Impacting Your Environment

Lord God, we thank you for tonight and we are grateful for

all that you do. And you've blessed us with so

many blessings, Lord, And your word is the greatest of all

blessings because it expresses to us the the beauty of your

name. It shows us exactly what it is

you want us to do with your children.

And we thank you, Lord, for the encouragement and comfort that

it brings. We are blessed people, and we

want to thank You for that. Tonight as we open Your word, we

pray that you would instruct us in the way that we should go.

We pray, Lord, that you'd open our eyes to behold the beauty of

the Lord. We pray, Lord, that you would

encourage the faint hearted, that you would comfort those

Lord, who are downtrodden, and that, Lord, your word would

speak to their hearts. That Your Spirit would use Your

word to strengthen us every single day until you come again,

as you most surely will in Jesus name, Amen.

Take your Bible if you would and turn to Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 5. There are many nursery rhymes

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

that I'm sure yet you know very very well.

My my favorite is Humpty Dumpty. It goes like this.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

and all the King's horses and and all the King's men could not

put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Humpty Dumpty was, was quite a man.

I'm not sure you've ever met him or not, but he was a man in

control of his life. He, he was a man who knew what

he wanted to do in life. So one day Humpty Dumpty decided

to take a stroll, and I'm taking that stroll.

He decided to do something he had never done before, and that

was climb a wall. So he did.

He climbed up in the wall and he wanted to get a view of the

world that he'd never seen before, thinking that it would

give him a good worldview, a good perspective on life.

But something all of a sudden, horribly happens.

He falls off of the wall. He wasn't pushed off the wall,

he just simply fell off the wall.

And lo and behold, his whole life was shattered.

His whole life was broken. His life was in shambles.

He was in desperate need of help.

And help would come, but help did not come from his friends,

help did not come from his family.

Help did not even come from his work associates.

Help came from our nation's capital.

It came from Washington, DC. In fact, Humpty Dumpty was such

a unique man that Congress decided to have an emergency

session to decide how quickly they could dispatch to meet the

needs of Humpty Dumpty. And so they dispatched all the

King's horses and all the King's men.

And upon arrival to where Humpty Dumpty had fallen, they quickly

came to realize that they could not put Humpty Dumpty back

together again. And Humpty Dumpty trusted in the

best of the land, the King's horses and the King's men.

But they were unable to do what Humpty Dumpty needed done.

They could not put him back together again.

And so as you read the nursery rhyme, you must remember that

the nursery rhyme is not about Humpty Dumpty.

It's all about the King's horses, and it's all about the

King's men. And it shows us how ineffective

that the best of the land can be when it comes to tackling man's

shattered lives. Our world has all kinds of

problems. There's crime, there's sex

trafficking, there's drugs, there's alcoholism, there's

child abuse, there's spousal abuse, there is murder.

But none of those are really the problem.

They're just symptoms to a deeper problem, and that is sin

in the life of every person. For sin is embedded in the heart

of a man, and man is completely shattered, completely broken.

And no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to find

help in this world. No matter how expensive the help

is, no matter how important the help may be, they are unable,

they are ineffective to put man's broken, shattered life

back together again. But there is someone who can.

And believe it or not, that someone who can is sitting in

this room tonight. For you are the solution to

man's shattered soul. For the Lord said you are salt

and you are light in a world that's decaying and

deteriorating. You as a child of the living God

are its salt. In a world that's dark and

depressed, you are its light. And believe it or not, what

Washington cannot do, you can do because God has equipped you to

do that. He gives us the identity of a

child of the king in verses 1 to 12.

He very strategically interprets the identity of children of the

king, and then he specifically articulates the authority of

those who are children of the king in Matthew 5, verses 13 to

Matthew 5:13–16

16. This is what it says.

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become

tasteless, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out

and trampled in the foot by men. You are the light of the world.

A city set on the hill cannot be hidden.

Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on

the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the

house. Let your light shine before men

in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your

Father who is in heaven. Interesting that the Lord says

that the people that are reviled the most, the people that are

persecuted the most, the people that are slandered the most, are

the only solution to a shattered, decaying, Dark World.

The peacemakers are the ones who truly can bring peace to

shattered lives. So Christ makes it very clear

that when he identifies His children, He specifies their

authority. They are salt and they are light

in a world that's decaying and dark.

You are the solution to the world's problem because Christ

ordained you to be such. And so we have three points this

evening. One is simply understanding what

it means to be salt and light, and that's we're going to

address the the condition of society.

Then we're going to articulate the solution from the Scriptures

and then we'll apply some directions for the Saints.

If you have an outline, you can follow along with us.

But addressing the condition of society is is not very hard at

all because society is is decaying.

Society is not getting any better.

It's never going to get better. I love to talk to my post

millennial friends because they think that things are going to

get better. Just get enough Christians in

government and just get enough Christian doctors and enough

Christian lawyers and enough Christian mayors and enough

Christian teachers and you can usher in the Kingdom.

Things will be better. I'm not sure what Bible they're

reading, but they're reading not the same Bible I'm reading

because things are not getting any better.

They're getting worse. They're continually decaying.

Even the second law of thermodynamics in science points

that out extremely well. But man is not getting better.

He's getting worse. And over 250 years ago, almost

300 years ago, it was Isaac Watts who who wrote a a hymn

entitled Am IA, Soldier of the Cross.

And in that hymn he asks several questions that need to be

answered. Listen to what it says.

Am IA Soldier of the Cross, the follower of the Lamb.

Good question. Are you and shall I fear to own

his cause or blush to speak his name?

That's a good question. Must I be carried to the skies

on flowery beds of ease while others fight to win the prize

and sail through bloody seas? Again, Another great question.

And they says this. Are there no foes for me to

face? Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace to help me on to God?

Great question, is this vile world a friend of grace to help

me on to God? The answer is no.

If you set under university professors, will they help you

unto God? If you read the books of

society, will they help you unto God?

If you were to receive counsel from a psychiatrist, will they

help you unto God? Answer no.

If I if I live the way of the world, will it help me in any

way get closer to God? Answer no Why?

Because we live in a vile world. We live in a decaying society

that's only getting worse and worse with each progressing day.

It's not getting any better. Paul would say that evil men and

imposters, Second Timothy Chapter 3, are only going to get

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

worse and worse, not better and better.

Why is that? Well, first, John 519 tells you.

It says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

It's no wonder all the King's horses and all the King's men

could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Why? Because they're under the power

of the Evil 1. They're directed by Satan

himself. They have no answer to man's

dilemma. Oh, they can change laws and

they can rewrite all kinds of prescriptions, but that's not

going to change man's inner soul.

They can't do that. The Bible says in John 1611 that

Satan is the Prince of the world.

The Ephesians 22, he's the Prince of the power of the air.

Second Corinthians 44 says he's the God of this age.

I mean, everything about the world is under Satan's domain.

The Lord has allowed that to happen.

He's allowed Satan to run his course.

So everything in society is ruled by Satan.

It's no wonder that nothing of the world can help you move to

God because it's not a friend of grace at all.

It only takes you further and further away from the Lord.

Over in Philippians chapter 2, Paul says this in verse 14.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Do all things without grumbling and disputing so that you may

prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God

above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

So so Paul is addressing the Church of Philippi some 2000

years ago and says that you need to appear as lights in the world

because you live in a crooked and perverse generation.

He goes on to say this, Among whom you appear as lights in the

world, holding fast the word of life, said in the day of Christ.

I will have reason to glory, because I did not run in vain,

nor toil in vain. So we live amidst A perverse and

crooked generation. Paul would say it this way in

Romans 3 verse #10 There is none righteous, not even one.

There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God.

All have turned aside. Together they have become

useless. There is none who does good.

There is not even one. Their throats are an open grave.

