Matthew 5: Salt and Light

Here's the link. I'm looking at verses 13-16.

In these verses, Jesus is talking about being salt and light to the world. I have heard these verses many times in my life, but honestly, I never really knew what being "salt" meant. I always hear the phrase, "He/She is just 'salt of the earth,'" and I interpreted that to mean that someone is essential, basic, and down-to-earth. Salt is a mineral that is essential to the earth and essential to make crops grow, it is prevalent, it is necessary. And to a certain extent, I believe that we as Christians must be essential and down-to-earth. We must make people grow, we must be prevalent.

But, in walking through these verses with my church, I learned a lot more about what it means to be "salt." First, salt was valuable during the time that this verse was written. Some people would even be paid in salt (and that's where we get the phrase, "Worth their salt"). Second, Jesus says we are "salt," not "sugar." Salt is a sharp, savory flavor. Therefore, we as Christians aren't meant only to be sweet and saccharine (that's okay if we are), but we also need to understand that the gospel and what we believe can be offensive, and that in sharing it, we become savory. Third, salt was and still is used tp preserve our foods from decay and rot. Therefore, we as Christians in being "salt" are meant to preserve the world from decay and rot. I see the decay of the world every day--all you have to do is turn on the news, drive in rush hour traffic, read an article about Kim Kardashian, go to Wal-mart. The purpose of our lives and our belief is to be a tool for God, it is to preserve his kingdom.

• Thinking/praying point: Am I "salty"--a preservative of the world--or do I contribute or participate in its decay? I believe that I often am part of the problem. I pray that I become emboldened by the gospel, and that I embrace the savory nature of what I believe. I need to understand how valuable I am to God, and how, as "salt," I have an important role to play in his kingdom.

In a similar way to "salt," Jesus says to be "light." The thing about light is that it is visible, and it is life-giving. We as Christians are meant to be those things as well. We should be visible to the world, to the point where people look in on our lives and see that we are followers of Jesus. My pastor says people can struggle with this concept in three ways:

1. You can forsake the offensiveness of the gospel, to be "nice," "kind," or "a good person." It's like you say you are a "Christian" but you believe you must show it in action only, not through your words, not through speaking the gospel or actually giving God the credit.
2. You can dim your "light" given certain scenarios. Like, you're an outspoken, strong "light" at church, but at work, you dim your Christianity down so that it's not as visible.
3. Your "light" can become overcome by the world's darkness.

I think I fall into the first and second categories of this. I often feel that if I am just "sweet" to others, that's all that's necessary to share Christ's love. Or, I am a reflective Christian with my Christian friends, but I employ a different demeanor with my friends who are non-believers. 

• Thinking/praying point: Do I put my light on a stand or under a bowl most of the time? Am I like a city on a hill, where my light could never be hidden? I pray that I remember to be a "light" to the world, to my friends, to my workplace. And I pray that the light of my actions be accompanied by words that point people to God.

The thing we need to remember is that Jesus is the true salt and light of the earth. The Bible is full of illustrations of Jesus being the "light of the world." So, therefore, we need to remember that we are salt and light only because of him. He doesn't say we "have" salt and light, or we can "get" salt and light, he says we "are" salt and light when we follow him. It is part of ourselves, it is part of our definition. We need to be empowered by it and never let the "saltiness" or visibility of our "light" go away.

Matthew 5: The Beatitudes

Through this sermon series that my church just started, I have already learned a lot more about the Sermon on the Mount than I initially picked up on in my first read-through.

Like I originally thought, the Beatitudes are a section of verses that tells us who is the most blessed in the eyes of God. But what I didn't see was that they are progressive--that is, each blessing builds on the last. So, first we must be "poor in spirit."

I was a little unclear on what this means, but after researching it a bit and hearing it in church, "poor in spirit" means that we must firstly acknowledge that we are spiritually bankrupt. We are not rich...if our goal is to please God and get to heaven, we cannot afford it and the check would eventually bounce. We must look into our spiritual "bank account" and see that there's not much there because of our brokenness. That is the first step to inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven.

• Thinking/praying point: I pray that I can look inwardly and see that I am spiritually broken, or "broke"--I am poor. This is a big sin issue for me, because I have a tendency to look inward and try to find the good things about me or be satisfied with who I am. I think I am spiritually rich, and this verse speaks directly against that.

