Matthew 5:13-16

Matthew 5:13-16

The Fourth Great End: Preserve The Truth

August 13, 2006

Part 4 of Great Ends Of The Church Series

As Sally and I are packing and preparing for our move to South Carolina, I have been – as I have told you the last several weeks — praying and thinking a lot about what messages God would have me bring to you these last few weeks we have together. As I continue to pray about this, I continue to be struck with the feeling that God would have us to look at what it means to be a Church – what the Church is to be about – what the Church is to be doing.

The past 3 weeks we have been doing this by looking at one of the first statements in our denomination’s Book Of Order – which has become known as “The Six Great Ends Of The Church”.

Listen to what the Book Of Order says:

The great ends of the church are the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. (G-1.0200)

These are great words! They also give us a vision for what it means to be the Church — what the Church is to be about – what the Church is to be doing.

You see – the Church is not about the building – it’s not about the Minister – it’s about God – it’s about Christ – it’s about people who are trying to fulfill these “Great Ends” the Book Of Order lay out for us. If Wentworth Presbyterian Church is going to be the Church God wills for it to be, then it will have to be a Church that is committed to living out these “Great Ends”.

Listen to them again:

The great ends of the church are the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. (G-1.0200)

6 “Great Ends”.

1. the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind

2. the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God

3. the maintenance of divine worship

4. the preservation of the truth

5. the promotion of social righteousness

6. the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world

3 weeks ago we looked at the first of these Great Ends — the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind – and saw that – if Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God is calling it to be – then you are going to have to be people who are committed to the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind – or evangelism.

2 weeks ago we looked at the second Great End of the Church – the second thing necessary for Wentworth Presbyterian to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be. That is:

the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God – or LOVE.

If the Wentworth Presbyterian Church is going to be the Church God intends for the Wentworth Presbyterian Church to be, you are going to have to be committed to be loving people – people who experience God’s love for yourself – share it with each other – and share it with the world.

Last week we looked at the third Great End of the Church –

The maintenance of Divine Worship –

and discovered that – if Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to have a heart for worship – and focus on God – not just when you are gathered here – but all the time!

So – 3 things that are needed if the Wentworth Presbyterian Church is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be – 3 things for you to be committed to:

1. the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind – or evangelism

2. the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God – or love.

3. the maintenance of divine worship

Whether or not Wentworth Presbyterian is the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be depends on your commitment to these Great Ends of the Church – your commitment to:

1. the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind – or evangelism

2. the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God – or love.

3. the maintenance of divine worship

But – there is more!

Not only do you need evangelism — love – and a heart for worship – but the fourth Great End is also needed:

the preservation of the truth

the preservation of the truth

Listen to how Jesus calls on us to “preserve the truth” in Matthew 5:13-16:

READ MATTHEW 5:13-16

Several years ago Sally and I were at Long Beach with some friends. While we were there a Total Lunar Eclipse took place. We went out on the beach to see the eclipse – thinking that it would be a great place to witness this wonder of nature. It was a great place to view it, but some of the streetlights from the road kept the night from being as dark as it could have been. When we realized that the streetlights might interfere with our experiencing the full effect of the eclipse, Sally made the statement:

“You know – it would be a lot darker if there weren’t so much light out here.”

Well, the rest of us laughed and teased Sally about making such an obvious statement.

But you know what – Sally’s statement was really quite correct – even if it was obvious — it would have been a lot darker if it had not been for the light.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

And yes – it would be very dark if there were not the light of Christ in the world.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

We’ve heard these words – Jesus’ call to be light for the world – to preserve His truth in the world – but too many times we might feel we are powerless to do anything about the evil we see in the world. We may feel the darkness is so great that we cannot overcome it. We may feel that even Jesus cannot give us the light we need to overcome the darkness of the world – so we give up and do not even try to make a difference by shining the light of Christ into the world around us.

We don’t try to make a difference in the world.

We don’t try to preserve the truth.

We don’t try to shine the light of Christ.

And it is very dark in the world without the light of Christ.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

And the world would be very dark without the light of Christ.

