Jesus not only is our Savior and Lord, but as He lived and ministered here on the earth, He showed us by His example what the life and ministry of a perfect Christian is. If we want to be what God has called us to be, and to do what God has called us to do, we need look no farther than Jesus, and follow the example that He showed us.

Several years ago, there was a book that became quite popular called, "What Would Jesus Do?" This novel told the story of a church where a bum had asked that question of the congregation. His question started the people thinking, then changing, to do things the way the Lord would do them. Literally that one question transformed first that church, then the whole town. They would stop what they were doing, ask themselves that question, then do what they thought Jesus would do.

Why should it take that type of question to bring about change in the lives of believers? Shouldn't we live our lives in a way that demonstrates what the Lord would do? Isn't that what it means to live the life of a believer?

So, to repeat myself, if we want to be what God called us to be, and to do what God called us to do, we need look no father than Jesus, and follow the example that He showed us.

Many times, I've asked the rhetorical question, "Why don't we practice a form of evangelism with two evangelists. The first one would get the people saved, and the second would follow after, with a pistol, to kill the new believers before they could fall into sin." Obviously, this isn't a serious question, since murder is against both God's law and man's, but the answer to the question is quite serious. The answer is that God has left us here on the earth to make an impact on the world around us.

Unfortunately, the church has developed a "fortress mentality" in which we hide ourselves inside our churches, and hope the world won't come in to bother us. We don't want those mean, ugly sinners to come in and dirty up our churches, Oh, no. We just want a few of them to get saved, and cleaned up. Then, after they're cleaned up, they can come in.

This "fortress mentality" is even more obvious in Europe, and the Northeastern United States, where many of the old churches actually look like small fortresses. You could try to say it's just architectural style, except for the attitude of the people on the inside.

The early church didn't even have church buildings. There wasn't any problem with getting them out of the four walls of the church, and into society. They met in homes, and in the temple courtyard, where people could see them, and they could talk to the people.

Jesus himself was out in public, in the midst of the people every day of His earthly ministry. How many times, in the gospels, do we find Him with a "multitude" of people around Him? So many people, in fact, that He had to preach to them on mountainsides (Mt 15:29-30); or He had to enter into a boat and preach to the people standing on shore (Mt 13:2). Or, looking at it a different way, how about the times when He fed a multitude, after they had listened to Him preach (Mt 14:15-21; Mt 15:32-38). Or, the various times when he "healed all the sick brought to Him" (Mt 4:24; 8:16; 12:15; Lk 4:40; 6:17-19).

I think it's clear, if we are going to follow the Lord's example, that we're going to have to get outside the church, and go to where the people are. We're going to have to concern ourselves not only with whether or not they're members of our church, but whether or not they have a need that we can fulfill; and by doing so, demonstrate the Love of God.

Jesus called the church by two names that apply in this regard: salt, and light.

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. ¹⁴ Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Mt 5:13

It's interesting that Jesus called us, the church, by these two names. Both of them carry rather strong, clear images; images that everyone is familiar with. Salt and light both have an impact on everything around them. They change what they come in contact with.

Salt that stays in the saltshaker doesn't do anyone any good. It has to get out of the salt shaker, and in contact with the meat before we even notice it is there. Maybe that's why lots of people don't pay too much attention to the church… they see us in the salt shaker, and never see us outside of it. A few more points about salt:

• Salt is used as a preservative for meat. Without salt, the meat will decay. We look at the world around us, and see the sin in it, and how badly it has decayed. Since the world is decaying into sin, it either means that there isn't enough salt, or the salt has lost some of its saltiness. How much worse would it be if we weren't here as salt?

• For salt to be effective as a seasoning, it must be spread throughout the whole pot of food. If it is all lumped together, it doesn't season anything, and is repugnant. So many times, believers try to stick together, instead of getting out there to season the pot. Since we are a "strange flavor," the world rejects us. God has had to use persecution to get Christians to scatter into the world.

• Salt that has been used properly dissipates throughout the entire pot of food. It effects everything around it until all that is there is salted. We, too, need to be dissipated throughout the entire world, effecting everyone that we come in contact with. If we don't effect anyone, we aren't salt.

• We wonder why the world tramples on us as believers. However, if we were saltier, they wouldn't. A lot of the reason that the world tramples on us is that they don't see what they expect to see of salt. We tell them about miracles and of God's power, but we don't demonstrate them.

• Since salt that has lost its flavor has no value, it is only good to be thrown out. When Christians have lost that which makes them stand out, they too, have no value to God, or to the world.

• Salt makes people thirsty. As Christians, we are to make the world thirst for Jesus.

