Why Do We Go? - Matthew 5:13-16

Introduction

This week we come to the final step in our discipleship process — Go. It’s like each of the other steps in that it’s not so much a single step as much as it is a lifelong pursuit itself. The Great Commission is a call to a lifestyle of going, not a single instance. But, there’s a reason that “Go” comes as the final step in the process, and it’s because it should be the natural and certain result of the other two. We connect together so that we can disciple one another for the ultimate purpose of ‘going to make disciples of all nations.’ Jesus made his disciples for the specific purpose of carrying out his mission, and we do the same.

And, when we say, “Go” we have in minds more than just visiting another country. We have in mind every way that the Spirit works to deploy you for the purpose of making disciples — in youth ministry, loving children, building wheelchair ramps, teaching connection groups, mentoring young dads, and planting churches in cities you can hardly pronounce. God didn’t save a single one of us for the purpose of being a Kingdom supervisor. All of us are roll-up-your-sleeves, hands-on, vital workers deployed to build up God’s Kingdom. So, that’s what our process is intended to do. It’s intended to call you forward into deep connection, further still into growing as a disciple, and then deploying you to spread the joy of Christ to every person.

God’s Word

Our nature “flows” into our “mission”.

(draw “nature + mission” to show them as summaries and effects) v. 13, 14 “You are the salt of the earth....You are the light of the world.” So, Why do we go? (Headline) It’s interesting that our text is three years before Jesus gives us the Great Commission, but He was already putting into the minds and hearts of his disciples what He was preparing them to do. It seems that Jesus himself had a discipleship process that resembles ours. He called the disciples, connected them to one another, poured his life into them, and ultimately sent them out to build his Kingdom. And, Jesus starts them, and us, at the most basic aspect of why we go: Our nature “flows” into our “mission”. And, when I say “our nature”, I’m speaking of the new nature that Jesus gave us when He saved us. I’m talking about his nature in us. It’s interesting how Jesus phrases this. He’s talking to them about what He’s sending them out to do, but He tells them this by telling them who they are, by talking about their nature. He makes these two emphatic sentences: “You (all) are the salt of the earth. You (all) are the light of the world.” And, we should see these encompass both our new nature and our new mission summary statements of the famous Beatitudes in which Jesus has just described the inward nature of those who are “blessed”, those who are his true disciples. To be salt and light summarize what it means to be ‘poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers’, but more than just summarize them, ‘salt’ and ‘light’ shows the extraordinary effect that this new inward nature is to have on the world. What can salt do but be salty? What can light do but shine? What can disciples do but make disciples?

Jesus’ Nature Through Us

In fact, when you hear Jesus say, “You are the light of the world”, it brings into our minds what He says of himself in John 8. In one of his famous “I am” statements in which He is identifying himself as the same God as Exodus, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” So, we can understand that it’s by our mysterious, cross-purchased union with Christ that we, who loved the darkness, can be the light. It’s not our light! It’s our union with Christ shining through us. Jesus’ nature flows through Jesus’ disciples into Jesus’ mission.

We Prefer to Blend

You see, our nature sets us apart from the world we live in. It makes us distinct. We’re as distinct as salt from rotting meat, as dark from light, as life from death. Unfortunately, though, we, too often, prefer blending to shining. We want to fit. That’s why we’ll seek loopholes in the lives that God has called us to at school and work and home, and why we’ll search to live as nominal and ordinary a Christian life as we can stand. We just want to coast, to blend, to fit. But, what good is salt that has lost its saltiness? What’s the point of a light placed under a barrel? It’s a denial of reality. It’s a denial of the wonderful, life-saving, peace-giving reality. We are salt to preserve the world from death. We are light to save the world from darkness. Why would we deny it? Why do we go? It’s our nature to go. It’s who we are, and what we’re created to do.

Our mission is to “bless” the “world”.

“salt OF THE EARTH....light OF THE WORLD” Now, if it’s both our nature and our mission to be salt and light, what exactly do salt and light do? The primary function of salt in the ancient world, and still in many parts of the world today, was to preserve meat. It was to stave off rot. It was to keep the natural process of decomposition from proceeding. I think this is what Jesus is getting at for his disciples. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, “The world, left to itself, is something that tends to fester.” Because the world is under the curse of sin, the natural progression of the world is decomposition. It’s the deterioration of society, morality, and dignity of image bearers. It’s the hastening of death. It’s the exaggeration of our differences, the deepening of divides, the spread of hatred. And so, Jesus has given his disciples into the world like salt rubbed into meat to preserve the world, to stave off rot, to slow down the natural decomposition until He returns. So, as salt, we slow down the rot, but as light, we speed up the discovery of the Kingdom. The image of a city up on a hill is the image of a Kingdom that can be seen. It’s the gospel made visible through the church. It’s the replacement of fear with peace, of uncertainty with assurance, of hopelessness with good news. The same sea that is terrifying in the dark is breathtaking and beautiful in the light. That’s what we offer as the light. So, salt preserves, and light advances. And, it’s in this way that we join in with the mission that’s been there since God told Abraham that he would become a nation that blessed every nation of the world. The same mission that Jesus shared with Nicodemus when He had comes because God ‘so loved the world.’ Our mission is to “bless” the “world”.