With their tongue they keep deceiving.

The poison of ASPs is under their lips, whose mouth is full

of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed

blood. Destruction and misery are in

their paths, and the path of peace they have not known, and

there is No Fear of God before their eyes.

You see, the reason all the King's horses and all the King's

men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again is because

all the King's horses and all the King's men were as broken

and shattered as Humpty Dumpty was.

They just did not recognize how broken they were.

But they were. That's why they could offer no

help. There was no solution.

Why? Romans 3 tells you, Philippians

2 tells you, Second Timothy 3 tells you.

That's the world in which we live in.

It's the world under the reign of Satan, and he wants to

destroy everything that God has done and is doing.

So the world is is decaying. In fact, all you got to do is

read the book of Genesis right in the beginning.

God created the heavens and the earth.

And when you get to the end of Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis

Genesis 1 · chapter mention Genesis 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, everything's good. The fact is very good.

Oh, Genesis 3, the fall of man occurs, right?

And in Genesis 6, the Bible says this.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth,

and that every intent of the fonts of his heart was only evil

continually. From Genesis 3 to Genesis 6, God

says that every intent of every thought in every heart was only

evil continually. So what did He do?

He destroyed the whole planet. Everybody on it except for eight

souls started over again. You come to Genesis chapter 18,

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

Abraham pleads with the Lord. If there be 50 righteous in the

city, will you spare the city? God says, yeah, I'll spare it

for 50. How about 45?

Yep, 45. How about 4040 righteous souls

in Sodom and Gomorrah? Spare the city, God says I'll

spare it. How about 30?

Yep. 20. Yeah.

Whoa. How about 10?

Yep, that's where Abram stopped and God destroyed all of Sodom

and Gomorrah because there was only righteous Lot in the city.

And isn't it interesting in Luke 17 it tells us to remember Lot's

wife because she was turned into what?

A pillar of salts as a reminder to every husband in the room

that you need to be salt in light, primarily in your family

and then in your city. But if you're not salt and light

in your family, how do you expect to win the city?

We, we love to, to, to send people on missions trips and we

love to tell people how, how we shared the gospel with people at

work. But are you salt in light in

your very own home? Because if you are not, you have

failed miserably and Lot failed miserably.

We we would never know that Lot was a righteous man if it wasn't

for Peter telling us he was righteous law.

Because when you read the book of Genesis, you don't get

anything about that from Lot's perspective that he was a

righteous man and yet God did something very specific tells

the wife, do not look back. She does.

But that's a, that's more of a leadership issue on Lot's part

than anything else. Because you remember, she was in

the back. She was behind everyone else,

right? Why?

Because no one there could scold her.

No one there could stop her. She was in the back.

Leadership says you go up front, I'll bring up the rear and I

will take you out of here. Well, I didn't do that, failed

miserably as a as a husband. And so many men today fail

miserably at home because they're not salt and light at

home. And yet that's the primary

emphasis of your ministry. I mean, you can you can read

about missionaries and people have travelled the country and

and shared the gossip with people and one many souls to the

Lord. But their hand their their

families are going to hell in a handbasket because they missed

the ministry, the main ministry of home that should not be.

You live in a world that's decaying and everything begins.

Discipleship begins at home. Does it begin in church doesn't

begin with your neighbor. It begins at home with your

family, with your wife as a father, husband to children.

That's where it begins. So the world is, is decaying.

The world's dark dark. That's the condition of society.

Spiritual darkness dominates the entire world system.

But you know what? The world lives it that way.

First, John, I'm sorry, John 3 verse #19 and this is the

judgment that light has come into the world and men love the

darkness rather than the light for their deeds are evil.

Romans one verse #21 when they knew God, they glorified him not

as God. Neither we're thankful, but

because or, but excuse me, but became vain in their

imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Christ would later say in Matthew chapter 6, which we will

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

cover down the road. These words, If therefore the

light that is in you be darkness, how great is that

darkness? And then in John 9, Christ says,

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

And he warned them in John 12 verse #35 Yet a little while is

the light with you. Walk while you have the light,

lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness

knows not where he he goes. The world is dark because the

Prince of Darkness rules the world.

