Salt and Light

Introduction

Good morning Crossroads! It’s the first Sunday morning of 2025! I hope each of you have had an amazing Christmas and a happy new year and I am glad that you decided to be here this morning with us.

Now, the beginning of the year is always a special time because the week in between Christmas and New Years day is a weird lull in life where everything kind of stops. That coupled with the new year quickly approaching is the chance to reflect on the year, but also an opportunity to look ahead to a fresh start with a new year. Which means we have this awesome opportunity to start new things, try again things that we failed to do, reprioritize our lives around what matters if we have gotten distracted, and set goals that we want to reach in 2025. Either way, the beginning of the year brings a certain expectation in new beginnings for hope. And in a room this size there are numerous new years resolutions that you have carefully thought out and want to accomplish this year! And the reality is, is those resolutions reflect your priorities for this upcoming year and what you want to become by the end of 2025. And as we begin this year we come to this place of worship with an eager expectation to hear from God’s Word. Desiring to begin the year striding in the right direction. (come from the angle that each year we have an expectation for that year and we have plans and goals, but many times we end the year previously with it looking a whole lot different than we envisioned. And sometimes we have to grieve that and look forward again. But I want to bring to your attention a type of resolution for your year that won’t go wayward when things maybe don’t go the way you planned it. A resolution that won’t change when life gets difficult this year and you get thrown a curveball that you didn’t expect that totally changes everything.)

And I want to challenge us as a church body and you as individuals in a very familiar couple of verses today Matthew 5:13-16. Go ahead and turn there as we begin. I want to give you a little bit of background... This passage we are about to dive into today sits near the very beginning of a really important sermon that Jesus preached that we call “The Sermon on the Mount”. This whole sermon is a sermon ABOUT THE Kingdom of God and the way that those who are part of the Kingdom should operate and live their lives. He is preaching to a crowd of people and in this crowd are His disciples and He had the disciples in mind when he shares this sermon. His disciples were from Galilee, which was like the country. They were blue collar workers, farmers, fisherman, peasants. And their lives would’ve seemed to them, insignificant in light of the Roman empire. This sermon that Jesus preached began with a couple of statements that we call the “Beatitudes” where Jesus gives us a series of declarations of blessedness. (Go on to read each one of those!!) He describes in the beatitudes the character and the nature of Kingdom followers. Then in the passage that we are reading today, Jesus makes a few analogies and metaphors to tell us what His followers do in the world that they live in. So let’s read the text this morning:

READ Matthew 5:13-16

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

“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 are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 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.

What a statement:

Light the world + Preserve the earth

from this statement we see,

The Christian is not someone who lives in isolation

They are in the world and bear a relationship to it

We are called agents of change: Salt and Light. By using these analogies, He is saying something about the world itself. The fact that Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world” implies something about the world that we live in. Jesus’ statements about us indicates that there is:

A world of decay (Salt Needed)

A world of darkness (Light Needed)

Christ compares our ministry to:

Salt to humble us. Salt is cheap, common, conspicuous.

Light to encourage us. Light is illuminating and enlightening. It gives us vision and understanding.

Verses 13-16 are to stir up believers and encouraging diligence and faithfulness. There are certain statements in Scripture that make you feel a certain level of dignity as a follower of Christ. I believe this is one of those statements. It should cause us to realize as we go into 2025, what an incredible privilege and honor it is to be a Christian and the level of responsibility we hold as believers. That Jesus would call us salt of the earth and the light of the world. Matthew used an emphatic “You all” here, meaning you guys! YOU GUYS! are the ones I’ve chosen to be my agents of change in this world. I’ve chosen you, for such a time as this to be salt and light in 2025.

What I see Jesus saying here, church, in these verses and what I want to unpack for us today is a kingdom living that is counter-cultural and being a difference maker. Not just for all of those that have lived prior to us but also for us today in 2025. My prayer is that we would be an otherworldly church in 2025. A taste of heaven here in the Woodlands and the city of Houston in 2025. That we would be like salt and light for our community. A life that is seasoned by heaven and a light that shines brightly for all to see.

Pray.

Being Salt is counter-cultural

We read this text and we may be a little confused on why Jesus would say that we are salt because in our time being “salty” isn’t really a good thing. But it’s important to understand a couple of purposes of salt in the time of Jesus that will help us to understand what Jesus really meant by this.

