Matthew 5: 13-16
Theme: Living in God’s Kingdom
A CITY SET ON A HILL
Why did they come? Some came for adventure. Others were escaping debt and troubles. Of course, some came because they were slaves and indentured servants. Many came to make a profit, to find their fortunes. But we also know that many came because of a higher vision of a new world to be established by the providence of God.
March 22, 1630, the puritans landed at Massachusetts Bay. Families left their familiar world to cut a new one out of the wilderness of the American continent. They were powered by a vision inspired by the Bible itself. And they felt the hand of Providence on their shoulder. While en route to the new world on board the Arabella, John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, wrote a sermon entitled, A Model of Christian Charity. Included in his sermon were these words:
Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "may the Lord make it like that of New England." For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.
He closed his sermon with this plea: "Therefore let us choose life, that we and our seed may live, by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him, for He is our life and our prosperity."
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Some of our forefathers came to the new world with a clarity of vision that few of us can imagine. They literally saw themselves as establishing the City of God in the wilderness of the New World. Three hundred and seventy-four years later, how are we doing? Do we still have that vision? I am afraid that we have lost even the remnants of that vision. I do not think that we can ever say that we were a Christian nation. Christians have always been a minority. But, we once exerted great influence over the way we think as a people. We once had a Christian world view as a nation.
Now, many do not know their right hand from their left. I watch good people trying to make moral decisions but they can’t, they don’t know what morality is. It has come to the place where folk need help knowing right from wrong. This condition has been called the "postmodern" society. It means that we have thrown off the shackles of our old puritan and Christian foundations and we have liberated ourselves from ancient foes such as authority, morality, and responsibility. What drives us today are not morals and principles but feelings and desires.
We are a people fueled by our selfishness and our desire to be happy. Yet we are the most unhappy people on earth. What is clear is that as a people, we have forgotten what it means to be a city set on a hill. I do not mean our nation. I mean we Christians. If we were ever a city set on a hill, it was because God’s People were faithful to him. If we are to remain a city set on a hill, then we must recover true Christian Discipleship. At the most basic level, Jesus called us to be and to remain his disciples.
Discipleship requires us to march to the beat of a different drummer and down a different path. From time to time, we need to be reminded of our unique journey. We have been called by Jesus Himself to be his disciples, members of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are having our characters renewed and remade until we are in the image of Christ. Such people will stand out in a crowd. Jesus said that they will be called the sons of God. We are called to live out our righteousness before men so that they may see God in us.
Jesus said that if we are his followers, then we are the salt of the earth and we are the light of the world. Salt has two common purposes. The first is to enhance our food. Just a little salt turns bland tasting food into something that the tongue desires. So salt gives flavor, it enhances, it takes that which was plain and boring and gives it life. Is that not what the Christian should do? Should not our influence be something like salt that enhances the lives of others?
The other common use of salt is as a preservative. Salt preserves. We are supposed to enhance the world around us, we give it flavor and preserve God's world. What would our society be like without Christians? As the Christian influence wanes, does it not seem that things are getting worse? The weaker the church becomes the darker society will become.
We must strive to be salt. We are not salt unless we act like salt. That means that we must be on guard when it comes to our character. If we don’t watch ourselves, we become useless to the kingdom’s work. Salt that becomes adulterated is no longer useful and is fit only to be thrown out on the trash heap.
Jesus said that we are the light of the world. Light illuminates, it makes the truth known, it dispels the darkness. You cannot mistake light for darkness. Jesus made two points about light. One, a lighted city on a hill can be seen for miles, you cannot hide it. Just imagine a small village off in the distance in a world without electric lights. The village is on a small hill and the buildings are made of white stones. And the campfires, oil lamps, flaming torches in patios can be seen for miles. You and I are like a city set on a hill and we are light because the Light of the World lives in us. And if he lives in us, others will see him as surely as the light of a small town is seen in a dark land.
Therefore let your light shine, don't cover it with a basket as if you did not want others to see. Don't hide your Christianity, let it shine. And what is this shining light? It is your good works. It is in everything you do: the way you talk and the way you walk, it is in the way you handle disaster and in the way you complain, it is in your honesty and in your openness and willingness to help others. Jesus is not telling us to let our good works be seen so that others can boast about you, but that they may glorify the Father, so that others might believe.
It is quite clear to me that the world is in trouble. We may be on our last leg as a culture. The world is full of terrible darkness. And we need the City shining on a hill more than ever. It may seem simplistic to some, but we need moral simplicity that trusts God’s commands and follows them. The world needs to see godly love and moral living and unity and peace among God’s people.
It is Independence Day. We need to once again commit ourselves to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The world is waiting for real Christians to step forward. They need to see real faith lived out on a daily basis. They need to see men and women, boys and girls who turn the other cheek, who love like Christ and who suffer with the dignity of God. We can’t answer for any other church but ours. But, if we are to be faithful, then we must be true disciples of Jesus who let our lights shine. When we do, we will be that city set on a hill.