Living Your Faith in Jos

Living Your Faith In Jos
Rev. Danny McCain

August 15, 2010
LIVING YOUR FAITH IN JOS1
by Danny McCain
Introduction
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your

people and your father’s household and go to the land I
will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I
will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will
be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and
whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1–3).
I
had a lecturer in seminary once who compared the Bible to a big
drama.2 Would you like see a drama on the Bible? It would be a very
long event.
Dramas are usually divided into different parts. Today when we go to
a drama, we are often given a program that has a paragraph or two that
you need to read to help you understand what is going on when the
curtain opens on Act 1, Scene 1. However, in ancient dramas, and even in
some more modern dramas I have seen, sometimes someone will come
out on the stage and read a brief statement giving you the information
you need in order to appreciate what is happening when the drama
opens.
If the Bible were a drama, my lecturer said, Genesis chapters 1–11
would be the prologue. The real drama has not yet begun. The author of
1 Preached at Hillcrest Chapel, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria on 15 August 2010 by
Professor Danny McCain. The theme for the Hillcrest School for the 2010–2011 academic
year is: “Live (your faith); Love (the Lord); Serve (Others).” This sermon was preached on
the second Sunday of the school year and focused on the first third of the theme “Live
your faith.”
2 The lecturer was Mr. James “Buck” Hatch. The course was Progress of Redemption.
The institution was Columbia Graduate School of Bible and Missions (now Columbia
International University), Columbia, South Carolina, USA. The year was 1974.
2 Living Your Faith in Jos
the drama is just giving you the background information you need to
help you understand what is going on when the drama really begins. The
prologue tells us a number of important things:
God created all things.
The world fell into sin and strayed from God.
God had already punished the world once because of its sinfulness.
However, that punishment did not bring man permanently back to
God.
Thus, God decided to try something else. The new method God used is
what is found in the drama.
Dramas are usually divided into two parts—acts and scenes. If the
Bible is a drama, then Act I, Scene 1 opens in Genesis 12:1.
Before we go to that passage, let me explain one other important piece
of information that will be necessary to understand God’s drama. There
are two principles that God uses when he does work on this earth.
Whenever God works on this earth, he always does so through human

beings.
For reasons we do not fully understand, God has chosen to do his
work on this earth through human beings. This is illustrated even before
the fall of man. God gave Adam and Eve specific responsibilities. They
were to “rule over” the earth (Genesis 1:26), “fill and subdue it” (1:29),
and “to work it and take care of it” (2:15). God is all powerful and really
does not need human beings to do his work. However, for reasons
beyond our understanding, he has limited the work he does on this earth
to that which is done through human beings.
God became weary of the sin on the earth in the days of Noah and
decided to change things. How did he do it? He required an old man to
work for 120 years to build a boat and round up all those animals in
order to preserve a remnant of the animals and people on this earth. If I
were God and had all the power that he had, I could have punished the
earth and saved a remnant of the people much more quickly and easily.
However, God has limited himself, to some extent, to doing his work on
this earth through human beings.
Living your Faith in Jos 3
Therefore, we can assume that even though God is the one who is
ultimately responsible for the actions in this drama, he is going to do his
work through human beings.
Whenever God works on this earth, he always do so the hard way, the
slow way, the difficult way, the progressive way, the opposite way from
how we do things.
If I had all the power that God had and I wanted to destroy the earth
and start over, I could have done it much more quickly than God did it. I
am an American. I believe in the most efficient use of time and resources.
However, it seems obvious to me that God is not an American. He does
not do things the way I would do them. He does not seem to worry as
much about the efficiency of time and resources. God almost seems to
enjoy putting obstacles in the way of his people who are trying to do his
work. He apparently enjoys watching change take place by overcoming
pain and suffering and other difficulties. There are many examples. Let
me only mention two:
When God wanted to preserve Abraham’s descendants from
destruction by a famine, he went to a lot of trouble to get Joseph to
Egypt and then kept those people down there for 400 years.
When God wanted to prepare Samuel to be a special prophet for
Israel, he selected a barren woman to be his mother.
Have you ever noticed when God wanted to prepare a special person to
do a special ministry, he selected that person’s mother to be an old lady
or a barren lady or, in the case of Jesus, a virgin? Those who did God’s
work in the Bible had to pass through many difficulties in life. Whether
we like it or not, this is the way God does his work upon this earth.
This is illustrated in two parables Jesus told.
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a
mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though
it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the
largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of
the air come and perch in its branches” (Matthew 13:31–32).
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like

yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour
until it worked all through the dough” (13:33).
These two parables illustrate the way God changes things on this earth.
He does things the hard way, the slow way, the difficult way, the way that
is different than the way we do things. If you do not understand these
two principles, you will not be able to fully appreciate the drama in the
Bible and, in fact, you will be confused about doing the Lord’s work.
We will now move on to look at a few details related to the drama.
Act I: The Promise

