19.12.8a - Matthew 5:13-16 - Salt & Light

The world has become more and more cynical. We don't trust politicians, doctors, or businessmen. You and I are the only ones who are okay, and frankly, I'm starting to wonder about you. Just the other day, I was speaking with a friend, and he somewhat jokingly said, "I expect you to be self-righteous and snobby because you are a preacher." This is a good friend of mine, and he knows I can take this kind of stuff. I think he was bluntly putting the feelings that many people have toward preachers. According to the world, many preachers are either self-righteous and snobby or foolish hypocrites who teach one thing and do another. All of us are just taking advantage of people, making a living off of organized religion. The same is often said of many devout Christians. How are we supposed to influence people who think about us this way?

In Matthew, we have seen that Jesus is the Messiah, but he has said that those who follow him will be fishers of men and peacemakers. Jesus was not planning to bring the world to God all by himself. He has plans for his disciples to influence people and to bring them to God. The text we will look at this morning emphasizes this very thing.

Matthew 5:13--16 (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. 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.

Purpose

Now we see what God's people are going to do. He gives them the purpose of becoming salt and light. Notice the way he directs this statement to his disciples. The "You" in the first verse seems to indicate that he is continuing from the last beatitude in verse 11. Jesus has described his people with eight characteristics that are opposed to the world's perception of greatness. Jesus has chosen the humble people who love God and love their neighbor to be salt and light. All of us who seek the kingdom of God and its blessings are given an identity as salt and light. What do these things mean for us?

Salt

In verse 13, Jesus calls us salt. Why does he call us that? There may be several meanings behind salt. Salt has always been a valuable thing. Romans said that nothing is more valuable than the sun and salt. They would pay their soldiers with salt. This is where we get the phrase, "He's not worth his salt." If you were not doing your job as a soldier, that is what they would say about you. It was also used to heal. In Ezek 16:4, we read a graphic image of Israel being a baby that was thrown out, its umbilical cord was not cut, she was not cleansed with water, she was not rubbed down with salt, and she was not wrapped in swaddling clothes. Why would they rub a baby down with salt? The salt heals any cuts or scrapes that the baby would have had on it during the birth process. The saline solution in IV's help our bodies recover. Salt could also be used to preserve their food. In a time when they did not have refrigerators, salt was the only way meat could be stored for an extended time. They would have to make jerky to carry meat with them on journeys. Salt is typically a good thing. God even had the Israelites add salt to their offerings. But salt could be used in a harmful way. When someone wanted to kill their enemies' field, they would throw salt on it.

What was Jesus' intention? Reread the verse and see, "If the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?" Jesus is referring to the way we taste. Isn't that an odd image? What does it mean? Paul similarly talks about salt in Colossians 4:6 (ESV) --- 6 "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." The person who is salt speaks and acts in a way that is welcoming and inviting.

Verse 16 shows us that this is all about influence. The image in my head is probably familiar to everyone who likes to cook or who likes to eat. When preparing a soup or stew, we add salt to the pot so that flavor mixes with the ingredients. Salt makes it all taste good. Then we start to smell that flavor, we salivate, and we are ready to eat whatever they are making. Isn't that a great picture of influence? This is a picture of what our lives are supposed to be like. We are supposed to be living in such a way that people see it and wish they could follow in our footsteps.

Do people desire what we have? Now, I'm not talking about the stuff we have or even the family we have. I'm talking about the life we have in Christ. Do people see the way we live and desire to follow the path we are on? We are here to make the world a better place for God's glory. We are on this earth to share the flavor God has given us with others. If there is a hungry person out there, would they see me and recognize that I have the satisfaction that they have been looking for. The world is supposed to see the improvement God has given us in our lives and want to experience it as well.

So, let's evaluate ourselves. How influential are we? Does anyone around us want to ask us spiritual questions when they see how we handle adversity? What about when they see the way handle success, or when we they see the way we treat others? If they don't, why not? Do we come off as self-righteous and snobby? Maybe we aren't that way, but are others perceiving us that way? When my friend said that all preachers are this way, he was pointing out that he hasn't found a religious person with all of the attributes mentioned in the last section. It could be his own fault because he is being overly critical, or it could be true. Will we validate his feelings or will we prove him wrong? He doesn't know anyone who is humble while being merciful, pure in heart, and a peacemaker with pure motives. I want to break that mould for him. Saltiness is simply a measure of the beatitude characteristics. If I am snobby, self-righteous, hypocrite the world can sense that I'm just like them, but with different beliefs. Why would they ever listen to me and sacrifice what I say they need to sacrifice?

Light

The second thing that Jesus says is that we are light. Think for a moment about light. What does Jesus mean when he says that we are the light of the world? I spoke at a funeral this week, and I told some of you that it is a unique opportunity to talk to people who have not gone to church very much. So I tried to say to them the very things that I have experienced. Like Solomon, we search for meaning and satisfaction in this life, but all of this life is vanity without God. All men are pursuing things that do not satisfy them. We become lost in the darkness, wishing and searching like Solomon for something more meaningful. We try anything, hoping that it will give us lasting satisfaction. We trade homes, cars, wives, habits, and vices. Nothing is eternal. There is no hope on this earth.

