Salt and Light

By June of 1940 Hitler’s Nazi army had swept through much of Europe and was poised to attack Great Britain. Winton Churchill the newly appointed Prime Minister of Great Britain addressed parliament in one of the greatest speeches of history. In part, he said:

... the Battle of France is over ... the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, We shall fight on the seas and oceans, We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island whatever the cost may be, We shall fight on the beaches, We shall fight on the landing grounds, We shall fight in the fields and in the streets, We shall fight in the hills; We shall never surrender.

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."

Irishman Edmund Burke once said,

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

This morning as we continue our study of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount what we will see is our Savior challenging us to act different, to be different not for our sake or His, but for the sake of the world and to the Glory of God.

Matthew 5:

Matthew 5:13–16 NASB95

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus was addressing the disciples

Matthew 5:1–2 NASB95

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

Matthew 5:1

The beatitudes certainly described the essential character a disciple should posses with the cornerstone being Poor in Spirit.

Jesus charging us with being Salt and Light is call to us to influence the World by our character, for God’s Glory.

Are you Salty?

Salt of the Earth. Good person, grounded.

Salty: Old sea captain hardened by the wind and the spray of sea water. tough and experienced.

3. Modern term: To be bitter or angry.

None of this is what Jesus was saying.

Wrongly Preached: “it makes the world thirsty” or the worst. “spilled out and thrown in the devils eye”

Salt, when talked about in the Bible refers to either its effect as a flavor additive or as in this case as a preservative.

Salt stops the decay of rotting meat and fish.

Jesus is telling us to stand in the gap and fight against the decaying effect of sin on the world.

Butt our weapons in the fight are limited but powerful.

This must be your only retaliation,’ Rudolf Stier expressed it, ‘—love and truth for hatred and lies.’

Christians led the struggle to abolish slavery in the US.

But it was the silence of Christians that stood by while in 1990 1,429,00 unborn babies were aborted.

2014 652,000 lowest since 1970.

Don’t loose your saltiness.

We are called to be different.

Salt doesn’t serve itself. It reserves something else.

Light of the World

John 8:12 NASB95

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Light in the Bible represents Truth.

By telling us that we, also, are to be the light of the world, he is telling us that we are supposed to point the world to Him.

When you are in the dark and you see a light in the distance, all you see is the light. But as you get closer, you don’t focus on the light, but what the light lights up.

Deer Hunting.

If you are walking through the woods at night, you don’t hold the flash light out in front of you pointed at your eyes do you?

The light shows you your path.

Hearing things from the stand in the dark....

Light shows you what is real.

John 14:6 NASB95

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

John

Good works

Our Good Works that Jesus is referring to is not our feeding the poor or visiting widows.

He is referring to our testimony of who He is to us and what he has done for us.

We are the Salt when we stand in front of the abortion clinic and proclaim that all life is precious.

And we are the light when we meet those young women at the back door and tell them that God still loves them.

Edmund Burke:

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.