Salt and Light Matt 5:13-16

Introduction

When Jesus was speaking to his disciples he told them they are both salt and light

salt seen in our life to light is seen in our labor

salt is our influence to light is our illumination

Our testimony to Our declaration of the Gospel

Ye are the salt of the earth

In the time of the Bible one of salts primary uses was preserving meat.

Salt cannot change corruption into incorruption, but it does prevent corruption from spreading.

Before the days of refrigeration, it was the most commonly used preservative.

When Jesus told the multitude that they were the salt of the earth, he saw the decay caused by sin, he saw the corruption, and they couldn’t change the corruption caused by sin, but by being the salt of the earth they could slow it down.

G. Campbell Morgan said “Jesus, looking out over the multitudes of His day, he saw the corruption, the disintegration of life at every point, its breakup, its spoliation; and, because of His love of the multitudes, He knew the thing they needed most was salt in order that the corruption should be arrested.

We must be the salt of the earth!

The salt that lost its savour

Salt is only a preservative as long as it has its savour.

The main way for salt to lose its savour is:

It becomes contaminated

We must be careful that we don’t become contaminated by the world or we will indeed lose our savour.

Remember we are to be in the world but not of the world.

Keeping our testimony helps us keep our savour

1 Thessalonians 5:22 “22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

How do we keep our testimony

If the Bible says “do it”, then do it

If the Bible says “don’t do it”, then don’t do it

If the Bible doesn’t give a clear do it or don’t do it, seek the Holy Spirits guidance to make that decision, but remember the Holy Spirit will never tell you to do anything that hurts the testimony of Jesus Christ

Mark 9:50 “50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.”

Luke 14:34 “34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?”

The result of losing our savour

It is impossible for salt to stop decay if its been corrupted.

This isn’t saying you will lose your salvation, but rather lose your testimony.

Corrupted salt cannot make a difference in a lost world

The salt becomes good for nothing and in that day they would throw the salt in the road to get trodden down because if they poured it on the ground or their plants it could corrupt whatever it touched.

Ye are the light of the world

Jesus said he was the light of the world

John 8:12 “12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

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

As long as Jesus was on the earth he was bearing the light, and when he ascended to heaven he didn’t leave us without light we have

His Word

The Holy Spirit

The believers

The light is both Christ and the Christian

Jesus has given us the light to be the light of the world

I remember one year we were going to Virginia on vacation and we went to a place called the Luray Caverns.

It is somewhere around 10 stories underground and a cool 54 degrees

when you start at the top of the cavern the lights outside are pretty bright and as you make your way down it gets darker and darker and when you get to the bottom of the cavern they turn all of the lights off. It is so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face.

Thinking back to that, it reminds me of the world we live in.

When the world began it had the perfect light, but when Adam and Eve sinned it caused darkness to enter the world through sin

And year after year, generation after generation we have continued to see the light grow dimmer and dimmer. Jesus has called us to be the light in the world, and as a church we are to be a light in our community, and we are called to send the light to the world.

A city that is set on a hill can’t be hid

We are not called to hide to light, but we are called to be like a city set on a hill that can’t be hid.

How many of us have been driving at night, especially in the country and there isn’t a street light, a porch light, or a set of headlights for miles, but as you travel down the road off in the distance you can see a city or a town miles away because of the darkness that surrounds it

That is the light that Jesus has called us to be, and through the light that lives inside of us, Jesus, we can be that light

Remember up until the last 100 years or so mist homes didn’t have electricity in their house they would use candles to illuminate the house.

No one lit their candle to hide it under a bushel

Mark 4:21 “21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?”

Luke 8:16 “16 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.”

Luke 11:33 “33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.”

The purpose of the light

If there was ever a time to let our light shine, its now!

We live in a world of darkness and we are commanded to be the light that illuminates the darkness

The world sees the light in darkness, but its not about us, its all about Christ.

all the glory belongs to God

in Bible days some of the rabbis would call themselves the light of the world and wanted the glory for being the light in the darkness, but here the Rabbi capital R came and said he is the light of the world, then commands us to be the light of the world to glorify the Father who is in heaven!

Conclusion

Jesus has called us to be salt and light

Can people see the salt in the way we live our life? Can people see the light in our life in the way we labor?

Be salt

Be light