I thank you for bringing us here together in unity, Lord, to worship you, Lord, and serve you and give thanks to your word. I pray we can learn about you, Lord, and just let everything you’re teaching us apply to our life directly. Lord, I pray that this worship will honor you, God and everyone care can listen and focus Jesus. Thank you so much. In Yeshua’s name, Amen.

All right, who’s ready for Christmas break? Good to be with you all again. I got a question for you. Around Christmas, we do all this singing and we hear about salvation. If you go to a Christian school, that reinforces the fact that God saves sinners. Here’s the question. Why? Why does God save sinners? What’s the purpose of salvation? I just go ahead and put your hands down. I just want you to think about it for a minute. I’m sure you have answers. On one hand, we might think, well, he loves us, right? He loves the same sinners. That’s true. We might think, well, he wants to spare us from the consequences of sin, which is death and damnation. He wants to guard us from the horror of hell. That’s true.

We also might think, well, he wants to give us the joy of heaven. The flip side of that, he wants us to experience eternal life. And I would say, yes, that’s true. But is there a larger reason? I think there is. From Genesis to Revelation, the whole sweeping story of salvation is focused on this one thing, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Why does God save sinners? God saves sinners to put the glory of his grace, the riches of his grace on display for all to see, certainly in the lives of those who love Jesus and receive him as the Savior. And even in lives of those who reject Him, God gets glory from saving sinners. Now here’s another question. If God glorifies himself through saving sinners, then what’s the purpose of our life?

It would be the same, wouldn’t it? The purpose of our life is to bring glory to God. Think of your life as a window. People look through you and a life is lived for God, transformed by his grace. People look through you and the grace goal is that they would see the glory of God in your heart and in your life. The goal would be for them to see the beauty of God, who stays by his mercy, by his grace, through your transformed life. That’s exactly what we see and what we discover in Matthew, chapter 4. 5. See your Bible.

Let’s open it.

Matthew, chapter 5, verses 13 through 16. A life. Get this. Hear this. A life of good works is a window to the glory of God. Matthew 5, beginning in verse 13, follow along. As I read this, Jesus said this. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Jesus also said, verse 14, you are the light of the world. The city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, put on a stand, and it gives light to all in a house. Now get this, verse 16.

In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give what glory to your Father who is in heaven. Friends, this is the Word of God. And when we read the Word of God’s Spirit speaks.

He speaks to us.

So we should listen to it. We should think about it. We should meditate on it. We should understand it. Most importantly, we should apply it. That’s what I want to try to help you do here this morning. Jesus uses two metaphors. One is salt. The other is light. And he uses these two metaphors to show how a changed life leads to good works that display the glory of God. Now, I know that in all the chapels that you’ve had this year, it’s been focusing on understanding what an ambassador is. Last time I was with you, I talked about being changed, being made a new creature in Christ. And today I want to unpack for you what that looks like, what it means to live for the glory of God as salt and light.

So let’s look at these two metaphors and make sure that we understand the purpose of it. The first is salt. You are the salt of the earth. I’m not very cool. I don’t even try to be. But I’ve heard young people use the word salting, like, ooh, that’s kind of salty. Is that like, yesterday’s news, or is that something that y’ all still use? See, I’m probably trying to be cool, and it’s just failing miserably. Why would Jesus say, well, you’re salt? I don’t think it means you’re salty in the sense of, well, you’re just.

Being kind of spicy.

He has a meaning. There’s at least four uses for salt throughout history, even today. One is as a preservative, right? You. The days before refrigeration, they would put salt on, particularly meat, and that would preserve it, keep it from rotting, from spoiling fast. And so Christians are salt in the sense that they have a preserving influence on the world around them, on society. It keeps the world from sliding into moral rot and decay. You are salt. You preserve. There’s another purpose for salt. It also purifies. Have you ever had a sore throat? Surely you have. Maybe you’ve gargled salt water. It stains, it burns a little bit, but it is a way of purifying.

In ancient times, actually, when a baby was born, they would rub that baby down with salt to get rid of any of the ugly stuff that would cause disease or bacterial growth. When believers live a godly life, a pure life, it purifies the society and the people around them. Salt preserves. Salt purifies. Salt also flavors. Have you ever had French fries without salt? Yeah, exactly right. Who wants that? By the way, aren’t McDonald’s french fries the best? Yeah. Okay, now I know. Anybody ever had an In N Out burger in California or Texas? Yeah, In N Out fries. Those are my favorite fries. Okay, I tell you what. I would not want them without salt. Right, dad? You’re just eating cardboard. Salt. Flavors. Christians actually bring flavor to the world around them. I know many people don’t think that’s true.

They think Christians ruin everything. Now they’ve got all these standards and these rules, and they say, you can’t do this and you have to do that. No, it is wonderful. The Christians that I know are the best people that I know. My dearest, most cherished friends are those that love Christ and. And love his word. Christians bring flavor. You can have a good time without immorality. You can have a good time without alcohol. You can have a good time without foul language. You can have a good Time without movies or games that don’t honor Jesus. Christians are salt in that we preserve, we purify, we flavor. But you know, salt also increased thirst better. You ever been to the movies, ordered popcorn and not ordered a drink? Of course you haven’t, right?

