Kingdom Living in the World

If you would go ahead and take your Bible and turn to Matthew chapter 5 But I would ask you also to turn to Matthew chapter 23 Mark Matthew chapter 23 we will Turn to Matthew chapter 23 a little later in the message But primarily we will be right here in Matthew chapter 5 as you're turning I Mentioned a verse that we just sang a few words That we did just saying he opens up our eyes to see the harvest he has grown Pray that the Lord not just today But in the days and weeks and years to come he shows us the harvest that is just for us We believe the Lord has shown us through the church at Philadelphia that we are much like them He has opened up a door of ministry for us and I think that these verses That we're looking at this morning really speak to that We'll take your Bible and turn back to Matthew chapter 5.

Like I said, we will go to Matthew chapter 23 a little later, but this morning we will be finishing up verses 13 to 16 Now if you know how all of this fits together You know that we are finishing up the second section of the sermon on the mount if you look or glance at your copy of God's Word you see the sections that are before you to me I see verses 1 to 2 kind of like an introduction to the sermon.

We see the setting we see what's going on and Then verses 3 to 12 is the first section You can call this the who section who Christ would want it to be it's all about the inner work within a man We must see who we are within these verses verses 3 to 12 And then this second section that we're finishing this morning as first is 13 to 16 And this is the house section how we are to live within the world Of course, he's talking to his disciples and he is explaining to them and those Jews who were followers as well How they were to live within the world So I think it's obvious the introduction the who we are supposed to be in the beatitudes and then the how out of verses 13 to 16 Now I want to remind us of something that I shared back in our first message within the series.

This was quite a few weeks ago When I explained our approach that we were going to take with the sermon on the mount I said that we must master two disciplines I said that we must work hard to study the different parts of the sermon on the mount and then we must also work hard to Understand the sermon on the mount as a whole and that's really what we've been doing For quite a few weeks and I believe we've done a very good job. Let me show you what I mean We have studied certain words in an in-depth manner We we looked at this word blessed.

That's a good one for us to understand and see we've worked hard to understand this word Blessed all through verses 3 and on down to verse 11. We've studied imported phrases We looked at that phrase theirs is the kingdom of heaven and that phrase pertains to every one of the beatitudes We have studied and we have applied particular portions of the sermon We understand that Jesus speaks to who the Christian is supposed to be in verses 3 to 12 That's the inner work of God within the man who he should be He then speaks of how the Christian should live into the world.

That's this second portion the portion We will finish up this morning now I'll bring all of that back up this morning throughout the message these two disciplines That we must be good at studying the portions in the sections and then studying the sermon as a whole Now also this morning. We're going to look back into the the verses We did this a few weeks ago when we concluded the first section the beatitudes When we finished up verses 3 to 12 I took one message to look back and this was very important and that we examined the greater background in their day in Front of Jesus on that day was a great crowd Mostly a great crowd of Jews now the greater background of the Jews was their religion The greater background was their Jewish religion and their interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures The greater background was their interpretation of all that God had done throughout the nation of Israel The greater background can be summed up in one word and I've given this to you quite a few times and that word is Externals the word externals these Jews had constructed this enormous religion of externals John MacArthur calls these Jews in that day professional religionists.

That is very accurate. He called them professional Ritualists that was very accurate and that's just what they were the Jews had this external religious system And it dominated every aspect of life. That's the greater background Now in wrapping up this second section verses 13 to 16 We will examine how this teaching related to those Jews and their religious system We will see how they miss the mark of what God had intended and we will see how this is still going on today You see folks.

There's really nothing new under the Sun External religion has always been around it really just comes back and forth in this new package But it's really the same old thing in external Religion now, I want to look back at our verses I'm gonna read verses 13 to 16 again, and then we will refer to the verses and phrases all throughout The message verse 13 Jesus says 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 the feet of men verse 14 You are the light of the world a city on a hill It cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a bushel or a basket But they put it on a stand and it gives light to all who are in the house In the same way and he's concluding right here with this verse in the same way Let your light shine before others so that they may say your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven Now all although I took the time to teach these passages in two sermons We really need to see that Jesus spoke all of these verses in one sermon really the whole sermon is In chapter 5 chapter 6 in chapter 7, but in these verses we have one sermon We have two illustrations and we really have one point one theme One sermon that Jesus goes into and he uses two common illustrations salt and light to make one point now What's the point the point is how how his people were to go into the world?

