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Devotional, subscribe today In touch with Dr.
Charles Stanley, celebrating 45 years of God’s faithfulness and sharing the gospel worldwide.
Next on in touch, making a lasting impact, who has had the greatest impact on your life by impact?
I mean, the strongest influence, the most powerful effect upon your life.
Was it somebody close to you who was the person who is the person who’s having the greatest impact upon your life?
And I want to ask you, would you like to have the same kind of impact on someone else’s life?
And has that impact been the kind that has made you a better person?
Or would you say that the impact they’ve had has hindered you in your life?
And what is it about your life that has impacted you?
That is what, what about your life has changed as a result of that person’s influence in your life?
Is it your sense of direction in life? Is it the way you look?
Is it the way you dress? Is it um your whole perspective on life? Is it your belief system?
And I’m gonna ask you this question? How did they impact you? Was it a personal relationship?
Was it something you read that they wrote?
Was it something you heard that they said, what is it about that person?
How did they impact or how are they impacting your life today?
Well, what I want to talk about in this message is making a lasting impact because that is God’s purpose for every single one of us.
And I want you to turn if you will to Matthew Chapter five.
And the sermon on the Mount Jesus said all of this in just a very few verses in this fifth chapter of Matthew.
And so he begins in verse 13, listen, you are the salt of the earth.
But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?
It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket.
But on the lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.
It’s clear from this passage, something that Jesus said.
And then Paul picks up on in the first Timothy of the second chapter.
Listen to what he says, he says, this is good and acceptable in the sight of our Lord who desires all men and women to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And so he designed that all people become saved and come knowledge that come to the knowledge of the truth.
How is he going to bring the past?
Well, how he brings that the past is what the scripture is all about.
And that is God’s people making an impact upon the world in which you and I live.
And this is what he’s saying when he says you’re the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world.
This is his message for doing so.
So let’s think about this whole issue and let’s, let’s start with something right up front.
First of all, get rid of the idea that you can’t make an impact on anybody else to get rid of the idea that you’re not this and you’re not that and you’re not the other.
And remember here’s what Jesus said.
He didn’t say I suggested he didn’t say you ought to, you must, you should.
He said you are the salt of the earth.
You are not, you ought to be not, you should become, you are the salt of the earth.
You are the light of the world. So oftentimes when we begin a message like this, somebody’s as well.
But you know, but me, let me say something about you.
You’re a unique person created by God for his purposes.
And here’s what he said, you are the salt of the earth, which simply says it is the will of God that every single one of his Children live in such a fashion that you and I impact other people for good.
That is have a spiritual impact upon their life. That is not, that’s not an option on our part.
It is a command, it is the expectation of our Lord and it is a responsibility that in some fashion, in some way, we have to have an impact.
That is a strong influence in somebody else’s life for good.
And if you’ll think about where that starts, of course, it starts with those closest to us and then it goes as far as our Lord will allow us to influence or impact other people’s lives.
So I want to ask you again, who has impacted your life above everyone else?
I’m not talking about God at this point.
But on this earth, somebody that you know, heard whatever it might be, who has impacted your life in the strongest fashion.
It may be one or more people who have impacted or influenced your life strongly, but who is that person?
Who are those persons? How have they impacted you? And what are you doing in your life?
And how are you impacting or influencing other people?
And you see part of our problem is that so often we’re so self centered and so centered about what we want to do, what we want to accomplish and me, myself and I, we forget that we have a mission from God to impact the people around us in some fashion that is good.
And we say it is a spiritual impact because that’s what he’s referring to primarily here.
So let’s think about it. The power of our impact is gonna be determined by the character of our life and market down the power of our influence and the power of our, of our impact is going to be determined by the character of our life.
And I think the reason that Jesus used the terms he used is because he wants to make that point very strongly.
He used two very distinct words in order to illustrate this mission that you and I have two words that are just sort of normal for assault, which is a very commonplace thing and light which we take for granted.
And so using these two words and he uses salt for example, because it is something different from what you put it on.
In other words, uh assault is going to make a difference and the power lies in what, what that salt is composed of.
And so when we think about this, God has called all of us to be different.
And you recall, he says in Second Corinthians, the sixth chapter in the 17th verse, he says, come out from among them and be separate.
Sayeth the Lord that is God expects his Children deliver different kind of life than the world lives.
He says, we have to live a pure life.
And you remember what he says in Romans chapter 12, he says, stop being conformed to the likeness of the world and be transformed.
That is weird to be different. And because we are different, we will attract, we will attract.
you say, well, I know some folks who don’t particularly not attracted to Christians, but you know what in a way they are, whether they, whether they come to Christ or not, there’s something about the believer who it is different.
And so he uses the term salt to say this is your mission. You to be like salt.
That is we are to flavor the lives of people around us in such a way.
Listen with the Lord Jesus Christ in us were to flavor them in such a way that they too will begin to enjoy life in a way that they’ve never enjoyed it because they will know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
If we are like the them, they’re not gonna be attracted. If we’re like them, we’re not gonna change them.
