The Cultural Apologetic
Jan 22
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in our second week studying through the Sermon on the Mount. We'll be in Matthew chapter 5. We'll be on page 472.
If you have one of the white Bibles in the rows. If you don't have one of these, we'll be in Matthew chapter 5. There's a New Testament scholar and he's a professor at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. And he wrote a short book. His name is Larry Hurtado. He wrote a short book entitled, Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries?
So it's a short book with a long title. Why on earth did anyone become a Christian in the first three centuries? And here's his basic point. He said, if you're a historian and you're kind of honest about history, we have to ask this question. We have to look at history and ask, why would anybody become a Christian? Because when Christianity began in the Roman Empire, it was aggressively, widespread, vastly persecuted.
It was the most hated religion that existed. If you became a Christian, if you associated with Christians, if you said, I'm a Christian, declared yourself a Christian, there was social pressure. You could be kicked out of your home. You could be kicked out of your friendships. There was financial pressure for a lot of Christians weren't allowed to be in the guild. So let's say you were a blacksmith and you became a Christian.
There was a good chance they would just say, well, you can't be a blacksmith anymore. There was actual physical, like you could be arrested or murdered. And so he actually says, nothing like the repeated and increasingly hostile stance taken by the Romans towards Christians existed. Like there's, we've never seen anything like it. How increasingly hostile and how aggressive they were towards Christianity. So you have that on the one hand, that Christians are aggressively hated.
And it grew. It grew so fast that three centuries later, it was the majority of the Roman Empire. That Christianity grew so quickly. And he basically says, you look at history and you've got to ask why. He says, you know, like if you look at the first three centuries of Islam, Islam grew in its first three centuries. But they did it by conquest.
He said they did it on a horse with a sword. But Christianity grew at the other end of that sword. It grew through persuasion. It grew through relationships. It grew through talking people into, hey, jail guard. Would you like to also be arrested?
Like, like it grew that way. It grew in crazy ways where Christianity flourishes while being persecuted. And he says, why? And as we begin to look at the Sermon on the Mount again today, as we pick up where we left off, we're going to see that Jesus actually begins to build in this dynamic into his very earliest followers. That you're going to stand out and be disliked, but also it's going to be very compelling and beautiful. So people are going to hate you, but I'm going to work in that.
That's kind of Jesus begins to build that into his followers. And so if you'll look in Matthew chapter 5, we'll pick up in verse 1. I'm just going to kind of summarize the first 10 verses. That's where we spent our time last week. It's online if you weren't able to be here with us last week. The first 10 verses, Jesus is doing what we call the Beatitudes, which is basically the blessedness, the beautifulness.
Here's what flourishing looks like. Here's what the good life is. And he starts to say, here's what my people are going to be like. So he starts talking about characteristics of the people that are going to follow him. And he uses this kind of like all of those who type language. So everyone who, and it's kind of, we said last week, it's like at your first day of basic where the drill sergeant, well, maybe he comes out.
I've never been, so I'm just making stuff up. I also can't talk the way drill sergeants talk because I'm pretty sure I'd get fired. But go with me here. First day of basic, drill sergeant comes up and says, for everyone who's mean as a rattlesnake, who's never had any fear, who doesn't know how to quit, and kind of goes through this big thing and says, you'll do fine, welcome to the army or something. And like, that's kind of what Jesus is doing. He's saying for all those who, he's painting this picture of this is the type of person we're going to be.
And if you were in basic and you were standing in formation and you were listening to the drill sergeant, you'd be soaking up everything he said because you knew this is what I'm going to have to be. This is the type of person I'm going to have to be like. That's what Jesus is doing. And he just got done in Matthew chapter four, healing people, traveling around. It says he would heal paralytics and people that had never walked. He would just tell them to get up and walk.
It says he had rule over spiritual forces. Those who were under demonic oppression, he was just commanded to leave and it would. And so now he goes up on this mountain and he starts teaching his followers. It says he's talking to his disciples and they're hanging on every word he says. Because he's in control of everything. He's shown his power.
And now he's saying, here's the type of people we're going to be. Here's the type of people I'm going to make. And so what he says is those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. He begins to lay out. This is the type of person he begins to say, if you're like this, this is the blessing that God answers this, that God responds to this. This is the type of people we're going to be.
