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Teaching podcast from the Eagle Community Church of Christ in Mont Belvieu, TX.
Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Eagle Community Church of Christ Podcast. My name is John Gunter. Today we are in just a single sermon, I think, that I am calling Be Salty. We are, often we're, very eager to share our opinions on whether it be sports or politics or other things.
John:But when it comes to talking about our Christian life or being an example or why we live the life we do, we kind of clam up. We don't know what to do about that. And for a lot of us, we feel bad. And so, I use this time to talk about what it means to, really live a life that is an example and how you can share the gospel through that. Hope it helps.
John:We'll see you soon. Good morning again. We, before Palm Sunday and Easter, we talked a lot about, for 10 weeks, we talked about focusing on Jesus. We talked about, again, Colossians 3, if you have been raised, since you have been raised, talking to Christians, we talked about how you should live. And, what I have gotten and gathered since then is that we kind of know how we are supposed to live, but where we kind of get caught up is, how do we share that?
John:How do we share that with others? That kind of gets us a little bit. Anybody in that boat? How do I share my faith with others? So today, we are going to talk about that, and I will give you all the answers and you walk away knowing everything you ever needed to know today.
John:In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus starts this way in Matthew chapter 5. Now, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
John:Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
John:Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Now what Jesus does, and we could dive into this a lot more than we're going to today, what Jesus does in this first part of the Sermon on the Mount is take what seems to be a terrible thing and turns it around.
John:He says, blessed are you if this happens. But what I want you to see in in all of those blessings that Jesus says, I believe what we see are promises from Jesus. And what I want to start out with today is a question, do you believe Jesus when He tells you something? Do you believe you will really be blessed when Jesus says, you will be blessed? Because if we don't, we're gonna struggle with everything else.
John:Right? If our faith doesn't take us that far, it's gonna be really hard to kind of communicate that to others because I'm unsure. And so when we get to a a scripture like Matthew 28, I think we kind of tense up. This is what is known as the Great Commission in scripture. Probably, all of you know it very well.
John:Matthew 28 starting in verse 19. He says, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And we go, How do I do that? I am a borderline introvert. I don't wanna go out.
John:I've told you I think I've told you the story before. I I'm Myers Briggs right on the line, introvert, extrovert. I was one question over into extrovert than I was introvert, but I have a lot of introvert tendencies. When I was, a minister at Mineral Springs, I worked a lot with teenagers and I had 1 girl show up to a conference and she said, mister John, how many people should I meet? 10?
John:No, 20? And I am thinking, I am getting anxiety thinking about this, just going up to random people you have never met and introducing yourself. I don't want to do that. Anybody, is that how many extroverts do we have in here that that sounds fond to you? Okay.
John:Couple? Yeah. Okay. So you understand this girl. I don't.
John:Well, in probably 15 minutes, she would come back and she had met something between like 4050 people. And one of the sweetest girls I had had a, I mean, a country draw. I mean, she said, she didn't say pillow, she said pillow. Me and my pillow. But it didn't bother her.
John:Nothing bothered her at all. She just wanted to meet people and be friendly. And so when when some of us, not the 4 of you that raised your hands, read this Scripture, we may tense up a little bit. But often, I think we tense up because, a, I don't think we understand exactly what Jesus is saying, but I think we stop right where I stopped right here because Jesus keeps talking. He says, and surely, I am with you always to the very end of the age, A promise from Jesus to be there with you every step of the way.
John:Now, if you don't believe this, it's gonna be even harder for you. Jesus promises to be there with us in our best times, in our toughest times, in the times that we are comfortable, in times we may be very uncomfortable. And so okay, John, you said we need to go tell people about Jesus and Jesus is going to be with us. Well, what does that look like? I am going to tell you exactly what I think it looks like.
John:For a lot of people, we think, well, I need to strategize how to evangelize, and I don't have a a real problem with that. But I take on a different, kind of thought. And I would start exactly where we started with our focus on Jesus, fix our focus series. That first of all, I need to be the person I am supposed to be in Christ, that I need to work on me and I need to understand what Jesus wants for me, and through that, I can, again, tell people about Jesus, that I am preparing myself not only to tell people about Jesus but to show them. How many of you, if someone came up to you this morning red faced, angry, yelling at you about Jesus, turn or burn, are you real receptive to that?