The world is decaying because Satan is the destroyer.

He wants everything to be destroyed.

But God has a solution. God has a very simple, simple

solution, and that is His children.

His children are the answer to man's shattered soul.

You, he says, are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world. The word you is emphatic.

You and you only. Nobody else.

Just you. Not you and this organization or

you and that organization. It's just you, children of the

king. You are the salt of the world,

and the you is plural. So you, collectively as my

children, are the solution. What?

1 grain of salt does not help your burger much or your French

fries much. You got to douse it with salt,

right? My my father loves salt.

He used the salt pretzels. He would salt salt and vinegar

potato chips. He put salt on Chinese food.

He put salt on everything because he just loved salt.

But never did he put one little grain of salt on anything.

He would douse it with salt. Well, so here is the Lord saying

you, plural, are the salt of the earth. 1 grain does not do much,

but collectively you will make a significant impact.

Because you see, everything is about influence.

Everything is about impact. It was William Shakespeare who

said these words. All the world's stage and all

the men and women are merely players and each man at his time

makes his entrance and has many parts.

It was Eli who Burritt who said these words.

He said no human being can come into this world without

increasing or diminishing the sum total of human happiness,

not only of the present age, but of every subsequent age of

humanity. It was the writer of Acts, Luke,

who says in Acts 1336 that David, after he served God in

his generation, fell asleep among his father's.

David after he served God in his generation.

He can only impact his generation, just like you and I

can only impact this generation. And God has called us

collectively to be salt and to be light in the world that's

decaying, in the world that is is dark.

Salt retards corruption and light is that which reveals

truth. Salt acts silently where light

acts verbally. Salt is how we live that retards

corruption and light is how we speak.

When we manifest light, the influence or to influence

something in another direction means you must be the complete

opposite going the other direction.

That's why the Lord says, what fellowship have light with

darkness, What fellowship have the Lord with Belial come out

from among them and be separate, be unique, be distinct.

As Christians, we we are completely different than the

world, but yet we're in the world.

And Christ would pray, Lord, take them not out of the world,

but protect them while they're in the world, because we are the

salt and light. So while you're in the world,

you're not to be of the world, because by being in the world,

you act as salt to retard the corruption.

You act as light to reveal the gospel, to reveal the truth and

the Lord establish it. That you and I would be the

solution to all the Humpty Dumpties that have fallen in the

world, which is everybody and nobody can help them except us

children of the King, people who know the Lord.

We are the solution. We are the ones that help people

come to grips with the reality of the sovereign God who rules

the earth. So as you articulate the

solution from scripture #1 it's a fact that you are light.

You are salt #2 the function of of salt and the function of

light. We, we are to shake the salt and

we are to shine the light. Salt does no good by staying on

the counter or in the cupboard. Ever notice that you might, You

might want a salty burger, but as long as Morton salt sits in

your cupboard, it's nothing's going to happen.

You got to take it out and shake it on the object you want to

flavor. Is that not true?

Sure it is. So as salt, you can't afford to

sit on the shelf. You got to be actively involved.

And so you must understand that that salt was a very valuable

commodity in the days of Jesus. Why?

There was no refrigeration, right?

So salt was that which preserved that which is important, meats

for say. But notice this, the Romans said

that outside of the sun, salt is the most valuable thing on the

planet. Why salt was so valuable that

they used to pay their soldiers with salt.

My mom used to always say, son, make sure you're worth your

salt. I'm like, what does that mean,

worth my salt? But she knew what that meant.

That means that soldiers were paid in salt because it was so

valuable that they could use that over and over again.

So salt was a very valuable commodity.

So valuable that when 2 enemies sat down and shared salt

together, they had to be kind to one another and show friendship

in spite of the fact that they were enemies.

