Changing the World
This weekend we come to one of the best-known passages in the Bible (often recognized as Jesus' words even by people who never go to church):
You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world... Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:13–16
We will look at these famous words in the context of Jesus' sermon up to this point. We have seen that the one who becomes "salt and light" begins with the inner disposition Jesus referred to in his first three beatitudes:
Poor in spirit – Acknowledging your utter dependence on God for all things, especially forgiveness and righteousness.
Mourn – Possessing a deep sorrow for your own sin, and the sin and injustice in the world.
Meek – Turning from self and commitment to use whatever God gives to serve.
These three inner dispositions lead to four hearts' desires that we see in the next four beatitudes:
- to believe that those things wrong in your life and in this world will be made right (v. 6);
- to show the same kind of mercy to others that God shows to you (v. 7);
- to be single-minded in seeking to please God rather than self, anyone, or anything else (v. 8);
- to reconcile broken relationships—even more, that God will use you to do his healing work (v. 9).
We now will see how these inner workings of God's rule in our hearts lead to lives that make a difference in this world. Among other things, we'll consider two significant biblical principles:
- The principle of changing regimes – to help us understand why people possessing godly commitments often meet resistance (5:10–12).
- The principle of seeds – to encourage us when we think that the battles are so enormous that there is no hope of God's righteousness coming in its fullness.
May we all leave the services saltier and shinier than when we came in.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