• In Aramaic, in Matthew and Luke, it says, "and if salt stales." Things become stale if they sit too long. We as Christians become stale, or lose our saltiness, if we sit too long without doing anything for the Lord.

All of these points demonstrate the need of being used by God to bring about change in the world. If we never change anything, we aren't salt. If we never impact the world, the world will impact us. God expects us to change the world.

Light has an even greater impact than salt does. It doesn't matter how much darkness there is, the smallest light will dispel it. Actually, darkness is just an absence of light, so if there is any light at all, there is no darkness.

Have you ever noticed how those who do evil things always prefer to do them in darkness? Why? Because they are afraid of the light. They are afraid that what they are doing will be revealed. They are afraid that the light will show their true character. We, as light in this world must show forth the difference between us, and those who walk in darkness.

• As a "light unto the world," we are useless if we remain hidden. The Lord desires that we allow our light to be seen by others. The idea of keeping ourselves completely separate from the world prevents us from being light.

• Since we are light, we reveal that which is hidden. People don't always like it when we bring light to those things in their lives that are hidden. However, by doing so, we allow the conviction of the Holy Spirit to enter their hearts.

• The light has to be revealed first in our lives, before we can be used as a light. The closer you are to the source of light, the brighter it is. By being the light, we have the greatest opportunity to have "dirt" in our lives exposed. Once we are "cleaned," the light can come out for others to see.

• It is not our job to raise ourselves up, it is the job of the light stand. We are to bring ourselves low, prostrate before the Lord. By humbling ourselves before Him, we allow the greatest amount of light to flow through us. God will set us on the light stand when the time is right.

• God intends to bring His light out through us, it is an action. Since it isn't our light, we can't bring it out. All we can do is make ourselves available for His light to shine out of us.

• One light can bring light to many people. If you don't bring light to many, you are too well hidden.

• If we are true believers, we can't be hidden, so there's no reason to try. The light of a true, sold-out, committed believer is going to shine brightly. Anything we do to hide ourselves is a waste of time. If our light is shining, we may as well let people see it.

• God is light, if we try and hide Him, none are blessed. If we don't bring Him in the open, He'll find another way. God's will always find a vessel that He can work through. It's up to us whether we are going to be that vessel, or we are going to refuse God's will and be set aside for another vessel.

It is obvious that as salt and light, we are going to have to get our of the salt shaker, take the basket off of our heads, and start making an impact on the society around us. God isn't satisfied with us just working to change ourselves, He wants us to change society as well.

Unfortunately, all too often, instead of changing society, all we do is sit inside the salt shaker and complain about how bad society is; instead of doing something about it. God has never called us to complain. In fact, you can't find one single place in the Bible where God complimented someone for their ability to complain. When people complain, He doesn't even talk to them.

I remember what a pastor said recently, "Instead of being preoccupied with the problem, be occupied doing something about it." That's pretty good advice. Jesus was always doing something about the problem, not complaining about it. Salt always does something, so does light. We can't be salt and light while we're preoccupied and complaining. We can only be salt and light by filling our time with action that will change the situration.

One time honored way in which the church has impacted society is to reach out to the poor and needy. To be honest, although I ran a food bank years ago, since coming to the Texas/Mexico border, I have had the attitude that there were lots of "missionaries" who were bringing day old bread, and used clothing to Mexico. Since I was busy preaching the Word of God, I would leave this work to these "lesser" missionaries (it's amazing how pride can get into us).

The first problem with this attitude is that it comes from pride. Anything that has its roots in pride is sin. The second problem is that it is anti-biblical. Nowhere in the Bible does God tell us that some works are "lesser" than others; everything we do, if it is done for Him, is good.

What really caught my attention was something that happened at the Last Supper. When Jesus was talking about one of the disciples betraying him, he said to Judas, "what you are going to do, do quickly" (Jn 13:27). Looking from our point of view, we know that He was talking about Judas betraying Him. But, the disciples couldn't see it quite that clearly. Scripture tells us, "some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him… that he should give something to the poor" (Jn 13:29). Obviously, Jesus sent Judas to give to the poor regularly, or His disciples wouldn't have thought that.

The Jews are a very generous people. To them, giving to the poor is an essential part of their lives. In fact, to the Jews, giving the tithe is nothing more than a beginning; their focus is on their alms to the poor. Both the Catholics, and the Muslims have copied from the Jews in this, how did we forget it?

The writer of the proverbs, inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells us, "He who gives to the poor, lends to the Lord, and He will surely repay" (Prov 19:17). How's that for a promise? God will pay us back that which we give to the poor. He treats it as if we had loaned the money to Him. And, let me tell you, when God pays back a loan, He does it with a real good interest rate.