So – how well do you do that?

How well does this Church preserve the truth?

How well does this Church shine the light of Christ into the world around us?

How well does this Church exert influence in the world for Christ?

That’s the question you have to answer.

Are you powerless?

Is the quest for social change hopeless before you begin?

Is it fruitless to try to preserve some semblance of God’s truth in the world?

Or can you exert some influence in the world for Jesus Christ?

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

And the world would be mighty dark without the light of Christ.

There is a great deal of pessimism around today that grips and even paralyzes people – even Christians.

Many Christians wring their hands in a holy kind of dismay.

Society is rotten to the core, they say.

Everything is hopeless.

There is no hope but the return of Jesus Christ.

Some have suggested that people are rubbish – and we can do nothing to save them – we can do nothing to shine the light of Christ into such a dark world – we can do nothing to preserve the truth in the world.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

And the world would be mighty dark without the light of Christ.

Regardless of how many people may feel – regardless of the ideas that the world is beyond help and that it is fruitless to try to preserve any truth and shine the light of Christ into the world – regardless of the idea of many that people are rubbish – the truth of the Gospel is that people are not rubbish.

The truth is that people are men and women made in the image of God. Yes — we are fallen – we are sinners — but the image of God has not been destroyed.

Are we not capable of doing any good?

The doctrine of total depravity, which means that every part of our human being has been tainted by sin, does not mean that we’re incapable of doing any good.

Jesus himself said that although you are evil you are able to do good things and give good gifts to your children.

Now of course we believe in sin.

We believe that when Jesus Christ comes again He is going to put things right.

But — if you develop a Christian mindset you don’t concentrate exclusively on the fall of man and the return of Christ. You don’t think only about how bad things are and how there is no hope for the world. You also think about the creation and about the redemption through Jesus Christ. You think about how God is redeeming the world through Jesus Christ – and calling us to – even in the midst of this fallen and sinful world – work to preserve His truth and shine His light.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

And the world would be mighty dark without the light of Christ.

If we are pessimists and think that we are incapable of doing anything to help change the world – to preserve God’s truth and shine the Light of Christ in our communities, then we are theologically extremely unbalanced if not actually heretical and harmful.

It’s ludicrous to say Christians can have no influence in society.

It’s biblically and historically mistaken.

Christian churches have had an enormous influence on society down its long and checked history.

Kenneth Latourette in his work on the history of the expansion of Christianity has written:

“No life ever lived on this planet has been so influential in the affairs of men like the life of Jesus Christ. From that brief life and its apparent frustration has flowed a more powerful force for the triumphant waging of man’s long battle than any other ever known by the human race. By it millions have been lifted from illiteracy and ignorance and have been placed upon the road of growing intellectual freedom and control over the physical environment. It has done more to allay the physical ills of disease and famine than any other impulse known to man. It’s emancipated millions from chattel slavery and millions of others from addiction to vice. It’s been the most fruitful source of movement to lessen the horrors of war and to put the relations of men and nations on the basis of justice and of peace. Christ and his church have had an enormous influence. And if only we were out and out for Jesus Christ in the fullness of our commitment, then we would have far more influence than we do.”

So – we need to put away the pessimism that says the world is too bad – things too grim – and there is nothing we can do to preserve the truth and shine the Light of Christ in the world.

We are not powerless.

I’m afraid what we are, rather, is often lazy and unbelieving and disobedient to the commission of Jesus.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

And the world would be mighty dark without the light of Christ.

You are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world.

In both these metaphors of the salt and the light, Jesus teaches about the responsibility of Christians in society. He is teaching us our responsibility in our community and in the world.

The world, Jesus says, can be compared to rotting meat.

But Christians are to be the world’s salt.

The world, Jesus says, is like a dark night.

But Christians are to be the world’s light.

Like salt in putrefying meat, Christians are to hinder social decay.

Like light in the prevailing darkness, Christians are to illumine society and show it a better way.

It’s very important to understand that we as Christians have something to offer the world – we have the truth that can preserve the world and the light that can shine in the world’s darkness.

