The Faith Walk

Jonathan Evans: Today on the Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. 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.

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.

Guest (Male): You're listening to the Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. In a moment, Jonathan will continue today's message. But first, I want to briefly let you know that this week we have two gifts for you to thank you for your support of this ministry. The first is the audio series called Discipleship for Everyday, equipping you to live out your faith with authenticity and impact every day.

The second gift is the book, Your Time is Now. In this book, you'll understand that God has a purpose for you, even if you think you're not ready to make a difference. Later in today's program, I'll give you more details about these special gifts. Or you can visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222. Right now, let's get started with Jonathan's message.

Jonathan Evans: I want you to turn to Matthew, chapter 5, a familiar passage. Matthew chapter 5, verses 13 through 16. This is what the word of the Lord says: "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 a lampstand, 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." Are y'all ready for the word?

This reenactment is based on a true story. My sister Priscilla and Jerry, my brother-in-law, got married some time ago. 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.

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 Lois would cook 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 excited because he smells something in the kitchen. Priscilla, from her college days, did canned green beans and simple stuff, but now she's doing raw ones trying to sauté them. She's doing a whole new thing. 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. She sets the food down and then they grab their hands and pray. Then Priscilla said, "All right, Jerry, babe, here's the moment of truth. Take the bite." And this, ladies and gentlemen, is literally how it went.

As the silence crept around the table, the first thing Jerry reached for was some water. 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 "Cookin' in the Light."

Jesus is giving a message and he's cooking. Now I need you to understand there are many ways people use the word cooking today. One of them is what 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 a game, they'll say, "Ooh, that dude was cooking tonight." I remember I did a chapel service for the Cowboys and Dak came down the stairs after the chapel service and was like, "Bro, you was cooking." You knew what you was doing. I don't know how much they listened because the game part didn't work out.

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? Jesus is about to give a lesson here and he's about to pull disciples into the kitchen of responsibility. Here he is in the Sermon on the Mount. People were coming from everywhere.

Matthew 4:25 says from Decapolis, in 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. He was doing so much healing and all the miracles 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 in Matthew 5, when he's about to start the Sermon on the Mount, verse one 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. But when I saw that the crowd came around and the disciples came near, it made me understand that there's actually two ways you can use the word disciple in the New Testament.

There were those who were disciples because they wanted the benefit and those who were disciples because they had true belief. There were those who followed Jesus because they wanted to be healed and those who followed Jesus because they wanted to be a participant because they had been healed. They use disciples generically because many people follow people on social media; I hit the follow button but I don't follow them.

Many people have hit the follow button on Jesus who don't live by the content. So they're disciples, but they're disciples only because they want the benefit from Jesus. I would even go so far as to say that you can have the tag disciple and not even be saved. How is that possible? Have you ever heard of anybody in the Bible named Judas?

He had the tag disciple, but it was for 30 shekels of silver. Many of us don't have the impact because we come to church to receive, not to be a participant in. It's like those people that are in the kitchen while you're cooking, but they ain't cooking. They're just in the kitchen looking around talking about everything you're cooking: "This need more of that. That looks good. What about this?"

My mama used to say, "If you don't get out of my kitchen..." Because we just want to eat on something; we don't want to participate in cooking the meal. So there are many in the church today who wear the disguise of disciple, but they're really an opportunist. They're trying to freeload on the faith.

Jesus is saying, "Let me teach you something about what it really means to follow me because I know you want what I have—that's not a problem—but I need to know that you'll be a participant in the kitchen." He starts out with the beatitudes as he's teaching this lesson because he wants you to know what a disciple is.

They mourn, they're poor in spirit, they're pure in heart, they hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are they that are this way. This is what a disciple looks like. 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."

In other words, OCBF, he's saying, "You are responsible." 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. 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.

Guest (Male): More of the Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans in a moment. Did you know that God has a purpose for you right now? You may think you're not ready to make a difference in God's kingdom or that you're too young for others to take seriously, but that's not what God thinks. We want to give you a book by Jonathan called Your Time is Now.

This book is our gift to you as a thanks for your donation to help support the ministry of the Alternative. Along with the book is Jonathan's six-part audio series, Discipleship for Everyday. This six-part collection goes beyond routine religion, equipping you to live out your faith with authenticity and impact every day.

