Go and Be the Difference

You can listen to this and other sermons online by clicking here or watch the video here.

GO AND BE THE DIFFERENCE by Pastor Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson

We are in our series called Salt and Light on the Sermon on the Mount and today we are looking at a very familiar passage from Matthew 5. We’ve been going over and over again on this one passage because it is critical that we get it – critical for us individually, for our children and grandchildren, for our nation, and for our church. Our message is titled – “GO AND BE THE DIFFERENCE.”

Matthew 5 13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Overall Background: “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.” When Jesus spoke these words 2000 years ago, the world was in a big mess. Tiberius Caesar was ruling Rome – a cruel man, an open homosexual, perverse beyond your wildest imaginations. Herod’s sons were controlling the various regions. One of them (Herod Antipas) had even taken his own brother’s wife and had John the Baptist beheaded. Annas (father-in-law) and Caiaphas were running the temple. They cared more for money, politics, and power than anything else. The people were struggling under heavy tax burdens. You can imagine them saying – “It’s just getting worse and worse.” “How long will God let this go on?” “When will He step in and make things right?” Just when you would’ve expected Jesus to tell the multitude to sit tight and hold on, He challenged them to stand up and head out – “Go be the Salt and Light!”

Our world is in a big mess – politically, financially, morally, and spiritually. As a nation, we’re divided. As a people, millions are struggling to make ends meet. As a culture, we’re losing the battle for traditional values. As Vance Havner would say, “Sin that used to slink down back alleys now struts down main streets.” As a world power, we don’t have the respect we once did. As a church, we are barely keeping up with the lostness around us. What is Jesus saying to us in 2015? Same as back then – “Go be the Salt and Light.”

Application: Are you concerned about the condition of our world? Does it bother you how our nation and our world are sinking in every way? Have you asked God what He wants you to do? Are you saved? Do you know Christ as your Savior?

Here’s the essence of this message – When the beatitudes become a part of your nature, you will become the salt and the light of the world. As we walk through this message, ask the Holy Spirit to help you be the difference makers in this world.

I. DIFFERENCE MAKERS HAVE A HUMBLE SPIRIT.

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit…5 Blessed are the meek…”

Background: They are 2 different aspects of humility – “Poor in spirit” means people who have very little of self. “Meek” means people who wait upon God. As poor in spirit they know that all that they are and all that they have is by the grace of God. As meek, when people offend them, instead of getting angry, frustrated, or disappointed with people or God, they give everything over to God. Humility has nothing to do with how much or how little you have in your bank account. It has everything to do with how little you think of yourself and how more you think of others.

The Christian spirit of humility transformed the Western culture. Men and women full of the Holy Spirit began to put others ahead of themselves. People became gentlemen and ladies and started greeting each others with “good morning,” “good evening.” They began saying things like excuse me, pardon me, my bad, or go ahead. They began standing in lines instead of jumping in front of others. Have you traveled overseas? People will climb all over you to get into a bus or a train. It’s considered normal. The further we get away from Christian values our world becomes more barbaric.

Application: Are you a humble person? Better question – do people consider you a humble person?

II. DIFFERENCE MAKERS HAVE A COMPASSIONATE HEART.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”

Background: Many of us found comfort for personal grief and loss when I preached on this few weeks ago. But Christians saw so much more in this beatitude. They heard their God and Master telling them that if they see someone mourning, it was their obligation and privilege to provide comfort to them. In fact, another beatitude says 7 “Blessed are the merciful…” Meaning: if you see someone in need of mercy, you be merciful. It’s a step beyond humility.

The Christian spirit of compassion transformed the Western culture. In Hinduism, there is not much compassion for the poor. Simplistically speaking, the poor are in that state because of their previous life. For you to help them would be to interfere with karma. Somebody might say – “How about Gandhi? Didn’t he fight for the rights of the untouchables?” What many people don’t realize is that Gandhi was greatly influenced by Christianity. Someone else might say – “Wait a minute! Didn’t he say that he would be a Christian if it wasn’t for Christians.” That’s very hypocritical of Gandhi. When he was attacked by fellow Indians in the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa and left for dead, a Baptist pastor by the name of John Joseph Doke took him into his home and nursed him back to life. Gandhi was grateful but he was also forgetful.