What does he say at the beginning of verse 13? You are the salt of the earth verse 14 you are the light of the world and then he says in verse 16 in The same way let your light shine before others. So the point was how they were to live in the world Now here I want to take some time and I want to summarize what we've looked at in the verses verses 13 to 15 And this is very important.

I will then move on to show us how this related to the crowd that was there Like I said last week when Jesus said these words It was a shockwave into the lives of those who were listening It was really a bomb that he set under their lives and under the world that they lived in and really under their external religion but first Jesus used salt this common substance He used salt to show how his people were to live in the world Now remember this was aimed at his chosen disciples really those that I see on the front row of the sermon that day and This was in the face of the Jews and their external religion They were all really busting at the seams to know who Jesus was they were really trying to determine If he was the promised Messiah of Israel, so they were really really listening the Jews But what was Jesus saying here by using this simple teaching tool of salt?

Jesus was saying that his people were to go into the dead and of the decaying world and to be as salt They were to do that which salt does Salt was a preservative it preserved meats and other foods and it prevented them from rot and decay So they were to act as a preservative in the world. They were to hold back They were to hold back the decay and the rot that was caused by sin and rebellion against God They were to preserve some in the world with the reality of the gospel and God's Word in their life Now we see examples all throughout the scriptures, but I can think of none better than the Apostle Paul We have a lot of information in the scriptures about Paul and his command Companions and we know that he went out on those three great missionary journeys And he left his home church of Antioch and he went all throughout the known world and what was he doing?

He was preserving some preserving some with what the message of the gospel and the standard of God's Word He was as salt to those peoples And then salt added flavor to foods. We understand that So these men they were to add flavor to the world the world in which they live They were to live a different life in the world They were to live the gospel the saving grace of the gospel and they were to live out God's Word in their daily lives therefore adding a completely different flavor to the lost in the world Now no one did this better than Christ.

He completely lived different than anyone on the face of the earth And he added a completely different flavor to life Did he not and of course we see this in Paul and the other disciples and the examples within the scriptures Adding flavor to life that was different than anything in the world And then salt created thirst for those who ate it or ingested it So as these men lived the gospel the gospel of grace as they live God's Word in the world There would be a thirst created in the lives of some who were in that dark world Of course, we know that this was a dividing line Some in the world were drawn by the Holy Spirit as these men and women lived out this life There was this thirst created in their lives as they drew near but yet some rejected the gospel Some rejected the standard of God's Word that was lived out in their life.

These men and women were rejected They were ridiculed. They were reviled and really some were really even persecuted and listen as those disciples lived out this life There was a clear dividing line You know, I think about a great example of this thirst It was created in the example of Nicodemus in John chapter 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night.

Some have ridiculed him as a coward for going at night I think he went to Jesus at night because he wanted a one-on-one encounter with Christ And I believe we see this great thirst this great thirst this great drawing of the Spirit of God in Nicodemus life I believe he truly wanted to know if this man was Jesus the promised Messiah There's this thirst but remember the dividing line. I Think about another example Pontius Pilate as Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate He looked into the face of the very promised Son of God and how did Pontius Pilate react? He rejected he reviled and he really persecuted Christ But then salt was used as a medicine.

We talked about that in certain circumstances They had a medicinal purpose So they were to go and be as medicine to those who were sick in the world because of sin and rebellion against God They were to heal the sick with the gospel the gospel of grace and the standard of God's Word I can't think of a better example than this Samaritan woman Jesus was there at the well and there was this Samaritan woman in her her world and her life and her heart was sick with sin and Rebellion against God and what did Jesus do? He identified her sin He identified her problem and he brought her the medicine of saving grace did he not?

