John Stott: The Double Influence of the Christian

"You are the salt of the earth....You are the light of the world."—Jesus, Matthew 5:13-14

"So Jesus calls his disciples to exert a double influence on the secular community, a negative influence by arresting its decay and a positive influence by bringing light into its darkness. For it is one thing to stop the spread of evil; it is another to promote the spread of truth, beauty and goodness." —John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on The Mount

Comments (3)

That's profound. I've never seen so much in that verse before.

Thanks for sharing.

Posted by Dave H | March 23, 2009 10:06 PM

Wow, the only part of that verse that I have ever heard explained was the second part. Nobody has ever explained the first part and in fact, most teaching that I have had over the years has actually skiffed over the first part,or else just made it out like both parts mean the same thing.

Posted by Irina H.F. | March 24, 2009 12:21 PM

Stotts comments are insightful. That motif can be found all through scripture, look at parables.

Often Christians get hung up in pursuing one or the other of the actions Matthew calls us to, to the detriment of the message.

Our very wise pastor when we lived in Hamilton memorably said to us "Christians must preach the gospel clearly enough so that it can either be accepted or rejected." He was criticising the common practice of making Christianity something so nice and palatable and luke warm so that it was not offensive to anyone. But I think his comments would cut the other way too against the practice of making Christianity into something to bash sinners with.

Posted by Madeleine | April 10, 2009 2:15 AM

Email Updates

Receive periodic updates on my new book and future conference tours. I promise not to share your name or bombard you with emails. Sign up here.

Nanoblog

Pilgrim's Progress Musical: Pilgrim is a modern musical adaptation of John Bunyan's classic work, Pilgrim's Progress. It was performed in spring 2009 by the high school students at my church. They did a great job. The script is by theatre professionals (and members of our church) Janice Mays and Cathy Mays. The music is by various artists, including Bob Kauflin, Zach Jones and Mark Altrogge. You can order a DVD of the production here.
Give Me An Answer Highschool Conference: I'm looking forward to joining Al Mohler, Russell Moore, Shane & Shane and hip-hop artist Flame at the SBTS conference for highschool students next spring. Details.
Stephen Altrogge Reviews Dug Down Deep: Over at the Blazing Center blog they've posted a very generous review of the book. Read it.

More Nanoblog