In the prologue, we had already learned a bit about Abram whom we
know better by his latter name, Abraham. We learn that he was from Ur
of Chaldees and that he was a wealthy man who owned many cattle and
servants. As the curtain opens on Act I, Scene 1, we see Abraham
standing around watching his cattle. All of a sudden God speaks to him.
We are not told how God spoke to him. We know that some time later,
God spoke to him through to him by coming to visit him and eating a
meal from him. Also we know that hundreds of years later, God spoke
through Moses through a burning bush. For the sake of our drama, we
just hear the voice of God speaking to Abraham from offstage with
Abraham in the middle of the stage. God says,
Leave your country, your people and your father’s
household and go to the land I will show you. I will make
you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make
your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless
those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will
curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through
you (Genesis 12:1–3).
No doubt Abraham was very surprised. He had been very comfortable in
his home. He was now an old man and changes do not come easy for an
old man.
God made two general promises to Abram in this statement.
God promised that he would make a great nation out of Abram.
God also promised that he would make him a blessing to all the
peoples on the earth.
When God finishes his speech, the curtain closed. Act I, Scene 1 was over.
This scene provides the foundation for everything else that will take
place in this drama.
The Follow-Up Scenes

The curtain opens on Act I, Scene 2. Abraham is trying to figure out how
he can make his servant his heir but God says, “No, he will not be the
one.” In Act I, Scene 3 Sarah, who is an old woman beyond the
childbearing age, suggests that Abraham try to produce an heir through
her servant. Abraham tried it but God says, “No, that will not be the
heir.” Act I, Scene 4 opens and here is this old woman, Sarah, holding
her newborn baby with Father Abraham proudly looking over her
shoulder. We do not have time to go through all the scenes so I will go
straight to the point and see how well God fulfilled the promise he made
to Abraham.
Before we can know when God has made a great nation out of
Abraham, we must identify the characteristics of a nation. A nation must
have at least these four characteristics.
Land
People
Laws
Leader
How well did God do in fulfilling his promise to Abraham to build a great
nation?
When Abraham died, was there a nation yet? No.
When we get to the end of the book of Genesis, some 200 years
later, was there a nation yet? No, there were only about 70 people
and they were already in Egypt, away from the land God had
promised to give Abraham.
When we get to the end of the Pentateuch, 400 years later, was
there a nation? No, there were many people with good laws but
they had not yet occupied their land.
We come to the book of Joshua and God helps Joshua to lead the people
in conquering the land. Finally they are in the land. Are they a nation
yet? No, not really. The reason we know that they are not a nation is the
book of Judges. If you read the book of Judges carefully, you will see that
the land is filled with chaos and confusion. There is not really a nation in
the land. There is a loose-knit federation of tribes who have tribal and
regional leaders. This condition goes on for 400 years.
It has now been at least a thousand years since God made the promise
to Abraham to build a great nation out of him and that promise has still
not been fulfilled. Fortunately, God raises up a prophet name Samuel.
And when that happens something new has arrived. For the first time in
400 years, there is now a national leader. However, Samuel is not the
political leader who is going to bring the nation together. He does
identify and anoint that leader, though: King Saul. When Samuel anoints
King Saul and he takes over the leadership of the nation, we have an
actual nation for the first time in 1000 years.
Has God now fulfilled his promise to Abraham to make a great nation
out of him? Yes, but there is still a bit of unfinished business. God had
not just promised to make out of Abraham a nation, he had promised to
make a “great nation.” It was not until David and his son, Solomon,
became the kings over Israel that the nation of Israel could be called a
great nation. God had fulfilled his promise to build a great nation out of
the descendants of Abraham. When the curtain closes on the reign of
King Solomon, that concludes Act I of our Biblical drama. This is
basically the first half of what we now call the Old Testament.
Act II
Act II, Scene 1 opens with King Rehoboam sitting on the throne of
Solomon. He had called the elders to ask their advice about how to rule
the nation. We know the rest of the story. Rehoboam was not very wise
and because of his poor decisions the great nation started deteriorating. I
will not take time to go through the details but will simply say ACT II in
the great drama is the gradual disintegration of the nation God has
worked so hard to make.
Intermission
Very often a drama will have an intermission. This is the time that the
audience can get up and stretch their limbs and the actors can get a little
break. The intermission in God’s drama is 400 years long. It is after the
intermission that the curtain opens on Act III, Scene 1.
Additional Details about the Kingdom

