The question today is, how in the world can the world taste and see that the Lord is good if the people of faith in the kitchen don't know how to cook? Pastor Jonathan Evans says it's time for believers to roll up their sleeves and get cooking. We do all the complaining about what's not palatable in our culture, and Jesus is saying, you've got to learn how to cook. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
Salt preserves, enhances flavor, and makes people thirsty. Jesus used that metaphor to describe our influence as His followers. Today, Pastor Jonathan Evans challenges us to consider whether we're truly making a difference in the world around us, or just blending in.
Let's join him in Matthew chapter 5, as he explains how to live boldly and brightly for God's glory. This reenactment is based on a true story. My sister Priscilla and Jerry married some time ago, and I remember this happening when Priscilla was 24 years old. Her husband came home from a long day's work, and Priscilla said, I'm going to be a good wife and cook him a meal. She was trying to be impressive, you know what I mean?
When it starts out, y'all be trying to impress each other. So she said, I'm going to cook this meal, and I'm going to do it on the fly with no recipe. I'm going to do it like Lois Evans used to do it. Because Mama Lowe would cook just off the top of her head and everything worked out. So Priscilla being married, she decided, I'm going to impress my husband.
I'm going to do a new recipe I've never done before without the recipe. So Jerry comes home, and he's kind of excited because he smells something in the kitchen. Priscilla from her college days would do the canned green beans, you know, simple stuff. Now she's doing the raw ones, trying to sauté them. She's doing a whole new thing. And Jerry comes home, and he sees the place setting, and he's like, okay, something's about to happen.
Sure enough, it was. He sits down in his seat, and she comes out of the kitchen, skipping, just excited to give a meal to her new husband. She sits down, and they do what newlyweds do, smile at each other, wink. And she sets the food down, and then they grab their hands and pray. And then Priscilla said, all right, Jerry, babe, here's the moment of truth.
Take the bite. As the silence crept around the table, Priscilla said, babe, is it that bad? Jerry said, that's actually an understatement.
And then he made a famous statement. He said, next time, try cooking with the lights on. Today, I want to talk to you from the title Cooking in the Light. Jesus is giving a message, and he's cooking. I need you to understand there are many ways people use the word cooking today. And one of them is that which you know, cooking in the kitchen. But in common culture today, they use the word cooking to describe anyone who knows what they're doing, and they can do it well. So somebody can be cooking, and they're actually cooking. Or if there's a basketball player who scores 40 points in the game, they'll say, oh, that dude was cooking tonight. Remember, I did a chapel service for the Cowboys, and that came down the stairs after the chapel service. He was like, bro, you was cooking. You knew what you was doing.
I mean, I don't know how much they listened, because the game part didn't. But the question today is, how in the world can the world taste and see that the Lord is good if the people of faith in the kitchen don't know how to cook? And Jesus is about to give a lesson here, and he's about to pull disciples into the kitchen of responsibility. And here he is in the Sermon on the Mount. And in the Sermon on the Mount, people were coming from everywhere. They were coming, Matthew 4.25 says, from Decapolis and Judea and Jerusalem and beyond the Jordan. They were coming from everywhere, and the reason why they were coming is because of all the things that Jesus was doing in the kitchen. You see, he was doing so much healing and all of the miracles that he was doing that everybody wanted some of that, and they were following him around so that they could receive a good meal. Because Jesus was cooking in the Word, and Matthew 5, when he's about to start the Sermon on the Mount, verse 1 says, when he saw the crowd, he went up to the mountain and he sat down, and his disciples came near and he began to teach them. And he starts out with the beatitudes as he's teaching this lesson because he wants you to know what a disciple is.
I mean, they mourn, they're poor in spirit, they're pure in heart, they hunger and thirst for righteousness, like, blessed are they that are this way. This is what a disciple looks like. And then he moves on from what a disciple is to what a disciple does. He moves into the responsibility of a disciple and he says, you are the salt of the earth. This is not just come take and come receive. This is not just come sit in a pew and worship and listen to a message, go out to eat, forget about what you heard and move on with your life.
