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[WW] Blueprint: Salt and Light · The Wesley Word

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Wesley Word.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: We haven't met yet.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: My name is Steve Simino.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm the campus minister here.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: I think I try to meet just about everybody.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: But it's good to see you back here again for Evensong.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: Good to see some old faces, new faces, all kind of good faces.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back again.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: If you ever have anything you want to talk about, feel free to hit me up.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm good for a free cup of coffee, uh, milkshake, all that kind of stuff.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: So um just let me know.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: But tonight we're gonna be launching into a six-week series, uh, five-week series.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: I've been spending this summer, not by you, but I saw a lot of stuff going around there on like Facebook, Instagram, stuff about like, you know, like I can't believe that person's a Christian.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Or you can only be a Christian if you're doing this, right?
0:49
SPEAKER_01: You're only a Christian if you do that.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: And I saw a whole lot of polarizing stuff, and I saw friends that were like clergy colleagues and close people that I've done Bible studies with, and I'm like, oh, they really said that?
0:59
SPEAKER_01: They're posting that.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if Jesus would like that, right?
1:01
SPEAKER_01: I started checking in my own stuff.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: And so I began to sort of think back like, what does it really mean to be a person of faith?
1:08
SPEAKER_01: What does it really mean to claim the name of Jesus, to be a person of the way, to call yourself a Christian and to try to follow Christ?
1:15
SPEAKER_01: We talked last week that you know we're we're looking, right?
1:18
SPEAKER_01: You can find community just about anywhere, right?
1:20
SPEAKER_01: There's some really cool meetups that you can find some friends in, right?
1:22
SPEAKER_01: There's places you can give some self-help and grow and that sort of stuff.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: There's places you can go and serve Habitat for Humanity.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: You don't just present your Jesus card, you can show up and help and to serve your neighbor, right?
1:32
SPEAKER_01: But what distinguishes us as people of faith, as people who claim to be a people of the way, to be a people who follow the name of Christ.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: And so I thought, you know, what not a better way to look and find out how to follow Jesus than to say, what did Jesus say about following Jesus, right?
1:47
SPEAKER_01: What did he lay out?
1:48
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna spend some time looking at sort of the blueprint that Jesus lays out as this in his Sermon on the Mount, right?
1:55
SPEAKER_01: In case you didn't read all the gospels, there's only four of them, right?
1:57
SPEAKER_01: But in case you didn't spend all the time doing that, you can go back and you can read Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter 6, and Matthew chapter 7.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: That comprises the Sermon on the Mount, and you can get sort of Jesus' baseline sermon of this is what it means to follow me.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: You want to be a people of the way, you want to be people that claim the name of Christ, do these things and follow me, right?
2:15
SPEAKER_01: It's his most prolific sermon.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: Um he does this again before he gets into all his ministry, he heals some people on the way, but he gathers people up on the mountainside and he begins to give this sermon.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: Do you have a picture up there, Bryson?
2:26
SPEAKER_01: One of those images, maybe, sort of.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: Yep, we believe this is the mount that Jesus climbed up.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, and go to the second one and then come back to this one because I like this one better, right?
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Here's like the artist rendering, but we're gonna go back to the actual mount.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: Right?
2:38
SPEAKER_01: And so the people would have known this is mainly a Jewish audience that Matthew was written to, and they would have been reminded that it was Moses who went up the mountain, right, talked with God, and then came down and gave the people what God had said.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus, right, Jesus started by going up the mountain, and the disciples followed him up.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: And he invited them up along with them.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: And crowds began to gather.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: He started talking with just a few disciples who he called like a chapter earlier, but other disciples began to gather and a crowd began to gather as he began to speak with him.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: And so the very first thing that we see Jesus doing in his ministry, right, besides saying, hey, follow me, come with me, is once again inviting the crowds with him.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'm gonna teach you what it means to be a faithful disciple.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: Come up the mountain with me and listen.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: Jesus begins our Christian faith on an invitation.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: We are invited to follow, but also when's the last time you invited someone to come and to follow with you?
3:30
SPEAKER_01: Invited them to Wesley, invited them to church with you, invited to another small group that, whether it's Wesley, FCA, Crusade, wherever you're at, invited them to say, hey, come along this journey with me.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: I want to show you what this cool guy Jesus has to say.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: And so he begins this sermon on the mount.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you a little baseline on this sermon on the mount, and then uh we're gonna get into it, and then I won't give you the like intro every single week because you'll have it this week.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: But he begins his sermon on the mount, um, not in reaction to anything, right?
