The Beatitudes
Tom Shrader’s study of the Beatitudes examining the promise of persecution in Matthew 5:10-12, explaining that righteous living confronts wickedness by contrast even without a word being spoken. He then moves into verses 13-16, unpacking Jesus' descriptions of believers as salt and light — preserving agents who create spiritual thirst and reveal reality to a lost world. The teaching closes with a call from Romans 12:1-2 to present everyday life as an offering to God rather than blending invisibly into the surrounding culture.
“Righteousness is confrontational even where it's not preached in so many words — it confronts wickedness by its very contrast, its very being.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: The Sermon on the Mount
Recorded: 2005 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 54 min
Themes: persecution, beatitudes, salt and light, suffering for faith, witness, righteous living, cultural pressure, worship, feeling pressure to fit in, facing workplace persecution, new believer, struggling with compromise, young adult, questioning their impact, feeling invisible in culture, parent wanting to model faith
Scripture: Matthew 4:23, Matthew 4:25, Matthew 5:1-16, Matthew 7:28, 2 Timothy 1:8, 2 Timothy 2:3, 2 Timothy 3:12, Matthew 15:18-20, John 8:12, John 9:5, John 3:16, John 3:19-20, Romans 12:1-2, 2 Timothy 3:1-5
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, sermon on the mount, biblical authority, kingdom ethics, Romans 12 transformation, Christian witness, consecration
Full Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
I don't know how many of you were here Friday night, but it was a great time. We had a terrific evening of praise and prayer, and then to see how many people made their way over to the conference center and had a blast — it really confirmed to me that that is something that's been missing at East Valley Bible Church. We'll do what we can to remedy that, and I'm anxious for the next one of those evenings. I thank Gary and all of you who worked so hard to make Friday night and this afternoon possible. Thank you very, very much.
Overview of the Sermon on the Mount
Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5. As you well know, chapters 5, 6, and 7 are the section we identify as the Sermon on the Mount. If you have a red-lettered Bible — meaning the words of Jesus are in red — virtually every word from chapter 5, verse 3 through the end of the chapter is red-lettered. This is the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever lived. We are devoting these first three or four weeks to verses 1 through 16, and we'll cover that section today.
Let me remind you of a little of the background. You see it there in Matthew chapter 4, verse 23: Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the gospel and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The word is spreading, people are responding, and great multitudes are following Him — verse 25. Then chapter 5, verse 1: "When Jesus saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain, and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him, and He opened His mouth and He began to teach them."
As you read verses 1 and 2, you get the sense of two things. You get the sense that the multitudes are there, but somehow perhaps He is speaking to just those twelve who are gathered. But go ahead and turn to the end of this sermon — by chapter 7, verse 28, "the result was that when Jesus finished these words, the multitudes were amazed." So whether He was targeting His comments at the twelve and everyone else was listening, or they all simply came around, it doesn't really matter. By the end of this extraordinary sermon they were amazed at His teaching.
Why were they amazed? Because He was teaching as one having authority, not as their scribes. He was speaking with His own authority, not passing on tradition the way the scribes did. As I teach today you'll hear me quote probably seven or eight different writers, and Jesus didn't do that. Jesus speaks with His own authority, and this amazed them, and they continued for a while to follow Him.
The Beatitudes: True Blessedness
Back to the beginning of the sermon — chapter 5, verse 1, the multitudes are gathered. Verse 2, He opens His mouth and He begins to teach. This section, verses 3 through 12, is known as the Beatitudes. The operative word, as you look at it, is obvious: the word is "blessed." You see it in verses 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. Blessed means happy or fortunate — it is the idea of what we call true blessedness.
One writer offers this view: true blessedness is a deep sense of peace and joy in the knowledge that we are doing God's will. The kind of blessedness Jesus described is not primarily something we feel, but something we are. Any joy that comes as a result of God's blessedness is a fruit of what He is doing in and through us. So when He says blessedness, He means happy — not in a superficial, frivolous way, but a peace, an understanding of God and who He is, a sense of joy that we understand what God wants from us, and because of God's work in our lives we can follow Him.
