Relating as Salt and Light

Our Theme for 2025 is “Live Like Jesus”

It comes out of a simple desire to follow Jesus - and to learn better what that means.

We are spending the entire year in the Gospel of Matthew.

You may have noticed that while we are going through the book of Matthew, we are not reading at the same pace or even in order.

We began by going very slowly through twelve verses at the beginning of chapter five, known as the beatitudes.

These verses talk about how to live a good life and that “the good life” according to Jesus , is exactly opposite of what you might think.

The, we skipped ahead to chapter 25 and moved through the teachings and narrative of Jesus’ Passion, leading up to His death and resurrection.

Now we go back to chapter five and pick up where we left off.

Given what Jesus says about how we should live and what He demonstrated in His own life, death and resurrection; we will find that the way Matthew tells the story of Jesus is meant to introduce us to the renewed life that we have in Christ.

Consider the life of a caterpillar that transforms into a butterfly. Initially, it crawls along the ground, limited in its vision and experience. However, after going through the process of metamorphosis, it emerges to soar into the sky. The caterpillar to butterfly makes a full transformation from one kind of existence to another. Matthew tells us the story of Jesus in a way that beckons us to the same transformation, reminding us that in Christ, we are given wings to fly and live a renewed life—with new perspectives and possibilities.

Remember that Jesus death and resurrection was full of new creation imagery.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

When Jesus preached the sermon on the Mount, after the beatitudes, he then talks about how those who follow His teaching will help to change the world.

Just as the resurrection narrative concludes with the great commission; Jesus’ teaching has a specific goal in mind.

Namely, that it would not only transform those who hear it, but that they would become agents of that transformation in others.

Matthew 5:13–14 ESV

13 “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. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

We walk in new life in Christ - that was the whole point of the resurrection.

But what does that actually look like?

How do we relate differently, to God, to ourselves, and to others because of who we are becoming in Christ.

How do you explain to a caterpillar who only knows how to crawl, what it means to fly?

First of all, don’t be too hard on yourself, its a process!

But it is a process that we should be engaged in - letting God transform us by transforming how we relate.

Relating to God

Matthew 5:15–16 ESV

15 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. 16 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.

The whole purpose of our lives is to glorify God.

Remember Gal 2:20?

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Jesus’ death on the cross was a divine exchange; His life for mine.

My life now has a new purpose, to glorify God.

What does it mean to glorify God?

Is it just singing songs, saying God you are awesome!

That’s part of it - but that’s just part.

What else do we do when we sing praise to God?

We are recalling and recounting who God is, His attributes, His works, and His promises.

We are essentially describing God through our songs.

Why is that important?

Because we need to be reminded?

Because we are shaped and formed by that knowledge.

Because when we behold God; we become what we behold!

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The salt and light metaphor and the city on a hill speak to that transformation; but declare that it has a purpose beyond just what God is doing in us.

You are a demonstration of God to the world.

How are other people going to know about God?

Sure, they can read about God as he is portrayed in books, movies or even in the Bible?

Oh there are some really weird portraits of God in the media and on TV:

Remember George Burns in “Oh, God” - “what we need is a slogan - think God!”

Or maybe Morgan Freeman - Now he had the voice! But there was no love there; In fact, His character seemed pretty annoyed with humanity.

Even Rodney Dangerfield has played God in two different films - it seems that even God “gets no respect” from Hollywood.

But have you noticed that most people really don’t get it, even when God is portrayed well.

How is anyone going to see, know or understand the nature, the character, especially the love of God?

They will only recognise it when they see it in God’s people?

This is why it is so important that we live like Jesus - because that is how people will truly know God.

Jesus was emphatic about demonstrating our love and devotion to God by how we live our lives.

John 14:15 ESV

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Why is that so important? Because the world is watching!

You are the salt - if you don’t have any taste left - they are not going to know what salt is.

You are the light - if they can’t see your light - they are going to think that light only exists in fairy tales.

Or even worse, they will think that the darkness is really light.

Someone has to glorify God for them to even see God or know God.

So how do we do that… lets keep reading.

Matthew 5:17–20 ESV

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

What you allow God to do in you will be multiplied.

