Salt & Light

ell, good morning Church. It is great to be worshiping with you. I heard many of you snicker when he said my full name. I heard it. Yes, my name is Levi Pancake. Yes, that is my real name. And it's a lot to take in all at once, I understand that. Usually when I introduce myself, I say, "Hi, I am Levi." And then wait three weeks until I say Pancake because it's just too much at once. Honestly, my wife, almost before she was my wife didn't even want to give me a chance when we started dating 'cause she had to figure out how Julie sounded with Pancake. And so yeah. Let's just get that out of the way. I mean, I've been called a lot of things. Bisque, French toast, waffles. People wanna know if I have an Aunt Jemima, all of it. And maybe the silliest is when I was in school, there'd be a substitute teacher and she would be calling the roster and she'd get to the peas and she'd stop and everyone would start to smirk a bit and they'd know what's coming and she'd look at it and she'd go, "Levi Pancake. Is it French?" It's like, "No, It's not French." If it was French, I'd be Levi Crepe. I'm Levi Pancake. And so anyway, it really is a delight to be worshiping with you this morning. The church where I serve Missio Church is a longtime partner and friend of The Chapel. It is a real joy to partner with you in the gospel. We are so thankful for this gospel outpost here in Western New York. We do a lot of stuff together with The Chapel, with our global partners, with Saturation Church Planning International, but we're also just really close friends, like-minded. We share the same mission statement as Pastor Jerry said. And just you continue to be a great source of encouragement and strength and partnership to Missio Church in Syracuse. And so on behalf of our whole church family, I wanna say thank you and it really is very sweet to be worshiping with you this morning. Our text this morning will be Matthew 5:13-16. It is a well-known text and something that I'm sure you all are very familiar with, yet I want us to consider it. And I pray that our familiarity with it doesn't rob us of the opportunity to hear what God might have for us this morning from His word. So let's consider Matthew 5:13-16. This is the word of the Lord. "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." Verse 15, "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." The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Let's pray. Father, we now give you this time. We thank you for the opportunity to gather as your saints, as you're called out ones. I pray that as we consider the truth of this text, that you would by the aid of your Holy Spirit, incline our hearts, open our eyes. Please give us understanding and satisfy us with your word and with your promises. We love you, we trust you and it's in Christ saying that we pray together. Amen. In 2023, Webster Dictionary's word of the year was authentic. Now, the reason that was the word of the year was due to the AI craze, the obsession with artificial intelligence. And we keep on hearing about it. So we wanna know, when we look at a photo, is it authentic? Is that real? When we watch a video, is that a deep fake? Is that genuine? Is that a real video? When a teacher is reading a paper that apparently a student wrote, they wanna make sure that the student actually wrote it. They wanna know is it genuine, is it sincere, is it real? Is it authentic? And I bring that up to highlight this connection between what you've been looking at over the last four weeks in your series of Resurrected Life, where you've looked at Romans 8. And in many ways what Romans 8 was and is, is reveals to us what an authentic Christian is and what an authentic Christian does. In Romans 8, we see a genuine follower of Christ, someone who's adopted, someone who has Christ living in them, someone who's a co-heir with Christ, someone that there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Someone that's the spirit of God residing in them. And similarly, Jesus in his most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 he's also highlighting what an authentic kingdom citizen is. In Matthew 5:3 and following, you have what's known as the beatitude. Beatitude is a famous Latin word that means blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn. Matthew 5:4 says, "For they shall be comforted." "Blessed are those," verse six, "for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are... We see in those beatitudes really what a kingdom citizen is and what a kingdom citizen does. And as we think about Romans 8, Matthew 5, there is understandably an impulse, an instinct, a temptation for us as followers of Christ to want to cloister off, to go monastic, to retreat into our holy huddles. And what Matthew 5, our text, 13 through 16 does is offer a helpful protective from that temptation and that impulse. It's a helpful rounding out of, yeah, I wanna, I mean, who doesn't wanna hang out with other people who are merciful and pure in heart and peacemakers and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness? Well, yes, but we are also called by God as his people to permeate society as his instruments. We're also called by God to infiltrate society as agents of redemption. We are called by God as we live out our authentic, genuine Christian lives to saturate wherever we are, neighborhoods, third places, families, extended families, schools, et cetera as salt and light. The main idea is very simple. It's this kingdom citizens are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. As we live out a resurrected life, there is something qualitatively distinct about what God is doing in and through us, through the aid of His Holy Spirit. And that is what makes us his