Salt and Light: Restoring Community and Hope

So I have here a powerful work light. This is the kind of light that people would use on a construction site or when they're searching in a a deep mine or some other place where fixtures are not in place. A powerful light that shines and illumines a dark place. Now as we look at this light, what what we're not supposed to do is just admire the light itself. We're not supposed to just adore these bulbs and brackets. The whole point of a light is to point out something else, something more important, something which must be the focus of our intention. It illuminates the more important thing, the thing that we really want to see or want other people to see. [00:53:47] (49 seconds)  #LightReveals

Young people love hearing from seasoned people. Older folks love discovering what's happening in the lives of youth today. I love that. I also love what Tamara and I saw last month when we were biking on the Bugline Trail up by Merton. We saw members on this Saturday morning of the local Lions Club taking developmentally challenged adults on tandem bike rides down the trail. And these folks, these beautiful people with Down syndrome were there in the back seat just beaming with joy as they went down the road. I mean, that's awesome. I I love these things. But I'm also convinced that only the gospel of Jesus can forge and fix relationships that will extend into eternity. [00:46:48] (51 seconds)  #GospelConnects

In other words, gang, our passion for individualism and following our hearts and self reliance and, hey, man, you do you, has culminated in robbing our culture some kind of connective tissue that binds us when we tend toward brokenness. Friends, as much as any moment in history, Jesus is looking at Elmbrook right now, and he's telling us, hey, go head to the scorer's table and check into the game because the world needs you right now. The world needs God's glue for these growing gaps. Jesus is asking people like us, friends, to be his agents in an era of fragmentation and isolation. [00:44:10] (53 seconds)  #GodsGlue

And it's not because we, in and of ourselves, can bond what's been broken. It's because we have been sent, commissioned by someone who can and has. We are, in obeying Jesus' invitation to be salt, joining with him in what he's always been up to. Colossians one says this, all things have been created through all things, not most things, not a fraction thereof. All things have been created through him and for him, and he's before all of them, and in him, things hold together. [00:45:03] (38 seconds)  #AllThingsInChrist

It inspired more than 40 women's groups, along with our reception staff, to assemble welcome home kits filled with practical household items to help create safe and welcoming spaces for women beginning a new chapter of healing and stability. Some groups included Christian books, handwritten encouragement cards, and prayer notes. As women packed supplies together, they were reminded that small acts of kindness can bring hope, dignity, and the love of Jesus to those people who are rebuilding their lives. So I just wanna say thank you, ladies, for obeying God's call, acting in this moment of need, and serving in this way. light shone brightly through this decision and this action. [00:57:07] (48 seconds)  #WelcomeHomeKits

So independence and individuality can be a good thing. Right? But over time, a lack of social cohesion leads to disaster. This breakdown was observed by twentieth century sociologist Philip Reif, not a Christian, by the way, who saw how in the modern world, cultures were beginning to decay, to break apart as an undetended consequence of a pivot toward atheism. Reef suggests that all social order rests on an underlying sacred order. And when you boot God out of the discussion, principles die too. Morality fades, and eventually, communities crack and crumble. [00:42:43] (59 seconds)  #SacredOrderMatters

Because in the ancient world, salt was primarily used as a food preservative. So from a a big bag to a small one. I've got some beef jerky here. Now, Elmbrook, this is what I want our church to be like. Mom, did pastor Tim just say that we're all jerks? No. That's not that's not quite what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that I want you to think about being more like the salt that enables the existence of beef jerky because salt, as a preservative, makes things last longer. Salt holds things together over the long term. [00:38:29] (50 seconds)  #SaltPreserves

And God's plan expressed through the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter five is that we together are the salt of the earth, and we are the light of the world. So let's start with the big bag over here, salt, n a c l, if you're playing along from chem lab. All of us use salt in some way, shape, or form every day, and here's what Jesus says about it. He says, you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? [00:36:52] (41 seconds)  #YouAreSalt