Salt of the Earth (Matthew 5)
Tom Shrader explores Jesus' teaching that Christians are to be salt and light in the world from Matthew 5:13-20. He explains that as salt, believers are to preserve, create thirst for God, and bring purity and flavor to a corrupt world. As light, they are to reveal truth, set standards, and energize others. Shrader emphasizes that the Christian life is fundamentally a counterculture that stands against both worldly and religious superficiality, requiring a righteousness that surpasses even the scribes and Pharisees through Christ's fulfillment of the law.
“You and I as Christians are revolutionaries, we are radicals - we aren't like everybody else.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Miscellaneous
Recorded: 1991
Duration: 43 min
Themes: salt, light, witness, counterculture, righteousness, influence, purity, truth, living differently, workplace witness, new believer, parent, young adult, struggling with conformity, feeling compromised, seeking purpose
Scripture: Matthew 5:13-20, Matthew 5:1-12, Genesis 1:1, 2 Timothy 3:12, Hebrews 4:12-13, Philippians 2:12-16, Philippians 3:4-11
Theological Themes: sanctification, christian living, sermon on the mount, biblical ethics, law and grace, pharisaism, spiritual transformation, gospel distinctiveness
Full Transcript
If you've got your Bibles, open them to Matthew in the 5th chapter, and that's where we're going to be for this week. Let me just remind you we will meet next week, and then the following week we will not meet, that's the 4th of July, and obviously we won't be here that week, and then we'll meet right on through to August 1st. So we've got, counting tonight, 6 studies left in chapters 5, 6, and 7, which we know collectively as the Sermon on the Mount.
We started the last two weeks by throwing on the overhead a quote from John Stott, and the reason I put it up again this week is I ran into one of the guys that has been in this study. He said, "I've studied the Sermon on the Mount, I don't know how many times. I've been a Christian a long time, and the idea of Christianity being a counter-culture really has hit home to me."
That's exactly what Stott is saying. As we look at the Sermon on the Mount, I'll draw your eyes to the last paragraph: the followers of Jesus are to be different. You and I that know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior are to be different—not odd, not weird, but different, different from the Church (at least those that are playing Church), and different from the world, different from the religious and the non-religious. We're going to drive that point home tonight.
Christianity as Counter-Culture
The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture. Here is a Christian value system, an ethical standard, and religious devotion, an attitude toward money and ambition, lifestyle—all of which is at total variance with those of the non-Christian world. I throw that overhead up there to make that point to you yet one more time.
When we talk about the Christian life, particularly as we look at the Sermon on the Mount, it's important for you and I to understand we're talking about a counter-culture. You and I as Christians are revolutionaries, we are radicals. Let me put it to you this way: we aren't like everybody else. In fact, if this pops into my mind, keep your finger there. This is an easy one—go to Genesis chapter 1 verse 1.
I want to show you how against the grain of the world we are, how Christianity at its very beginning pushes and moves against the world. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." That just puts you at odds with the world. Most of the world, many of those who would call themselves Christians, many of those who would claim to be religious would say, "Well, I'll tell you what, I believe in evolution. I believe in chance." You've got one verse, the first verse of the first book of the Bible, puts you at odds with most of the world.
The Christian life is a counter-culture life. It's a tough life. You know why? Because you are swimming upstream. Everybody's headed this way, and you as a Christian are headed that way. The Sermon on the Mount, now I think that any of the teachings that Jesus gives us in the New Testament, the Sermon on the Mount speaks to that counter-culture life.
Reviewing the Beatitudes
We left off—and again I encourage you to grab the tape on the way out—we looked at these first two weeks, the first 12 verses of the Sermon on the Mount, which we know as the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes tell us that as a Christian we can be happy, truly happy, or we're going to be happy in these ways: Happy when we're poor in spirit, happy when we mourn, happy when we're gentle, happy when we're hungry and thirst for righteousness, happy when we're merciful, happy when we're pure in heart, happy when we're a peacemaker.
And then in verses 10 and 11 and 12, Jesus says something incredible. He said, "Blessed are those, happy are those, who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed, truly, truly happy are you, when men cast insults at you and persecute you and say all kinds of things evil against you and falsely accuse you on account of me. Rejoice, rejoice," He says, "and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Can I tell you this? 2 Timothy 3 verse 12 says this: that godly and those who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted. There's no question about it—you'll be persecuted.
