What on Earth am I Here for?: Living as Salt and Light in the world; Build your Life #12

Introduction: I suppose there comes a time in every generation, in every group of people, in each individual person when we wrestle with the meaning of life & wonder- what on earth am I here for?

I think this must have been the case for Jesus’ followers as they listened to Him teach the beatitudes and say over and over again- blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, you are blessed when you are reviled, persecuted, & slandered for His Name’s sake, for great is your reward in heaven.

They must have been thinking- With all this talk of heaven, what on earth am I here for? Why not just take us to heaven right now? Jesus tells them why:

Matthew 5:13–16, You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

In his best-selling book, the Purpose-Driven Life, renowned pastor Rick Warren writes that we all need to explore three essential questions:

· Existence: Why am I alive?

· Significance: Does my life matter?

· Purpose: What on earth am I here for?

These are the three questions that we need to wrestle with as we encounter Jesus’ words in our text today.

1. Why am I a Christian? To INFLUENCE People.

Jesus gives us two pictures (metaphors) of what it means to be His followers: You are the salt of the earth (13) … the light of the world (14).

Jesus used these two metaphors in parallel statements. Salt and light are two of our most common & crucial household goods.

Salt-a compound in the form of white crystals that consists of sodium chloride & is used especially for seasoning or preserving food.

Light-electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye; many ways in which light is experienced; any object that serves as a source of illumination is light (e.g., sun, stars, electric light bulbs).

Their usefulness is readily apparent to us as consumers, but how they apply to us as Christiansmay not be as apparent.

In the ancient world, salt was used to purify- Salt was used in sacrifices and in covenant making. Leviticus 2:13, And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

Salt was used to preserve food- before refrigeration, salt was used to keep meat wholesome and prevent decay.

Salt was used to season food- it makes food more palatable- Job 6:6, Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? To season food is salt’s most common use. To add flavor is the obvious use that Jesus intends for His followers.

What about light? Light exists for one reason- to dispel darkness. Genesis 1:1-3, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep… Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

John 1:1–5, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 8:12, Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

John 9:5, As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

God creates light, Jesus is the light of the world, who Jesus IS He proclaims His followers to BE- you are the light of the world.

In these parallel statements-salt of the earth & light of the world, earth & world are operating as the same entity. Earth referring to the people, the world referring to the place. His followers are OF it to be FOR it.

The church is distinct from the world so that it can make a difference for the world. Stott- The basic truth which lies behind these metaphors… is that the church and the world are distinct communities. On the one hand there is ‘the earth’; on the other there is ‘you’ who are the earth’s salt. On the one hand there is ‘the world’; on the other there is ‘you’ who are the world’s light… the two communities … are related to each other, but their relatedness depends on their distinctness.

Jesus intends that His followers will add flavor to a world that tastes bad, they will bring light to a world that is in darkness. The reason for our continued Christian existence is to influence people for Christ.

2. Significance- Does my Christian life matter? It matters, but it must FUNCTION Properly.

Along with the 2 pictures/metaphors Jesus offers 2 potential problems:

1st, if salt loses its flavor, it loses its effectiveness. Salt has several properties, it can be used for several purposes, but it seems like Jesus is singling out one in particular- flavor.

Loses its flavor: to become lacking in taste or flavor, to be bland. Gr. word - moraino, to make foolish (root is moros, where we get moron).

Two ways Christians can lose their flavor, their influence, their witness:

· when they lack peace in relationships & grace in speech.

Mark 9:50, Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.

Colossians 4:6, Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

A lack of peace & a lack of grace makes Christians look mighty foolish, & it inhibits our ability to function properly within the world. If salt loses its flavor, it can’t be re-seasoned, can’t be recycled, can’t be repurposed, it can only become refuse. It’s garbage, the only thing it is good for is to be thrown out and trampled underfoot of men.

2nd, if you light a lamp, but cover it up, it loses its effectiveness (15). Light is meant to shine, but if it’s put under a basket, then it cannot do what it was designed to do. Two ways that Christians hide their light- (1) fellowship with darkness, (2) not bringing dark things to light.

Mark 4:21–22, Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.

Ephesians 5:8–13, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light… 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. It is a real problem when the church is more known for cover-ups than it is for confessing sin.

ILL: DC Talk, Jesus Freak- “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”- Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel

Christians exist to influence people, but they only make a difference when they are functioning properly. In our last point we want to answer the question of Purpose: What on earth am I here for?

3. Purpose- What on earth am I here for? To EFFECT praise for God.

ILL: Viktor was a young Jewish man of 33 when the Nazis invaded his country. A few years later, he & his pregnant wife Tilly, along with Viktor’s parents & brother, were deported & separated into concentration camps. Over the next 3 years, Viktor spent time in 4 different concentration camps, including Auschwitz. He suffered every day- degradation, deprivation, & violence. He saw countless friends and fellow prisoners succumb to disease, starvation, & despair. When finally released, Viktor discovered that while he had survived his family did not. He wrote about his Holocaust experience in Man's Search for Meaning.

Viktor is Viktor Frankl, the renowned Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor. One of the things that Viktor observed was that that the prisoners who did well were the ones that lived with a sense of meaning- We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. He founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force. Viktor Frankl wasn’t a Christian, but he stumbled upon a transcendent truth, "he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." What is your why?

For the Christian, the why is to effect praise for God. These verses are really the application of living out the Beatitudes. Vss. 13-16 connect us back to vs. 11- “Blessed are YOU when...”; vs. 13- YOU are the salt of the earth, vs. 14- YOU are the light of the world. The word “YOU” connects the Beatitudes to Christians living as salt and light in the world.

As we crave justice, show mercy, live pure, and make peace, it will influence the world. Salt flavors, but it also acts as an irritant when it gets in a wound. Light illuminates, but it can hurt the eyes when you’ve been in the dark too long. Connecting living as salt and light to “blessed are you when they persecute you,” the result may be that they persecute you but give praise to God.

1 Peter 2:12, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

At the risk of parsing Jesus’ words too carefully, pay close attention to the wording of vs. 16- Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify God. There is an implication that we could shine our light in such a way that we get the glory instead of God.

There’s a chance that we can do good works in light of ourselves, without the light of Christ- that’s humanitarian aid. You get the credit for that. When we do good works IN the light of Christ, the good works glorify God in heaven.

What on earth are you here for?If you are a Christian, it’s quite clear- you are here to influence people, to function properly, and to effect praise for God. If we live for anything else, we live for something less.