And so in verse 10, he says this, he's finishing this up. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then he turns in verse 11, he says, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you. So he, he turns from all those and now he's beginning to directly address his followers. And that's, we're going to pick up today. I want to pray before we jump too far into this, um, as we, as we try to see what, what it looks like, uh, as Jesus shifts and begins to specifically train them, what it looks like for us today.
So let's pray. God, we thank you for this opportunity that we have to study your word, uh, to gather, uh, and to spend devoted time to learning, uh, so that we might spend the rest of our time to living, um, that we might actively walk as people who have been changed by you. We pray Lord that you would bless this time that we have, and that you'd help us to look more and more, uh, like your son in Jesus name. Amen. So he takes this, this, all those who language.
And then he begins to specifically start training. He says, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and other, all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. So rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So, uh, Jesus is, he's been the whole time saying stuff that's completely backwards from what we think blessedness looks like. What, what the good life looks like.
So he said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. And he says, blessed are you when you're persecuted. And, and immediately it's like, no, like that's the stuff I don't like, but he's saying, no, this is actually good. It's good when people make fun of you, revile you, misrepresent you. Persecution just means to be subjected to something that's bad, to be subjected to something that's uncomfortable.
So, uh, we, we mostly use the term for very aggressive, uh, beatings for people to be, uh, murdered or put in jail. So Christians in America can be persecuted because it just means for a purpose, because of your identity, because of your, your, uh, claiming to be a Christian, that someone subjects you to something uncomfortable. I just want to say though, as all the Christians in this room, as we are Americans, let's not use the term persecuted when it comes to someone in our office, disliking us. I realize you may be subjected to some discomfort, but you just sound silly given what's going on in other parts of the country, other parts of the world.
So we can be reviled. You can technically be persecuted, but don't say that. I don't sound being, just say they don't like me. They're misrepresenting me. I think this happens all the time. Misrepresentation is one of the biggest ones I see in our culture.
And we're blessed for it. You ever watch a TV show and then they introduce a Christian character? And if you've been a Christian for a while, uh, as soon as they introduce a Christian character, I'm like, crud, because I know they're not going to be likable. Like I know how we're viewed in culture. They're going to be, uh, aggressively, um, judge, judgmental, aggressively hypocritical. They're going to be one of the characters that says all this stuff and then Acts a completely different way.
Other than Ned Flanders, most of them are very hypocritical. Ned Flanders is just goofy. Now I know that you may have met Christians like that. Super judgmental. I would say they are also misrepresenting Christianity, but Jesus says, this is what's going to happen. People are going to say things about you that aren't true.
They're going to misrepresent you. They're going to straw man you. They're going to argue against you. They're going to call your names. And that's blessed. And here's what he says.
And I don't think this would have been lost on his original hearers. And I think it's huge for us today. Verse 11, blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. So just remember that, that what we get to do as Christians, when we're called names, when we're misrepresented, when we're cussed, when we're called narrow and bigoted, and all the things that are going to be thrown at us, he says, just be happy.
Because you get rewarded for that. But then he says this, your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. What he just said was, this group of people I'm making comes in the line of the prophets. Now that's huge. And I don't think it was, I don't think the disciples missed what he just said there. Let me explain what a prophet was.
In the Old Testament, we have prophets. Your book, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, like these people were prophets and they spoke on behalf of God. They were humans that stood in and said, this is what God is like. This is what God cares about. So Jesus just stands in front of his followers and says, I'm making you into this type of people.
And then he says, and rejoice, because they've done this to all the prophets. Meaning that, this is what you get to do. This is the role and the office and the position that you get to fill. That the church that Jesus is building has a prophetic role in culture. That the church is the group of people that get to say, this is what God is like. And this is what God cares about.
Now, that should get your blood pumping. That's exciting. That's weighty. And it's kind of terrifying. Because how's the church doing on that? Are we able to say, look at the church in the U.S.
Look at the church around the world. That's what God's like. That's what God cares about. But that's what Jesus is saying. This is the role that my people are going to fill. Now he's going to tell us how.
So he told us, like, the way we're going to exist, the type of personalities we're going to have, the characteristics we're going to have. Then he tells us the office you're going to fill, the following a prophetic office. And now he's going to start talking about what that looks like. So verse 13. 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 salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? So I've heard sermons, and I think it's worth thinking through and spending some time meditating on all the different characteristics of salt. I don't know if that's his main point, but let's just, for just a second, talk about salt just so that we're all thinking about the same stuff. Salt is in the white shaker on your table. It's the one that has fewer holes because it comes out faster if they're the same color. Like, you've got to look at the top and try to figure out which one's which.
