[0:00] So if you have your Bibles, I hope you do. If you don't, always say, scoot close to a person next to you who has their Bibles, and you can look over their shoulder. You have my permission to get really close to them. And you say, well, we're not supposed to do that this time and day, in this day and age in which we live in.
[0:14] Well, it is more important for you to understand the Word of God than this to completely rely upon the Word of man. So find a set of scriptures, look upon those set of scriptures, and turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 5.
[0:25] Matthew chapter 5, verses 1 through 16 will be our text this morning. If you are familiar at all with the Gospel of Matthew, you know that we are transitioning into one of the greatest sections of the Gospel itself, probably one of the longest discourses, or it is recorded, one of the longest discourses of Christ recorded for us in any chapter of the Bible or any section of Scripture.
[0:47] Though there is some speculation as to whether or not the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, was delivered at one time, or if this was a collection of sermons and sayings that Christ shared throughout His ministry and was later compiled by Matthew, or Levi, as He is also known, and put together as one great teaching.
[1:05] Either way we look at it, we understand that the next three chapters, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, really are distinct. They're very different. They set apart for us really this display of what the kingdom of God looks like.
[1:18] Because if you remember, when John the Baptist came, he began preaching, the kingdom of heaven is near. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. And then when Jesus shows up on the scene, He begins to proclaim, the kingdom of heaven is here.
[1:34] Not near, but here. It is present. As some have said, wherever the king is present, the kingdom is there as well. The kingdom, you know, it moves with the king. It shows up with the king.
[1:46] And the Sermon on the Mount is a great message or a great proclamation of what it looks like in the kingdom, of what it is that looks like we behave or how it is that we should act and how it is that we should move.
[2:00] We get not the redefining, but the full meaning of Old Testament laws and regulations. You know, we get the heart of God where we understand later on, where the Old Testament says that we should not murder.
[2:13] When we turn to the Sermon on the Mount, we understand what murder really is. It's not necessarily an act. It's an attitude, right? Because Jesus says whoever hates his brother in his heart is already guilty of murder.
[2:23] We begin to see what the kingdom looks like and what the people inside the kingdom look like and how they behave. And then we kind of play that out in the rest of the Gospel of Matthew.
[2:34] And it really moves us as we understand who we are in Christ. But this morning in particular, we're in Matthew 5, verses 1 through 16.
[2:45] And we'll be looking specifically at the people of the kingdom. Because just as the king is different from every other king, the king is much further different than the anticipated king or the anticipated Messiah.
[3:03] If you're reading your daily readings, if you're following the reading plan that so many of us are following, and you're opening it up and you read in the Gospel of Luke this morning or today, I don't want to be a spoiler for you, and you see where Jesus rides in on the donkey and he's coming in that triumphal entry.
[3:20] And he is there and they're proclaiming, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And this is this great Old Testament picture of the coming king, the Messiah. And many, many, because the question is, well, how could the multitude that proclaimed, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Messiah, blessed is he who comes in the name of the king, how can the same multitude and crowd that was proclaiming, proclaiming Hosanna on one day, just seven days later, say, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him?
[3:52] How can the same crowd do it? How can the same people in that Passion Week, that last week? And it is because Jesus is not the king people were expecting.
[4:03] He's not the one they anticipated, right? He's so much better. He's so much greater. And so much other than. Well, in the same way, so are his people.
[4:17] So are the people of the kingdom. So are the people who belong to that kingdom, who are part of that kingdom. They are other than. They are different. They're set apart.
[4:28] And we see that introduced for us because before he begins to talk about how we behave and how we act and how we live, he tells us who we are. And we see that recorded for us in Matthew chapter 5.
[4:40] So if you're physically able and desire to do so, I'm asking if you'll join with me as we stand together. And we read in Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 1. And we're going to go down, for the sake of this morning's message, down to verse 16.
[4:52] Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 1 and going down to verse 16. When Jesus saw the crowds, and let's put that in context. If you remember, at the end of chapter 4, he's going around and he's healing and there's all these disease-stricken people and these people with all these various diseases and pneumoniacs and all these problems that are being drawn to him.
[5:12] And there are crowds following him from Judea, the Decapolis area, Samaria, and Jerusalem. So people from everywhere are following Jesus. There's this big crowd, even from beyond the Jordan, it says there at the end of chapter 4 in verse 25.
