Salt and Light in a Dark and Dying World

Introduction

Will you please take your Bible and open it with me to ? Today we are continuing on in our sermon series through the longest recorded sermon of Jesus in Scripture, what is commonly called the sermon on the mount. Last week, we look at the opening 12 verses of this sermon and we looked at what is called the “beatitudes.”

There are a couple of things that we need to carry with us from that passage to this one in order for us to fully grasp what Jesus wants to say to us. If you remember from last week, we learned that this “sermon” fits in a context of teachings that Jesus has been giving his followers on the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. And we learned that this idea of the “kingdom of God”, which is a big and important idea for Jesus as it appears all throughout his teaching, it means “the reign of God”.

Jesus is teaching that the reign of God has come. In him, the reign of God has come to the earth. And what is the proper response? As Jesus said in chapter 4 of Matthew, the proper response is to repent. Repent of our rebellion against his reign and rule. Repent of our sin and embrace Jesus as the King and Lord that He is. Now that Jesus has arrived and the reign of God has appeared, repent and follow him.

Fitting in that context, we learned last week that this sermon on the mount is about what it means to be a citizen of this Kingdom. The kingdom were God reigns, what does it mean to live under this rule? What do the citizens of this kingdom look like? What are their common character traits? What is distinctive about this community? As people who are following Christ, this should be monumentally important to us.

From the beatitudes, we learn what these kingdom citizens look like. Isn’t it true that people from cultures and countries have similar characteristics? If you’ve traveled to other countries I’m sure you’ve picked this up. Or if you’ve talked with someone from another country, I’m sure you’re aware of certain distinctives both of their culture and ours. I remember asking Ken Nganda about Americans in Uganda. Do you know what he said? He said that you can tell an American in a restaurant from a German, Frenchman, or Englishman because they will most likely be the loudest in the restaurant.

Isn’t that interesting? Maybe indicting, but interesting nonetheless. Cultures have distinctives and Jesus is telling us that the same is true of citizens of his kingdom. Throughout this year we have been concerned about discipleship, what it means to be a follower, or learner of Jesus. This teaching from Jesus should be very important to us then. From the beatitudes we saw that the distinctives of Jesus’ kingdom are entirely different than any other culture on earth. We might say that they are “counter-cultural.”

To live under Jesus’ reign is to be poor in spirit, mourn over sin, hunger and thirst for righteousness, meek, and merciful toward others. These are the character traits of people living under Jesus’ reign. But if you went about your week trying to live these out in your own strength, you learned something. These traits can’t be faked. They can only come from a heart that has been changed by the gospel. These are the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration in us. Yet, for those who have been changed by the Spirit, these traits should be, and will be growing.

In our passage this morning, however, a shift takes place. In verses 13-16 Jesus moves on from talking about the character of the kingdom to witness of the kingdom. Jesus intends for his disciples to live their lives before the world and serve as a witness to the world of his reign and rule. Yes, the world that opposes us and persecutes us, Jesus intends for us to engage with. The beatitudes are to be lived out in a hostile world and serve as a witness to the world.

This is very important for us to hear. We have not been brought into Jesus’ kingdom to gather together in a holy huddle and separate ourselves from the world. While we will certainly be separated by our new desires and lifestyles, Jesus intends for these to serve as a witness to the watching world. And this is what verses 13-16 are all about. Let’s read these verses together:

Read . Pray.

Very clearly, in verses 13-16, Jesus tells his disciples that we are called to live in the world. Despite being exiles here, we have a witness to bear in this world. Listen to what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said:

The Christian is not someone who lives in isolation. He is in the world, though he is not of it; and he bears a relationship to that world. In the Scriptures you always find these to things going together. The Christian is told that he must be otherworldly in his mind and outlook; but that never means that he retires out of the world.

In the verses we’re looking at this morning, Jesus uses 3 very common substances to tell his disciples how we should live in this world. As we read, he uses salt and light. Two substances so common that though separated by 2 millennia, we know exactly what he is talking about. Someone once said that there is nothing more useful than salt and sunshine. In this passage, these two substances are used to show us how we are to live as witnesses in the world.

There’s something I want you to see, though, as we look at these two. There is a pattern that Jesus’ uses here. With both of these metaphors Jesus gives us a declaration, a qualifier, and then a result. This will be important to see because it helps us see the importance of living as salt and light in this world. We learn thing about ourselves and the world through this and we are given a compelling call to live as witnesses in our dark and dying world.

The first thing that we see is that Jesus’ Disciples Live as Salt in a Dying World.

Jesus’ Disciples Live as Salt in a Dying World

While we live in a world that is dying, decaying from the pollution of sin, Christians are to be salt in this world. Do you know what effect the beatitudes will have on the world around you? You will be like salt to a dying and decaying world. Read verse 13 again:

Matthew 5:13 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.

As I said a minute ago, there is a declaration, qualifier, and result given to us here. Jesus declares to his followers that you are the salt of the earth. One of the important elements of this declaration is the certainty that it declares. You are the salt of the earth. This is how God has made his disciples to be. He intends for you and I to live as salt in the earth. He isn’t giving us an option here, but he is declaring a reality about us as his followers. You are the salt of the earth.