That's how valuable salt was in ancient days.

Salt also represents purity. The color, it's white and

although it's talking about being tasteful or taste less,

not specifically speaking about the color, there is something

about salt and it's color that emphasizes purity and holiness.

So it also creates A thirst. The more salt you take in, the

the thirstier you are. And there's something about you

and me being the salt of the earth that creates a a thirst in

those all around us. And even though we are the ones

that are reviled and slandered and persecuted the most based on

verses 10/11/12 there there's something about the life that

causes and creates thirst and those around you.

Because there's something about your life that is so appetizing

that people want to be a part of.

Salt is also that which causes great pain.

For if you put salt in a wound, it stings.

It stings loud, right? But that's what Christians do.

They have a stinging influence, a stinging impact in society,

because society is nothing but an open wound anyway.

And when you shake salt in that open wound, there is all kinds

of pain and turmoil in those who receive that which you have

shaken. But most importantly, salt is

that what curbs corruption. Salt did that.

It preserved those things which are valuable and we as

Christians represent God's presence on earth and light.

Salt is to be shaken, but light is to be shown.

We're to shine forth the light. The Bible says the Philippians

215 that we are to appear as lights in the world.

The Bible says in in second Peter 14 we are partakers of the

divine nature. Now think about that.

We are we are partakers of Christ divine nature, and God

himself is light. Remember, in the beginning God

created the heavens and the earth.

The very first thing God created was light.

That's not the sun, the moon and the stars.

They were created on David number 4.

But God creates light first. Why?

Because God is light and the world needs to see God first and

so he creates light first. Because everything about

creation screams God. Everything about it, the order

of creation, the way He created, screams nothing but God.

So at the very outset, you need to know that God created the

heavens and the earth, and the very first thing He created was

light. He also, by the way, created

darkness. You know, that's why they have

45 verse #7 you say what? What was there before?

Before the earth was created? Nothing.

Well, what does nothing look like?

I don't know, nothing. There's just nothing there.

But dark is a creation by God. Isaiah 45 verse #7 I the Lord

and the one who creates darkness, but he is the one who

creates light, because he is the light of the world.

The Bible says in Ephesians 5 verse #8 For you were once in

darkness, but now are you light in the Lord?

Walk as children of light. We walk as children of the

light. We're to walk like Christ, we're

to walk very brightly, not dimly but very brightly, so people can

see the way to the living God. But notice failure, the failure

of the tastelessness of salt and the lightlessness of light.

He says very clearly. You are the salty earth.

But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made

salty again? It is no longer good for

anything except to be thrown out and trampled under foot.

He's not talking about losing your salvation.

He's talking about losing your influence and losing your

impact. If you become contaminated by

the things of the world, if your purity is compromised, if your

holiness is is corrupted, your ability to make impact is

minimized. Think about that.

Think about how it is you to train your children to live pure

and holy lives. If you live in impurity, how do

you train your children to live impurity?

It's hard, isn't it? Think of the life of King David,

right? How?

How could he train his children to follow the Lord and not

commit adultery and not commit immorality because he was

immoral himself or Solomon his son, or Rayobum his son?

You see, it's very easily passed down corruption because our

light has been dimmed, our salt has become tasteless, has become

contaminated. Now it's it's hard for sodium

chloride to to be contaminated, but it can be mixed with foreign

substances, substances to make it tasteless or not as tasteful.

And whenever you begin to mix a foreign substance, something of

the world, into your Christianity, your saltiness is

compromised and you're not nearly as stingy as you should

be in the wound. You're not nearly as as white

and pure as you should be. And you can't preserve

corruption if you yourself engage in corrupt behavior.

So the Lord gives a warning about the failure of of not

becoming the salt or being the salt you need to be.

You see, we don't, we don't become salt, we are salt.

We don't become light. We are light.

But our salt can lose its flavor, its tastefulness.

