Salt and Light Parable

Matthew 5:13-16

Good morning, if you are new here or just started coming recently, you might’ve wondered if that other pastor (me) ever teaches at the pulpit, and the answer is yes, occasionally. And when I teach about every other month or so at the pulpit, I teach over the parables of our Lord. The parables are packed with theological truth, many of them putting heavy emphasis on how we are to live our Christian lives. If you are a born again follower of Jesus Christ, we are not to be idle here, we are not here to make a name for ourselves, we are not here to indulge in worldly pleasures and distractions, we are aliens here in an foreign world and we are to be first and foremost ambassadors for our Lord who shed His blood so we could be saved from this dark fallen world.

So, if we are to now live in this dark world, what are the disciples of Christ to do? Should we blend in with the world? Should we try to fit in? Should we live a life, so the world likes us? Should we keep quiet? How much of our Christian lives should be seen among the world? All questions that will be answered today using a very short parable.

So, this morning, would you please turn with me in the Scriptures to Matthew 5:13-16 (You may have heard this parable many times, you may be even able to recite it as much as John 3:16, but today we are going to expound on it.)

Matthew 5:13-16 (Find and Read)

Jesus is addressing the crowds on a hillside, we know this passage to be the famous sermon on the mount. And right after the beautiful beatitudes, Jesus turns the attention to his disciples, not just the main 12 but all his followers who truly pledge to follow Him. And He likens them to two things: salt and light. Two very different things, they are both good things but it’s hard to compare the two directly. Which is why Jesus doesn’t just say one or the other, he says both back-to-back. You are salt, but not only salt, but you are also light. So, let’s break these two items down and see what Jesus was meaning by these.

First the salt. It is hard for us to imagine our modern salt losing its saltiness. Sodium Chloride is the compound that makes up our standard table salt and it’s a very stable compound. Our modern technology can make it that way, so it never loses its saltiness. But rewind about 2K years to ancient Israel, this wasn’t the case. They obtained their salt by evaporating water from the dead sea. The dead sea is the saltiest body of water on earth. Mainly because it’s like 1,200 feet below sea level, all the minerals from the mountains filter into the sea and there’s no outlet, so the sea just collects it all. It’s so salty and filled with so many minerals that no marine life can exist in it. That’s why it’s called the dead sea.

So, when they evaporate the water, they obtain salt crystals, and they are the first crystals to form and when properly separated they can obtain a relatively pure salt. If it’s not separated correctly, other chlorides like potassium and magnesium get in there, if it attracts moisture somehow, that salt that they had could lose its saltiness. So, the people of Israel at that time knew exactly what Jesus was talking about and they knew that once salt became tasteless, it became utterly useless. We can kind of imagine that, if we take our saltshaker out, put some salt on our food and it somehow lost all its flavor, would you put it back into your spice drawer? No, you would throw it in the trash. Same here, except they didn’t have nice trash services and landfills. The only thing they could do with it is throw it in the street where it would be trampled. Because, although it lost its flavor, it didn’t lose its ability to be destructive.

They couldn’t throw it in a field, it would kill the crops. They couldn’t even throw it into a manure pile because that manure could be used eventually to put on the field and hurt the crops. If the salt became tasteless, it became utterly useless. Imagine something being so useless you can’t even throw it in a manure pile. That’s saying something.

So, Jesus says we (you and I) are salt. He’s talking to Christians. Christians are salt. And we must think about salt’s qualities in order to understand this.

1. It preserves. It’s a preservative. We use it today to preserve foods, they did so back then as well. One example today is beef jerky. I know, I don’t buy it a lot anymore because you have to ask the bank for a loan to buy it. So, I make it sometimes, you just take meat, and you just pack it with preserving salt then dehydrate it. And that allows the meat to stay unrefrigerated for a long time.

a. They did this a lot in ancient times because they didn’t have refrigerators to keep things cold, so they used salt to preserve things.

b. Jesus says we are the salt of the earth. He’s saying that Christians are the preservative of the earth. Just like salt keeping meat from decaying and putrefying, we as Christ followers are keeping the earth from decay and moral corruption.

c. Mark 9:50, Jesus says, have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Christians bring peace to a decaying world. The only source of peace. How do we know, God gave us an example, God gave Moses the account of the pre flood world, we don’t have a lot of detail, but we know that with only 8 people in the whole world that was approved by God, the rest of the world decayed and corrupted so bad that every thought and deed was only evil continuously. And that would happen today if Christians were not salty. Christians are God’s agents to preserve this earth.

