SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/18/2020 8:21 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to
Salt and Light
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
5:13-16
Message of the verses: “13 "You are the salt of the earth;
but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It
is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot
by men. 14 “You are the
light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone
light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives
light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such
a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in
heaven.”
We
are looking at just four verses and in those four verses the Lord summarizes
the function of believers in the world.
Now if we wanted to summaries those four verses into one word that word
could very well be “influence.”
Believers who live according to the Beatitudes are going to function in
the world as salt and light. MacArthur
adds “Christian character consciously or unconsciously affects other people for
better or for worse. As John Donne
reminds us, ‘No man is an island.’”
As
John MacArthur begins to work his way through this introduction to these four
verses he tells a number of stories on how different begins (at first) and then
humans had influence on those around them.
The first two stories tell of Greek mythology, one of how a being had
great influence on those around them and one on how another beautiful filled
with poison had bad influence on those around her. Then comes the story of former President
Woodrow Wilson who went to a barber shop to have his hair cut and a man came in
who Wilson knew that he was something very special. In the end the man sitting next to Wilson
seemed to be preaching a sermon, but not like a sermon heard in a church
service, but just the way he presented himself Wilson knew this man would
influence him. He later found out that
the man was D. L. Moody. MacArthur
concludes the story: “They did not know
his name, but they knew something had elevated their thoughts, and I felt that
I left that place as I (Wilson) should have left a place of worship.”
The
point in all of the stories MacArthur tells is that every human being has
influence on others, the question is it good or bad influence, and in Matthew
5:13-16 Jesus talks about the influence of His people on the world for God and
for good. Jesus says in John 17, His
high priestly prayer “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to
keep them from the evil one. They are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world…As Thou didst send Me into the
world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:15-17, 18). MacArthur then adds “Christ’s kingdom people
are not to reflect the world but they are to influence the world; they are to
be in it but not of it.”
We
have just concluded our study of the Beatitudes which took us almost three
months, and one of the many things we learned is that believers are to live
lives that are consistent with those Beatitudes in order to influence people we
meet in this world we live in. Some
people will be saved because of this influence, some will become angry and
persecute us, but the messages must get out regardless of what happens to
us. We live out the Beatitudes because
we are believers living in the kingdom, sometimes known as the invisible
kingdom of God, the church age.
We
know that Jesus spoke the Sermon on the Mount to many, many people including
His disciples. The message was mainly
for them, yet if others were listening they too may have become a believer in
the Lord, for the message that Jesus gives was for believers, and how they are
to live their lives in the world around them.
MacArthur
concludes his introduction: “Here is the
mandate for Christians to influence the world.
The Beatitudes are not to be lived in isolation or only among fellow believers,
but everywhere we go. God’s only
witnesses are His children, and the world has no other way of knowing of Him
except through the testimony of what we are.
“The
figures of salt and light emphasize different characteristics of influence, but
their basis purpose is the same. They
will both be studied from the aspects of the presupposition of the world’s
corruption and darkness, the plan for believers’ godly dominion in the world,
the problem of the danger of failure, and the purpose of glorifying God.” That is what we will be looking at as we move
through these verses.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Selfishness is certainly not something that
will show up as I live out the Beatitudes in order to have good and godly
influence on the world.
My Steps of Faith for Today: It is my desire not to be selfish, but to
have good and godly influence on the world I live in.
6/18/2020 9:09 AM
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