biblestudy: Matthew (Part Six)

Matthew 5:10-20
John W. Ritenbaugh
Given 16-Sep-81; Sermon #BS-MA06; 75 minutes

Description: (show)

There is a balance between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness. Some people get angry easily while others struggle to get stirred up. Those who are meek are capable of anger but keep it under control. They are humble, open-minded, willing to listen, don't jump to conclusions, and aren't defensive. Meekness involves self-control. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" emphasizes intensely desiring righteousness, not just being satisfied with a little bit. Striving fully for righteousness likely leads to attaining it. Being merciful requires proper judgment to know when mercy is appropriate. It involves deeply empathizing and "crawling into" another's perspective. "Blessed are the pure in heart" refers to motivation and thoughts. Evil actions come from evil thoughts. The pure in heart have positive motivations. "Blessed are the peacemakers" refers to taking positive action to resolve conflicts and produce peace, not just peace-loving. Persecution provides opportunities to demonstrate loyalty to Christ, associates us with prophets, allows sharing in a great occasion, and brings us closer to Christ. It often comes due to politics and power struggles. Christians are the salt of the earth - they preserve the world from corruption. Salt also enhances flavor, and Christians should enhance the lives of others with joy, cheer, and positivity. Christians are the light of the world, equating them with Christ. Light must be visible, guides to truth, reveals God, and can warn. God gives spiritual light through knowledge of His word. Our good works should be attractive and draw positive attention to God.




I promise you, we are going to move at least twice as fast tonight as we did the last couple of weeks. The last couple of weeks, we have advanced by four verses, so we ought to be able to get at least eight verses done tonight.

There is a lot of great information here about the average between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness. There are some people that just can't seem to get stirred up. There are some people whose temper is running red hot all the time. Well, these people who are meek in the biblical sense are certainly capable of anger, but it is always on the leash. They are humble people. They open minded. They are willing to listen to others. They do not jump to conclusions and they aren't really defensive people. They are people who have their spirit under control. So [meekness] has to do with a person's self control.

Then there was the [Beatitude] about "blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness." Really, the emphasis here is on the hungering and the thirsting. I spent a long time trying to describe as vividly as I possibly could what these hunger and thirst words connote. it's not a hunger or thirst that can be satisfied by a snack. It does not even imply the breaking of a fast, but it implies the kind of hunger or thirst that comes upon a person when he doesn't know when he's going to be able to eat. You know how ravenously hungry you would get under those kind of circumstances. As I explained, this is probably the most demanding of all of the Beatitudes. But it's also the one that in a way is the most comforting as well because all God seems to require here is not that we actually have the righteousness, but that we hunger and thirst for it. Because if we really do hunger and thirst for it in the way that He is describing here, we are going to really set our sights. Our vision, our goals are really going to be high, and we are going to strive for them. We're not going to be satisfied with being partially righteous. We're really going to be striving after something that is good, really good. And if we do, the chances are very great and we are going to reach it.

Then the next one: "blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Something that I do not believe that I brought out the last time is that there is a verse that will help you to understand this maybe a little bit better. Remember that back in Matthew 23:23, Jesus is really castigating the scribes and the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites and murderers and snakes—that's what he calls them: snakes and murderers—and he gets to talking about tithing. He said, "You tithe of mint, anise, and cumin," but He said they left out the weightier matters of the law. Those weightier matters were judgment, mercy and faith. And with just with that verse and understanding, some of the things I said about being merciful that being merciful requires judgment as a prior condition because one has to know whether or not one should be merciful. And so this mercyful ne that he is talking about is the kind a feeling that goes far beyond just being sympathetic. Remember I was describing how it literally means. We have no words that we can translate this into English lady. Mercy. Become closer that it, it literally means to experience by crawling inside all. Now that's really empathizing to the nth degree. And so it takes a great deal of control of one's mind to really put yourself in somebody else's shoes now, if we can do that, then we lack the basis for properly judging whether or not we should forgive, whether she, we should extend help, whether we should loan a guy a buck, whether we should give a guy a buck or whatever. And so this, the attitude has to do with making proper judgments, righteous judgment and we understand it more fully. And so those who do use their mind to make proper judgments are therefore going to know when to be tolerant, when to be forgiving toward a person's weaknesses, whether to extend health or whether or not to extend health. OK. Verse eight, blessed are the pure in heart. This be attitude has to do with the person's motivation, the why of a person's action. And so it's going to be those who are pure in heart. We're going to see God as it says here, remember under the pure, all things are pure that those who are of a defiled mind, they can see something dirty, evil, cynical, sarcastic or whatever in any kind of a situation, they, they can construe something out of that. That would be bad that the pure tend to be very positive. They can look at the same situation and be struck entirely different by it because their attitudes, their inclinations are different. This one is very, very important because in Matthew 15, Jesus explained that this is where sin comes from. Remember he said it's not what goes into the man that defiles the man. But what comes out of the heart that defiles the man? And he mentioned the very first thing, evil thoughts, murder, fornication, adultery. So the pure in heart, they are not gonna, they are not going to have evil thoughts. They're not going to commit fornication, they are not going to commit adultery, they are not going to commit murder because their mind just doesn't even run in that