It's the one that has fewer holes. That's the salt shaker. If yours has more holes, you did that wrong. If you get home, you've got that backwards. All right.
Salt was common. It was used to flavor things. So if you add salt to chicken and to green beans, it doesn't make them both taste like salt. It makes the chicken more chickeny and the green beans more green beany. If it starts taking like salt, you added too much. Salt was also used to cure meat.
It still is, but they had to do it a lot more because they didn't have refrigerators. So salt was used, if you were going to eat meat, you either ate it right now or you salt cured it or you died. Like you got botulism or something. You had only three options. You couldn't wait and eat it without salt curing it. So they would salt cure meat.
It would preserve. But see, I'm not sure that's Jesus' main point. I want to make one observation that I think immediately should stand out to us. He did not say, I'm building a people and you're the gold of the earth. He didn't say, I'm building a people and you're the diamonds in the rough. No, He said, you're salt, which is common and cheap.
Its value actually outweighs its cost. It's very useful. It just doesn't cost much. There are salt mines all over the place. He says, you're salt. You're going to be everywhere.
But His main point that I think He's making because it's what He actually says is you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? So He just got done talking about persecution. So He says, you're going to be disliked, but be excited about that. You're the salt of the earth, but if you lose your saltiness, you're useless. What He's saying is when you're persecuted, don't stop. Don't stop doing the stuff that people dislike.
Don't start shaving off the rough edges of Christianity. You're going to stand out. You're going to be disliked, but you can't just say, well, let's just get rid of all the stuff people don't like. That's heard repeatedly, culturally right now. That's said repeatedly to the church from culture and from other people in the church saying if we would just get rid of this thing, then everyone would like us. If we would just get rid of this, I've heard, if we would just get rid of the cross.
Like, I mean, it's okay to kind of, like, I know it's in there, but we talk about it too much. It's too bloody. It's too gory. It makes God sound crazy. I've read these articles. If we would just get rid of that, then people wouldn't have a problem.
It sounds so archaic. Let's not talk about God's judgment. Let's just talk about His love. It's like, yeah, I'm for talking about God's love, but the Bible talks about both. It's actually His love that makes Him hate sin so much. He's not indifferent to us.
He loves us. So He hates sin. I've heard, if we would just give up on this social issue, if we would just change our stance on this political issue. We're so backwards. We're behind the times. We're getting left by history.
If we would just get rid of this, then we'd be fine. But let me explain what happens. Because this has happened in churches, in our culture, in the U.S. Now, if you came to my house and I said, you should add some salt to that dish. And you said, oh, I don't want salt. I don't want to change the flavor of this.
I want it. And I said, oh, no, no, no. My salt actually quit being salty a long time ago. It doesn't do anything. It's the same flavor as what you have because it tastes like nothing. Go ahead and add it.
Your immediate response would be, why should I add it if it's exactly the same flavor? That's what's happening in the church. When we actually get rid of all the things culture doesn't like and we say, we look just like you guys, the immediate response is, then why do I have to wake up early on a Sunday? Why do I need to come to your thing? Why do I have to be a part of your little community group? Why on earth would I give y'all money if you look exactly like I do?
I'm already crushing it. I already look exactly like me. I don't need to be at your thing. See, the church can't do that. That's what Jesus is saying. When we give in to cultural pressure, we lose our saltiness and we're useless.
Jesus just looked at his disciples and said, stay salty, my friends. That's what he said. Keep it. Even though people are going to like it. Even though they're going to tell you to stop. Stay salty.
That's what Jesus is telling us. Then he keeps going. That's him pointing to the you're going to be disliked part. You're going to stand out. You're going to be all over the place. You're going to be calm.
And this is one of the reasons why we talk about everyday church, everyday discipleship when we say normal everyday life or the everyday stuff of life or in your normal rhythms of life. We say this all the time. If you read anything, we write that phrase way too much. Normal everyday life. The everyday stuff of life. In your normal rhythms of life.
Where you work. Where you play. Where you go to school. We say this all the time but that's because salt is supposed to be everywhere. We're not supposed to be distinct and separate. We're supposed to be distinct and then in every single dish.