The Scribes are the ones who spend their time copying the scriptures; the Pharisees are the ones who spend their time arguing about what it all means.

The scribes are the academics, scholars and Bible nerds.

The Pharisees are the preachers, the televangelists and the one’s who write self-help books.

These are the people that most people in Jesus’ day would have looked to as “experts” on God.

But Jesus says “do what they say, but not what they do”

Matthew 23:2–3 NLT

2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.

So how is God glorified? - When people see who God really is.

And how do they see who God really is? - They see it demonstrated when people live like Jesus.

Demonstrated - because people don’t do what you tell them to do - they do what they see you doing.

Do you realize what that means? - whatever you demonstrate - be it good or bad - it being multiplied through the people who follow your example.

Why do my kids act the way that they do? Is it perhaps because they are watching me?

Why are my employees lazy?

Why are my neighbors rude?

Why are my friends so weird?

You have to ask you self what you bring into the mix?

Are you glorifying God by bringing Him into your family, your workplace, your neighborhood or your friend group?

Ok, so lets back up and just talk about relating to yourself.

Relating to your self

Jesus made the point that who you are is going to influence people around you - that is going to either show them who God is, or not.

The more important question is, “What is going on inside of you?”

Who you are on the inside is going to show up on the outside.

Becoming salt and light starts in your own heart and mind.

Which is why Jesus, after declaring that we are supposed to be salt and light, get really personal.

Deal quickly with negative emotions.

Matthew 5:21–26 ESV

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Most of us would never think of committing murder!

Change that - most of us would never admit that we have thought of committing murder.

Those are private thoughts - we keep those to ourselves.

OK, maybe not murder exactly (murder is too messy),

but face it, there are times that we wish we could just make certain people “go away.”

There is a reason why we keep those thoughts to ourselves - because if we don’t, things can quickly escalate and get us in trouble.

But if those thoughts are so destructive to relationships on the outside, imagine what they do to you inside?

We know what they do inside, they become anxiety which can be linked to all kinds of physical illness. I read an article this week where studies were done that show that people can experience physical pain simply at the anticipation of injury - before anything actually happens to them. Pain can be caused by simply imagining a painful event, event if it hasn’t happened yet. Or if it happened a long time ago.

Holding in anger, resentment and forgiveness may seem like it is helping, but it is also hurting you.

It would be better to get rid of whatever is there that is not godly.

That’s why Jesus says to leave your sacrifice and go deal with the problem.

The sacrifice is supposed to clear up things between you and God.

But if you are holding on to negative emotions, it may seem like everything is OK, but God knows that you are not OK.

God wants you to deal with the hidden stuff inside of you so it doesn’t get in the way of Him shining his light through you.

Pay attention to your inner world.

Matthew 5:27–30 ESV

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Lust is one of those hidden things that many, if not most people deal with, but we usually never talk about it.

If you have an affair - cheat on your spouse- everybody knows that it is terribly destructive to a relationship.

But what if you just cheat in your thoughts - nobody has to know about that, right?

I used to work on a construction crew, and construction workers are notorious for their coarse talk. The guys on my crew would “cat call” every girl who walked by and talk about her physical features in exaggerated detail. One of the guys I used to work with used to say, “It doesn’t matter where you get your appetite from as long as you go home to eat.” To which I responded, “yeah, but if you have been thinking about steak, are you really going to be satisfied with hamburger?”

Sorry ladies, that was meant for the guys.

My wife is not hamburger - she’s my “prime rib”

But you get the point, the very idea of comparison is offensive.

Your wife doesn’t want you even thinking about anyone else but her.

Otherwise your affection feels more like manipulation.

You are just using her to satisfy yourself.

We tend to think that our thoughts and our attitudes don’t really matter as long as we don’t actually sin by our actions.

Jesus is saying that is a fundamental misunderstanding of what sin is.

Sin begins precisely in our thoughts and in our attitudes.

By the time is shows up in our actions - it’s already consumed us,

and it is beginning to seriously reproduce itself by affecting the world around us.

Sin is like a cancer.

If you are told that you have a cancer - your next question is - how do I get rid of it?

And the doctor is like “we’re just going to watch it and see if it gets any worse”

And you are like, “ I don’t want to wait - I want it gone!”