So what was Jesus saying here in verse 13? This was a two-sided lesson here for how Jesus expected his true followers to live Jesus was assuming that they knew that the world was sinful He was assuming that those listening knew the world was dead and decaying and really rotten because of sin On the first side of the left lesson He was calling his people to go into the world to be as salt and to do what salt did But notice the other side of the lesson Jesus gave them a warning He says if you lose your saltiness because of sin and corruption, then you were worthless to me Isn't that a harsh warning? You are worthless to me.

He says if you become useless Well, you might as well be thrown out into the streets. You might as well be thrown out into the highways and byways and just walked on by men But then second Jesus used light Jesus used light to show again how his people were to live in the world And we see this beginning in verse 14 now We need to remember that Jesus was talking to his chosen disciples Of course, this was cutting against the grain of the external religion of the Jews that were in that crowd They were all very curious I said it earlier if they were busting at the seams to know who Jesus was and they were very curious to know if this Man was the promised Messiah.

So they were really paying careful attention Especially when he talked about the light of the world, but look at what Jesus is saying here in these verses Using the illustration of light Jesus was reaching back to God's original purpose for the Jews and the nation of Israel If Jesus teaching on salt did not get their attention Then he most certainly got their attention with this teaching on light Here Jesus was saying that his people were to be the light of the world the light into this dark sinful world They were to shine in a world that was dark with sin and rebellion against God and no knowledge of God No saving personal knowledge of God Simply I explained this last week in two ways They were to be seen by those in the dark world Jesus says a city on a hill it cannot be hidden a city in their day was to be seen So they were to shine for the world to see but a question what were they to shine?

What did that look like? Jesus was calling them to reflect Christ Jesus was calling them to reflect him and he had told him what that looked like where back in verse 3 and 4 all the way down to verse 12 if they lived out verses 3 to 12 Beginning with the new birth as seen in verse 3 then they most certainly would reflect Christ and his grace in the world They would shine they would shine they would shine And then also they were to not just shine they were to shine out They were to shine out into that dark world that was full of sin and corruption Jesus says a lamp is not placed under a basket.

It's not placed under a bushel It was to be put up on a stand to shine out into the darkness and these men and followers were to shine out Into those peoples and into that dark world in those peoples in that dark world and again, what does that look like? What is this shining? Jesus was calling and would call them to shine the message of the gospel of grace and the message contained in God's Word Into that dark world into the hearts and minds and lives of those people in that dark world So what was Jesus saying in verses 14 to 15? If being salt was a two-sided lesson here in this lesson.

We have more We have a two-sided work in a two-sided lesson The two-sided work was being seen in the dark world and then shining into the dark world Jesus was calling these men to be seen as a reflection of Christ and then to shine that Two-fold message of the gospel and the Word of God into the world into the lives of those people But notice the other side of the lesson Jesus does not give a warning like he did in verse 13 Here he shows the stupidity of thinking that a city on a hill can be hidden here He shows the stupidity of thinking that a lamp can be covered those ideas were ridiculous He is telling these men you are the light of the world and you cannot do that, which is absurd Now we need to remember the Jews at this point in the message remember that crowd of Jews that were there on that day We need to see how this teaching really blew up their external religion And we need to see how verses 13 to 16 really really related to these groups now We learned that Judaism the Judaism in that day was divided into four groups We had the Pharisees the Sadducees the two most prominent groups the Sadducees Being the smaller of those two then we had the Essenes which were the least known about as a matter of fact one Commentator that I read said that Jesus probably had no contact with the Essenes because they were all hiding and then we had the zealots now all Four sought to live out their religion in a different way But all four had one fatal error in common theirs was an external religion no matter the flavor Neither group started with the heart which is where Jesus started we've already learned that verses three on down to verse 12 But remember what these groups believed in I've taught you this so this is just a summary the Pharisees Remember the Pharisees were saying oh they had to go back They had to always be going back to the old ways in the old traditions their forefathers had constructed hundreds and thousands of rules and regulations and traditions Above and beyond the Old Testament law and they were always going back to the traditions back to those laws back to that religion of the past and Then there were the Sadducees they were saying that they had to go forward and they wanted a new way of living out this old religion they wanted to disconnect from those traditions and they even wanted to disconnect from much of the Old Testament they were Advocating a new way of interpreting the Old Testament.

