Salt And Light

Intro

On Monday of this last week, right when Michigan was turning into a sauna, one of our window unit air conditioners stopped working. Our house doesn’t have central air, so we are dependent on those things to keep our bedrooms at livable temperatures when it gets really hot like this. That air conditioner is currently sitting on the floor in my house. It Looks like an air conditioner, it’s ridiculously heavy like an air conditioner, if you plugged it in it would turn on and even blow air, but it would blow warm air, and so it is completely useless to me. If I can’t get it fixed soon, it is going to end up in the dump.

life is sometimes full of these things that are there, they take up space, and they even seem like they should be useful, but in reality they’re just taking up space without filling any real purpose.

the most Tragic example of this is when it happens to Christian’s, and I know that it might sound harsh, but this is what our text is dealing with today. Christians are meant to glorify God’s name on earth as salt and light, but what happens when we fail to be that? We might call ourselves Christians and act the part, but in reality we would just be living meaningless lives.

This is what our text is dealing with, so this is what I’d like to talk with you about tonight. what is our purpose, how do we fulfill that purpose, and what happens when we find that we Aren’t the thing God made us to be?

The blessed people are the salt and light of the Earth

State: We have been in this serious for a time now on the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. If you’ve been regularly coming to the evening service, youve been familiarized with term Blessed over the course of this series. Jesus has been describing the blessed person, which we’ve been talking about through this “root and fruit” type of outline. last time we were together, Dalex finished the series on the Beatitudes by preaching on verses 11 and 12 which say

Matthew 5:11–12 ESV

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I bring this up because it’s important that we dont just set down the beatitudes and move on the the next section about salt and light, because thats not how Jesus preached this sermon. The headings and division we have here weren’t a part of the sermon on the mount, and remembering this helps us to understand what Jesus is saying here.

Matthew 5:11–13 ESV

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. “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 see, it is specifically to the “blessed” that Jesus says, “you are the salt of the earth.” And who are the blessed but those who have been blessed by God? Jesus here is speaking to the reality that God has called a certain people out from the world and blessed them so that they might be a blessing. This isn’t a new concept Jesus is introducing, but a very old one that he’s applying to the people in front of him.

When God called Abraham, the core of his promise was that Abraham would be turned into a nation of people who would be called holy, set apart from the rest of the world, so that they might be a blessing to the rest of the world. This of course became the nation of Israel, and Jesus is helping us to see that this concept is persisiting into the New Covenant, albeit through a different people.

But why does Jesus specifically call the blessed people Salt and Light?

Salt

There are two possible angles that Jesus is taking with his illustration about salt. Salt had two very important purposes at the time of Jesus - it was used both to flavor food and to preserve foods from rotting and decaying.

with this understanding, Jesus is saying that the blessed people are serving these functions on Earth. They are placed amongst the rest of the people to add flavor. In a world that has lost its taste, the blessed people will restore it. In a world that is rapidly decaying, the blessed people are meant to help preserve its life.

Light

then there is the matter of being lights in the world. This one is a bit more obvious, as Jesus is claiming that the world itself has been plunged into darkness. No longer can people discern truth from lies, no longer can they easily determine what is right and wrong. People have become blind and this world has been ravaged by deep darkness. In the midst of that darkness, the blessed people come and shine light. They come bearing truth that pierces the many lies that have permeated our world. They shed light on what is good and honorable as distinct from what is wicked and abhorrent. Though The blessed people were once blind, they have been given light and have been given themselves as guides for those who are lost in darkness, that they might see the light as well.

Illustrate:

Apply: and we talked about how under the Old Covenant the blessed people were the children of Abraham, the nation of Israel. They were called out of the world by God to be blessed and to bless others. but what about today? Who are the blessed people in our own time?

well today, it’s you! its the church. The word church literally means “called out ones,” and this is what we are made to be. The church is not strictly an organization or a building, but it is a people blessed By God, called out of the world into holiness, so that we might be a blessing to the world we are in. This is our function, our purpose. In blessing us, God has made us into the salt and light of the world.

Salt

In a flavorless world, the church is here to add flavor. The world may not view us that way, as the world often finds he gospel to be bland, but nonetheles it is why we are here. In a world filled with messages about self-righteousness, self-love, the same lies, the same deceptions, we enter in with the message of the gospel. in a world that lives for the self, we exist as a people who live to serve the creator of the universe.

in a similar fashion, we exist to preserve truth and goodness is a decaying world. I don’t think I have to convince many of you that this world is decaying. While we may be feeling healthy as a society in certain areas, we are utterly depraved in many others. younger generations will take pride in their ability to be more accepting and diverse, many of them will also fight tooth and nail to retain the right to destroy unborn babies. In a world that is so depraved and decaying, the church stands as a preserving salt with truth and grace.

Light

God has also placed the church on Earth to be a light amidst darkness. The light that we have flows from the light within Jesus, it is the gospel that he has entrusted to us. The Apostle Paul elsewhere described us as having treasure in jars of clay

2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

We have been saved by grace through faith so that the world could see in us the overwhelming grace of God towards sinners. We exist as an example and a proof of the power of his gospel, which can penetrate even the deepest darkness. This is why the church must stand on the authority of Gods word and be centered upon the grace of the the Gospel, for that is the light that shines out from us To a dark world.

but we must always bear it in mind that it is God who causes us to be this salt and light, and that we are not the blessed people just because we might call ourselves that. There was a group of people that Jesus spoke to who fell into this trap called the Pharisees. The Pharisees certainly tried to make themselves seem like the blessed people on the outside, but there was no love for God on the inside. They had become consumed with themselves and with worldly things, not with God. To this kind of existence, Jesus offers a sharp warning.