What was God doing during the first two acts of God’s great drama? I
will not take time to attempt to answer that question at this time.
However, I will make this point: The nation of Israel was the instrument
through which God was working on this earth. My lecturer in seminary
called Israel “God’s channel of operation.” Whatever God was doing on
this earth, he was doing through the nation of Israel.
So when we come to the intermission period, has God fulfilled his
promise to Abraham? No, God has only fulfilled part of it. Was the
nation of Israel a blessing to the nations of the world? No, they were a
big problem to them. David expanded the kingdom and forced the
surrounding nations to pay tribute. The nations did not like that very
much. Solomon expanded the kingdom even more and caused even more
trouble for the nations surrounding Israel. This is illustrated in Psalm 2,
which is a song that was sung whenever a new king was crowned in
Jerusalem. The song writer captured the attitude of foreign kings
whenever they would hear about a new king being crowned in Israel.
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of
the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the
LORD and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they
say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’ ”
During this long kingdom period, the people of Israel became
concerned that this nation God had promised to create was in danger of
collapsing. In addition it was obvious that God had not fulfilled his
promise to make them a blessing to all the peoples of the earth. The
Israelites assumed God was going to fulfill that promise through making
the nation of Israel even greater than it had been in the days of David
and Solomon. And there gradually arose within Israel a conviction that
some day God was going to send a great leader who would deliver them
from the bondage of their oppressors and usher them into a golden age
that could insure their own future and be a blessing to all the nations of
the world.
This conviction was encouraged by various statements from the
prophets predicting that a great king was going to come. They called him
the Messiah or “the anointed one.” Now all kings were anointed with oil,
so all kings were messiahs. However, this one who was coming was going
to be the Messiah. Note these verses:
The Lord said to David: “Your house and your kingdom will
endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever”
(2 Samuel 7:16). Subsequent generations of Jews understood this
verse to mean that David’s throne was going to last forever.
The psalmist wrote: “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right
hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ The
LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in
the midst of your enemies.” (Psalm 110:1–2).
The prophet Isaiah later declared: “For to us a child is born, to us a
son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he
will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and
peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and
over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and
righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD
Almighty will accomplish this.” (9:6–7).
Isaiah also wrote: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will
rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit
of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of
the LORD—and he will delight in the fear of the LORD” (11:1–3).
Isaiah, near the end of his book, wrote: “The Spirit of the
Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release
from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the

LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all
who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow
on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit
of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of
the LORD for the display of his splendor” (Isaiah 61:1–3).
Ezekiel, near the end of the Old Testament period, wrote:
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: ‘See, I
myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak
sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, I will
save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge
between one sheep and another. I will place over them one
shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend
them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my
servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have
spoken’ ” (34:20–24).
As the nation descended toward chaos and anarchy, the Jewish people
became more and more eager for this king to come and solve their
problems. This became especially true when Israel was captured and
came under the domination of a series of world powers, starting with the
Assyrians, and then the Babylonians and Chaldeans. About 300 years
before the coming of Christ, Israel was overrun by the Greeks and, in 66
BC, the Romans occupied the land of Israel. That was the condition at
the time of Christ. This spirit of anticipation—for a mighty deliverer who
would deliver them and once again establish Israel as the dominant
power around the world—was very real when the curtain opened on ACT
III, Scene 1.
ACT III
We have already demonstrated that God’s promise to make the
descendants of Abraham a blessing to all the peoples of the earth had not
yet been fulfilled up to the close of the Old Testament. In fact, as I
suggested earlier, Israel was a thorn in the side for those nations
surrounding Israel. Few people around the world, then or now, have
viewed Israel as a blessing. In fact, even today, there is hatred and
prejudice against the Jewish race in many parts of the world. So, if the
nation of Israel did not fulfill God’s promise to be a blessing to all the
peoples of the world, when was the promise fulfilled? That is what Act III
is all about.
The Drama
Act III, Scene 1 opens with an elderly priest ministering in the temple.
Suddenly an angel appears to him and tells him he is going to have a son.
This son is going to provide an important introduction to the king who
will follow. In the next scene, an angel appears to a young lady and tells
her that she is going to have a son, even though she had never known a
man. We will not have time to go through all the scenes of this dramatic
Act III. However, I think that you can see that this act is going to be an
exciting continuation of the drama. It is going to pick up the themes of
this Messiah that everyone was looking forward to and also address the
promise God made to make Abraham a blessing to all the peoples of the
earth.
The Ministry of Jesus