A Review of the Eight Beatitudes
Blessed are the poor in spirit — literally those who are spiritually destitute, desperately needing God's grace and who understand it. Blessed are those who mourn — those who are broken over their sin. They see their sin and it is an offense to them, and they weep and they cry and they are broken over it. Blessed are the gentle — which is somewhat the opposite of the self-centeredness we have instinctively and naturally. This is also translated meekness: strength under control. It is about you and me releasing everything rather than holding on to anything.
Verse 6: blessed are those who hunger and thirst. Those are two strong words describing strong appetites — a yearning, a searching. Not just hungering for food and thirsting for drink, but hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Verse 7: blessed are the merciful. It is compassion in action, love in action. Because these things are true of me internally, my life begins to manifest them. I begin to live a life that is visible — people can see a transformed life.
Blessed are the pure in heart — those who have devotion to God and whose desire is to follow Him. Blessed are the peacemakers — and this is not merely a cessation of hostilities. The peacemaker Jesus had in mind is one who understands a right relationship with the Creator God through Jesus Himself. Why? "For they shall be called sons of God." These are men, women, and students who understand who Jesus is, who understand their own situation and that they are at war with God, and who embrace Jesus Christ as the only possible remedy for the debt owed to God because of our sin. Having received that peace, they become ambassadors and ministers of reconciliation.
Persecution for Righteousness
We covered that ground last week and touched briefly on verses 10, 11, and 12. I want to linger there for just a moment today. "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when men cast insults—"
Persecution Is Inevitable
"Blessed are you when men cast insults at you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of Me." There seems to be a promise of persecution here. Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 8: "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me as prisoner, but join with me in the suffering for the gospel according to the power of God." In chapter 2, verse 3, he says, "Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier." And in chapter 3, verse 12: "Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." As you read through this passage, what you see is a promise — a promise of persecution.
When we talk about persecution, I have three things in mind. The first, which we just mentioned, is that persecution is inevitable. If you desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, it is unavoidable. That is what verse 11 declares.
Persecution Flows from Our Relationship with Christ
The second observation about persecution is that it results from our relationship with Christ and a desire to live for Him. That is what we see in verse 11: "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of Me." The reason and the motive for the persecution is the relationship with Christ, and as we begin to live that out, it becomes manifestly clear to everyone around us.
Someone has written this: "Righteousness is confrontational even where it's not preached in so many words. It confronts wickedness by its very contrast, its very being." As you begin to think rightly and live rightly, you will come in sharp contrast with the wicked world around you, and that will result in persecution.
General Suffering Is Not Persecution
The third observation is more of a warning: the normal, general suffering of life is not persecution. We have a tendency to talk about suffering and to assume that this general kind of suffering is also persecution. When somebody gets sick, that is suffering — but it is not persecution. When somebody has a tragic event in their life, that is suffering, and it happens to everybody, godly and ungodly alike.
I was doing a men's conference a few years ago in Tucson, and driving back up I stopped and called Susan. When I got her on the phone, I could tell something was wrong. She does not get rattled, she does not get upset, but there was something in her voice — frustration, maybe. I assumed it was the girls or something I had done, so I said, "What's the deal, babe, what's going on?" She said, "Since you left, it's been a mess." I said, "Well, I know I hold it all together, but what is it?" She said, "The garbage disposal went out Friday, the hot water heater broke yesterday morning, and the garage door — when you get home, you will notice it is ajar. It's broken, it's off the railing."
I said, "Well, there's not much I can do about it." She said, "You mean when you get home?" I said, "No, I just mean I'm not going to do much about it. That's not my deal. I don't know how to handle that. I've got a toolbox at home, and in there is a Rolodex with all the numbers we need to call, so just go ahead and call some of those numbers, because I know I'm not going to be able to fix it."
When I got home and pulled up, the garage door on one side was barely off the ground and twisted at an angle. If you wanted to take a shower, that was impossible unless you liked cold water. There was a smell in the kitchen from the garbage disposal. And Susan was laughing. I said, "That's different from when I talked to you on the phone." She said, "Yeah, I got to thinking about it." I said, "What was the conclusion?" She said, "I learned something. The garbage disposals of both the godly and the ungodly break. The garage door openers of both the godly and the ungodly break. The hot water heaters of both the godly and the ungodly break."
