Salt and Light

Matthew 5:13–16 NLT

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Jesus was in the middle of a sermon that had a similar focus as to what we have been covering these last couple months......

-Beatitudes are about Transformation

-This whole section was about changing your heart and mindset from what the world says to what God was showing his people

Matthew 5:13-16

Very much focuses on the transformation of heart and mind, lead to transformed actions or lifestyle.

Beatitudes describe the transformation of the heart and the mind

Then it is these 2 metaphors that show their influence on the world for good

Salt

Show pic of salt

-‘salt’ was in fact a white powder (perhaps from around the Dead Sea)

-which, while containing sodium chloride, also contained much else, since, in those days, there were no refineries.

- Of this dust the sodium chloride was probably the most soluble component and so the most easily washed out.

-The residue of white powder still looked like salt, and was doubtless still called salt, but it neither tasted nor acted like salt. It was just road dust.

So too a Christian. ‘Have salt in yourselves,’ Jesus said on another occasion.

Mark 9:50 NLT

Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”

2 Christian saltiness is Christian character as depicted in the beatitudes, committed Christian discipleship exemplified in both deed and word.3

The church, on the other hand, is set in the world with a double role, as salt to arrest—or at least to hinder—the process of social decay, and as light to dispel the darkness.

Light

Show pic of candle in one room house

-‘Good works’ are works of love as well as of faith. They express not only our loyalty to God, but our care for our fellows as well. Indeed, the primary meaning of ‘works’ must be practical, visible deeds of compassion.

- It is when people see these, Jesus said, that they will glorify God, for they embody the good news of his love which we proclaim.

-Without them our gospel loses its credibility and our God his honour.

-As Jesus’ disciples we cannot hide the truth of who we are and what we know

‘Flight into the invisible is a denial of the call. A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased to follow him.’5 Rather are we to be ourselves, our true Christian selves, openly living the life described in the beatitudes, and not ashamed of Christ. Then people will see us and our good works, and seeing us will glorify God

These themes are basic to the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is built on the assumption that Christians are different, and it issues a call to us to be different.

Probably the greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long and chequered history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture.

Application

Being in the world for God Vs. Being in God for the world

Being in the world for God

-I must be heard

-I must figure out how to bring God into this conversation

-Defending a position

-Is lead by history Asks what would Jesus do or say.......done or said?

Being In God for the world

-relational with God and people

-What we share with people comes from the overflow of our relationship with God

-doesn’t worry about being heard, but God being glorified in all things.

-Being lead by the Spirit asks what is Jesus doing and saying .....now