Faith On, Faith Off
Copyright: South Bay Community Church
Sermon Reflections: Faith On, Faith Off
Date: 30 April 2023
Youth Director: Ashley Watson
Scripture Text: Matthew 5:13-16
Sermon Reflections: Faith On, Faith Off
Date: 30 April 2023
Youth Director: Ashley Watson
Scripture Text: Matthew 5:13-16
Listen up: Can’t give up now by Mary Mary..
Sermon Preamble
In this message, we are exploring our life of faith in God. Is our life of faith in God something we can simply turn on and off? Let’s imagine you are in the late 1980’s and you are in bed watching television on your 1985 Sony Trinitron when a commercial plays for “The Clapper.” With “The Clapper,” you can simply clap to turn on and turn off devices in your house. Have you ever been in bed and then realized that you forgot to turn off the light? You dread getting out of bed to take extra steps to turn off the light switch. The Clapper gives us the power to turn devices on and off just by a simple clap. It is convenient and easy without the hassle of getting up to take extra steps. In this day and age, we are about convenience and efficiency. How can you turn off the lights without having to walk to the light switch? - The Clapper. How can you order takeout food without having to leave the house? – Uber Eats. How can you keep your floors clean without having to do it yourself? – Roomba Vacuum. How can you show that you are a Christian without really showing Christianity? – You can’t. You are either on or you are off, in or out, hot or cold. However, at times, we treat faith like it is something that we can turn on and off. We make it convenient and make it fit according to our lifestyle. Sometimes, we choose when and where we want to show our Christianity. The world needs Christians to be its preservative, its shining light for God, and for us to never give up.
We have a serious problem when we think that our faith in God is like a light switch we can turn on and off
At times, we may treat our faith like it is something we can turn on and off. Maybe, some of us woke up on Sunday morning thinking, “OK, today is Sunday, which means church. Let me get myself together and be holy today. But tomorrow is Monday, and, at work, I have to see Joe, who has been getting on my last nerves. Joe better try Jesus and not me because, one way or another, I will throw my hands at him.”
“Then I come home and deal with these children. I don’t have time for childish foolishness. Jesus, you know that I love you, but I will cuss a little.”
Intentional chosen lifestyles: vegetarian, gentle parenting, and holy life pleasing to God
Some of us devote ourselves to lifestyles, such as veganism or vegetarianism, and gentle parenting. Vegetarianism is lifestyle that you cannot turn on and off. As a vegetarian, you put forth your 110% effort towards making sure that you don’t eat meat. If you do eat meat, you cannot consider yourself a vegetarian. A vegetarian cannot turn it off by occasionally eating meat. If you are committed to the gentle parenting style, then you make sure that your child has a voice in decisions and has the space to express and process their feelings. If you then turn off gentle parenting by yelling at your children over spilling the milk, that is not really being committed to gentle parenting.
Our faith in God and how we live according to God’s purpose is something we take on as a lifestyle. The key is the intentionality behind the decisions we make. We are not perfect, and we will make mistakes. How intentional are you about living a life holy and pleasing to God? How intentional are you about being open about what you believe, no matter what environment you are in? How well are you at keeping your light on in your Christian life style and not wavering back and forth based on the situation? Jesus teaches us about this.
Jesus teaches that Christians are preserving influences in a life of devotion to God
Jesus teaches the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount about being salt and light. “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is it if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless” (Matthew 5:13). We typically think of salt as something we use to season food and give it more flavor. However, salt is also being used both in biblical days and today as a preservative. In the context of verse 13, the saline matter is also used to fertilize land suitable for growing crops. Christians, like fertilizer for growing crops, are to be preserving influences required for a life of devotion to God.
Let’s consider our society now. Where there is a strong, biblical Christian voice impacting society, that society is preserved. However, when the strong, biblical Christian voice fades away, the society begins to rot, deteriorate, and ultimately be destroyed. The United States, in its founding document of the Declaration of Independence, declared its intent to be “one nation under God.” This expressed intent of Christian influence has been eroding. There are school shootings and many other horrible things regularly occurring. This is evidence that Christians in the United States are losing our saltiness.
In biblical days, unusable salt was thrown out onto the pathways, and the rain would dissolve it. The diluted salt residue was of little worth, spread out on pathways where people walked and trampled upon it. Diluted by its environment, salt can lose its saltiness. Salt cannot be made salty again. When the disciples of Jesus act as preservatives in the world by conforming to the norms of the Kingdom of God, they are salt to the world that requires it. This happens only by intentionally retaining their virtue, not by turning it off.