This is you are responsible. You have a responsibility in the faith. It is not just the preacher's job. It is not just the deacons or the elders' job. It is not just the people's job who work at the church, so ministry is what they do. It's not just the worship leader's job. It's everybody's job that wears the tag, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.
You are responsible. He calls us to responsibility and he says, you are the salt of the earth. Now, the reason why he uses salt is because Jesus be cooking. When he's preaching, he is cooking and he wants to let you know that you are the seasoning of change to alternate the flavor that disagrees with your righteous palate. And so if you want to change that people are talking about all the time, I don't like the way this tastes. I don't like this experience.
I don't like the way this is in my life, in our community, in our culture, in my marriage, in my family. And he's saying, wait a minute now, you are the salt. If you want to change the flavor, then you have to be fundamentally different than that which you're applied to. That's what salt is. Salt is fundamentally different than that medium to which it's applied to which changes the flavor. In other words, salt is a neutralizer.
It comes in to make a change on that which you disagree with. We live in a culture that's becoming less and less palatable, but there's no neutralizers out there to make it more palatable. So if you're struggling with the high taste of deceit in the culture, then you need to be cooking with the truth. If you're struggling with the pride that's around you, then you need to be cooking with humility. If you don't like the hate in the culture, then you should be cooking with love. If you don't like the disunity in the culture, then the church should be cooking with unity.
The problem is we're just like them, so it doesn't taste different. He's saying, you're it. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
The enemy of hell is the church. He could have picked anything. He picked something that is fundamentally different and pure that changes the flavor of that which it attaches itself to. And that purity is the fact that it's made of sodium chloride, which is a solid compound that does not break down.
Jesus is cooking. He's saying, you're the salt, fundamentally different than that which you're applied to. And the reason why you're fundamentally different than that which you're applied to is because you have been made pure.
We talked about the blood. The blood, 1 John 1.7, purifies you. It purifies you. Therefore, 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that you have been given the righteousness of God. If you have the righteousness of God on the basis of faith, that means you have a pure, solid compound that does not break down.
That's what you've been given. That means you are the salt. If you are a pure, solid compound that you've been given the righteousness of God, not the righteousness of you.
You have the righteousness of God, a pure, solid compound that does not break down. That means you should, therefore, be a purifier. Salt is not pure and then does not go purify.
Salt actually purifies that which it touches. If you had an ulcer growing up, your mama would tell you to pour some hot water in a cup and put some salt in it. And then she'd tell you to gargle it. And I told my mom, I'm like, that ain't going to work. Give me some medicine. My mouth hurt.
She said, no, just trust me. Put some salt in the hot water and just gargle it. Within 14 hours, I was like, this feels great. Because the salt reduces inflammation, the salt cleanses, the salt reduces the pain. Salt does all of that because it's fundamentally different than the infection.
And because it's pure, when it hit impurity, it actually purifies. So now the situation in my mouth is totally different because something different has hit the problem that I was facing. Many of us are complaining about the inflammation in the culture and in our families. We're complaining about the pain. We're complaining about the struggle. And we don't realize that we're supposed to be the salt that sanctifies that which it touches. And he's calling you to responsibility and he's saying, hey, you're it. Jonathan will have more on what believers are meant to do when he returns in just a moment.
Stay with us. I urge you to take this course. Dr. Craig Evans, renowned expert on the New Testament, serves as the special guest lecturer for the Tony Evans Training Center course on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible. It covers very important ground, what they are and what they're not. One of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide unparalleled insights into the accuracy of the Bible. These ancient manuscripts offer a treasure trove of historical and spiritual significance. They preserve for us the Hebrew Bible and shed light on the teaching of Jesus and the major contributors to the New Testament. The scrolls open a vivid window into the life and beliefs of the Jewish people during the time of Jesus. You will understand the Bible and Jesus and Christian origins better than you ever have before.
Take your first step as an honorary amateur archaeologist. Dive into the Dead Sea Scrolls with special guest lecturer Dr. Craig Evans. Discover this and other fascinating biblical studies at TonyEvansTraining.org.
Explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. True discipleship isn't just about what we believe, it's about how we live. That's the focus of today's message, Cookin' in the Light, part of Pastor Jonathan Evans' current teaching series, Discipleship for Every Day. This six-part collection will show you how to move beyond passive faith and start living out your calling with purpose and impact. As you gain practical insights from these messages, you'll discover how to make your relationship with Christ an active force in your daily life.
All six messages are yours to review anytime when you get them on CD or digital download. And you can do that with our thanks when you make a donation to help us keep these Bible-based messages on this station. And as a special bonus, we'll also include a copy of Jonathan's inspiring book, Your Time is Now. In it, he challenges believers to stop standing on the sidelines and boldly step into the purpose God has for you. It's a motivating resource that will help you embrace your calling and live with confidence and courage. Don't wait, make a donation online at TonyEvans.org and let us send you this powerful resource package today with our thanks. Again, that's TonyEvans.org or you can reach out to one of our friendly team members at 1-800-800-3222, where they're ready to assist with your resource request anytime.
Again, 1-800-800-3222. Well, let's return now to more from Jonathan Evans. We are the salt. We're supposed to be purifying that which we touch.
That's why 1 Peter 2.12, I love it, it says, Live with good deeds among the pagans, that by that they may glorify God when he visits us. We should be purifying it. Salt has antimicrobial properties in it, and what that means is it makes the environment less hospitable for pathogens and bacteria, which is why God made the ocean salt water. If you don't believe in God, how'd he know?
If you don't believe in God, you are suppressing the truth. The very nature speaks of who he is. All those fish in there, in that sea, all that bacteria, everybody using the bathroom all over the place, he said, just put some salt in there. That's why some people have saltwater pools, because they don't want to use chlorine, and the saltwater will clean the pool, because it makes the environment less hospitable for pathogens and bacteria. So if things are decaying at a fast rate, it's because there is not something applied to it that makes the environment less hospitable for pathogens and bacteria.
Thus, if evil pathogens and bacteria are able to infect the culture at a fast rate where it continues to devolve and devolve and devolve and devolve, there must not be something that is an antimicrobial property to it that can actually attach itself to it to make sure that it's less hospitable for evil, therefore being preserved much longer. When Jesus says you are the salt of the earth, that you there is emphatic. It means it's your responsibility as a disciple to preserve the earth. Not to be shocked, it's decaying. Romans 8 21 says this world will be freed from its slavery to decay, which means it's enslaved to decay by nature of sin.
Because of sin, it's going to decay, and many Christians are shocked at the decay. Man, this is crazy. Kids don't respect their parents no more. When I was growing up, it was like this, and they got this going on. Man, this world is crazy.
You're complaining about something that you're supposed to restore. And all the craziness going on in the world, we should be fundamentally different and making it less hospitable for pathogens to continue to live in our neighborhoods. He puts the responsibility on us, and he says, Man, it's on you. I mean, I'm here. I do what I do. You've seen me work, and I still work.
But if you're going to come into this kitchen, I need you to cook. Okay, so I am the oldest of the millennials. I was born in 81, so I'm the grandpa millennial.
81-80 is when millennials started. Below me, you have a generation of young millennials in Gen Z that have a question about the church. And the question is, church for what? What's the point of going to the church?
What do they do? Yo, they just like me. My dude that was going to church from Saturday, we was at the strip club, and then he telling me we're going to go to church on Sunday because I can't mess with God.
What are you talking about? You just like me. You was just smoking weed with me. You get drunk in the club just like I do. You just like me. So church for what?
What do you do that I can't do? Then don't get surprised when the culture walks on our faith. Because if you don't take it serious, why would they take it serious? If you don't respect your faith, why would they respect your faith?
Salt that ain't salty, it's good for nothing. And then he doubles down on what he's saying because he says, well, you're the light of the world. As a disciple, you're responsible. Don't just come in here looking for a blessing. And he's calling you to responsibility in the Sermon on the Mountain.