That is suffering. Life has a lot of hardship in it. We as Christians get sick. We have deals that do not close. We have relationships that do not work. We have kids that wander away, or parents who do not fill the role or function God designed for them. We have all sorts of hardship, just like the rest of the world. That is not what Jesus is talking about in these verses. He is not talking about the wear and tear of living. He is talking about the persecution that comes against us as a result of right living. Righteousness is confrontational — even where it is not preached in so many words, it confronts wickedness by its very contrast.
The Reality of Global Persecution
When I think of persecution, I think of beatings and prison and killing and martyrdom. Is there a lot of that going on? Consider this quote: "This century" — meaning the twentieth century — "is known as the martyr's century, because more people have lost their lives for their Christian faith since 1900 than in all the previous centuries combined." In 1988 alone, it is estimated that 310,000 Christians were martyred worldwide. Somewhere around 25% of all Christians in the world lived under an anti-Christian government, and 13% lived under atheistic governments. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, Christians are the single most persecuted group in the entire world.
When I think of persecution, that is what I first think of. And here is the problem: I am not experiencing much of that. Are you? We are here on a Sunday morning, and the government actually helps us get out of here — they send police officers out to direct traffic. They generally allow us to gather, and I have never had an official tell me what to say.
Persecution Through Contrast
I think perhaps for us, more of our experience hangs in verse 11 than verse 10. "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you" — that is the implication of a direct attack. "Or persecuted when they say all kinds of evil against you falsely" — the idea there is that it is more indirect, behind your back. Maybe you have suffered that kind of persecution. It is not as painful, really, as beatings or prison, but it does hurt.
I was thinking about it just the other day. March 6th — that is a couple of weeks away — and I will have been a Christian 25 years. A quarter of a century. I spent more time, however, as a pagan than as a Christian. I was a pagan for 30 years, and I lived as one, pursuing all kinds of sin. When I was in college, there was a lot of it. Then I got into the workplace, and now there was all of that plus a little money on top of it.
There have been a lot of things in my life that I would be embarrassed about. I could show a film of it — it was awful, it was wretched, it was sinful, and it was clear. It was not something I did in the dark where nobody saw. I lived my sin out, and people had the pleasure of watching as it unfolded. There were several times in the course of that when I said, "This seems like I ought to change. I ought to quit this behavior. This seems destructive, potentially very dangerous, and not good at all."
So I would quit for a month or two. I used to drink a lot, and once I quit for a whole year. I said, "Well, I've proven I can quit, so I can start again — and I have to make up for the year I took off." Then God saved me, and He came in and just began to take these things away.
The Last Drink
He saved me on March 6th. December 11th, 1980 was the last day I had a drink. We had a Christmas party, and I had won the centerpiece — a donkey covered with greens and berries. I woke up the next morning wrapped around this donkey and said, "I need to stop this. God, I've done everything I can, so You are going to have to get rid of it." That was the last day I had a drink.
As He began to clean up my life — and I cooperated a little — the people around me noticed a change. Some just quit calling. Others acted strange. Some were a little more aggressive: "All of a sudden you're holier than thou, you're too good to be around us, why are you preaching this stuff at me?" One day I stopped and took an inventory and said, "What is it that I'm saying to these people?" The reality was I hadn't said anything.
Here is the point: righteousness is confrontational even where it is not preached in so many words. It confronts wickedness by the very contrast it presents.
Billy Graham on the Driving Range
I had a friend who was out on the PGA Tour, and he had a buddy he had been witnessing to who was not responding. They were playing in a pro-am and he saw a pairing sheet — his buddy was paired with Billy Graham. He thought, "Well, this will be interesting." He came in after the round and found his buddy at his locker. He asked, "How did it go?" The man said, "I don't need Billy Graham or anybody else shoving religion down my throat."
So he let him sit with that for a while. He found him later on the driving range, pounding ball after ball with anything but a smooth swing. After he had hit a few, he went up and asked him, "What did Graham say to you?" The man said, "He never said a word about Christianity."
Let me say it again: righteousness is confrontational even where it is not preached in so many words. It confronts wickedness by its very contrast.
When Friends Pull Away
Maybe you have experienced this same thing. You had a set of friends, then God saved you, and now they begin to pull away or grow a little accusatory. And it hurts, doesn't it? Let me give you something I discovered a long time ago that was really helpful to me. It is not that these people do not like you. They like you. They used to hang out with you — go to parties with you, go to movies with you, maybe vacation with you, maybe date you, maybe even marry you. They like you. What they do not like is the Jesus they see in you. That is the problem.