Christians are light to the world: do not hide the light
Continuing to verses 14-16, Jesus teaches, “You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14-16). Light is a metaphor to describe us being God’s truth walking in harmony with God. We are to permeate the world and humankind with the saving, divine truth; we cannot do this if we are picking and choosing when and where we want to “clap” our light on.
To illustrate this point, there is a short story about a young boy who had just given his life to Christ. The boy was happy and proud of himself for taking that next step in his faith. His light was turned on and activated. That summer, the young boy was going to a nonreligious summer camp, and he wanted to talk to his youth pastor about it. The pastor prayed with the boy that his light will shine for Jesus at the camp. However, the boy figuratively hid the light in his back pocket. When the boy came back after the camp, he told the pastor it was good because, “nobody found out that I am a Christian.” Some of us can relate to this story at some point in our faith journey. Perhaps you go to work afraid to share about your faith or hoping nobody finds out. Perhaps you go to school afraid that your friends will find out that you believe in God, and you fear that they will make fun of you. Verse 15 specifies, “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:15). The point of having the light is to give light to a dark place. The hope and prayer was that the boy going to camp would not be afraid to share about his life transforming decision. He did not want anyone to find out that he is a Christian.
What does this mean for you? How can you stay salty and continue to let your light shine bright for all to see so that they also may worship our Heavenly Father?
Keys to staying on: Evaluate yourself
Self-evaluation is a key to staying on and being salt and light for the world in need. You have to know where you are before you can know where you’re going. Both behind closed doors and out in public, how are you living your life? There is a saying in sports that declares what you do when nobody is looking is what really counts. What happens behind closed doors and in public are both important. If you turn it off, you can lose your saltiness whether or not someone is looking.
Keys to staying on: Accountability partners
Who are you uplifting? Likewise, who is uplifting you? Accountability partners are people that you trust and can turn to when you make a mistake or are just ready to give up. In reaching higher heights, there is great value in inviting an accountability partner into your life. Who is your accountability partner?
Keys to staying on: Keep training
Recently, I learned a new sport, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. As is common today, You Tube videos provided the lessons to learn something new in a quick way. Similar to Karate, there is a belt system to rank participants. White belts are awarded for starting initial training. Then blue, purple, brown, and black, the higher levels are awarded as training and skill levels increase. The white belt is thought to be difficult to get because most people never start with a commitment to train. The coach explained that the person awarded the black belt, the highest level, is a white belt that never stops training.
In similar fashion, spiritual training involves intentional activities that promote the goal of spiritual maturity. Spiritual disciplines are workout exercises that develop us spiritually. In spiritual disciplines, we learn and grow in intimacy with Jesus. The spiritual disciplines are (1) stay prayed up, (2) study the bible, and (3) memorize and meditate on scripture. Just like Jiu Jitsu or other sports, you have to keep practicing on a consistent basis in order to get better. It is the same principle of consistent training activities with practicing spiritual disciplines to stay sharp and to keep our light on.
We must evaluate where we are, have our accountability partner, and keep training to maintain our saltiness and keep our light turned on.
Applying the keys to staying on: Two teammates of LSU basketball team
This year’s winner of the women’s national tournament was Louisiana State University. In a game, two players on the LSU team utilized the keys to “staying on.” One player says to her teammate, “You want to get drafted to the WNBA right? You are the best point guard right? You can’t turn it on and off! You have got to stay on the whole time, every night!” The speaker reminds her teammate of all the efforts needed to stay on both behind closed doors in private practice and in public. Her self-evaluation as the best point guard needs both. The speaker is also serving as an accountability partner to encourage and uplift her teammate. She reminds her teammate that she can be drafted to play professional basketball. The speaker also encourages her teammate to never stop training and “stay on” the whole time, every game, encouraging her teammate that she cannot turn it on and off.
Applying lessons to our lives, an LSU player, Alexis Morris, staying on in the midst of darkness and affliction
When LSU won the national championship, one of the players, Alexis Morris, gave a testimony about staying on in the midst of darkness, affliction, and adversity: “When I left Rutgers, I wasn’t even going to play basketball anymore. So this moment is literally everything to me. I am the comeback kid. I went through so much adversity. The world counted me out. Media was writing bad posts, portraying this image of me. Now, I can just let it all go. I beat it. I beat the odds.”
