People like to argue over opinions, but few question facts
like gravity, at least without paying the price. It does not take a physicist to understand
the simple law of gravity. Even a two-year-old
begins to understand, if I jump up, I will come back down again. It is said Sir Isaac Newton discovered
gravity when an apple fell from a tree and hit his head. But then, how does a figure from the middle-ages
get to claim something my two-year-old child understood on his first journey
down, from a jump he made going up?
Seems to me, many 2-year-olds made this self-same discovery since Cain
and Able were playing just outside of Eden.
Now taking credit for the obvious, that is entirely another matter. Sounds like a wonderfully English thing to
do. And Americans have had no hesitation
in inheriting this fine English trait, with which we add the concept of “abundance”
and there you have it. Everyone gets
gravity, almost nobody understands democracy.
But there are few debates (outside of the world of physics
and the study thereof) about the notion of gravity. Common folks, from children to senior
citizens, just understand what gravity does, and what happens when we try to
defy it. There is little sense in
arguing that gravity does not exist, because people simply throw apples at you,
until you change your mind, or at least until you be quiet about your lunacy. Some things just are. They exist despite our opinions about
them. They can be easily understood by
the masses. And they spark little debate. This kind of commonly accepted fact can be
used to great effect, when discussing more seemingly complex topics. Discussing salvation for example; were I to
compare something about salvation to gravity, since gravity is well understood,
perhaps the point I am making about salvation might be equally well understood. Enter Jesus.
Nearly 2000+ years ago, Jesus had a ton of people following
Him around. Perhaps not a ton, perhaps a
legion, or maybe many legions. The term
ton may be well understood today, but it lacks the kind of comparison a Roman
would have been keenly aware of in this day and time. Suffice it to say, the crowd following Jesus
was spread across the entire side of a mountain. And His sermon had begun from near the top of
it. Jesus began by listing a state of
blessing, few listeners could agree with, let alone understand. His expressions were deep, they were
profound. These were teachings no member
of the Sanhedrin had ever offered. The
sermon being done in a place no Pharisee had ever thought to preach at. This was new.
His words might be interpreted, and then re-interpreted for 2 millennia to
come, as Christians debated what it means to be blessed. Something more basic was needed. Something more akin to gravity.
Matthew records what followed in his gospel in chapter five
picking up in verse 13 saying … “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt
have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for
nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Let’s talk about food. Everybody eats. And nearly everybody knows what salt tastes
like, or at least what salt is supposed to taste like. Even little kids and animals seem to get this
concept. But what happens when your
salt, no longer tastes like salt? What
happens when your salt is nothing more than a white grainy powder with no taste
at all, and with our collective luck, all the same health detriments that tasty
salt still had? Would you keep using
it? Would you keep putting the dead no-taste-salt
on the food you were trying to season?
Would your two-year-old still eat it?
No. You would ditch the stuff
down the drain. If you were American,
you would take the empty container back to Walmart and scream at the sales lady
until she gives you a new one, and a gift card for the added luxury of hearing
you scream. But the bottom line is, you
would not use a worthless pile of white tasteless grains on your food.
This is what Jesus has just stated for His audience. But here is where the analogy of crappy salt
and a people who do not understand what salvation is, begins to form. People who know Jesus, become different
people. Jesus does not change. But you do.
The more time you spend with Jesus the tastier you get. Just going to Temple, or church in our case,
does not make you tasty, it just makes you a white grainy powder no one wants
to use. The container does not make the
salt, salty. The Creator of salt
does.
Hanging out with other pasty white grainy tasteless people
does not improve the flavor of your salt, it just makes a sad statement about
how much wasted salt there is in the land of Christianity. A bunch of white tasteless power talking
about religious “stuff” with another bunch of white tasteless powder is a waste
of breath. But learning from Jesus what
Jesus has to say, that is an entirely different matter. Jesus is not just a concept. He digs in to your life. He gets in to your business. He digs down, and begins to work on areas of
your life you do not want anyone else to know even exist. But that is what Jesus does. He gets in there and begins to make things
better. He gets in there and changes how
you think, who you love, how you love, and what you want. You become someone else. You start getting very tasty. At that point, church is over, and salvation
has begun.
Salt is either worth using, or it’s not. Jesus continues in verse 14 saying … “Ye are
the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. [verse 15]
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick;
and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. [verse 16] Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.” The light of a
candle in a dark place is not camouflage, it is the opposite of camouflage. Everybody sitting in darkness will
immediately see the light of a candle.
They may not see everything else there is in the room, but they will
surely see the fire burning on the candle.
This is one of those gravity kinds of things. Light fills darkness and few debate the
nature of this idea.
So how does this apply to salvation? Jesus changes who you are. In short, He puts a passion in you, you have
yet to even understand before He does it.
He makes you passionate about other people. He makes you love them, truly care about
their lives. To the point where you
forget to care about your own life. You
get so wrapped up in how others feel, you forget to take care of you, and
somehow God takes care of you without even needing to ask. But that passion for others, makes you
different than who you were. And believe
me, people notice. The guy or girl at
the other end of you loving, really notices.
