Salt and Light

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Our scripture is from Matthew 5:13-16. Let’s turn there and read the word’s of Jesus as he instructs his disciples.

 

Matt 5:13-16

 

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 by men.

 

14 "You are the light of the world. A city 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 men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. NIV

 

These words are probably some of the most quoted from Jesus’ teachings.

So, let’s look at the context in which they are given.

 

Matthew Chapters 5 thru 8 is the Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus teaches on many subjects of which salt and light is just one. He begins with the Beattitudes, then brings up salt and light. After that he teaches about the Law, anger, adultery, retaliation, loving your enemies, giving to the needy, prayer (the Lord’s Prayer), fasting, money, worrying, judging others, taking oaths, seeking after God, false prophesy and false teachers.

 

The subjects of his teaching are the disciples although a crowd had gathered to listen in. At the end of the sermon Matthew records in 7:28 and 29 that when Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one having authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

 

It is in that context that I want us to consider these words of Jesus about being salt and light. Christ was teaching on a series of principles that affected the life of his followers as a whole. These topics were not random or a ‘list’ of items that he felt needed addressing.

 

Jesus was teaching life values from the perspective of the Father who had sent him to be the messenger and the message. The message was grace, the messenger was the means by which grace was dispensed.

 

Rom 3:21-26

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

NIV

 

 

All of the lessons Christ taught in this sermon were inter-related and were taught from an authoritative position that implies an obligation to follow the principles of the teachings. Jesus said that, when you pray, when you give, when you fast, don’t do it like the hypocrites and make a big spectacle of it. He said to pray for your enemies, love those that hate you, don’t be quick to judge others before you consider your own faults, don’t seek to store up treasures on earth, don’t worry about what you  will eat or drink or where you will sleep, don’t covet your neighbor, and don’t break your promises, but, seek after truth, test what others say with the scriptures, and trust in God.

 

These principles follow the verses about salt and light for a reason and that is where I want us to take the message today. Jesus does not say for us to be salt and light and leave us wondering how to do that, but he follows up with life principles that will insure that we will fulfill God’s purpose for our lives.

 

So let us look at salt and light.

 

You are the salt of the earth.

 

The first instruction is that we are salt. In fact Jesus puts it this way “YOU” are salt. You, his followers, not they, meaning the world, for they are the ones needing the salting if you will. You have a calling, to be salt. What do you expect from salt? to be sweet, sour, hot, cold? you expect salty right?

 

To make an illustration, suppose that I take a fresh lemon and squeeze it into a glass and ask you to drink it, what would you expect? Some of you are salivating right now because you have done that, right? You expect it to be extremely sour. What if you watched me squeeze a fresh lemon into a glass and I asked you to drink it, and when you did it tasted like water? First off you would be surprised, second you would say, I can get water anywhere, why would I squeeze a lemon for water.   By the way, why did God put such nasty thorns on a lemon tree? are they really that valuable.

 

Jesus tells us that in our calling to be salt, that it is extremely important that we must be salt. If we are not, we are as useless as trash on the street. Pretty harsh? not really. In reality, what good is a lemon if it does not make lemon aid, you cannot put it back on the tree and say ‘now make yourself sour’. Once salt has been detected to be as useless as grain of sand, you cannot throw it back in the salt pit and say ‘now make you self salty. The inherent character of a lemon is that it is primarily citric acid, very sour, and the inherent character of salt is that it is sodium chloride, salty. It is made that way, it is not something earned or fabricated from the will of the substance itself, it is made that way.

 

Once we receive Christ our inherent character is salt, that is what we are and later he calls us light. That is what we are. We are not tasteless sand or empty darkness, we are salt and light. If we are not the salt and light then who will be?

 

Well, I went to the internet and searched for salt. Did you know that there is salt institute? Well there is and that is where I obtained my information. Today salt is mined in three main ways, salt mines where it is scooped up, salt deposits in the earth where water in injected into the salt deposit to create brine which is then pumped out and dried, and evaporative salt where salt from the sea or salt lakes naturally evaporates and forms into salt crystals. In Jesus time, they had abundant salt in the Red Sea also know as the Salt Sea.

 

Today there are over 140,000 different uses for salt. However, the most common uses are, seasoning, manufacturing, water softening, de-icing roads, and to deliver trace minerals and nutrients to livestock. In Jesus time, salt would have been used as a preservative for meat and fish, for medicinal purposes, for purification purposes and even for religious ritual purposes. The Jews were required to use salt in some of their offerings and there was even a salt covenant.

Now salt also has some negative properties, any one who has ever lived by the sea now that salt in the air is a corrosive and will destroy metal objects, salt on a roadway will eat away at a car. Salt was even used as a sign of punishment, when God turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt. Too much salt can even raise your blood pressure to an unsafe level.

 

But here is the real aspect of how salt works, it must come into contact with another substance to be effective. Salt can lay next to a plate full of food, but until it comes directly into contact with the food, it will have absolutely no effect on it, none. And salt must be applied by an outside source. The food does not say to the salt, come over here, and the salt does not migrate to the food and sprinkle itself on the plate.