Salt doesn’t change salt, salt flavors that which is insipid that which is sort of empty and void of any real taste.
And so what we wanna do is we want to have the kind of godly impact that we genuinely flavor the life of someone else that is, they begin to be different as a result of you knowing them, relating to them or whatever it might be.
So, what you have to ask is this, whose life are you impacting?
Are you just sort of walking on people and never thinking about the fact of what kind of influence or testimony you’re having.
Now, I wanna look at one thing right here because um when you, when you look at this, you think, well, now what in what in the world does this mean?
Listen to what Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth.
But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?
It is no longer good for anything except to be what thrown out and trampled under men.
Now here is a warning. Now watch this.
He says you are the salt of the earth to make an impact whether you’re a student or whether your mother or father businessman, whatever.
He says you are the salt of the earth. And then he gives us this warning.
But if you lose your saltiness, he says salt that loses its taste is good for nothing but to be cast out.
Now, how could salt lose its taste is what he means in those days, they gathered salt by of course, evaporating the water, evaporated the seawater and they gathered salt so they scraped it up and it had all kind of impurities in it.
Sometimes it was dirt and so oftentimes the salt was so mixed with impurities.
It lost its twang, its power to salt. Impurities caused it to lose its power.
What he’s saying to us here is this when you and I allow sin in our life, those things in our life that make our life impure that listen, lessened the strength of our witness cause our impact to be absolutely useless.
Here’s what he says when they gathered salt and it be and it was so full of imperatives, they threw it out in the path where people walked and they trampled on it because that was all it was good for.
And what he’s saying to us is this.
We have to be careful about, about the way we live our lives, our testimony, we have to be careful about how we live before the people because if our impact is gonna be strong, then listen, it must be the way we live and not just what we say.
And so he gives us a warning and that warning is watch out, listen, watch out for the impurities that can slip into your life with this dishonesty or whatever it might be and the pressure of the world because you see if we allow the pressures of the world to penetrate our life.
What happens is that little by little, we begin to do what we begin to act the way they act, then the world is not interested in what we have to say or what we, what we have to do for the simple reason, we’re too much like them.
And see you think about this. What happens to the whole body of Christ?
What happens to a nation, to a family?
What happens to a whole nation when the church loses its power to impact?
Listen, when the members of the fellowship of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and a nation becomes so much like the world that you can’t tell the difference between the church, the body of Christ, the salt and, and the things that are impure, whether you can’t tell the difference between the sand and the salt, there’s no influence and no impact.
So what you have to ask is this, Lord, is there anything in my conversation? Anything in my action?
Any aspect of my life that before those whom I walk and with whom I fellowship will work?
Do they see? And are they hearing anything within me that would cause the saltiness of my life to be so weak that it’s making no difference and no good impact whatsoever.
That’s what he’s talking about when he says he says, trampled, listen, trampled under the foot of men.
And that means it is absolutely of no value.
So I’ll ask you again, who are you impacting and who are you influencing whose life?
Who, who is watching you listening to you and whose life is being impacted, changed for the good as a result of the way you live and how you live it.
Then you’ll notice. He said something else. He said, you’re the salt of the earth.
And then Jesus said something else.
He said, not only are the salt of the earth, he says, you’re the light of the world.
Now, Remember what he said in 1st John, he said, God is light.
Then Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Then Jesus said, you’re the light of the world.
So is that a contradiction? No, I’m gonna show you what he says in a few moments, another verse of scripture.
But what I want you to see is this, think about the awesome compliment that is to us that God says I am light.
He says about Jesus, my son is light.
And then he says about all of us who trusted Jesus as our savior sinners saved by the grace of God in the process of being sanctified by day, by day.
And what does he say? You are the light of the world?
Think about that you of the light of the world.
He cannot have given us a greater compliment than to say that. So notice what he says here.
Now look at it again. He says in verse 14, you are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket that is to hide it.
But on the lamp stand and it gives light to all who in the house.
Then he says, you are the light of the world.
Then he says, let your light shine before men and women and young people in such a way how that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.
That is our light is not to shine in order people see us and glorify us and magnify us.
But what? But rather that they would see Christ living within us, see the works in our life, our actions and our deeds and as a result, see the living Christ living within us and that he be glorified because you see he’s the one who draws men to himself.
He doesn’t draw people to us. He draws them to himself.
He may use us to some degree, but he draws them to himself.
Now let’s think about light like we thought about salt. How do we impact? People will think about this?
And first of all, certainly light is clear and pure. That is when you look at light, it just shines.
And so we are to be that kind of a believer, a life that’s pure and clear.
That is when somebody sees you and you, you see this, you hear people say when you see him, that’s what you get.
That is when you see her, you get what you see.
That is, that’s the way it should be in all of our lives that whoever knows us.
Well, they know us in private, in secret. They can say I know him.
I know her because what you see is what you get.