How many of you have been in that same position as Alexis Morris with your back against the wall? You feel like you just want to “throw in the towel” and forget it. However, we have the opportunity to make the decision every day to stay “ON.” As God transforms us on the inside, we keep actively working in partnership with God. Winning a national championship is nothing compared to the living confident hope through our Lord Jesus Christ. From the perspective of the world system opposed to God, the odds were against Alexis Morris, and she beat those odds. Similarly, the world’s odds are against us and the Church. Every day that we show up facing life, ready to train, and shining our light for God, we are beating those odds.
The big picture - Stay salty, shine bright for God, and never give up!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS INCLUDING FOR USE IN FAMILY GROUP
Sermon Preamble
-How easy is it for you to turn on or turn off certain of your responsibilities? Why?
We have a serious problem when we think that our faith in God is like a light switch we can turn on and off
-In what circumstances and in what ways have you allowed the light of your Christian faith to be turned off?
Intentional chosen lifestyles: vegetarian, gentle parenting, and holy life pleasing to God
-How intentional are you about living a holy life that is pleasing to God no matter what environment you are in?
Jesus teaches that Christians are preserving influences in a life of devotion to God
-What use of salt resonates with you when Jesus teaches that Christian followers are the salt of the earth? Why?
-In what ways can you act as a preservative in the world by conforming to the norms of the Kingdom of God?
Christians are light to the world; do not hide the light
-As God transforms you on the inside, in what ways can you let your light shine bright for all to see so that they may worship God?
-In what circumstances have you faced the temptation to hide the light from God, rather than show the light from God within you for all to see?
Keys to staying on: Evaluate yourself
-In what ways are you living your life so that God’s light will be seen by others, whether your actions are behind closed doors in private or in public?
Keys to staying on: Accountability partners
-Who is your accountability partner as you mutually raise each other to higher heights? Why is it important to have an accountability partner?
Keys to staying on: Keep training
-What spiritual disciples resonate with you as you grow into spiritual maturity and the intimate relationship with Jesus?
Applying the keys to staying on: Two teammates of LSU basketball team
-In the reports of 2 teammates on the LSU women’s basketball team, how did they apply the keys to staying on and not giving up?
Applying lessons to our lives, an LSU player, Alexis Morris, staying on in the midst of darkness and affliction
-Have you been in a similar position as Alexis Morris with darkness and affliction in your life, but also with the opportunity to “STAY ON” based on the living confidence in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit? In what ways can you stay salty, shine bright for God, and never give up?
In this message, we are exploring our life of faith in God. Is our life of faith in God something we can simply turn on and off? Let’s imagine you are in the late 1980’s and you are in bed watching television on your 1985 Sony Trinitron when a commercial plays for “The Clapper.” With “The Clapper,” you can simply clap to turn on and turn off devices in your house. Have you ever been in bed and then realized that you forgot to turn off the light? You dread getting out of bed to take extra steps to turn off the light switch. The Clapper gives us the power to turn devices on and off just by a simple clap. It is convenient and easy without the hassle of getting up to take extra steps. In this day and age, we are about convenience and efficiency. How can you turn off the lights without having to walk to the light switch? - The Clapper. How can you order takeout food without having to leave the house? – Uber Eats. How can you keep your floors clean without having to do it yourself? – Roomba Vacuum. How can you show that you are a Christian without really showing Christianity? – You can’t. You are either on or you are off, in or out, hot or cold. However, at times, we treat faith like it is something that we can turn on and off. We make it convenient and make it fit according to our lifestyle. Sometimes, we choose when and where we want to show our Christianity. The world needs Christians to be its preservative, its shining light for God, and for us to never give up.
We have a serious problem when we think that our faith in God is like a light switch we can turn on and off
At times, we may treat our faith like it is something we can turn on and off. Maybe, some of us woke up on Sunday morning thinking, “OK, today is Sunday, which means church. Let me get myself together and be holy today. But tomorrow is Monday, and, at work, I have to see Joe, who has been getting on my last nerves. Joe better try Jesus and not me because, one way or another, I will throw my hands at him.”
“Then I come home and deal with these children. I don’t have time for childish foolishness. Jesus, you know that I love you, but I will cuss a little.”
Intentional chosen lifestyles: vegetarian, gentle parenting, and holy life pleasing to God
Some of us devote ourselves to lifestyles, such as veganism or vegetarianism, and gentle parenting. Vegetarianism is lifestyle that you cannot turn on and off. As a vegetarian, you put forth your 110% effort towards making sure that you don’t eat meat. If you do eat meat, you cannot consider yourself a vegetarian. A vegetarian cannot turn it off by occasionally eating meat. If you are committed to the gentle parenting style, then you make sure that your child has a voice in decisions and has the space to express and process their feelings. If you then turn off gentle parenting by yelling at your children over spilling the milk, that is not really being committed to gentle parenting.