Our light can become dim simply because of sin, simply because

of compromise, simply because we refuse to do what God has called

us to do. And so very simply, we need to

let our light shine before men. He says you're the light of the

world. A city set on a hill cannot be

hidden. Nor does anyone light a lamp and

put it under a basket, but on the lampstand and it gives light

to all who are in the house. It's a good illustration because

your light should shine the brightest Ware at home.

He uses the lamp stand. He uses the house as an example

that that's not by accident. Our light should shine so

brightly at home. Now think about it.

When you put a lamp on the lamp stand, you don't hide it under a

bushel, you don't hide it under a basket.

Yes, some rays of light might seep through the holes that are

there, but you would take off that lid so the whole room is is

lit up with brightness so you can see.

Christ makes it very clear that He wants those in your home to

see the brightness of your life. And then he says this, he says

let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see

your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

This is the fulfillment aspect. It's all about beauty and glory,

The good works. Kalos deals with beauty,

attractiveness. It's not Agathas which is with

quality. It's Kalos that deals with the

beauty and attractiveness of the light.

Remember a city set on a hill in, in, in, in those days, if

even today, if you were to go to Israel, it, it is so dark around

the Sea of Galilee, but you can see cities on hills all around

the Sea of Galilee that are all lit up.

It's not one light on a hill. It's a myriad of lights on a

hill that light up the city. Why?

Because they all function together as one.

And Christ says the world needs to see your beauty and to see

see me. It's about glorifying me.

You don't shine for yourself. You don't shake the salt for

yourself. It's all about the Lord.

It's all about glorifying your Father who is in heaven that

they might come to know the saving grace of God.

In Second Kings chapter 4, there's a story of Elijah and he

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

went to the little village of Shinham, never said anything,

never performed a miracle, never preached the truth.

But there was a lady in the city who saw him and invited him to

come to dinner at her house with her husband.

And Elijah would go, and every time he entered the city he was

invited to come for dinner. But the Bible records no record

that he ever said anything to the woman and to her husband.

And the woman says to her husband, I perceive that this

man is a man of God. He never said a word, never

preach A sermon, never performed a miracle.

The only thing he did was eat. In other words, it adds whole

new meaning to 1st Corinthians 1031, that whatever you do,

whether you eat or whether you drink, do all to the glory of

God. Just by the way you eat and

drink puts God on display. Elisha did.

Because we are to shine so brightly.

We're to shake so fervently the salt and light the others will

never mistake that we truly are children of the king.

Last point, applying some directions for the Saints as

salt you should be rubbing into society, rubbing into society.

Think about where you work and why you work there.

Think about where you go to school and why you go to that

school. Think about where you live and

what neighborhood you live in. Just to let you know that you're

there by divine appointment. Yes, you bought your house.

Yes, you chose the school you go to.

Yes, you accepted the job at your place of employment.

All that's true. But it was all under the

direction of the sovereignty of the living God.

God directed you. God moved you.

God took you where you were. God did this, right?

Why? Because he's called you to live

out your spiritual existence in a specific sphere of influence,

right? He has you there and no one else

there. He puts you in that school, in

that classroom with that professor.

He puts you in that workplace under that boss with those

people. Why?

Because you are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world. And God says, I want you to

shine right there. I, I, I want you to rub into

that place right there. That's where I want you to shake

your salt and shine your light. That's where I want you to be a

stinging influence. That's where I want you to be a

purifying influence. That's why I want you to be a

preservative. That's where I want you to

prevent corruption. That's why I want you to speak

forth the lights so people will know the truth of the gospel.

That that's why, that's why the word of God is called light.

That's why the word Incarnate is called light.

So you have the the infinite word is light because God is

light. Yeah, the inspired word, which

is light, that was a light into my path and a lamp into my feet.

And you have the Incarnate Word, which is light for Christ as I

am the light of the world. So the infinite word, the

inspired word, the Incarnate Word are all light.

And so you use that word to to speak forth the truth.