3:52
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times great speeches are given in reaction to some major event, something's happening in history, but Jesus just starts and he's like, Oh, this is how it's gonna be.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you, um, you know, beginning this sermon.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: And so he he gives this sermon, and towards the end of the sermon, he has these words in Matthew 7.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: You got those for me, Bryson?
4:08
SPEAKER_01: All right, Matthew 7, 24.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: This is at the end, he says, Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: The rain fell, the floods came, probably rain right now, right?
4:22
SPEAKER_01: And the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: And then everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell, and great was its fall, right?
4:42
SPEAKER_01: Now Jesus is not asking you to build a perfect house, um, you know, not misstep or do these different things, but what he is saying is if you listen to the things that he talks about in the Sermon of the Mount, and you seek to do them, and you try your best, yes, you're gonna misstep, but if you seek to build your house in this way, if you seek to build your Christian faith in this way, when the storm comes, you will find yourself on solid ground.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: Yes, there's gonna be rough times and bad times and hard times and questions that will come, but when you build your house on solid foundation, it'll withstand the test of time.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: And so he's encouraging us, calling us to build our lives, this blueprint that Jesus lays out there.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: And he begins at the very beginning, right in Matthew 5, the very beginning part, he lays out what we call the Beatitudes.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: And he begins to throw out all these blessings, things at the time where people would hear these blessings and they would think, ooh, shame, ooh, shame, shame, shame, shame.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: It's not about power.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: We wouldn't honor these people.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus says, if you want to be about me, if you want to be about the way of Christ, this is the personality you take on.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: These are the characteristics that you must have.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: And here are the beatitudes.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: We've got those here in Matthew 5, 1 through 12.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: Here are these when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, right?
5:50
SPEAKER_01: We showed that picture, he sat down, his disciples came to him, and then he began to teach and said to them.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna re-off screen, I'm gonna lose my page.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, and for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: Man, sounds fun.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: And utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, and for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: Now, when I first started reading the Beatitudes, I always thought Jesus was just blessing like random people.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, ah, sad people, he's blessing them, right?
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh, people that show compassion, cool, he's blessing them.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: That's great, right?
6:54
SPEAKER_01: Poor in spirit.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: All right, sweet.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: Good for you, right?
6:57
SPEAKER_01: But he's calling his disciples, he's calling the crowds who gathered around and said, This, you want blessing in life, right?
7:03
SPEAKER_01: And it's not like a prosperity gospel thing, right?
7:05
SPEAKER_01: But he's saying, This is who I want you to be.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: This is the characteristics I want you to take on.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be pure in heart.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: I want you to seek righteousness.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be clothed in compassion.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to mourn not just death, but the way things are in in life and to work towards making them good and better.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are you when you take on these characteristics, right?
7:25
SPEAKER_01: Even when they cause you to be uncomfortable, even when they cause others to look at you and to say, you know, yeah.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: Right?
7:32
SPEAKER_01: Even when it's not popular, blessed are those who take on the characteristics that Jesus has laid out here.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: He reminds us that we are called, this is who we're called to be, that we're people who are called to action, right?
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes we talk about, right, if your whole faith is built on the fact that you have an insurance policy to make sure you're not, you know, burning, right?
7:53
SPEAKER_01: Which we'll talk about heaven hell later, right?
7:55
SPEAKER_01: But if your whole faith is built on hoping to have an insurance policy, what are you doing?
8:01
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
8:02
SPEAKER_01: What kind of fulfilling life is that?
8:04
SPEAKER_01: And I would think Jesus, I didn't remember seeing that in the Beatitude, saying, make sure you have your fire insurance card, right?
8:10
SPEAKER_01: Instead he says, take on these lifestyles, take on these characteristics, right?
8:17
SPEAKER_01: Does our life reflect these?
8:19
SPEAKER_01: Does our life reflect this beatific attitude, this beatific life that Jesus puts before us?
8:24
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes on, right?
8:25
SPEAKER_01: Because he talks about it, right?
8:26
SPEAKER_01: And James mentions this as well, right?
8:28
SPEAKER_01: Don't be a mere a mere hearer of the word, but be a doer of the word.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: We're called to be a people of action.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: And he goes on in Matthew 5, 13 through 16.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: We got that as well, just so you can like fact-check, memorable proof text in here, right?
8:39
SPEAKER_01: He says, You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?
