Well, we are in week two of our little group and the emails and posts have been truly good. Thank you for all who have posted and responded. For those that have not, let’s try to hope on the train this week. Fortunately for you, I may not have always gotten everything done that I have tried to either! 🙂
So, this week. Let’s take a closer look at the Sermon on the Mount. Now, this may not be the area that we spend the entire summer in. In fact, I doubt it will be. Overall, I am trying to take what I hear from you, add in what God is speaking to my heart and see where he wants to lead us. So, I would say that none of us in this group fully knows where it is all going.
Let’s look at Matthew 5.13.
13 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?
Now, when I read this, and this version is from the Message, I think a couple of things. I love the very start of this passage, “Let me tell you why you are here…” It is just very simple and straitforward. The stuff that we often wish was more frequent in the Bible. Jesus would have been sitting on the big hill, looking at those who had come to hear him, and probably they would have been pressing in close to hear.
And he says, “Let me tell you why you are here.” Obviously he wasn’t talking about why they were there listening to him, he was speaking about why they are on earth.
He is speaking to us as well. So, we would do well to slow down for a minute, lean in a bit, and listen to the answer that God the Son, Jesus, is about to give to the statement he just made.
We are here to be salt. The seasoning that brings out the God flavors of the earth. We are to take the things that God has done and continues to do, and make them more easily seen, more easily noticed.
Jesus gives two very basic statements. He offers to tell them why they are here, what their purpose is. Then he gives them a very simple explanation. We are to bring up and discuss the fingerprints that God has left and continues to leave, all over the world, in our lives, everywhere.
Clarity about our purpose. To make God more fully known, both to those who are followers of his and to those who are not. We are to talk about what God is up to.
If God is in charge, then he has the right to ask that of us. The question is, are we doing it? Are we talking about what we have seen God do? Do we talk about God to those who agree with us about him, but never to those who don’t?
There is certainly much more we could discuss about this short passage. In fact, I think the Sermon on the Mount has layers to it that we will spend our entire lives exploring. I suspect even after that, when we stand with God in heaven and he shows us the fullness of what he was up to, we will still be amazed by how little of it we actually got.
But let’s not worry about that for now. For now, let’s let it be very simple. Jesus said we are here to make God more well known. That we are here to allow the “God-flavors” of this earth to be more detectable.
Let’s make what we do be very simple as well.
Let’s memorize that set of scripture. You can take the first two sentences or you can tackle the three verse section. Whichever you prefer.
This week, at least once, but as often as possible, be the salt that you are. Talk about what God is doing, what he has done in your life. Do that however you feel led to, if you would like some help with that, email me and let me know.
Comment back in and tell us what happened. This way, the rest of us can be encouraged by what you have done. Also, many others are reading this as well. So, by sharing what you shared, you are continuing to be salt. However, if you feel it would be best to keep it private, you can either email our list serve or me personally. But lets share some stories. Even if nothing seems to happen.
Pray that those around you would be the salt they are, or would sense God’s flavoring of the world through you. Pray that the rest of us would do the same and pray that [nlcf] would be a place where that could happen on a broad scale.
I cannot wait to hear back and know I am praying for you all!
Peace, Jim
Greg Gates said...
1This is one of the parts of my faith that I struggle with the most. Growing up in a denomination where we sometimes refer to ourselves as the “Frozen Chosen” (I grew up Presbyterian) didn’t prepare me very well to do this kind of work we were asked to do this week.
It certainly wouldn’t be right of me to blame it all on my upbringing though. I think I’ve spent too much time just listening while growing up in the church and not enough time looking at and deciding for myself what I believe. This being the case, I’ve always been kind of afraid to talk to people about my faith because I’m afraid that they’ll ask me a question that I haven’t figured out the answer to yet.
Given my apprehension, I decided this week to try talking to someone who I knew was Christian, but who I’ve never really spoken to about any Christian topics before – my Mom.
Despite riding to church in the same car together for 18 years, my parents and I have hardly ever talked about our faith (with the exception of praying before meals) and I figure now is as good a time as any to start.
