Day 12

Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to episode twelve of the Point Church Podcast as we walk through Matthew for Lent, where we're doing 40 days and podcasting all the way through Lent. ⁓ we're here with Pastor Sam as you know, we yesterday we broke through to chapter five, where it's beginning with the Sermon on the Mount, and you know, Jesus is giving this sermon. And now we went through one through twelve, and now we're picking up in verse thirteen. ⁓ Yeah, well, really one through twelve is like him saying, This is the vision for the kind of person I'm calling you to be and now he's getting more ⁓ a little more specific coming up ⁓ because if you notice there's there's nine blessed are yeah so he does it in triads three three and three and then this upcoming part is another triad there's three images salt, light, city on a hill. So he's following again the same pattern of three, three and three. Yeah. Yeah. And so picking up in verse thirteen today, Matthew five Verse thirteen, it reads You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. ⁓ yeah, it's a great image 'cause I mean we've all tasted salt, but you know, in that time period, salt was very valuable. Very ⁓ very, very valuable. So like ⁓ there's a phrase that sometimes Roman soldiers would get their wages in salt. So they'd say you get your weight in salt, or we say it's a like they're not worth their weight in salt, like they're not doing a good job. So it's a very valuable thing because obviously it adds taste to your food, to the enjoyment. ⁓ but if it's no longer salty, you take this thing that was once so valuable that you traded money for or gold for to be paid in and you just throw it out. And again, Jesus is saying, like, you are valuable. You are the salt of the earth. You are what gives flavor and taste to the world. But if you lose that, you've kind of lost what makes you you. Yeah. Again, it's that whole idea of like being made in the image of God, being restored in Christ. You have, you know, a call on your life to make the world taste good in many ways. And if you if you lose sight of that, I mean, then you get into that conversation of like, so You rejected what you were made for. That's so good. And ⁓ picking up in that for verse fourteen, it says, You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. I wanna pause there. Mm-hmm. Because I'm could be wrong, but I know that he's not pointing it out to anyone, right? He's not pointing to anyone that anyone does this. Yeah, he says, No one, actually. Yeah. Yeah. But to me it's almost a foreshadow of what the Pharisees are doing of hiding the light under a basket. Yeah. Hide trying to hide Jesus under a basket. Yeah. And then Or just the light of God. Like they're meant to be the advocates and now they're like giving a heavy burden to the people. Yeah. And then you know you can take that into today's world. And you see some churches that are almost that's like if you're not on the inner part. Yeah. Then if you're not with us, you're against us. You're against us. And so you don't get the light. So they're actually are putting A basket over the light where the light should go to everyone. Right. And let Jesus change their lives. But there you I I just I don't know. But that to me that's what comes up. Yeah, absolutely. It's also again so interesting that Jesus says you are the light of the world rather than I am the light of the world. Yeah. But it is so interesting that again he's calling his audience back to being like, remember, you're made in the image of God. You are an image bearer. That means There is something in your essence that is the light of God that is meant to come out. Yeah. And he's like, but you really can't do it without me. But you were designed to do it. You just need to, you know. And then the city on a hill, it I mean, to me, it just harkens to that imagery of like if you're a wanderer. Yeah. In the middle of the night, I don't know, my mind's always like the woods or a snowstorm, but you see a light on a hill, you're like, that's that's hope. That's refuge, like that's where I can, you know, find salvation from the storm. And he's like, You're meant to be like that in the world for people that you're the person who they can come to out of the wilderness and they can find what they're looking for. Like you are meant to be that kind of person. And like you're you've salt, you're light, and you're a city on hill. And that's good. And it might be an old wise tale, my grandfather told me. But he had told me that, you know, when churches were like when they originally were built, the steeple was always the highest part. Yeah. So that way people could see it and be like, That is a church. I can go there. Yeah, exactly. It was meant to again like draw on the imagination of saying, like, Okay, that's that's where I can find sanctuary. And a lot of ch old churches were built on heavy. Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. They would take this literally. Yeah. They would. So with that, I'll just read verse fifteen again. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand and gives light for all who are in the house. Everyone you live with. Yeah. Should be shining light to them. Yeah. And then that last verse there. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven. Mm-hmm. So kind of goes back to what we said yesterday of like Don't do works righteousness to get fame for yourself or become the agitator who, you know, just is like I mean, you can be zealous for the Lord. Yeah. You should be. A hundred percent. But how you go about it is very different. Like I would think about someone like Westboro Baptist Church who goes and like protests, you know, soldiers' funerals or I think they're at Mr. Rogers' funeral, just like okay. You know what mean? Like who who's bragging about Westboro Baptist? But if you have, you know, someone like a mother Teresa who did get fame, like we know her, but because of her good works, we know of her fame. But she didn't set out for Calcutta be like, This is how I'm gonna become famous on social media and become an influencer. She was like, I'm gonna give my life away and I might die of whatever disease. But the fact that she did did that is why we revere her so much. Yeah. Not because she was trying to have the attention on herself, but rather she made it all about others. And again, she shined that light to all around. And how many times do people when you go to a funeral of someone who is righteous, that godly person, and you you hear stories come out where like, I never knew they did that. Yeah. I had no idea. Yeah. I mean I didn't know they interacted in the office like that. I I didn't know they always spent time with their son and daughter like that or they took their wife on date night every week. I didn't know. Like that's or always tithe ten percent of their paycheck. Like because it was hidden. Yeah. And then everyone reveres that person more and they're like, Wow, like not only ⁓ that person's amazing, but like what God did in them is incredible and yeah, just points back to God and the glory. Like a recent one was Jim Mersey. Like he had his battles and his addiction. Yep. But after he had passed away, all these stories came out about how he paid for all these funerals. Yeah. How he gave all his money away to people and he would just always try to help people and then no one knew about it. Yes. No one ever knew about it until he passed away. And so you hear about it and you're like, ⁓ okay. But is there anything worse than when you hear about a church scandal? I'll just I'll just again, as an insider, I'll critique the church as a pastor that Well, they said they were raising funds to deliver Bibles to Africa or whatever. And then you find out it's all up front. Yep. Is there anything more disheartening? No. No. But is there anything more encouraging than the exact opposite? ⁓ this little church, but man, they have the heart of generosity and they just gave and gave and gave and they had everything and they didn't seek fame. They didn't seek to become important. No. They just did the work and everyone's like, Wow, praise God. Yeah, they did the work and spoke. The Bible. Yeah. Jesus later on says, ⁓ don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. And in many ways he's like, become the kind of person who doesn't seek fame but just seeks to live outrighteousness. Mm-hmm. That's beautiful. And you know, with that shorter passage today, but we're gonna end there and pick up tomorrow for day thirteen. ⁓ so thanks for tuning in and we'll see you tomorrow.