“Be The Change”
Matthew5:13
Sermon Series: “The Real Change Campaign”
Introduction: It seems like politicians are always making promises of change. Many people are disillusioned with this because so few of the changes actually materialize. In fact, it seems like people making these kinds of promises often make things worse. Furthermore, politicians and even religious leaders who speak about morality and change are sometimes exposed as living immoral, double lives.
I think most of us would admit that we need change in our country. However, many people are skeptical about it even being possible. Is real change possible? If so, how? According to the Word of God, it is possible. However, the change agent is not the government or politicians, but it is the church, the people of God. We are going to learn in this series from the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus has called His people to mount “the real change campaign.” How? Well, it starts with us being the change.
1. We are called to be a part of God changing this world. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Here are some of the implications of this statement.
A. Purification and Preservation B. Loyalty
C. Flavor
D. Spiritual Fertilizer
E. Judgment
3. Here is how we can be a part of a change. Jesus said, “If the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” The implication is that we have to be changed and be living like we are changed before we can influence change in anything or anybody else. It is easier to complain about what is wrong than it is to look in the mirror and be changed. However, people have to see us changed first. How does this happen?
A. We must truly have a relationship with Jesus.
B. We must be living in purity and holiness (Isaiah 6, 1
Corinthians 5).
C. We must repent of sin in our lives (Psalm 79).
D. We must be poured out into the world around us
instead of hiding from the world.
Conclusion: In Acts 17:6, some people said of the early Christians, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” God used them to change the world because their lives were radically changed, they reflected Jesus, and they boldly went into the world to serve people and proclaim Christ. The Lord wants the same thing to be said of us today. He wants us to be salt poured out into the world. He wants us to be the real change campaign.
A. B. C. D.
E. F.
We are called to live out the Beatitudes in the world. Salt is very valuable.
This world is decaying.
There is a distinction between the world and the church.
We are not to become one with the world or hide from the world but infiltrate the world.
In other words, we are called to be poured into the world on a mission in culture.
the nature of the change we are to make. Obviously, Jesus is using the term, “salt,” in a symbolic sense. Here are some of the things it represents. They show us what kind of difference we are to make in the world.
2. Here is