Jesus said, "the poor you will have with your always" (Mt 26:11; Mk 14:7; Jn 12:8). Why? Doesn't He want us to work to help the poor? No, it isn't that. Jesus wasn't telling us to ignore the poor, He was speaking to us prophetically; telling us we would have the poor, because we would never be able to totally conquer poverty. I think we can even say that He was speaking of human nature, knowing that we would never conqueror ourselves enough to become unselfish enough to get rid of poverty.

Sometimes, we don't reach out to the poor because we think that we have needs ourselves. We become so focused on our own needs, that we forget about others. But, there is always someone with a greater need than us. Maybe we don't see that person, but then again, maybe we aren't looking for him.

I've been in situations in which I had little to nothing. At such times, it seemed impossible to give to others. But, I knew God wasn't going to bless me because of my complaining. The economy of the Kingdom of God doesn't work by need, it works by giving. If we want God to multiply our seed, we have to plant it. After all, it is "He that gives seed to the sower… and multiplies the seed sown" (2 Cor 9:10) to bring forth a great harvest.

I have said for years, "there's only two things that work in evangelism, a demonstration of the power of God, and a demonstration of His love." When we reach out to those in need, we are demonstrating His love. Not only to those who are receiving the help, but to all those who see us doing it.

Giving food to someone who is hungry not only impacts their life, but all those who are concerned about hungry people. What type of people are concerned about them? How about politicians for starters. All politicians are interested in the socioeconomic condition of their constituents. When they see the church reaching out to help the poor, they suddenly have interest in the church. Not for spiritual salvation of their souls, but for material salvation of their communities. This gives us, the church, influence in what the politicians say and do. When they see us helping their community, they seek us out, in order to gain more help for the people.

Another group of people who seek out organizations that are helping the needy are the wealthy people. There's an oft-quoted scripture that says, "the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous" (Prov 13:22). If that's true, and being in the bible it has to be, then how does that wealth get into the hands of the righteous?

When these wealthy unbelievers see that the church is reaching out to the poor and needy, they give to that work. Quite literally, they are trying to assuage the guilt in their hearts by doing something good. It doesn't take care of their guilt, but it does make them feel better. So, if they are going to give anyway, why not give them reason to give to the work of the Lord?

I was on staff for a church in upstate New York a number of years ago. This church was in a needy area, and had many programs to help the poor; more than anything, programs to feed the poor. All of the funds to run those programs came from unbelievers, none of it came from the church. We actually had enough work going on in the community that we had full-time staff members who were raising funds for those programs. They would go to the businessmen of the community, explaining the work we were doing, and asking for donations. We had unbelievers financing the work of the Kingdom!

It is important that we understand that those things we do for others, we are actually doing for the Lord.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Jms 1:27

The word that is translated "religion" in this verse bothered me. As Christians, we say that Christianity isn't a religion, but a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So, to have one of the apostles writing about the value of "pure religion" always seemed strange to me. But, when we look at the true meaning of the word "religion" in this verse, it is better translated as "ceremonial worship." In other words, when we extend fulfill those things that are mentioned in that verse, the Lord considers it worship.

What things? Well, let's take another look at that verse. There are two categories of things mentioned here, the first is visiting the needy (widows and orphans), the second is keeping oneself pure and free from sin. According to the apostle James, these two things are actually acts of ceremonial worship to the Lord!

I can easily understand how keeping oneself free from sin is an act of worship. After all, Jesus told us, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (Jn 14:15). Since worship is an expression of love to God, and obedience to the commandments is an expression to the Lord, obedience is an expression of love. It's just like algebra, If A = C and B = C, then A = B. But, how does visiting those in need come out as an act of worship, or an expression of love to the Lord?

To answer this question, we need to look at a couple of other things that Jesus said.

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Jn:13:34

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: ³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me… ⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Mt 25:34-40

We know from First John that "God is Love" (1 Jn 4:8, 16). Among everything else that Jesus did, one of the most important things was to show God's love to us in a very tangible manner. He did that by giving His life for us. He then commanded us to show that same sort of love one to another. There were other places in the gospels where Jesus gave new commandments, but this is the only place where He specifically said, "A new commandment I give unto you." taking the time to make sure that the disciples, and us as well, understand that He was giving a new commandment. A new commandment of what? Of showing God's love.

Now, let's add what He said in Matthew, chapter 25. To simplify, Jesus stated that reaching out to those in need, whether their need be from poverty, sickness, or loneliness, is the same as reaching out to Him; or, in other words, showing love to Him.

Since worship is an act of showing our love to the Lord, and meeting the needs of hurting humanity is an act of showing love to the Lord; then we can surely say that meeting the needs of people is an act of worship to the Lord.

