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Being Salt and Light: How should Christians relate to the world? Should we avoid it altogether, or live fully immersed in it, looking no different than the culture around us? In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes his followers as the salt and the light of the world- two things that are useless if kept separate from the world around them, but are also capable of bringing incredible change to it. Recorded on July 10, 2022, on Matthew 5, by Pastor David Parks. This message is part of our sermon series "The Unexpected Way," from the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7 in the Bible. The way of Jesus is totally unique, it's different from every other way of life, philosophy, or religion. Why? Because the teaching of Jesus — emphasizing holiness, humility, justice, faith, and sacrificial love — leads to a whole new gospel-centered ethic. This ancient ethic, if actually practiced, has the power to bring abundant love and joy and peace to anyone, anywhere today. This is the way. Sermon Transcript Last week, we started the new annual theme for our preaching ministry of Learning the way of Jesus. And we said that for the next year, basically, we’ll be seeking to answer the question, “If the gospel is true, how then should we live?” And we said that the answer is rooted in learning a new way of life, the way of Jesus. Before anyone was called a Christian, they were called followers of The Way because they followed the way of Jesus. To kick off this new theme, we started our first sermon series exploring a very famous teaching of Jesus known as the Sermon on the Mount. And we’re calling this series The Unexpected Way because what we’ll see in this series is that the way of Jesus is radically different from every other philosophy or religion that has ever existed. It’s not at all what we’d expect. And the reason is because the teaching of Jesus — emphasizing holiness, humility, justice, faith, and sacrificial love — leads to a whole new gospel-centered ethic. This ancient ethic, if actually practiced, has the power to bring abundant love and joy and peace to anyone, anywhere today. This is the way. Last week, we started this series by considering the passage known as the Beatitudes which showed us 8 unexpected blessings in the way of Jesus. These blessings reveal just how different the values of the kingdom of God are compared to the ways of the world. If you missed that message, you can always go back and watch or listen online. Today, we’ll seek to answer the big question, “How should Christians relate to the world?” For 2000 years, Christians have wrestled with how close or how far away they should be from people who are not trying to follow the way of Jesus and the various systems/organizations they create/maintain. At one extreme end, some Christians have thought we must completely withdraw/separate from the world. Do not engage, don’t try to change things, just try and find a place where you can practice your faith in peace. Why? Because the world is evil and will corrupt you if you aren’t careful. How should we relate to the world? Avoid it! On the other extreme, other Christians have thought that there’s virtually no difference between Christians and non-Christians and that the ways of the world, including our cultural values/ideas/practices, are totally acceptable and good. Of course, not everything is perfect, but just think of all the things in the world which are good and beautiful or are just cool. Don’t you want to be part of that? How should we relate to the world? Accept it! But do either of these extremes line up with the teaching of Jesus? If the gospel is true, how should Christians relate to the world? Avoidance? Acceptance? Something else? As is so often the case, the way of Jesus is not at all what we’d expect. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Matthew 5:13. Matthew 5:13–16 (NIV), “13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?