounds like a great thing.

Like, isn't that really what Jesus wants? Everybody

to come to know Him. But in the control model,

what happens is that the church goes about that,

Christians go about that, in ways that I would

argue are not gospel. Gospel being this beautiful

idea of a ground up, this organic work of being

yeast and dough. But the control method is how

do we run this thing from the top down? So we

just need to get Christian presidents, Christian

prime ministers, Christian politicians. We need

to have Christian government. If we can just

legislate the kingdom of God, everything would

be alright. And in its worst expressions, this

becomes worldly power dressed in Christian clothes.

The last one is this idea of conform. So the

world is dark and bad and horrible. And yes,

I'm a Christian and I have my views on things.

But ultimately, I don't want to upset people.

I don't want to push my views on anyone else.

I'm actually willing to try to serve everybody.

So I'm just going to kind of conform to the culture

around me. I'm just going to try to play my part

and hope that everything's all right. And so

we conform. The beauty of the gospel to this

standard of the world. So I want you to take

a look at all four of these things right here.

And here's a couple of reflections for us. The

first one is this. I don't know about you, but

I recognize myself in all four of these things.

Like I know what it is to be tempted to want

to escape the darkness. I know what it is to

want to insulate myself, to want to try to control

my environment, to wanting to try to kind of

conform to the things around me. I see myself

in all of these. And here's the challenge I want

to bring you right at the start here. I want

you to think about in your context, in your part

of the world right now, as you see the world

spinning out of control, which of these four

perhaps represents your kind of default position,

the one that you might find yourself falling

into? The second thing I want us to reflect on

is that three quarters of these, three of the

four, are actually about the privatization of

faith. Escape, insulate, conform. It's about

how do I get away from this horrible, nasty world

and how do I begin to just kind of like, you

know, insulate myself, kind of cut it all off,

be private with my faith and not be the very

thing that Christ has called us to be, bringing

our hope and our love to the world. And when

you see these four responses, I think the challenge

is that through church history, this has marked

us as a church in not a very nice way. Dietrich

Bonhoeffer, that great Christian theologian and

pastor, writing at a time of Nazi Germany, seeing

the church escape, insulate, and conform, and

at times even try to control. he writes these

prophetic words. He says, any community of Jesus

which wants to be invisible or dominant is no

longer a community that follows him. And when

we sit in that reality, here's what we should

be asking ourselves. There has to be a better

way. Like there's got to be another way that

we think about this, what it means for us to

live in this world. It can't be the four things

that we've seen. There's got to be a better way.

There is this moment in Jesus' ministry where

I think he offers us one. And in this moment,

he's got his disciples around him and he's teaching

them. And he's teaching them about this idea

of faith in all of life. And I think what Jesus

says in this moment has something significant

to say about all areas of our lives. But particularly

about the workplace. About the very place that

most of us in this room are planted in. Whether

that's a school. or education institution, whether

marketplace, whether business, whatever it might

be. But what Jesus says in this moment shapes

something about how we consider our work environments.

To understand that, let me just step back a little

bit. Work has always been central to God's plan

for the flourishing of His creation. You go to

Genesis 1 and 2 to see the way in which the Holy

Spirit, the way that the Lord has created work

for humanity. And in the creation narrative of

Genesis 1 and 2, you see the pinnacle of that

creation being the creation of us. Humanity made

in the image of God. And you see in Genesis 1

and 2 that God creates two rhythms for human

flourishing. These are the rhythms of work and

the rhythms of rest. Interestingly, we often

think about it as like we work and then we rest.

But when Jesus creates, or when God creates in

Genesis 1 and 2, here's what happens. Night happens

first. Then day, the first day. Then there was

night. Then there was day, the second day. In

other words, rest precedes work. Most of us work,

work, work, work, and then we exhaust ourselves

or fall exhausted into vacation. But the way

that God has created it is that work should be

the place that we launch ourselves from. Sorry,

rest should be the place that we launch ourselves

from. We work out of rest, not into rest. But

this important idea of work becomes a stable

part of what it means for the human flourishing

of life. Let me actually read to you how the

scriptures put it, because I think this is really

key for us. Notice in Genesis 1, it says this,

Then the Lord God said, So God created humanity,

or man, in his own image. In the image of God

he created him, male and female he created. This

is fascinating because right here in the moment

of our creation, God immediately gives us our

purpose. Our work, if you will. To go into creation.