Understanding Christian Persecution
Susan got a call from a lady telling us that a friend of ours who's in the hospital with cancer, cancer of the bladder, got some of it, couldn't get all of it, doesn't look good. Suffering, yes. Pain, yes. But that's not the suffering and the pain that the Bible talks about for the Christian. The godly and the ungodly get bladder cancer. That's not what He's talking about.
This woman happens to be a Christian who's serious about her faith. Her husband isn't. Her husband comes in, apprised of the situation, and says to her, "Now where's your Jesus? Now what's your Jesus got you into?" That, men and women, is persecution and suffering for the cause of Christ.
Interesting, let me break it apart. I didn't intend to get into this, but let's take that scenario. She's dying of cancer, doesn't look good, looks grim, and yet there's a joy and a peace there. He's healthy, looks like he'll live longer than her and all things together. She's at peace, he's a mess. How come? She knows Christ, he doesn't. See, that's exactly what Jesus is saying.
I can rejoice and I can be glad and I can have peace, even when they're dumping all this stuff on me. Why? Because I'm a masochist? No, no, no, no. I don't like this. You don't like this. You don't go around saying, "Whip me, whip me." Got to get you over to Camelback Hospital if you think that way. We need some counseling for you and get you fixed. No, that's not normal. That's not what we're talking about. Not "whip me, whip me." We're saying, look, I don't like it. I don't want to be persecuted. I don't want to suffer unless God wants me to suffer. And then I need to be able to say, "God, I want to suffer for your sake."
Well, if the Christian life is a counterculture, and it is, here we go in verse 13. In verses 13, 14, 15, and 16, Jesus gives us a beautiful example of what you and I are to be. He says this: "You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again?" And the answer is, it can't be. "It is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and trampled under the foot by men. You're also the light of the world. A city set on a hill can't be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house."
Here's His conclusion of this little section: "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." Jesus uses two commodities that you and I are absolutely familiar with, and they were familiar with in that day and age: salt and light.
You Are the Salt of the Earth
He says to you and me, first of all, you are the salt of the earth. In the Greek culture, the word for salt was theon. It meant literally divine. It was a valued commodity. In the Roman culture, except for the sun, nothing was more valuable than salt. Salt is a valuable commodity. Jesus says, you and I are the salt of the earth.
There are probably a whole bunch of interpretations that we can pull out of this. Let me give you some of them. Number one, the obvious: salt is white, it's pure. You and I are to be pure. Blessed are the pure of heart. We are to be pure, and Christians should exhibit in their life a sense of purity in the midst of the dark world. It's a fair interpretation.
Or, you and I, like salt, are to have some flavor. I like this one, although I don't think it's primary in its meaning. You and I are to put zest into the world. The world really is bland without us. The Christians really are the only ones who truly should know how to live life, how to grab for all the gusto that they possibly can. There's no one more equipped to live life with gusto than a Christian, because the Christian is really the only man or the only woman who knows how to really live life. And just like salt provides flavor, the Christian provides flavor into the world. That's another interpretation.
Salt Stings the Conscience
There's another thing that we do, another interpretation. We put salt into a wound and it stings. You and I as Christians should prick the conscience of the world in which we live. I like that one, too. Somebody was asking me the other day about some of my gifts and what the gifts are that I have, and they asked me about various gifts. They said, "What do you think your call is?" And I said this: I think my call is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted.
I think God has called me to comfort the afflicted, and I think I do that primarily through teaching the Word of God. But I also think He's called me to afflict the comforted, to take those people that are so comfortable, they've got things so in a box, their life is so put together, and say, "Wait a minute." I find myself doing it all the time. See, and that's what the Word of God does. The Word of God pricks the conscience.
We're studying 2 Timothy during the week, and those of you that are in that study, I apologize for a little repetition here, but this study has really caught my imagination. This study has really got me, because Timothy is getting a letter from Paul. Timothy is the recipient of Paul's death letter. He knows he's dying, and Paul keeps coming back to the idea of preach the gospel, in season, out of season, preach the gospel. And it flips you into Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12: the Word of God is sharp, it's alive and it's active, sharper than a two-edged sword, cuts to the heart.
And verse 13, Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13, says this: "There's no creature on earth that can hide from God. But God will lay us naked, and He'll make our eyes look upon Him with whom we must reckon." You hear what that verse says? It says the Word of God strips away all of this junk, all of this stuff.
