Bold Salt, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. A genuine, healthy walk with God is going to manifest itself in transformed attitudes and practices. As we sit at the feet of Jesus in full surrender, we will start to look like Jesus. In this message titled Bold Salt, Pastor Rich will show the character qualities of Christ lived out in His people.

Let's listen in. The title of today's message is Bold Salt. As you live out your faith, you will manifest these qualities of Jesus, the beauties. See the beauty of Jesus fill this place, the fragrance of Jesus fill this place. We who are His, if He indeed is alive in us and living through us, then His fragrance, His beauty is manifested through us. What we have before us in the first 17 chapters of Hebrews 13 is just exactly that.

It is not a to-do list. It is a description of the one who walks with Christ and lives by faith. And I've entitled it Bold Salt because salt can be very bold. I ate at Genghis Grill one time and I picked up this thing called Dragon Salt. Boy, did I encounter Bold Salt with that because it has a very distinct unavoidable flavor and salt operates and is noticeable by contrast to blandness.

And it has a preserving effect. So what we have before us then, these things are the outflow of one's walk with Christ. They are the attitudes and the practices as an outflow of one who is in pursuit of Christ with his eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. As these are manifest, they will be bold salt.

They will be in contrast to what is natural in man, to what is natural in the world system that surrounds us. So we're going to look at 10 qualities from today's text and we're going to contrast them to the idols that are a part of the natural world system, idols that we still may be susceptible to ourselves. So let's begin. Number one in verse one, let brotherly love continue. That's easy, isn't it? Brotherly love. The word is Philadelphia. Brotherly love. If you are in Christ, you were placed into community. Therefore, think family, think team.

There's no I in team. That concept was made very real to me as I just finished reading not long ago a book called Flags of Our Fathers, written by James Bradley, the son of John Bradley, who is one of the soldiers on the island of Iwo Jima in February of 1945. He was one of the six men that raised the flag that became the most reproduced photograph in all of history. And it was said on that island, this island, a tiny little island way out in the middle of the Pacific, that became very significant to bringing World War II to an end.

22,000 Japanese fought to the death trying to hold that island, 25,000 US casualties, 7,000 of them dead and buried on the island. These men knew what brotherhood was. And it was said of them that the number one motivation was to stand with your buddies and not let them down. Folks, listen, the church needs this. The church needs this attitude. Let brotherly love continue.

Why? Because this is a manifestation of Christ. This is a character of Christ. Christ, your brother, came to rescue you. He didn't want to let you down because he knew that apart from him, rescue for you was utterly impossible. And so he came to rescue you.

Your brother did that. Christ is our kind rescuer. This character of Christ, this quality of Christ here is a contrast to the idol of self-centeredness. Self-centered, no place for it in the church. So if you are pursuing Christ, if you are walking with him in the body of Christ, then this quality will contrast, this quality will be bold salt in contrast to the self-centeredness of the context in which we find ourselves.

Quality number two, look at verse two. Do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing so have unwittingly entertained angels. This is the quality of hospitality. The word is philoxenia, philoxenia. Philo, of course, is that love, the kindness love, philoxenia.

And the second part of that word means stranger, foreigner, or someone who is unknown. The idea here in this hospitality as Christ did is to reach out to someone, to take the initiative to reach out as Christ did to us. It's so easy for us to just sit back and wait for somebody to come to us. No, Christ didn't do that. He came to us.

He took the initiative. And here's the challenge then, as Christ did, don't just gravitate towards people that are like you. That's easy to do. That can very easily become an idol. But hospitality means that I am willing to reach out to someone who is different than me. Let me give you a very, very significant example of this that happened not too long ago.

This I read from an article. There's a book entitled The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. The author is Rosaria Butterfield, and it's all about a former lesbian transformed by Christian hospitality. She was a tenured professor at Syracuse University at the age of 36. Promise keepers had come to the campus of Syracuse University and she, in response to that, wrote and published a scathing article about it. As a result of that article, she received fan mail and she received hate mail. I wouldn't be so naive to believe that a lot of that hate mail probably came from Christians. But she received one letter from a pastor.

She didn't know which pile to put it in. It wasn't hate mail, but it wasn't fan mail either. It was a letter that had questions and invited her to dialogue. And actually invited her to come to his house and his wife's house and dialogue with them and have dinner. Rosaria describes the first encounter with an authentic Christian, and this is what she says. Kenan Floy, who's the pastor and his wife, Kenan Floy did something at the meal that has long Christian history. They invited the stranger in not to scapegoat me, but to listen and to learn and to dialogue.

We didn't debate world view. They were willing to walk the long journey to me in Christian compassion. Listen to this.

This is key. Since this beginning, the journey on which the Lord has taken me has been a great adventure. And this simple meal in the pastor's home was the first leg of this journey. Before I ever stepped foot in a church, I spent two years meeting with Kenan Floy and on and off studying scripture and my heart. Ken knew at the time that I couldn't come to church, it would have been too threatening, too weird, too much. So Ken was willing to bring church to me.

That's bold salt. That's hospitality. Today, Rosaria is a pastor's wife with kids. Behold the grace of God. And this is what happens in a community of grace. Christians, be careful how you judge. It doesn't fit in the body of Christ.

Right? You see, this is the fragrance of Christ. This is the beauty of Christ. And so hospitality, philoxenia, be welcoming, use your home as a tool for the gospel because the idol, the idol of this contrast is the idol of ethnocentricity.

What does that mean? It means you sense the superiority of your social or cultural group and you look down on or you disdain others, whatever that group may be. Listen, Paul writes to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 11. He indicts their behavior at the Lord's table because he says this is exactly what's going on at the Lord's table.

You separate yourselves by socioeconomic status and he says that does not belong in the body of Christ. That is the idol. You see, even Christians can do that. And that is the idol that hospitality counters. Don't just gravitate towards people like you. Be welcoming and use your home as a tool for the gospel.

Quality number three. Look at verse three. Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated since you yourselves are in the body. This is the quality of compassion. Christ was always moved with compassion.

He came to experience our suffering. And as it says here, as those as you if you are chained with them since you yourselves are in the body. He is speaking of an intimate identification with those who are being mistreated because we are vitally connected. So treat them and care for them as you yourself are with them being mistreated with them. It is very Christ-like to work to relieve suffering.

A burden shared is half the pain. What is the idol that this counters? This quality of compassion counters the idol of indifference. I don't want to get involved is not the language of faith. It is not the mind of Christ.

I don't want to get involved is the attitude that allowed the Holocaust to go on. May God forgive us of any indifference. Quality number four. Look with me at verse four. Marriage is honorable among all in the bed undefiled but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. You said, Rich, I thought you were talking about the qualities and the fragrance of Christ and he was never married.

You are exactly right about that but what is at the foundation of it? Faithfulness. Faithfulness. Faithful marriages are bold salt. The bold salt of Christians in the context of an unfaithful world because faithfulness is an attribute of God. Some translations say marriage is to be held in honor.

What is this speaking of? This is speaking of a commitment beyond convenience and pleasure and that's what typifies our day, doesn't it? Commitment is bound only by convenience and pleasure.

As long as something is pleasurable to me or convenient to me, I will commit to it and that just takes every bit of meaning out of the word commitment, doesn't it? We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.