direction at all. So this, the attitude has to do with a person's motivation. Verse nine, blessed are the peacemakers. This one had to do with resolving problems between people having to do with relationships between people. And it's important to note that it doesn't say blessed are the peace lover. Everybody loves peace on their own terms. Everybody wants to avoid trouble. And so this has to do with people who are willing to stick out their neck to make peace. Now, in other parts of the Bible, I'm sure it would take a, at least AAA split sermon, maybe a sermon to go into this. The peacemaking is described in the Bible as keeping the commandments of God. And so that's how peace in, in a broad sense is made by following God's commands, by trusting in Him. But there has to be positive action taken by someone to produce peace. It just doesn't happen. You see, it has to be made. So that's one that would involve another whole sermon. So this is not just talking about avoiding trouble, it is talking about even at times, would there be confrontation in order to produce peace? So it's talking about taking positive action to produce peace. Ok. Now let's begin in verse 10. Now blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all men are of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great. Is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they, the prophets which were before you. Now this one here can, can really be an enigma. We all know what persecution is. That's when somebody is attacking you either physically or psychologically for no good reason. That is that here you are minding your own business. Let's say being good and suddenly you're made out to be a martyr and somebody's hurting you and you're in pain, you may be crying, you may be, be depressed, terribly discouraged because this person is, or persons are doing it to you. And you haven't done anything to stir up to all this trouble. And how can that be a happy situation? That's what he says though. Bless are you when you're persecuted? Well, that's kind of hard to relate to, but I'll say this for Jesus. He's honest. If you follow his way, buddy, you're asking for trouble and he always leveled with people whenever you, you know, sign on with me, you better expect that it's probably going to do something to your family. That's not very nice. He said, think not that I, I come bringing peace that better start my way of life is going to divide father from mother and mother, from daughter and father from sonAnd that's persecution when a person is kind of wrenched away from his family, you better be ready and willing to put me before everybody else. And I'll tell you that that's going to be a heartbreaking situation to be very close to people. And yet you see your way of life, your, the elite run counter to what they believe and what they practice and just kind of wrenches you away from these people you love. You do not want to be wrenched away if you aren't, how can that be happy? Well, you know, Christianity really disrupts life. It, it disrupts in many cases, a person's work. Now, maybe in your case you came into this work and you did not have any problem because you had a Monday to Friday job. But even in those cases, sometimes the holy days fall on, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, an ordinary work day. And if you're going to practice Christianity rightly and properly, you're going to going to obey God. And there is a good possibility that you're going to be brought into a head to head confrontation with your employer. Maybe he'll give you the day off. And then, then again, maybe you lose your, your job over holy days. It has happened so it can disrupt your work but it can be even get even well, more well, II, I just can't think of the adjective that I want right at this time. But it can this way of life can cause you troubles in other areas other than just establish. What if you happen to be in the military is being in the military. Does that run true to form with the ideals of Christianity? Of course, it doesn't because really you're there, you're in a sense you're being trained to kill or to support those who are trained to kill. One of the commandments says you shall not kill that runs, runs counter. Now, what if you have 18 years in the military? You have two more years to go before your retirement and, and God calls you and you begin to realize that, hey, I might have to give up 18 years of service, give up a pension in order to go this way or that could be pretty upsetting. It happened many times, you know, when I was out in southern California, this principle that I'm talking about was a real Bugaboos because one of the biggest industries in Southern California, the aircraft industry, mcdonald Douglas, that Rockwell Corporation. I can't think of the first name there. They're involved in making fighter planes, they are involved in making rockets that carry nuclear warheads. And believe me, I ran across an office, we had a lot of men who were called into the work from those industries and they would be draftsmen or engineers or whatever. And here you are working for mcdonald Douglas and they generally pay pretty well. Here's, here is a guy making 25 $30,000 a year. And this was back in the early seventies in the late sixties as an engineer for mcdonald Douglas, he has 18 years with the company. He's an engineer. He's building rockets to carry nuclear warheads. I tell you, you do not turn your back on something like that easily. That's an awfully big commitment that, that person, I'll tell you Christianity. If you're going to live it the way God wants it lived, it's going to cause persecution even though nobody is pointing a gun at you simply because you want to obey God. Well, what if, what if, what if it happens? Your persecution can come socially. This happens to just about everybody because you no longer keep Christmas. You no longer keep Easter. Here's all your relatives. They want to get together on Christmas. They want to get together on, on Easter and have a big family reunion. They do not mean any harm. They're not intending to put the pressure on you. They're not saying let's all get together on Easter. So reiten is persecuted. It just comes and, and believe me, most of the persecution. I mean that the persecution that hurts the most comes from your own family, from your loved ones who really do not want to hurt you. But when you start obeying the truth, it begins to sanctify you. That means set you apart. And when you begin to get set apart, persecution comes even though nobody is laying a hand like this. Well, sometimes it really gets close to home because the husband is tall and the wife is not or the wife is tall and the husband is not. And I'll tell you that that gets to be hard to live with. And I know that that's happened to many of you. And I'll tell you if you aren't in that kind of a situation, you better give God thanks every day that he's called your wife or he's called your husband and pray for God's mercy