Sermon Tone Analysis
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Who You Are
Matthew 5:13-16 | Shaun LePage | May 14, 2006
I.
Introduction
A. Children’s Sermon
1. Impromptu “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.”
(Start with kids then insist that adults join in.)
2. Question: What does it mean to “let your light shine”?
[Let the kids answer]
3. Answer: Be different!
Light is very different than darkness.
Followers of Jesus are supposed to be very different than those who don’t know Jesus.
When everyone else is being selfish—you be _______.
When everyone else is being grumpy—you choose to be ________.
When everyone else is being unkind—you be ______.
When everyone else is telling lies—you tell ______.
When everyone else is talking about video games or saying bad things about other people or telling you how great they are—you tell them about Jesus.
About how great He is!
4. Pray for and dismiss kids to Sunday School.
Before you leave, tell your Moms and Grandmas “Happy Mother’s Day!” (On 3!)
B. A church produced a Christmas play a few years ago.
A young boy had only one line.
He was to stand and say, “I am the light of the world.”
However, on the night of the production, he froze at the sight of so many people and forgot his line.
His mother was seated on the front row and began mouthing his line for him.
Following her cue, he said, “My Mother is the light of the world.”
C. In a sense, that’s pretty good.
Mother’s have a wonderful and unique role as light in the world.
But, this is not going to be a Mother’s Day sermon.
Because all of us are to be “the light of the world.”
D. And the world needs light.
“What’s exactly is wrong with the world?”
Ask that question of a thousand people and you’ll get a thousand answers: The government.
The school systems.
The federal reserve.
The oil companies.
The lawyers.
The doctors.
The stock market.
NAFTA.
The teenagers.
The old people.
The white yuppies.
The black gangs.
The illegal aliens.
The mainstream media.
The Hollywood elite.
The Republicans.
The Democrats.
The liberals.
The conservatives.
The Russians.
The Japanese.
The Chinese.
The Germans.
The French.
The Canadians.
The Muslims.
The Jews.
The Christians (especially the right-wing, fundamentalist, Bible-believing, evangelicals).
E. The Bible answers that question for us.
The theological answer is this: The world is hopelessly infected with sin and in the clutches of Satan.
It is like a decaying carcass.
It is like a dark room.
1. 2 Timothy 3:13: “*But evil men and impostors will proceed /from bad /to worse, deceiving and being deceived*.”
2. 1 John 5:19: “*We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in /the power of /the evil one*.”
F. Someone sat down beside Will Rogers once at a dinner, and in the course of the conversation asked the comedian: “What’s wrong with the world, anyway?”
Rogers drawled in reply, “Well, I dunno, I guess its people.”
Theologian G.K. Chesterton was asked the exact same question once and his reply seems—at first—to be very similar.
But it is drastically different.
The London newspaper, /The Times/, asked him to reply to the question, “What’s Wrong with the World?”
He wrote this reply: “I am.
Yours truly, G.K. Chesterton.”
G. G.K. Chesterton answered well because Jesus told us that in one sense, the solution is me.
It’s you.
It’s those whom God has showered with mercy showing mercy to the world.
It’s those for whom God has had compassion, having compassion for the world.
It’s those whom God has served, serving the world.
It’s those whom God has given light, letting their lights shine in this very dark world.
H. CPS: We are in the world, but we are different from the world.
II.
Body—Matthew 5:13-16 (recite from memory)
A. The Setting: A Dying and Dark World
1. “*Earth and world*”.
Isn’t it interesting that in this very Jewish gospel, Jesus—early on—tells His disciples that they were to have influence in the whole earth, the whole world.
2. But the implication here is that the earth needs salt.
The world needs light.
We’ll look at the meaning of “*salt and light*” in a moment, but don’t miss this point.
The setting is a needy world.
A world that is dying and dark.
3. John 3:17,18—the words of Jesus—makes clear the condition of the world: “*For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God*.”
Those who believe (i.e., trust), are rescued.
Those who do not believe will be judged.
It’s that simple.
It’s black and white.
B. The Solution: Salt and Light
1. “*You*”—disciples of Jesus Christ.
Remember all those beatitudes?
Remember all those character traits we looked at in verses 3-12?
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