I talked a little about how I don’t really know about what God is directly working to do in my life. I believe that most of the interaction God and I have together right now is mostly just him reminding me that he’s still here and that he’s going to keep hanging around. I most often hear God speaking to me through nature – basically through the other 99.9% of his creation. Whether it’s looking up at the impeccably clear night sky in Kenya or having a staring contest with one of the fearless squirrels of Blacksburg, I feel like it’s moments like these where God is just saying “Hey.” It makes me smile.
I think those little reminders of God’s presence in my life are what I need most right now. It’s easy (at least, it is for me) to get complacent in the comfortable setting of home/Virgina Tech and I find myself all too often walking to church on Sunday morning and realizing how much my relationship with and fervor for God can subside over just a few days.
So I think that God is working in my life right now just to make sure I remember that he’s still a part of my life and of all our lives.
The conversation with my mom went pretty well. Maybe it didn’t last as long as I hoped it would, but it’s opened the door to a conversation that I hope to continue having with my parents. I feel like this week was the first step in preparing myself to be the salt of the earth that I’m called to be, and I’m really grateful for that.
06/21/10 1:55 PM | Comment Link
Cory said...
2Dang. Failure. Tomorrow I will try again.
So this week I was thinking about what Jim asked us, and what God asks us to do-talk about Him. Easy right? I’ve talked to plenty of rando’s before about God-it’s not that hard. But this time things are different. I find my heart really isn’t in it much with God-how am I going to talk to someone about how great and awesome He is if my full heart is not with it?
That was my excuse for most of the week-my heart isn’t in it-why am I going to do something that doesn’t feel right anymore? Then I thought-well maybe it would be a good thing to ask someone if they believe in God-or what not. Could that get my own fire going? Quite possible.
I was lifting at the gym today, as I went in, I gave my hokie passport to the girl at the desk to check-in. I usually make some small talk. As I went in I was thinking-well this would be a great opportunity to ask her what she thought about God. So that was the plan-on the way out-ask her if I could ask her a random question. But alas-she was talking with another girl that worked there-they were having what seemed to be an serious convo so I didn’t want to intruded. Blah. Failure. But tomorrow is another chance.
Hopefully this is the spark that can get me going. Who knows.
Journey well.
Cory
06/21/10 1:55 PM | Comment Link
Kristen F. said...
3This challenge is especially difficult. I know almost no one here, and the people I do know are from church. . . soooo we kind of talk about God all the time, you know. But that aside, I still talk to people from back in Virginia all the time. I have no excuse.
But why is this hard to do? Why is it so hard to talk to other people about God? What prevents us from doing it?
It’s hard because of the “what if” factor. What if this person isn’t Christian? I remember not too many years ago being in question about God’s existence. If anyone tried to even talk to me about God back then, I would have heard a bunch of jibberish. Hearing things like, “I’m saved through Jesus Christ” and “God is all around us” and “Could you pray for me about this?” sounds absolutely insane if you don’t believe or never have believed. My boyfriend is an atheist and we have talked about religion quite often. I am also often at a loss for words in these situations. What do I say when he asks me what the “Christian” opinion is on a matter or what “Christians” do in church. It’s hard to answer questions. . . because to him, it all sounds insane. It’s something he doesn’t agree with. And not in a disrespectful way; he’s actually really just curious when he asks those questions. We disagree on the topic of religion, but we are respectful of each other’s views. I just have this fear. Fear of being judged.
We even had a “disagreement” (I say this instead of argument because we don’t really fight or argue, we just disagree and talk about things. . .) kind of about religion, but not about the beliefs themselves, but about how defensive we can both get in regards to our opinions. He told me that he could never lose respect for me because of my faith.
I cried. Because that means so much. It should have made me realize that this assignment shouldn’t be difficult. We shouldn’t be afraid to be the salt and flavor this world. We should be able to talk freely about our faith and our relationship with God and not feel judged. Anyone that is going to judge us for our beliefs is not worth getting discouraged.