One of the reasons they over salt a popcorn is so they make you thirsty so that you buy a drink. Christians who live godly lives in the world today live like salt, increase the thirst of those around them. They ask questions like, why are you the way you are? Why are you going through such difficult things in your life? But yet you have joy. You’re not miserable, you’re not unkind. You seem still so happy and full of hope. Well, let me tell you why. It’s because of Christ in my heart and my life. Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth. You preserve purifier flavored, you increase thirst for God. Look what Jesus says next. He actually is learning. He says that salt can lose its salty taste, and when it does, it becomes useless. How does salt lose its salty taste?

Well, you think of the salt that you have on your table at home, and that’s not the kind of salt that they had back in times when Jesus was alive. Salt then came from primarily in the Middle east, the Dead Sea. And it is a sea. I’ve actually been there. It’s so salty and full of other minerals that you float on the top of the water. Well, they would get that and they would boil it down and you would get this kind of powdery substance. And not only did it have sodium chloride in it was full of all other kinds of minerals, not just what we would consider to be salt. And here’s the problem. If it was exposed to moisture or particularly water, it would wash away the sodium chloride and all you would have left is a tasteless, useless, white powdering substance.

It couldn’t purify, it couldn’t preserve, it didn’t taste like anything. And so people would just throw it out. They would use that actually to help pave the roads because it would become hard after a rain and they would walk on it and they would trample it. Jesus said, you can lose your saltiness. How? By being exposed to things that ruin it. And then all we become useful for is to be trampled on by the world and the society around us. You are the salt of the earth. You were made, if you are a Christian here today, you were made to preserve and purify flavor the world around you, even at your young age, even in your own context, of influence and responsibility. You were made to increase the thirst of those around you for God. Don’t let anything pollute that.

Don’t let anything ruin that. I want you to ask yourself this. How can you be a salty influence in your classroom, in your family, with your friend group? How can you be a salty influence to the people on the sports teams that you’re involved in or other extracurricular things, or maybe with your neighbors, the people in your neighborhood or on your street or at the church that you go to, or maybe even just with a stranger that you don’t know, but you recognize could use help or kindness? How can you be a salting influence? And let me even ask you this. Is there anything in your life that would act like moisture to the salt of your heart and your life? Anything that would pollute or dilute your effectiveness to be the salt of the earth?

And you may think, well, I’m just one person. There’s not a whole lot that I can do alone. And that in one sense may be true. If you take one drain of salt and you put it on a wonderful spot state, it’s not going to do a whole lot. It’s not going to act the way lots of grains of salt are going to act. And we need to remember that it’s not just any one of us. It’s all of us together. I want you to look me in the face and I want you to hear something very clearly. I’ve been in pastoral ministry for 25 years, but I can’t do anything by myself. I need the people of God. I need people just like you as much as you need someone just like me.

And as we work together as followers of Jesus, as disciples of Jesus, as ambassadors of Christ, we can purify, we can preserve, we can flavor the world around us. You can totally change the impact of Agape Christian Academy by working together to increase thirst for God. What’s the purpose of salvation, friends? It’s so that we would become the salt of the earth for the glory of God. Now, Jesus uses another metaphor, not only salt, but he actually uses the one, the word light. You are the light. Just as salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. You ever been lost in the dark? I mean, like, really dark? Ever happened to you? It’s happened to me. I like to deer hunt, and I have access to a property. And when I started hunting this many years ago, I didn’t know it.

And while I was out, a rainstorm came in, and it was kind of in this Hollow, we call them this valley. And there was no moonlight, no starlight. It’s pouring down rain. And I did not have my headlamped because it wasn’t raining when I left. And I didn’t think I needed. I thought I had natural light. And I remember there was this moment where no tree looks familiar. And I thought, oh, boy, I’m in trouble. But then I saw through the trees, I saw this flickering light. And the landowner knows that I’m a little bit of a doofus. He thought, I bet he didn’t bring his headlamp. I’m gonna turn on my porch light because I want Pastor Dave to make it home because he’s got preach on Sunday. And I followed that light. I just kind of set that as my course.

And I went through all kinds of briars and brambles, and I was a total mess when I got back. But I made my way out. Why? Because I had a light to follow. Jesus says, you are the light of the world. And he also uses this illustration of a city. 7. The dual cannot be hidden. In ancient times, cities were built on hills, not only for protection, but they provided a waypoint in the dark, a place for people to head toward, to follow from one place to another. And he says, if a city set on a hill, it cannot be hidden. He even uses this other illustration about a lamp in a house. In ancient times, homes weren’t like our homes today. They’re not large. They were very small. They didn’t have tons of windows. They were dark places.

And yet one simple lamp could light the entire home. And no one lights a lamp to.

Put it under a basket.