[5:26] And when Jesus saw these crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth, and he began to teach them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[5:39] Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
[5:51] Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted, for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[6:04] Blessed are you, when people insult you, and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you, but you because of me, rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
[6:18] You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill, cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
[6:35] Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day, and God, we thank you for the moment to be still.
[6:49] We thank you for the opportunity to hear your word and to read your word. Lord, we pray that as we have seen it, read it, and heard it, Lord, that it would not be the word of man, but that it would be the very word of God which teaches and speaks to us, that it would be your word that penetrates our hearts and minds, and that it captivates us by who you are and who it is you're calling us to be.
[7:10] We ask that in all ways and all things you would be glorified and honored and that you would be lifted on high. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.
[7:23] We're focusing this morning on the people of the kingdom, or more in particular, the people of the king, those who belong to the king, and what it is that defines them, and how it is that they look among the people of the world, and we'll see, hopefully, in just a moment, the sharp contrast that exists.
[7:41] I will say, probably the greatest book or the greatest message that I have ever read on the Sermon on the Mount in particular is a book written, it's a classic book, on the studies on the Sermon on the Mount by Martin Lloyd-Jones.
[7:56] If you've never read any of Martin Lloyd-Jones stuff, Martin Lloyd-Jones was a pastor in England up until, I think, the 1980s, but also had centuries of service there before that.
[8:08] Now, Lloyd-Jones isn't much of a devotional writer. He didn't write many books. He didn't write many commentaries. He didn't write many, anything, really, and there are not many of his sermons that are written because Lloyd-Jones had this thought in particular.
[8:21] Now, I know you're going to go out there and you're going to research his name and you're going to see all these books and you're going to say, oh, the pastor is wrong. He wrote all kinds of stuff. Well, yeah, but in comparison to most people that held his position and most people that are as respected as he is throughout church history, he didn't write that much.
[8:36] But what we do have is Lloyd-Jones did not have many of his messages transcribed or written out because, as he said in his great classic book Preaching and Preachers, the sermon is meant to be proclaimed to a public audience.
[8:47] It's not to be written and to be studied by an individual sitting in a chair. It is something very spiritual that happens when the man of God is moved by the Word of God to proclaim to the people of God a message from God.
[8:59] And we can't necessarily translate that to the pages of a book. So he didn't let many of his sermons be written. He didn't let many of his sermons be transcribed unlike Charles Spurgeon. Now, that's not saying Spurgeon was unspiritual for doing that.
[9:11] It's just a difference in the two of them, right? But one of the few classics we have of his sermons is his studies in the Sermon on the Mount. So if you ever really want to study the Sermon on the Mount, get Martin Lloyd-Jones' book, Studies on the Sermon on the Mount.
[9:23] It's a record of 38 messages, I think it is, that he proclaimed from this book. And it's a great study and it is one that you need to pay particular attention to. And I highlight that because he makes this statement in the very beginning of it.
[9:38] And I think it's a statement that resonates. As he's introducing the Sermon on the Mount, in particular, he's introducing the Beatitudes and he's introducing this section of Scripture in which we're looking at. He makes this statement.
[9:50] And the statement says this, when the church is not impacting its society or its community, it is because the church is not what she should be first.
[10:05] The problem does not arise in society or the community, the problem arises among the people of God. And until the people of God become the people of the kingdom, then they'll never be able to be the ambassadors for the kingdom they're called to be.
[10:20] So who we are matters more than what we do. Who we are has a greater impact. As a matter of fact, in his comments on the, you are the light of the world and you are the salt of the earth.
[10:36] He has this great phrase and as a pastor, I highlight things or underline things and I can go back and look at things that I've done and as a pastor, it's kind of hard to see these like, well, I highlighted that statement and one of the statements in this is, we must first learn to be silent.
[10:51] That's hard for a guy who speaks a lot. And then, as he's referring to that, he says, because the very first thing people should notice about the kingdom is what they see from us, not what they hear from us.
[11:07] If they hear more than they see, then we are not who we should be. because the people of God, the people of the kingdom are the true reflection of what the king looks like.
[11:21] We are the image, right? As some say, we are the billboard for a watching and looking world to see exactly what this king looks like, who it is that we celebrate this time of the year in particular, but every day of the year, it ought to be the celebration of this king.
