Rookie Mistakes Series: #2 Hidden Christianity (Part A)

Jesus did not say, I am a way, the truth and the lie.

He said, I am the way, canceling out all others. We're supposed to carry that unpleasant message to some. Yet to those who are being saved, it is well received. We are to give a taste of salvation by just living our lives, not hiding. What we believe cannot give that taste if we are invisible, if we have no influence for the kingdom.

For more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick begins a brand new message called Hidden Christianity in Matthew Chapter 5. Matthew's Gospel Chapter 5. We'll read verses 13 through 16, though the text is verse 14. Please stand for the reading of God's Word. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Now, of course I understand there are those here who are struggling with all sorts of things in your life. You may have some pressing concerns. You come to church and maybe you want to hear something that deals specifically with whatever it is that you're struggling with, but be encouraged. Whether the pastor deals from his text with whatever you're struggling with does not mean God is not dealing with it. God knows what's going on in all of our lives, and there's just so much work still to do. Even when we're facing pressing issues, scary things, there's still work to be done.

All consideration is part of getting the work done for the King in the midst of whatever is going on in our lives. When Jesus said, Let your light shine, he did not say, If you're having a good day. It is just a permanent condition of the Christian to let the light shine. Well, rookie mistakes.

I want to talk about that a little bit. This morning's message is entitled, Hidden Christianity. And our text is verse 14. You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Rookie mistakes. Neglected principles of our Lord. That's how this series started. I was looking for something to do in between our finishing Peter's letters and the beginning of John's letters and looking in my notes at a file I have collected over the decades. Great principles of the Christian faith. And then I began to realize that many of these principles that are basic to us, we learned them early on in our Christian walk. We get right to them. Here we are in chapter 5 of Matthew.

Early in the New Testament, we get right to these principles. But I realize that so many of them are neglected. They shouldn't be. They're mistakes that should be avoided. They're rookie mistakes. I should have known better.

I should have done this. What happened? That means they're largely avoidable. If they are continued too long, they form a pattern and they're no longer rookie mistakes then.

Now you've got a bigger problem. They become a habitual mistake. Letting the light shine. This section also directed towards believers. Do we want to be useful as Christians to our God?

Absolutely. We want to count for something. Now in our first session, we spoke about the need to withhold the gospel at times. Not to cast pearls before swine. Not to give that which is holy to the dogs. But in this chapter, or this session, we're dealing with our personal walk with Christ. Not so much the preaching of the gospel to others, but our being unashamed to declare that we are believers. And there's a contrast.

It's meaningful. It's one thing to not preach the gospel because the Holy Spirit says hold it back. This person's not ready. You'll do more damage if you do it now. You'll cast pearl before swine. You'll be trampled if you do it.

Hold it back. That is not the same thing as denying who you are in Christ. I am not to withhold the fact that I believe that I am a sinner and Jesus is my Savior, the Son of God. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8, therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. In plain sight, without effort, we are to be believers. Whether we're preaching or not, whether we're sharing the faith or not, others should know where we stand. At some point, if we're around them long enough, they should begin to get clues that we're not like everybody else in what we believe about God and about life. Hidden Christianity is just what Satan wants.

So it is. It's a basic mistake. It's a rookie mistake. It's a mistake amateurs make in Christ to conceal what they believe about Christ. We're not to go around just blabbing out the gospel, otherwise we would have been given sandwich boards and just march around, you know, the end is coming, the end is near, or something like that.

That, of course, is an example of perhaps casting pearl before swine. We are to be a little bit more strategic than that. Make relationships. Make good relationships because of righteous living. I cannot think of a time when we are to conceal the light that is in us, even in times of persecution. In fact, those who are persecuted are persecuted because the persecutors realize they're believers. This world has no light of God's kingdom except through us, we who believe. We bring the light. So looking at our text again, you are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Visibility is an important part of serving the Lord. The verse above that, verse 13, you're the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Salt and light, they have this in common, both exert silent influence. Both of them influence their surroundings, what they touch, what they come in contact with. Jesus said, you're the salt of the earth. That is addressing, of course, the corruption that we face in this life. Salt deals in this illustration with morality, living right, again, facing corruption.

Light deals with the spiritual understanding, spiritual truth, knowledge. Now, if we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, what about in our workplace? What about where we find ourselves in our neighborhood, in our schools, wherever we may be?

I don't know about you, but there have been times when I was in the world working. Being the salt of the earth, the light of the world, this is tough. People are pushing my buttons. Temptations are coming my way to lure me away from my witness. And they're just a bunch of different type of temptations. One, to lose your self-control and be angry and to blow your top. Salt is the opposite of corruption.

It is supposed to help prevent corruption, to slow it down. Therefore, I have to fight that I'm not corrupted by the world and that is going to gobble up a lot of my attention. Light is that gift of guidance. Where would the world be without Christians to show the way of salvation? We are to illuminate the way, not a way. Jesus did not say, I am a way, the truth and the light.