When you begin to live this way, there is a consequence. Not everyone is going to respond positively. John Piper writes:
> If you cherish chastity, your life will be an attack on people's love for free sex. If you live simply and happily, you will show the folly of luxury. If you walk humbly with your God, you will expose the evil of pride. If you are punctual and thorough in your dealings, you will lay open the inferiority of laziness and neglect. If you speak with compassion, you will throw callousness into sharp relief. If you are earnest, you will make the flippant look flippant instead of clever.
A Letter from the Congregation
I received permission to read you this email. It is from a lady who has been coming to the church for a while and got plugged into one of the Institute classes. In the midst of those classes, she has been learning a great deal about God — who He is and the right relationship with Him. And part of that —
Rejoicing Under Persecution
There is a worldview that says there is no single way to find happiness — that there are as many ways as there are people, that whatever makes you happy, whatever makes you fulfilled, whatever seems true to you at the moment, is equally valid. That is the worldview many of our neighbors, coworkers, and even close friends inhabit. One of the things that is a campaign for me in the coming year is to help you understand that you are a missionary and that I am a missionary. It is important for us to understand that this relativistic worldview is precisely what we are stepping into when we share the gospel.
A young woman in our congregation recently shared some of these truths with a friend for what appears to have been the first time. The friend emailed back, and I want to read you just a section of that email.
"I got your text last night. In response, I would first like to say that just like a parent who does not agree with a child's decision to do drugs — I can support you as a person and my friend without supporting your decision to go on a mission. That being said, I'm actually shocked that you would have thought that I would support the idea. We don't talk about religion, but that does not mean that you should be unaware of how I feel. I do not talk about the topic with you out of respect, not out of agreeance with you on the topic. Religion is the bane of my existence. It's a strong term. I think that religion has single-handedly done more to cause war, disease, famine, hardship on people than any other thing."
She goes on to speak about missions — that as you begin to bring the gospel to people, you inflict all sorts of pain on them, and that people will accept the gospel only because they want your food, water, and clothing. Then she writes: "As it pertains to you, I understand your need to join a church. You are obviously unhappy with the place you are in life. I feel that church will get you to a better place — then have at it. Lots of people turn to religion when they feel they're missing something. If you're just in a hurry to grow up and leave youth behind, then church may not be the answer and you'll probably end up missing the good old days. Any way that you find happiness is okay for you. But please don't ask me to support an act and a philosophy that is fundamentally opposed to the beliefs that I personally hold. I'd never ask the same of you. Now that I've finished my novel, I want you to know that I do not see this as a problem for our friendship. I don't have a problem not talking about religion with you."
Did you catch that phrase? "Any way that you find happiness is okay for you." That is the worldview we are living in. It does not say there is a way to find happiness — it says there are as many ways as there are people. I know, although I have not spoken with this young woman, that when she received this email it threw her for a loop and it was a very difficult time. That is exactly what we have been talking about: blessed are you when they cast insults at you. If she is here tonight, that is just part of the deal — hang in there, because you have a family that will support you.
The Command to Rejoice
Now, here is a strange reaction to all of that. It is found in verse 12: rejoice. Skip and jump with happy excitement. Rejoice and be glad. This does not make much sense on the surface. You are going to be persecuted. They are going to cast insults at you. They are going to talk about you behind your back. They are going to slander you. They are going to beat you up. And yet the command is: rejoice. How?
Verse 12 gives the answer. First, your reward in heaven is great. Second, they persecuted the prophets who went before you — in other words, you are in great company. They persecuted the prophets. They persecuted Jesus. They persecuted the apostles. Jesus said this in Matthew 15: "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you."
Why should I rejoice in the midst of persecution? Because I am in very good company. That is what they did to the prophets. That is what they did to Jesus. That is what they did to the apostles. Tradition tells us that virtually all of the apostles, save John, were martyred.
Heavenly-Minded, Earthly Good
But there is a bigger answer here for me. He says, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great." You have probably heard it said that Christians are so heavenly-minded they are no earthly good. My experience has actually been the opposite — we are so earthly-minded that we are no heavenly good. What Jesus is saying is that He wants us to be heavenly-minded. He wants us thinking over and over again about the fact that our reward in heaven is great.