You're supposed to be at the school you're at. You're supposed to be in the job you're at. You're supposed to be in the neighborhood you're at. We're not supposed to all start communes and go live on a mountain. Jesus said this on a mountain but then he made them all leave. They didn't get to stay.
That's what salt gets to be everywhere. Flavoring everywhere. Preserving everywhere and being all up in the middle of everything. That's what the church gets to do and being disliked for it. Welcome to the club. That's what Jesus is telling them.
You're going to be hated but it's okay. You hold a prophetic office. This is how it's always worked. Verse 13. Nope. That's where we just were.
Verse 14. 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 they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. So Jesus looked at his disciples and said you're going to fulfill a prophetic office.
You're going to be disliked. You're going to be salt. Salt. Don't lose your saltiness. You're also going to be a light in darkness. People don't light a lamp and then cover it.
Like you've never been to someone's house and they have a lamp. You say it's really dark in here and they go oh I've got a lamp it's lit but it's under that really big blanket. Nobody does that. You wouldn't light a lamp and then put a giant shade over it that kept it from being bright. There's no point. That's what he's saying.
Like I'm lighting a light and the goal is for it to be seen. A city on a hill can't be hidden. Now we live in this area and it's Columbia like lights everything up and there's also street lights everywhere. I don't know where y'all come from if you're familiar with what it's like to be in the middle of nowhere and it be really dark. I didn't know the difference until I moved here. I used to live in Edgefield.
There's nothing in Edgefield. I mean there's some people there and they have like a school and like a hospital but if you get hurt and you can make it to another hospital maybe you should do that. Like there's not a whole lot going on in Edgefield. I remember my cousin coming to visit us one time and he got all lost trying to find our house and then he was like why is it so daggum dark out there? Y'all can't afford some street lights? And I remember thinking what?
Like I've never even noticed that. And then I went home for Christmas this year and I'm riding down the road that leads to my parents' house and I was like it's really dark. I'm glad I know where it is because it's aggressively dark out here because I've gotten used to street lights and I felt a little bad. I was like the little redneck inside of me is dying a little bit. But I've gotten used to street lights and I remember thinking it's really dark and that's what he's saying because in their culture they didn't have street lights.
You had lights but you'd put them out at night and the only things that would still be lit up were cities. I actually looked this up this morning because I remember them talking about it in school but I couldn't remember the exact distance but they did a study out in the middle of the desert they had people get up on top of mountains so that they were higher up and the curve of the earth didn't mess them up and they lit candles and they measured how far a human can see one candle. 30 miles when there's nothing else in the way. When it's pitch black you can light a candle 30 miles away. That actually said that that's due to the curve of the earth that humans could probably see it up to about 100 miles but we're not really able to test that because we don't have tall enough stuff.
What Jesus just said was is the church is a city on a hill that you can see from miles that you can't hide it. The church is supposed to be not only like salt in the middle of everything but like a city on the hill shining drawing people in beckoning people. So if you lived in this time and Jerusalem was up on a hill and if you were able to see clearly to it in the middle of the night and you saw it 30 miles away that meant that if you were walking you were still a day and a half away if you walked all day long. Most likely three days if you were like us and took some breaks. Military troops when they walk all day long can make about 20 miles.
I was like seven need a nap. I'm going to need some of that salt cured meat I brought with me. Like that's what he's saying that you could see it so far away and it drew you in that that's the church. So the church is a prophetic office that is both salty and disliked and yet attractive and beautiful that it draws people in. That's what Hurtado was talking about when he wrote why on earth did anybody become a Christian in the first three centuries. What he was saying was the church was so hated but people kept coming.
And I want to say why why this matters before we get into some of the other stuff Jesus is going to talk about and how I think we can think about it. Verse 16 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. Now in the Greek they have a different word for you and you plural. So they're much like Southerners who have you and y'all. This is y'all. That's what he's talking to.
In the same way let y'all's light shine before others so that they may see y'all's good work and give glory to y'all's Father who is in heaven. That's what he's saying. So he's talking about the church collectively has good works that stand out in culture. We have viewpoints viewpoints and opinions and cultural changes about us that make us stand out in a negative way and we also have good works that make us stand out like a city on a hill. That Jesus is creating a group of people that are going to stand out for him. I think it's important for us to see that he's talking specifically to y'all because later in the Sermon on the Mount he's going to say do all of your good works in secret.