He said, I am the way, canceling out all others. And we're supposed to carry that unpleasant message to some. And yet, to those who are being saved, it is well received. We are to give a taste of salvation by just living our lives, not hiding what we believe.

We cannot give that taste if we are invisible, if we have no influence for the kingdom. You are the light of the world. Jesus said that about himself. And then he extended it to us. He said, I am the light of the world.

And then he says again to us that it's the same with you. You are my disciples. You are to be like me as best you can in Christ in the spirit.

Now one could say that the city illustrates our impact on the great outdoors, on things that happen outside in the world. And the lamp, the lamp is our influence on the inside. It's kind of like what Paul told Timothy. You only need to be ready to preach the gospel, Timothy, two times, in season and out, which covers all the time.

There's no other season. We, the Christian, we are to shine for the Lord, whether we are outside or inside, whether we are in public, behind closed doors, husbands and wives, remember that. Remember that even in the home, the light is to shine.

The city that is set on the hill cannot be hidden. Illuminated church is not easy to ignore. A Christian who is in love with the Lord is not easy to ignore anywhere. In the church, you know you meet another Christian that loves the Lord.

You know it within the first few seconds of contact. You know you're dealing with somebody that is in love with Christ. And then outside the church, too, that person is demonstrating that there has been contact with God and it is shining through. Proverbs 4, verse 18, but the path of the just is like the shining sun that shines even brighter unto the perfect day. We know that.

We know we're supposed to shine. Again, it's basic to Christianity. Matthew's gospel, chapter 8, and this is what makes them rookie mistakes. We read certain verses in the Bible and we do not forget them.

And this is one of them. The one that I'm going to read. Not only what we read just a moment ago about the salt of the earth and light of the world, but here it comes. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Now how many times do you have to read that to get the message? You see, the plain things are the main things and the main things are the plain things. That's a basic rule of coming to the scripture. Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, that means that the word of God is understandable. If you're going to be able to live by it, then you're going to have to understand it. Here comes another verse, again, from the gospels. This time, first I read just a moment ago, Mark 8, verse 38, and now I'm reading Matthew 10, verse 33. Jesus said, but whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. It's meant to scare us, because what is the consequence of Christians dimming the lights, of not being visible, of hiding?

What is the consequence? Lost souls, the very reason Christ came into the world, to defeat the work of the devil, to seek and to save that which is lost, which he could not do if he were to hide who he was. Now, there was a time in his life when he was not in public ministry, but there was never a time in his life where he did not give himself to his father's business. We know the story, about 12 years old he was. How did you not know that I was about my father's business? My light has been shining since the day I was born.

In fact, it goes all the way back to the announcement that you, Mary, would be with a child of the Holy Spirit. We read these things and we say, God, they're too big. I set out trying to do them, but life hits me with so many things. Things that I love are threatened.

People that I love are not jumping on board with the word of God that I'm preaching. In my own life, I have to continuously battle things that are trying to pull me away from you. And he responds with, You stick with me.

Keep going. Because in my words, there's truth and there's life and it is eternal and it is worth it. And I will not abandon you. Though there will be many times, I think, in life as you serve the Lord, you will feel like he is abandoned.

You will even maybe cry out, What good is it if you don't leave me but you don't help me? You know, Job, when he said, Though he slay me, I will trust in him. Let me put that in another way that fits my life more accurately. Though he assassinate me. Though he put me in a situation where I cannot win, that it will take me down. What if it comes to that?

I will trust in him. It's a fixed position. It doesn't change. Satan can't do anything with that. I'm not saying it comes to that. But I'm saying the mindset of the Christian is that Christ is with me no matter what happens.

And no matter what happens, I'm going to be with him. That lets the light shine. But it's not always under the dramatic circumstances that we find ourselves pressed. Sometimes everything's going quite smoothly. Our head is above water and we're doing well.

The light is still supposed to shine. Are there any Christians listening that in the workplace or around the people you find yourself, they don't know that you are a believer? You teens, you have no excuse in this matter at all. You want to be one of the adults? Okay. Here's what it's like being one of the adults. You are accountable also to live what you believe as best you can.

And so these Christians, us, outstanding in the daylight, a city set on a hill, cannot be hidden day or night, illuminated in the midst of darkness. I remember as a teenager being in the Mediterranean Sea and coming into port, not only in Europe, but I'm using my experience. I would use yours if you told me, but you missed your chance. Well, you'd come into port and for instance, Ville France. I said France? France. Anyway, Ville France. You pull into port and there on the hill were all these houses. You couldn't miss them. The city was set on a hill. Night or day, you could not. It's the only port.

You go to another port, the same thing. Some of the houses in the daytime would be painted all these pastel, all these bright colors, but you couldn't miss them. So you read that verse, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. If you've ever seen such a city, you know this is true. It's accurate. It applies. And it makes me say, well, where am I in my Christian life?