Then, it says that those who mourn will be comforted. And, being that the Beatitudes build on one another, this verse is implying that those who are "poor in spirit" must be the ones mourning. They mourn not only for sad things in their lives, but also for the state of the world. We need to be in mourning for our brokenness, for our broken societies, for the lost people. We need to be sad that there are people who never ever look into their spiritual "bank account." We need to be utterly heartbroken about our own sin and that of others.

• Thinking/praying point: I need to look at the biggest sin issue in my life. What is the thing that I am going to quench my thirst or my hunger? Am I writing that issue off with shrugged shoulders by saying, "It's just because I'm broken"? This sin should break my heart, I should mourn that it is part of my life and that it takes glory away from God. When I can mourn this issue, I can rest knowing that someday this mourning will be comforted.

Then, those who are "poor in spirit" mourn, and as a result they become "meek." Meekness means that we are humble, we know that we are powerless without a savior, we know that we are sinners, we are teachable and moldable. This verse says that the meek will inherit the earth, which is pretty much the opposite of what our culture teaches us. Our culture says that "Nice guys finish last." The next verse says that those who thirst and hunger for righteousness are the next to be blessed. Therefore, we must be like Jesus in Matthew 4--our hunger must not be satisfied by "bread alone." We must show a desire for righteousness and use righteous things to slake our spiritual thirst rather than running to worldly things to fill a spiritual need.

The thing we need to remember is that Jesus was the first and only person to embody these characteristics fully and without flaw. He was the at the pinnacle of being persecuted for the sake of righteousness. We could not be any of these things without help, so he embodied them perfectly, and now we can take these characteristics on.

• Thinking/praying point: We learn in the Beatitudes what a "blessed" person looks like, and we also learn about God's promises to that kind of person. I want to remember those promises. Those who embody these guidelines are promised the Kingdom of Heaven, comfort from mourning, earth, satisfaction of spiritual hunger and thirst, mercy, a family under God, the very visage of God. These things should be encouraging to me that God gave me a way to have them through Jesus.

Matthew 5: Let's Camp out on the Mount

I know that I said I wanted to kinda breeze through the Sermon on the Mount in my last blog post, but there are two things that are making me think that I need to stick around and really dig deep into this section of the Bible.

First, as I was reading Matthew 5 and 6, it really hit me how important these two chapters are. Jesus is teaching a huge congregation about how to live their lives, about his role in all of this, about the law, about how to be the most blessed. Like Moses who went up to a mountain and brought back down the Law, Jesus went up to a mountain and defined the law with authority and the people came back down and lived it out. The Bible said that the congregation who heard this teaching was "astonished" at the authority with which Jesus presented it. It is the most concentrated, condensed, comprehensive spoken word that Jesus ever delivered. And therefore I think it's worth studying for a little longer.

Second, my church, Mercy Hill Church, in Greensboro, NC has started a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount. I think that listening to this series will push the boundaries of my understanding compared to if I just breezed through it alone. So, I'm excited to stick with these two chapters in Matthew to learn about Jesus' teaching with the guidance of this new sermon series at my church.

Matthew 5: A mountain of sermons

Here's the link to Matthew 5.

It's right about now that I'm starting to think that I bit off more than I can chew by trying to read my way chapter by chapter through the NT! I'm not even 5 chapters in, and I have already reached a point in Matthew 5 where I could write literally 77 blog posts about one chapter. I think I have heard a whole mountain of sermons just on Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount." It's a rich, dense text, and contains some of the most important things Jesus ever said, including the beatitudes, his fulfillment of the law, and his take on the 10 commandments.

So, the best way that I can think to address Matthew 5 without getting stuck in Matthew 5 forever is to just bullet-list the things I found most important/intriguing. I can come back to this post and maybe elaborate when I've gotten more than 5 days into my goal to read the entire New Testament. So, here goes:

• The Beatitudes: How blessed are we? In the beatitudes, Jesus outlines all the different types of people who are considered blessed in the eyes of God. He names the poor in spirit, the meek, the moral, the sensitive, the persecuted, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the merciful. It's interesting that Jesus finds these characteristics to be more important than powerful, strong, righteous, outspoken, important. 
• Can these more humble characteristics be used to describe me? I pray that I may embody these "down-to-earth" characteristics so that they may bring me closer to God and separate me from the world. What a beautiful paradox.
• Salt and Light: I think Jesus highlights the beautiful balance between staying strong in faith while remaining humble. He just got finished saying that the meek, merciful, persecuted, peacemakers will inherit the kingdom (all very humbling, lowly imagery), and then compares them to being the "salt of the earth," the light of a city on a hill, or a light placed on a stand rather than a basket (all very strong, empowering images). 
• I pray that I find that balance between being humble, lowly, meek, and faithful while being unwavering, unhidden, unashamed.
• Jesus didn't abolish the law, he fulfilled it. This is concept is so important for our culture. I see so many non-believers using the old testament law to highlight inconsistencies in our faith (e.g., "Why do you eat shrimp and pork, which the Bible forbids more times than it forbids homosexuality?"). Matthew 5 shows that Jesus fulfilled the old law. That doesn't mean that it's irrelevant, because it shows us how imperfect we are--no one but Jesus can follow all the rules all the time. But, Jesus fulfilled all the commandments in the law and still died a sinner's death. And when he died, he said, "It is finished," and he was referring to the fulfillment of the law. God now has no wrath for us who cannot follow it. But, out of our love for him and our response to Jesus' sacrifice, we continue to use the law to understand the heart of God in contrast to our sinful hearts.
• All of the 10 commandments are actually more strict that we ever expected! Jesus says that murder is not only killing another person, but also wishing for someone's failure or calling someone stupid comes from the same heart-issue as murder. The same goes for adultery. This is yet another way that Jesus is highlighting how the law is meant to show us our sin, rather than as a means to win God's love. 
• I pray that I reflect on God's law and his commandments to understand more about my sinful heart and more about God's perfection. I pray that they will lead me to his plan for my life and that I will try to take them to heart, not to win his affection or do the "Christian" thing, but because following them is an appropriate reaction to his love for me.
• Love your enemies and walk humbly. Jesus says that if we are slapped on the cheek, we must turn the other cheek, or if someone forces us to go one mile, we should go with them two miles. In that way, we are loving our enemies and those who persecute us. We are doing the exact opposite of what our culture tells us to do, and we are doing the exact opposite of what the enemy probably would expect us to do. People pay attention to that which is unexpected.
• Jesus commands us to be "perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect," and God is perfect because he loves everyone, even those who hate him. It's no feat to love only those who love you or greet only those who greet you. But if you love those who hate you and greet those who shut you out, that is something special and godly.
• I pray that I may exhibit patience, humility, and a desire to be tender with everyone in my life, no matter how they treat me or how much they are bugging me!

Matthew 4, part 2: Do I immediately follow?

Here's the link to the chapter again.

The second part of Matthew characterizes Jesus and his first moments as a public minister.

We first see that Jesus leaves Nazareth when he hears that John has been arrested. John sure means a lot to Jesus! In a surprising event, John to baptized Jesus--the God of the universe--which caused the Holy Spirit to come down an anoint Jesus and bring about his public ministry. Then, when John is arrested, Jesus basically goes out and picks up where John left off.

• Thinking/praying point: Jesus found a spiritual mentor, a spiritual father, a peer in John. Am I seeking a similar relationship? I pray that God would bring someone into my life to pour into me and lead me spiritually to act on God's role in my life more tangibly. I feel that I have been aching for that kind of relationship for as long as I can remember, so I hope that I'm receptive to it and make time for it when God finally presents it to me.

Another important thing to consider in the first part of Matthew 4 (when Satan tempts Jesus) is that Jesus was tempted in the desert, he was beckoned to fall from God, he was promised the world if he abandoned eternity--all BEFORE he began publicly spreading the "good news." I think this is a lesson that, often, the rotten things that can happen in our lives ultimately make our stories and our passion for God greater. The "good news" we can share is even better if it was preceded by bad news.

• Thinking/praying point: Can I use the bad things that may have happened to me to make my testimony stronger? How can the temptations that I have resisted, and even the temptations that I have failed to resist (my sins), make God's power and strength and love more perfect?

The rest of Matthew 4 outlines Jesus' first disciples and his first sermons where he healed the sick and gleaned great crowds from lands that had previously been "in darkness." It's so funny to me that, when Jesus approached Simon, Peter, James, and John, the Bible says that they, "Immediately left and followed him." I'm trying to picture myself at work, doing my speech therapist thing, and someone coming up and saying, "Hey, come with me to spread the word." I would probably be like, "Um...come back and talk to me when I've clocked out." Perhaps that land was so much in darkness that Jesus' light was extremely easy to discern, but I think we live in pretty "dark" times, and I'm still not sure that my response to Jesus is that immediate.