What does Jesus’ mean when he says that we are the salt of the earth? Like today, salt was used to flavor things during the first century. But as you’ve probably heard, it’s most important function was as a preservative. In the hot sun of ancient Israel, meat could spoil quickly and so salt was rubbed into meat to act as a preservative for food. Salt was as important as your refrigerator at home, which you hope is working right now or your afternoon is ruined.

Jesus’ followers would have had this in mind when they heard these words from him. This declaration, however, is not only about Jesus’ followers is it? To say that we act as preservatives in this world is also saying something about the world. The world that we live in is fallen. It is polluted by sin and it is decaying. This world is dying. We see it through the news cycle and we see it in our neighborhoods. We see it when we learn about deep struggles with sin. We see it in drug addiction, child abuse, prostitution, and cultural violence.

The world is polluted by sin. As appealing as it may present itself to our flesh, it is corrupt and it is decaying. The value systems of the world are rotting. They are like meat that has been sitting in the sun for days, rotten and dying.

However, Jesus’ disciples that are marked by the beatitudes have an effect on this rotten world. Disciples preserve the world. Not that we preserve it’s rottenness, but we purify it. Left to itself, society will rot and decay, but with the influence and example of Christians, we can have a purifying and preserving effect on the world.

How? Well, by living lives marked by Christ-like character we show the world a better way. We show the world the blessedness of living under God’s reign and his approval. By living humble and bold lives described in the beatitudes, we act like preservatives in the world. But we do not merely do this with our actions, though. We also do this with our words. We live AND we speak as Jesus disciples. When we live as Jesus calls his disciples to live and when we share the good news of Jesus with others, we are like salt being rubbed deeply into meat as a preservative.

When we live as Jesus calls his disciples to live and when we share the good news of Jesus with others, we are like salt being rubbed deeply into meat as a preservative.

But there is a qualifier mentioned here too. Jesus also says, “but if salt has lost its saltiness, how shall its saltiness be restored?” I won’t go into the nature of salt because technically speaking, salt as we know it cannot lose it saltiness. But the salt of Jesus’ day came from salt marshes and could be leached out, leaving a substance that looked like salt but had no sodium chloride in it. The qualifier Jesus mentions is, in order to be salt in the world, you cannot let you saltiness be lost.

By compromising with the world you can lose your saltiness. You can become so diluted that you have no flavor. That you are worthless as a preservative. Have you lost your saltiness? Have you lost it by complacency and apathy? Have you lost it through business with worldly aspirations?

If so, Jesus says, the result is that your life is not longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled. John Stott said this:

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 1. The Salt of the Earth (13)

If Christians become assimilated to non-Christians and contaminated by the impurities of the world, they lose their influence. The influence of Christians in and on society depends on their being distinct, not identical. Dr Lloyd-Jones emphasizes this: ‘The glory of the gospel is that when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first.’4 Otherwise, if we Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christians, we are useless. We might as well be discarded like saltless salt, ‘thrown out and trodden under foot by men’.

You can show the good flavor of the Christian life by living the life of a true disciple. Salt is such a small and simple substance. It is really ordinary. It’s just like us, small and ordinary, but God intends to use us from great purposes in the earth, if we maintain our saltiness.

(salt is a small thing but makes a big difference)

The second metaphor Jesus uses is the metaphor of light. He says that we are to live as light in a dark world.

Jesus’ Disciples Live as Light in a Dark World

No only do we live as salt, but we are also called to live as light in a dark world. We preserve and flavor but we also shine. Look at verses 14-16 again:

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

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

Once again, Jesus makes a declaration about us and the world. We live in a dark world. The world has been darkened by evil. The Bible calls this world the domain of darkness. It is full of hate and evil. Yet, in this darkness a light shines. It was shining in the world through the life of Jesus Christ and now it shines through the lives of Jesus’ disciples.

We are light living in darkness. I’m not sure you can describe two things more different than light and darkness. A bulb cannot be a little light and a little dark. It may be dim, but it is either light or dark. So it is with the Christian. You are called to be light in the midst of darkness. You are called to shine in the dark world. You illuminate a dark room, shine onto the earth like the rising Sun, and dispel the darkness.

But we live in a dark world. A world that loves darkness and therefore hates the light. The persecution that Jesus described at the end of the beatitudes is the direct result of being light in a dark world. So, does your life shine with a piercing effect of light in darkness. Does it pierce with peace in the midst of a world in turmoil. Does it pierce with joy in a world of hopelessness? Does it pierce with rest in a restless world? Does it pierce with holiness in a world of sin? Jesus’ disciples are the light of the world.

We must remember, however, that this shining light is a fruit of our regeneration. This light is not something we create in ourselves but something that emanates from us because of what the Holy Spirit has done! Consider 2 Corinthians 4:6:

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

God has shone this light into our heart, and now this light shines forth into the dark world. Again, there is a qualifier here. You see it in verses 14-15. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not put a lamp under a basket.

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

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

Matthew 5:

Again, there is a qualifier here. You see it in verses 14-15. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not put a lamp under a basket.

God did not save you to conceal you. This means that God did not save you so that you can now live in isolation from the world. Instead, he had made us light to shine into the world. Witness and evangelism are not things that a Christians do, witness and evangelism are part of the very nature that God has created us to be. So shine in the darkness with your Christ-like life. Shine in the darkness with your gospel proclamation. Tell the world that there is joy and blessing better than this world, and his name is Jesus Christ.

Let you light shine before others. And do you see the result? “They may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Colossians