Sunday Recap

The scripture Sunday was Matthew 5:13-16.  It's where Jesus tells his disciples they are to be salt and light. 

I used Jesus' words to talk about being a witness in two ways.

Salt is for the one consuming it.  It's not shared.  It's our silent witness.  Our Salt witness is what we do behind closed doors, when no one is looking.  If we are connecting with God through prayer, Bible study, fasting, listening for the Holy Spirit and making wise decisions in our private lives, then our public witness is more effective.

Light is to be shared.  Our light witness is our known witness.  It's what people see.  It's their perception of who we are.  And that perception is their reality of us (whether we like it or not).  Our light is our reputation.  It's what we say and don't say and what we do and don't do.  What people know about us matters...Jesus is making that clear.

So to be an effective witness for Christ we have to do the work in private so that what we do in public gives Christ a good reputation.  As a Christian, our reputation is Christ's reputation.

The point for the sermon was this: To be salt is to be a silent influence, to be light is to be a known influence.  Our witness is our influence and we all have a person (or even several people) that we shoudl be influencing in the name of Jesus.