Love for the things of this world causes us to live meaningless lives

Those who claim to be blessed by God but who are indistinguishable from the rest of the world are living meaningless lives. This may sound a little harsh, but its true and its something we as the church need to fight against.

Verse 13 - If salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? The greek of this verse is hard to put into English, but a more literal translation would be something like, “if salt has become foolish, what will salt it?” In essence the question being asked is, “if salt loses the thing that gives it purpose, who’s going to use it?” The answer, of course, is nobody. If you stripped salt of its qualities that cause it to season food and preserve meat, it would serve a useless existence. It might still be around, and it might be called salt by some, but it will be used by none.

Verse 15 - Nobody lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. This seems like a silly picture, but every parent in here knows a few people that turn on a light and leave the room. It’s nonsense, it’s wasteful, it’s useless. Sure you might call it a light, but it isn’t illuminating anything in any meaningful way. The light might as well not be on at all, and it isn’t serving any purpose.

These are powerful and jarring warnings Jesus gives to those who think themselves blessed. There are certainly many he is speaking to who would number themselves among the blessed, and yet they aren’t living like it. They might worship God with their lips, but not with their hearts and minds. They might claim the title, but they aren’t truly poor in spirit, they don’t mourn, they aren’t meek, they don’t hunger and thirst for righteousness, they aren’t merciful, they aren’t pure in heart or peacemakers, and they aren’t willing to be persecuted for righteousness sake.

Apply: Is that us? Could that be you?

We might call ourselves blessed, we might have taken membership vows in the church, gotten baptized, recited the creed, volunteered our time, tithed our money, and all of that is very good, but it also doesn’t make you truly blessed. You could just as well be a light shining under a basket or salt without any saltiness if the rest of your life renders you indistinguishable from the rest of the world. If you look the part on the outside, but you’re cold on the inside and fail to walk in accord with the gospel, your life is without purpose. If we aren’t using our lives to glorify God, we are just tasteless salt and hidden lamps, ready to be thrown out.

What if that is you? Is there any hope for the tasteless salt and covered lamps? Can their saltiness be restored, can the basket be removed?

Yes, but not in the way you might expect. You might think that the answer is to try harder, create more rules to follow, insert more traditions to clean yourself up — this is the exact same trap that the pharisees fell into. It’s true, the blessed person is one who lives as the beatitudes describes, but that kind of life doesn’t flow out of mere rule-following or tradition-making. This is just a wonderful way to create whitewashed tombs.

In reality, only a true love and trust for Jesus and an appreciation for his Gospel can cause us to live as the salt and light of the world.

Love for Jesus produces saltiness and light to the glory of God

Matthew 5:16 ESV

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.

It is true that we must shine forth into this darkness with love and good works, but we must understand how this is to happen. If salt has no saltiness, it can’t begin to flavor food by trying harder; it must be made salty. If a light is covered up, it cannot illuminate anything by trying to shine brighter; it must be uncovered.

Later in the gospel of Matthew Jesus has a conversation with the same Pharisees who claim to be blessed but in reality are tasteless salt when he says,

Matthew 12:34–35 ESV

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

Jesus tells them that they will never be able to do good because they are by nature evil. The things that they do and say will only reveal what is within them and what they treasure.

To do good and live as one who is blessed, one must be truly good and blessed, his treasure must be good, and then that goodness will flow out of him.

So the question then becomes not “how can I do more good things” but rather this: “how does one become good on the inside?” This of course cannot be done by our own effort, for no man can cause himself or anyone else to change what he really is. Rather, we find that we are fully dependent on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We know that by grace through faith in Jesus, God is causing many to be reborn in their spirits. He breathes new life into us and changes what we are by our very nature. The Apostle Paul speaks of this

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 ESV

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

You see that the love of Christ becomes a controlling influence in a person’s life. When someone hears the gospel and believes it, when they place faith in Jesus, that love of God begins to shape everything about the person. The love for self and for the things of this world fades into the background; all that remains is a love for God and for his glory.

The Apostle John put it very succintly when he said:

1 John 4:19 ESV

We love because he first loved us.

Any blessedness that flows out of us will only be because God has caused us to be a blessed people.

Apply: So then what hope do we have if we have not been living as salt and light? What does it look like to live as a blessed person? Faith working through love to glorify God.

We do not focus on stricter regiments to form us, but rather we focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ to form us. We do not just simply “try again tomorrow,” but we rather plunge ourselves into the love of Christ. When we love him more, trust him deeper, desire him more strongly, we will see that our very selves are being transformed from the inside out.

As we continue to hear the gospel preached to us, and to preach that same gospel to ourselves, we will find that Jesus is becoming more and more what our hearts desire. We will find that this world and its pleasures are fading into nonexistence. We will see that we are being transformed into one who is truly blessed, and who is a blessing to others as we live to the glory of God.

This is what it is to be salt and light on this Earth. We exist as a people called and blessed by God, helping people to see his great love and matchless glory.

I love the hymn “turn your eyes upon Jesus,” where we read this line:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in his wonderful face,

and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim,

in the light of his glory and grace

FCF: Our worldliness has rendered us unable to glorify God

CFC: Christ has redeemed us so that we can live for God’s glory

Christ redeems our brokenness and restores purpose to our lives.