But here he says do it like a giant city on a hill. And here's what he means and here's one of the best ways I think I can explain this is the church collectively is supposed to have good works. You individually are supposed to just be lumped in with the group. So we do a give series every year at the end of the year. We raise money. This past year we raised money for Samaritans as well.
We're actually in the process of getting that furniture that we're going to buy for them. We're going to be taking it over there towards the end of the month or the beginning of next month. We're actually going to rally everybody to kind of get together help load this in help clean it up. If you're not able to do that we'll try to take some pictures. But here's the thing with our give project.
We're showing up in the name of the church in the name of Jesus. We're not walking over there and saying hey we just want to give you a list of all the individuals and how much they gave. That's not the point. We're not going to stand up here and talk about how much we collectively gave our collective generosity us as Jesus followers collectively not individuals how much people gave. That's what he's talking about. Like you individually should do some good works but you should do them in a way that it clumps up together with what Christ looks like what his bride looks like on earth what the church looks like.
In a way that it clumps up together with what Christ looks like what his bride looks like on earth what the church looks like. So here's I mean we've done the same stuff with stuff we do here at Glen Forest stuff we've done at Hope Bridge stuff we've done at Gentle Pines we've had groups and our church family has gone over on a regular basis to Gentle Pines which is an apartment complex over here. One of the best stories I heard this past year
When we were doing Thanksgiving stuff was people who came over and said I just moved here and I was talking to one of my neighbors and said I was a little bit worried that my family wasn't going to be able to do a Thanksgiving meal and they said oh no no no there's a church that comes over here every Thanksgiving you're good you'll get to have a Thanksgiving meal with your family and that's so cool and that's collective church
Getting to point to the Father and here's why that matters the church should have good works that are seen so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who's in Heaven not to y'all but to your Father see that's that's what Jesus came to do Jesus came to have have all of his works point us to the Father that he that he would die for us
That he would rise again conquering death and sin for us that he came to redeem us to bring us back to the Father to give us back to the God who is infinitely valuable infinitely worth worship and glory so that the church everything we do good works wise is infinitely worth it because we point to a God
Who's infinitely worth it that's the reason why this matters the church stands in a prophetic office where we're supposed to stand out and people are going to dislike us but also it's going to be beautiful it's going to draw people in and it's going to point them to the Father because it's going to say here's what God does among a group of people not just
Oh I have a neighbor and he's really nice but actually no let me come invite you to hang out with my group let me show you what a group of people look like let me invite you to a city where everybody's different that's the point this is actually why membership matters why we took the time last year to say this is what membership means this is why church discipline matters because the church collectively holds a prophetic office that's why it matters that we police each other
That's why Paul writes stuff like if someone in your if someone he said I don't judge the world I'm not talking about people who aren't in the church people who are in the church if they claim to be a Christian and they're actively pursuing sexual morality don't even eat with them don't have anything to do with them follow the processes of church discipline with them aggressively pursue
Them changing their hearts because the church stands in a prophetic office we say this is what God is like and this is what he cares about so we have to care about how each other follow Jesus and pursue Jesus together that's why we want to be in community groups where you're knowing people and they're confessing sin and we're growing together because we're
All standing and saying that collectively we represent God that matters it's weighty okay to try to help us see this I want to spend the rest of our time there's tons of these where we get to be salty and gracious where we get to have the characteristics that he talks about being poor in spirit and mourning and humble so some of y'all some of you I know y'all some of y'all
Heard be salty and you got so excited because you're like everybody already doesn't like me and I'm super annoying at work you didn't think that you don't think you're annoying you think you're standing up for the truth I don't know why you sound like a redneck when I'm making fun of you but I know some of y'all some of y'all saltiness is easier the aggressive kind of
I'm not backing down stance church stance I get that but he says to do it as those who are meek those who mourn those who are poor in spirit those who are peacemakers like the characteristics the way we hold vehemently to what we believe in has to be gracious and loving and welcoming and kind compassionate now some of y'all you're great at that you're great at being humble and meek
If it means quiet but when it comes to actually standing firm in some beliefs and not just cowing down to what everyone else around you you struggle with that we're called to do both to be salty but graciously humbly now Jesus as he continues the sermon on the mount is going to walk through several different areas where I just have as I've been reading this was just thinking that these are good examples because he keeps pushing this this is all one big message