Salt was an important commodity in the ancient world. Yes it was very common but it was extremely valuable. Often times Roman soldiers were paid part of their wages in salt. (Ever heard the saying “He’s not worth his salt”?) It comes from that practice of paying Roman soldiers in salt because salt held its value. It had two purposes in the Middle East in the first century. Because of the lack of refrigeration, salt was used to preserve food…especially meat, which would quickly spoil in the desert environment. So to prevent decay and bacterial rot they would rub salt into the meat. My first job ever when I was in high school was at Subway (Yeahhhhh i was what subway called a “Sandwich Artist”)! And I remember the worst smell in that entire place was #1 The smell of the food trap underneath the dish sink that caught all of the stray food scraps. (Yes because I was the youngest I was the one that always had to clean it) but #2 was the smell of rancid meat. The most horrible smell! So think of that smell when you hear that phrase “You are the salt of the earth”. So you are the salt of the earth! You stop the rot and the corruption in the world around you.

How can we be the salt of the earth? How can we make a difference?

We preserve and purify

Christians are to be a spiritual preservative and moral disinfectant to stop and hold back decay in this world.

Why are we persecuted for trying to do good though? What happens when you get in the ocean and you have an unknown open wound? You don’t go “wowwww that feels good!” No! It stings. It hurts. So when we are like salt as moral disinfectant in our culture, don’t be surprised when it comes with a price.

We add flavor to life

Salt is used to bring out the flavor of food. It is meant to take the tastelessness out of the food and enriches the flavor of a dish. (Funny: Now, some of yall be putting too much salt on things…watch out because kidney stones might be in your future family…just saying!)

Like that, life can be flat, empty, purposeless. Because of this people seek pleasure and addictions on their way to trying to add a “spiciness” to their lives. But when they see someone with real purpose, real confidence, real joy, real peace, real freedom they start to think… “hmmmm that’s different!”

We create a thirst for spiritual things in the world

Salt is a necessary element for the blood and life of the human body. Salt increases a craving for water in the human body in order to rehydrate. Sodium is a good thing! Too little sodium in the body can create dehydration because there is nothing to help transport water to the cells. The reality is this: The world is spiritually dehydrated. You, by your life can create a thirst and your presence can create a thirst. Live such a full Christian life that when others see it, their life seems empty. Your life is attractive to them. Not because you have the nicest things or the biggest house or the coolest vacations, but because you live with great purpose because you realize you have a greater purpose beyond what the world sees as important. By the things that you do and the things that you say and the ways that you respond you are displaying something to someone.

We are responsible as salt to give out the gospel

Pour it out upon those who need Jesus (Make the devil scream) Pour salt on the wounds of sin and kill the germs of sin! Don’t lose your testimony. Savor your spirituality, taste, strength, and effectiveness.

So what does this mean for us as believers in 2025? Jesus referring to us like salt in the earth stresses the importance for us to be a change agent in our culture. That we would preserve life and resist the decay of sin in our lives and it’s impact on those around us. The descriptor to be salt defines us as counter-cultural. How do I know that? Because at the end of verse 13 Jesus says “But if the salt loses it’s saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” This might sound really harsh, but it is a word of caution from the mouth of our Savior indicating that He takes seriously our need to be distinguishable from the world. If you become so influenced by your culture that you no longer are an influence on your culture, then you become as insignificant as spoiled salt on the street because YOU BLEND IN. YOU SHOULDN’T BLEND IN YOU SHOULD STAND OUT.

I believe that one of the biggest desire for the Enemy is to make us indistinguishable from the world around us. If fitting in becomes more important to you than standing out that’s a red flag. Don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed.

The most tragic thing that I can think of is a church or an individual believer who has tasted and seen that the Lord is good. That has experienced the goodness of God. That has experienced the forgiveness of sins and the radical grace of God. That has had the veil on their eyes lifted to see the wonder and majesty of God Himself and the radical love that He has shown by sending His only Son to be the substitution and payment for our sins, and to see and experience all of that and turn back to looking so much like the world that there was nothing different that was distinguishable at all. (Give part of my own testimony here: My friend on the baseball team telling me when I told him I was a Christian that he didn’t even know that because I looked and acted just like everybody else). We are meant to be counter-cultural from the world around us. God’s desire for our church and you as a follower of Jesus operating as part of this local collection of Christians is that we would be a taste of heaven. A community of people that are preserving and dispensing life and good in our community. We should aspire to be a church that if we closed our doors, then our absence would be deeply felt.

Sprinkle of application: Question...If you were to leave your job, neighborhood, and places of recreation and living…would your absence be felt? Would you say that in 2025 you would desire to be so impactful within your areas of work, play, school, drop off lines, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. that your presence would be sorely missed if you weren’t there anymore? That’s the testimony of salt that hasn’t lost it’s saltiness. It is effective wherever it is. It’s an agent of preservation of things that are good and holy, it’s a purification agent to everything that it unclean, and it is seasoning to life that is bland, purposeless, and without flavor.