upon those people who are in that kind of a situation that maybe he would at least give them peace within their family if nothing else. And so persecution comes from all kinds of sources. It doesn't have to be inflicted by a story, a rifle or it, it just comes from being excluded from things that you would normally participate in with family or employment. But we do have, I believe trouble relating the kind of persecution that others have endured before us. We haven't had to go through the kind of persecution that those people did under the Roman Empire or that others had to endure when the Spanish imposition was going on. Some of those things. I do not know whether you, have you ever read any of you ever read Fox's Book of Murders? I'll tell you that is decorative. You know, that, that Nero the sixth Roman empire, the emperor. Do you know that he actually had pitch, you know, like asphalt smeared on living human beings. Christians bodies. And then, you know, it's all saturated with oil. He had it lit while these people were alive and he used these people as torches to light his garden while parties were going on. And that's really grizzly apparently a well established fact. We haven't had to re we, we just, we just can't relate to anything like that. None of us have had limbs chopped from our body, which happened during the Spanish inquisition. People actually had their arms severed from their body and then roasted in a fire before their very eyes, you know, their own art being roasted in a fire. That's hard to relate to that. I doubt that you, you know, there seems to be no end of man's depravity to other men. Now, why does this occur? It will be very easy to lay it at Satan's doorstep and no doubt he has a great deal to do with it. But there are more general reasons I think, or let's say more specific reasons than that because I do not think that we can lay at all just to state because he uses man to yield to him in doing these things. First of all, there is ignorance and of course, this is well documented as well. And of course, with ignorance, it's slander. You can see this right in the Bible where people in their ignorance slander Jesus. You know, whenever he was finally convicted, it took a slanderous accusation, you know that he was going to destroy the temple. And in three days raise it up and you see what they did, they twisted what he said. He meant that he was that this body was going to be destroyed. And in three days he was going to be resurrected. But you see what they did is twisted. What he said to mean that he was going to tear down the temple. You see which was a monument to God. And then three days later, he was going to to raise it back up again that an ignorant slanderous accusation during the times of the persecution, both in Rome and in the Spanish inquisition, the same pattern was followed. Do you know that they were accusing Christians of cannibalism? You know why? Because it says in John the sixth chapter, Jesus said, unless you eat of my body and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And so the story got around that the Christians were sacrificing babies in their meetings and eating the baby's flesh, the baby representing you know, the purity of Jesus Christ and roasting the flesh and eating and drinking the blood. They accused the Christians of having orgies. You know why? Because it says in a couple of different places to greet one another with a holy kiss. And because in the book of Jude, their meetings were called Love Feast. It says that very plainly and of course, they just met the Sabbath. That's all Jude man. He met the Sabbath or the holy days and that they were feasting on the love, the fellowship of God's spirit. The slanderous accusations were made that inside this meeting hall, it was every man for himself and they were having sexual sexual orgies in there. So that infl people's prejudices. And because there are those differences, then the public you see does not feel too indisposed against permitting persecution. Usually the public is generally ignorant of what is really going on even today because it's very difficult to really explain news events in the amount of time that's given. We get little bits and pieces of news and it's very easy to twist something maybe even unintentionally to give the public a certain slant, you know that Nero did that. Most of you ought to be well aware that Nero blames the fire in Rome on Earth, the Christian. So they became the scapegoat for what he probably caused himself by, you know, secret direction, learn the city down, we will have to rebuild it. And that'll give the people a lot of work to keep their minds off of trouble. You see, he used something like that to bring persecution against the Christians. He blamed everything on them and that of course, gave him license then to gather them up and feed them to the lance. So he accomplished two ends. He got, he got the, the pressure off himself because he was unable to keep the economy moving. And because of all the violence within the city could not be blamed on him. He blamed it on the Christians and then the public being very ill informed, they went right along with it that took the pressure off him and he gave them support. So that's one reason. But without a doubt through history, the sec, the second one is by, by far and away the major cause of persecution and it's political in nature. Now again, maybe we can see this from what happened in Rome. They seem to be the type for this kind of thing and it will probably be repeated at least in principle during the time that the beast and the false prophet are in power over about 400 years, Rome was a pretty good place to live, Rome and Italy, I'll tell you how good it is. You know that there was not one divorce in 500 years of Roman history. That's pretty strong family ties. I do not know what all the reasons are or were that they had such strong families. But while they were a commonwealth, which is what the United States is. It's a commonwealth government is, is a Republican form that we are a commonwealth economically. Well, that's the way Rome was. But as Rome began to increase in its stature and power and really what caused this breakdown, they began to experience a breakdown morally. And what caused the breakdown was their contact with Greece. I think the next Bible study that I give, I'll go into this just a little wee bit, Rome conquered Greece militarily, but Greece conquered Rome morally. And they just dragged the Romans down because the Romans adopted Greek customs and ways just wholesale. And as they began to do that, the family broke down in Rome and as the family broke down so did the general quality of life within the city and the state. And as it broke down, the government was unable to control it. And so gradually, Rome's government changed from a representative type to an emperor, a dictatorship. Now, whenever Augustus who was the first season became emperor, he was a little bit afraid of the power and authority that