They wanted a new and modern religion But both were externals But the Essenes the Essenes were saying that they had to get out They had to get out and get away from the world and get away from everything They wanted to separate from everything and live what we would call a monastic lifestyle They believed that hiding out and hiding from society was the right way of living out this Jewish religion And again, that was external and then the zealots. Oh the zealots They were saying we have to go against in their religion.

They wanted to break out and go against They sought a political overthrow They fought against Rome so as to restore Israel to her formal glory Much like it was in the days of King David They were always looking for a way to overthrow Rome to get them out of the land of Israel. They were literally called dagger men Now of all of the groups in Judaism the Pharisees were the best at Evangelism and that might surprise some of you truthfully They were basically the only ones who went out to evangelize the Gentiles remember I've shared with you that the Jews the nation of Israel were supposed to be allied to the Gentiles Now it wasn't much but they did move out some now I want to work backwards to these Pharisees now Starting with the zealots the zealots they were not into evangelizing the non-jesus think about it They wanted to kill them.

They didn't like them. They hated them They were dagger men modern-day terrorists in their day. They wanted them out of their land forget loving them They didn't want to give them the message of the one true God. They didn't love them. They wanted them out They literally would kill them and then the essence they were not going to evangelize the Gentiles They wanted to get away from them. They thought that if they got near the Gentiles, they would become contaminated So the zealots they wanted to kill the non-jesus their scenes.

They wanted to hide from the non-jesus again our externals But the Sadducees they were really not into Evangelizing much either as a matter of fact Jesus never condemned the Sadducees for their evangelistic hypocrisy But the Pharisees they were a different story Not that they really made evangelism Their great work, but they did perform some evangelism so I want us to take a little time and go a little further and to see what Jesus says about their Evangelism you can turn to Matthew chapter 23 with me starting in verse 1 We're gonna see how Jesus examines their evangelism and what he says about their work Now I will paraphrase and I will move through these verses rather quickly because of time So I would encourage you to read these on your own jot a few of these things down because I want you to see Really how Jesus examines their evangelism and what he says about their work If we glance at the beginning of the chapter we see that Jesus deals with their authority But yet he calls them Hypocrites what does he say?

Jesus said to the crowds and to the disciples the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat He is referring to the authority that they had over the people now the Pharisees were that religious sect and the scribes were those Who would literally copy God's Word and they are all working together So we see their position of authority, but what does he say in verse 2? So do and observe whatever they tell you but do not do the works that they do For they preach but do not practice. What does he say?

They have a position of authority, but right away Jesus identifies them as hypocrites, but then second we see they burden the people with a heavy religion of Extrabiblical Legalism, what does he say in verse 4? They tie up heavy burdens hard to bear and they lay them on the people's shoulders But they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. What does he say? They're giving them rule after rule burden after burden.

It was a heavy burdensome religion and then he identifies the fact that they are worried about the Externals and others seeing those externals within their lives He is showing us that they were all about show verse 5 They do all of their deeds to be seen by others For they make their phylacteries broad in their fringes long. What is he saying in verse 6? They love places of honor. So again, he is identifying their hypocrisy and Then we see in verses 6 to 7 Jesus identified the fact that they love their positions of esteem and honor So what is he describing?

He is describing the Pharisees and the scribes their hypocrisy their legalism their extra biblical religion and the fact that they wanted to be seen they wanted to have the places of authority and honor But starting in verse 13 Jesus begins to pronounce great woes Statements of judgment look at your scriptures from verse 1 to 12 Jesus is telling his disciples all about the Pharisees and those scribes But now starting in verse 13, he begins to pronounce Judgment in the very face of these religious leaders But notice verse 15 Woe to you that is a harsh statement.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees you hypocrites For you travel across sea and land to make one single Pricelite or convert and when he becomes a prisalite or a convert you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves So what do we see in verse 15? Jesus says that they travel over land and sea for one convert in verse 4 We see that those new converts were tied up with heavy burdens of external religion rituals and legalism they had thousands and thousands of rules and regulations which made their religion an impossible an impossible burden they were neither salt or light to these people The Jews only spread their religion.