I see him here and I’ve seen him there and I’ve seen him over here doesn’t make, it is always the same because you see light doesn’t change that His light is clear and pure and they should see in us a reflection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When your light is shining as bright as God wants it to shine, they’re gonna feel closer to God when they’re with you.
Now, you and I have to determine how bright this light’s gonna shine.
Do you think about this? The average person gets up and goes to work and does their thing?
They try to steal and seek all the, all the pleasure out of life that they can?
When do they stand and sing to the top of their voice? When did they ever praise God?
When are they ever released on the inside of their spirit?
You know what they live under the burden of making a living and trying to, trying to find some happiness and peace and joy and accumulate and prestige and prominence and all the rest and you know what?
You’re not let all that stuff go and we can pray the Lord and sing rejoice to him you know what happens?
The lost person in the midst of this kind of light is going to be impacted.
That’s why they come and that’s why they get saved.
They’re impacted by your life, your smile, your accountant, your joy, your friendliness, your handshake, whatever it might be, the word of God, the music, all of this impacts them.
Our light needs to shine very, very brightly.
Now again, of course, I think we have have to have a little warning at this point because uh when I think about that, I think about the fact, what is it that causes that light not to shine as bright?
Same thing with salt imperatives make it useless when you darken. What is it that darkens the light sin?
I’ll tell you what it’s like.
It’s like having a lantern and you cut it on too much and it just feels the globe with soot.
So it’s solid black. How much light comes out of a lantern when the whole globe is black?
Not much, how much light comes out of the lantern when you cut the wick down? Very, very small.
So it’s just glowing. Not much. God wants to listen.
He wants, he wants a high wick and he wants to clean, listen. He wants clean glass around us.
He wants our light to shine bright and he wants to listen our life to be very, very salty.
You’re the light of the world to make a difference that is, he’s left us here to make a difference.
Why, why would he leave us here?
Otherwise, why didn’t he just save us in the morning and then take us home to heaven that night?
It’s all over. It’s finished. Why he says I’m the light of the world.
As long as I’m in the world, I’m not in the world. You’re the light of the world.
Ask yourself this question. If you’re the only Christian somebody new, would they ever want to know Jesus Christ as their savior by your actions, by your words, by your countenance, by what you don’t say what you do say by the way, you carry yourself, by the way, you look at them.
If you were the only Christian, they knew what they want, who you know is your savior.
And I think about the world stumbling in darkness and groping, looking and searching for truth, hungering and thirsting and yearning.
And you think about all the other religions in the world, they don’t have what we have.
They don’t have anything close to what we have and you know what this is, why it’s so important that, that, that God’s people live Godly lives.
What gets their attention is the difference?
Listen, what’s the difference in something that is salted and something that has no flavor.
What’s the difference in darkness and light? He could not have used two words to eat.
Two more, two more graphically describe the kind of influence and impact you’re not to have on people’s lives.
And what we have to ask is, is that true of us now?
Whose life our lives are you influencing strongly? Whose lives are you impacting?
Well, every father and mother would have to say, well, I’m sure my Children, is it the best light that you can shine?
Is it the purest salt that you can give them when I think about the two people who most impacted my life down to the years, my mother and my grandfather brilliant lights, very salty.
And sometimes I thought my mother was real salty.
But you know what she was teaching me the truth, telling me the truth.
Thank God for two people whose light and whose salt was so powerful in my life, absolutely affected everything I believe and everything I see in the Christian life believe God’s word.
Never doubted. What kind of influence and impact are you having upon the people who, who are the closest to you?
Then the people that you work with and the people who your friends, what I’m asking is this?
How bright is your light and how salty is your salt?
You see?
The one thing you can’t say is, well, I don’t have an influence on anybody.
Well, let me just say this.
If that’s your attitude, you have a very, very negative, poor, bad influence.
Because what you’re saying is I’m not anybody, I’m not important. God hadn’t blessed me. It’s not worth it.
Or you can say I’m a child of God. I’ve been so blessed.
God strengthened me, blessed me, kept me protecting me. This is, this is what God does in my life.
And I’m so happy to share this with you. You see what you have to ask?
Is this the first question who has impacted your life the most?
And was that impact good or was it not so good?
Because all of us to some degree of the product of the influence of other people in our lives?
And it may, it may not be just somebody who’s close to.
You can be other people who are distant, maybe some professor or some teacher or whoever it might be.
I think about the two men who most impacted me preaching wise Godly men whom I watched and listened and what I heard was this not how they prepared the sermon.
I watched one man’s passion and I thought God, this man is excited about you.
I watched another man’s passion for God for the word of God to get the truth to people.
I don’t know that they ever realized how much they impacted my life, but they did the man who impacted my life as far as the way I would go about living my life.
My grandfather, he never knew what an awesome impact he had in my life.
You know what? You don’t know whose life you’re impacting what I want.
You to ask yourself this morning?
Is this God by the life that I’m living?
Am I pure salt?
Am I really making a difference?
But the life that I’m living is my light shining.
So bright darkness has actively.