was vested in his office. But gradually they began to assume the benefit. It was not a real divinity, but they began to assume it. Now by the time we got to Nero who was the sixth emperor, they were the emperor was quote unquote, a divine being. Now, every year a Roman citizen was required to go and stand before a figurehead, usually a bus of the emperor. And with him, he was to take a little pinch of incense and he would make an offering to the great God. Whoever it happened to be, you see Nero or whatever. Now, it did not cost him anything but a little pinch of incense to go and do that. And what he would do is he'd go before the this box of the emperor in the company of official state witnesses and he would toss his little bit of incense and pledge his loyalty to his Lord. Jesus just consisted of a one sentence mistake. You know, a lot of Christians who could not do that because you see his Lord is Christ. You know that that made every Christian man elaborate. It automatically made him an outlaw. Now, could an emperor permit something like that and a front like that to be publicly demonstrated before the rest of the populace? You could not do it because that would inspire disloyalty in others who probably did not think he was a God anyway, but only did it in order that he might continue to be able to be a free Roman citizen and conduct his business and go about his daily life. And they see a form of this in, in Revelation 13 about no man being able to bind yourself unless he had the mark of the beast. That's why I say that something very similar, at least in principle is going to be applied off in the future like a Christian in that kind of a circumstance, you know, having the, the mark of the beast on him or, or being demanded of him, he could not give his pledge of allegiance to the beast either. And he would automatically then become an outlaw. And do you see he gave permission because this person was a law breaker to give official authority to the states to round these people upSimilar ordinances were enacted during Hispanic imposition as well that enabled the state to officially persecute because after all, were not these Christian glas, why? Of course, during the Spanish inquisition, what was it that they were constantly trying to get people to do? I mean, the Christians, they had to express their loyalty to the Catholic church and then who brought the pressure, the state brought the pressure on the people at the behest of the Catholic church. They see it, most of the persecution has been political in nature and it brought and brought by the faith. So in that kind of a circumstance, no matter how good of a citizen you are, you might be the most upstanding person in the neighborhood, the person that everybody would trust that you would officially be an outlaw, a lawbreaker. You can have the best morals of anybody in the neighborhood and yet you're a criminal and so they can officially then persecute, I'll tell you, it's a no win situation, at least on the surface. OK. Now, let's look at this a little bit more positively and this is really where the, where the blessing comes in. First of all, persecution does present an opportunity for you to publicly show your loyalty to Christ. Most of us do not really have an opportunity to do this. We are doing it in a subtle sense in that if we are quietly going about our business, keeping the Sabbath, keeping the holy days and doing other things that are involved in this way of life, our neighbors do notice. However, in a time of persecution, the attention is really focused on you, you become a focus of attention and there are times when God does want us to suffer persecution publicly. Now, the next thing is that if you do suffer persecution publicly, it puts you in good company. Here we go because that's what he said because that puts you in the company of the prophet. And the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. All the apostles were persecuted to death as far as we know, except for the apostle John and very few of the of the prophets lived out a long, full life. Most of them died in early death as a result of persecution. That's why Jesus said they killed the prophet. And so it puts you in good company spiritually and that's good. Now, the third thing. Or maybe this is a little bit too abstract. Then again, maybe it is that when you are publicly persecuted and possibly even asked to be a martyr by God, hopefully it doesn't come to that. But if we are publicly persecuted, it enables you to share in a great occasion. I'll tell you what I mean in another sense. If there is anybody in this room that has ever participated, let's say in a great battle in World War Two, you partici you participated in a great occasion. Something that's written up in history books. It's something that you never forget. It is engraved in your memory. You learn lessons from it that you can pass on to others and it becomes a very valuable experience in your life and of course, it becomes then valuable to others as the lessons learned are passed on. That's the, that's the principle that we are talking about here. Not very many of us ever get to partake in something that was great when you become publicly persecuted, you're being put into a great situation and that's good because not many people participate in great sense. Ok. A fortnight is that whenever we do become a public spectacle by means of persecution, it almost invariably makes it easier for those who follow after us. We are sitting here this evening in a free country, having freedom of speech. We have greater liberties than any nation maybe has ever known on the face of this earth. We enjoy those things because of the sacrifices of those who went before us. I've given you bits and pieces of things that I know about those men who signed the Declaration of Independence, 56 of them. Do you know that most of those men had horrible lives after they did that? Because they immediately, when it became known, they immediately became branded as outlawed by the British government, most of those men were well produced. Only a few of them even survived the revolutionary war. And of the few who survived, I think something like 12 or 13, out of the 56 survived the revolutionary war. Only two or three came through. Yes. Portions of their fortune remaining intact. Most of them were hounded almost to death. Very interesting story. You know, if you can find histories of those people who signed, they knew when they signed that, that their lives were not worth a plug nickel. And so they delayed an announcement, the designers for quite a long time and who the people were, who declared independence from Britain. But you see, because they were willing to do that, it helped to stir up an entire nation of people. And I'm sure it played a part in our breaking away from, from Britain and we became a free and independent nation. And there have been people like that who have been willing to sacrifice themselves in order that others may enjoy the blessings