He gives it's not separate little ideas he keeps pulling this idea all the way through and this is areas where we get to be prophetic in our culture that they got to be prophetic that they got to stand out as salt and light and we get to also and so I just want to point out three areas that Jesus is going to get to in the sermon on the mount that I think we have a distinct opportunity as the church in the United States to absolutely be outlandish crazy subversive
Frustrating and attractive beautiful like I think there's a couple of places where we get to do that in our culture that Jesus gets to and that I just want to point out as we think through this to try to help us understand more fully how to do this the first one is enemy love so Jesus says don't pray for those who persecute you bless those who curse you love your enemies
If someone strikes your cheek give them the other also if they take your cloak give them your other one like he he goes aggressively against retaliation and enemy hatred now American culture has shifted aggressively to being very no matter what the issue partisan very much here's the line these people are okay and these people aren't because it's easy to pick on this I want to talk about red states and blue states
Democrats and republicans because it's all fresh in our minds even from this past week where there's inauguration but also protest here's one of the things that has begun to break down our culture has lost the ability to disagree graciously we've lost the ability to do that you see that was one of the things that the early church was so beautiful that stood out so so crazily they were in a culture that valued power
That valued honor it was a shame and honor culture so that when someone disrespected you you disrespected them back you had to keep your honor they were they were into a culture where they were persecuted and hated and what did they do they loved their enemies they prayed for them they were gracious and humble they looked outlandish subversive to what everybody valued but it was also beautiful they forgave those
Who had harmed them but see our cultures American cultures lost that y'all watch nightly news we could play this would be like a sobriety drinking game watch the nightly news and take a shot every time one of them says that was a really good point I just changed my mind you don't even have to buy alcohol it's not going to happen they don't have discussions where one of them goes that was really valid I've never thought about that before they don't have discussions they just wait for the other person to try to catch their breath so they can shout something else
And then the person who's hosting always gets to go they always have the last word because they have like the button that shuts that person's screen down sometimes if you listen to talk radio they'll cut the person off and then just get to talk about whatever they want to you can tell that the person on the phone is no longer on the phone anymore they got to say about two sentences they cut them off and then they just start it'd be great like I would like to get one of those for my marriage but we've lost the ability we've lost the ability
To disagree we've lost the ability to humbly be able to listen to somebody I have to fight for this whenever I get in arguments with my wife I had to do this the other day where because when she says good points I don't want to acknowledge that they're good I want to win that's the point of the argument I had to stop myself and go no you're right about that I'm wrong but see Christians are in a distinct position so if you if you hang out with really blue people or if you hang out
With really red people you know what I'm talking about so if you're in a really democrat circle or really republican circle I want you to do something because this is where we get to be really salty next time they're just blasting someone I want you to go out of your way to say something nice about the other side yeah but I really appreciate how they hold this position I think they do this better than we do and watch them look at you like because here's the truth only Christians don't have our value based off of our position
In response to other people's position see if I place my value in being a republican or being a democrat then I actually need the other side to be wrong I need them to be terrible people I need them to be the people who are ruining our country so that I can be okay if you're in school you're in high school and you're in the cool group you actually need people to not be cool they have to be not cool people so that you can still be cool there has to be
Someone on that if you're in the not cool group you're edgy everything y'all y'all are into is super weird nobody gets what y'all are talking about because it's all alternate and you have to like spend an hour on the internet just to find this thing and even when you watch it no one understands what the point was if that's you you need really basic mainstream people who don't get it you need people who point out how weird your clothes are
Right you need them they have to exist and they have to be weird they have to be so different from you if you're cool you have to have uncool people but Christians don't need that we know we're poor in spirit we're meek we're humble we know that our only value comes from Jesus that's it we don't bring anything to the table that makes us good or smart or right or the best we get Jesus
So guess what whichever group you're in whichever side of the aisle you're on Christians get to be the leaders in saying that was a really good point they do that better than us let's open our table up to everybody you're welcome to sit here you're welcome among me I'm going to try to understand you I'm going to start having events where the church gets to be the leaders and pulling a bunch of people around the table that don't think like them don't look like them and they don't have to
Demonize them or make them the bad guy this will make you stand out be disliked if you're in the cool group and you make a non-cool friend and you bring them to the cool group you have now made all of your friends less cool but it's beautiful and the reason the church is in a position to do this is because our God who was our enemy tore heaven and earth apart to make his enemies