[11:37] As Matthew is lifting him up, this is the king, and they see him by what they see of the people of that kingdom who belongs to him. And we understand this, and we see it as we come into this section of scripture.
[11:51] Number one, we see that the people of the kingdom are a defined people. They are a defined people. That is, they are someone in particular. They are not just a general people.
[12:03] They are defined people. They are someone specific, and it says there when Jesus saw the crowds. Now, one thing you notice when you go throughout the gospels, and one thing you notice when you read and study the life of Jesus, Jesus has a habit of getting rid of crowds.
[12:19] I don't know if you've ever caught that or if you've ever paid attention to that, and I think that we need to be sure that we pay particular attention to that, especially in light of so much church growth and all this mega church business, and I'm not against mega churches, right?
[12:31] I'm not against all that thing, but we need to understand there are two people probably in scripture. Actually, I would say three people really that stand out to me in scripture, New Testament in particular, that if you wanted to grow a large church, you didn't invite either one of these three to be your pastor.
[12:45] Number one, be John the Baptist. Who's going to show up and listen to John the Baptist call them a brood of vipers as he's eating locusts and wild honey and dressed in camel's hair, right? He stood out even in his day and time.
[12:56] The second one would probably be Paul, even though Paul had a great following. Most people aren't really drawn to the fact that Paul would say of church members, I've handed him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.
[13:08] Some people say, well, that's a little harsh, right? That's Paul. But the one that probably you wouldn't want to call to be your pastor, even though he probably should be the leading candidate for the job, he is actually the head of the church, who had a really bad thing about drawing and attracting and maintaining crowds would be Jesus himself.
[13:26] Because every time we see a crowd around him, there's always a challenge to them, and the challenge inevitably leads to the dispersion of them. One of the greatest is when we see it near the end of his public ministry when the crowds are drawn to Jesus and Jesus stands up and says, I tell you that I am the bread of heaven.
[13:41] Whoever eats of my flesh and drinks of my blood shall have a part in the kingdom of heaven. That's hard for anybody to swallow. Right? That's hard for anybody to understand. And they left him. The multitudes left him.
[13:52] And people were just, was pushed away from him. And it's always because God is setting his people apart as a distinct people. We see here, when Jesus saw the crowds, when Jesus sees the crowds, often he looks upon them with compassion.
[14:07] He looks upon them with concern. He meets their physical needs. And he had been doing that for a time. He had been healing and moving around. And we see this in the crowds with him. But when Jesus saw the crowds, rather than moving as the momentum was going, it says that he went up to the mountains and he sat down.
[14:23] He pulled away for just a moment. Not sure a lot of them followed him, but I want us to pay in particular to who followed him. It says, And when he saw the crowds, he went up to the mountain and he sat down and his disciples came to him.
[14:36] The first thing we see about the people of the kingdom, the first defined character trait of the people is they are disciples. His disciples came to him.
[14:50] The thing that sets the people of the kingdom apart from the people of the crowd is the desire for discipleship. The crowd wants the benefits, they want the blessings, they want the provisions, but they don't always want the teaching.
[15:07] Because discipleship is that teaching and surrendering to and submitting to the authority of another. I've often said discipleship is messy.
[15:19] It's messy inside the lives and every one of us. And the reason that so many churches really struggle with true biblical discipleship and the reason I as an individual struggle with true biblical discipleship is discipleship is messy.
[15:33] It's doing life together, right? Biblical discipleship is you getting up in my business, me getting up in your business, and each of us allowing that to happen in such a transparent way that it is absolutely your right to know everything that goes on with me and it is my right to know everything that goes on with you and we are to sharpen one another and to grow together and to move towards the person of who Christ has called us to be with one another and that's messy.
[15:57] It's not surface level, right? It's not how you're doing today, I'm doing great, how are you all man, I'm doing great, everybody's doing great, if we were all doing as good as we say we are then the world wouldn't have any problems. Discipleship is when someone says how you're doing today, you know right now today stinks.
[16:10] This is what's going on and you don't have this, the reason we don't say that is because we're quite honest, I mean it's an honest assessment, we're afraid that if we say that it's going to push people away. A true discipleship is having the ability to say that to someone and someone be like, yeah okay, mine kind of stinks today too and that's okay, right?
[16:29] And the thing that sets the people of the kingdom apart from the people of the crowd is a desire for authentic discipleship. I want to submit to the leading and the teaching and the understanding of who Christ is and his disciples came to him.
