Monday, 27 May 2019

18. Sermon on the Mount Secrets - Be Salt and Preserve what is Good Part 6

We are talking about salt that preserves and said last time: In the same way, we as Christians should interfere with the process of decay and change the logical course that the earth would take.
We do this in a number of ways. We should pray without ceasing. “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]” (James 5:16b, The Amplified Bible). We should focus our prayer away from ourselves and on that which needs change. We should pray fervently for that which the Lord told us to pray about.
            Next we should act. We should make a noise about the sepsis that is so evident on the earth. For instance, when the homosexuals feel they are being discriminated against, they complain. Even more so, Christians should be in the news all the time for speaking out against wrongs. We could write to the newspapers, file complaints with our congressmen or members of parliament, speak out at parent-teacher meetings, and tack posters on notice boards. We could even arrange peaceful, orderly protests and marches if the Lord directs. There are so many ways in which we could stir the consciences of the world and make them aware of sin and righteousness. If we do this, we give the Holy Spirit the mandate to do what He was sent for. “‘When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).
The Lord has gifted many Christian authors to write books that could help a lot of people find solutions to their problems, to have a bit of light in their darkness of understanding. We should promote such books as well as television, YouTube, and radio programs that have answers to life’s mysteries. The Lord said we are the light of the world because the world is in darkness. They don’t understand life. They don’t have much wisdom because true wisdom comes only from the Lord.
We are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-15) because we have access to and are filled with the ultimate source of knowledge and wisdom of life: the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus (John 8:12). Only God has the answers to life. Only from Him come joy and peace, and we have access to them. We can hear from the Lord and shed light on people’s understanding, or we can refer them to sources of godly light (books and so on). Whatever the case; “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3).
This is where faith comes in. If we are salt and light, we will act accordingly and God can use us as He has used Elijah, Elisha, Moses, Jesus, etc. If we believe the Lord can do it and we are worthy in Christ to do it with Him, we will have sufficient motivation.
Christians seem to have an attitude of, “We do our thing, the world does their thing, and we do not interfere.” Who is the Lord of heaven and earth? Whose children are we?
In the parable of the servants (see this post), who is the household of the Master who went away? Is it only the Church? Why would Jesus then command the same servants to be the salt of the earth? God wants to be glorified; He wants the world (the unbelievers) to see His power and His glory, because He wants them to come into the Kingdom as well. That is why He did so many mighty deeds in Israel and why Jesus did so many miracles. He wants us to do what Jesus did and even greater so the unbelievers could find Jesus (John 14:12). If we focus only on our local church and our needs, or even only our town, we make only a slight change over a long period of time. How then will the world be reached, the earth changed?
         Imagine that Jesus came to earth and settled in a local church... To be continued.

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