And the words here we struggle with as Christians,

subdue and rule. It sounds very kind of control

-like from the top down. But actually, if you

read this verse in the broader context of the

creation narrative of Genesis 1 and 2, you can

see it in a slightly different light. Throughout

the narrative creation story, what you see is

the Holy Spirit involved in creation, taking

something that is formless, giving it form. And

bringing it into fullness. So the Holy Spirit

hovers over the formlessness and the darkness

of creation. Jesus speaks the word. Let there

be light. And light comes. Formlessness to form

to fullness. This is very much the creation narrative

for us as humanity. God takes the formlessness

of the dirt. Creates the shape of man. The form

of man. And then breathes the spirit into man.

Bringing man to life. His fullness. And now,

in the primary purpose of what humanity has been

called to, God now takes that same process and

now puts it in our hands. He says, I want you

now to go into creation and create and grow and

flourish that creation in the way that I have

created you. I want you to take things that are

formless, give them form, and bring them into

fullness. I want you to take all of the creation

that I've given you and enable it to be a place

of wonderful flourishing. I love the video from

Tool. Taking old, broken down buildings and bringing

them to new life. That's Genesis 1 and 2. That's

the call that is on humanity to go into this

world and help it to flourish. So much so that

on the seventh day, God rests and he looks over

creation. He says, this is the way that I've

made it to be. Everything, shalom. Just the way

it was intended to be. What an honor it is for

humanity to work in order that creation would

flourish. Are you following this? Now, then Genesis

3 happens. And then sin comes into the equation.

Adam and Eve choosing to take of the fruit that

they should not. And what happens to work? It's

immediately cursed. And actually God speaks over

Adam and he says your work now is going to be

toil and hardship and suffering. It's going to

feel like you're sitting as a 25 year old in

front of four very powerful men and you're an

absolute nobody and you want to die. Or in whatever

context that might resonate with you. Work becomes

a place of toil and struggle and hardship. But

we Christians have a better story. We have a

story of redemption and salvation in Jesus Christ,

that through his death and resurrection we enter

into our own. That because of our sin we are

dead, as Paul says, but now we have been made

new, new creations. The old is gone, the new

has come. So for Christians, our story is a story

of redemption, not just about the redemption

of our relationship with Jesus, but also the

redemption of all of the broken narratives from

Genesis 3 about Genesis 1 and 2. Think about

it this way. When we're saved, we're not just

saved back into right relationship with Jesus,

we're saved back into right relationship with

work. So, could it be that the way in which we

now work as Christians might be the greatest

way that we can reveal the saving gospel of Jesus

Christ? Isn't that a beautiful thought? All that

is the background to this moment in Jesus' ministry.

Where he offers us another way. A way that if

we live like this, our workplaces might see the

beauty and the wonder of the resurrection of

Christ within it. So let me read these words

to us. This is found in the Sermon of the Mount.

Right towards the beginning of it. Where Jesus

says a powerful thing about what it is to be

followers of him in this world. Matthew 5, starting

in verse 13. You are the salt of the earth. But

if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be

made salty again? For it is no longer good for

anything except to be thrown out and trampled

on by people. But you are the light of the world.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do