[16:47] Now this isn't necessarily the apostles. As we look at Christ, the circle always gets smaller. You have the crowds, then you have the disciples, those who sat at his feet and learned from him, then you have the apostles, the twelve which he commissioned to go out, well actually then you have the seventy-two, and then you have the apostles, the twelve he called to himself and sent out, and then you have the three, the inner circle of three, Peter, James, and John.
[17:09] So it always gets consensually smaller, but what we understand, the very first thing that defines the people of the kingdom is their desire to know, not just their desire to be provided for.
[17:25] In our following of Christ, I hope and I long for a relationship with Christ that the person of Christ is so much better than the provisions of Christ. That I would rather set at the feet of Christ than eat from the hand of Christ.
[17:41] It is this desire for discipleship to know and to hear and to understand, and they are defined by that. The people of the kingdom are defined. So here's the question we have, what's the application of us?
[17:53] How are we doing with that? None of us, as Paul would say, none of us are yet what we should be. But it is our desire to know more of Christ and to know more of Christ and to know more of Christ, and would the word disciple define us, or are we just okay with a follower in the crowd?
[18:13] See, we see that they're defined by that, but the definition gets a little bit further in there because it says, and his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and he began to teach them, that is his disciples, saying, blessed are the, and there's this repetition of blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed.
[18:29] So let's understand this, okay? Because I know I'm going to kind of flesh it out in just a moment, but just stay with me right here. Don't let your mind wander a little bit further. We're looking at the truth, that the people of the kingdom are a defined people.
[18:43] The first thing that defines them is their desire for discipleship. The second thing that defines them is the reality of their blessed condition. They are blessed.
[18:56] Okay? It may not look right from the world's perspective. It may not look good from the world's perspective. It may not look pleasant from the world. Many of the Beatitudes we have listed here do not look pleasant from the crowd, right?
[19:10] It does not, the crowd doesn't think, oh man, it's great when I'm persecuted for his name, right? It's great when I suffer. But Jesus said, you are blessed. And it's just like every other truth we see in scripture.
[19:21] When he calls us saints, we are saints. When he says we are blessed, guess what? We are blessed. We are blessed individuals because of who it is we belong to.
[19:34] So the people of the kingdom are defined by their position of discipleship and they are also defined by their inheritance of his blessed position. And we see that they are defined people.
[19:49] Secondly, we see that they are a different people. I don't have time nor am I going to take the time to go through each of these Beatitudes. But if we were to read each of these Beatitudes, we would see that they really kind of contradict what the majority of the people in the crowd would have thought would have made one blessed or would have made one prosperous or would have made one comfortable or even happy.
[20:09] These things seem to be so much different than anyone else would ever imagine. These are not the things that people really were striving for. But as we are reminded, the very first Beatitude and the last Beatitude have this tagline at the end of them.
[20:23] It says, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And then when we go on down to verse 10, it says, Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[20:35] So here we have the first and the last Beatitude and they are bracketed by this reality. These are the character traits of those who belong to the kingdom of heaven. Now these are not individual things that we should strive for.
[20:48] Rather, this is the multitude of things that ought to be true about us. Rather than referring to them as Beatitudes, some have referred to them as attitudes which should be. These are the character traits which should be in existence of every follower.
[21:03] It's not like we get to say, well, I'm going to take number three, please, or I'll take number five, please, or I would rather be number one. No, each and every one of these are attributes of what the people of God and the people of the kingdom should look like.
[21:16] We cannot break them apart. We cannot split them apart. These are the things which separate them from everyone else. When we live in this manner, it makes us different.
[21:27] When we are poor in spirit, now we'll just kind of go through them very quickly, but to be poor in spirit is to not see one more highly of himself or herself than they should. Someone once said that if anyone can see themselves in a great light after being in the presence of the king, then they have probably never really been in the presence of the king.
[21:45] To be poor in spirit is to have a proper understanding of ourselves. Not to be so self-centered or so self-exalting that we think of ourselves more than we should, but rather we are like that tax collector who beats our chest and says, woe am I, I'm not even fit to lift up my eyes to the king, right?
[22:00] Who am I? Unworthy am I? We're like Isaiah who comes out, I am a man of unclean lips who live among a people of unclean lips, right? It is to be poor in spirit. Those who mourn or weep over their sins and the sins of others.