God Makes Us Look Him in the Eye
I say, "How are you doing?" And you say, "Gosh, I'm doing great. Hair looks nice, new dress, new suit, new car, doing great." This is my favorite: "If I was any better, there'd have to be two of me." Oh, gag me, you're going to make me sick. Well, a guy literally came into our study one day. I said, "How are you doing?" He said, "Good, getting better, perfect."
I said, "Well, it's really good to see you today." And I had a guest speaker who talked about a point in his life when he hit rock bottom and he thought about killing himself. And when the study was up, the man who said to me, "Good, getting better, couldn't get better," was in the corner saying, "I've been thinking about the same thing."
Well, you can fool me, but the scripture says you can't hide from God. Here's the second part of that: it says it makes you look into His eyes. I come in, I got Haley cold. She's in it, doesn't matter what she's done. This is an illustration - Haley would never do anything wrong. This is an illustration. I got her cold and I said, "Haley, I got you. You did it. You did it." And she does what every other kid does. It's as though something magic comes in and severs these muscles, these nerves in her neck, and her chin just hits her chest.
You know what I say to her? "Look me in the eye." And I think God says in His word, "Look me in the eye." Get your head up. See, that's why this is sharper than a two-edged sword. That's why we put the sting in. God's saying, "Look me in the eye. You're telling me you're a good guy. Look me in the eye." And I got to say, "God, I'm not a good guy." That's exactly what the word says.
Salt Creates Thirst
Well, we're off on a tangent. Here's another one: salt creates thirst. When we were kids, my mom used to give us these little salt tablets. We'd get playing so hard, we'd forget to get a drink. So salt's in the world, and it's to create thirst. You and I, as Christians, should live lives
that create thirst in the people around us. You and I should create this thirst.
I was talking to a guy yesterday who was relating a story about calling on a couple that some of you know, and they were a wild couple. They were into coke and drugs and all the stuff that goes with it. This gal became a Christian. This man was saying to her, "How did you become a Christian?" She went to a Bible study, some of you know, it used to be at Grace Community Church called WOW. It was an evening WOW, and a lady that you know, many of you, Sue Southern was teaching.
This gal went in there. This guy said, "What do you remember about it?" She said, "Well, what I remember is they kept talking about this Bible. That's all I remember, they kept quoting Bible verses. Then one night, then one moment in my life, I became a Christian. All of a sudden, I wasn't totally aware of what I did. But I'll tell you this, I knew my life changed. I lived three weeks like that with my life changing. I wanted to tell my husband, I couldn't tell my husband, I didn't know how to tell my husband."
Finally one day, I couldn't hold it down anymore. So I went in and I said, "Look, I got to tell you something. I've done something. Something's changed my life." He said, "Hey, I don't want to hear about it. I don't care how it happened. Whatever it is, I just know I want it." That's creating thirst. That's creating thirst in another person. She won him to Christ without a word. He looked at her and said, "This is a transformed life."
There's a sense in which you and I as Christians should be living in such a way that the people around us look at us, and finally when it's time to deliver the goods, they say, "Really, I don't care, just hurry up and give it to me. I want it." As salt, we create that thirst.
Salt as Preservative
The last thing salt does, and I think it's its primary function, although it's a combination of all of them, is salt is a preservative. Martin Lloyd-Jones makes a comment in his discussion on the Sermon on the Mount, and he says this: "Most competent historians agree 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 an evangelical revival. This is not because anything was done directly, but because masses of individuals had become Christians and were living this better life and had this higher outlook. The whole political system was affected, and the great acts of Parliament which were passed in the last century were mostly due to the fact that there was a large number of individual Christians found in the land."
You and I act as a preservative. We had Doug Holliday in town one time. Doug Holliday was a Reagan administration liaison to the continent of Africa, and we had him in town, fabulous speaker, great. When we were done, they said question and answer. He had talked about politics and government and all those things. I would have bet a thousand dollars that this question would have been asked, and the first question was exactly the question. "Mr. Holliday, you're certainly an integral part of the Reagan administration. You've traveled all over the world. You're a high-profile Christian man. Would you agree with me that what we desperately need are more Christians in government?"
He said, "No. I don't think so. What we need are the Christians that are in government to live out their Christianity." The great answer. You and I are the salt of the earth. We're the preserver. We do bring a purity and a flavor to the world. We do sting it. We do give it its taste, and we are its preservative. Jesus says, "Listen, if you have lost your saltiness, you can't get it back."
