Salt and Light

Introduction

When someone looks at you, other than looking at your extraordinary good looks, what do they see?

This is a serious question that we ought to be thinking about especially as believers.

We call ourselves Kingdom people - I am a Kingdom man or I am a Kingdom woman but seriously what do people see when they look at you.

Now most of us who are here today or listening online on zoom are working people.

We go to work every week day and we should ask ourselves what are people seeing when they look at us.

A Pastor cameback from India where he heard of a little Hindu girl brought up in a strict Hindu family, who had come across Christians. Somebody asked her one day what she thought a Christian was. She thought for a few moments and replied, “Well as far as I can see, a Christian is somebody who is different from everybody else.” Would that it was true.

That ought to be true of you and me.

We ought to be different from those around us. I mean different in a good way.

The world is looking at someone who is different.

Our leaders and superstars of this world are failing to provide proper examples to follow

Talk about Kamla, Pique, Will Smith

If we could really cut to the chase, it’s not about those good looks, it’s about who you are in Jesus!

So, what does a “real” Christian look like? How can you recognize the real thing?

☺ Can you spot a real Christian by knowing their political affiliation?

☺ How about denominational affiliation? Is someone more likely to be a sincere

If they from IPA and not Open Bible

Pentecostal and Not Catholic

☺ Do cross pendants around people’s necks show they are committed to Christ?

☺ Or what about taste in worship music?

☺ If someone prefers to clap their hands and sing praise choruses, is that an

indication of the depth of their love of Jesus?

Those things do not prove anything about a follower of Jesus

Those things do not prove we are true to our God

It’s our character and the charactersitics we show that let the world know we are citizens of another Kingdom

Today I will be speaking to you on

Turn to Matthew 5:13-16

Scripture

Matthew 5:13–16 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. 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.

In this portion of Scripture we see Jesus is speaking and he is showing us how we as Kingdom people ought to living.

I was listening to Diandra last week and she said that Jesus did not die for us so that we could live any old how.

You see as Believers there is a way that we ought to live and it should show the world that we are a different kind of people.

In this portion of Scripture we see that Jesus lists 2 characteristics of all believers.

These 2 Charactersitics will show us how we ought to influence the World in which we live in

Jesus says that we ought to be salt and we ought to be light.

The Sermon Notebook: New Testament Ye Are the Salt of the Earth (Matt. 5:13)

The various names God gives His children in the Bible. (Some are: sheep, brethren, little ones, etc.) When Jesus gives us the name of “salt”, He is reminding us that we have the opportunity and the responsibility to be an influence in the world. It is interesting that these verses should follow the Beatitudes. In the Beatitudes, Jesus gives some qualities that ought to be present in every citizen in the Kingdom. When we are possessed of these characteristics, we will be a positive influence and we will make a difference in the world around us. When we are living out the standards of the Lord Jesus in our lives, we will be like salt and like light. Now, light is an external quality that enables one to see. Just as a glistening, limestone city sitting high on a hillside cannot be hidden for the light coming from its walls, so the Christian who shines with the brilliance of the Lord Jesus cannot be hidden from the view of the world. In other words, your testimony will get out on you. Those around you will see it and be touched by it.

Salt

I would first like to be us about being salt.

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.

He starts of by saying YOU are the salt of the earth?

Who is you in this portion of scripture ?

You is YOU - yes you - every single on of you listening to me this morning

He is comparing us with salt

What is so special about salt ?

Why is he comparing us with salt?

Today’s Best Sermons, Volume 1: 52 Sermons on Contemporary Living Introduction: A Question of Values

Salt, for instance, is found in virtually every home. Certainly everybody used it in the Palestine of Jesus’ day. Jesus would have known it since his boyhood in Nazareth. He must often have watched his mother use salt in the kitchen. Still today, wherever there are no refrigerators, salt is the best preservative and the best antiseptic.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, would often have rubbed salt into meat or fish, or she would have left them to soak in salty water, in order that they might be preserved