2. It’s flavorful. Have you ever tried grilling a steak with no seasoning? I wouldn’t suggest it. It’s pretty bland, not exciting. But when you smother both sides with salt and put it on the grill, something wonderful happens. It takes the bland boring steak to a delicious and flavorful meal. As Christians, we are not only preserving the earth but also flavoring it. We are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

a. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (Find and read)

b. We are the aroma that God desires among a decaying world.

i. Notice three things, The decaying process has already started. We know from Romans 1 that sin left unchecked snowballs downhill rapidly and gets worse and worse. Meat as soon as you cut it off the animal, starts decaying, salt only stops the process, it doesn’t reverse it, it only stops it.

1. We know the world is bad and getting worse. 2 Timothy 3:13 – Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

2. The world can only go in one direction, worse. That’s why it needs salt.

ii. You can read what happens in Revelation Chapter 4, when the true followers, the salt of the earth are raptured and taken into heaven. The salt is removed, what’s left is nasty corruption and evil by itself and because we with the Holy Spirit inside us were holding back the corruption and decay, once we are removed, God will unleash His holy wrath upon the earth for 7 years of utter destruction.

1. We are salt, salt makes the earth tasteful right now, for a time.

iii. Notice salt is invisible and also different from the material it’s on. You eat a bland steak, no flavor, you eat a salted steak, you say, wow! That’s different? What’s on there? You know something is on there that made it better, but it doesn’t belong to the steak, the steak didn’t produce it, it’s foreign to the steak.

1. 1 John 2:15 – Do not love the world nor the things in the world.

2. Romans 12:2 – Do not be conformed to the world.

a. Christians are here to influence the world but not be of the world. We are different. (Talk more about that later).

3. It’s invisible, it’s passive. We don’t really know whether food has 8mg of salt or 8K mg of salt just by looking at it. It’s invisible just by looking at it, we only would know by tasting.

a. The true church works in the world but it’s invisible to the naked eye. We are spread out over the hole earth, preserving and flavoring it. It’s hard to know who is who, we will only truly know once in heaven.

b. Do not go around tasting people either, I’m not suggesting that. That is not the way to find out.

If salt has become tasteless, how can it become salty again? It can’t, it’s a rhetorical question, the ancient peoples would have known this, once it loses its properties, it cannot regain them. It becomes useless and thrown out. Jesus is emphasizing here, you are salt. Notice, He doesn’t say, I suggest you become salt, it’s a good idea to be tasteful. No, he says if you are saved, you are salt. If you are not salty, you are useless. You are either saved and useful or unsaved and useless. And that is what He means when salt loses it taste. That’s unbelievers. Christians can’t lose their saltiness. But let’s move on because I want to apply this message to us, the believers lives.

One way you can apply this to your life: If you are a Christian, you are useful to God. He has a plan for you, and He will use you for His kingdom. Somehow, someway, God will use you. You have an impact on this planet, because Jesus says you are salt.

Let’s move on to light. We know that the world needs salt because it’s corrupted and decaying, well it also needs light, because its dark and only darkening. Mentioned many times in Scripture and a lot in 1 John, John likens the world and evil to darkness.

- Like I said earlier, these are two very different things. Let’s contrast them for a minute. While salt is invisible, light is noticeable. Salt works in the background, while light works openly. Salt has a more indirect approach, while light has a very direct approach. Salt can only stop something from happening. Light can actually change something into something else. It can actually get rid of the darkness.

- Salt is the more indirect influence of the gospel and works primarily through our living while light is more of the direct communication of the gospel and works through what we say directly.

So, you are salt and you, again not a suggestion, you are light Jesus says. We are to be living a life of holiness and righteousness and going out and spreading the light of the gospel. Before we go any further, some Christians mistakenly think that they don’t have to go and tell people about the gospel because that’s what an evangelist does, that they don’t have to teach scripture, because that’s what a pastor does. Or some other reason they might think of to excuse themselves of being the light they are. Let me take you to some passages here:

Ephesians 4:11-12 – Notice these were all and some still are leadership roles if you will. We don’t have apostles or prophets anymore at least in the biblical sense. But look what all these roles did: to equip the saints (you guys) for service. What service? To do the things these leaders do. The evangelist is not the main guy going out and evangelizing, look what he is doing, look what his main role is: to equip the saints for service. To equip you all to go out and evangelize.