ambassadors. That D.A Carson says very helpfully, he says, "The norms of the kingdom worked out in the lives of the heirs of the kingdom constitute the witness of the kingdom. The norms of the kingdom. You, not seamlessly perfect of course, but as you continue to mature and conform to the image of Christ, as you lean in and live out a resurrected life that is the norms of the kingdom. Christ is transforming you through the Holy Spirit. And as you do that, you remember, you recognize that you are heirs of the kingdom and that constitutes our witness. So let's consider these two well-known metaphors that Jesus uses. You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. And see how that does in fact constitute our witness as kingdom citizens. "You are the salt of the earth," Matthew 5:13. That's how it starts. "You are the salt of the earth." That first word you, it is emphatic. You are the salt of the earth. He's not talking about people in general. He's talking about kingdom citizens. He's talking about those who have the spirit of God residing in them. And the you there is a second person, plural. It's what they say in the south, y'all, all right? It's what we say. I'm originally from Pittsburgh. It's, it's what they say there. It's yins. Yins are the salt of the earth. It's all y'all. It's what they say Downstate yous guys, you know, further south in New York. Yous guys, y'all, yins. You as this visible community. You church are the salt of the earth. And it is an indicative statement. It's a statement of fact. It's not a promise. You will be the salt of the earth. It's not even an invitation. You can be the salt of the earth. It's a fact. You are the salt of the earth. Now why salt? Now you read commentaries on this passage and you can find over a dozen things that Jesus might be referring to when he says, you are the salt of the earth. I am not gonna cover all 12, I'm going to widow it down to three that I think covers kind of the main highlights of what salt does and why that's a very powerful metaphor for Jesus to use for his followers. I'm not gonna talk about how salt, you know, gets the, the snow and ice off the roads. I'm not gonna talk about how it rusts our cars. I'm gonna keep it to things that Jesus was probably referring to when he said this over 2000 years ago. He says, you are the salt of the earth. The first thing salt is known for and has been used for as long as people have been using salt. Is that it brings out the flavor, the right amount of salt brings out the flavor in the food that you are eating. It kind of highlights the flavor. It makes the flavor that exists in the food pop. Our house growing up, we didn't use a lot of salt. In fact, if I picture our kitchen table, I can picture where the pepper shaker was. I have no idea where the salt shaker was. My wife's family, on the other hand, they have like four salt shakers on their dining room table. They never want to be inconvenience to ask, you know, can you pass me the salt, everything, you know, two hands, arms, distance and they're, you know, like double, double handing it on all the food. And I can testify that yes, they are the type of family that would you like some food with that salt. But it also the right amount of salt. It brings out the flavor and it makes the flavor pop. Now I remember a few years ago I was eating dinner middle of winter with this sweet couple in our church, Ed and Cheryl, and Cheryl had made this just delightful big pot of soup. And I was on my second or third bowl and finally I said to Cheryl, "Cheryl, what is your secret? This soup is amazing. Tell me the recipe." And she smirked and she said, "Salt. There is a lot of salt in that soup." Okay, so you and I know that our doctors are gonna tell us too much sodium in our diet is bad. But we also know that soup without salt doesn't taste very good. So we have to live in that tension. That's what salt does. Now extend the metaphor to us as kingdom citizens. You are the salt of the earth. What Jesus is saying is, is that as we live out the norms of the kingdom, we highlight and bring out the true flavor in true life. You and I know as we are in a reconciled relationship to God through Jesus Christ, that we understand what true meaning is. True purpose is. We understand what fullness of joy looks like. We understand correct priorities and we understand the upside down nature of the kingdom. At least from an earthly vantage point, from a heavenly vantage point. It's really right side up. You and I, by nature of our reconciled relationship to God by nature of our identity, our primary identity in Christ Jesus, we bring out wherever we go, as we live our life, as we're just doing our Christian thing, we through our actions and attitudes, through our decisions, through our priorities, through our openhandedness, through how we love our spouses, how we raise our kids, how we spend our time, how we spend our money, how we spend our talent. All of that points people like a big neon sign to Jesus and how true life can be found. You are the salt of the earth. The second way that that Jesus could have this in mind is that salt functions as a preservative. Before refrigeration and freezers, salt rubbed into meat would slow decay. Apart from salt decay would happen much more quickly. Now think about that metaphor for a moment. For us, salt of the earth, there's something about us living out our Christian lives that permeates society and organizations that we're a part of and the culture that we're engaged in and the nation that we're also citizens of that as we live out the norms of the kingdom, Jesus says that part of how we function as salt, as that we slow down the decaying effects of sin and people who are self-centered, self-righteous and