8:45
SPEAKER_01: It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: He says, You are the light of the world.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it under a bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: And 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.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: These are two awesome analogies, right, that are here.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: And I know I got our Asbury crew, right?
9:11
SPEAKER_01: This is part one of y'all's daily things, right?
9:13
SPEAKER_01: So stay with me here, right?
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, it's these are cool metaphors.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: We talk about what it means to be salt and what it means to be light.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: And I want to spend some time on each one.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to shortchange them because they are powerful, simple, but powerful metaphors as to who we are called to be, right?
9:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, who here likes salt?
9:30
SPEAKER_01: Anybody like salt in your food?
9:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes?
9:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah?
9:32
SPEAKER_01: I like salt.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: Don't salt my chips at the Mexican restaurant because I don't need extra blood pressure, right?
9:36
SPEAKER_01: But I like salt, right?
9:37
SPEAKER_01: And we know what salt does, right?
9:38
SPEAKER_01: Salt gives us good season in life.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: You know when something's bland and you're like, hmm, they need some help, right?
9:43
SPEAKER_01: That needs some salt in this, right?
9:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, and you also know when someone goes a little too heavy on the salt and you're like, all right, that's a little too much there, right?
9:49
SPEAKER_01: Salt just requires a little bit to bring out the flavors of the food and the other seasons that are around it and in it, right?
9:57
SPEAKER_01: You know when it's not available, you know when it's missing, but when it's there, it can really bring about life, it can bring about flavors that you really didn't even know or didn't realize were in there, but just a little bit of a pinch of salt here and there helps to bring that out, right?
10:11
SPEAKER_01: Salt, when Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth, it reminds us that there is power in small gestures.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes when we feel like we gotta wave the flag, but you know, I'm a Christian here, there, you know.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: It we live as the salt of the earth by small gestures, small things that we do here and there.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Just a couple weeks ago, this is very small, but I left and like it made my week.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, I was really stressed.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to get our newsletters out that we send out to alumni and to uh maybe your folks back home got it.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: And I went in to make our do our folding machine.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: And the folding machine, like this is a church, but the folding machine is possessed by the devil, I've come to learn.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: Because when I'm in a hurry, it's like haha, watch this, sucker, right?
10:48
SPEAKER_01: And so like I put one two in, it goes, it folds it real nice and clean.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh sweet, we're good.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: We tested it.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: So then I put like the stack of 80 in and it goes, good doom, good doom, good.
10:57
unknown: Oh my god.
10:58
unknown: Right?
10:58
SPEAKER_01: And so after waiting a pro wasting approximately 63, um, you know, I was trying to be the salt of the earth with this thing, right?
11:05
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to give it a chance, but it didn't work out.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: So I went to Pendleton UMC and I was because I called a friend, I was like, yo, you got a fold machine?
11:11
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Yeah, we got a fold machine.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, their fold machine is not the fold machine we have here.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: It's very slow, very old, whatever.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: But their administrative assistant said, I got this, I'll set the machine.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: You go talk to Pastor Ricky, I know you gotta catch up.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: I was like, all right, well, let me know if once you get it set, I'll come out and do it.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: So we began talking.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: Me and Pastor Ricky were friends.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: We talked for like um an hour, and I came out and was like, oh shoot, I gotta go.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: Let me go get those things done.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: And I came out, right?
11:34
SPEAKER_01: And Miss Lynn had them all folded, double.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, man, that's so awesome.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: You got the folder machine to work?
11:40
SPEAKER_01: She's like, oh no, I screwed up a bunch.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I don't want to mess them up, so I folded them all by hand for you.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Miss Lynn, you did what?
11:47
unknown: Right?
11:47
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't like folding those things by hand.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: That's a small gesture, a small pinch of salt, but it lifted me up and it made my week.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: I told everybody that week that camera, I was like, y'all, you need to go to Penal UMC, right?
11:56
SPEAKER_01: Come CMC, but if you don't like us, go to P UMC, right?
11:59
SPEAKER_01: They got it going on, right?
12:00
SPEAKER_01: Just a little bit of being salt of the earth.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: I remember being, I was a janitor here a long time.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: I've had like almost every job at Clemson UMC, but way back when I was a youth minister and I was also the janitor here because you know, had to pay the bills.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: And um I remember coming back from a youth retreat one night and I was worn out.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: It was an incredible trip, but I was worn out.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: But being the janitor of the church, when you get back on Sunday night, you gotta clean the place because it's gotta be ready for Monday.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: And I remember just being worn out, doing all this stuff, and I go into the to the to the little lights bathroom over there at the daycare center.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: I won't describe the scene in there, but it was horrific, right?
