Be An Epiphany-Matthew 5:13-21

Prayer-

Thanks for safety and warmth in a place we can be church.

Thanks for women who have come before…those who have been brave and obedient to welcome the gifts God has given them—church that affirms and supports.

Thanks for those in my life whose faith has touched me…whose light have drawn me closer and lit a path for me to experience God and his love.

I praise God the blessing of a Christian upbringing and a legacy of faith.

God’s presence in this place through his Holy Spirit.

His anointing on this messenger and the message.

His stirring of our spirits.

Open our ears and hearts to hear and apply what you  have for us today.

Amen.

ME

I began my journey as a Christian about 41 years ago. I remember strongly my feelings of wanting to please God with my life and to stop disappointing him with the sin in my life. I also remember that I was so fearful of the pastor that I asked my daddy to walk to the front with me. Thank you, daddy, for that being one of many times that you would walk with me through my life.

A few years later, a major event took place in my middle school life that still impacts me today. A friend of mine was killed in a car accident. Dealing with horrific events when you are young like that is especially emotional. I remember worrying to the point of losing sleep that I didn’t know if he was saved or not. You see, Kip was my home ec partner. He was the student body president, football star, and all that. And I was just a shy, spectacled, seventh grader. (yes, I was shy) I was not in the popular crowd but I had somehow been given the luck of the draw in being paired with Kip. Yeah, I had a big crush on him. So when he died so unexpectantly, it shocked me. Like I said, I worried every night leading to his funeral whether or not he was a Christian and was going to heaven.

That day at the funeral, several friends shared stories of how he had been changed at a youth camp that summer. Wheww!!! OMG I was so relieved that he had secured his salvation THAT summer...weeks before he died. But that was too close!! Right then and there, I determined that I was NEVER going to let a person meet me, work with me, be around me and not know and see:

1.  That I was different and

2.  Why I was different? Who and what made me that way?

My life verse became Matthew 5:16 and has remained a guiding principle in my life ever since. It is this verse that we will consider today together.

WE

In the past four weeks, we have studied as a church how to take the next step in our individual faith journeys. Pastor Matt has delivered amazing, inspiring messages from God’s word that have encouraged us

to find ways to enrich our spiritual growth and experience unity through WORSHIP,

to fit in and invite others to BELONG, 

to show us needs and opportunities to SERVE others,

and to reveal our responsibility and our privilege to INVEST our monetary support and God-given gifts to something that matters, something that makes a difference…our local church body, Fernwood.

Thank you, Matt, for your preparation of those sermons. (which by the way, if you are new or visiting—I encourage you to listen to those sermons on the Fernwood website…fernwoodchurch.org. Go to the Worship tab and you can view our past worship services there. You can tell anyone who couldn’t make it today. This service will be posted by dinner time.) I am happy as can be over there taking notes as fast as I can because there’s so much to take to heart and to put into action. It means a great deal to me that my friends, my husband and I talk about your sermons, talk about what God is calling us to do and be.

In those conversations, sometimes, and in conversations I have had in the past with fellow believers (new and mature), I hear the acceptance of the call to be doers of the Word, I hear a willingness to serve others and make a difference, but I hear something else too…and that is doubt and exasperation with:

How to be good enough

How to do enough

Just last week, Bailie and I were talking about the sermon. And he said, I quote, “we can NEVER do all that God asks of us—it just isn’t possible.” He shared how it’s overwhelming and so people just have to keep doing the right thing and keep trying to do what God says. But when you feel like you fail God time and time again…you wonder about and doubt your purpose.

I think we all have felt this way. In all the busyness and activity that  we engage ourselves in…don’t you sometimes feel tired of keeping on…even when it comes to doing “church things”.

I have good news there is a better way…it just involves adjusting your view.

GOD

Let’s look back at our focal Scripture:

Read Matthew 5:13-20 again with MY emphasis and comments

You see this passage is coming from the Sermon on the Mount…where Jesus is sharing information that is radically different to these first century believers. He is laying out the groundwork for KINGDOM LIVING!! Remember that so much of what Jesus taught was upside-down to their thinking and to ours:

To find your life—you have to lose it.

Love your ENEMIES.

Giving is better than getting.

You want to be exalted---humble yourself.

You want to be great----serve others.

In God’s inverted kingdom, greatness is determined by our willingness to serve. Service to others is the yardstick of status in the new kingdom.

You see, Jesus, was showing his followers that THE WAY was going to require a change in thinking…a genuine commitment to an entirely new way of looking at our priorities, attitudes, and actions.

