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This is week five of our sermon series on the Book of Matthew. We are moving right along. I told you last week we will do a series on the beatitudes this summer. We will completely unwrap each of those and their meanings. So, for today, I want to move to the next section.
Many of you have heard many sermons in your lifetime. I for one certainly have. I’ve even preached many sermons in my lifetime. Since I have been here, I have probably preached over 900 sermons. And in my lifetime, I’ve probably preached over 1200 to be conservative. Some, I will admit were good and some I will admit they were definitely stinkers.
But there is one sermon that is by far the greatest sermon ever preached and that was Jesus sermon, The Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:1-2 tells us how he begins this sermon. It says...
1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,
2 and he began to teach them. He said:
Verse three begins the beatitudes. I’m not going to unpack those here today, but I do want to read them to you because they are important to my text today. So, we will begin reading at verse 3 and continue to verse 16.
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus teaches a large group of potential followers what it really means to follow him and be a part of God’s kingdom. Look at verse 3.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This is how Jesus begins His sermon here, the beatitudes and there is a lot to unpack from just these 10 verses, but I am saving that for this summer. Now look at verse 13.
13 “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 underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 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.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
In this passage of scripture, Jesus uses two metaphors to describe who His followers should be. One is Salt and the other light. Both of these, we are to be what it is. That is what Jesus is telling us. To be salt and to be light. We don’t become these two things by saying or doing anything. But just by being. What does He mean? Look at the first one.
Salt
Salt
In order to understand what Jesus is saying here in Matthew, you would have to be jewish. Matthew is a book written to the jewish people. Luke gives us gentiles a better look at salt.
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Many minister’s think of this as salt like we have on the dinner table to season food but that is not what Jesus is talking about here.
The key word here to show what Jesus is telling us is the word earth. Jesus tells us, “You are the salt of the earth.” The jewish people would understand this metaphor because they would go and scrape up the salt from the dead sea and they would use it for 2 things.
The dead sea had a high potassium rate and not much sodium. It wasn’t made to be consumed but they would use it because it had a high potassium rate. Any gardener knows that a good fertilizer contains a good mix of 3 things: Phosphate, Nitrate, and potassium. So, the jewish people would place the salt from the dead sea in the ground to fertilize their soil.
The second thing that they would use it for is to put on human waste. They would go outside in the back area, they would have a hole in the ground, and they would empty their bowels and next to that hole was salt. They would then put salt on it and the salt would act as a disinfectant. That is why Jesus says in Luke, “It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile...”
Salt would be used for fertilizer or as a disinfectant on manure. Salt promotes the good things you want to grow and it prohibits the bad things that you don’t want.
That is why when Jesus tells us that you are the salt of the earth He is saying you are to stop bad things from growing and you are to promote good things that are wanted there. Not by saying or doing anything but by being totally different from the environment.
Think about table salt. Just a little will do in the kitchen to season food. But as a fertilizer or disinfectant you need a considerable amount to be effective. You need handfuls. That concept means we need more than just a few in society being Christian or being salt. We don’t have enough salt.
In society we need about 5% of us to be salt to start reversing social trends. Salt is no good in the box. It has to be in direct contact in the dirt to be of use. Salt operates by presence and not absence. As long as we are in a church service like this we can not be salt of the earth. Because we are out of contact with the dirt.
It takes 5% Salt all locked in direct physical contact. Think about a factory, if 5% of us are salt the talk changes.
If we all worked in christian environments where would the salt be making the change to the dirt of this world.
We need quality salt in direct physical contact. It must be salty. It cannot lose its saltiness.
How does it lose its saltiness?
How does it lose its saltiness?
It loses its saltiness by being adulterated with other substances. When they would gather the salt from the dead sea, they would gather the salt and the sand would get mixed in with it.
When the salt has other substances mixed in with it it loses its saltiness. That is why it is so important for christians to be different. When we allow the things of the world to get mixed in with the things of God we lose our saltiness.
Christians will influence the world if they are different from the world.
“The church, the lifeboat, should be in the sea. But when the sea gets into the lifeboat you are in trouble.” - David Pawson
“The church, the lifeboat, should be in the sea. But when the sea gets into the lifeboat you are in trouble.” - David Pawson
It’s not that we don’t have enough salt but the salt we do have is losing its saltiness very rapidly. We are losing it by allowing society to creep in. Are we called to be credible or are we called to be different?
We should be leading society into a better way not following their way. Once you lose saltiness you can’t get it back again.
What is Saltiness?
What is Saltiness?
Remember what I read to you in the beatitudes. To be poor in spirit means to be despised by the world. To be completely dependent on God. The world wants to stand up for themselves. The beatitudes is completely opposite of what the world says.