• Thinking/praying point: I pray that my response to the gospel is immediate and strong, no matter what I am doing or who I am talking to. I pray that I don't compartmentalize my life into work, relationships, prayer, etc to the point where my spiritual life doesn't influence the my physical life. God's love and Jesus' story is an anywhere, anytime, drop-everything kind of thing!

Matthew 4, part 1: What is your "bread?"

Here's the link to Matthew 4.

The initial part of this chapter is one that really speaks to me, and I think it should speak to all Christians regarding temptations that we face. And the encouraging thing is that it doesn't leave us hanging--it tells us how to escape those temptations and stay on the path on which God has placed us.

The story describes that, after Jesus was baptized by John, he went out into the wilderness and fasted for a long, long time...to the point that he was famished. And, as he always does, the "tempter" came to offer Jesus what he wanted most--to take the easy way out and to test God's faithfulness. Hint: If you have to test God's faithfulness, it is your own faith that is seriously lacking. This is a perfect example of the spiritual warfare that Satan is making ever-present in our lives. He doesn't necessarily come into full view and drag us to mountain tops to say, "Do this, and follow me," but he does tempt us with things that, when considering our eternal God, Satan is saying, "Do this, and forget about Him."

I easily compare my struggle with weight loss/dieting to this text. It's funny that Jesus also happens to be tempted initially with food, because food is pretty much my biggest temptation! And his response is just what I need to hear: "Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

• Thinking/praying point: The things that I am most tempted by are the things that are most likely to become the "bread" of my life. Is it money, junk food, a relationship, my job, my house, Netflix that sustains me? If these things are the "bread," then I am spiritually famished, and I can very easily be tempted to stray away from God's desires and from glorifying him. Instead, I need to be intentional about God's word and remembering his love and mercy so that story is my "bread." 

Matthew 3: The Ultimate Baptism

Here's the link to Matthew 3.

This is an interesting chapter that I have actually never really given much thought to. I seem to always have accepted that there was a "John the Baptist" and that he baptized Jesus. But when I read this just now, it really sunk in. First of all, John the Baptist is a very eccentric man, to put it nicely. He wears garments made of camel hair, he eats locusts and honey, he lives in the wilderness. He is basically the epitome of a dirty hippie, and he has given his life to bringing people to God. And John gets it. He tells people that they cannot rest easy in knowing they are sons of Abraham; they can't just think that their bloodline or their profession alone is enough to make a "straight path" for God. No, their lives must bear fruit. John says that the "ax is at the root of the trees," ready to chop down the plants in the vineyard that do not serve the purpose for which they were created. He's not necessarily condemning people, but he does want to shake their security to the point where they look at themselves and say, "Have I spent my life preparing a way for the Lord?"

• Thinking/praying point: Do I hang my hat on a false security? Do I say, "I got saved when I was a teenager, so I'm set for life," "I go to church, so it's all good," or "I pray before my meals, so God's got my back." We can say things like this until we are blue in the face, but the truth is that our lives must be a response to our love for God and God's love for us. Does my life bear fruit? I pray that I be transformed every day and arise every morning with a new desire to be fruitful for God's kingdom.

Also, the whole event described in the second part of this chapter is just a little strange when you acknowledge that Jesus is God. I was initially like, "Hold the phone...Why did Jesus, the God of the Universe, get baptized by a camel-hair-wearing, locust-eating hippie?!" Well, Jesus got baptized NOT to become righteous in the eyes of God...because he already is completely righteous. But he was baptized as a symbol of his human submission to God. He did it to fulfill righteousness. After being baptized, the Holy Spirit anointed him, and thus began Jesus' public ministry. In the end, baptism doesn't do anything, but it is an important symbol of a change in our lives brought about by becoming renewed by God.

• Thinking/praying point: In being baptized, did I truly submit to God in that moment? Did that moment represent that my life is on fire for God? 

It's incredible that Jesus didn't consider it "below" him to allow John the Baptist to be the harbinger of the Holy Spirit "descending like a dove." Even John was like, "Ummm, shouldn't YOU be baptizing ME?" But Jesus knew better.

• Thinking/praying point: I pray that I will allow people into my life that I wouldn't normally. I hope I won't judge people too harshly, because God can be using them in my life for something amazing. I pray for humility and wisdom.