give themselves over to the flesh. Sin in the fall has so marred the human experience and has such an impact on cultures and societies and organizations and people, groups that Christians being salt in our saltiness, we are agents used by God, instruments used by God, wherever we are as we do life. The Lord uses us with our side up living, with our priorities, with our convictions, with our understanding of true life. God uses us as agents and instruments to help slow down the decaying effects of sin. Of course, there's other institutions that God uses to restrain evil. Of course you have government, which is called to wield the sword and to restrain evil and do good by framing and enforcing laws. Yeah, of course you also have families that institution husbands and wives and children and how we raise our kids and how we serve our extended family. That's also an agent of influence for good. But the primary and most powerful influence is and will continue to be the people of God, his own redeemed, regenerate and righteous people. You can hear very well known and popular atheists when they talk about how it seems like society is breaking down and all of that, you'll often hear them say, yeah, but we don't want to imagine a culture or a society without Christians. You are the salt of the earth. So in addition to bringing out flavor and true life and understanding what true meaning is and being a preservative, finally, salt can also be used to bring healing. You know the phrase salt poured into a wound. You know it. They're pouring salt into a wound. It stings, but it brings healing. The citizens of the kingdom bring a healing message and have a healing effect wherever we go. If we're allowing the spirit of God to continue to mature and conform us to the image of Christ, of course we bring the healing message of salvation, the message that we bring and the way that we live it out. It has such a... It addresses people's greatest need who are alienated from God and hostile in mind doing evil deeds. We bring the healing message of reconciliation. Second Corinthians five says that we as the people of God, we are bear the message of reconciliation. We are the ministry of reconciliation. We are Christ's ambassadors and we are the righteousness of God. So through word deed, we have the healing message of the forgiveness of sins through the finished work of Christ. But additionally, we also by permeating society and being in our neighborhoods and the organizations and schools and everywhere that we are families, we also, because of our kingdom priorities, because we're living out our, the resurrected life, we also bring healing through forgiveness, through serving, through helping. There's a very loud and predominant worldview in our culture right now that frames everything through the dynamic of oppressor oppressed. And in that messaging, they're going to say that wherever Christian missionaries went over the last 2000 years, that pain and hardship and corruption and bad things happen. Now of course, you and I will be honest, yes, Christian missionaries, they haven't always represented Jesus faithfully. They haven't always acted in accordance with their profession of faith, of course. However, by and large on the whole, generally speaking, where Christian missionaries have gone and where there is a Christian presence, what you see is this healing effect where decadal and generational sin that is impoverished and annihilated and eviscerated cultures that besetting sin on that country, that nation, those people has been upended when people began to respond positively to the transforming message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wherever Christians have gone, soon thereafter, hospitals have been built, schools have been formed and built. Humanitarian efforts began because we know that everyone, every human being is an image bearer of God and is worthy of dignity and honor. Where Christians have gone and people have responded positively to the gospel, you see charitable giving, rising, sacrificial generosity. We as the salt of the earth, the people of God have an opportunity to be bring primarily the healing message of the gospel. But then also as it begins to permeate our lives and our hearts from the inside out, we also become very positive agents permeating society, bringing healing wherever we go. Now then Jesus offers this caution in the second part of Matthew 5:13, he says, "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?" Now scientifically speaking, salt cannot lose its taste. Sodium chloride is a very stable chemical compound. But in first century Palestine, the salt that was there, it was impure and it was quite possible for the sodium chloride to be leached out. So what remained looked like salt, but actually lacked saltiness and specifically its salty taste. So that would look like salt. It was so diluted by other chemicals that though on the surface it looked like salt actually ceased to function as salt was supposed to function. So it can no longer add flavor, it can no longer act as a preservative and it would no longer bring healing to wounds. Then Jesus says in the next sentence, "It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet." So you see, if we as kingdom citizens, if we cease to function as salt, if we become so diluted with the rest of the world, if our decisions, our actions, our attitudes and priorities, if our living, if our marriages and our family life, if our posture and disposition, if our lives look so much like the world, we lose that qualitative distinct flavor and we cease to function as salt. And if we cease to function as salt, then therefore we can no longer act as that preservative and bring healing in the way that God wants