A life lived like that in 2025 is counter cultural by nature.

Being light is being a difference maker

Okay go back 2,000 years in your mind…did they have electricity back then? No! We do today, we enjoy light in the room. Nighttime doesn’t really affect us much because we have the luxury of walking into well lit homes, heat up a piece of pizza at midnight just because you want a snack, read a book before bedtime, play with your kids when you get home from work. When you get in your vehicle at night you turn on the lights and can drive wherever you need to go. You have streetlights in most places so that you can see and navigate the environment you’re in while you’re walking into a store, etc. Not 2,000 years ago. When it got dark, everything stopped. They would go inside and light little clay oil lamps and lift it onto a high shelf to give light to the room. So, when Jesus said that “You are the light of the world.” He’s saying that the world is dark!

Jesus couples the preservation and seasoning analogy of salt (which is more hidden in nature), with the visual analogy of a light shining in the midst of darkness (this one is more visible). The idea is very similar to that of salt. The presence of light in darkness is something that is unmistakable. The presence of Christians in the world must be like a light in the darkness. Not only in the sense that the truth of God’s Word brings light to the darkened hearts of sinful men (John 1:1-10), but also in the sense that our good deeds must be evident for all to see.

So, how do we be the light of the world? How can we make a difference?

To remove darkness

Light removes darkness. Jesus said in John 9:5 “I am the light of the world.” Darkness in Scripture speaks of wickedness and evil. Light is always referred to as truth. We were called out of darkness and into marvelous light. But here is the thing about light…it has to be seen. You don’t hide it! Light wasn’t meant to be hidden. Because light brings about visibility and makes everything else around it visible. The Christian life is meant to be lived in public. No Christian witness is supposed to remain concealed. You can’t live a hidden Christian life. Nobody is an undercover Christian.

Know that, just like when you put salt in a wound and it hurts…turning on the lights for people accustomed to living in darkness will squint because it hurts. You reveal something about their lives that they aren’t wanting to look at. In the spiritual life, ignorance isn’t bliss.

We point the way out of darkness

(1 Corinthians 15:1-4) I remind you brothers and sisters of the gospel I proclaimed to you and you recieved. I handed it on to you as I received it.

YOU RECEIVE: YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE.

We light the way for mankind to see God. A city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Our testimony for Christ is a continuous shining light. Don’t let living in the world shut out a lamp intended to shine.

Here’s the truth: There is no light in all the world apart from that provided by

born again believers

and the gospel message

Here’s the last thing: Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Let your good works be billboard that you advertise your faith. This is just another hammer on the nail to drive home that we weren’t meant to live our Christian life in secret or hidden, but in public in front of others. This is why as a church we do serve the city. This is why we urge you to get involved in mission trips around the country and around the world. This is why we encourage everyone who becomes a member of this local body to not just attend our services but actively participate in the work that is happening here by serving others through different volunteer teams week in and week out. Because we want you to operate in your God-given giftings to make a serious impact for the kingdom of heaven here on earth. And by doing so, we TURN THE LIGHT ON! WE RUB THE SALT IN! We push back the darkness in this world and we preserve and purify the world around us through the words we say and the actions we take here in this world.

***WE DON’T DO GOOD WORKS FOR OURSELVES TO BE SEEN BUT FOR CHRIST TO BE MAGNIFIED, GLORIFIED, LIFTED HIGH.***

Do good works for Jesus’ sake, Jesus’ name, and God’s glory.

This sounds really bad, and I hear people say it all the time that this world is getting worse and worse. Many of you even sitting in this room can’t imagine how 2025 could be good and you’re assuming that things are just going to get worse. It’s pretty dark out there. Seems pretty hopeless sometimes. Like it’s just too far gone. But I’ll say this where I find great hope…the state of the world bring about the right environment for our light to make maximum impact. The darker everything looks right now makes a beautiful setting for the lights of the world to shine in a big way! We are positioned for such a time as this to be difference makers as lights of the kingdom of heaven lit up by the witness of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Now that’s a resolution for 2025 that I believe gives us a great goal and purpose as a church and as a christian don’t you think?! This is our opportunity! This is our time!

Land the Plane

Remember: We weren’t meant to be hidden and stored away, but we are meant to be change agents and shining lights in the midst of our community. This year in 2025…let your presence be felt. Let the flavor of your life be boldly marked by Jesus and your relationship with Him. Let your life this year be a shining light among men so that they might see God through your obedience to Him. Let the good works that you do point to the goodness of our God. Again let your presence be felt for the kingdom of God in 2025. All other goals and aspirations may change and shift, but this one stays the same. Let’s be salt and light.