John:Uh-uh. Uh-uh. I was at, I believe it was the Tulsa workshop, and one of the speakers there shared a story where they went door knocking. Anybody old enough to have been door knocking before? Yeah, okay.
John:You remember that? Quite an experience, right? You went into all the world, didn't you? Knocking doors. But he said he went with a, I think it was an older lady, and he said, knocked on the door, and the door opened, and and the person said, hello.
John:And and and basically she started off with, do you realize that if you don't turn today, you're going to hell? And he said, The person that opened the door invited us to go with him, because that was his response. But I think there is a different approach. I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with that. I think we show our faith in trying to do things and seeing the importance of telling everyone about Jesus.
John:I think the first thing we have to do is, again, know what Jesus has for our life, that we fix our focus on Him and understand what really living the life of a Christian looks like. But Jesus says this in, continuing on the Sermon of the Mount in verse 13, right after where we stop, he challenges us. He challenges his disciples in a moment. He says, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
John:Do you understand that? How many of you like to cook? Like to cook? Yeah. I've I've told you before.
John:I I in the last year or so, couple of years, I've I've taken up smoking meats, meats, smoking meats, not anything else. Don't take that out of context. But I really love it. I love I love blending, you know, different seasonings and stuff like that. But what if those seasonings did nothing for your food?
John:Would you do it? I have to go to H E B and pay 8 or 9, $10 a bottle for some of that stuff. Now what if I seasoned it? Maybe it changed the color, maybe it didn't, but every time I did that, it did nothing to the meat. Would it be worth it?
John:Would you go buy it? Would you waste your hard earned money on that? Of course not. And Jesus is looking at his disciples, people that are saying, I'm going to follow you, and he says, you are the salt of the earth. And if you are the salt and you lose your saltiness, what good are you?
John:Because salt does something. Right? It improves. Right? It does something for He continues that.
John:He said, you are the light of the world. So first, you're salt. Now, you are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. You're supposed to be someone standing up high, right, providing light.
John:Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven. You don't light a lamp in a dark room and then cover it up. Right?
John:You are salt You are light. You let that shine, right? What you don't see in here necessarily is every person you see at H E B, you attack them and try to convince them immediately to follow Jesus, right? How much do you see Jesus doing that in Scripture, really? Jesus goes around and crowds follow him.
John:People either wanting to hear, wanting to trap him, and I'm sure plenty of people that just aren't sure. Right? But what Jesus says here is, you be salt. You be light. Living your life for Christ shows people something.
John:Again, in the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds, that they may see what's happening in your life. And what happens? Glorify your Father in Heaven. That they can see you and see that you are different. And so, if we're not different, what are we?
John:Nothing. Sinful life as everyone else out there, that's not different, that's not attractive, that's not causing people again to praise God over that, is it? But if you're different, maybe you look, why why are you like that? You ever felt weird in the circumstance, like somebody was having a conversation and they found out you were a Christian, and all of a sudden they had to apologize or change what they said. Have you ever been there?
John:For me, it is a little awkward to find out I am a minister. So, oh, sorry about that, you know. Would you been sorry if I wasn't standing here? I don't know if that helped. I mean, I am appreciative that they they do that for me, but okay.
John:But, yeah, we are supposed to be different, to live your life in a different way so that, again, people see the difference. Be salt, be light. Paul tells Timothy this, and again, Timothy is a minister, and he says this, he said, don't let anyone look down on you because you are young. And the word that Paul uses here, Timothy could have been 40 years old. It's not necessarily young, right?
John:But the word he used could be a wide range. He could be 40 years old. He said, don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. But it doesn't matter how old you are. Be an example, right?
John:I love this. Doesn't matter how old you are. Don't tell no. Well, I'm older than you. I've been, you know, we we have people say it, although I've been in church for 75 years.
John:You know how much that is worth unless your life has been changed by that? Absolutely nothing. Right? Unless you are modeling this kind of thing, save your breath. We don't it doesn't matter.