12:35
SPEAKER_01: And I just started like breaking down.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: I was like, you know, I can't do this, right?
12:39
SPEAKER_01: And the senior pastor of the time, it's like four senior pastors ago, but he came in and he was like, Hey, how's the retreat?
12:43
SPEAKER_01: I was like, Oh, it's great.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: I said, but I gotta do this, it's just it's a lot, but I'm gonna do it.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: And he just put his hand on my shoulder and he said, Just go home, I got this.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: I said, No, I got it.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: It's my job.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: He's like, just go home, I got this.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: And all he did was he cleaned four toilets, right?
12:56
SPEAKER_01: That in my mind were like horrific, but it's just four toilets that I wasn't ready to clean, right?
13:00
SPEAKER_01: But that little bit of throwing a little salt there, I got this, go home again, made my week and lifted me up, right?
13:06
SPEAKER_01: He did not have to do that, but he showed up and helped do that for me, right?
13:10
SPEAKER_01: There's many ways that we can be the salt of the earth.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: And Paul's talking to the church in Colossians, Colossians 4, 6.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: I think we got it there as well, Prison, maybe?
13:18
SPEAKER_01: Put you on the spot.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: All right, he says, Let your speech always be gracious and seasoned with salt, so that you may know what you ought to answer to everyone, right?
13:28
SPEAKER_01: Let our speech and everything that we do, everything that we say be seasoned with salt.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: Think about the conversations you've had today.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: Think about the comments you've made today or this weekend.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm gonna do this sometimes.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: Were they all seasoned with salt?
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Or were they just plain salty?
13:45
SPEAKER_01: How are we speaking?
13:46
SPEAKER_01: How are people hearing us when we speak to them?
13:49
SPEAKER_01: Right?
13:50
SPEAKER_01: So that's salt.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: We want to be salty.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: All right, salt can be used as sacrifices back in the day.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: It used to clean, it used to heal, it used as a preservative, right?
13:58
SPEAKER_01: One of the coolest things, I actually talked about this a little bit this summer when I had a chance to speak at Asperry Hills, is one of things out one of the biggest things that it reflects salt into who we're called to be, is that salt is something that when we have it and when we when we taste it and when we get it, it makes us thirsty.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: Right?
14:14
SPEAKER_01: Salt makes us thirsty.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: And so one other question is when people are around you, people around me, when they're around us, does it make them thirsty?
14:23
SPEAKER_01: Right?
14:24
SPEAKER_01: And this, do they thirst for God when they interact with you?
14:28
SPEAKER_01: Do they come away from your speech, from your conversation, from your actions, and they leave wanting more?
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Feeling and coming to know God through your actions and through your process.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: Does it make you thirst?
14:41
SPEAKER_01: Does it make them thirsty?
14:42
SPEAKER_01: Do they begin to thirst for righteousness?
14:44
SPEAKER_01: Do they begin to thirst for justice?
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Do they begin to thirst for goodness and love after they have been around you?
14:50
SPEAKER_01: That's what it means to be the salt of the earth.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: Then he goes on and says that they were also called to be the light, right?
14:56
SPEAKER_01: And the light is not something that we hide, but a light is something that we shine for all to see, right?
15:00
SPEAKER_01: And we know the difference between light and dark.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about y'all, but I used to be very scared of the dark when I was a kid.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by a kid, like I'm scared of the dark now, so I make sure it's light's on, right?
15:07
SPEAKER_01: But you can know the difference between light and dark.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: Light shines in there, it takes the dark away, or shows what needs to be fixed when darkness covers it up, right?
15:16
SPEAKER_01: When we call to be the light, we're called to be visible before others.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: We reveal God's power and God's peace and God's grace and God's compassion, no matter who it is that we're around and where we're at.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: To be the light of the world means that we're willing to be uncomfortable and to be in places, to be in situations, to speak up, to go, to do.
15:35
SPEAKER_01: It might not be popular, but it's the right thing to do.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: That's what God is calling us to do.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: So we're called to be the salt, we're called to be the light, we're called to take on these characteristics of Jesus.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: And so that kind of gets as we sort of begin to sort of move towards wrapping up in sort of this takeaway here, right?
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Is the questions that begin to pop up in me as I begin to study this and prepare for for this this series, right?
16:01
SPEAKER_01: When people see me, not when they're at church and I got my name tag on that says like campus minister, right?