We all know Jesus was that Messiah—the promised one. However, we
also now know what the Jews did not understand at that time. The
kingdom Jesus came to establish was going to be different from what
most of the Jews had anticipated. Therefore, the king was going to be
different also. We will not spend any time on the birth and childhood of
this king but go directly to the time he began his public ministry. We do
not fully understand all the details about the incarnation, to what extent
the divine privileges of Jesus were suspended to allow Jesus to be truly
man. However, we believe Jesus was fully human and, as a man, he had a
growing conviction that he was that promised one and that he would
help fulfill God’s promise to be blessing to all the peoples of the earth.
John the Baptist came and prepared the way for Jesus. This was the
signal for Jesus to begin his public ministry. Jesus fully understood that
he had been sent to this earth to usher in a new kingdom. He also

understood that the nature of that kingdom was going to be different
from what most people anticipated. Therefore, he knew he would have to
be very wise and deliberate in preparing the people to really understand
the ministry that he came to do. One of first things Jesus did was to
select the men whom he would train and who would ultimately have the
responsibility to develop the kingdom Jesus had come to institute. Jesus
selected his disciples and started slowly training them. The next thing he
did was to start preaching and teaching about the kingdom he had come
to introduce.
For example, immediately after the temptation of Jesus, we read these
words: “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is near’ ” (Matthew 4:17). The first words we hear
Jesus preaching concern the kingdom that was about to be introduced.
We must remember that, because the kind of kingdom Jesus was
introducing was much different from what the Jews were anticipating, he
had to introduce this kingdom slowly and carefully. He could not just
invite the media and immediately describe the radically different nature
of this kingdom in his first public address. He could not even share that
information with his disciples. He had to slowly prepare them to receive
this information.
Besides preaching, Jesus began performing miracles. In Mark 1, where
Jesus is introduced as beginning his preaching ministry, he went into the
synagogue and preached. We then read this:
As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James
and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s
mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told
Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and
helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on
them (Mark 1:29–31).
Why did Jesus perform miracles? The primary reason was to establish
his authority. If he could heal sick people and raise the dead and calm
storms and walk on the water, then he must have access to some kind of
supernatural power.
If the chaplain went out and gathered up four or five blind people and
four or five people who had been crippled by polio and brought them to
this service this morning, and if I were able to instantaneously heal them,
you would take better notes on my sermons in the future. The fact that I
had the ability to perform supernatural miracles would give me greater
authority than someone who could not do those things.
So Jesus went about his first year or so of ministry preaching a bit and
healing people and teaching and training his disciples.
Sermon on the Mount