[22:12] Those who cannot help but to fill the weight and the pressure of those things. Those who are gentle, blessed are the gentle. Those who have this great concern of comfort. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
[22:23] Those who have a desire for the things of the kingdom rather than the things of this world. Those who are merciful. How can we not be merciful? When we understand how much mercy has been extended to us, then how much more mercy should we extend to others?
[22:36] Those who are pure in heart and those who are peacemakers. Listen, each and every one of these really kind of conflict with our natural tendency. As Louis Jones also said, the reality is none of these are natural to common man.
[22:49] Each and every one of these are things that we cannot attain on our own. There are things that are only present because of the king who has called us to himself. We have to admit that.
[23:00] This is not who we are naturally. This is not who we are on our own. This is what sets us apart because of the kingdom which we belong to.
[23:11] It is the thing which makes us different. And, by the way, that's the intended purpose. The people of the kingdom are to be different.
[23:23] They are to look different and act different and behave different than anyone else. And the one thing we find and the one truth that resonates is that our character always precedes our conduct.
[23:39] We are different in character not just in conduct. Which means even if we do the right things but we're not different to the core of our being it really doesn't matter. The very first thing the king tells us is who we are matters more than what we do.
[23:54] Listen, you can go to any organization. I won't say any. Let me just stop this. Let's back this up a little bit. There are a lot of good organizations in this world who will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the poor, build houses where they need to be built, do everything that the church is commanded to do.
[24:13] There are a lot of good organizations that you don't necessarily have to be a disciple and a true follower of Christ to be a part of, right? They care for the people around them. They buy gifts for the needy.
[24:23] They care for the community and the societies that they've evolved in. So it's not necessarily what we do. It is who we are that makes us different.
[24:34] It is the character of the people that defines them and separates them from the crowd that is still trying to do the same thing, right? We cannot separate our conduct from our character because if we do, then we are not really people of the kingdom because the thing that really makes us different is who we are internally.
[24:59] None of these are things that the people were doing. This is just who they are to the core of their being and we understand character always precedes conduct. Who we are always matters more than what we do because even if we do the right things but we are not the right people, then we are really not a part of the kingdom.
[25:16] So we understand this truth that they are a different people. Now we get into some of the application of that because they are defined people and they are defined by their desire to know Him and their discipleship and they are defined by their blessed condition that they lived in because of their relationship to Him and they are different to the very core of their being.
[25:35] I mean, they cannot help but be different. It's not that they just do different things. It's not that they just, they're just different people, right? Their character is so much other than the rest of the world, so much other than the crowd.
[25:46] And then we begin to look at what that looks like in life and you have the applications of it a little bit in 13, 14, 15, and 16. So the third thing we see is they are distinct people. That is, they stand out.
[25:59] They're distinct people. You are, and I love these two verses, 13 and 14, because they ring with emphatic force.
[26:11] They make a declaration, not a suggestion. As a parent, you understand the difference between a suggestion and a declaration, right? You understand the difference between asking your kids to do something and telling your kids to do something.
[26:28] A suggestion is something in which they have the ability to choose to do or not to do. A declaration is something that they really don't have the ability, though they think they may have the ability. I mean, I guess we cannot make anybody do anything, but when we make a declaration, we're saying something that must be done, not something that, well, it's probably a good idea if you do that.
[26:47] And we need to understand these same things, that when Christ teaches his people, he's not making a suggestion here that these would be good. He is making a declaration of these are things that are.
[26:59] If you are people of the kingdom, look at what it says, you are the salt of the earth. You are. That is a bold declaration of truth. Now, one thing about salt, salt is very distinct, right?
[27:12] It is something that stands out. You know when it's there and you know when it's not. You can tell when there's too much of it. You can tell when there's not enough of it. And salt can't be anything other than salt. It is always going to be that.
[27:24] And it is always going to have the same impact wherever it's at. But look at what he says. He says, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and to be trapped on underfoot by men.
[27:36] We'll get to that in just a moment. But what I want you to understand is that you have a very, very distinct role to fulfill in society and you are this thing. We know that it's preservative. We know that it's a seasoning.
[27:46] We know that it exists for all those things. Sometimes it's irritating, right? And we understand that. But we need to know these realities. This is who we are. We have a very distinct, definite purpose in society and we are there for that purpose and we don't get to choose whether or not we want to be that or not.
