Matthew 5:7-16
A wealthy businessman lay on his deathbed. His preacher came to visit and talked about God’s healing power and prayed for the businessman.
When the preacher was done, the businessman said, “Preacher, if God heals me, I’ll give the church a million dollars.” Miraculously, the businessman got better and within a few short weeks was out of the hospital.
Several months later, the preacher bumped into this businessman on the sidewalk and said, “You know, when you were in the hospital dying, you promised to give the church a million dollars if you got well. We haven’t received it as of yet.”
The businessman replied, “Did I say that? I guess that goes to show how sick I really was!”
A few years’ back two guys interviewed thousands of people, and they published their findings in a book called The Day America Told the Truth.
Of those surveyed,
91% said that they lie on a regular basis.
86% said they lie to their parents regularly,
75% said they lie to their friends,
68% said they lie to their spouses.
50% said they regularly called in to work sick when they weren’t
Proverbs 22:1 – “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”
What is your reputation?
Do people see you as someone who has set a good example to follow?
Do they see a correlation between what you profess and how you live?
Is your home, your place of employment, and your community influenced by how you live your life?
Listen to what Jesus said about how our relationship with Him should impact those that live around us;
Matthew 5:13 – “You are the salt of the earth; but 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.
Salt has a number of uses.
It adds taste to food, melts ice, creates thirst.
But in the first century salt was used primarily as a preservative. Jesus’ audience didn’t have refrigeration—when they butchered meat or caught fish they packed the meat in salt to preserve it.
You can still buy country hams that are salt-cured.
When Jesus said that you are the salt of the earth, He acknowledged that decay is inevitable in a fallen world. Left alone, culture will always deteriorate, without Christ the world will rot.
Jesus was saying that your job is to preserve truth and conserve Godly values in society. You permeate the world and help maintain wholesomeness in the culture.
Jesus said that if salt loses its saltiness it’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and tromped on like sand in a path.
Technically, Sodium Chloride cannot lose its saltiness, but the salt mined from the Dead Sea was so polluted with other minerals that it lost its preserving abilities.
If a Christian becomes polluted by the sin and philosophy of the world we lose our preserving ability.
Our job as Christians is to add flavor and create a thirst for God
Matthew 5:14 – “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden”
Light does one particular thing: it dispels darkness.
Light illuminates a potentially dangerous path and makes it safe.
Christians are to be luminaries along the path to God.
We’re to be spotlights showing the way to salvation.
The role of God’s people has always been to be light in the darkness
Isaiah 49:6 says, “I will...make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Matthew 5:16 – Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her.
She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling.
It seemed as if one problem was solved, but a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen.
She filled three pots with water and placed each on the stove and soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last, she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners.
She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl.
She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her daughter, she asked, ‘Tell me what you see.’
‘Carrots, eggs, and coffee,’ the daughter replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft.
The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee.
The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked, ‘OK, BUT what is your point?’
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. BUT each reacted in a different way.
The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting.
However, after being subjected to boiling water, it softened and became weak.
The egg had been fragile.
Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however.
After they were in the boiling water, they changed the water.
‘Which are you?’ she asked her daughter.
‘When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?
Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
THIS MORNING I WANT TO ASK EACH OF US…
Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?
Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship, or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?
Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean?
The bean changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain.
When the water gets hot, it releases fragrance and flavor.
If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level?
How do you handle adversity?
IN TODAY’s TEXT JESUS TELLS US
A FEW WAYS TO HANDLE ADVERSITY
1st SHOW MERCY
Matthew 5:7 – “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
One of the best ways to influence the world for Christ is to show mercy to the hurting.
Jesus told a parable about a man who was mugged and left for dead along the Jericho highway.
Two religious men came by, saw his condition, and passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, a man of despised race, came by and had mercy on him.
He bandaged his wounds, took him to a nearby hotel and paid for all his medical expenses.
Jesus asked the crowd, “Who did the right thing?”
Everyone in the audience agreed—the one who showed compassion on him.
Even the most cynical skeptic instinctively knows mercy is good.
Mercy is a bridge.
It’s a bridge that God built so He can relate to you and me.
It’s also a bridge we have to build if we’re going to relate lovingly to others.
The greatest example of mercy is found in Jesus Christ at the cross.
It’s a fulfillment of Psalm 85:10 – “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.”
2nd HAVE A PURITY OF HEART
Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
The heart is the center of our being.
It’s the master control area of life
Proverbs 4:23 –“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
The heart is the source of all of our trouble
Matthew 15:19 – “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, and false testimony.”
Psalm 19:14 – “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
The world respects people who are genuine and pure in heart.
So, may we strive for a pure heart.
To be pure in heart means to have pure thoughts and genuine motives.
There is a consistency between your beliefs and behavior.
A person who is pure in heart is sincere and authentic.
3rd … Jesus tells us to BE A PEACEMAKER
Matthew 5:9 – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
“Peacemakers release tension, they don’t intensify it. Peacemakers calm the waters, they don’t trouble them.
Do you recall when David and his angry warriors were galloping toward the home of the rancher, Nabal, armed for battle?
Nabal had arrogantly refused to pay David’s men what was due them.
Nabal’s wife, Abigail, sized up the coming bloodshed and took action.
She prepared a catered meal for David and his men; rode out to meet them, fed them, apologized for her husband’s ignorance, and pleaded for forgiveness.
She defused the hostility and war was averted.
David said, “May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day” (1 Samuel 25:33).
Abigail was a peacemaker.
She was perceptive to the problem.
She sacrificed her pride and energy to avoid conflict and she facilitated reconciliation.
David was so impressed that when Nabal died several days later, he asked Abigail to marry him.
Sometimes you make peace by avoiding a potential conflict with someone else.
A peacemaker absorbs the hurt and sacrifices self to maintain a positive relationship.
And 4th Jesus warns us that we should EXPECT PERSECUTION FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Matthew 5:10-12 – “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Notice the reason for persecution:
It is for the sake of righteousness.
Sometimes when you’re merciful, pure, and peaceful, your standards tend to incriminate others and that may cause them to attack you.
Jesus was perfect yet the world crucified Him.
If we seek to follow Him we must anticipate some opposition.
All around the world there are people who face life and death because of their faith.
Sometimes when you try to be salt and light, you can be the victim of intense opposition.
Jesus said, “If you are persecuted, don’t whine, don’t holler “foul,” and threaten to sue for every dime.
We are to rejoice and be glad for three reasons:
1. First, you’re in good company—that’s the way God’s prophets were treated.
2. Second, your reward in heaven will be greater.
3. Third, when the world sees us respond with joy instead of anger, they will be attracted to Jesus Christ.
Paul and Silas were arrested in Philippi, beaten by the jailer, and placed in stocks in a damp, inner dungeon.
Instead of complaining to the jailer about their abuse, the Bible says, “Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God.”
And the prisoners heard them.
I am sure they had heard all kinds of profanity from the inner dungeon, but never singing and praising.
Then an earthquake shook the entire prison and everyone was freed.
The jailer prepared to commit suicide because he was responsible for them.
But Paul called out, “Don’t harm yourself, we’re all here!
The jailer called out, “What must I do to be saved?”
Why was he so receptive to the gospel?
Why did he listen to Paul’s instruction and then be baptized the same night?
Because when Paul and Silas were persecuted, they rejoiced and praised God.
Our reputation is important and it should reflect Christ.
What we have as Christ followers is not because of what we’ve done but because of what Christ has done.
We have salvation and an eternal inheritance not because of anything that we could do but because of the good name of Jesus Christ.
We have a wonderful place to spend eternity because of a Savior who has gone there to prepare a place for us.