They spread rituals They only preached external religion and listen their converts were not set free Their converts were bound up sons of hell when the Pharisees were done with them. That was their evangelism So what is Jesus saying to these disciples? Remember the context right here in chapter 5 the crowd is there his disciples are there on the front row What is he saying to his disciples those who were truly his?

He was calling them to break out of this religion of the Jews The Jews hated the Gentiles we discussed this numerous times and listen the Gentiles hated them The Jews did not love other people when they did travel over land and sea to make a convert They killed them with the impossible burden of an external religion And Jesus was condemning their religion right in their face And he did that by calling his true believers his true followers to go out into that dark Into that decaying sinful world he called them to be bold and to be powerful and he was saying you are The salt of the earth you are the light of the world Jesus is saying you are my plan a But there's more Look back at verse 16 with me Back in chapter 5 what does he say?

He's wrapping up this second section in the same way let your light shine before others So that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven Now to me I believe verse 16 What was a great maybe the greatest insult to the Jews right here in this section? Jesus is telling these followers if they were obedient They would bring glory to God go back to the verse in the same way Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father Who is in heaven Jesus is telling these followers that if they were obedient they would bring glory to God Essentially he was saying I will use you and not the Jews and not Israel the Jews would have been saying I don't know who you think you are, but we are a children of Abraham.

We are the nation of Israel We are to bring glory to God, but right there Jesus blew their religion up Now from time to time I kind of use my imagination so here I go again to me I've got this scene in my mind Jesus was sitting there on the mountainside And sitting there he was teaching the greatest sermon that has ever been taught He is explaining and illustrating the true Christian life And right in the front.

I believe we have those chosen disciples They were recently called and this would have been their ordination service This was the beginning point of their ministry and of course there was a great crowd of Jews They were mostly Jews of course a few Gentiles that were scattered in and now with my imagination I think there were several reactions.

I think there were three I think in that day on that day some were drawn and that would have been the the disciples and those true followers They were drawn to Christ and drawn to what he was teaching And I think maybe there might have been few who were embarrassed Jews who knew the truth Jews who knew that they were failures. Oh, but most were mad Most were insulted. They immediately wanted to kill Jesus They did not want to kill Jesus later on in his ministry. No, they wanted to kill Jesus from day one because he was always systematically word by word Dismantling their physical external religion. They were insulted.

They were infuriated They hate him because he was drawing out for himself a group that would do this work Now I begin to conclude this Section this second section that we've looked at verses 3 to 16 I do this with a few rhetorical questions now a rhetorical question is not one that you answer I posed these questions for you to meditate on but I also posed these questions because I trust that the Holy Spirit Will really make application in your heart and in your mind for the first question Have we experienced this inner work of God through the new birth that we see starting in verse 3? What do we see in verse 3?

Blessed of the poor in spirit What do we learn about this poor in spirit? This was a broken down beggar at the very bottom of the bottom of the bottom He couldn't look down because he was so far down. He can only look up This is a picture of the new birth we come to Christ as a broken down beggar a center of rebellion In rebellion against God and we're crying out as a beggar Have we experienced this inner work of God that comes from the new birth?

You know when we sing those first three songs that were about Jesus about Jesus him being a friend of a sinner I could not help but think about my own Salvation and how God saved me on February the 9th of 1989 And I'm not gotten over it and I've not gotten past it and those songs make me reflect back on when God saved me on verse 3 in my life and so have we experienced this inner work of God that is exemplified and fleshed out starting in verse 3 Have we experienced this inner work of God that we see starting in verse 3 and going on down through the verses and in second Are we experiencing this? ongoing inner work of God from these verses in our life is Verse 3 real in our life do we mourn for our sin is verse 5 real in our life?

