"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 people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 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." Matthew 5:13-16
The Christian and involvement in culture:
• Christ against culture -----› w________.
• Christ progressively revealed in culture -----› u__________ existence.
• Christ t___________ culture -----› s______ and l______.
Observations:
1. The Lord expects His people to live in light of eternity with c_______ and j____ because “right now counts forever.” (RC Sproul, Ligonier ministries)
2. The salt must get out of the s____ s_______ and a lamp must be placed on a s_____.
"Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." 1 Peter 2:12
"... so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior." Titus 2:10
3. The Christian as light is one of derivation or r________ glory.
“Paul’s ministry belongs to the time of the fulfilled promise, in which the Spirit is now available to all. The coming of the Spirit has brought the old to an end and has appropriated the work of Christ, through whom the effects of the Fall have been radically reversed. Indeed, through Christ and by the Spirit we are being transformed so as to bear the likeness for which we were intended at the beginning. In the freedom that the Spirit provides, we have seen the glory of God himself–as it is made evident to us in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ–and we have come to experience that glory, and will do so in an ever-increasing way until we come to the final glory.” Gordon Fee, God’s Empowering Spirit, p. 318
Applications:
1. Blood earnestness and the t________ of Jesus.
“Helping broken people to treasure Jesus.”
To the degree that Jesus is not the treasure I seek, I will not be progressively taking on his likeness.
“You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is restless until that rests in you.” Augustine, Confessions
2. Treasuring Jesus and the eclipse of s__________/awe.
"And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?'" Luke 9:23-25
“Up to the age of 30, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare, especially in historical plays… but now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare and found it intolerably dull, so intolerably dull that it nauseated me…The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.” Charles Darwin, Charles Darwin's Autobiography
3. Treasuring Jesus/blood earnestness in the centrality of c________.
Answer Key: withdrawal, unmoored, transforming, salt, light, certainty, joy, salt shaker, stand, reflected, treasuring, significance, community