When we are heavenly-minded, we become earthly good. When we concentrate on the fact that our reward in heaven is great, that this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, contemplating that truth does not merely sustain us or allow us to survive — it allows us to thrive, to rejoice, to skip with happy excitement.
Stories of Those Who Rejoiced
I spent a little time on the web and found so many great stories. Let me share two with you. A man I had never heard of before — John Rogers — was burned at the stake in 1555. The story goes that his children accompanied him to the place of execution and called out encouragement to him as he died.
The Witness of the Persecuted
Him through their tears that He might be strong and not turn back and dishonor Christ. He was martyred right in their presence. What do you think they were yelling to him? They were yelling encouragement to him. It would have been something like, "Though the outer man is burning up at this moment, we're being renewed day by day. Dad, momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as they were leading him from the prison room to the gallows, said this: "This is the end, but for me, it's the beginning of life." Jim Elliot said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." You and I as Christians become so heavenly-minded that we now finally are of earthly good.
As you begin to live this life and the persecution comes, verse 12 says to rejoice and be glad. The reward in heaven is great, and you are in great company.
Salt and Light: The Believer's Function in the World
Look at verses 13 through 16. "You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? For it is good for nothing any more except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." Verse 14: "In the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden." Verse 15: "Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck-measure or a bushel-basket, but they put it on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house." Verse 16: "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."
Speaking of these four verses, John MacArthur writes: "In these four verses, the Lord summarizes the function of the believers in the world. Reduced to one word, that function is influence." You and I are here to influence. Jesus uses two common elements, two common commodities — salt and light. We are the salt of the earth, we are the light of the world.
The world needs salt and light because the world is lost. 2 Timothy chapter 3, a passage that is becoming familiar, says: "In the last days, difficult times will come, men will be lovers of self, lovers of money," and all that goes with it. That section ends with the verse we discussed earlier: "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." You live in a world that is filled with evil.
One author writes this: "A college student told me his professor had recently told the class that marriage was on the decline because man was evolving to a higher level. Marriage was something that man needed only at the lower stages of his evolutionary development. Now that man had ascended further up the evolutionary scale, marriage was falling off just as his tail had done millions of years ago." That is not my experience. I would be more inclined to believe in devolution than evolution. If anything, it seems we are getting worse. It is a dark world, and into it you and I come.
Jesus' prayer the night before He died was this: "Father, as You send Me into the world, now I'm sending them into the world." He is sending you and me into the world. What does He expect of us?
You Are — A Statement of Identity
Look at verse 13 and verse 14, and notice that both verses begin with the same two words. Verse 13: "You are the salt of the earth." Verse 14: "You are the light of the world." The word "you" in the Greek is plural — it speaks of us, of we, collectively. We as a body are the salt of the earth; we are the light of the world.
The word "are" is not a command and not even a request. Jesus is simply stating a fact: this is what you are, this is who you are. He is speaking of being rather than doing. We used to say in college, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." What Jesus is saying is this: we were part of the problem, and we are now part of the solution.
The History and Power of Salt
He speaks of salt. I was in a bookstore about a month ago, browsing through the shelves, and I came across a book on salt — the history of salt. I thought it would be interesting to tell people I was reading the history of salt, and they would think I was very well-read. I did not get through it. It was 500 pages, and I lost interest on the back cover. But in the description from the editor, he says this:
"The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning. It is a story of a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind — a substance so valuable it served as currency. Salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, and provoked and financed wars, and secured empires, and inspired revolutions." The Romans were sometimes paid with salt. That is where the term "you're worth your weight in salt" finds its origin.
You Are the Salt of the Earth
The Romans considered salt to be more valuable than almost anything else on earth, second only to the sun. It was used in some societies to mark friendship. When Jesus spoke of salt, His listeners would have been immediately familiar with it.
When we talk about salt, we tend to identify three uses. The first is that it flavors. Jesus says, "You are the salt of the earth." I'm not sure that is the most appropriate application here, because it seems we sometimes take a little of the flavor out of life rather than add to it. The last two uses are the ones that vie for the favored interpretations.