his agents of redemption to be and to do. We can no longer point people as powerfully to Jesus. If we live for what the world lives for, money, power, and sex, we become so diluted that we become unfruitful and ineffective. This is a gracious warning. Now, I'm not saying that we do this in an of our own strength. Please don't misunderstand it. That was very clear in Romans 8. This is us allowing the spirit of God to continue to transform us from the inside out. It's the Holy Spirit that convinces us. It's the Holy Spirit that convicts us. It's the Holy Spirit that enables us. It's the Holy Spirit that transforms us. But as we allow the spirit of God to continue to grow us, and as we continue to prioritize the things of the kingdom, as we continue to live humbly, live out the beatitudes, live out the resurrected life, then that allows us to be salty Christians and that there's something about that that is so magnetic and it is a sweet aroma to those who are perishing. How will Western New York have repeated opportunities to see here and respond to the gospel? How will Niagara County and Erie County have repeated opportunities to see here respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Church, it's you. It's you individually as the salt of the earth. And then it's you collectively chapel family, this visible community. You are what could be called, you know the instruments, it's the instrumentality of all of Christ's people. You, it's the priesthood of all believers. It's this conviction, whatever God is going to do in Western New York, he is going to do through all of Christ's people. If the spirit of God resides in you, you are instrumental to what God is doing in Western New York. There are no throwaways, there's no toss outs. If the spirit of God resides in you, you are instrumental to what he is doing in this region and the ends of the earth. In a way we could say we need to remember as followers of Christ, we need to know who we are. Our primary citizenship is in heaven. Our primary identity is in Christ Jesus. We need to know where we're going. We need to know our destiny. "You are co-heirs with Christ." Romans 8 says, you are heirs. You are sons and daughters, princes and princesses. And we need to continue to become who we are becoming. And as we do that, mature and conform to the image of Christ, we are used by God as the salt of the earth. Our primary identity is in Christ Jesus. We need to know where we're going. We need to know our destiny. "You are co-heirs with Christ." Romans 8 says. You are heirs, you are sons and daughters, princes and princesses. And we need to continue to become who we are becoming. And as we do that, mature and conform to the image of Christ, we are used by God as the salt of the earth. Okay, let's consider the second metaphor. "You are the light of the world." That's Matthew 5:14. He says, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." Once again, the you is emphatic and it's second person, plural. Y'all are the light of the world. Yins are the light of the world. You guys are the light of the world. Light is a, it's a common symbol in the scripture. God is light, Christ is light. God's people are light. His word is light. Now there is a contrast here, and we need to note this. Those who are not in Christ scripturally speaking are in fact in darkness. No matter how much they say they are enlightened. You and I know from God's word that they are dwelling in spiritual darkness. However, those who are in Christ Jesus are called by Jesus the light of the world. Now, the main point of this metaphor is visibility. There are no secret disciples that we are intended by our normal Christian living to be used by God to be salt and light. You've heard this phrase, we are in the world, but not of the world. We gotta fight that desire that we want to solely or only just kind of go in our holy huddles or go monastic or just be by ourselves. No, we are through our righteous living intended to be used by God so that the nations may know and hear and respond to the gospel and that they may be glad and worship him. Now, of course, it's an important qualifier. Of course we need moments and times and regular rhythms where we come together as God's people. Sunday morning, yes, small groups, yes, Bible studies, yes, one-on-ones, yes, we need to do all of those things that we may be built up and strengthened so that we can continue to be in our going, in our living where we're doing life. Salt and light. He says, a city set on a hill be hidden. More than likely, Jesus is thinking of Jerusalem. Jerusalem sat on a hill and at dusk when travelers were coming in, they would see the lights of the city and it would be a source of encouragement, of hope, of confidence and strength. And you can't hide that city as it sits on a hill and darkness, light stands out. I remember visiting my grandparents' farm in West Virginia. They had a 1,500 acre dairy farm. And my grandparents are now both at home with the Lord. But when I visited there as a kid, I mean it got really dark at night. I live in the city of Syracuse now, and there's so much artificial light. I mean, I look up at the sky and I can see the reflections of some of the buildings from the city, but not so on that farm in West Virginia. When I would turn a flashlight off or if I didn't have a flashlight with me and it was nighttime, it was a scary place to be. And if I would go a 100 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards from my grandparents' farmhouse, my grandma, who I affectionately called ma'am, ma'am, had this light on the front porch and it was bright. And you could see it anywhere on that farm, anywhere, several 100 yards anywhere you could, went into the hills, whatever, you