It’s also very important to see the need to offer the truth that can preserve the world and shine the light of Christ in the world.

Too many Christians understand that we have something to offer the world – but fail to offer it!

But we have to offer it.

We are not just called to be different from our environment. We are to have a powerful influence on our environment. Salt has to be rubbed into the meat in order to stop the rot. Light has to shine into the darkness to dispel the darkness.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

And the world would be mighty dark without the light of Christ.

But – how can we preserve the truth?

How can we be salt and light for the world?

Jesus gives us power to do this – if we will use it.

First of all – we must use the power of prayer

The power of prayer.

There are some Christians who are so involved in social activism that they never stop to pray.

I believe they are wrong.

Prayer is an indispensable part of the Christian’s life and of the church’s life. And the church’s first duty toward society and its leaders is to pray for them.

If you feel there is – in the world and in the community — more violence than peace, more indecency than modesty, more oppression than justice, more secularism than godliness, then you have to commit yourself – as individual Christians and a Church – to praying about these things.

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world. To do this you must use the power of prayer.

A second power you must use is the power of truth.

All of us believe in the power of the truth of the gospel.

We love to quote the Apostle Paul who wrote in Romans 1:16:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes,”

We are convinced of the power of the gospel – convinced that it brings salvation and redemption to those who respond and believe in Jesus.

But it isn’t only the gospel that is powerful.

All God’s truth is powerful.

God’s truth of whatever kind is much more powerful than the devil’s lies.

Do you believe that?

Or — do you think the devil is stronger than God?

Do you think lies are stronger than the truth?

As Christians we have to believe that truth is stronger than lies and the power of God is stronger than the power of the devil.

As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:8:

“We cannot do anything against the truth but only for the truth.”

As John said in his prologue to his Gospel:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.”

Of course it cannot the darkness cannot overcome it — it’s the truth of God.

If anybody should believe that it is Christians.

It’s true. God’s truth is much more powerful than bombs and tanks and weapons. That’s the power of the truth.

Remember – we have the truth – they don’t.

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of prayer.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of the truth.

Third — you are going to have to be committed to the power of example.

The power of example.

Truth is powerful when it’s argued. It’s more powerful when it’s exhibited.

People need not only to understand the argument. They need to see the benefits of the argument with their own eyes. It’s hard to exaggerate the power for good that can be exerted by a Christian family in which the whole community can see the husband and wife loving and honoring one another, devoted and faithful to one another, finding fulfillment in one another.

They see the children growing up in the security of a loving and a disciplined home.

They see a family not turned in on themselves but turned outwards—entertaining strangers, welcoming, keeping an open home, seeking to get involved in the concerns of the community and so on.

That’s the power of example.

One Christian nurse in a hospital, one Christian teacher in a school, one Christian in a shop or in a factory or office.

Christians are marked people.

The world is watching.

And God’s major way of changing the world is to implant within it his people with their different values and different standards and different joys and different goals; so that, people see and are attracted.

As Jesus said, “They see your good works, and they give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth. You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of prayer.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of the truth.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of example

Fourth, you are going to have to be committed to the power of the group.

The power of a dedicated minority.

It has been said:

“We should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a whole culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision.”

That was the way of Jesus.

He began of a small group of only 12 dedicated people.

Within a few years, Roman officials complained they were turning the world upside down.

There is a great need for dedicated Christian groups committed to one another, committed to the vision, committed to Christ, who will pray together, think together, formulate policies together, get to work together in the community.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

The fourth Great End of the Church is

Preserving the truth.

Jesus calls His followers “the light of the world” – shining His truth – His love – His will – into a world that would indeed be mighty dark if it were not for the Light of Christ.

If Wentworth Presbyterian is going to be the Church God intends for Wentworth Presbyterian to be, you are going to have to be committed to the fourth Great End of the Church – preserving the truth.

You are going to have to be committed to shining the light of Christ into the world – the world that would be might dark without the light of Christ.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of prayer.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of the truth.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of example.

You are going to have to be committed to the power of the group.

You are going to have to committed to preserving the truth

And that’s the fourth Great End of the Church. Amen.