of liberty, the same principle as it were with God's Kingdom as well with his church. OK. The final thing, this is a spiritual reality and it's something that I think that we all have to experience eventually personally. And that is it that when you suffer, the Bible shows, you do not suffer alone. I think that this is one of the major reasons why that story about Sadr Misak and a Bendigo is included in the Bible. Now, you have to admit that those men underwent a persecution, that was frightening. It's so real. There would be enough to just about glance, your white, you know, they have to experience something like that and yet God permitted them to actually be thrown in the fire before he rescued them. And then what does the story show who was in the middle of the fire with him say he was and in this case, he protected them so that even the smell of the fire did not come on their, on their clothes or in their hair or anything. Well, there is a principle that's involved here, that's very important to you and me. And that is that when we are involved, when we are bearing the brunt of persecution that He is with us. He's right there. He said, I'll never leave you. No, thank you that He is there with us, helping us to learn great and wonderful things. And so perhaps persecution. Yes. The way to the very closest relationship with Christ. I do not know, it's a hard way to go. But even though those words may not appear, yeah, in, in God's work, it seems as though the greatest of his servants were persecuted to death and if not persecuted to death, they were persecuted almost their whole life that the prophet, the apostles, Jesus Christ Himself. And so it seems to be the way to the closest association or relationship with God. Ok. On the verse 13, you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost in his favor, where we shall it be salted, it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of man, you are the light of the world, a city that is set. Well, wait a minute. I do not want to go that far. Let's go back. Just involve ourselves in verse 13. I do not know whether you ever thought of it this way you probably have. But to be called the salt of the earth is really a great compliment because salt is so important to life. I understand that we can't live without it. And that almost all of the food that God has created has it in it naturally. So that even if you did not have the common table salt that we have available to us, there is still a sufficient amount of salt in food that you would be able to survive. But if that food did not have salt in it. The dot Is something that's absolutely essential to life. And there is a great analogy here in that we are the salt of the earth. He is saying in effect that look, you are important and without you, life would not be possible. I, he can, it's pretty hard to give a greater compliment to that than, than, than that. It's so important. The light and well being that wars have been fought over it in order to get. So even even as today, we kind of fight wars over minerals like coal and iron and, and oil things of that nature. But in the past, people fought wars over salt exceedingly important to us. Now, back in Leviticus two and verse 13, there is the instructions regarding the offerings that were to be made. It says that every oblation of your meat offering shall you season with salt. That's everyone. Neither shall you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meat offerings with all your offerings you shall offer salt. Ok. Now, why? Well, there are two factors involved here. The first one is the salt is a preservative. Well, most of us are familiar with this, at least to some extent, they were far more familiar with it at the time of Christ in that they had no refrigeration and the only way that they could preserve things from one year to another or from one season to another was to solve it. They did not have any ice boxes. They did not have any high mountains that they could go through to get ice that would last them all through the summer. Uh, and their winners were not cold enough to really preserve things. So they had to have something to preserve and they preserved things by solving them. And so salt is a preservative. Now, how does it preserve? It keeps things from corrupting. Now, here is a lesson for you and me, this world would be far worse. Were it not for, for a it is the Christians that are keeping it from corrupting and going completely berserk. Now, you know what happened in the days of Noah. And finally, we got to the place where there was only one grain of salt on the entire earth and that was no. What did God do? He destroyed it. So you see what we are, we are a preserving factor. That's very complimentary. We are keeping this world from being obliterated. Ok. The second factor is that salt enhances and lend flavor to see it enhances and lends flavor to food. Now, this is an interesting thing because oftentimes we maybe overlook this aspect of Christianity. There are certain foods that without salt seem to be in pretty insipid to it. In fact, they seem to be so insipid to us, we really lay the salt on and what we really like is not the food, we like the salt. So we give ourselves hypertension and we are practically pickled on the inside because of all the salt that we use. But you know, you really like it because it enhances things ever have to eat an egg without salt on it. Yuck, they are really insipid. Ok. Now, this is directly connected to the other factor that is that the earth is being preserved by its salt, that is by its Christians. So does this world who are directly related. Now, it's very interesting because you know, salt is considered as a a spice as a condiment, not in a real sense as being a a spice, but we use spices to enhance the flavor of things. We use salt to enhance the flavor of things. OK? What is it that gives life its flavor, joyful experiences, pleasant things. Well, that's kind of what he's talking about here. Now, when we apply this principle in a personal sense, you really get down to the nitty gritty of our own personal lives and the way that we conduct them, what kind of a Christian are you? You're the kind of person who is bright, bubbly, he is positive, he is cheerful, who is up, who is on the ball? He is smiling. Are you the are you the kind of person that well somebody says to you, is not it a nice day? So yeah, but there is a part of that in a way you know, Oliver Wendell Holmes, you know, he was one of our chief justices of the praying for. I read one time where he said that he really wanted to go in the ministry. They finally decided that he wouldn't go in the ministry because almost all the ministers he looked like and they just did not have any license. Yeah. You, you need to think about yourself. Do you enhance the area that you're in? Are you a grain of salt? Are you a piece of egg with without these all eyes? And the people just kind of what, what that person do? You brighten up the corn? Remember