Salt preserves. It keeps things from spoiling. You and I — plural now — are the ones who bring preservation into the world. We are the ones who slow down, who retard, some of the spoiling. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes, "Most competent historians are agreed in saying that what undoubtedly saved England from a revolution such as that experienced in France at the end of the 18th century was nothing but the evangelical revival." He goes on to say something quite interesting: this was not because anything had been done directly, but because masses of individuals had become Christians and were living this better life and this higher outlook. Salt preserves.
The other thing salt does is create thirst. The body craves water, and salt makes us thirsty. When we were kids, we used to take salt tablets during football practice, during two-a-days. I don't know why, because we were already plenty thirsty. It must have been some form of punishment worked into the football program, but we would take them whenever we participated in sports — and you get thirsty.
You see the imagery there. You are the salt of the earth. In some way you retard or slow down the spoilage, and you create a thirst. People look at you and they get thirsty for what you have. People see you perhaps in a difficult situation and say, "I don't know if I could do that. I don't know how you endure that. I want what you have. I want to be able to live life the way that you live it. I want that joy." By the way, you should be hearing that from people. You should have people saying to you, "There is something different about the way you live, and I want it." Now, when you tell them what it is and say it's Jesus, they may say, "No thanks." But they are saying, "I want that."
Losing Your Saltiness
Here is what Jesus says in verse 13: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be salty again?" It cannot. He says it is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. Much of the salt that came from the Dead Sea was of no real value for practical use. So what they would do is take it and throw it on the paths that people walked frequently. As the men and women walked, they would grind the salt into the earth, and it would simply kill the plants and the weeds.
You are the salt of the earth. Now live like it.
You Are the Light of the World
Verse 14: "You are the light of the world." Without asking you to turn there, notice the progression. In John chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." In chapter 9, verse 5, He says, "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Now He says to you and me, "You are the light of the world."
Jesus was a direct source of light. When He said "I am the light of the world," He was saying, "I am the light. I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." We reflect that light. The imagery sounds a little strange, but He is like the sun — the source — and we are like the moon. We reflect that light.
Light has three functions worth considering. The first is measurement. We talk about light years and the speed of light. Engineers fire a beam down a distance and measure back. Light measures. We come into the world and we bring God's Word to it and say, "Here is the standard." We are prone to want to make our own standard, and to make it low enough that we all pass. I read recently that approximately ninety percent of Harvard students graduate with honors — it is almost impossible to receive a C. But here, in God's Word, is the real standard.
The second thing light does is reveal. "For God so loved the world," John 3:16, "that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believed in Him should not perish but have eternal life." And then: "This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."
I was stopped at a stoplight the other day and looked to my right at an adult bookstore. It looked like every other adult bookstore I have ever seen — there was not a window in the place. Susan and I were back home in Davenport some time ago, and I said I wanted to take her on my roots trip. It is not an official trail — not like the Lewis and Clark trail — but I have this tour: here is where I hit my first home run, this is where I threw a no-hitter, this is where I threw my first pass, this is where I kissed my first girl. I always stop there. And this is the Circle Tap — this is where I used to hang out.
Light Reveals Reality
I took Susan to a bar — and I don't mean like Fridays. It's not a bar if they serve quiche. I mean a real bar: sports, loud, a real bar. I said, I want you to see this because this is where I spent a lot of my formative years, though I don't do any of that anymore. She said she didn't really need to see it, but I said, come on, it's a cool place, we used to go in there and eat all the time.
The day we got there, they were converting the bar — my choice of words — converting it from a Pabst Blue Ribbon bar to a Coors bar. To do that, they strip all the Pabst and Coors signage off the windows. The doors were open, the lights were on, and they were doing a little construction, which brought in additional light. I had never seen that place in the light.
We walked in, and up on the ceiling there was somewhere between six to eight inches of grease — I'm just guessing. You could see little mouse prints in the grease. You could hear the buzzing of flies back in the kitchen. Susan said, "Can we get out of here? This is where you used to hang out?" As we were driving back, I remember thinking about how light reveals. I had never seen any of that before, not until the light brought it into view.
Here is what Paul says: "You were formerly darkness, but you are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." You and I bring reality. Back at St. Ambrose College — we were the Bees, the Fighting Bees; the mascot was a killer bee that intimidated no one — we would sit around the student union, which was logically called the Beehive, night after night. This would have been 1968, '69, '70, '71, '72 — it went on a while; it wasn't a high priority. We would sit there and actually talk about what reality was, and we didn't have a clue. Neither do you, unless you are looking at the world through God's eyes.