 

Salt represents our character. God sprinkles us about so that we can be a preservative, a purifier, a medicine, or a deliverer of nutrients.

 

1 Peter 4:10 -11

10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides. NIV

 

Who do you come into contact with every day? Are you the salt in their lives? Do you see your self as salt when interacting with them and do you make an effort to be effective. Jesus said “YOU” are salt.

 

As salt you are faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

 

Now light, on the other hand, is different than salt.

   

Light is proactive rather than reactive, in the since that light does not have to be directly applied to be effective. A light can be turned on in the next room and still provide some benefit in this room, particularly if the light is turned off in this room. When I went to the internet and searched for light, I came across a great web site called ‘HowStuffWorks.com’. It helped remind me of the properties of light.

 

Did you know that when we see, we are actually seeing light that reflects off of objects, not the objects themselves. Stop for a moment and think about that. You are not seeing me, but light reflecting off of me. Sounds confusing but, in a sense, it is how the world see us. They see us as a reflection of the light of Christ.

 

Light waves are complex and there is more than meets the eye, literally. There are many wavelengths of light, or spectrums, that we cannot see with the human eye.

We think of light traveling through many mediums except through solid surfaces. Light travels through the air, through water, through glass, even through the vacuum of space. Light travels at the speed of – light, which by the way is roughly around 186,000 miles per second. It is constant and the speed of other objects are measured by it relationship to the speed of light, sounds like there might be a theory in there somewhere.

 

Light is generated in many ways. There is natural light from the sun, and the suns reflective light by the moon. We see the light from the stars in the sky, although they do not give us enough light to see by. Light is created by fire, which would have been the only source is Jesus’ day. They would burn candles or use lanterns that burned olive oil for their light source.

 

Today we generate electricity that powers light sources, mainly light bulbs. We have stored energy such as batteries that can power a light source like a flashlight. Static electricity can produce a brief spark that produces light. We even have ‘light sticks’ that produce light as a result of a chemical reaction.

 

Light is everywhere, without it we would be ‘in the dark’.

 

Jesus said ‘You are the light of the world’. YOU !

Jesus did call himself the Light of the World, because He is the source from which we derive our light. He is the Light, capital L and we are the light, lower case l.

 

You are the light of the world, you reflect the master’s light.

 

God created light, as well as salt, but light received much more attention. Lets look at the first chapter of Genesis. Read vs 1-19.

 

Pretty dramatic, light was the divider of night and day and intregal part of the creation.

 

God gave the Israelites a pillar of fire by night when they were in the desert so that they could see in the darkness. The temple had, among other symbolic items, a lamp stand made of gold, and Christ is pictured as walking among the lamp stands in the book of Revelation. Jesus even told a parable of 10 virgins whose only job was, to keep their lamps lit for the coming bridegroom. Those that were prepared and kept their lamps lit went inside with him while the ones who were not prepared and let their lamps go out were left out in the darkness.

 

In all the books of the Bible, the Psalms contain the most references linking light with God and his provision of truth and salvation.

 

Here are a few:

Ps 4:6

Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

 

Ps 19:8

The commands of the LORD are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

 

Ps 27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation--

whom shall I fear?

 

Ps 43:3

3 Send forth your light and your truth,

let them guide me;

 

Ps 89:15

5 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,

who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

 

 

Ps 97:11

Light is shed upon the righteous

and joy on the upright in heart.

 

Ps 112:4

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,

for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.  

 

Ps 118:27

The LORD is God,

and he has made his light shine upon us.

 

Ps 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light for my path

 

Ps 119:130

The unfolding of your words gives light;

it gives understanding to the simple.

 

Jesus said ‘you are the light of the world’.

 

He then said ‘a city on a hill cannot be hidden’.

 

Now it does not take a brainiac like Einstein to figure that one out.

 

By it’s very nature a city on a hill is a lot more visible than, say, a city in cave. But that is the point.

 

For some reason I like lighthouses. I have lighthouse posters, light calendars, pictures of lighthouses, lighthouse knickknacks and a business with the word ‘lighthouse’ in it. And you know what, every lighthouse that I have ever seen has been right next to the sea. Not a single one at Yosemite, or downtown Fresno, or Shaver Lake, or even Death Valley. You expect a lighthouse to be by the sea, because that is where it is most visible to those ships looking for a light in the darkness, a light that represents a safe harbor, a light that gives direction in an otherwise dark and cold night.

 

A city on a hill that is visible during the day will be visible during the night, you would expect that. When the sun goes down, the occupants light their lanterns and fill the city with light. A city built on a hill will be very visible at night. Once you belong to Christ, your life will be visible at all times. You would expect that. After all, you are the light of the world.

 

Did you know that people do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl? Why would you do that anyway. That would be like me turning on the light on the garage and then complaining because I could not see how to read the paper in the living room. Why would you call your self a light and then hide in the closet? It does not make sense. The world expects light to come from a light source, we should not be ashamed of the Gospel, we should proclaim the truth at all times, never hiding out of fear, or trying to masking the light to prevent conflict or embarrassment.