We need light. Light represents hope and meaning. It answers our questions and reveals to us the way to eternal satisfaction. But in the process, light exposes our sin. Light exposes the path that leads to God, but the road is not easy. It is quiet, but it is powerful. Jesus was called the light of the world in John 3:16.

John 3:16--22 (ESV) --- 16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

We know the first part of this text very well, but do we know the rest? Jesus came to save by becoming the light of the world. This is the very same thing that he calls us. What does that mean in this text? It means that he helps people to see that their works are evil, make changes in their life, and come closer to the light with purity. We also understand in this that some people love the darkness, and they would rather continue in the darkness without their sins being exposed. Men will hate the light. As they hated Jesus for exposing their sins, so they will hate us. This fits well with Matthew 5:11, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account."

How many of us have not spoken about anything spiritual to anyone in over a year, two years, five years, or ten years? Maybe we haven't done that because we know that we have made mistakes in the past. Or perhaps we are afraid of exposing the faults in others because they will reveal our flaws. How many of us hide so that others will not revile us? We are rebelling against our identity. He does not say that we have salt or that we have light. He says that we are salt and we are light.

Jesus knew that we would be afraid of this. That is why he gave us this identity and said, "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." People do not light a lamp and cover it up. We are supposed to let our light shine, not put it under a basket. As times are getting darker and darker, we need to let the world see the light. Their sins must be exposed so they can change. Some will hate the light, they will attack the light to put it out, and they will refuse to submit to the truth. Others will see the light and come to the light to be with God and live righteously before him. They will have a love for God and a love for their brother that shines for all others to see. They will become salt and reveal the truth to those in the darkness as well.

How?

If we do not fit the description of salt and light above, how can we change? As I was going through the beatitudes, those things cut me and made me feel a need to change my life. But how do we change? How many of us have decided to do things differently and then failed to follow through? I recently bought a book that talks a lot about change and the process that we all go through to provoke change. It said that 25% of our New Year's resolutions would be given up on within the first week. 60% will be gone within the first six months. Why is that? Why don't we become the people we know we should be? How can we expect to bring other people to a total life transformation when we are struggling with transformation ourselves?

Jesus says that we are the light of the world because we need to overcome our failures and represent God as his image-bearers. We are not gathering together just to check off a list of good things (Church, Bible Studies, Neighborhood studies, Singings). We are here to become salt and light for others to see. Every spiritual activity should be designed to prick our hearts and encourage us to change so that we can influence others to change as well. Part of that responsibility lies on the teachers. Teaching should be thought out and fully focused on the gold that the word of God provides. Part of that responsibility lies with the participants. We should have our minds engaged so that we can ask good questions or make comments that further the discussion. We are together to build one another up in love so that we become like Christ.

Developing a more profound love for God and spiritual maturity is a process that takes patience and endurance. It is a crawl, not a run. If someone is coming from a life of 20+ years of self-service, it will take more than two months worth of sermons and Bible classes to get past some of those habits. We need to spend more time together. We are going to start opening our home on Friday nights to have a Neighborhood Bible Study. First, we will start with some preliminary stuff that I think would be helpful for those who want to teach others. We will go through the whole Bible in one hour. Then, we will look at a few books of the Bible that are especially good for people who haven't been inside of a church building for years. No extra materials, just bring your Bible and be prepared to talk about how it affects our lives.

What Is The Purpose?

There may be hundreds of thousands of people involved in Christian religious practice who are not salty. A lot of them are seeking to influence people to be more like them in their religion. But their religion is just as miserable as the secular person, if not more so. We want something deeper and more meaningful than saying, "Come to our church and do all the right things like us," or saying, "Come to our church and have a good time like we do." Notice that Jesus ends in verse 16 by saying, "That men may see your good works and glorify God." That is what being salt and light is all about. It is good to enjoy getting together, and it is essential to do the right things. But being salt is about helping people see the glory of God. That is the kind of flavor we want to leave in their mouths.

What would this look like? What are good works, and how could they influence people to glorify God? Is coming up with a scheme to get 150 people in this building the good work Jesus is talking about? What about baptizing 50 people a year? Does that glorify God? Doesn't that depend on whether the gospel is impacting people's hearts? Has there been a transformation in the hearts of men and women? If our goal is to fill the room we can do that. All we need to do is focus on entertainment and we will pack this place at least for a moment, then we will have to catch the next trend wave. But that is not being salty. That's not what it means to be salt --- being salty means loving God more than anything else and your neighbor as yourself. It means influencing others to become humble and lowly by being a peacemaker and boldly helping those who are lost.

Influencing people doesn't happen the way we might think. It's not about telling people all that you know. It's about showing people how much you care. It's not about the number on the sign. It's about the spiritual growth of those who are here and those who are around us every day. As long as we are growing into the salt and light we are intended to be, we will be planting and watering with faith that God will provide the increase. We are just planting a seed and adding water, hoping, and praying for God to be glorified through our work.

Conclusion

If you have heard this message and you understand God's purpose for you, will you submit your life to the spiritual growth required? Will you commit your life to the slow and grueling process of changing to be salt and light?