About a year or so after Jesus began his public ministry, Jesus finally
decided it was time to have a major teaching session in which he would
outline, at least in seed form, some of the details about the new kingdom
he came to introduce.
Because Jesus had already been with his disciples for a number of
months, he had taught his disciples a lot of kingdom truths. They still did
not understand the big picture, though. The Sermon on the Mount still
does not give all the details about the kingdom but it does greatly
advance Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom. This might be considered
something like Jesus’ inaugural lecture. It was his position paper on the
kingdom at that stage of its development. Jesus was near the height of
his popularity so it was the time that he chose to start explaining to the
multitudes and, even more importantly, to his disciples the truth that the
kingdom he was introducing was going to be different from what they
anticipated.
We must remember the context. All the disciples and all the people
who heard Jesus speak that day would have understood the Messiah to
be a king who would throw off the yoke of the Romans and establish
Israel as a world wide power. Therefore, the kingdom they were looking
forward to was an earthly kingdom that would be much like the kingdom
of their greatest king, David.
This sermon was revolutionary. We must remember that we have the
advantage of hindsight. We now know how Jesus and the disciples
developed the kingdom after this point. However, the disciples and other
people were hearing many of these teachings for the first time,
particularly those teachings about the kingdom.
I will now look briefly at the early part of this sermon of Jesus to try to
understand the nature of the kingdom he came to create. First, however,
let me say a word or two about nations in general. Every strong nation is
characterized by certain things. What are the characteristics of a strong
nation?
Well established boundaries. The nation has boundaries that
are recognized and acceptable to the international community.
Strong economy. Every strong nation has full employment for
its people.
Excellent infrastructure. Nations that are considered to be
successful nations have a good road system, a good communication
system, a good health system, a good educational system and a
good sanitary system.
Just legal and security system. Successful nations have a good
police force that keeps crime under control and a good legal system
that provides fair trials for lawbreakers and punishes them
accordingly.
Strong defense system. All successful nations have a strong
military that protects their interest and keeps other nations or
other people from taking advantage of them or abusing them.
That is obviously the kind of kingdom the Jews in Jesus’ day were
anticipating. However, when Jesus introduced the kingdom that he came
to develop, it looked totally different from what they were anticipating.
It had no geographical boundaries.
It was not tied to any successful economy. In fact, people could be
poor and still be a part of this kingdom.
It had no structures at all, at least in the first instance—no roads,
no health facilities, not even any buildings.
It had no defense system. In fact, the kingdom would be largely
passive even in defending itself.
Therefore, what Jesus was taught was truly revolutionary as far as what
the Jews anticipated.
Characteristics of the Kingdom

Jesus begins this speech by giving a series of blessings which we call
beatitudes. In other words, Jesus tells us the kind of people who are
going to be blessed in his kingdom. These are much different than the
people who are recognized and considered blessed in a normal kingdom.
Here are the characteristics of those who are going to be blessed—or
happy or especially recognized—in the kingdom Jesus came to introduce.
Humble
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 5:3). The phrase “poor in spirit” is the opposite of pride and
thus has to do with humility. Ordinarily the successful people in any
kingdom are not “poor in spirit.” Politicians get elected by saying “vote
for me because I am better than my opponent,” but Jesus said his
kingdom would be made up of those who promote others over
themselves (Romans 12:10).
Repentant
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew
5:4). Many people interpret Jesus’ statement about “mourning” as
referring to those who mourn because of their sin. This is perhaps a
figurative way of describing repentance. We do not normally think of a
successful nation as being filled with a people who are grieving. We
would think that a successful nation is one filled with laughter,
happiness and rejoicing. However, Jesus said that there is something
about his kingdom that will cause people to mourn.
Submissive to Authority
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (5:5). The word
“meek” is similar to the concept of humility. However, it has a particular
nuance of being submissive to authority. For example, this word was
used in Classical Greek to describe animals that had been domesticated.
They had learned to submit to the authority of their masters. The people
in Jesus’ kingdom are people who gladly submit to authority.
Righteous
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
will be filled” (5:6). The word “righteousness” in this case is not a
theological concept but a word that describe right living. The nation
Jesus came to introduce was to be a nation that would be characterized
by right living.
The people in the kingdom would all do the right thing.
The leaders in the kingdom would also all do the right thing.
There would be no bribery and no corruption and no
misappropriation of funds.
This was to be a nation of righteousness.
Merciful
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (5:7). The
kingdom Jesus came to introduce was a kingdom characterized by mercy
and compassion. The people in this kingdom were to be concerned about
the sick and weak in society. This nation would not just focus on material
things like roads and buildings and other infrastructure, but would be
concerned about the welfare of human beings.
Pure
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (5:8). One of the
major characteristics of this kingdom is purity.
The people have pure minds.
The people speak with pure language.
The people live lives that are pure and holy.
Within every nation there are people who are both pure and impure—
good and bad. However, in this kingdom that Jesus came to introduce,
the citizens were going to be people characterized by moral purity.
Peaceful
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (5:9).
The Old Testament nation of Israel was not a very peaceful nation. It was
constantly warding off attacks of surrounding nations or attacking them
in an attempt to expand its own boundaries. However, the kingdom

