Week 4 – Salt & Light (SECTION 50)

What is it that shapes your identity?  How would you answer the questions, "who am I" and "whose am I"?  This week Kent takes us to some words of Jesus' that have the potential to revolutionize your identity.  Jump in with us in Sections 50 of the Gospel Harmonies @ https://www.harmonychurch.cc/tracking-jesus-timeline/. IT'S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316  to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). ILLUSTRATION: In World War II the Japanese had prisoners of war write letters to home about how much they hated America and how what America was doing was wrong.  Why did the prisoners do this?  because they were being offered cigarettes.   What they found is these prisoners slowly became anti-American.   Why?   Intellectually, the prisoners couldn’t imagine that they had sold out America for cigarettes.   b Ultimately, they justified their behavior by shifting their belief to match their actions.  They became Anti-American. Why did that happen?   It’s because You can’t operate for long in a manner that is inconsistent with what you believe about yourself without creating incredible dissonance inside of you.  b The only way to resolve the dissonance is by changing either what you do or what you believe. did you hear that?  Human's ability to justify things will cause us to either morph our beliefs to fit our behavior, or we will morph our behavior to fit our beliefs - we CAN’T stay in a place of inconsistency for long b When there is prolonged misalignment between your belief & behavior you will experience an internal breakdown. ILLUSTRATION: let me try and help this make sense with one more quick illustration.  I believe inside that I’m a hard worker - that I go above and beyond.  A while back, I was under a lot of pressure and found myself mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, even when I was supposed to be working.  I would get to the end of the work day and feel awful.  Why?  It was because  I was being inconsistent with who I am.  My lack of integrity in my activity was violating my authenticity.  This is why people in our culture talk about their “authentic self” The problem is, in our culture, we pretend like our authentic self is untouched by any kind of outside influence or pressure, but that’s not true… Your authentic self is a construct Your authentic self is a construct of your internal personality plus your experiences, relationships, beliefs, and behaviors. b We call this our identity But identity is not formed in a vacuum It is one of the most basic parts of being human.  Another way to get at this is to ask the questions… Who are you? and Whose are you? b I would say these two questions being answered inadequately in our society is causing more mental distress and spiritual anxiety than just about anything else in our world… I want you to listen to Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount with all this in mind - this idea of both knowing who you are are and whose you are and being consistent with that. Mt 5:13-16 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Jesus doesn’t say, “You should become the salt of the earth, the light of the world.”  Jesus says "YOU ARE" b Jesus is saying, in the present tense, “You are salt, you are light” b Jesus is making a claim about your identity. b What does it mean to be salt & light? Salt: Paul says in  Colossians 46 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. When you are salt - you season everything you come into contact with the Kingdom of God. b You live differently than the people around you, your standards are based on the righteousness of God - you are unwilling to justify bad behavior, you are honest, you are a servant, you love others ferociously, etc. b It doesn’t really matter if you are a preservative, a flavor additive or something else, Jesus’ point is, you change the environment when you are His follower - just you being present changes things. Light: Can I tell you a secret, Jesus called someone else the light of the world too, not just you and me…  Listen to this John 8:12 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Being light means you expose dark things to the light of life.   b When you walk into the room you bring hope, you bring joy, you bring truth, you bring grace, mercy, etc. b Here’s the point.  Jesus says you are Salt and light. Salt can’t be not-salty, light can’t be darkness. So, can I ask you a question? What does your behavior say about your belief?  Does the way you act show you ACTUALLY believe Jesus? b If that question is messing with you, my guess is you believe something other than Jesus about who you are and whose you are.  You feel a conflict between what you should believe and the way you behave. b You believe you’re too bad You believe you can’t change You believe it doesn’t matter You believe your identity is caught up in something other than God. ILLUSTRATION: I’m not up here to try and convince you of anything, other than challenge you.  You know I’ve been working on losing weight, and one of things TJ has said that hit me is “you don’t have a will problem, you have a BS problem - belief system.”  See, I could lose weight if I believed I would get paid a million dollars for it.  I could put in the work, make it happen.  I just don’t believe it’s worth it.  The same is true for you with your relationship with Jesus.  Once you decide you believe Him.  You believe that you are salt, you are light.  That God has given you a gift that is incalculable.  That you have been rescued from darkness.  That you have been rescued from bland.  That you have been placed in eternal security with Him.  That He loved you so much, He gave His own life.  When you do that.  You will start to live out of it. But Kent, I’m still struggling with sin… See the person who struggles with sin is different from the person who has settled for living in sin. b The person who is struggling is looking to die to it.  The person who has settled to live in it has given up. CLOSING ILLUSTRATION: This morning, I want to invite you to do something different for communion.  We’ve put the cross in a central location.  I want you to grab your communion, then come up and feel it, stand in front of it, think about the sacrifice that was made for you.  Really think about it, picture Jesus on the cross.  Picture Him looking at you and saying, “this was for you…”  Then think about, who does that make you want to be?  Don’t you WANT to be salt & light after that?  Doesn’t it make you WANT to live differently?  Address your belief and your behavior will follow.