You Are, So Live Like It
Nick Johnson
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. — Matthew 5:11
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. — Matthew 5:12
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. — Matthew 5:13
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. — Matthew 5:14
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. — Matthew 5:15
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. — Matthew 5:16
Discussion Questions
1. Jesus says we are "blessed" when the world reviles and persecutes us for following Him — yet that kind of rejection rarely feels like a blessing. Have you ever experienced pushback or criticism because of your faith? What made it hard to see it as anything other than painful?
2. The sermon describes suffering well as looking forward to the reward waiting in heaven and backward to the faithful who endured before us. Which of those two anchors — the future reward or the example of those who came before — tends to steady you most in a hard season, and why?
3. Jesus says "you are the salt of the earth" and "you are the light of the world" — not "you should try to be." What does it mean to you that this is already part of who you are as a follower of Christ? Is there an area of your life where you feel like you've been hiding the lamp under a basket?
4. The sermon uses the image of a broken compass to describe a world that calls good evil and evil good. How does that picture shape the way you feel toward people who misunderstand or misrepresent your faith — and how does it challenge you to respond?
5. Paul and Silas sang worship songs in a Philippian jail with torn-up backs, and their conduct led directly to a jailer and his household coming to faith. Where in your everyday life — work, family, neighborhood — do you sense God calling you to let your light shine in a way that points others to the Father?