For Them, not Against Them

We’re gifts from God to the world. This is so important for us to get this morning. Jesus is emphasizing when he says that we’re the “salt OF THE EARTH”, the “light OF THE WORLD”, a “light to ALL IN THE HOUSE.” We’re distinct from the world, but we’re NOT AGAINST the world. We’re FOR the world. It’s likely that many of us grew up in a tradition that fostered in our hearts an “us verses them” mentality. Many Christians seem to find their unity with one another, not in their passion for Jesus or in their zeal for the Great Commission, but in their hostility toward the world. They unify in what they’re against more than who they’re for. But, what choice does meat have but to spoil? The question isn’t: Why is the meat rotting? That’s what meat does. That’s what’s natural to the world. The question is: Where is the salt?” We’re gathering together talking about what all is going on ‘out there’, and Jesus is asking us as his disciples, “Well, then, what are you doing in here? Go, out there. You’re the salt. You’re the light. Make friends. Love your neighbor. Bless the world.”

Jesus Didn’t Antagonize Unbelief

When Jesus visits the Samaritan woman at the well, Matthew in his tax booth, and the woman caught in the act of adultery, it wasn’t his posture to lecture them on Christian ethics or to show outrage at such overt immorality or to antagonize their unbelief. Rather, He called them to leave behind such empty pursuits so that they might enjoy the enduring, immovable love of God. Jesus wasn’t against them; He was for them. He did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it. And, it’s in his Spirit that we go.

Become More Fully A Part of Society

‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works’ We’ve been placed in the Choccolocco valley to be a blessing HERE. To preserve it HERE. To bring peace HERE. To bring joy HERE. To brighten those HERE. They don’t need another church that’s against everything. They need a church that is FOR them. For the school. For the family. For the brokenhearted. For the confused. For the afraid. We’re going to Salt Lake, not because we’re against Mormonism, but because we are for the glory of Christ and the hope of men. We’re for their joy. We’re for their peace. We’re for them not having to keep performing, having to keep pretending.

Missional Good Works

(draw target to show this is ‘good works’ aimed) So, when he says that you’re to ‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works’, Jesus is calling us to live so radically that your neighbors know that you are for them and not against them. It’s not just kindness; it’s missional kindness. It’s not just sympathy; it’s missional compassion. It’s not just a few dollars; it’s missional generosity. It’s missional humility and missional righteousness and missional peacemaking. Jesus is not calling us to remove ourselves from society, distinct as we are, but instead to more fully become part of society, like salt in meat, like light in a cave, so that we can bless them with the good news that Jesus has come, and He loves them. Why do we go? We go to bless the world!

Our motive is “more” than “duty”.

v. 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” For many of you, if I were to ask you why you should go to share the gospel with your family, friends, neighbors, and the nations, my guess is that most of you would give an answer that in some way circles back to duty. “Jesus has commanded me to.” “I’m responsible for them.” And, my suspicion is that this is the very reason that you haven’t went yet. Duty doesn’t often inspire self-interested people. A sense of duty is only the beginning of our mission, but our motive is “more” than “duty.” We see at least two different motivations here. You’ll notice again all the different references to the “earth”/”world”. And so, He says in verse 15 that the purpose of us being the light is so that we can give light “to all in the house”. “All” need the salt; “all” need the light. You see, the presence of salt in one place shows just how terrible the decay is in another. The hope of the light the finds one person is a reminder of the hopeless darkness in which so many still find themselves. So, it’s more than duty that motivates us; it’s brokenness.

Brokenness and Eternal Catastrophes

If, God forbid, a tornado dropped down this morning on to one of the streets in our community this week and wiped out three families, there wouldn’t be a dry eye among us. We would drop everything to get to that street and dig through the rubble of toys and baby clothes and old photos to try and find mom, dad, and the little ones. We’d do anything to try to save them from the horrors of the catastrophe. There would be a since of duty, but it’s more than that. It’s brokenness. We can picture ourselves there. And, this morning, in our community there are streets filled with moms, dads, and little ones that are on a path of eternal catastrophe. Are we broken?

God’s Greatness Sends Us

v. 16b “…and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” But, there’s a greater motive yet. Why do we let our light shine? Why do we do good works? Why do live for our community and live in missional kindness? It’s so they can see the greatness of God. The primary motive of missions is the greatness of God. It seems crazy that you would have a light and put it under a basket so that it can’t be seen — unless the light embarrasses you, unless you don’t want it to be seen. You see, to live ashamed, to try to steer all of you conversations away from God, to try to never draw attention to your faith, to work at keeping your relationship with Jesus as private as possible is to live a though God isn’t great. Let me ask you: Do you live as though Jesus is great? Do you live proud of Jesus? Because the greatness of God is the hope of the world — not modern medicine, not scientific discovery, not intellectual achievement, not complete tolerance — the greatness of God.

Sons and Ambassadors

The King found you, and you were eating out of garbage cans. And, with tears in his eyes, He came to you and put you in the motorcade with him. When you found yourself at his table, eating the best dishes found in the world, you were struck by how just hours earlier, you were eating garbage. Just then, He stood to announce that He had a new heir. You were excited to see who it would be, who would receive such riches from such a generous king. Only, he announced that it was his new son — YOU. And, until you received your full inheritance, you would be his ambassador to other nations of the world to tell them of his greatness so that they could enjoy it, too. Now, let me ask you, would you be willing to go? Would you be embarrassed even if they didn’t believe you? No! You’ve seen his glory! You’ve tasted his kindness. Why do we go? Our hearts are broken, and our God is great!