Salt and Light...No Plan B

Yesterday during my quiet time I read Matthew 5:13-16:

"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. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. 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."

Jesus tells us WE are the salt and light of the world. I am the salt and light of the world. YOU are the salt and light of the world. He has chosen US to make His name known. Not just in Charlotte, in North Carolina, in the USA, in Brazil, in Africa, in Mozambique, in Quelimane, but to every nation and every people group.

Why would God chose us to do his work?

In the book Radical, David Platt breaks down exactly what God has called us to do.

"CHRIST COMMANDS THE CHURCH TO MAKE THE GOSPEL KNOWN TO ALL PEOPLES

Romans 10:13-15
**Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?**

In these three short verses, we see God's design for taking the gospel to all the peoples of the world, including the billion who have never heard the name of Jesus.
Let's take the verbs from this passage in reverse order:

***God sends his servants. ---> His servants preach. ---> People hear. ---> Hearers believe. ---> Believers call. ---> Everyone who calls is saved.***

Is there any place where this plan can break down? There is only one potential breakdown in this progression--when servants of God DO NOT preach the gospel to all peoples.

WE ARE THE PLAN OF GOD, AND THERE IS NO PLAN B.

He has the power to write the gospel in letters across the clouds so that all people can learn about Jesus and believe in him. But in his infinite wisdom, he has chosen to use us as ambassadors who carry the gospel to people who have never heard the name of Jesus.

God clearly has decided to use the church---and only the church---as the means by which his gospel will go to the ends of the earth.

   The will of God is for you and me to give our lives urgently and recklessly to making the gospel and the glory of God known among all peoples, particularly those who have never even heard of Jesus.
   The question, therefore, is not "Can we find God's will?"The questions is "Will we obey God's will?"
Will we risk EVERYTHING---our comfort, our possessions, our safety, our security, our very lives---to make the gospel known among unreached peoples?
   Such rising up and such risk taking are the unavoidable, urgent results of a life that is radically abandoned to Jesus."

I am the plan of God. You are the plan of God.
He has chosen us, as a church and body of believers, to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Are you willing to give up everything to live a radical life?

His Servant,
Sheldon