when you were a kid, you brighten up the corn or where you are? I've never seen that in Sunday school. You, you brighten up the corner where you are. Are you a joy to have a r that's the way Christian ought to be. I mean, I'm not talking about a Pollyanna attitude. I'm just, I just mean a person who is up and encourage it and, and nice to be around. I'll tell you something very important. You may not think that it's a very important quality, but it is very important because look what he says, if the salt has lost its favor, what do you do with it? You throw it out if salt loses its ability to enhance, you throw it up. Now, how do you lose your ability to enhance? That's this is what the important because pure salt, pure sodium chloride never loses its flavor. It is impossible. It is chemically impossible for pure sodium chloride to lose its flavor. Emphasis is on the word to it. Right. Salt can become adulterated that even add salt enhances the flavor of things that it comes in contact with. The thing that salt comes in contact with is able to adulterate the flavor of the salt. In other words, salt has a certain amount of absorbency to it. You pour water on salt, it absorbs it and it weakens it somewhat or vinegar on salt, the salt absorbs it. Ok. Now, what's he talking about here? If you're the salt of the earth, as long as you remain pure, you are going to enhance your surroundings and make it palatable to the mouth of God. But if you become adulterated, in other words, if you begin to absorb the world around you, then you begin to lose your flavor and you're not fit for anything except to be thrown out, you see the possibility for purity still remains because salt can be red distilled and it's pure once again. And so can Christians repent and become curative? Now we mentioned here that is trodden under foot. You had an interesting you for salt, it became adultery. You know, we do the same thing today on a little bit different way. We just talk, it's not about it. We use the same principle. The Jews got most of their salt from around the area of the dead sea where the natural evaporation processes left beds of salt as the dead sea receded away, they had an abundant supply of salt. However, there were areas where the salt absorbed the quality of the strata of rock or other minerals that it was lying on. Well, they may be used of out of that salt. It was do it, they broke it up and whenever it rained, they threw it on the floor of the courtyard at the temple because the blocks were very slippery when it rained so that the people wouldn't slip and slide. And so they walked on, you see, it was trodden underfoot. Now up north, when it snows, we throw, fall on the road report if they do increase traffic. So the cars do not slip and slide around and of course, the salt in the water combining create a little bit of heat and it melts some of the snow. But that's what that means in a practical sense. Whenever salt became a adulterated, the Jews threw it when it rained on the courtyard in the temple. So people wouldn't slip and fall. So it OK, verse 14, if you are the light of the world, the city that is set on a hill cannot be hit. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a candle under a bushel but on a candlestick and it gives light unto all that are in the house, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. Ok. Here is another great compliment because you are the light of the world. And possibly this is the greatest compliment that a Christian can receive from God. If you are a light, bear with me back to John the ninth chapter and I'll tell you why such a great compliment Jesus said in John nine in verse five, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Ok? Now, when you apply that principle to Christian people who have Jesus Christ living in them by means of the spirit of God. If you can be called a light, what he is doing is equating you with Christ. And I'll tell you you cannot be compared to anybody greater than that. And so that's a great compliment if you truly are a light. So what he is saying here is if you're a life, then you're like me. That's pretty good. Ok? Now a light has properties to it as well. Now turn with me back to Isaiah the 43rd chapter, Isaiah 43 and beginning in verse eight, just as a little bit of background. God says, bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears. Obviously, this is the world, this is the way we were before he called. We had eyes that we could not see spiritual, we had ears, but we could not hear spiritual. He says, let all the nations be gathered together. And so he's going to put on a big program in a, in a stadium somewhere and let the people be assembled who among them can declare this and show us former things. Let them bring forth their witnesses that they may be justified or let them hear and say it is true. He's saying here, look, you bring forth your witnesses. We're going to have a big trial here. You bring forth your evidence, you bring forth your proof, forth your proof. And I'm going to bring forth my witnesses. I'm going to bring forth my proof as to who really has gone. The verse 10 says, you are my wit. Who's he talking about this? He's talking about us and my servant whom I have chosen. He said to the disciples, you've not chosen me. I've chosen you. We are the chosen of God. We are his witnesses. Witnesses of what that you may know. He said, I chose you that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. That's why He shows up to understand that our God is God. We're his witnesses of that fact before me, there was no God for neither shall there be after me. I even I am the eternal and besides me, there is no no savior I have declared. And I think, and I have shown when there was no strange God among you. Therefore, you are my witnesses as eternal that I am God. Now, that's our job years before the day was ime, there is none that can deliver out of my hand. He's saying there before creation, before there was any light he existed. There is none that can deliver out of my hands. I will work and who shall let us? That is who's going to permit it? Who's going to turn, who's going to give me permission or who's going to turn me away and doing what I want to do? Well, obviously, nobody now you can study it out in the life of the light as to what his work was, his work was to restore the worship of the true God. And so he kept having confrontations with people, but those confrontations usually led to him making a great big display to show that His God that is Elijah's God was God. Now, this is, this is the work of the like and this is the work of this era. We're going to show this world that our God is God right now. The focus of attention is almost entirely in areas of knowledge of informing people of giving them reason why there is a great God who is a great creator and that he is the God of this church. So we have the plain truth. We have the good news, we have booklets and articles. We have the World Tomorrow. Program on