Our faith in God and how we live according to God’s purpose is something we take on as a lifestyle. The key is the intentionality behind the decisions we make. We are not perfect, and we will make mistakes. How intentional are you about living a life holy and pleasing to God? How intentional are you about being open about what you believe, no matter what environment you are in? How well are you at keeping your light on in your Christian life style and not wavering back and forth based on the situation? Jesus teaches us about this.
Jesus teaches that Christians are preserving influences in a life of devotion to God
Jesus teaches the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount about being salt and light. “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is it if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless” (Matthew 5:13). We typically think of salt as something we use to season food and give it more flavor. However, salt is also being used both in biblical days and today as a preservative. In the context of verse 13, the saline matter is also used to fertilize land suitable for growing crops. Christians, like fertilizer for growing crops, are to be preserving influences required for a life of devotion to God.
Let’s consider our society now. Where there is a strong, biblical Christian voice impacting society, that society is preserved. However, when the strong, biblical Christian voice fades away, the society begins to rot, deteriorate, and ultimately be destroyed. The United States, in its founding document of the Declaration of Independence, declared its intent to be “one nation under God.” This expressed intent of Christian influence has been eroding. There are school shootings and many other horrible things regularly occurring. This is evidence that Christians in the United States are losing our saltiness.
In biblical days, unusable salt was thrown out onto the pathways, and the rain would dissolve it. The diluted salt residue was of little worth, spread out on pathways where people walked and trampled upon it. Diluted by its environment, salt can lose its saltiness. Salt cannot be made salty again. When the disciples of Jesus act as preservatives in the world by conforming to the norms of the Kingdom of God, they are salt to the world that requires it. This happens only by intentionally retaining their virtue, not by turning it off.
Christians are light to the world: do not hide the light
Continuing to verses 14-16, Jesus teaches, “You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14-16). Light is a metaphor to describe us being God’s truth walking in harmony with God. We are to permeate the world and humankind with the saving, divine truth; we cannot do this if we are picking and choosing when and where we want to “clap” our light on.
To illustrate this point, there is a short story about a young boy who had just given his life to Christ. The boy was happy and proud of himself for taking that next step in his faith. His light was turned on and activated. That summer, the young boy was going to a nonreligious summer camp, and he wanted to talk to his youth pastor about it. The pastor prayed with the boy that his light will shine for Jesus at the camp. However, the boy figuratively hid the light in his back pocket. When the boy came back after the camp, he told the pastor it was good because, “nobody found out that I am a Christian.” Some of us can relate to this story at some point in our faith journey. Perhaps you go to work afraid to share about your faith or hoping nobody finds out. Perhaps you go to school afraid that your friends will find out that you believe in God, and you fear that they will make fun of you. Verse 15 specifies, “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:15). The point of having the light is to give light to a dark place. The hope and prayer was that the boy going to camp would not be afraid to share about his life transforming decision. He did not want anyone to find out that he is a Christian.
What does this mean for you? How can you stay salty and continue to let your light shine bright for all to see so that they also may worship our Heavenly Father?
Keys to staying on: Evaluate yourself
Self-evaluation is a key to staying on and being salt and light for the world in need. You have to know where you are before you can know where you’re going. Both behind closed doors and out in public, how are you living your life? There is a saying in sports that declares what you do when nobody is looking is what really counts. What happens behind closed doors and in public are both important. If you turn it off, you can lose your saltiness whether or not someone is looking.
Keys to staying on: Accountability partners
Who are you uplifting? Likewise, who is uplifting you? Accountability partners are people that you trust and can turn to when you make a mistake or are just ready to give up. In reaching higher heights, there is great value in inviting an accountability partner into your life. Who is your accountability partner?
Keys to staying on: Keep training
Recently, I learned a new sport, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. As is common today, You Tube videos provided the lessons to learn something new in a quick way. Similar to Karate, there is a belt system to rank participants. White belts are awarded for starting initial training. Then blue, purple, brown, and black, the higher levels are awarded as training and skill levels increase. The white belt is thought to be difficult to get because most people never start with a commitment to train. The coach explained that the person awarded the black belt, the highest level, is a white belt that never stops training.
In similar fashion, spiritual training involves intentional activities that promote the goal of spiritual maturity. Spiritual disciplines are workout exercises that develop us spiritually. In spiritual disciplines, we learn and grow in intimacy with Jesus. The spiritual disciplines are (1) stay prayed up, (2) study the bible, and (3) memorize and meditate on scripture. Just like Jiu Jitsu or other sports, you have to keep practicing on a consistent basis in order to get better. It is the same principle of consistent training activities with practicing spiritual disciplines to stay sharp and to keep our light on.
