Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Will you please take your Bible and open it with me to ?
Today we are continuing on in our sermon series through the longest recorded sermon of Jesus in Scripture, what is commonly called the sermon on the mount.
Last week, we look at the opening 12 verses of this sermon and we looked at what is called the “beatitudes.”
There are a couple of things that we need to carry with us from that passage to this one in order for us to fully grasp what Jesus wants to say to us.
If you remember from last week, we learned that this “sermon” fits in a context of teachings that Jesus has been giving his followers on the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God.
And we learned that this idea of the “kingdom of God”, which is a big and important idea for Jesus as it appears all throughout his teaching, it means “the reign of God”.
Jesus is teaching that the reign of God has come.
In him, the reign of God has come to the earth.
And what is the proper response?
As Jesus said in chapter 4 of Matthew, the proper response is to repent.
Repent of our rebellion against his reign and rule.
Repent of our sin and embrace Jesus as the King and Lord that He is.
Now that Jesus has arrived and the reign of God has appeared, repent and follow him.
Fitting in that context, we learned last week that this sermon on the mount is about what it means to be a citizen of this Kingdom.
The kingdom were God reigns, what does it mean to live under this rule?
What do the citizens of this kingdom look like?
What are their common character traits?
What is distinctive about this community?
As people who are following Christ, this should be monumentally important to us.
From the beatitudes, we learn what these kingdom citizens look like.
Isn’t it true that people from cultures and countries have similar characteristics?
If you’ve traveled to other countries I’m sure you’ve picked this up.
Or if you’ve talked with someone from another country, I’m sure you’re aware of certain distinctives both of their culture and ours.
I remember asking Ken Nganda about Americans in Uganda.
Do you know what he said?
He said that you can tell an American in a restaurant from a German, Frenchman, or Englishman because they will most likely be the loudest in the restaurant.
Isn’t that interesting?
Maybe indicting, but interesting nonetheless.
Cultures have distinctives and Jesus is telling us that the same is true of citizens of his kingdom.
Throughout this year we have been concerned about discipleship, what it means to be a follower, or learner of Jesus.
This teaching from Jesus should be very important to us then.
From the beatitudes we saw that the distinctives of Jesus’ kingdom are entirely different than any other culture on earth.
We might say that they are “counter-cultural.”
To live under Jesus’ reign is to be poor in spirit, mourn over sin, hunger and thirst for righteousness, meek, and merciful toward others.
These are the character traits of people living under Jesus’ reign.
But if you went about your week trying to live these out in your own strength, you learned something.
These traits can’t be faked.
They can only come from a heart that has been changed by the gospel.
These are the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration in us.
Yet, for those who have been changed by the Spirit, these traits should be, and will be growing.
In our passage this morning, however, a shift takes place.
In verses 13-16 Jesus moves on from talking about the character of the kingdom to witness of the kingdom.
Jesus intends for his disciples to live their lives before the world and serve as a witness to the world of his reign and rule.
Yes, the world that opposes us and persecutes us, Jesus intends for us to engage with.
The beatitudes are to be lived out in a hostile world and serve as a witness to the world.
This is very important for us to hear.
We have not been brought into Jesus’ kingdom to gather together in a holy huddle and separate ourselves from the world.
While we will certainly be separated by our new desires and lifestyles, Jesus intends for these to serve as a witness to the watching world.
And this is what verses 13-16 are all about.
Let’s read these verses together:
Read .
Pray.
Very clearly, in verses 13-16, Jesus tells his disciples that we are called to live in the world.
Despite being exiles here, we have a witness to bear in this world.
Listen to what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said:
The Christian is not someone who lives in isolation.
He is in the world, though he is not of it; and he bears a relationship to that world.
In the Scriptures you always find these to things going together.
The Christian is told that he must be otherworldly in his mind and outlook; but that never means that he retires out of the world.
In the verses we’re looking at this morning, Jesus uses 3 very common substances to tell his disciples how we should live in this world.
As we read, he uses salt and light.
Two substances so common that though separated by 2 millennia, we know exactly what he is talking about.
Someone once said that there is nothing more useful than salt and sunshine.
In this passage, these two substances are used to show us how we are to live as witnesses in the world.
There’s something I want you to see, though, as we look at these two.
There is a pattern that Jesus’ uses here.
With both of these metaphors Jesus gives us a declaration, a qualifier, and then a result.
This will be important to see because it helps us see the importance of living as salt and light in this world.
We learn thing about ourselves and the world through this and we are given a compelling call to live as witnesses in our dark and dying world.
The first thing that we see is that Jesus’ Disciples Live as Salt in a Dying World.
Jesus’ Disciples Live as Salt in a Dying World
While we live in a world that is dying, decaying from the pollution of sin, Christians are to be salt in this world.
Do you know what effect the beatitudes will have on the world around you?
You will be like salt to a dying and decaying world.
Read verse 13 again:
As I said a minute ago, there is a declaration, qualifier, and result given to us here.
Jesus declares to his followers that you are the salt of the earth.
One of the important elements of this declaration is the certainty that it declares.
You are the salt of the earth.
This is how God has made his disciples to be.
He intends for you and I to live as salt in the earth.
He isn’t giving us an option here, but he is declaring a reality about us as his followers.
You are the salt of the earth.
What does Jesus’ mean when he says that we are the salt of the earth?
Like today, salt was used to flavor things during the first century.
But as you’ve probably heard, it’s most important function was as a preservative.
In the hot sun of ancient Israel, meat could spoil quickly and so salt was rubbed into meat to act as a preservative for food.
Salt was as important as your refrigerator at home, which you hope is working right now or your afternoon is ruined.
Jesus’ followers would have had this in mind when they heard these words from him.
This declaration, however, is not only about Jesus’ followers is it?
To say that we act as preservatives in this world is also saying something about the world.
The world that we live in is fallen.
It is polluted by sin and it is decaying.
This world is dying.
We see it through the news cycle and we see it in our neighborhoods.
We see it when we learn about deep struggles with sin.
We see it in drug addiction, child abuse, prostitution, and cultural violence.
The world is polluted by sin.
As appealing as it may present itself to our flesh, it is corrupt and it is decaying.
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