radio and television and all those things are focused in on one thing that our God is God, whether Mr Armstrong is preaching on prophecy, he is driving that point home, that God's word will stand for who is God or he's the God of the Bible. He's the God of this church. He's the God of Herbert Armstrong. And so Mr Armstrong keeps trying to give all kinds of proof to point both them and us and us in that direction that our God is God. OK? Now let's go back there to, to Matthew five again and just think about some of the properties of light. OK. What he says, first of all is that to be of any value, a light has to be able to be seen. Now, we may think of that as being kind of dumb because it's so obvious. But to them again, it was not so dumb. We do not put life under bushels, but they did. And the reason they did is because they did not have electricity, they had oil lamp. You've probably seen pictures of them. They look somewhat a gravy boat like a, like a, like a gravy boat where there was a little bowl and which was usually olive oil and at one end of it where the pitcher on, on the gravy B would be, there would be a, a little spout and coming up through that spout with a wick and the wick went down into the oil. And so what they did, they would light the wick and then the wick was constantly fed by the olive oil that was underneath. No, they did not have masses either. And so usually once they got the lip, the wick lip, they left it lit because the only way it could be lit is usually with a firebrand a porch or something that was pulled out of a fire. So their home did not have any windows on it. I mean, glasses and things like that, they had windows, but they did not have very many. So the houses tended to be dark on the inside, but also very drastic. So what they would do is when they left the house, in order to keep the light from burning out, they would put a bushel basket or something similar to that over top of it in order to keep the wind from blowing the wick up. Now when the bristle basket was over it, it of course, gave no light, even though it was lit, nobody could see it because it was under the bus. So the time when the W. whenever they would come home from doing their shopping or whatever it was, and the house needed some light in it, then they take the bristle basket back off. So, now what's the lesson here? Well, covering up your witness destroys the value of the lake. Now, that ought to be very plainly sent. But if you are operating in secret, if I can put it that way, if you are operating in secret and in a sense, trying to hide the fact that you are a Christian, you are actually destroying the very purpose for which God called you. He called you to be his witness that your God is God. And so if you, if you are trying to be quiet and real secretive about your life as a Christian, then it's the same thing as if you pull the bushel over your head. And so the light was there, but it's not doing any good because it's covered up. So in order for it to be of any value, then it has to be sent the second factor here if he said that you are the light of the church, no, it doesn't say that because you're the light of the, of the world that your witness is intended to be made to the world, not to the church. Certainly fine examples are necessary within the congregation, but your witness is not made on the Sabbath while you are here. The witness that God wants is the one that you make out in the world during the other six days of the week. Now, this begins to involve of course, what we do. So what do we do during the week we work? So your witness involved the way you work. That is if it's done energetically and fearfully in good attitude or is it done? Begrudgingly. It involves how we work in the sense of the quality that we, that we produce while we are working. It involves our attitude, whether it be on the job in the home or whatever it involves, the way we dress, whether we keep ourselves clean or not. It involves how we keep our hearts, how we keep our laws, the way we do our dishes, the witness that your children make, whether it be at school, whether it be around the neighborhood, it involves the way you keep your car, whether you keep it clean or whether it's dirty, whether it looks like an old rattle trap that's ready to fall apart or whether you're doing the best you can with what you've got. It involves the way you keep your hair. It involves the look on your face. It involves every aspect of life. Everyone, every part of that has to do with whether or not your life is changing. So in order to be alive, we have to be moving towards perfection in every one of those areas because that's the way Christ was. Remember the comparison, Jesus said I am the light of the world. As long as I'm here, I'm the light of the world. Nobody ever set a better example than he did in every area of life. He never leapt down once in his witness to God. Now we do it for he set the highest standard that any man ever did. I think that's why we have to be moving towards perfection in order for the light to be science. Ok, let's go on a little further. Our life reveals and dies as it is shining, it reveals in God. And so in your witness in your neighborhood, you see, it should be revealing the character of God. It should be guiding people to the way life was intended to be living, to be lived, not living to be lived. So you should be then the focus of goodness in your community. Sometimes that takes a great deal of courage. If you're working with a bunch of fellows, you know, in a gang, in a group and they want to do a quick and dirty job, they wanna do it illegally. They want to do the kind of job that like my father-in-law used to say, well, what, what difference does it make? You know, a man galloping past on a horse would never know we can take that approach. But can we afford to do that? Not really. I think we are going to be a light. We're going to have to be an example by doing it the very best we possibly can. We do not all have the same talent and ability and really, I, I know in my own experience in the mill, I did try hard to be the best welder they had no matter how hard I try. I tried to make the best looking. Well, that I possibly could, like, like an artist is putting that on there. I'd always be somebody who have a job than I do. How you do that though. But that was, that was my aim anywayI ju, I just knew that my concentration was not as great or my hand was not as steady or my ability of setting the, the machine just was not as good as somebody else's or whatever. But at least I was moving in that direction trying to do the best I possibly could and the most I possibly could. And a lot of times people do not want to do that. So there is a, it's easy to get dragged down by the others in your, in your gang. So that's hard. You have to think of something here for your time. I better not tell that one. It's funny, I'll say it to some other time, but it has to do with light anyway. Ok. A third thing is a third factor