 

There will be those that are seeking light and without the lighthouse they will drift aimlessly. There will be those that want to be left in the darkness and to their evil deeds, but we must also stand up for truth and righteousness when evil attempts to block out the light.

 

You are the light of the world. That is your nature.

 

 

You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.

 

I must admit that when I look at the pictures of the lighthouses that I have my favorites, those classic lines, the perspective of the tower to the light, the colors, the surrounding scenery, but you know what, I have never seen any of them at work. Never seen them shining their light into the night. I have no clue if any of them even work.

 

The point is this, it its purest form, the light that reflects from us will be the light of Jesus. We will be totally transparent, so that when they see the light, they will give glory and praise to the father in heaven, for that is what they have seen.

 

So, we have together salt and light. As such, you have an affect by what you are and by who you are.

 

Your character is salt, when you interact with others, you are the one that makes a difference, one person at a time. You are the one God has put in this place for this purpose, to be salt, to be a direct influence in the lives of others and to administer his grace.

 

Your nature is light. You reflect the light of God’s truth and righteousness. As such your reflection is broadcast to many at one time.

 

Remember that Jesus went on to teach that we must obey his commands, we must not be angry, we must not want our neighbor or their things, we must not retaliate, we must love our enemies, give to the needy, pray, fast, not be lovers of money, we must not worry, we should not judge others, we must keep our promises, seek after God, and be on the alert for false teachers.

 

Let’s take a brief look at these and see how they apply.

 

Jesus said that he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Jesus was claiming to be the Authoritative Word of God, the Messiah, and the Judge and the Saviour. We must believe him, unequivocally, without reservation. We cannot be called salt and light if we do not.

 

Jesus said do not be angry at your brother, that shall receive the same judgment as murder. If you are angry, settle it with your brother before you come to the alter with an offering, an offering that asks God to forget his anger against you. Salt, dealing directly with another in a loving and compassionate way. Light – others see how we treat our brother and judge us accordingly.

 

Jesus said even the thought of lusting after your neighbor is the same as adultery, It is better to lose an eye than be cast into hell. Salt, we are to love our neighbor as our self, not in a selfish way. Light – we are to reflect the Love of Christ to our neighbors.

 

Jesus said that divorce, except in the circumstance of adultery, is wrong.

Salt, we are to love our spouse and Christ loved the Church. Light – If we cannot love our spouse, how can we love the world.

 

Jesus said it is better to not make an Oath and keep your promise than it is  to make an oath and break your promise. Salt –we are to be honest and sincere in all of our conversations. Light, others see our reputation as representation of who we are.

 

Jesus said do not resist an evil person, but turn the other cheek. Salt – we were the objects of Gods’ love even when we were His enemies, we aout to follow his example. Light – when the world sees us treat our enemies with kindness, how much more will those that are not our enemies be willing to seek us out.

 

Jesus said do not store up treasure on earth but store up treasures in heaven. Salt – your neighbors will be surprised when you don’t try to keep up with he Joneses. Light – the world will see that you trust the living God for all of your needs.

 

Jesus said do not judge, or you will be judged. For in the same way that you judge others, you will be judged, and with the same measure that you use, it will be measured to you. Salt – When you act with compassion and kindness you soften the hearts of others, remember God judged you to be righteous in spite of your sins. Light – remember, the world can spot hypocrisy a mile away. But, when Jesus says don’t cast your pearls before swine, he is telling us that there is a difference between judgment and discernment.

 

Jesus said ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open to you. Salt – interceding on the behalf of others strengthens the bonds. Light – the world sees that you trust the living God and that the Living God cares for his people.

 

Jesus said enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate that leads to destruction. Salt – showing the narrow the narrow gate to the unbeliever, opens his eyes to the truth. Light – the world sees that this religion is different than the rest, it has a finite, clear path to eternal life, no confusing rituals, no self determination of righteousness, no secret handshakes, no mountains to climb, no self denial, just believing in a saviour who died for their sins.

 

Jesus said watch out for false prophets for they are like wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing. This is where discernment comes in. When you are being salt and light remember that Satan is out there waiting to devour you. He would love to see you become un-salty and loose your ability to reflect the light of Christ. But false prophets come from within don’t they? It is important to test what your teachers are telling you with what the Word of God tells you.

 

And remember, you are not the only grain of salt in the shaker and you are not the only proton of light bouncing around in the universe. We act together as community and as the true church of God. We are not lone rangers but act in accord with the whole body of Christ.

 

Some would claim these verses about salt and light as a call to evangelism, but I do not think that is the context in which the words were spoken. What I see is that when these principles are followed, evangelism will be a natural outworking of our salt and light. That is what Jesus was getting at when he said that when salt is useless it cannot be made salty again and that a person does not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. The effectiveness of our being salt and light will bring about continuous opportunities for evangelism.

 

Salt and light, brought together for a purpose driven life that brings glory and honor to God.