If you are going to be salt then verse 11 is certain to happen.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
When you decide to be salt you really have to have faith to believe that your reward is in Heaven because you won’t have it in this world.
The next metaphor that Jesus uses is light.
Light
Light
Light has its negative and positive aspects.
Negative is to expose bad ways or to show people up. Positive is to exhibit a better way. Neither way will make you popular.
Here in Matthew 5: 14
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
And then if you go over to John 8:12 Jesus speaks of himself as the light of the world. This is the only time that he points to the disciple and to himself as being the same thing. He didn’t say that He was salt. Look at John 8:12.
12 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.”
In order to understand what Jesus was saying here you have to look at the context that this was said in. In the verses before this statement, we read about the woman that was caught in the act of adultery.
They tell Jesus that the law of Moses said she must be stoned, but Jesus also knew that the law of Rome forbid executions held by Jews. The religious leaders thought they had Jesus trapped, but Jesus knew the Rome law that said they couldn’t do anything like that.
So, Jesus just writes in the dust with His finger. And each one of the teachers and Pharisees knew what that meant. To a Jew that is a claim to be God. By Jesus writing in the dirt, He was telling them that He was God. It was basically Jesus saying, “I wrote the 10 Commandments.” Jews would come to that conclusion just by Him writing in the dirt.
People have often wondered what He wrote. We think that it was something that He wrote and the truth is it doesn’t matter what He wrote. It was the act of writing that caught the teachers and the pharisees attention.
Then Jesus reminded them of another law that said no one can be a witness if they committed the same crime.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Notice He doesn’t say all sins, but without sin. He is saying those that have committed the same sin.
The law says if any of the witnesses had committed the same sin as the one being accused then they couldn’t be a witness to the stoning. They were dismissed on the basis of the law. And one by one each of them left. So they all must have committed the sin of adultery.
Jesus was the only one left. The law said there had to be 2 or 3 witnesses so therefore the case was dismissed. That is why Jesus told her, “Go and don’t do it again.” In other words I may not be here to help you the next time.
He was showing them, I know the law better than you.
Then he says...
12 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.”
He is saying that woman would have never gone into that situation if she had followed Him. The situation was moral darkness and all the men that accused her were living in moral darkness. If you follow Him you don’t get into that kind of darkness.
That is why we are to be different. If we are the same as the world then there is no light to show the world the way.
If you took a walk down a path at night, it is going to be hard to see where you are going without a light. The same goes for us in today’s society, if the church and the world look the same then there is no one to shine the light and to lead the way.
So,the only action that we have to do is to put ourself on a lampstand. We deliberately put ourself in public view.
15 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.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
If you hide your light then it is no use to anyone else. We are to be seen for having a higher standard of living, not material but moral. Good actions is being good not doing good.
And then what does Jesus go on and tell us. The rest of His sermon is about a higher standard of living. Look at some of these topics He covers.
murder begins in the heart
adultery in the heart
marriage is sacred and binding
love your enemies
lay up treasures in Heaven
Fasting to be seen only by God
You cannot serve God and riches
Do not worry
Keep asking, seeking, knocking
the narrow way
You will know them by their fruits
build on the rock.
These are some tough topics. It is not natural for anyone to live like this, it is supernatural. That is why Jesus said to let them see how you live and glorify your father in Heaven.
Have you noticed that He talks about worry in this sermon more than any other topic? Why is that? It’s because it is natural to worry, not supernatural.
Can you imagine how much influence you as a Christian would have if everyone said, “Christians never worry.”
And the truth is we don’t need to worry because He cares more for us than the birds of the air or the lilies of the fields. God takes care of all your needs. You won’t get everything you want, but He will definitely supply all your needs.
19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Jesus fixed moral standards higher than everybody else but what He then did was He lifted people to that standard. What the church in our country is doing today is lowering the standard, to meet the people. That is not going to be light or salt.
Jesus is quite clear that being the light is going to be unpopular. He went on to say I am the Light of the world and because I am, you hate me and you want to kill me.
Jesus knew that being the light is a very costly thing. Standing for what you know to be right and true is painful and very unpopular, yet that is what it is to be light in the world of darkness.
Salt and Light are not what you say and do, but they are what you are. And they only work when you are in direct contact with a world that is in darkness and dirt. We need a certain amount for it to work and we need a quality that is totally different.
Jesus is telling you that you are salt of the earth and He is telling you that you are the light of the world. Those are two unpopular things but in order to be a disciple of Christ you must be both.
Move to Christ’s Standard!
Move to Christ’s Standard!
What are you going to do? Are you going to rise up to be at the standard that Christ set for us or are you going to bring the standard down to fit in the box that the people want us to be at? It is time that we be salt and light. It’s not a popular thing. It is time to come out from among the crowd and move to the standard that Christ has set for us.
Let’s pray.