Jesus came to introduce is a kingdom of peace.
It starts with peace with God.
It extends to peace in the heart.
It involves peace with fellow believers.
It even includes peace with non-Christians.
It seeks to re-establish peace whenever the peace is broken.
Somewhere near the heart of Jesus’ kingdom is the concept of peace.
Persecuted
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you
and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of
me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in
heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets
who were before you (5:10–12)
Because this it is going to be superimposed on other nations, not
everyone in those nations is going to appreciate this kingdom Jesus came
to introduce. There will be opposition and even persecution. When
Christianity is the majority religion in any nation, there is not much
persecution. However, when Christianity is a minority, the majority
sometimes makes life miserable for those in Jesus’ kingdom. Even
though we do not like it, we must understand that persecution is a
normal part of this kingdom that Jesus came to set up.
Means of Spreading the Kingdom

Jesus gives two metaphors to explain how Jesus was going to spread his
kingdom.
“You are the salt of the earth.”

The complete statement reads: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the
salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer
good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men”
(Matthew 5:13). Salt does many things:
Salt helps to preserve food.

Salt also helps to give flavor to food.
Salt helps to provide cleansing and sterilize things.
We believe one of the important ways God uses his people today is
simply to put them in the midst of other people and just allow them to
give flavor and cleanse and preserve. This is a simple strategy that is
explained even more clearly in Jesus’ next illustration.
“You are the light of the world.”

Jesus expands this truth a bit with the light metaphor:
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be
hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to
everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light
shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and
praise your Father in heaven” (5:14–16).
It only takes a little bit of light to drive out the greatest darkness. We
cannot fight darkness with darkness. A little bit of light drives out a
whole lot of darkness.
Specific Application to Living Today

The question that we now raise is: what does all this mean? If we are to
be the salt and light of the world, how should we then live?3
In Jesus’ kingdom, we should live by making sure we reflect the light of

Jesus.
Jesus said “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5). Certainly Jesus
showed the light of righteousness on this world. He did many things to
expose darkness.
3 In the following statements, I do not have time or space to explain all of the things I
do not mean. Obviously, some of these statements would be balanced up with other
statements if there were time and space to do so.
He drove money changers from the temple, exposing their corrupt

practices.
He condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, showing that
outwardly they were pious but inwardly it was like they were full of
dead men’s bones.
He corrected James and John and Peter whenever they made
foolish mistakes.
The focus of Jesus’ teaching was that he was the light that had come into
this world to drive out darkness. John 8:12 says: “When Jesus spoke
again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows
me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ ” There are
many similar teachings.
However, Jesus made a startling statement in the Sermon on the
Mount. He said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Jesus
expanded that illustration a bit more:
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be
hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under
a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light
to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light
shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and
praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14–16; see also
Luke 11:33–36).
This theme is picked up again by the apostles.
2 Corinthians 4:6: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of
darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 6:14: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or
what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
Ephesians 5:8, 14a: “For you were once darkness, but now you are
light in the Lord. Live as children of light . . . But everything
exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes
everything visible.”
1 Thessalonians 5:5: “You are all sons of the light and sons of the
day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”
1 John 2:9–10: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates

his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives
in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”
John the Baptist provides us some insight into this figure of speech.
When John is introduced in John 1:6–9: we are told:
There came a man who was sent from God; his name
was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning
that light, so that through him all men might believe. He
himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to
the light. The true light that gives light to every man was
coming into the world.
However, a little later, we read these amazing words in John 5:35 (KJV):
“He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to
rejoice in his light.” The NIV translates this: “John was a lamp that
burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.” Yes,
Jesus is the ultimate light. However, the flame of Jesus’ burning and
shining lights us and we begin shining that light as well.
This metaphor is at least partially explained in 2 Corinthians 4:6: “For
God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Christ.” The light in this context is knowledge. Jesus said, “I
am the truth.” When we are sharing with people the truth Jesus taught
and lived, we are passing on the light. What does all of this mean?
It means that our lives should be a burning shining light in the
dark places God places us just as Jesus was a burning shining light.
It means that we should speak the truth when others are speaking
error.
It means that we should refuse to participate in the deeds of
darkness when others are doing this around us.
It means that we should be following the example of Jesus in all
things.
What do Christians do?
Where there is corruption, we provide the light of honesty.
Where there is cheating, we provide the light of truth.
Where there is immorality and adultery, we provide the light of
moral purity.
Where there is materialism, we provide the light of selflessness.