could always see that front porch light. It was so bright. I'm convinced the International Space Station could see it. And yet no matter where I was on that farm at night or if I was driving in, we could see that light on that front porch. And what it brought was comfort, encouragement. It oriented me and it stood out. And in the same way, church, we are to shine bright like that front porch light. He continues, he says, "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." You light a lamp, you don't immediately cover it up. No, the purpose of the light is to shine that it might light up the whole house. Last month you experienced like me, the total solar eclipse. We were in the path of totality in Syracuse. We had a minute and a half, I think you had more like three minutes. And those 90 seconds, I mean, leading up to it, it was cloudy and we were in our backyard and it was all kind of nervous anticipation. "Are we gonna see it? Are we gonna miss it? Oh look, there it is. Oh nevermind. Oh, there it is again. Nope, nevermind, there's a cloud." But when totality actually happened for that minute and a half, I was shocked at how dark it got. I had seen an eclipse before, but I'd never been in the path of totality. It was pretty trippy, it was awesome. Birds started circling, my dog was barking at who knows what. And then when those 90 seconds ended and a sliver of the sun came out, I was equally shocked to see how quickly the whole sky lit up. Just from that little bit of a sunshine. The the darkness went away immediately. The purpose of the sun is to shine, not to be covered up by the moon. The purpose of the lamp is to shine, not to be covered up by a basket. The purpose of the Christian and the church is to shine, not to hide away or to be covered up. Last night I spent the night in a hotel and I'm the kind of sleeper that I like pitch black darkness when I sleep. So in a hotel, you got the blinds there and I want to jimmy rig it so that no, you know, street lamp light is coming in. So I I jimmy rig all of that. And the clock on the nightstand is always super bright. So I flip that over and then after that I'm very aware of the light creeping in through the hotel door. And I have enough self-awareness to know that if I do anything about that, I'm a psychopath. So I don't do anything about that. And then I see the smoke detector and these two green lights, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip, flip. Now what I probably need to do is get a sleep mask or something. But the more darkness I try to create, the brighter the existing light that is there shines. And that's an important thing to think about in this moment in time. It very much feels like darkness is overshadowing our culture, our society, our nation. It's intimidating, it's scary, it's discouraging. And yet whether that's a feeling we feel often, I think there's objective truth to that as well. While that's happening, there's also this tremendous opportunity for the greater the darkness, the greater the opportunity for the light to shine. And as some of the light is kind of snuffed out, you just then focus on the existing light that is actually there. What an opportunity church family for us living our Christian lives being this visible community for the light of the gospel to shine forth in and through you. You know the song, you sang it as Kids, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, hide it under a bushel. No, I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine till Jesus comes, I am gonna let it shine. Now there are two responses then from those who are not in Christ, from the world as we live as salt and light. The first response that is common is founding the proceeding verses in Matthew 5:10, 11, and 12. Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." He warns us that one of the responses to us as the people of God being salt and light is persecution. We can be met with alienation and hostility and resistance and rejection and mocking and persecution. But he also says in verse 12 that we are to rejoice and be glad. So there's a part of it here where we expect that is one of the responses. We shouldn't be thrown by that. Hater's gonna hate. Players gonna play. Pagan's gonna pagan. They're gonna respond to salt and light with hostility at times. We shouldn't be thrown by that. In fact, we should expect it. We should pray for peace. We should expect persecution. Yes, we should be involved. We should vote, we should be involved in the community. We, yes. But we also shouldn't be thrown or upended when that is one response to the gospel as they wanna snuff it out or they wanna recoil away from the light. But there is a second response found in verse 16 that gives us great encouragement and hope. Jesus says in verse 16, "In the same way, let your light shine before others." Why? "So that they," that's those who are not followers of Christ. "They may see your good works," and then what? "And give glory to your Father who is in heaven." So there is a second possible response that could give us, should give us encouragement. Some will see Christ in you, the hope of glory. They will see you living as salt and light and they will be so drawn to it. It will be magnetic, it will be a sweet aroma. And they will wanna know, why do you have fullness of joy? Why can you rejoice in suffering? Why do you love your spouse with such patience and kindness? Why are you so gentle yet firm with your children? Why do you give up your time in those ways of serving others? Why do you give that much of your income away in order to help others in the community? In the church, they'll see that and they'll think, huh, I want that stability. I want that comfort. I want that in my life. And some will