Remember what I said before? "There's only two things that work in evangelism, a demonstration of the power of God, and a demonstration of His love." Not only are we worshipping the Lord when we meet the needs of those unfortunates who are suffering, but we are also being a testimony to them, which brings them into knowing the Lord.

Note that I said "being a testimony" as opposed to "testifying." The great commission that Jesus gave us isn't to go and testify, it's to be a testimony. That's a whole other thing. There's a lot of people who know how to testify, knocking on doors, or passing out tracts. But, it's almost like they put on a mask in order to go out and "testify" for Christ. The world can see that they're wearing a mask, and doesn't have any interest in them. Besides, since there's no demonstration of God's love, or His power, all that the world sees is an interruption of their schedule.

Being a testimony is a whole different thing. It means living in such a way as to demonstrate the love and power of God wherever we go, and to whomever we meet. It means living a life that shows a personal, intimate relationship with the Lord. It means living like the Word of God says we are supposed to live.

That's a whole lot harder to do than just going around once in a while "testifying" for the Lord. You can't use a mask to be a testimony, it has to be real, 23 hours a day, 7 days a week. It can't be done by living with one foot in the church, and the other in the world. Nor can it be accomplished by living for the Lord on Sunday, and for the devil on Saturday. The only way to be a testimony is to allow the Holy Spirit to transform you, making you into what God the Father wants you to be.

It's one thing to walk around with a Christian t-shirt on, with a message about Jesus. It's a whole other thing to live a life that tells a message about Jesus, without the Christian t-shirt. In fact, if we're not going to live a life that shows Jesus without the t-shirt, we'd better leave it at home, so people will quit getting the wrong idea about our Lord.

When we do that, we start acting the way Jesus acted. We start talking the way Jesus talked. We start doing the things that Jesus did. We become like Jesus.

One of the biggest responsibilities we have as believers is making an impact on the world around us. It is interesting to note that every positive social change that has happened in the history of the United States was propagated by believers. The great social reform of the 1960s, giving equal rights to people of all ethnic groups, was led by a black Baptist pastor named Martiin Luther King Jr. He saw a need for a positive change in society, found where scripture backed him up, and with the Lord's help, set out to make a difference.

There's an old saying that goes, "Bad men take over when good men do nothing." In many cases, this is what has happened in our society. This is just another manifestation of that fortress mentality that I mentioned earlier. Instead of doing something about the problems we see in society, we have a tendency to hide in our churches, hoping those problems won't find us.

Of course, as long as we stay that way, the problems get worse and worse. We may be able to hide from them for a while, but eventually, when they are strong enough, they will come and seek us out.

Instead of hiding from the problems of society, we need to follow the example of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and do something about them. What should we do? Two things. First of all, we will never make a difference in society without prayer. God has given us prayer as a tool to use in order to accomplish His will here upon the earth. But, much of the time, it is a tool that sits rusty in our tool box, because nobody wants to use it. Or, if they do use it, they use it only to ask for their own needs.

One of the largest parts of the Lord's Prayer is the prayer of intercession, where the Lord taught His disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10; Lk 11:2). That isn't praying for our needs, or desires, that's praying for society to change; specifically for it to change into a manifestation of God's kingdom, here on earth.

A believer who isn't praying for change, and for God to use their governmental leaders to bring about that change, doesn't have any right to complain about how things are. We, as ambassadors of Christ, must be willing to take the responsibility of praying for our cities, states, and countries, so that God can bring about the necessary change here in the world. In fact, we are commanded in the bible to do so.

It isn't enough just to pray though, although that is very important. Many times, when we pray, the Lord will show, or tell us specific actions that we need to take as part of the answer to that prayer. If we are not willing to obey God, and be part of the solution, then we are actually part of the problem. There are more than enough people around who are part of the problem, I think it's time we become part of the solution.

To be part of the solution means taking an active part in bringing about the changes we are talking about. It means getting outside of those walls again, and going where the problem is. If the problem is in the school, it might mean becoming a teacher and working in the schools. If the problem is in the government, it might mean working in the government. If the problem is in the police, it might mean becoming a police officer. Or, it might mean developing a ministry that reaches out to those who are working in those areas, and preparing them to make a difference where they are.

As with anything else in ministry, the key is found in the answer to the question, "What does God want me to do?" Without a doubt, God wants each one of us to do something that makes a difference, something that impacts the society around us, something that shows His love and His power. The question is, "What?"

There are many seminars today about church growth and success. The funny thing is, when we complete specific God's plan for our church, it always brings about growth and success. For one church it may be one thing, and for another church it's a totally different plan. But, in each case it's God's plan, and not man's. That's what makes it successful. So, let me ask you this, how does God want your church to meet it's responsibility to society and make an impact? Ask Him, He'll tell you.