So you shed light into a place that God's called you to live

out your spiritual existence. See, that's just a great thing

about being you. The great thing about being you

is that God puts you when he put nobody else.

That that's why God gave you the kids he gave you.

He didn't give you my kids. He gave you your kids.

He didn't give me your kids. He gave you your kids because

God wants you to be that light at home.

He wants you to be that salt at home.

He wants you to be that purifying influence all

throughout your house, all throughout your workplace.

This is where God has placed you.

And so He wants you as salt to rub into society.

So often have you noticed that the world has seemed to rub more

into the church than the church has rubbed into the world.

The church is becoming more and more like the world.

We want to accept the people of the world, the things of the

world. When the Bible is very clear

love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

Why the world's passing away? The lesser of but he doesn't

will. God abides forever.

We gathered together as Saints that we might learn to grow.

And I walk with the Lord so that when we dispersed from this

place, we can act as salt and light in a World of Darkness and

decay. So as salt we are to rub into

society, as light we are to reflect our Savior.

Donald Gray Barnhouse was a master of illustration, and this

is what he says about this text. When Christ was in the world, he

was like the shining sun, which is here in the day and gone at

night. When the sunsets, the moon comes

up, and the moon is a picture of the believers or the church.

The church shines, but it does not shine with its own light.

It shines with reflected light. When Jesus was in the world, he

said I am the light of the world.

But as he contemplated leaving the world, he told his

disciples, You are the light of the world.

At times the church has been a full moon, dazzling the world

with an almost daytime light. These have been times of great

enlightenment, such as those of Paul and Luther and Wesley.

And at other times the church has been only a thumbnail moon,

and very little light shines on the earth.

But whether the church is a full moon or a new thumbnail moon,

waxing or waning, it reflects the light of the sun.

As lights of the world, we reflect the Savior.

The question comes for you and me, how?

How great is that reflection? How is it as little moons we

are, we are reflecting the light of the sun?

Interesting, the Bible says in Malachi 4 verse #2 that the

Messiah will be called the Sun SUN of Righteousness.

The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.

The Messiah was called the Day Star because of the brightness

of that star. And we, his children, are like

little moons shining because we're reflecting not our light,

but his light to all those roundabout us.

So tonight, as we as we close, we're going to do something a

little bit different. I want you to all stand up with

me if you would please go ahead. Don't be bashful to stand up.

And I want you to exit outside of your your Pew.

And I want you to gather around with me here and all around the

auditorium. We're going to hold hands, and

we're doing this specifically because as collective salt and

light, we have the opportunity to impact this world.

And as individuals, as individuals, we can make an

impact, right? But as a church with all of us

together, the light shines so much brighter because all of us

are the light of the world. All of us are the salt of the

earth. And we can, we can like jump up

and down and act like we're salt salt shakers and, and act like

we're pouring salt all over the world or, or, But the bottom

line is that we are all salt and we are all light.

And we have the opportunity as a church to make an impact not

just in West Covina, but wherever God calls us to live

out of spiritual existence. So I want to close in prayer

tonight with all of us holding hands and thanking God for what

he's done to make us who we are, that we might be be used by him.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you, Lord, for

for today. I want to thank you for everyone

in the room. I'm going to thank you as we we

hold hands together, symbolically representing the

fact that all of us are salt. All of us are light.

All of us together make a significant impact.

All of us as as a family of Christians, as a as a Church of

Christians, we had the opportunity to touch the lives

of those all around us. My prayer, Father, is that as we

as we look at this lesson and realize what you've called us to

be, you've called us to be salt and light, that we would be that

that you would use us with those closest to us, with those we go

to work with tomorrow, the those we sit in class with tomorrow,

those who rub shoulders with in our neighborhood, that they

would know there's something different about our lives simply

because we are salt and we are light.

So Lord, our prayer is that you would use us for your glory as a

church, for your purposes, that others might know who you are

and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

We pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.