Whether a former enemy, a homeless person on the street, a person just
down the pew from you in “church”, or a family member who has never seen you
like this before. People notice. The fire of your love is like a candle in a
dark room. It chases darkness out, and
draws attention. And the question is …
where did it come from?
Let’s face it, you don’t love like that today. Maybe for someone, or even a few someone’s,
but not like that for people you hardly knew, or hardly cared about
before. Those folks are bound to
notice. Because it was not there before,
and now it is. So where does it come
from? Well guess what, it doesn’t come
from you. If it did, it would be there
today. You cannot fake this kind of
passion, it is too tiring to do. But
when it is real, when it is genuine, it comes with the energy you need to share
it 24/7. And the fire burns brightly,
and people notice. The question remains,
where does it come? The only
explanation. The only real answer is
Jesus. Jesus can put love in a heart of
stone, and transform it to a heart of flesh.
Jesus can burn the apathy away, and replace it with a burning passion
that just cannot sit still. Once you catch
fire, you begin to understand … this love does not come from you, it passes
through you and originates in Jesus Christ.
You are just His candle, not the flame.
Jesus will always be the flame.
He just needs to put His fire into your vessel, and for that you must be
willing to let Him transform you into one who wants it.
So most Christians are eager to hear this news, and get
right into the waiting room of Jesus’ transformation area. They are excited to hear they are going to be
different. But while they wait, and
instead of submitting themselves, they decide to “live a little”. If salvation is truly a gift from God, then
perhaps we can accept that gift any old time.
Leave ourselves a little time to take care of number one, before we
start getting all passionate about taking care of others. And so begins the idea in the Christian’s
head, that the law doesn’t matter anymore.
Love is what it is all about, so as long as I am loving me, and loving
others, I should be OK. Wrong. Loving me leads to doing things to make me
happy, most often at the expense of others.
Loving me, is not really loving at all.
The Law was given to point this physics based phenomenon out to us.
Jesus continues in verse 17 saying … “Think not that I am
come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil. [verse 18] For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Ta-da!
The Law stands as a mirror to show us who we truly love. When we love others we would not even think
to lie to them, dishonor them, steal from them, hate them or kill them. You would not even need a law, if these
thoughts never came into your mind. But
they do. The thoughts that would hurt
another enter the mind, because we are too focused on pleasing ourselves. I want what you have, so I would lie to you
to get it, steal from you if I could, hurt you if I have to. All of the actions that hurt others reveal
that I love myself, not others. We
justify our misdeeds in any number of ways, but the revelation who we love is
made clear by the Law. It is why Jesus
does not come to destroy our mirror, but to give us a new perspective when we
look into it. We become someone else,
someone in harmony with the law, instead of at war with it. The transformation changes who we love,
others not us.
Jesus continues in verse 19 saying … “ Whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [verse 20] For I
say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven.” So Jesus makes a couple of
points here. Notice that breaking a
commandment does not keep you “out” of the Kingdom of heaven. Forgiveness covers our mistakes. But it cannot make up for our opportunities
we lose while breaking His Law, and loving only ourselves. It is we who we punish when we love ourselves
instead of letting Jesus make us passionate about loving others. On the other hand, being in harmony with
God’s law, understanding what it is like to truly be passionate about loving
others, grants us every opportunity, and offers us a level of fulfillment we
can hardly imagine today.
The second point Jesus makes and it is an important one … we
cannot compare ourselves against other “people” to judge the state of our
salvation. Comparing yourself, even
against a pastor or priest or Pharisee, does not make you one bit better off,
or them one bit worse off. It is like
tasteless salt comparing grain sizes to determine who is better off, a big
grain, or a little grain, both equally useless.
The religious intelligencia have their own problems to overcome. They do not believe they need Jesus. They believe intellect and a study of the
Word can compensate for the lack of an intimate knowledge of Jesus. They believe perfection can be achieved by
force of will. They only entertain
partnerships with God where they do for themselves, and ask God to make up for
the difference. And they find no
perfection, no relief from the desire to sin, and ultimately no salvation from
themselves. For they have dictated the
terms of their salvation to be interlocked with self at the center of their
Christian religion. And these are the
smart people. Imagine the state of you
and me.
But then … imagine the state of you and me. Imagine what it would be like to be freed
from who you are, by doing nothing more than letting Jesus free you from
it. Imagine becoming passionate about
loving others not by “trying” to be passionate, but by letting Jesus reflect
His love through you, instead of shutting it off to go do something else. Imagine what it is like to have Jesus all up
in your business. Letting Jesus get to
places you don’t want anyone else even knowing about. Imagine knowing it is OK to let Jesus in
there, because He makes all things new.
Imagine letting Jesus change how you think, who you love, how you love,
and what you want. You would be someone
else. And that would be a good
thing. A good thing for you, for those
you love, for everybody. You would be
catching fire. And once you get a taste
of this, you won’t ever want to put it down.
You will reflect a fire, everyone else cannot help but see. And that fire will consume everything about
you, in a good way, in a great way. Are
you ready to let Jesus strike the match?
And the sermon was nowhere near finished yet …
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