An atheist opened up my eyes to this. Maybe this is one reason talking about God to someone other than our Christian friends/family/acquaintances is important. It gives us a different perspective. Their questions make us think about the answers. We are forced to turn to Scripture or mentors for help in answering the tough ones. We are forced to grow through their doubt. . . or at least that has been my experience.
So what do we have to lose?
06/21/10 9:41 PM | Comment Link
said...
4Kristen, thank you for your post. I think you brought up some very interesting points. Sometimes we as Christians can be too fixated on having a conversation that is less conversation than a reason for us to talk about what we think about God, show the other person how they are incorrect and then help them to adopt our view. Now hear me on this, I truly believe that there is no other path to God than through Jesus and I truly believe that we are completely incapable of getting to God on our own; we need Jesus to reconnect us to God. I also truly believe that Jesus both called us and expects us to share this truth with people, which at times will bring on those more difficult discussions.
That being said, I don’t think Jesus was calling on us to make every conversation a contest. Who has more facts and whose answers come the quickest. I like that he used the image of salt. Salt simply takes what is already there and makes it more noticeable. In fact, to extend Jesus’ image farther, when salt is noticed for itself, usually too much has been added, eh?
So, I like the idea of simply speaking about how we see God moving in our world. Not looking to make it a contest or avoid one, simply let what is already there (God’s presence in the world) be more noticeable. Then trust him with the rest. Love your thoughts this summer Kristen! Peace.
06/22/10 12:35 PM | Comment Link
said...
5Cory, thanks for letting me watch the boring half of the USA/Slovenia match at your place last week! I really enjoy what you have to say, you write just like you speak.
I say, keep going for it, and also consider how you can discuss God’s presence with people you are regularly around, whether they be followers of Jesus already or not. Personally, I love hearing what other people are thinking and I like people asking me what I am walking through with God. The more I hear those thoughts and I ideas, the more clear his work in the world becomes to me. The salt is going it work.
06/22/10 12:39 PM | Comment Link
said...
6Heh heh… Great post, loving the honesty. Could we say that you started having the talk with your mom? 🙂
Those short talks that don’t always go as long as we would prefer are often the way that those initial talks go. Over time, you develop a greater sense of calm about those types of discussions and they become less nerve-wracking. Nice start and nice post.
06/22/10 12:43 PM | Comment Link
Cory said...
7S-u-c-c-e-s-s, that’s the way we spell success! Weeeeeee!
So I talked to two girls who work at the gym on the way out. I see them in there each time I go so they know my face and that I’m friendly. So today I said-can I ask you a random question? She goes sure-do you believe in God? She goes ha that is random. She answered yes, and I asked why, she said something along the lines of there has to be something. Then I asked the other girl-she said no, I asked her why as well, she said because there is no proof. Opposite answers there!
They went on to ask why I asked-I just said that I liked asking that question-which I do! It’s just been a while since I’ve asked it! Maybe that will spark conversation between the two of them? Maybe they will have more questions for me when I see them again?
Jim, yes, I see how you probably intended this to be more of talking with people you already know-but I love to ask rando’s questions too! I’ll try to talk to my friend’s about God more as well.
I do have to say that it felt good to ask those two that question. I hope this can stir something within my own soul. We shall see.
Journey well!
Cory
06/22/10 2:38 PM | Comment Link
Kristen F. said...
8That’s really cool that you had the courage to do that, Cory. It sounds like you approached it with the right attitude, curiosity and respect. You were genuine in simply asking a quick question, and they could obviously sense that you weren’t just messing around with them, given that they actually answered. I don’t know you at all, actually, but just from this little post I can tell that you are a very genuine person, and those girls could tell that just from that little conversation.
Isn’t it funny how it can be easier to talk to people we don’t know that well about these topics? Maybe it’s because we value the opinion of people we love so much more than those we don’t even know, and we are afraid to change anything we do or say in front of them for fear of what they will think.
06/22/10 11:56 PM | Comment Link