His brothers that's what the cross is that's who his people are they didn't understand that when he was saying it but they were going to get to see it later how much he would go how far to the ends of the earth God would go to love his enemies so the church is in a distinct position in our culture in their culture and in our culture to hold this to be salty but attractive second one that Jesus is going to get to later and we'll spend more time on is the Christian sexual ethic what Christians say
About sex in their culture was crazy it was crazy Christians so in their culture if you were married probably the wife shouldn't sleep around but the husband was expected to anyone that was below his kind of level if he slept around with someone on the same level that was looked down on but anyone who was below slaves prostitutes just whatever you were supposed to it was normal
It was accepted Christians came along and said oh and it was also accepted that you would sleep around a lot before you got married and Christians came along and said no one man one woman monogamous forever relationship that's the only place that sex exists Jesus was even going to say like lust isn't okay which is just so far a step beyond what they were even thinking about like he like so
They just came along and said no and they seemed it was subversive it was outlandish and they stuck to it it was crazy fast forward 2000 something years Christians haven't started seeming more normal when it comes to sex I don't know if y'all have picked up on that we're holding to the same stuff and we're very much disliked for it we're narrow minded we're bigoted we're crazy you're made fun of if someone finds out that you are waiting till marriage
To have sex they have like a thousand questions why this is the first one what what it's probably the second one after you've answered why we just look backwards here because we believe Christians believe that marriage points to the gospel that it's actually a picture of Jesus' love for the church so that all marriages on earth are supposed to be a paint by Numbers they should all look the same because we're all trying to point to the same picture and they should be forever
All of life because that's Jesus' love for the church doesn't change his continued pursuit his continued love it doesn't change we believe that that sex exists as a covenantal renewal so it only happens in marriage and that humans are fine if they never get married and never have sex that's the other thing that seems crazy to our culture you've got to be married to become a complete person to level up to move to the next stage if you live your whole life not married what are you doing? and if you're not married
And not sleeping around you're insane at least American culture says you are church Christian culture says no it's fine because we believe wholly different things about marriage we believe that it images God's love for us that Jesus' pursuit of us his continued love for us like y'all see this where we get to stay salty but also be winsome and attractive and gracious in our opinions and the way we hold it
And the way we pursue it and the way we love people in our church family who are single and are going to remain single for life the way we invite them over to holidays the way we treat them like family the way we expand what Jesus says family looks like we get to to look differently in the way we rally around couples that are hurting and people that have gone through divorce and how we love and how we serve and how we pursue and how we remind them what matters
And what's true Jesus is going to get to that the third issue that I think is helpful for us to see this picture of us being salt and light is how the church is supposed to love the poor see Jesus starts talking to them about love for the poor and giving to the poor and relating to the poor and mourning and being poor in spirit and that's completely backwards from their culture that was one of the things that stood out so starkly against the Roman Empire that people were even writing letters
And saying we got a bunch of Christians in our area and not only do they take care of their poor but they're taking care of our poor not only are they taking care of their sick but they're taking care of our sick also the way Christians went out of their way to adopt children and to rally around those who were hurting and sick and diseased you see we're set apart even now to do this distinctly to outpace our culture and how generous we are to outpace our culture and how much we love the poor
You see our culture American culture is fine with love for the poor but your family is going to think you're weird if you start giving up on the American dream to mourn with those who mourn if you start giving up on the idea that happiness and wealth are tied together and that happiness is the point of life and you start embracing mourning and poverty you're going to have people start saying wait what are you doing that's
You know they're poor for a reason right they've caused that themselves they're all crazy they're on drugs and we get to say yeah sure maybe okay but I've been blessed I have a God who was beyond rich who became broken and poor and humble for me I have a God who's beyond powerful who took on the ultimate position of meekness for me
I have a mansion in the sky you talk about sounding crazy I have a hope that bank accounts can't touch I have a wealth that makes America look pathetic and China who owns all of America's money also look pathetic I have a security that is well beyond the $100,000 backed up by the US government I got more gold than Fort Knox I got a hope and an eternity that is so secure
And a promise that every time a dollar walks out the door it's sent to eternity it's not lost Jim Elliot who ended up dying for his faith as a missionary I love this quote he wrote it in his journal he says he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose and the church is in a distinct position to say who's hurting who's hurting