John:Right? Because your life has not been changed. Again, if you're young, don't worry about, well, I hadn't been in church. I just I shouldn't I shouldn't say anything. No.
John:You be an example. Set an example for the believers in speech, in the way you talk, in conduct, in the way you act, in love, how you love everybody in faith and impurity. We can all do that, can't we? That is not just for Timothy as a minister. He continues on in some ministry type things.
John:He says, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, and to teaching. Be in the word of God. And it's interesting because Timothy didn't have a New Testament with him, did he? But you be in the Word of God. You be an example because every bit of Scripture is valuable, right?
John:It is profitable, it said. In Ephesians 5:12, follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children, and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. And so if you're sitting here this morning and you're going, man, I don't know how to share Jesus, I'd say just be an example. Be the person you're supposed to be. Be different.
John:Show that example to people to where they are asking the question, Well, why are you like that? Sometimes we just think we are just weird when we when people ask that, right? Back a long time ago, there was a song called Jesus Freak. You ever heard that? I am a Jesus freak.
John:I am alright with that, because I have given my life to Him, and I plan to be an example for Him. And are we going to be perfect in that, y'all? No. But in our imperfection, He perfects us. Right?
John:He allows us to repent. He allows us to confess the sins that change that relationship with us and come back to Him. And all we have to do is live a life for Him. I said, I think last week, maybe the week before, that we are very comfortable sharing so many things, so many parts of our lives. There are groups you are very comfortable with, maybe at work or around friends, where we can talk sports all day, and I never clam up about that, or maybe you are talking about your favorite politician or your least favorite.
John:But for some reason, when it comes to talking about Jesus, we don't know what to say or how to say it. And if I didn't say it well enough, then I want to reiterate, I think in all of those circumstances, the difference is preparation. I think the difference is, what have you been filling your life with? I am okay filling my life with sports. I am okay filling my life with politics, but I hadn't had time to read my Bible, and so, well, you are not going to be comfortable with talking about that.
John:Right? If I don't understand the life I am supposed to live for Jesus, I am not going to be comfortable talking about that as much as I am going to be comfortable with batting averages and, you know, ERA and all of those things. And so preparation is the key. And to live a life being example for others, being prepared for those moments when the questions get asked because God has a way of opening doors that you don't ever anticipate. I think we could set up systems all day long, but God's gonna work the way God's gonna work.
John:The hearts that were hardened are gonna be softened and all of a sudden, you living your life and being an example for Jesus, all of a sudden opens up this opportunity for, now why do you live your life this way? And that's when you are prepared to say, I'm a follower of Jesus. I try to model my life after Him. I'm not perfect, but I follow Him. That can open up, that can be the go and make disciples in every nation, that you are prepared, that you are living your life wherever you find yourself.
John:That Scripture is not telling you, you have to go to another country to do this. It is basically saying, as you go, wherever you go, that you take Jesus with you, that you take the example of Christ with you wherever you go. And so, I want to leave you with one thing this morning, be salty. Can you remember that? I don't want you to remember that when you're yelling at the waitress in a little bit.
John:My preacher told me to be salty today. That's not what we're talking about. Be salty, be different, be salt, be light, right? Be the example Jesus has called you to be, and let God work. We put so much pressure on ourselves.
John:Well, I don't know enough to bring people to Christ. Why don't you just crack the door and let God work? Right? We we pray for God to work in our lives. Right?
John:If you feel like you're there, pray to God about that. God, can we remove those things that are keeping me from from feeling like I'm I'm adequate? God, will you guide me in that and and be praying for people to come across your path. We are so scared of other people. God, if someone comes across my path and you want me to say something or you just want me to be in their path and let that happen.
John:We don't pray enough for that. Have the vision, have the strength that God has not given you a spirit of timidity but of power. Jesus says I will be with you wherever you go. So church be salty. If you've walked away from Jesus this morning and need the prayers of the church, we'd love to pray with you.
John:If you haven't put on Christ in baptism, we'd love to see that happen today. Would you come as we stand and as