Where these is retaliation and bitterness, we provide the light of
forgiveness and non-retaliation.
Where there is violence, we help to provide the light of peace.
In the kingdom of Israel, the nation had to provide judges, soldiers and
weapons to assure that the characteristics of their kingdom would be
upheld. That is not necessary, however, in Jesus’ kingdom. All you need
to do is to shine in the darkness. You do not even have to talk too much.
Just do the right thing and the light you give out will do the rest.
When other students are cheating and you refuse to cheat, your
light is shining. And in the future, if someone wants to cheat, they
will be afraid and ashamed to do so when you are around.
When other people are telling their dirty jokes and using vulgar
language, just show up with your light and they will stop.
The main thing you need to do today is just live—just live your Christian
light and let your light shine. However, when you put that light under a
basket because you are afraid or embarrassed or for some other reason,
darkness is going to continue to grow. Therefore, “let your line shine.”
In Jesus’ kingdom, we should not seek to live where there is a great

concentration of light.
The new kind of kingdom Jesus came to introduce was not the kind of
kingdom where he would gather up all his people and place them in one
place. This is what God did in the Old Testament. All people who really
knew the heart of God and knew how to live for and worship God were
concentrated in Israel. Therefore, there was a lot of light in the small
geographical area of Palestine while the rest of the world was in almost
total darkness.
Jesus decided that this was not the way he was going to design his
kingdom. Jesus’ kingdom was going to be made up of thousands of
pockets of light scattered all over the world. It is unfortunate that some
Christians have gone back to the Old Testament pattern and attempted
to build a segregated “Christian nation.”
I have frequently said to church leaders in Africa: “I hope you do not
make the same mistakes that we Christians have made in the US.” What
have we done? We do not like the darkness so we have been leaving the
darkness and congregating together. We have built our little Christian
communities. As a Christian in America now, you almost never have to
confront the real world.
You go to church on Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday
prayer service.
You can go to a Christian pre-school where you will be taught
about Jesus.
You can then go to a Christian primary and secondary school.
You can then go to a Christian university where you will be taught
the truth from a Christian point of view.
You get out of the Christian university with a degree in
communication and then go to work for a Christian radio station so
you are in a Christian environment all the time.
You can even go to Christian restaurants and Christian night clubs.
When you get financially strong enough to take a cruise on a ship to
Alaska, you can go on a Christian cruise where all your fellow travelers
are Christians. In this way, you seldom have to interact with the real
world.
Obviously I don’t intend to criticize Christians creating schools.
Christian schools can be strategic nurseries for young and weak
Christians and can help prepare our young people to go into the
darkness. In fact, I myself am a product of the Christian day school
movement in the US and I am most grateful for those godly teachers who
taught from a Christian world view in the Christian secondary school I
attended. However, I am concerned about taking all of the godly school
teachers and other professionals out of the public institutions and
putting them into places where there is already plenty of light.
Concentrating the light is not what God has called us to do. He has
called us to live in the midst of the darkness. Vance Havner once said,
“Salt never did any good in the salt shaker.” If we have a thousand lights
shining brightly in a room, what will be the good of a person bringing a
flashlight to shine in that place? It will just be wasted energy.
Paul is a good example of a shining light. Wherever Paul went, he let
his light shine.
He went to the market and worked. While working, his light was
shining there.
He went to a very dark jail on a few occasions. While he was there,
he and Silas were allowing their light to shine in that dark place. In
Philippi, he let his light shine so brightly that the jailor was
converted. In Rome, he let his light shine so brightly that
Onesimus was converted and many other beams of light shown
from that dark place.
Paul was later on a ship driven before the wind and lost on the
dark and very dangerous sea. Paul was a light in that difficult
situation. He was able to assure the people on board that they
would all be spared.
What is the point? The point is that we should not make the mistake of
just congregating ourselves together and creating little Christian
communities. God is calling us to be light in this dark world. This leads
to another important point.
In Jesus’ kingdom, we should seek to live in the darkest possible places