Because Jesus chases who's hurting that was the point of the cross and we get to stand shoulder to shoulder and we get to walk money out the door I hope and pray that as our church family that every year at about this time when you start looking at your tax returns and you start I hope everybody gets to hit the charitable giving Numbers that lets you start doing the tax deductions on that I hope every single one of us see that number
Rise every year I hope every one of us has a lower standard of living I'd love to have a church where nobody had cable or direct TV except for one person so we could throw some Super Bowl parties but I'd love for us to have a church where so much money walked out the door where so many people were not just given a hand not just given but actually we're just like I'm going to hold your hand until we get there I'm not just going
To give you a hand up I'm going to give you a hand like I'm going to be with you this whole time I'm going to help you have money in your savings account part of my money in my savings account isn't even designated for me it's for you like that the church gets to be so radically distinct there because we have such great promises that we get to be salty that people get to think you're crazy that you get to look weird
And you get to say yeah I know but we get to be so beautiful and what happens and why that matters and why we actually have to live this see our apologetic has to move beyond being able to prove to somebody that the tomb was empty I think that's helpful being able to prove to somebody that it makes more sense that God created the world I've watched some of that stuff it's very helpful for me I believe that stuff is true but our apologetic
Has to start being a lived out church culture one where we get to say no no no let me show you a group of people let me invite you to my community group where you get to see a people whose view on relationships whose view on finances whose view on people who they disagree with is so radically different that you're going to be uncomfortable but it's going to draw you in we have to live this we have to be able to point to the church in the U.S. and say that's what
God's like and that's what he cares about that was Jesus' point that's the prophetic office that he's called the church into the band's going to come back up I have a few questions for us are you doing this are we doing this do our community groups look like we believe that we have an eternal hope and an eternal husband we have a God who broke the divide between heaven and earth
To rescue his enemies to take their pain as his to die their death do we look like that? see it's not it's not just big stuff it's simple stuff where we get to love our enemies where we get to be generous it's not just politics it's your neighbor who's in the homeowners association who is the just the most frustrating person who's ever existed who gets out of their car and measures your grass with a tape measure and you think you're at my house I think
What's the law I can kill you and I don't get in trouble like and you throw a party and you invite them and your neighbors are like why is that guy here? or if they don't come and your neighbors start talking about them you step in and say hey guys I don't think this is helpful I don't think this is appropriate for us to talk about this person like we get to love our enemies and so at lunch tables in break rooms we get to we get to be generous to the poor
Every month as we set our budget that we get to start setting aside money that's not going to be ours and we just start praying Jesus this money belongs to you all this money belongs to you so help me start setting my budget like I believe that and help me start seeing needs that I hadn't seen before and help me be willing to hand money to people who are ungrateful and don't deserve it so that I'll understand how ungrateful
And undeserving I am help me to actually live so that I could look at my bank account and say yeah she believes in eternity he believes in eternity they have a hope and a kingdom and they can't be touched they have unfading treasure come in to be salt and help us to collectively as a church shine are we doing this this is what our groups look like if not let's start let's start looking like a group of people that can say this is what God's like and this is what he cares about if you're not in a community group
And you're not a Christian my invitation to you is get into a community group we eat a meal we talk about Jesus you don't have to talk you can just eat you don't have to eat there's a lot of carbohydrates in most of our groups so if you're on a diet bring some salad but come be around a group of people that get to try to live like this is what Jesus is like this is what God's like this is what he cares about that gets to repent of sin that gets to care about what our actions look like that get to care about what each other's actions look like because we hold a prophetic office
But get to do that with meekness humility peacemaking if you're a Christian and you're not in a group get in a group so we can begin to collectively live this out in more practical daily ways so that your group can start serving your group can start giving ultimately let's all begin to pray that our group would be filled with generous humble people who go out of their way for the hurting who care about people enough to start awkward conversations we get to live this we get to point to it
That's our call that's the office we hold as a church we get to hustle until one day we get to meet our king and enter into the kingdom that he's prepared let's pray God we thank you that all of this is in response to your cross that all of this is in response to your love that all of this is in response to what you've already done for us the way you've already loved your enemies the way you've already pursued those
Who had nothing to offer God I pray that we would look in our community groups in our church that your church in this country in this city in this state that we'd begin to be able to point and say that's what God's like and that's what he cares about that when we when we pointed to what we believe and what we do the immediate response would be oh yeah that makes sense I see that if you believe that of course you'd act
This way God we thank you and we love you and we ask for your Holy Spirit to help us in Jesus name Amen