If only we understood what a cancer sin is - we wouldn’t tolerate it, even if it’s hidden - especially if it is hidden!

Relating to others

So we began by talking about becoming salt and light.

We are being transformed in the image of Christ.

That means that we look and act differently from the world.

But what does that look like practically speaking?

Jesus first give two relational examples - one in the context of marriage and the other in general.

The hallmark of God’s nature and character is His covenant faithfulness.

God makes and keeps His promises.

It follows that anyone who is going to “live like Jesus” will keep theirs.

Keep your commitments.

Matthew 5:31–37 ESV

31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

II know that divorce is a loaded topic.

Everyone want to know “but what about...?”

If you are looking for a way out of your marriage and want to justify it from scripture I would refer you to what we just said about lust-

The fact that you are even thinking about it is the problem that you have to start with.

You may need to go back and revisit what Jesus said about anger and forgiveness.

The point that Jesus is making is that marriage is a covenant - you can’t break it without serious consequences.

In fact, the only reason you should ever consider it is because the covenant has already been broken and you are dealing with the consequences.

Every time you break covenant and start a new relationship, life gets more complicated - ask anyone who has been there.

You best chance for happiness and success is reconciliation - if that is at all possible - sometimes it isn’t.

The same thing is true for any agreement or contractual relationship that you may have.

That’s why Jesus said not to swear an oath.

An oath is basically calling on a deity to back up your commitment.

It invokes curses if the covenant is broken.

As if the consequences of not keeping your promise were not enough.

The bottom line is that if you want people to trust you, then you will do exactly as you say.

If you don’t do that, then it doesn’t matter how colorful your language is - you are not to be trusted.

It comes back to the heart and the intentions - either you mean what you say or you don’t.

Any embellishments are usually mean to be a distraction.

If we are going to represent God to the world , then trust is absolutely essential.

If people can trust you, they may be willing to consider trusting what you say about God.

If they can’t trust you, then anything you say about God is only going to turn people off.

And trust is just a start...

Go beyond what is expected.

Matthew 5:38–42 ESV

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

God is faithful, you can trust Him… but that is just the beginning.

The Bible portrays a God who is infinitely generous.

Ephesians 3:20 NLT

20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Satan, the serpent in the garden, deceived Adam and Even by painting God as stingy and holding out on them.

But when we know God, we know that HE is more than generous.

He didn’t hold back His own Son, but gave Him for our redemption.

Romans 8:32 ESV

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

That is the side of God that people need to see.

How are they going to see it?

We are going to demonstrate it - by going above and beyond what is expected.

When we maintain a sense of dignity when mistreated, we show that we will not be disregarded.

When we give more than what is demanded we do it voluntarily, essentially taking back our will and showing that we are not powerless.

In fact, whenever we are stingy, defensive or act in self-protective ways we act predictably in ways that usually result in becoming someone else’s victim.

But when we act generously, freely and unpredictably go out of our way to bless others - well that just changes the whole game.

It puts the ball in our court, turns the tables, puts the power back in our hands.

And here is the thing, the world thinks that they have to control us or we will try to control them.

They don’t get it.

They think that an all-powerful God has got to be out to get them.

After all- if they could, they would!

But God is not like them - not like us.

He is not trying to control us - He wants to transform us!

He became like us so that we could become like Him.

But it is going to have to happen naturally, like salt working its way into food to bring out all the flavors that were already there.

Or like light that illuminates what already exists, but without light, you can’t see what is right in front of you.

What God wants to do in the world, He is going to work in you first.

Illuminating your own heart and mind - scary I know!

He is going to infuse His own nature into you.

So that as you move in the world, people will see Jesus in you.

And they will be drawn to knowing God themselves.

Questions for reflection:

Back to the caterpillar/ butterfly illustration. If you are a caterpillar, and a butterfly comes by and says, “I used to be just like you.” Would you believe it? How can you demonstrate that the change is real?

How real is the change in you? Does your inner world match your outer world? How might you begin to work the change on the inside that you want to see on the outside?

Reflect on Jesus' command to 'let your light shine.' What does that mean for your daily interactions with others? How does you life reflect God’s faithfulness and His generosity?