He's saying, no, no, no, no. If you want to change your atmosphere, change your circumstances, change your situation, change your family dynamic, change how it is on your job, change all the stuff that you disagree with, you're the light of the world, which means he's telling you the world is dark. And that we are responsible in it. You know, John 1.5 says, where the light is, the darkness cannot overcome it. You know, I've heard it said that if there's light, you can't have darkness and light at the same time. Light eradicates the darkness.
Well, not quite. If you don't believe me, then just wait till about 9 p.m. tonight. You'll see that it's dark outside, there's a moon, there's street lights. They actually coexist. The light helps you navigate in the darkness.
It doesn't always eradicate it. When he says you are the light of the world, he's speaking more from Philippians 2.15 that says the world is corrupt and perverse and you should appear as a light in it. OK, let's do it. Turn the lights off. Now, everybody, pull out your cell phone and turn on your flashlight. Now, just look around.
This is in fact what he's saying. That your individual light is not going to eradicate all darkness. But it should make you very evident in it. That when someone who's in the dark sees your light, they can navigate to you because of how you're living amongst the pagans. They come to you and they walk next to you because they can see because you're walking by the word and the word says that the word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And so I'm going to walk next to you until I get a light of my own.
So rolling with you should mean I can see because I'm with you until you teach me Christ and the gospel, then I get my righteous light and I can do it with the next person. This is what the world is supposed to look like. I remember when the first service, when the choir was here, they looked out and they said, wow. And that's exactly what the world should say. They should look out and say, wow, there's a bunch of stars out there.
I want to be one myself. But then he adds this statement and he says, but some have a light and put it under a basket. So I want you to keep your lights on but cover it up by your finger or put it under your shirt or hide it against your pants.
This is the reality that we live in today. A bunch of Christians who have a light and hide it. They hide it under the basket of cultural relevancy. They hide it under the basket of I don't want to come on too strong, I don't want to offend nobody. I want to make sure everybody's OK and I want to make sure I don't stick out like a sore thumb.
I want to make sure everybody feels good about my presentation. So we hide our light under a basket, making it dark for everyone, and then we complain about the darkness. Shine them again.
You are the light of the world. We don't put baskets on our lamp that are illegitimate. We put it on a lamp stand.
A city set on a hill. That means, hey guys, over here. Now, the house lights, when they come on, it eradicates all darkness. Let's turn the house lights back on. You and I are not the house light. That's why we can't eradicate all darkness. We are a light. We're not the light. In Revelations 22, 5, it says the Lord God shines his light and there is no more night because when he comes and returns and shines his light, that's the house lights. Everybody going to be in the light then.
But until that time, you're it. Pastor Jonathan Evans, on the crucial role believers play as salt and light for the world. Now, what we've been hearing today is part of Jonathan's powerful compilation of messages called Discipleship for Every Day. As I mentioned earlier, we've made this six-lesson collection available to you on CD or digital download, along with Your Time is Now.
Jonathan's book that encourages you to move beyond inaction and embrace the calling God has placed on your life. Both of these resources are our gift to you when you make a donation to support this ministry. Just visit tonyevans.org to get your copy of this exclusive package. You'll find a link with all the details right on the home page. And while you're there, take a moment to sign up for the free weekly email devotional from The Urban Alternative. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our friendly team members assist. Our resource center is open 24-7, so call anytime 1-800-800-3222. Before we wrap up, a quick reminder. The latest episode of the beloved animated series Stories from the Storyteller premieres this weekend. Your kids won't want to miss Bunnies Bunny, a fun, kid-friendly take on once was lost but now am found. Visit tonyevanstv.com to learn more.
That's tonyevanstv.com for Stories from the Storyteller. Life's biggest questions often revolve around purpose, why we're here, and what we're meant to do. Well, tomorrow, Pastor Evans explores how Jesus answered those questions for His followers, giving them a mission that still applies to us today. Be sure to join us as we learn how to carry out that mission with purpose and impact. .