Before I share with you some simple steps that can help change your approach  to walking THE WAY, I want you to consider something with me. Have you ever wondered why the CENTRAL window in our sanctuary doesn’t focus on the CROSS like so many churches. Look where the crucifiction is…point.

What is happening here????

Jesus is giving his KINGDOM directions.

He is telling them how to live and how to not only answer the call but to LIVE ABUNDANTLY in righteousness, peace and joy.

Let me share with you----HOW TO SHINE.

YOU

Many times we find ourselves tired and struggling to make a difference and to do what God wants us to do (like Bailie said) because we are trying to start the fire ourselves. We are trying in our own strength, in our own knowledge, in our own emotional capacity to please God. And that is where we go wrong.

When we followed Christ in becoming a Christian, we became a NEW man. His righteousness became our righteousness. God no longer sees our attempts at being good…..he sees Jesus’ provision for our sin through his death on the cross. CHRIST IS IN US!!! Christ who is the LIGHT of the world is IN us. That’s why advent and Christmas is so crucial to our spirit….reminding ourselves of GOD WITH US. But now on this FIFTH SUNDAY of epiphany….we celebrate how Jesus “showed up and showed out” to believers and nonbelievers alike. We see His baptism, his miracles. This season of Epiphany is setting us up for when he makes that ultimate sacrifice.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, epiphany means "an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being,

a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something,

an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking,

an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure, or

a revealing scene or moment."

Friends, now that Jesus sits on the throne and we eagerly await His return, WE ARE Christ on earth. And so we must BE AN EPIPHANY to everyone around us of love and selflessness.

Show the poster. Explain.

The light we are to be is similar to the picture on the front of your Worship Guide. Look at each light. Look at the effect the whole picture has. See those on the “outskirts” being drawn in….

That is what we must be as Christians. We need to take back the name of Christians….we need to be little lights all over the place.

TO BE CHRIST…WE MUST KNOW CHRIST…WE MUST REFLECT CHRIST

I have four directives that I want to call Upside Down BEattitudes. I encourage you to write them down. I will wait.

1.  Be empty. Part of what causes dimming of the light of Christ in us is the creeping shadows of SELF. When we are pulled apart like a tug-of-war between our desires and God’s, it’s no wonder we are flickering. He cannot fill what is full of US. It takes a DAILY emptying.  Let it be a morning ritual like getting dressed. I have a prayer on my makeup mirror that I say every morning. Recite.

2.  Be desperate. The old testament is full of examples of how persnickety God’s people were. Crying for help, getting rescued, feeling elated, getting comfortable with the world’s ways, and getting back into trouble…over and over. I am struck by God’s STUBBORN love for them. Time and time again, he helps them. He’s such an enabler!!!! But thank God he stubbornly pursues a LOVE relationship with us…that is real and personal. BUT we have to be connected!!! Communicate.  Share story about Benjamin and Anna starting their relationship long distance.

Don’t you want to be in the presence of the one you love….God INHABITS our praise….that’s how to be in his presence for refreshing and revival….stay connected by PRAISING him. Start by just saying what you are grateful for…it’s proven that GRATEFUL LIVING is CONTENT LIVING.

3.  Be hungry. We gotta eat!!! And without nourishment…we will get weak and make bad decisions. Think about grocery shopping while hungry. Or those of us like me…that suffer from LBS. We need a steady diet of the Word. Read it. Love it. Learn from it. Live it. Write in it. Bring it to preaching. Relate to cell phone. 

4.  Be weak. In our weakness, He is strong. We learned it in our first song about Jesus….

Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak but He is strong

Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live

Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes Jesus loves me,
for the Bible tells me so

Logan, say our last memory verse: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

It doesn’t say, I am going to wear myself out trying to be good, trying to have patience, trying to be faithful.

He will do it for you.

Listen again to the verses from Isaiah:

Read from Isaiah58: 9-12…with my emphasis and comments

WE

Be a light!!! Shine!!! Let your light shine in such a way that men see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven!

I grew up listening to CCM…and one of my favorite groups is Newsboys. They have a song SHINE that says:

Shine…make them wonder what you got!!

Let Jesus shine in You. He will draw men to Him.

That is how we can make the difference in our world. So

Be Empty. Cause he will fill you.

Be desperate. Cause he will love on you.

Be hungry. Cause his word will fill and fulfill you.

Be weak. Cause he will show up in your victory.

Be Christ.

Be the Message.

Be an Epiphany.

Amen.