Am I a hidden city, a Shangri-La somewhere out there no one can find, or am I visible? And unlike Rachel, remember what Rachel did? She hid her gods, her fake gods.

She sat on them. That is not the Christian way. God is not looking for blind obedience, but intelligent obedience, thus the light. And intelligent obedience, it influences its surroundings. Obedience is based on increased light. If you don't know what you're talking about, how can you be illuminated for the gospel? Light, not wildfire. On the other hand, there are those Christians that are just out of control. There's nothing attractive about those lights.

It's rather blinding. Ecclesiastes says, do not, Ecclesiastes 7, be overly righteous, nor be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Do not be overly righteous. Balance it.

Keep it together. Don't pretend to be the righteous hero of the day. Just be correctly related to your God. He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord desires of you. To love mercy. How many Christians love mercy?

Hopefully all. But of those who love receiving mercy, how many don't mind giving it when it is time to give it, to forgive the other? And remember, forgiveness means you're going to lose a little bit of something, perhaps. But sometimes you can forgive and gain a lot because you realize, this is right.

This is what God wants me to do and I'm doing it. And therein lies a greater blessing. So continuing with this metaphor of cities, there are good cities, there are bad cities. A city is built by transforming the wild. Before you were a believer, from heaven's perspective, you were wild, out of control.

But when you came to Christ, you were tamed now, coming under the gospel, the good news, and the lordship of Jesus Christ. People like cities, they develop as time goes on. They can fall into disrepair and become a dirty city, a dark city, a dangerous city, or they can maintain what has been developed in them and become quite an attractive place. There's a charm to well-run cities.

There is always something happening, many opportunities there. When Christ says, you're like a city on the hill, what kind of city? We know what kind of city.

One that is against corruption, one that makes a positive impression, that does more glowing than growling. What kind of city am I as a Christian? Are we as a church? Are we safe for the things of God? Doctrine? Is our doctrine safe? Are we clean? Are we dealing with sin when it rears its head? Or we look the other way and let it have its way with us? Are we well cared for as individual Christians? Are we in the Word? Do we keep up our devotional time?

Do we follow hard after God, as the psalmist wrote? If the Christian is unkind, if the Christian is unkept, mean-spirited, if you are that way as a believer, you should know better. You know that is not right.

That is a rookie mistake. Unkind Christians. You can go to some churches or you can go around some people that profess Christ and they're just not very friendly. They won't even greet you. I mean, you're friendly. They don't have to reach in your pocket and give you $10.

I'm not opposed to that. It's not unbiblical. But for some of them, you're surprised. You go in a church and they don't even say hello to you.

Is it passing you in the hallway? Is the city well kept or is it not? The Bible tells us truths about God and ourselves, sin and salvation. It never leaves us without solutions. And because of some of its truths, because some of its truths are unpleasant, to the natural mind, of course, some turn away and they begin to heed fables and they go after other things. Outside these walls and the walls of all the churches that are preaching the gospel and upholding the gospel, there's not enough to preach it.

It must be accompanied by an earnest attempt to follow it, to do it. It's very easy to preach the word. It's another thing to do it and we all know that is true, which is one reason why some make this amateur mistake in the workplace, don't want to tell anybody they're Christian.

Because they're not living the life and they're right there in front of other people. And if I tell them I'm a Christian, they're going to say to me, you're a Christian? The way to deal with that is if you, in two ways, in the early stages, make sure you live the Christian life. And when people ask you things about yourself, you tell them the truth. When they say, what did you do for the weekend? Don't leave out the part that you went to church. Because, oh, I don't want to tell them, because once they know I go to church and they'll be watching me, well, they're going to help you out, you know, because you'll be mindful and careful. Put attention into walking the straight and narrow. If they don't know you're a Christian, you'll be trying to, you know, get away with things that you shouldn't be getting away with. But what if you have already been working someplace for years and you've been hiding your faith? You've been a dim-lit city. You've got to stop.

You've got to clip the wicks, make the lamps burn brighter, make the announcement clear, reevaluate everything. My experience is, true Christians in the workplace, you don't have to look for them. Their light is shining, and we should be that way, each and every one of us. And so, again, outside these walls, no shortage of people who are determined to reject Jesus Christ, who hate him even, want to remove his influence and destroy his children. I just saw a headline the other day, I stopped listening to the news, but every week or so I have to find out if we're still here or not, and only they have that answer.

And so, that's the first thing I click on, one of the first things I see, Chick-fil-A in London is closing after six months because of the homosexuals protesting their presence. Because the fact that they have announced as a corporation, they are very interested in Jesus Christ, they've become a light to the world. We're glad you joined us today to learn how to avoid some rookie mistakes in the faith. Pastor Rick will have more to share next time on Cross Reference Radio, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from Pastor Rick, or if you'd like more information about this program, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. What a great way to keep God's word with you wherever you go. We hope you'll tune in again next time as Pastor Rick continues studying through the scriptures, right here on Cross Reference Radio.