16:06
SPEAKER_01: But when people begin to know me out and about, would they be surprised that I was a person of faith?
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Would they be surprised that I was a Christian by the way that I interact, right?
16:18
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes probably, yeah.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Remember back in the day I used to play Ultimate Frisbee and um you know I was a hothead jerk.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh flat out, right?
16:29
SPEAKER_01: I said I was a competitive person.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: No, I was just a jerk on the field, right?
16:32
SPEAKER_01: And I remember getting into uh not in a fist fight, but uh a verbal altercation um on the field and with this other dude from Vanderbilt, right?
16:41
SPEAKER_01: And we're just like going at it, and all like the teams like pulled us back and they're talking, like all the you know, folks on the team that could care less about Jesus, who have a nice, like good attitude, very peace, like they were the salt of the earth, light of the world, right?
16:52
SPEAKER_01: And they're talking, like, yeah, that's that's Steve, like you know, whatever, he's a hothead, you know.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, he wants to go to seminary, and they're like, no way, the dude he was fighting, he's in seminary at Vanderbilt, right?
17:02
SPEAKER_01: And we're like, oh wow, what a yeah, it like hit me like a ton of bricks, right?
17:06
SPEAKER_01: You're like, wow, what kind of witness are we putting out there, right?
17:09
SPEAKER_01: But I'm worried about this plastic disc, whether it's up or down, which matters, right?
17:14
SPEAKER_01: Um and I'm having folks that claim that that do not want to be believers of faith who are showing more peace, more compassion in the moments.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Their witness for Jesus is stronger than mine, and I'm here trying to go into ministry, right?
17:29
SPEAKER_01: But people know what you're about by the way that you're acting.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: And to be reminded that people are always watching, right?
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Upperclassmen, underclassmen are watching you.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: Your fellow classmates are watching you.
17:41
SPEAKER_01: My kids come here, they're watching you.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: I spend a weekend in Charlotte.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: But they're always watching.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: They pick up on what we do, what Coleman does.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: The younger ones watch him, they pick us up.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: And there was one time I was eating around the table, it was like my dad, my brother, and my sister, and we're all eating.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh my gosh, we're all eating the same way, right?
18:01
SPEAKER_01: It's because we all watched him grow up, and so like our mannerisms are the same.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm like, I have like I was like stopping like chewing, like, you know, I know you can do that, but I noticed we were chewing the same, right?
18:09
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, you know, you know, because we watch, we imitate, and we pick up.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: When people see you, right, not chewing, but when people see you speaking, when people see you acting outside of Wesley, outside the church, would they be surprised to know that you are a Christian?
18:26
SPEAKER_01: We're called to be light, we're called to be the salt of the earth, we're called to take on those beatific attitudes, characteristics that Jesus has laid out.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be massive stuff.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: Remember, a little bit of salt, small actions, small words, small acts of kindness, small acts of compassion go a long way towards stretching and showing people who it is that we are called to be.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: Right?
18:49
SPEAKER_01: Here's the last thing I want to say about that, all right?
18:51
SPEAKER_01: Because we're called to be salt.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: We're called to be light.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: And notice Jesus doesn't say by the time you're a senior, right, and you get it all figured out, by the time you're 40 with two kids and you've got you're a pastor, you'll have it figured out.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: You'll be the salt of the earth, you'll be the light of the world.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: He begins to tell the disciples, the people who have gathered around him, he says, You are.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: You are salt of the earth.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: You are the light of the world.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: Right here, right now, when you claim to be a follower of Jesus, you are salt.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: You are light.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: God's grace lives within you, and you began to do these things here, right here, right now.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: But I know there are times, right, when the light feels dim.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: Right?
19:31
SPEAKER_01: There are times when the salt begins to lose its saltiness, right?
19:34
SPEAKER_01: I did some research, I'm not a science person, I was a math person, right?
19:37
SPEAKER_01: But how salt loses its stuff, right?
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Um it has a shelf life for just about forever.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: But when it gets mixed up with other things, it sort of loses its identity.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: When it gets too much moisture in there, it begins to stuff, right?
19:49
SPEAKER_01: You begin to lose it.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it can evaporate, and there's just stuff that looks like salt that's left, but it's not salt, it doesn't taste like salt.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Salt loses its saltiness not by just staying and being salty, but getting mixed up in stuff that's not salt, and it begins to lose its way a little bit.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Right?
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Our lights, we oftentimes, right?
20:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't even have like a real flashlight anymore.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: I use my phone all the time, right?