A Pastor equips the body to go out and pastor, the teacher equips the body to go out and teach. I wish I had more time to expand on this topic but I don’t unless you want to be here until noon. But I will say this, the main point of church is to come together, to worship God, to fellowship, to pray, to be fed the word, but the other main point of church is to be equipped then to go out of these doors and do. Don’t just hear the sermon, do the sermon. A pastor once said I would rather you do one sermon than listen to a thousand. But we must move on.

Romans 10:14 - you might think, see only a preacher does that. But what does the preacher, teacher, pastor do according to Ephesians 4:12, equip the body to go out and do the same things they are doing. If you are a born-again follower of Jesus, you are a preacher, you are a teacher, you are a preacher, you are an evangelist, you are a minister, you are salt, and you are light.

Some might think, ill be salt, ill live the Christian life and show people the gospel by my actions, but I don’t want to directly tell people. But look what Jesus says in Matthew 5: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. A city in the ancient times was almost always built on a hill, elevated from all it’s surroundings, mainly for defense but also for travelers at night. It was custom to light candles and place them in their windows at night to sort of light up the town so anyone walking to the town at night could see it and not get lost. Jesus says you can’t hide that city. Then he says another analogy:

No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. Remember that in those days, they didn’t have lighters, they didn’t have matches, they had to light a fire the old fashion way with two sticks and friction. If you’ve never done that let me tell you about it. I went on a camping trip and my buddy had this awful idea to start the fire using the primitive method. So, I tried it and let me tell you when I was finally done and got a spark I felt like I just got done wrestling a bear. It was hard work, I was sweating, my muscles were fatigued, and I vowed to always take two lighters camping. And a box of matches.

But that’s how they did it, and Jesus says no one goes through all that trouble to make a fire, take a flame, fill a jar with oil, light the oil and then put it under a basket. Who would do such a thing Jesus says. But what is the light?

1 John 1:5-7

God is light. The Gospel message is the light of God being shown among people. The light of the message is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin. When we are saved from our sins, we become light, we then reflect that light to others. Jesus says, why would we put a basket over it? If we went through such an awesome salvation by the grace of God, Why would we not share that with others? That is Jesus’ point.

And folks, I just want to point out that I’m not up here pointing a finger. You and I both don’t do this perfectly. So many days, at the end of the day my head goes down and I think about all the people I could’ve said something to, but I didn’t. I know most of you have good intentions just like me. We try, but we fail sometimes. Please don’t see this message as a lecture but a helpful and motivating tool to get us all (you and I) out there to spread the message. Many times we need to hear the strong truths of the word to motivate us to do so.

As Christians we have to reflect God who is light. Be ambassadors for Christ. I love that term, and I say it and use it all the time, I love it so much, because we can apply it today so well. An ambassador of the United States goes to a foreign land, we as Christians are aliens here on a foreign land according. The ambassador represents the entire nation. A Christian is representing the entire kingdom of God, even God Himself. The ambassador acts and says things on behalf of the nation. We as Christians are called to be salt and light. Doing and saying things on behalf of our heavenly home.

But light by its own definition has to be seen, has to be visible in order to illuminate. Jesus says you are not only indirectly influencing the world by our new nature and actions, but we are also to directly be light, to spread the light of the message, to reflect the glory of God.

Speaking of reflecting the glory of God…

I was driving at night. I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday night this week. We had a huge beautiful full moon. And I’m running this sermon through my mind all week and I look up at the moon and gaze at it and I think about it for a second and I’m kind of thinking of my sermon and then the light bulb clicks, and I put two and two together.

We always gaze at the moon and see how beautiful and bright it is, we even use this term called moon light, but where does the light of the moon actually come from? The sun. Without the sun, we wouldn’t be able to see the moon. It’s just a large rock, it doesn’t produce any light. But the beauty and glory of the moon is actually just the moon reflecting the beauty and glory of the sun. We, just like the moon, are reflecting the beauty and glory of the Son of God. That’s why we are here, to be salt and to be light.

