Neighboring Well - Matt 5:13-16

Introduction

Big Idea: Transformed Lives Transform Others

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament 5:13–16—Real Discipleship

A disciple of the kingdom who does not live like a disciple of the kingdom (5:3–12) is worth about as much as tasteless salt or invisible light.

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Salt and Light (5:13–16)

Pliny commented that “there is nothing more useful than salt and sunshine.”

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Salt and Light (5:13–16)

Jesus’ disciples possess kingdom life, which produces good deeds from a changed life.

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Salt and Light (5:13–16)

The Beatitudes hinted at this direction, but the metaphors of salt and light are the first explicit indication that the presence of the kingdom produces changed lives.

1. You are Salt: Flavor and Preserve the World around You.

Matthew 5:13 NIV

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

Salt Flavors and Purifies

John 6:51 NIV

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

This is not a command. It is not a suggestion. It is reality. We are SALT!

IL: V8 juice with no salt.

Salt Flavors

God is Transforming You

Leviticus 2:13 NIV

13 Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.

Transform your Friendships

Mark 9:50 NIV

50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Transform those with Questions

Colossians 4:6 NIV

6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Transform yourCo-Workers

Earn your salt.

Furthermore, salt made those who ate at the common table friends. There should be no quarrelling among friends. Such a covenant was inviolable, and so the treachery of Judas is portrayed, it is said, by the upsetting of the salt in the picture of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci (W. R. Hutton, ExpT 58, 1946–7, 168).

In any case, Jesus was not teaching chemistry, but using a proverbial image (it recurs in Bekhoroth 8b). The Rabbis commonly used salt as an image for wisdom (cf. ), which may explain why the Greek word represented by lost its taste actually means ‘become foolish’. (Aramaic tāpēl, which conveys both meanings, was no doubt the word used by Jesus.) A foolish disciple has no influence on the world.

5:13. Various scholars have emphasized different uses of salt in antiquity, such as a preservative or an agent regularly added to manure; but the use of salt here is as a flavoring agent: “if salt has become tasteless” (the Greek word can also mean “become foolish,” so it may include a play on words).

QUESTION—In what way might a disciple lose his saltiness?

In Rabbinic literature salt often stood for wisdom [Mor, NCBC, TNTC2] and μωραινω can mean ‘to make or become foolish’ [EBC, ICC, Mor, TG, TH, WBC]. Thus it is possible to interpret this verse as: disciples who lose their savor are in fact making fools of themselves [EBC, Mor, NCBC, WBC]. The Semitic term behind this Greek term contains both meanings: salt and wisdom [ICC, NCBC, WBC]. There is an Aramaic pun possible here between tapel ‘foolish’ and tabel ‘salted’ [AAG (p. 166), BBC, EBC, ICC, McN, NCBC, TNTC2].

2. You are Light: Let your Life Shine before Others.

Matthew 5:14–16 NIV

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

14-

IL: Cave of the Winds - guide shut down the lights. Single source of light.

Light, like salt, affects its environment by being distinctive. The disciple who is visibly different from other men will have an effect on them.

14 Light is a very important metaphor in the Bible. “God is light” according to , and Christ is described in the Fourth Gospel as “the light of the world” (; ; ; cf. 1:7–8). God is also described as light in eschatological contexts (e.g., ; cf. ). God, moreover, has come in Christ to bring light into the darkness (, ; ; cf. ), a point Matthew has already emphasized in his quotation of (9:1, LXX) in 4:16 (“the people sitting in darkness have seen a great light”). In Paul, the metaphor also extends to Christians, who are described as “children of light” (; ). Another community on the edge of eschatology, the Qumran covenanters, also referred to themselves as the “sons of light.” In , Israel’s mission is to be a “light to the Gentiles” (cf. ). Light is thus associated with God, his Messiah, his people, the law, the temple, Jerusalem, and the accomplishment and experience of salvation (see Str-B 1:237). Paul writes of “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” (; cf. 4:6). Of Christians he writes that in this fallen world they “shine as lights” (). For Matthew, the metaphor of light is applied specifically to God’s new people represented by the disciples.

God is Transforming You

John 8:12 NIV

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Matthew 4:15–16 NIV

15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

The base issue with the Jews in the Old Testament was that they believed that the grace of God was meant only for them. They had forgotten that Abraham was the father of nations. That God was for all people. They were chosen not just to receive it, but to share it.

Matthew 4:16 NIV

16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

We Transform Others

Ephesians 5:8 NIV

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light

2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV

4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Philippians 2:15 NIV

15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky

Philippians 2:5 NIV

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Philippians 2:14–15 NIV

14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky

Conclusion

Light of the Storage Closet (Max Lucado)

Not prepared - too busy studying

No time - meditating

Not stable - getting its life together

not gifted - ncouraging the other candles

The candles came from the church that closed down last year.