20:10
SPEAKER_01: And I use this light again.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm scared of the dark.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: If it's dark, my lights on, probably, right?
20:13
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna, I'm not a lot ashamed.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm not picking on Asberry right, but I had to walk back to the hut this summer.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Dude, I had my light on, I was looking for snakes all around.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: I did I told them there's tree snakes now.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know that, but that's scary as junk now as well.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: I'll be doing internet camp next summer.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: Um but even that light eventually is gonna go out.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna go out unless we recharge it, right?
20:35
SPEAKER_01: When you go stay somewhere, what I know, y'all, I know like our mission trips and stuff.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: The first thing people look for is I need to put my air mattress next to an outlet because I gotta keep my phone charged, right?
20:42
SPEAKER_01: All right, if not, one-on-one, that's what you gotta do when you go on trips, right?
20:45
SPEAKER_01: Make sure you have an outlet.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: I had to sleep in my nephew's room this this um this past weekend.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: It was a nice baseball decor, right?
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Julie's in a twin bed here, she's in twin bed, I was in a twin bed over here.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: I think I freaked her out because like my phone was dead because I didn't charge it the night before.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I gotta have my phone because you know I gotta have my phone tomorrow's football day.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: And so she's like sound asleep, and I'm like like moving her headboard back as she's like sleeping, trying to get in there, and like, you know, come in there and I got it all plugged in like this, and she looks up, she's like, hey, babe, right?
21:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, thankfully, she didn't like like punch me.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: But I had to get that charger in there because I had to keep that phone charged, I had to keep that light going.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: The point here is you can try to be the light of the world all that you want and have the greatest intentions, but if you don't make sure that you are plugged into the power source, if you don't make sure that you are being recharged on a daily basis, right, you are going to run out of light.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be harder to shine your light.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: And it's easier.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: Think about the phones.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: I know they program them this way, right?
21:44
SPEAKER_01: But when you get a brand new phone, right, that charge will last sometimes like three days, right?
21:48
SPEAKER_01: And it's like exciting, it's full of energy.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: By the time you have that phone for two years, right, you send a text and you're like, oh crap, I've got to recharge it, right?
21:54
SPEAKER_01: It goes back.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: I think our faith is a lot like that.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: When I was a brand new Christian, when I was a junior in high school and I came to faith and I gave my life away to Jesus and I learned all this stuff, I was on fire and I could go for days talking about it.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: Being in ministry for 12 years, having a long time in faith and dealing with church people and dealing with things on the other side of stuff that's not just all exciting, I can get worn down quick, real quick, if I don't stay plugged in to the source to give me the fuel to shine my light.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: If I'm not in worship once a week, whether it's here on Sunday mornings or Wednesday night or worshiping in my car, finding a space throughout the week to just give time to God and be refueled, my light's not gonna shine as much.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: If I'm not refilling myself and what I'm reading and what I'm watching and who I'm talking to, you're gonna find a lot less seasoned with salt and a whole lot more salty Steve, right?
22:50
SPEAKER_01: Y'all see me on some of those on mission trips like day five, you know what I'm talking about, right?
22:54
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't have my sleep, I have my rest, right?
22:57
SPEAKER_01: Are you making sure that you are staying connected to the source that gives us light?
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Are you finding ways to be connected to God on a daily basis so that when it comes time to shine your light, you're not finding yourself on a dead battery.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: You find yourself refueled, that you can shine a light into the darkness that you come upon.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: The cool thing is this group is about being salt, about being a light.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: And I encourage you and I look forward to the summer find of this school year finding ways that we can truly be the salt of the earth on the campuses that we find ourselves in, and that we can be the light of the world, shining the light of Christ in every crevice, every crack that we find ourselves in.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: Let us pray.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks for this day, for this evening, for this good food, for friends, for the chances to come and to worship you.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: God, it seems daunting sometimes when you call us and remind us who we are.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: That we are called to be salt, that we're called to be light, that we're called to not just bear your name, but we're called to act out the characteristics that you've called us to be.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: Help us to stay connected.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: Clean off the terminals, you know, get us into whatever it may take, oh God, that we can be connected to you.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: And that as you fill us, may we be so bold to begin to pour into others.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: That when they see us, when they begin to know us, when they're around us, God, we don't get propped up because we are on good behavior.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: But that truly people may come to know you and more know you more fully by the ways in which we love our neighbors.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: We love you, we praise you.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: We ask all this in Christ's holy name.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.