Christians as Light
Not only that, you're the light of the world. You take a city up on a hill, you can't hide it. You and I as Christians are the light of the world. Jesus ran the earth, He said, "I'm the light of the world." Now He says, you are His servant lights. He's the sun, He's the direct source, but we're the moon. We reflect His light. He said, "What sense does it make? Only an idiot," is what Jesus said, "would light a lampstand or light a candle and then put it under a basket."
You and I as Christians are to be light in the midst of this world. Three functions that light does. Number one, it reveals. That's what the Word of God does. That's what the person of Christ did. That's what you and I do. We reveal. You want to know what reality is? The Word of God, the person of Christ, a Christian living out that life, reveals reality.
Light Reveals Truth
Sin loves darkness. You ever notice that? Go down to the bar down here at the end of the hall. Look how dark it is. Always like that. Always dark. I like darkness. Love bars. I remember when I used to drink. It wasn't just the drinking, although I loved that. I loved everything that went with it. I liked dark places, cold places. I loved to sit around. Everybody lies to everybody else. It was terrific. It was a great place to be.
When Susan and I were home, we used to have a place that we hung out at, I used to hang out at, called the Circle Tap. It was a class-level place. When we were home, they had stripped all of the windows. Usually the windows, if the windows were this high, you'd have the top, I'd love to be tall enough to reach it. The top, a couple of feet would be dark, and then this would be dark. It would be a little sliver just to let in some light, and then they'd put a PAP sign right in the middle of it.
They had all this stuff stripped off, and they had all the lights on, and in honor of the Bicentennial, they thought they'd clean the place. Light had never been in this place as long as I'd been there. I told Susan how I used to go up there, and I'd eat there, and kind of sleep there, and did a lot of stuff there. We got in there, and she looked
Light reveals things. Light exposes the truth of situations. I remember taking Susan to a little place I used to go to, and I said we'll go out for lunch. She looked around and said, "Tom, I couldn't eat pretzels in this place. The grease is just..." I looked up and said, "Gosh, it is dirtier than I remember." That's what light does. Light reveals. Light shines so I can see around and see the truth of it. It exposes things.
Here's another thing light does: it becomes the standard. We talk in terms of light years. When the astronauts first went to the moon, they put a little receiver up there and fired a light beam up and a light beam back, and they figured exactly how far it was from the earth to the moon. You and I are the standard. The word of God is the standard. We're the light of the world.
The last thing light does is it energizes. Light energizes and brings energy through photosynthesis. You and I are to bring the energy into the world. That's exactly how we're supposed to live.
Living as Lights in a Dark World
Let me read to you Philippians chapter 2, verse 12: "My beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as much in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling." That verse doesn't say earn your salvation. It says do the things that result from being saved.
Here they are: "For God is at work. He is the one who is at work within you, both to will and to do His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world."
One translation says this: You and I are to be lights in the midst of a bunch of crooks and perverts. Sound like your office? Sound like the manufacturing plant where you work? That's the way you're going to live.
The Call to Be Different
Jesus comes along in this country culture and He says to you and me, "Look, we're light and we're salt. We're different." If you are not different, if your life is not unique, if I can spend time with you and not really know whether you're a Christian or not, Jesus says you and I need to take an inventory. Because if our life is not different, in all likelihood, we're not Christians. I cannot be the same.
This is my favorite story in my life, I think. I'd been a Christian about four months and a friend of mine called and said, "Tom, we're going up to Prescott Downs." That's horse racing. I said, "Well, I don't know about that one." They said, "I got an offer you can't refuse—nickel beer, quarter hot dog." Well, I'm a health food nut. So I said, "Count me in for that."
We were smart enough—this was before it was fashionable—we got a designated driver and were drunk all the way up. We had all the nickel beer you could drink and quarter hot dogs you could get down. Then we're coming out of Prescott. This was 1980. Coming out of Prescott there's a lot out there now, but there used to just be that one Circle K. We stopped for some trail juice because it was a long haul back.
I'm in the back, all spread out. He's in the front. Driver's driving. We're talking about the serious issues in life. I'll never forget it, never forget exactly where I was—at Dunlap and the freeway heading south. I said, "Jesus Christ has changed my life." And he looked back and said—we're just going to only take one word out of the sentence—he said, "You look like the same old drunk to me."
