Everyone lives by faith

Matthew 5:13–16

We have been looking at what it means to actually be blessed and what we discovered was that, according to Jesus, being blessed is found in how we experience the ups and downs of life: being blessed is being able to deal with pain and suffering, as well as, love and grace in a godly way.

It begins with your attitude towards yourself as a sinner. We need to recognize that our hearts, emotions, and thoughts can’t always be trusted and that we make mistakes. In fact, this is true about everyone which means we are all prone to misinterpret what others say and do. We can see offenses and sins where there are none because we all see through a sinful lens. 

This makes it very difficult to see other perspectives, to not judge people, and we end up angry all the time. The answer is to seek some solid ground and that rock is Christ. God is the creator of everything and he should be the ground of our worldview but the lesson didn’t end there. 

Being blessed should spill over into the lives of those you meet and, when people experience your blessedness, it is like adding salt to a person’s life.

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men. 

14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Mt 5:11–16

As we learned last week: life is built on character, character is built on decisions, choices are based on values, values are found in faith, and for this reason your faith cannot be private.

1. Faith defines us

Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life. You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.”

John 8:12

As we discussed last Sunday, every time someone says that something is wrong or right or evil or good, they are making a statement that has nothing to do with logic; it is grounded on faith and it is that faith that comes to shape and define our character and our lives. We all live by faith.

For example, famous atheist Richard Dawkins spent a lot of money on a campaign that declared, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life!” and this slogan reveals several things about Dawkins’ faith. First of all, he is confident there is no god but he is humble enough to know he can’t prove God doesn’t exist, so his campaign says…..“probably.”

Secondly, his faith in atheism has led him to believe that competing views are the problem which means that bad things like anxiety can’t come from atheism so what does he believe is the cause of fear and worry? ….God, but this is untrue. 

Harvard did a longitudinal study on health & well-being and they found that weekly religious attendance in youth was associated with a 22% lower risk of depression into adulthood, a 33% drop in drug use, and significantly higher levels of forgiveness and overall life satisfaction.

In another study of nurses, it was discovered that women who attended religious services weekly reduced their risk of depression by 30% and these women had a 30%-50% lower chance of death by “despair" such as suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol poisoning.

More to the point, recent studies show that those who claim to have no religious faith have higher rates of despair. Research shows that, by comparison to people who attend worship services weekly, the “nones” have lower levels of daily happiness, higher rates of loneliness and stress, and they volunteer in their communities less by about 19%.

So, no, the studies are clear, religion is not the cause of all fear and worry, but that’s not the point: the point is that a person’s faith (in atheism, communism, God, or whatever) always shapes the way we see reality. All faith colors how we see the world. Ex: Dawkins trusts in atheism so it can’t be bad, therefore he must find something else to blame but we should take this judgment to heart.

Humility teaches us that Dawkins has every right to be critical of God’s people because a lot of people who call themselves “Christians” are bad. There are countless evil people who call themselves followers of Jesus which is why Jesus is so direct when he commands us to obey. He is the light and we are supposed to be the lampstands that share that light with the world. 

If you don’t share his light, you are not one of his people.

2. We are salt and light

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple…therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to  all his possessions cannot be My disciple. 

Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!

Lk 14:27-35

This idea of being “salty” was not original to Jesus. The Rabbis used salt as an image for wisdom and when a Greek said someone had “lost their taste” it meant they had ‘become foolish’. In this context, Jesus is saying that these people are unwise, they have no positive influence in the world, and, no matter what they claim, they are not blessed, they are not his disciples.

Jesus goes even further and helps us measure his idea of blessedness by saying that if you are not seeing changes in your life, your faith is not just worthless, it is detrimental to the world. Your faith is not good for the ground and it is not even good for throwing on manure because salt actually destroys the soil and corrupts fertilizer so, if your faith is not helping, it is hurting and corrupting the good name of Jesus. In other words, you are going against the will of God himself.

Jesus is trying to help his people to know whether they have real authentic faith or if they are followers in name only. We know this because he doesn’t say, “you should be more salty.” In the beatitudes, he says you “are” salt, you “are” light. The point is, if you are not, you are not a part of his kingdom and you are not a part of his mission.

3. Faith defines our mission and gives us purpose

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp  and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Mt 5:13–16

Again, Jesus makes it very clear that if you are his disciple, you are salt. You are light. You are a city on a hill. You can’t hide your light and you shouldn't, which means you have a mission and your mission gives you purpose and provides your life with meaning. This goes for everyone.