The sunlight, they do it. They do it to light the whole house. We are the light of the world. The city stand on a hill. And God wants our light to shine, not hide it under a basket. There’s a woman I know. Her name is Sandy. And Standi is a widow. She lost her husband a number of years ago. She lives on a fixed income. She’s been through two bouts of breast cancer and survived. Sandy walks with a walker. And yet, every Saturday morning, Sandy awakes before dawn and she begins to make more than 20 gallons of soul she wears all day long. And in the late afternoon, she loads that soup into containers and she puts it in a truck that she has.

And she drives to downtown Cleveland, where she and a team of people serve hundreds of people at two or three different homeless shelters. And if you saw standing, you wouldn’t think that anything was special about Stanie. In fact, you Might think to yourself, oh, poor lady, she’s looking kind of rough. She looks kind of lonely. But Sandy is one of the most influential people that I know. In fact, I would probably say that Sandy’s probably had more impact on people throughout the plan of her life than I have, maybe even ever have. She’s met people in their darkest moments with the love of Jesus, through the light of Christ. When I was a kid, we used to sing this little song. I don’t know if children’s ministries sing it still today. Maybe you know it.

This little light of mine I’m gonna let it shine we even hold out our finger. When I was a naughty little boy, it usually ended with my nose at some point just to make a joke. But we keep singing. Just the light of mine. I’m gonna let it shine Little let it shine Hide it under a bushel or a basket no I’m gonna let it shine don’t let Satan blow it out I’m gonna let it shine till Jesus comes I’m gonna let it shine how can you let your light shine? May think will pester day on not a very bright light. That’s okay, you don’t have to be bright. In fact, if we all shine, what dim light we might have together, it creates a light for all the world to see.

You ever seen a picture of a concert where people hold up their self phones when they have their light on their phone and it’s all shining, almost brightens the entire concert venue with everybody’s light shining together, you probably let your light shine at home by speaking gently or forgiving quickly. You let your light shine here at school by refusing to gossip, including those who are let down as the standing up for what’s right. You can let your light shine your friends by encouraging them instead of tearing them down. Using words to build up instead of sarcasm to discourage. You can let your light shine online or if you have a job there in your conversations. Maybe you’re just letting your light shine by saying no to temptation. Satan, I’m not going to give in. I’m going to stand for Christ again. Why?

Why all of this? Well, Jesus tells us, look at verse 16 as we begin to bring it to a close. Let your light shine before others so that it’s a purpose statement so that they may see your good works and give good glory to your Father who is in heaven. The purpose of good works is to be visible and people truly see them and when they see them the glory goes upward, not inward. In fact, the whole point is for people to see your good works and for them to conclude this. God must be real. God must be powerful. God must be good. I have a friend of mine who did some very bad things many years ago. Things that were a sin against Christ, things that were a sin against the Church. In fact, it was almost criminal.

And he could have gotten into a lot of legal trouble had the Church decided to press charges. My friend’s heart was broken and he repented. In fact, he. Even because it was a public sin, he actually even stood up in front of the church and he confessed it and he asked forgiveness. And I have never seen such a response from the people of God. Because they wept with him, they came around him, they encouraged him. It was a very serious thing. What I didn’t see at the time was another friend of mine who was not a Christian, but he was married to a member of our church. And he came with his wife because he liked his wife. He loved his wife, he loved his kids.

And I told him one day, I said, I tell you what, why don’t you teach God a deer hunt? If you’re interested, I’ll do you how to know Jesus. And he said, well, how about I just teach you how to deer hunt and wheelie Jesus out of it? And I said, okay. What I didn’t know was that friend was there that day, watching this confession of sin and repentance, the way the Church responded to him. A few weeks later, that friend of mine came to me and he said, dave, I think I finally did it. I think I finally understand why I need Jesus. Because, you see, for a long time, I always figured God was better than all of you Christians. But now I realize that I’m just like you. My life is a mess. I’m a sinner.

And I can’t believe that man was a sinner, too. And how the church responded to him in love and grace. And I need whatever you have. I began to disciple him. He’s probably one of my dearest friends today. In fact, he’s a leader in our church because of what God did in his life. Through the saltiness of the people of God, through the light of the people of God. How can you be salt and light? Why? For the glory of God. Let’s pray. Father, I thank you for the truth of your word. And I thank you for your calling in our lives. What a joy. What a privilege to be a disciple of Jesus, to be a Christian. What a responsibility to be salt and light for your glory.

Father, I know that probably not everyone here has given their heart and life to Jesus. I pray that for those who have, they would grow, perhaps through this little talk, one step closer this Christ, one step further in their journey with Jesus. For those who aren’t, Father, I pray that maybe something, one small thing that they have heard this morning and say, I need Christ. And I pray that this Christmas wouldn’t be just a celebration of the birth of Jesus, but that it would be the experience of a new birth in their own heart. So that they can salt the earth and be light to the world to reflect Jesus as the moon reflects the sun. And we pray this together in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, thanks, guys. Merry Christmas.