people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

No, instead they put it on its stand and it gives

light to everyone in the house. So in the same

way, let your light shine before all that they

might see your good deeds and praise your Father

in heaven. Jesus speaking to the crowds and the

disciples around him says these beautiful metaphors,

your salt, your light. Now, preachers have tried

to make great, fantastic sermons out of what

it means to be salt. And a lot of them pick up

on more of the modern context of it than in its

original context. I think when Jesus said that

the disciples were salt, he really only was thinking

about three things. Let me share these with you

because each of these are important for us. Because

salt in those days was really predominantly used

in three ways. So when Jesus says this, this

is what his context in the first century would

have thought. First. Salt is incredibly valuable,

inherently valuable in the first century. In

fact, it was so valuable that quite often Roman

soldiers were not paid in money, they were paid

in salt. That was known in the Greek as salarium,

which is where we get the modern word salary

from. And I think when Jesus says to the disciples,

you are salt of the earth, the first thing he

wants them to understand is that there's an inherent

value within them. That there is something that

has been placed within them through the gospel

that is inherently valuable to the world. I don't

know about you, but there have been many times

in my marketplace ministry where I never felt

valuable. That I sat in those conference rooms

and I was like, what am I doing here? Like, am

I actually helping anyone? There can be this

kind of thing that I think the enemy puts over

us to make us think that when we're in the workplace

that we don't have much value to bring. Jesus

starts by saying, no, no, you are inherently

valuable. That the same, Paul would write this

later, that the same spirit that raised Jesus

from the dead now is in you. You have resurrection

power. There is nothing more inherently valuable

in the world than that, than the saving message

of Jesus Christ. And it's in us. So the starting

point is that value. Now, notice this though.

There's also a challenge in this. Because that

value is useless unless it is seen and shown.

salt itself, if it wasn't used, well, kind of,

what is the point? And I think when Jesus was

saying, you are the salt of the earth, what he's

saying is, don't just understand the inherent

incredible value within you, but recognize that

that value is nothing unless it is seen, unless

there is action, unless people know. It's almost

like, imagine receiving a massive salary, putting

that salary in your bank account, never drawing

on it ever, and then complaining that you're

poor. See, in the same way that salt that only

exists in a salt shaker is useless, so is a Christian

that only exists in the church. I don't know

about you, but I find that deeply challenging.

That actually this incredible value that has

been placed within us needs to have some expression.

God has planted you in a sphere of influence

in your workplace where you can bring that expression

of that hope to him. What an incredible privilege

it is to partner with him in the flourishing

of the earth. The question we should be asking

ourselves is, well, what was the use of salt

then? Because how can I then be used in my workplace?

Well, in the first century, there were two primary

uses for salt. First was that it was a flavor

enhancer. Much like it is for us here today.

You order some french fries, you add some extra

salt on them. It was the same in those days as

well. Salt brought those tasteless fishes to

a bit of life. Salt brought the tasteless lamb

to a bit of life for them. And it is the same

in the process here as well for us. So when Jesus

said to the disciples, you are the salt of the

earth, what he's also saying is you've got to

understand that you are those that I've called

to bring flavor to the world around you. That

you call to through your life and your actions

and your behavior and your values and the commitment

that you have to the gospel. That I've placed

you in something that is tasteless unless you

are there. Something that doesn't have the vibrancy

unless you are there. And I've placed you in

your work, in your school, in your industry because

there's something there that I want to bring

to life. I had lunch yesterday with Vinny and

Emmy, as Pastor Phil spoke about them earlier.

And Emmy was telling me, she's a lawyer here

in Thailand, and she was telling me that two

years ago she had suggested to her big boss that

their law firm should do pro bono law work. Now,

law firms generally do not do pro bono law work.

That's almost the antithesis of what they're

all about. And for two years, it felt like for

her that she was pushing water uphill. But slowly

she began to shape and change people's hearts

and people's minds. Just this week, her boss,

the big boss of the company, sent out an email

to all the employees and praised Emmy and said,

we now are the number one law firm in the whole

of Thailand that offers pro bono work for the

communities that desperately need it. That, my

friends, is adding flavor. That is taking the

gospel. And saying I'm not just here to make

profit as important as that could be. I'm here

to actually bring something of the beauty and

the wonder of God's kingdom. Into the people

of this place. That we might see justice and

hope and life and equality. And that people might

be changed. We are flavor enhancers. So follow

this. If it's true that salt enhances flavor.