A Moment of Conviction
I remember when he said it. I left my car downtown, got out of the car, went and sat in the car and just wept and wept and wept. Cried like a baby. Drove home, stealth driving. I always thought I was invisible when I drank—I wasn't, but I always thought I was.
I got home and I don't remember what I said to Susan, if I said anything. That was Friday. Saturday, Sunday—couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, sick to my stomach. Monday, I knew I met with Larry Wright on Tuesday. Six o'clock Tuesday morning, I'm there and he came. I said, "Doc, we got some serious problems. Let me tell you what I did."
He just started to cry and said, "Tom, what do you think?" I said, "Larry, I think I'm at a crossroads. I've only been at this four months. But I'll tell you, it's one of two things. Either I'm a total hypocrite or I'm a sinner saved by grace, and this is only evidence that God's working in my life as He convicts me of the sin."
He said, "What do you think?" I said, "Larry, I honestly think that I love Jesus Christ and I just think that I blew it. I'm going to guess I'll sin again, but I can't imagine hurting any more than I hurt right now." He said, "Let me tell you about the time I did the Christmas program drunk." I said, "No, Larry, I don't think I'm ready for that."
The Principle of Transformation
I only had four months in, but the principle is that Jesus Christ has changed my life. If Jesus Christ has not changed your life, if you're not salt and light where you live and where you work and in this room, then Jesus says you're just wasting your time. You're just playing a game. It's not true.
Jesus said this in verse 17: "Do not think I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I didn't come to abolish the law. I came to fulfill the law. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth passes away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished."
"And whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others shall be called least in the kingdom. But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you"—and this may be the key verse of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, verse 20—"I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter the..."
The Fulfillment of the Law
Here's what Jesus is saying: when it comes to the law, we need to understand that we're talking about the Old Testament, the law of God. We're talking about the composite of the Old Testament. We're really talking about the Mosaic law and all that it comprises - the moral law, the judicial law, and the ceremonial law. He said, "I came along with all of the law, all of the Old Testament. And I didn't abolish it, I fulfilled it."
Here's what James Boyce says about that: "I believe, without being grossly misleading, that there is only one sense in which we can say Jesus fulfilled the law. He fulfilled the law by dying on the cross, and thereby satisfying forever the demands of the law against those who believe in Him."
Jesus came, not primarily to live in us by the Holy Spirit, and not primarily to obey the law by keeping it perfect - although those things are true - but to die. And in dying, to cancel the claims of the law against all who would receive Him as Savior. Jesus said, "I came to fulfill the law, I came to keep the law." He led the perfect life, He came to follow those commandments. That's true, but in His death, when He died on the cross, at that point in time, the law was fulfilled.
What the law demanded in righteousness, He said, "I kept it, I was righteous." The law didn't pass away. God didn't rewrite the rules. God's law didn't change. Not a jot, not a tittle, not even an asterisk, or a comma, not even a punctuation point is going to go away. It's all there, but it's fulfilled in the person of Christ. Christ said, "I fulfilled it all."
The Old Testament's Validity
The Old Testament was true, it was to be believed. Those of you that struggle with the validity and accuracy of the Old Testament: several times in the life of Christ, He speaks of the literal Garden of Eden, of the murder of Abel, of Noah and the flood, of Abraham and his faith, of Sodom and Lot and Lot's wife, of the call of Moses, of manna from heaven. Jesus never once questioned the Old Testament.
He said, "The Old Testament was there, and it's real, and it's true, and it's to be believed, and if it was the word of God, I didn't come to abolish the law, I came to fulfill the law." In the person of Christ, by dying on the cross, He has fulfilled the law. And thereby, you and I no longer have to live under the law. We can live under grace, because Christ died on the cross.
A Shocking Standard of Righteousness
So much so that He can say to us something that we, very honestly, don't understand - at least the power of it. He says this in verse 20: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven." It is a powerful statement.
There was a Jewish saying that said this: if only two people could go to heaven, one would be a scribe, and one would be a Pharisee. When you looked at the scribes and the Pharisees, when you and I observed them, there was something there. There was a behavior, there was a code of conduct, that in our mindset, they are really, really righteous. And when you said to somebody, "Your life has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees" - who had some 250 positive things to do, and some 350 things they couldn't do, who tithed off the mint and the dill, who worked right by the law, who kept this law tenaciously - when you said, "You've got to be more righteous than them," the people are going, "I don't have a chance, I'm dead."