Any person who chooses to continue living is living by faith in something. We have to because we were designed to find purpose in existence, so whether or not you believe in Jesus, we all have to find some reason for continuing to wake up, work, and do it all over again.

Albert Camus was an avid atheist who found faith in the myth of Sisyphus. He believed and taught that life is a constant state of drudgery and, like Sisyphus, we push a rock all day, only to have it fall down so that we can just push it back up again which rings true.

He believed there is no god and without a God there is no meaning so, if you choose atheism, you, in a sense, kill God or the idea of God, and must become god to yourself. What he means is you have to manufacture or adopt your own meaning and your own purpose. This includes creating hope and finding a mission. You have to have faith that Sisyphus found happiness.

We see people all around the world living out their faith every day. 

Protests are part of their mission.

Riots are part of their mission.

They define love as placating sin and any lifestyle. That is their mission.

We need to understand that these people have faith and are on mission. They see the world through a different lens. While Jesus tried to help people change from the inside out, these folks worship their emotions and, because they have a corrupt view of love, they believe anger and force is the only option to make the world a better place but they are not entirely wrong.

Compassion is where we must begin if we want to be salt and reach the world.

We must remember that it took protests to stop child labor and to provide safe work environments. It took protests for women to have the right to vote and it took a war for black people to be recognized as equally human. It later took more protests to simply give those same black folks the right to be equal.

And again, I'm not arguing for protesting but if we want to reach people today, we have to pray and try really hard to understand how they see the world because, if you don’t understand their mission, how are you going to introduce them to God’s mission? It’s not by arguing and it’s not by force. You should be a blessing. Salt is a blessing and people should experience your blessedness by simply being around you.

You are salt. We are supposed to be sprinkled throughout the world and changing minds, one person at a time, but how can we do that if we don’t try to empathize and understand. How can we introduce a tiny bit of salt to a conversation if we don’t actually listen.

Albert Camus taught that the only thing a person can do is deplete himself and drain every bit of joy he could from life. He needed a Christian friend to show him what real joy looks like but he didn’t have one. Richard Dawkins believes religion is the reason for all war and most misery. Wouldn’t it be great if he had a Christian in his life who sympathized?

We should want people to know that we are not the enemy. We are not here to fight them. We are salt. We need to simply be a tiny glimpse of joy and light in their darkened vision. We need to be different from the stereotype of the angry judgmental hateful “Christian” which means not being an angry, judgmental, and hateful person because we know who our enemy is: the devil.

Jesus Christ has called us all to take a stand and put ourselves into situations and go to places where others will not go. We are called to talk to people no one else will talk to and befriend those no one wants to be friends with. That is what salt does. It is small but it makes a real tangible difference.

Salt makes food better. Eggs are good and they work. You can live on eggs without any seasonings but when you add a pinch of salt, it is so much better. The flavors pop, the difference is obvious to everyone involved and that is what you should offer the world.

We are not here to pretend we are better than anyone, we are just here to add a bit of love, a bit of joy, and a bit of wisdom but we can only do that if we quit blaming the world, like Dawkins blaming Christianity, and do the hard work of growing in the attitude of Jesus. This is how we make real change.

Most of the time, we see people talking about the addict struggling and the alcoholic throwing his life away but, praise God, that is not the average person. Your average friend has a fine marriage. Your brother may love his job. Your grandkids may be “successful” as far as the world is concerned. How do we reach the average person who is surviving just fine without Jesus?

We reach the world by sharing a blessed attitude; being salt, by giving them a glimpse into what love looks like, what joy really looks like, what real peace looks like but, again, how can you be that little bit of salt, if you don’t have that joy, that love, and that peace?

No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Mt 5:13–16

But the only way you can share that salt and show them that light is by living your faith at work, at home, at school, and on the street. And when someone sees you thriving despite your circumstances or they just notice the progress you are making; unapologetically give Jesus the glory. Again, real change in the world begins when people see your heart and your attitude. 

When you learn to complain less or stop with the gossip or you are practicing gratitude out loud at work or you are simply reading your bible in public or your family notices you are not stressing so hard about the upcoming election; that is most often how you will be the salt and be the light in a tasteless and dark place. 

Salt is small and seemingly insignificant but the biggest differences are made in the little things.

pray