Are we meek are we power under control as we are submissive to God and then therefore we are meek in the world? What about verse 6 do we hunger in thirst for righteousness? That's really the righteousness of Christ Christ himself Oh are we merciful because God has shown us merciful are we pure in heart because of the work of the Spirit of God in Our life are we peacemakers in the world because we take the gospel to those who need Christ listen are we?

Experiencing an inner work of God from these verses all throughout the days of our life see this comes down to two words folks salvation and sanctification Salvation and sanctification is bound up in these verses This is the work of God on the inside on the inside who you are And then the third question Are you the salt of the earth? Are you the salt in the world are you being used as a preservative in the world holding back decay from sin and rebellion? Against God are you adding?

Christian flavor in the world now this isn't being the life of the party no This is reflecting Christ and having Christ's attitude and values and morals and speech and love And are you adding flavor to life and everywhere you go why because you just resonate Christ in his word? Are you creating a thirst and in the lost who are around you even? Causing some to reject Christ because they see Christ in you see there's a dividing line There are those who were drawn in those who were rejected Are you even causing some to be brought to the medicine of Christ?

Are you medicine to the sick and to the dying world around you see are you salt are you salt are you salt? And then forth are you light in the world are you reflecting Christ to those? Lost around you when they look at you do they say Christ in your attitude do they see Christ in your? Personality and in your demeanor do they just see something about you today might not can explain and understand Are you shining the gospel of grace? Oh do you shine the gospel of saving grace? And do you shine the standard of God's word into the darkness and into the lives of those lost men and women that you come in?

Contact with are you being seen as a reflection of Christ and are you? Purposely shining Christ and the standard of God's word in the lives of the lost around you Are you the salt in the earth? Are you the light of the world? Now this morning. I believe for all my heart that there are three things that are happening Some of you are being called just like those disciples again, I use my imagination Jesus is teaching and Those disciples are there on the front row and they were being drawn by the work of the spirit They were being moved forward because they wanted what Christ was teaching although they did not understand Everything that he was teaching they were being drawn Are you being drawn to this work is the Spirit of God confirming this in you and you know you need this?

Oh, you're not there. No, there's certain things that you need to work on. But are you being called forward to this work? But I believe some are being exposed God is exposing to you that you have nothing more than an external religion. It's a facade. It's of the near It's just a covering and you are not who you say you are and so because you are not who you say you are You can never go out into the world like we see in the scriptures And so I believe some are being exposed to an external religion You have words that don't reflect an inner work of God in your life You make professions that you do not possess and those of us who have been born again Some have been even saved out of a horrendous external religion.

Some are being exposed But I'm sad to say there's even some this morning that are rejecting Because when the truth of God is taught there are always some who reject The Jews rejected Jesus in that day. Listen, they were infuriated They hated him because he set a bomb under their external religion He exposed them for who they were and I urge you my friend don't reject the truth.

Don't reject God's word Don't reject the explanation of God's word Don't make the grievous mistake that those Jews made and reject God's word reject the work of God here today Reject those who are around you telling you the truth do not reject See that God himself has you here in this day and this time for this message But you know the sad thing is I look back on the time that I've been here in the life of this church I've seen God call some forward I've seen some be exposed and I look back with sadness because I've seen many reject don't reject Don't reject listen to the voice of the Spirit Now as I close I call your attention back to verse 16 let's read the verse together In the same way what is he saying he's wrapping all of this up He's given these two wonderful illustrations teaching examples Salt and light in the same way you what is he saying you you're my plan a you you let your light shine before Others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven I close with this statement We must as a church be in a position both individually and corporately to live this verse Oh, I know that poses a lot of questions that stirs up some curiosity pastor.

What are you meaning here? Listen I close with this statement. We must be in a position both individually and corporately to live out this verse Now I have purposely not given you the title of the message Truthfully I wrestle with this title all week, but it just seemed to come together later in The week in my study. What have we been looking at? I think it's very simple. This is kingdom living It's all been about kingdom living as we've spent all this time from verse one all the way down to verse 16 This is kingdom living kingdom living in the world Let's pray We'll sing a closing verse and then we will dismiss