Jesus said, "That's exactly right, you don't have a chance, because they're not righteous either. It's all external, there is no power."
An Illustration from My Past
I used to have a friend - well I still have friends. I have one in particular, and as much of a derelict as I was, this guy was far more of a derelict than I was. I was good with him. And I remember one time him saying this to me: it was late at night, we'd been drinking, we were talking about life - we always talk about life when we drink. And he said this: "You know, if I ever get into a religion, I'm going to be a Mormon."
I said, "Well, why? I don't know much about it. Why?" He said, "Because look at their life. Look at what they do. They've got a whole night that they set aside just for family. They've got all this ritual. They've got all these things." And I didn't know anything about it. But something about that comment stuck in my mind, I still remember it today.
When they were walking around in that day and age, they said, "I'll tell you what, if I was going to be righteous, I didn't want to be religious, I want to be a scribe or a Pharisee." And Jesus is saying, "No you don't. Because you don't understand something. The scribe and the Pharisee: whitewashed tomb. Looking good on the outside, but there's nothing on the inside."
The Coming Confrontation
In fact, when we get together next week, He is going to take these scribes and these Pharisees and you and me and just lay us wide open. He's going to come right after us and say, "I'll tell you what, you can't make it. You can't get yourself righteous enough." The righteousness of the Pharisees: all external. They had watered down the law. They had changed the law.
In fact, we'll close with this. Turn to Philippians chapter 3 and verse 4. Paul is speaking and he says this: "Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has had a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I much more." He's saying, "You don't talk about righteousness. Let me tell you about righteousness."
He said, "I was circumcised on the eighth day." Now let me tell you something: Paul had nothing to do with that. That means Paul comes from a godly family. "Of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, a Pharisee."
As to zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless." Here's what Paul is saying. This righteousness that Jesus was talking about in Matthew chapter 5 verse 20—he's saying, "I had it." He literally right here said, not in a derogatory way, "I was a super Jew. I had all of these things."
"But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus"—here's a key word—"Christ Jesus, my Lord." Paul said, "He's not just a Lord. He's my Lord. He's my Lord and my Savior."
"For Him I have suffered loss of all things." He said, "All that stuff is gone. I count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own"—he's saying it wasn't me that was righteous. "I'm righteous today," Paul said, "because I've been declared righteous under the blood of Christ. But I'm not righteous on my own, having derived from the law, but from that which is found in faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."
Paul said this: what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount is absolutely true—I can't get myself righteous.
The Point of the Entire New Testament
Let me give you this and then close. The whole point from Matthew chapter 5 verse 20 through the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the whole point of the entire New Testament to you and me is this: It's not up to you to work out your righteousness. It's up to you to come to Christ in repentance and faith because you can't get your act clean enough. You can't do it. It isn't going to happen.
You got one shot. Here it is: if you can live perfect. Want to try that one? Let's do this—tabula rasa, blank slate from here on out. Let's see if you can just be perfect until next Thursday. Let's do that. Let's try that.
Jesus says no, can't do it. Something has to happen to you. He's going to come in and He's going to take some commandments. In fact, He's going to say this: "You heard it said you shouldn't commit murder." Jesus is saying, "I'm telling you, every person in this room is a murderer."
"You're kidding me!" Not kidding you at all, because God's looking at a different standard. Next week we look at that.
Closing Prayer
Let's close in prayer. Father, help us be salt and light in the midst of a very crooked and perverse generation. God, help us understand that we're not under a law and a bunch of rules and regulations, but we can be declared righteous tonight, not in what we do, but in who Jesus Christ is. God, help us understand that.
God, there's 250, 300 of us here. We could turn the East Valley upside down for your Son Jesus if we just live like it. We could go in and we could be effective—look around. We could start to penetrate Valley Bank, the school systems, ASU, McDonnell Douglas. Father, if we really started to take this seriously and really started to live the life in a counterculture, we could go into the marketplace and begin to shine brightly and begin to create a thirst in the marketplace tomorrow as people look at us and say, "I want what she's got. I want what he's got in his life." God, give us the boldness and the courage to live that way.
Father, we love you. We come humbly before you and we beg you to have mercy on us and to give us strength to live lives that are committed to you. Father, I thank you for each and every person here. What a joy it is to see them, to spend time with them, to have the privilege for us to together study your word. And God, watch over us and use us and bring us back again next week. For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.
See you next week!