[28:04] We are there to be the irritant and the preservative of society. Yes, sometimes we irritate it and we make it burn a little bit, but we don't do it intentionally. That's just what happens as a result of our presence.
[28:15] We are also there to be the preservative of society, that which sustains it and lifts it up and it changes it because we are there. We are to add a little bit of flavor to that thing. We are to know that society would not be the same without us there.
[28:27] Now in the time of Christ, most of their salt was coming from the salt sea. You understand that? The salt sea was there and there was just all these salt residues that when they would just get it and they would use it for seasoning, preservatives and all this. They didn't have refrigeration, so I remember as a kid, maybe you remember it too, we used to butcher our own hogs and we would always, this time of year in particular, my dad would always go out to the barn.
[28:49] I used to plan that barn a lot and thinking back on it now, you know it wasn't necessarily the cleanest of places, but that's okay, it didn't matter. My dad, every year around Christmas, was to go out to the barn and cut down the ham that was hanging in the feed sack that had been salt cured the year before.
[29:03] It was always our Christmas ham and every year at Thanksgiving, we would kill hogs and we would cure another one in salt and hang it up in the barn and that would be next year's Christmas ham. I remember that, right? So it had a very distinct purpose.
[29:16] It had a reason for being there, but also in the time of Christ, they would get this residue off the bottom of the salt sea or around that region and it wouldn't be necessarily salt, even though it would have a salt flavoring to it.
[29:28] It was kind of this grindy stuff, so they would use that to pave their roads because it would kill any grass that would try to grow and they would put it down. And this is the imagery that Jesus is using here. You're either salt fulfilling your purpose or you're that stuff who likes to act like salt but you're really not salt so we're going to throw you down and just walk on you.
[29:46] Very distinct, right? You either are or you're not. And if you're really not authentic, there's no other purpose there in the kingdom.
[29:57] It's distinct, right? It's intentional. And he's laying it out there that true salt never loses its flavor because it doesn't.
[30:08] It's always salty. But imitation salt, the stuff that has come into contact with salt, that will eventually wear off. It's distinct. It's intentional.
[30:22] And the fourth and final thing we see about the people of the kingdom is they are a displayed people. They're displayed people. We see this again in this bold declaration in verse 14.
[30:36] You are the light of the world. Now, friend, listen to me. As followers of Christ, these are two statements which resonate inside of us. These are two statements which should lead us to go back to verses 1 through 12 and pray that these character traits would be exhibited in us.
[30:53] We are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. Those are two statements which should say, Oh God, help the character of your people be in existence inside of me so that I could fulfill the purpose of my presence.
[31:07] You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand. And it gives light to all those who are in the house. You are a people on display.
[31:19] God does not call people to himself so that he can hide them, right? God does not call people. Now, I know you're thinking of the underground church but what's amazing is the underground church seems to be growing more than the above ground church, if you will.
[31:31] The underground, the region where the church is persecuted and suffering and quite often most underground seems to be growing. Why? Because they are the city set on a hill even in the midst of what seems to be a dark area.
[31:44] You cannot hide that. The people of the kingdom by nature are attractants. They're constantly drawing people to themselves. He says, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
[32:00] So we see here that the people of the kingdom are a displayed people. But the reality is is what they are on display has nothing to do with themselves. They are not on display so people could see who they are.
[32:12] They are people that are displayed so that people could glorify their Father who is in heaven. They are to let their works. Listen, when our character is what it should be, then our conduct can then do what it was intended to do.
[32:28] Our conduct, that is the things we do, had never had as its intended purpose just to make life better for others. We don't clothe the naked, feed the hungry, care for the orphaned and the widowed.
[32:41] We don't impact our society just so people's lives are easier. We do it so that they may glorify our Father who is in heaven. And when our character is what it should be, then our conduct can then be on display to do what it was intended to do.
[33:00] Draw others to give glory to the Father who is in heaven and to put Him on display, not us, so that people may see who He is, not who we are.
[33:13] And here, we begin to see the people of the kingdom. And may our prayer always be, oh God, may I always be one of those people. Let's pray.
[33:24] Lord, we thank You so much for this day. God, we're so thankful. Thankful for the opportunity to gather together as a church body. Thankful for the opportunity to look at Your Word and say, so, Thank you.
[34:33] Thank you.
[35:03] Thank you.
[35:33] Thank you.
[36:03] Thank you.