so we can have the maximum impact.
When we first come to Christ, we are so happy with the light and the
truth that we just want to soak ourselves in that place and stay there the
rest of our lives. That is natural and is good at times. We do need to come
together and draw strength from the light each of us possesses. In fact,
Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are
in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the
more as you see the Day approaching.” We need that regular
communion, fellowship and joint worship; they rekindle us and enable
us to shine in the dark places. However, sharing our light with one
another is not our whole life. We must go out into the darkness if we are
really going to let our lights shine.
After Jesus called Matthew, the tax collector, to be his disciple, he
accepted an invitation to go to his home for a meal. As might be
expected, there were other tax collectors present at the meal and other
people the Pharisees considered to be “sinners.” This sparked a bitter
reaction among Jesus’ critics.
When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples,

“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the
healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go
and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’
For I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners” (Matthew 9:11–13).
How can you call the sinners to repentance if you are not out there in the
darkness where they are? It is true that the world is filled with much
darkness.
There is darkness in the public educational system.
There is darkness and corruption in the public health system.
There is darkness and evil in the mainstream media. They like to
promote abortion and homosexual marriage and other things that
Christians oppose.
There is a huge concentration of darkness in the political arena.
However, does that mean we should stay away from those
institutions? Does the darkness in those institutions have the power to
overpower light of the gospel in us? No, light is stronger than darkness.
Note these scriptures:
2 Corinthians 4:6: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of
darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Ephesians 5:8–11: “For you were once darkness, but now you are
light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out
what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds
of darkness, but rather expose them.”
When the army trains soldiers, they do not train them to stay back in a
safe environment so they can be protected. They train soldiers to go into
dangerous places because that is where they can do the most good. God
is calling us to go into the darkness and prepare our children to go into
the darkness. Will we do it?
Conclusion
I have two appeals I want to make. First I appeal to the students in this
school who are here. My appeal to the students is this: I challenge you to
pick out one of the darkest places in the world. Go and study that
discipline or profession. Learn that discipline or profession better than
anyone else and then go there and let your light shine in that place.
Second I appeal to the faculty and staff of this institution. My appeal
to you is that you recognize that your responsibility is to prepare these
students for dark places. Hillcrest is a place of concentrated light. The
only way that we can justify such a concentration of light is that this is
the time and place that we are preparing our students to face the
darkness. Our students need this light right now. In fact, they need all
the light they can get at this time in their lives. However, these students
are being prepared to go into the darkness. I trust that you will see that
preparing students to be shining lights in dark places is your ultimate
objective. You are educators. You will figure out how to do that. Don’t be
too easy on these students. Don’t allow them to become too soft or too
used to the light. They need to be tough so that they will be able to stand
firmly in times of darkness.
Please remember that God has not called us to be a kingdom with our
own boundaries that will segregate us from the world like the Old
Testament nation of Israel had. God has called us to go live in all the
nations of the world and among those people where the darkness is the
greatest. Therefore, let us be deliberate in our attempts to be a light in
this world.
Here is Peter’s comment which is an appropriate conclusion to this
sermon: “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they
accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify
God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12).

Living Your Faith in Jos

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Living Your Faith in Jos

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Living Your Faith In Jos

Rev. Danny McCain

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your

1 Preached at Hillcrest Chapel, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria on 15 August 2010 by

Whenever God works on this earth, he always does so through human

 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like

Act I: The Promise

The Follow-Up Scenes

Additional Details about the Kingdom

from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the

The Ministry of Jesus

he had been sent to this earth to usher in a new kingdom. He also

Sermon on the Mount

Characteristics of the Kingdom

in an attempt to expand its own boundaries. However, the kingdom

Means of Spreading the Kingdom

“You are the salt of the earth.”

 Salt helps to preserve food.

“You are the light of the world.”

Specific Application to Living Today

In Jesus’ kingdom, we should live by making sure we reflect the light of

 He drove money changers from the temple, exposing their corrupt

 1 John 2:9–10: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates

 Where there is materialism, we provide the light of selflessness.

In Jesus’ kingdom, we should not seek to live where there is a great

In Jesus’ kingdom, we should seek to live in the darkest possible places

When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples,

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He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like

Salt helps to preserve food.

He drove money changers from the temple, exposing their corrupt

1 John 2:9–10: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates

Where there is materialism, we provide the light of selflessness.