that besides revealing and guiding and being necessary for it to be seen. But a light can also be a warning as well. You know, life for you to die like harbor light panel light and they warned fisherman and whatever where the panel is and if they want to stay from running a ground, then they stay in between the lights and we apply this analogy into our lives. There are times when we have to stick our neck out and warn somebody that they are going in the wrong direction. The intention is not to hurt a person. It is actually to keep them from harm because if they keep going in that direction, we are going to run a ground and so a light can also warm that somebody else is going in the wrong direction. Ok. Let's go to a couple of sisters here. Second Corinthians four and verse six where it says, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Ok. We are the light of the world, but we must always remember that our life is merely a reflection. It is as though God is the sun, we are the moon and we are reflecting His glory in our lives. Now it has to be that way because of what Paul said here in verse six, God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. You see, he chose us. We did not choose Him. He revealed himself to us in order that we might become his witnesses. And so he has shined then in our hearts. Now, by what means that He did, did he do this? Well, he tells you also in the verse to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Now this is how God gives you life. You remember in the, in the sermon last week, Mr Armstrong said, what is the first thing that the Holy Spirit? And then the answer is unquestioned. It's not, it opens up an area of existence of life that was heretofore inaccessible to us that by God's spirit, he reveals to our spirit, spiritual things that were hit. Now back here in, in Psalm 119 and in verse 105 Psalm 119. And in verse 105 the author wrote this, that your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Now, what God does is this? He teaches us, he teaches us truth. He teaches us the difference between right and wrong. He expands. I was told he opened up areas of choice. We really did not understand that they even existed. And then he expects us to use it and in using them two things you're accomplished. Character is built and a witness is produced and the lights up. It's really a beautifully simple operation. But you see the effectiveness of it can on our willingness to yield to his history by faith or through faith, faith in his word. And if we will take him at his word, we will trust him. Do what he says, then character will be built and a witness produced that our God is God. OK? In verse 16, there is a word here that I just want to mention. He says, let your light so shine. Before men that they may see your good work. Well, one would expect in the contact there that the work would necessarily have to be good and it almost seems to be a redundancy. But the word good here is kind of interesting because it does not just mean a good quality, it means attractive, it means beautiful, it means wins. No, that puts a shade or a shader to what he is talking about here that goes right back to the false analogy. Remember that salt lends its flavor to that it enhances. You see, it makes things stand up, make them palatable. And remember what I mentioned there that it has to do with a person being uplifted, bubbling, positive. Well, that's exactly what this means too. It has to do with the way works are done. Now, you see there are two ways that you can do work and still have them qualify as being quote good. And the one way is to look upon responsibilities as merely being duties that you're going to carry out because it's required. Well, I'll do it if required, I'll do it. That's not what God wants from you. He wants you to do it with all of your might joyfully and to be happy that you have the privilege of doing it. I'll tell you one of the greatest privileges that he can give to be a man is to represent Him. How many people have been chosen to represent him. Not very many people. And so what we have here is a, is an application of, of Ecclesiastes 911 where he says whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. And so what he is saying here is what, when you witness for me, I want you to be happy in doing it. God is not going to be satisfied with somebody that just grumbles their way through that. I think that's, he wants me to be bubbly happy, joyous, positive uplifting. He doesn't like old grasses even though they do their job. You know, it says back in Psalm 16 that in God's presence there is joy evermore. He's always happy. He's always up and if we are going to be like Him, we are going to have to be that way too. You know, these positive thinkers, they are on the right track. Anything wrong with it. Really? It's all kind. He really doesn't have the right story and it really doesn't have the right motivation. They've got the, they have got a good idea. They've got a good principle there and much of what they, they feel that they have, they have gotten from the Bible because they can see these things that God intends, that we be that way. You can generate that yourself. The think about ha happy and positive things. Ok, let's go on. Oh, there is one final thing here you said and glorify your father, which is in heavenWhat we do must draw attention to God. Now, it may not always draw attention to God, but ultimately, it will, but it will also draw attention to you. And herein lies sometimes a little bit of a conflict in our minds that in doing good things and doing them the right way. It's going to bring a certain amount of praise to you, brother and that's not wrong. God expects you. He, he wants you to have a good reputation and the praise and honor that you receive for men. It's not bad unless it's, it's taken by you in the wrong way. And the right way to, for you to understand is to recognize that first of all, the source of that praise and honor is really God because he's the one who revealed himself in his way to you. And so it has not been generated by you at all. It has been generated only because God gave you the ability. Therefore, the approach for you is not, hey, see what I've been able to do, but rather, hey, look what God has enabled me to do that's entirely different. And it, it's, it's a point of understanding for you. So even though you may get some glory from it, the real glory, you know, really belongs to God because he wouldn't be doing it. But the Gods. Ok. Oh, well, what is that? 858? I got further than this in Augusta last night. Well, there is no use going on. There is just too much in those next couple of verses. So after the feast, we will get back to Matthew five and verse seven. There is just so much meat hereIt, it really the essence of the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is really, I feel good that we just kind of drag through here.

JWR/aws/












 


 
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