How about Islam? If you are a Muslim beggar, maybe you’ll get something. But if you are anything else, you don’t count. I can go on and on. It’s the coming of Christianity to the east that brought orphanages, women’s shelter and relief societies.

Everywhere people are talking about fairness and equality. Unfortunately, Christians are looked upon as being bigoted, racist, and prejudiced. How did this happen? We’re the people of Wilberforce, Newton, and Wesley! We should be leading that fight!

Application: Are you a compassionate person? Do you care about others or is it all about you? How do you respond when you hear people suffering?

III. DIFFERENCE MAKERS HAVE A HOPEFUL ATTITUDE.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers…”

Background: Who is a peacemaker? They are not people who compromise the truth or sweep things under the rug but they actively seek to bring a resolution in conflict. They do whatever they can to promote peace in their family, neighborhood, church, community, nation, and world. They are hopeful that people can live in peace. Why? Because Jesus is the Prince of peace. Wherever Jesus goes, peace follows.

The Christian spirit of peacemaking transformed the Western culture. Instead of lex talionis or the law of retaliation (what we know as “eye for an eye” and “tooth for a tooth”), men and women full of the Holy Spirit began to put down their battle-axes and reach out with love and compassion. It did not mean that didn’t have laws and consequences for crime. It just means that they stopped being bloodthirsty. I wish I could say that with the coming of Christianity there was never another battle or war in the West but that would be a huge lie. As long as there are sinful, self-centered, and greedy people, there will be conflicts but true Christians have always called for peace.

Application: Are you a peacemaker? Or, are you a troublemaker? Do you pray for peace in our community, our nation, in our world? Are you hopeful that there can be peace?

IV. DIFFERENCE MAKERS HAVE A HIGHER CALLING. 

5 “Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.”

Background: Have you thought about what it means to “inherit the earth?” It goes back to the book of Genesis 1 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Have you ever wondered why the Western culture has been so successful? Because we don’t worship the Sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the rivers, animals, trees, spirit beings, and any carved image. We worship the living true God. We believe that He has given us authority and power over everything. We don’t worship nature. We transcend it. We harness it. No we don’t destroy it but we use it for our benefit and the benefit of all human beings.

There was a time when Christians were the most creative people but unfortunately we’ve become a stick in the mud. Lost people seem to have the market on art, music, education, exploration, business, and the list goes on! We’re not just conservatives but we have become preservatives! We’re looked upon as being the fun killers. I don’t have time to list for you all the scientists, artists, and innovators in history who were born again Christians or operated under the Christian worldview.

Application: What is your calling? Are you a conservative or a preservative? Have you taken God’s command to go out and create like Him?

V. DIFFERENCE MAKERS HAVE A HOLY LIFESTYLE.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Background: Righteousness is the work of the Holy Spirit that brings about an external change in our lives. “Pure in heart” is a person who is no hypocrite. They our holy externally as well as internally.

Our society definitely needs people who hunger for righteousness and are pure in heart. What do you think will happen if people are pure in heart in businesses, media, and the courtroom? They do what is right not because they’ll be caught by some law enforcement but because they have to answer to someone much higher, i.e. the Holy Spirit.

Application: Are you holy both externally as well as internally? Do people refer to you as a person who is genuinely pure in heart?

VI. DIFFERENCE MAKERS HAVE A RELENTLESS PASSION FOR LOST SOULS.

11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Background: there’s more to being a Christian than just being a good citizen. It involves telling people that they are sinful and headed to hell. Unfortunately, many people don’t want to hear that. You will lose friends, opportunities, privileges, and even your life. But that is the most important thing about being the salt and the light. When the salt is put in the food, it disappears. When the lamp is lit, it burns away.

For e.g. Dirk Willems was imprisoned in his hometown of Asperen in the Netherlands for being an Anabaptist. He escaped the prison by making a rope of strips of cloth and slid down over the prison wall. He ran across the frost-covered pond over a thin layer of ice. Dirk had been eating prison food and was very thin but his pursuer fell through and began crying for help. Dirk turned around and pulled the man out. You would’ve thought that they would let him go but they didn’t. The burned him at the stake on May 16, 1569. His tongue was not clamped and so you can imagine him screaming. The wind blew the flame away from him so that his death was long and miserable. Time and again Dirk cried out to God. Finally one of the authorities could not bear to see him suffer any longer and ordered an underling to end his torment with a quick death.

Are you willing to go and be the difference? Are you saved