Be Salt and Light

Matthew 5:13-16

The Role of the Christian in the World Today.

Options:

Ushering in the Kingdom - Christian Nationalism.

Monastic Seclusion - hiding away while the world burns.

A middle road - an influence and light to a fallen world.

We’ve been commissioned - to go and make disciples - the church has an outward facing position.

The Sermon on the Mount - the distinctive of Kingdom living in a fallen world.

Last week: The qualities of those in the kingdom, the beatitudes.

Today: Kingdom Citizen’s influence in the world as Salt & Light.

Being Salt and Light.

Salt – essential to life, with many good qualities.

Preservative Qualities. Before refrigeration and packaging

It draws the water out of the micro-organisms that exist within the meat, dries out that which would cause rot and decay – the process is called “curing.”

The Christian ought to bring a preservative quality to the world around him.

The corruption of sin in the human life leaves us spoiled. We are dead, decaying, until our hearts are sprinkled with the cleansing salt of the Word.

The gospel promise - you have been purified, cleansed, and made useful by God’s grace.

The purifying grace of God cleanses us of our sins by applying the righteousness of Christ to us.

You have been salted - cleansed, preserved, and protected from corruption.

You are the Salt of the Earth.

The world apart from God is rotten because of sin but through Christ in us we are able and obliged to have a purifying effect upon it.

People act differently when they know you are a Christian. The remedy for the corruption of the world, says our Lord, is the active presence of His disciples among their friends. The character and principles of Christians, brought into close contact with the world, are designed to cure the corruption of humanity.

Adding flavor to life. Bland food is no good – we say, “this needs a little salt.”

Life is not meant to be bland – but too often, we fill it with the things that cause decay, and have no lasting joy in life.

Christianity is not meant to be a wet-blanket religion, ruining all the joy in life. Rather, real Christianity is authentic joy, peace, and contentment.

John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Warning 1 - Salt must also be kept pure.

If salt loses its saltiness, if it gets wet, or mixes with other elements, it is of no use.

If you have lost the flavor of life that Christ imparts, his joy, his love, if your life has been so polluted by the corruptions of this world, what use are you to the lost?

Our calling is not to make ourselves salt, that is the work of Christ. Our task is to keep our lives pure that we might “salt” this earth and hold back corruption so that the Gospel can get out.

True Christian living is not just in the head, an assent to certain knowledge, nor in body, attendance and avoidance – but in the heart. The love of God excites and invigorates the affections – the love of Christ is not academic.

Warning 2 – Salt, to be effective, must be used.

The salt that sits one inch from the steak does nothing. It must be scattered, not heaped in a lump, but worked in.

If we are only salty, full of the joy of the Christian life, when we are gathered in this house for worship, we don’t do the world around us any good. We are the salt of the earth…

Light -

Salt works internally, changing something from within, while light works externally, illuminating all that it reaches.

Light exposes darkness, it shows us the cause of our problems. When Christians are shining the light of Christ in the world, the source of the world’s problems becomes evident. It isn’t that there’s not enough light, the problem is that the people love the darkness.

John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

The light shows the way out of darkness – Just by being a Christian, you are showing the light in the darkness, you are revealing the way out of despair, you bring the light of Christ to a darkened world. You show, in your life, that the way to peace, and love, and hope in this life, the way to God, is through Jesus Christ. He gives us a new life, a life that loves the light.

You are the Light.

Because He is… His life, his light, is our life, is our light.

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Warning 3: The light must not be hidden.

How have we hidden, shaded the light – we hide or try to diminish the light of Christ, we don’t want to call attention to ourselves, to be labeled a fanatic – to upset or to offend. But out of mercy and compassion, loves compels us to shine the light of Christ in a world where people are stumbling and staggering in darkness.

As nobody lights a lamp only to cover it up, but places it so conspicuously as to give light to all who need light, so Christians, being the light of the world, instead of hiding their light, are so to hold it forth before men that they may see what a life the disciples of Christ lead, and seeing this, may glorify their Father for so redeeming, transforming, and ennobling earth’s sinful children, and opening to themselves the way to like redemption and transformation.

You Are Salt and Light: Living Out the Christian Life.

We should be blessings to the world – God’s blessing is given to believers so that they will be blessings to the world – so be careful how you pray.

Disciples are salt and light, arresting the corruption of the world and providing light for a lost and dying world.

While Christians are not challenged to become salt and light – that is the gift of Jesus’ presence – they are challenged to stay salt and light, that is, they are challenged to be what they are – real Christians.

There are pressures around us not to be too Christian, not to take our religions too seriously, and to relax the war with what is despicable in and among ourselves and with what is unjust or vicious in the community.

Though we are salt, there is constant pressure to be insipid salt. Though we are light, there is constant pressure to hide that light.

We must be in the world as Salt and Light.

Not watered down, not hidden - but shining.

Engaging in the world - conversations with your neighbors, a willingness to stand out, to show the way of righteousness, to be the Bible that the world reads to know its sin, and to come to its only hope in Jesus Christ.

You cannot look straight into the sun, it’s light is too radiant, but we can stare for hours into its light reflected on the moon. The lost cannot look upon Christ, he is too holy and glorious, but they can look upon the light he gives in those who follow him, that they may begin to see his goodness and truth in us.

Giving glory to your Father.

Take up the good works – helping those in need, engaging in acts of mercy.

Ephesians 2:8-10 – we were saved for good works.

When asked, “Why don’t you do this?” Our answer is not, “Because God says I can’t.” The answer is, “Because God has shown me in His Word the way to find true joy, true happiness, and my real identity in Christ.”

When asked, “Why are you doing this?” Our answer is not, “I just wanted to help.” No, the answer is, “God has loved me so much, and has done so much for me, that I want to share that love by serving those around me.”

The purpose of our lives (of our good works) is to remove the veil from the world’s eyes that they may see something of God’s glory. It should no longer be necessary to ask what our life is all about. They should look to us and say, they lived for God’s glory!