We must evaluate where we are, have our accountability partner, and keep training to maintain our saltiness and keep our light turned on.
Applying the keys to staying on: Two teammates of LSU basketball team
This year’s winner of the women’s national tournament was Louisiana State University. In a game, two players on the LSU team utilized the keys to “staying on.” One player says to her teammate, “You want to get drafted to the WNBA right? You are the best point guard right? You can’t turn it on and off! You have got to stay on the whole time, every night!” The speaker reminds her teammate of all the efforts needed to stay on both behind closed doors in private practice and in public. Her self-evaluation as the best point guard needs both. The speaker is also serving as an accountability partner to encourage and uplift her teammate. She reminds her teammate that she can be drafted to play professional basketball. The speaker also encourages her teammate to never stop training and “stay on” the whole time, every game, encouraging her teammate that she cannot turn it on and off.
Applying lessons to our lives, an LSU player, Alexis Morris, staying on in the midst of darkness and affliction
When LSU won the national championship, one of the players, Alexis Morris, gave a testimony about staying on in the midst of darkness, affliction, and adversity: “When I left Rutgers, I wasn’t even going to play basketball anymore. So this moment is literally everything to me. I am the comeback kid. I went through so much adversity. The world counted me out. Media was writing bad posts, portraying this image of me. Now, I can just let it all go. I beat it. I beat the odds.”
How many of you have been in that same position as Alexis Morris with your back against the wall? You feel like you just want to “throw in the towel” and forget it. However, we have the opportunity to make the decision every day to stay “ON.” As God transforms us on the inside, we keep actively working in partnership with God. Winning a national championship is nothing compared to the living confident hope through our Lord Jesus Christ. From the perspective of the world system opposed to God, the odds were against Alexis Morris, and she beat those odds. Similarly, the world’s odds are against us and the Church. Every day that we show up facing life, ready to train, and shining our light for God, we are beating those odds.
The big picture - Stay salty, shine bright for God, and never give up!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS INCLUDING FOR USE IN FAMILY GROUP
Sermon Preamble
-How easy is it for you to turn on or turn off certain of your responsibilities? Why?
We have a serious problem when we think that our faith in God is like a light switch we can turn on and off
-In what circumstances and in what ways have you allowed the light of your Christian faith to be turned off?
Intentional chosen lifestyles: vegetarian, gentle parenting, and holy life pleasing to God
-How intentional are you about living a holy life that is pleasing to God no matter what environment you are in?
Jesus teaches that Christians are preserving influences in a life of devotion to God
-What use of salt resonates with you when Jesus teaches that Christian followers are the salt of the earth? Why?
-In what ways can you act as a preservative in the world by conforming to the norms of the Kingdom of God?
Christians are light to the world; do not hide the light
-As God transforms you on the inside, in what ways can you let your light shine bright for all to see so that they may worship God?
-In what circumstances have you faced the temptation to hide the light from God, rather than show the light from God within you for all to see?
Keys to staying on: Evaluate yourself
-In what ways are you living your life so that God’s light will be seen by others, whether your actions are behind closed doors in private or in public?
Keys to staying on: Accountability partners
-Who is your accountability partner as you mutually raise each other to higher heights? Why is it important to have an accountability partner?
Keys to staying on: Keep training
-What spiritual disciples resonate with you as you grow into spiritual maturity and the intimate relationship with Jesus?
Applying the keys to staying on: Two teammates of LSU basketball team
-In the reports of 2 teammates on the LSU women’s basketball team, how did they apply the keys to staying on and not giving up?
Applying lessons to our lives, an LSU player, Alexis Morris, staying on in the midst of darkness and affliction
-Have you been in a similar position as Alexis Morris with darkness and affliction in your life, but also with the opportunity to “STAY ON” based on the living confidence in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit? In what ways can you stay salty, shine bright for God, and never give up?
Posted in Stand Alone Sermon
Posted in faith, salt, Light, vegetarian, gentle parenting, holy, lifestyle, preserve, Matthew 5: 13-16, self, evaluate, accountability partner, Jui Jitsu, Karate, basketball
Posted in faith, salt, Light, vegetarian, gentle parenting, holy, lifestyle, preserve, Matthew 5: 13-16, self, evaluate, accountability partner, Jui Jitsu, Karate, basketball
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