The Light You Carry
The light brings reality, and the light gives life. "I am the way, the truth, the life." You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor, as verse 15 tells us, do men light a lamp and then hide it under a peck measurer. They put it on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. It is common sense — you don't light a candle to read by and then put a big covering over it. You don't hide it.
You are the light of the world. You are to be visible to all. Here is verse 16: "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." That is supposed to be the way we live — clearly visible to everyone around us. Anyone who spends any time with you ought to conclude that there is something different about you. They may not understand the theology of it, but they would know something is different.
I had a situation once where I was watching a talk show. They were reuniting a man with his brother and his father, or mother — something like that. The man walked out and sat down, and I said to Susan, "That guy's a Christian." She said, "How can you tell?" I said, "I just know." They went through the reunion — there was anguish, the dad had deserted them — and when they came to this man, he said, "You know what? Jesus Christ has saved me and He has forgiven me. How could I not forgive my own dad?" You can just see it sometimes.
Transformed, Not Conformed
"Let your light shine in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." I want to read two verses many of you know well, because we come back to them again and again. Romans 12, verses one and two, first from the New American Standard: "Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Don't be conformed to this world. Don't think like this world. Don't behave like this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind — you think differently, then you behave differently.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases those two verses this way in The Message: "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you. Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, your eating, your going to work, and walking around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking."
That is what he is saying. You are the salt of the earth — you create a thirst in the people who come into contact with you; they want what you have. And you are the light of the world. As you bring this word, you become the standard. You reveal reality. You bring real life as you preach the gospel. You live in such a way that they see your good works — your attractive works, your beautiful works — and they glorify your Father in heaven.
The Necessity of Words
Now, there is no way people are naturally going to glorify God simply when they see you live this way. What they are going to say is, "That's a heck of a person. That's a good guy. She's a great gal." I think encompassed in all of this is the idea that you are going to have to verbally communicate that truth. To say, "I'm just going to
Living Out Your Faith in Everyday Life
We cannot simply decide to live this life at the office, or live this way with family and friends, and let people see what a Christian is really like while never saying anything. They need to thirst after what you have, but you have to tell them what it is you have. You have to say it is Jesus.
Take your ordinary, everyday life — your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life — and place it before God. The danger is becoming so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit in without even thinking. In other words, you look just like everybody else, and there is nothing distinctive or different about you.
The Unseen Burdens Around Us
Something really interesting happened to me just before the service. I was talking with one of the men who runs a dairy, and I was teasing him because, frankly, that is about the extent of my dairy knowledge — I know they get milk there, and I am pretty much done. But I also know that when it rains, it produces real havoc, so I was teasing him about that.
He said, "You really don't have a clue what you're talking about, do you?" And I said, "No, I really don't." He said they were dealing with so many problems from the rain — bacteria, corrals that were not properly cleaned, real issues piling up. I looked around and realized there are at least three dairy farmers here in the worship center right now.
That is the kind of thing going on around us all day long. People have major issues we know nothing about. It is not that you don't care — you simply do not even think about it.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for saving us. We pray that our lives would be us taking this everyday, ordinary life — our sleeping and eating and going to work and walking around — and placing it before You. God, do not let us become so well-adjusted to our culture that we fit into it without even thinking.
Father, I pray for those who are here this afternoon carrying all sorts of hurt and pain. I am not talking about suffering in the abstract — I am talking about the real wear and tear of life right now, whether it is sickness, hardship, or relational difficulty. And God, I pray specifically for those involved in the dairy business, because this is a really difficult time. Help them get through it, give them wisdom, provide what they need, and let them realize it and be grateful.
God, that is true of all of us. We need You each and every minute of each day, and we do not always remember it — it is not always fresh in our minds. We present our lives to You. As we leave this place, let us be salt and light. Use us to create a thirst in people's lives. Let us be light that presents a standard, a reality, and the only true life, which is found in Your Son, Jesus.
God, we pray that the portrait Jesus paints for us in this first section of Matthew chapter 5 is a portrait that is indicative of the way we live. Just as salt is salty and light is bright, let us be Christians who live distinctive and unique lives, and use those lives for Your honor and Your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.