God did not give the message of the gospel to be a secret hidden message for a few people to find, he gave it to illuminate the world with it, a light to reach every person on the planet.

John 1:9, There was the true Light, which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone.

John 3:16, For God so loved the few people? No, the world. That He gave up His Son. That he gave the message of the Gospel. It is to spread throughout the whole world.

How does God spread that light? Through us. We are the light of the world.

John 17:15-18. Jesus sent us as His light into the world.

Matthew 28:19-20 – Go and make disciples of all the nations and teach them all that I have commanded you.

We need to go; we need to teach everyone about Christ and his saving grace. We can’t make disciples by just being salt, we have to tell them. We have to be light.

And please don’t hear what I’m not saying, I’m not being utilitarian, I’m not being legalistic. There is a time where we need to tend to our families, our animals, our farms, our businesses, our work, our house. There is a time for rest, a time for play. Play with your kids, go visit your grandkids. We can go on vacation; we can take our kids to the zoo. That’s all-great stuff. Don’t go too far the other way and saying we can’t have a nice neatly mowed yard when souls are perishing! And how can I say that? We look at Jesus, the perfect representation of God. Yes, He gave the good news, yes, He healed thousands when He entered a town. But what else did he do in the gospels? He took his disciples and said let’s go, he took them to a secluded mountain to get away from the crowd and to rest.

Jesus promised His burden is light, it’s easy, so I hope that eased your burden a little bit if you had one.

But we have to remember who we are and be ready at all times to preach the gospel. We have to prioritize being a light in the world and spreading the message.

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word and be ready in season and out of season. Meaning we are to be ready to give the gospel when it’s convenient and when it’s not. We’re on vacation sitting on a beach and a stranger wants to talk, don’t blow them off, bring them the light.

Let’s look at verse 16 in the parable. (Matthew 5) (Find and read again)

Being salty is good, it does affect the people around us, but they need to hear the gospel, they need the light. Why not just be salt? Why also be light? Salt doesn’t change corruption into incorruption, it only holds it back. Light can actually change what is dark into light, it can take what is wrong and make it righteous. The light is the power of the gospel that saves souls.

An example of salt: I was around some coworkers, and we got together at work and started talking and they all wanted to start slandering a gossiping about another coworker. And I simply said hold on, everyone thinks of one thing they like about the person. And they did, and they stopped slandering the person and moved to a different topic. I didn’t give them the gospel yet. But by God’s doing, in making me salt, I was able to affect and stop a negative situation.

An example of light is bringing the law and the gospel to a person. The law shines a light into the dark soul of an individual, so they realize they need a savior, and the gospel is the light of hope for them.

But notice in this verse the order of things. We can’t simply just be salt for ages and hope someone just gets it, because first is the light, let your light shine before men. Let them hear the good news of Jesus Christ and His salvation, so that they see your good works, that’s your salt. Your actions, your lifestyle. So that they can glorify your Father in heaven.

The most productive and useful person in Christ is the one who tells a person the gospel then backs it up with their actions, with their good works. And it’s not just so people can see good works, it’s not a prideful thing, Jesus isn’t contradicting Himself because He will say later, don’t do that, just to be seen. But when we, by the grace of God are indwelled with the Holy Spirit and He manifest Himself in our life with holiness and good deeds, who gets all the credit and glory? The end of this verse: God does.

1 Cor. 10:31 In whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.

That should be our first and only priority for anything we do, God’s glory. He gets 100% of the glory, we get none. But what an honor and a privilege to serve and glorify the one true God. The God who saved us from sin and death while we were yet enemies of His. The God of love and mercy and grace who snatched you from the world’s evil grip and placed you safely and securely in His arms forever. The God that will one day destroy evil, destroy the thing that’s been tormenting you and I day and night, and one day will wipe away every tear. What a truth, what a light that we need to share with people.

If this message has encouraged you, maybe even corrected you a little bit and now maybe you’re anxious, and you’re thinking, I got to get out there and tell people about Jesus but I don’t know how. Don’t worry, we have tools and resources here, we have classes, please come see me anytime for tips and tactics on evangelism. I’m not claiming to be an expert but I can point you in the direction of fantastic resources that helped me.

So, brothers and sisters, let’s go be salt, let’s go be light, and glorify our Father in heaven.

Let’s go to our Father in prayer.