Could it be that one of the reasons why the world

is so hurting right now is not because evil abounds,

but because Christians don't? See, when Christians

remain silent, all people are left with is the

tastelessness of the world. And one of the great

joys that we have as Christians in the workplace

Is to say tomorrow morning. How might I add some

flavor. Some beauty and wonder of the gospel.

To the people that God has graciously planted

me within. The third thing that salt did. The

second primary use for it in those days was.

It was a preservative. In an age before refrigeration

and ice. Salt was taken to preserve fish. And

preserve meat. To stop it from decay. So when

Jesus says to the disciples, you are the soul

of the earth, they would have thought that Jesus

is basically saying, you are like the preservative

agents of the world. Like I've given you the

gospel so that you would go into this world and

not hope that the world would decay, not hope

that you could escape, not hope that you would

insulate yourself from the badness of it. No,

I've actually put you in it to preserve the wonder

and the beauty of the thing that I have created.

That through relationship with me and death and

resurrection within people, we can come to know

the beauty of Shalom that was always the purpose

and the hope for which I have created this world.

You are the preservative agents that I've sent

into this place to see the world flourish and

the world become all that I long for it to be.

The story of that hope is in you. And so anytime

that we step into our workplaces, And we have

this heart to want to bring life away from death.

To bring hope where it feels like there isn't

any. To bring an idea that might raise profit

rather than slump into a bad economy. We show

the world a different narrative. A hope that

there is found in the wonder of the gospel of

Jesus Christ. When Christians decide to keep

their faith private. we contribute to the decay

of the world. Have you ever thought about that?

When we decide to keep our faith private, just

personal to me, doesn't really impact anything

around me, we're contributing to the decay of

the earth. Now, light, the next metaphor is very

similar to this. Light is this idea that light

shines into darkness and does one of two things.

It illuminates the things that are dark. It shows

what is there. It illuminates the bad that is

there. It also illuminates the good that is there.

And what might it look like for us as Christians

in our workplaces to illuminate the injustices

that we see, to illuminate the inequality that

we're aware of, to illuminate the practices that

are happening within our businesses that we know

are not right. And for some of us in this room,

we're the bosses. We're the leaders. What does

it look like for you to think, hang on a sec,

I'm perpetuating some of that darkness, some

of that injustice, some of that inequality. What

does it mean for me to shine a different light?

And light doesn't just shine and tell us what's

there. It also reminds us of what isn't. It calls

forth for justice. It cries out for the healing

and the restoration of people. It invites us

into a better story. I love how Craig Blomberg

has put this and the way in which he operates.

He's one of my favorite New Testament scholars.

Let me read to you this from him. You are the

salt of the earth. He says this, but both metaphors

of salt and light raise important challenges

about Christian involvement in society. We're

not called to control secular power structures.

Neither are we promised that we can Christianize

the legislation and values of the world. Instead,

we must remain active, preservative agents, indeed

irritants, in calling and revealing to the world

God's heart of love. If you've ever wanted a

framework for what it means to be a Christian

in the workplace, I don't think there's a better

one than that. That we are to remain active,

preservative agents, even irritants, in calling

and revealing to the world God's heart of love.

What a beautiful call and mandate. That is for

all of us. But the question that finally remains

is this. How do we do that? Like, what are the

acts that we do? Like, is there something that

we should do? Like, tomorrow when I get back

into the workplace, like, Andrew, help me here.

Be practical. What is the next step? Well, interestingly,

Jesus shows us the next step in the passage here.

Notice what he says right at the end. He says,

in the same way, let your light shine before

people that they may hear. See your good deeds.

And praise the Father in heaven. Our question

should be, what are these good deeds? These good

deeds. Now in the Greek, the word good there

is actually translated to be lovely and beautiful.

It's not talking about good as a moral standard.