It's designed to help you grow as a disciple and inspire others to do the same, leading to stronger families, more vibrant churches, and communities transformed by the gospel. Both the book and six-part series are our way of showing appreciation for the continued support of listeners like you who make this program possible.

Get all the details online at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or you can call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Find your way out of distractions and into God's purpose for your life. Now, let's get back to Jonathan with the rest of today's message.

Jonathan Evans: 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.

My son Camden, and it happens with Kyler too, I will wash their clothes and dry them sometimes to be nice. I put the basket in their room. Camden and Kyler come home and see the basket. They're like, "What's this, Dad?" I said, "I washed and dried your clothes for you." They're like, "Shoo, that was nice. But can you fold them and put them away?" Say, man, y'all be tripping.

We're the exact same way. Just because Jesus washed you clean doesn't mean it's not your responsibility to go clean up. He calls us to responsibility and he says, "You are the salt of the earth." 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 palette.

If you want to change the things 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—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, which changes the flavor. It adds something totally different to it. Salt is a neutralizer. It comes in to make a change on that which you disagree with. We complain about what hits our righteous palette but don't realize that we're responsible to change the flavor.

When I talk to a chef, they say if any taste is too strong, you just have to add the opposite in order to neutralize it. It doesn't take it away, but it neutralizes it so that it's palatable. We live in a culture that's becoming less and less palatable, but there's no neutralizers out there to make it more palatable. He's calling us to responsibility.

If you're cooking a meal and it's too hot, then you add something that cools it like sour cream or yogurt. I don't know if you've ever eaten horseradish, but if you eat too much of that, it'll fire your nose up. That's what horseradish do. But if you add some sour cream to it, all of a sudden you've added a neutralizer to it that calms it and makes it more palatable.

We do all the complaining about what's not palatable in our culture and Jesus is saying, "You got to learn how to cook." It's you. You can't bring the same and expect a different taste. 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. You're the opponent. You're looking at me and I'm looking at you.

Why? Salt is fundamentally different because it's pure. 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. 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 is because you have been made pure. We talked about the blood; the blood 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—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 put some hot water in a cup and put some salt in it and then she'd tell you to gargle it. I told my mama, "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. Because it's pure, when it hit impurity, it actually purifies.

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, the struggle, and we don't realize that we're supposed to be the salt that sanctifies that which it touches. He's calling you to responsibility and he's saying, "Hey, you're it. We are the salt."

We're supposed to be purifying that which we touch. That's why 1 Peter 2:12 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 also has antimicrobial properties in it. I know if my mama was here, she'd be like, "That's my son. He said antimicrobial."

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 saltwater. 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. 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, 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.

The nature of salt means that something that's supposed to decay will decay, but doesn't decay fast. It decays slow. Today we put things in a refrigerator. If you leave that thing out for one night, you come out in the morning and you say, "Ah, I forgot," and you throw it away. Because if it's not being preserved, you know that it's going to decay.

In the Bible days, they would take salt and coat the meat with the salt. They didn't have refrigerators, so they understood the nature of the salt and used the salt for what it was for—not just re-flavoring the food, but actually preserving the food that it was on because it just made the environment less hospitable for things that promote decay.

So they coated the meat. If they didn't coat the meat, they didn't get mad when the meat decayed. They already knew the meat was going to decay because that's what meat does. It's going to decay. In order for it not to decay at the rate at that it would if there's no salt, you know what we got to do? Salt it.

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.

Guest (Male): That was Jonathan Evans. Before you go today, I want to remind you that we have a couple of gifts for you: Jonathan's book called Your Time is Now and his six-part audio series, Discipleship for Everyday. You may think you're not ready to make a difference in God's kingdom or that you're too young for others to take seriously, but that's not what God thinks.

The book Your Time is Now by Jonathan is our gift to you as a thanks for your donation to help support the ministry of the Alternative. Along with the book is Jonathan's six-part audio series, Discipleship for Everyday. This six-part collection goes beyond routine religion, equipping you to live out your faith with authenticity and impact every day.

It's designed to help you grow as a disciple and inspire others to do the same, leading to stronger families, more vibrant churches, and communities transformed by the gospel. Both are a gift to you to thank you for your donation to help support the ministry of the Alternative. It's our way of showing appreciation for the continued support of listeners like you who make this program possible.

Get all the details online at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or you can call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Thank you for listening to the Faith Walk with Jonathan Evans. The Faith Walk is produced as a part of the Urban Alternative, a ministry of Dr. Tony Evans.