see it. And this tells us that they then will enter into a reconciled relationship with God by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And then we will call them brothers and sisters, fellow heirs with Christ. And that is also one potential response as we live in a dark, lost and sinful world. And so it's not all failure, it's not all hardship. There will be some that see Christ in you and will be drawn to it. And there's great hope in that. And we as the people of God and we as a local church become those very important lighthouses in a dark community. We become these spiritual outposts or beach heads that have the opportunity to impact where we are and who we do life with in profound and powerful ways. Your church, it shares with our church in Syracuse, we share the same mission statement. Every man, every woman, every child, we wanna see them have repeated opportunities to see, hear, respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. How Christ in you, the hope of glory. Yes, as we're we should be doing the serve days. That was wonderful. That was so encouraging to see that, yes, please do that. But also as you're living out your normal Christian lives, normal from a biblical perspective, it's abnormal from a worldly perspective. But just living a resurrected life, living as kingdom citizens, that is how a society and culture is permeated with access to the gospel. Your church leadership has done something really wonderful and that has taken all the concepts from the scriptures that talk about what a disciple is and does, what a kingdom citizen is and what a kingdom citizen does, what a resurrected life looks like. And they've whittled it down to these four values, kinda these four buckets that make it easy to communicate, easy to remember that everything we could think of when it comes to defining a disciple could fall into one of these four buckets. Hopefully these are familiar to you, but one of them is intimacy with God. So as you people of God treasure Christ as your greatest treasure, as you regularly have unhurried relational time with the Lord, that becomes the fuel for us to live out the mission. The second value, Christ-like relationships. As you lean into biblical community, as you bear one another's burdens, as you're patient with one another, as you're kind to one another, as you encourage one another daily, as long as it's called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness as you, as you build up one another. All of that Jesus says how you love one another. That's how they will know that you're my disciples. The third value is spiritual giftedness. Using your gifts for the building up of the body and using your gifts in the community and grace story through word and through deeds. You can point to the hope we have in Jesus. And as you continue to grow in those things, as you mature in these things, as the spirit of God transforms you in these areas, wherever you are and wherever you go and whoever you do life with, you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world and an agent of influence and change and redemption to them. I wanna wrap up by reading a bit of a longer quote by John Stott. I think he captures this idea in essence just really, really well. Follow along as I read this. He writes, "This means that as the disciples of Jesus, we are not to conceal the truth. We know or the truth of what we are." We're not to conceal the truth. We know we're not to conceal the truth of what we are. "We are not to pretend to be other than we are. But be willing for our Christianity to be visible to all flight into the invisible is a denial of the call. A community of Jesus, which seeks to hide itself, has ceased to follow him. Rather, we are to be ourselves, our true Christian selves, openly living the life described in the beatitudes and not ashamed of Christ. Then people will see us and our good deeds and seeing us will glorify God for they will inevitably recognize that it is by the grace of God we are what we are, that our light is his light. And that what we do is what he does is us and through us. So it is the light they will praise, not the lamp with which it bears it. It is our father in heaven whom they will glorify, not the children he has begotten and who exhibit a certain family likeness. Even those who revile us may not be able to help glorifying God for the very righteousness on account of which they persecute us. Or as D.A Carson says, "The norms of the kingdom worked out in the lives of the heirs of the kingdom, constitute the witness of the kingdom." People of God hear these verses one more time and allow the spirit of God to convince, convict, remind you a part of our call as salt of the earth in light of the word. Hear this again. Jesus says that, "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." Let's pray. Father I pray that we would remember who we are. Remember our identity, remember to resurrected life that has been taught to us over the last four weeks. May we remember where we're going and our destiny, that we're coheirs with Christ, sons and daughters. And may you continue to transform us and allow us to become who we are becoming. And as that happens, you have said, we are salt and we are light. So I pray in our families and in our neighborhoods and in our schools and our workplaces and the organizations that we're a part of, that you would allow us to bring the healing message of the gospel, to act as a preservative and to point out what true life truly is. I Pray that you would work so powerfully within us that the light of the gospel would shine forth and that many would see that light and give glory to our Father who is in heaven. We ask all of these things in Christ's powerful name. Amen.