It's talking about something that's beautiful

and wonderful and lovely and attractive. Jesus

is saying, you need to be doing attractive deeds

as salt and light in the world. So what are these

attractive deeds? In the context, Jesus has already

told the disciples what they are. In fact, if

you just jump back to the few verses before the

salt and light statement, you'll read about some

of these deeds. Let me read this to you. So beautiful.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is

the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who

mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are

the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed

are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the

pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed

are the peacemakers, for they will be called

sons or daughters of God. Blessed are those who

are persecuted because of righteousness, for

theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are

you when people insult you, persecute you, falsely

say all kinds of evil against you because of

me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your

reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted

the prophets who were before you. And then he

says, you are salt of the earth. You are light

of the world. So there's this beautiful list

that we call the Beatitudes. And it's challenging

for us Christians because when we read the Beatitudes,

here's so often what we think. We think we need

to be these people in order to receive the blessing

of God. So I want to put myself in the place

of being the receiver of the blessing. So I need

to be poor in spirit. I need to work toward my

humility. I need to be somebody who mourns. And

if I mourn, then I know God's going to bless

me. We often read the Beatitudes that way, but

let's read them now in the context to which they're

brought when Jesus says, your soul and life.

I think Jesus is saying to the disciples that

these are the lovely deeds that you get to go

into the areas of all of your life and be a blessing

to the poor in spirit. A blessing to those who

mourn. A blessing to the ones who are struggling

for justice in the workplaces but are finding

it hard. A blessing. Could you imagine what it

would look like if us Christians went into our

workplaces and we decided we're going to bless

the colleague that no one talks to and no one

ever takes out for lunch? What would it look

like if we were to bless the person in our team

who made a mistake that cost us a chunk of money?

What would it look like to bless our boss when

he passes us over for promotion? Like these are

the counter -cultural, counter -intuitive ways

of the kingdom of God. And when people bless

in that way, it reveals something of the wonder

of the gospel so that Jesus would say, when you

do that, you are salt, you are light. In other

words, salt and light is not a command, it's

a response. As we do the lovely, beautiful work

of blessing the environments in which we are

planted in, we become the salt and light of the

world. So, what should Christians do when the

world has gone crazy? Well, it's not to escape,

insulate, control, or conform. It's not to privatize

our faith and keep it all to ourselves. No, you

are salt. You have inherent value. You are a

flavor enhancer. You preserve the decay of what

is around you. And you are light, shining for

the glory of God and illuminating in your workplaces

the wonder and the beauty of what is there and

what isn't there. And you are all of those things.

That, my friends, is Jesus in all of life. What

a beautiful call it is. What a wonder it is that

we get to stand for that gospel. And I want to

pray that into you and over you here this morning.

And maybe we could just close our eyes, quieten

our hearts, and just come before the Lord in

this moment. Father, I thank you that in this

room are these beautiful people that you have

saved, redeemed, and renewed. And that you have

planted in spheres of influence here in Thailand.

In companies, education, institutions, schools,

family businesses, entrepreneurial structures,

perhaps even governments and local council. Father,

as we stand before you, we're grateful that you

have called us to work. Called us to partner

with you in the flourishing of the creation that

you have made. And Father, I want to pray for

my brothers and sisters here this morning. That

you would light a fire within them in this time

of our history to be carriers of the gospel to

a tired and weary world. I want to pray, Lord,

that we would be salt and light. I want to pray,

Lord, that we would recognize our tendency to

want to escape, insulate, control, and conform.

Would you forgive us, Lord? Where we try to shut

the world out. When you, through your incredible

wisdom, has decided to use us as carriers of

the gospel. How beautiful are the feet of those

on the mountaintops who carry the gospel. Lord,

I want to pray for a spiritual anointing over

every person for tomorrow when they wake up.

The Lord, they would step into their work. renewed

energy, renewed spirit, and renewed hope. That,

Lord, you would remind them the value, the flavor,

the preserving, the shining that truly can change

a city. Father, we thank you for this. In Jesus'

name. If God is calling you to support our ministries,

you will find giving options on our website.

And remember to join us next week. God bless

you.