Salty And Bright Series

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

FOOD MYTHS: MSG

We are talking about saltiness this morning, so I thought I would begin with a story about a food myth and that is Chinese food makes people feel bad because it is loaded with MSG. And I bet I can guess where everyone will be going for lunch today following our worship assembly.

MSG (short for monosodium glutamate) is a crystalline food additive that enhances the flavor of food, adding an extra-savory quality. It was discovered in 1908 by a Japanese chemist, and it quickly became a component of cooking throughout Asia. By the 1950s, it was widely used in the United States in packaged foods and also in the many then-exotic Chinese restaurants popping up around the country. In 1968, the New England Journal of Medicine published a piece from a doctor who complained that he experienced weakness, pain in his limbs, and palpitations every time he ate at a Chinese restaurant. He theorized that it was MSG or too much salt, and the notion that the culprit was the strange and foreign MSG (as opposed to good old salt) caught on with the general public.

Suddenly, millions of people claimed to have what the media soon dubbed “Chinese food syndrome.” Chinese restaurants posted signs in their windows proclaiming their food to be “MSG free,” to keep customers coming in, assuring them that eating there wouldn’t lead to achy bones, a rapid heartbeat…or insomnia, sluggishness, or intense headaches. Numerous studies have since claimed to debunk the idea that MSG leads to those symptoms (except for the parts of the population that are allergic to glutamate).

So what is to blame for people who felt so awful after a Chinese meal? It was probably the power of suggestion. Or maybe the fact that the food in many Chinese restaurants tend to be extremely salty, extremely sugary, and loaded with fat and calories.

But I am no expert on MSG. We tend to stay away from it. Maybe we are part of those who have “Chinese food syndrome” or have believed the suggestion.

My point is that the complaints were about the food being too salty. Maybe that is the case with the food…but today we are going to suggest that the salt Jesus talks about is actually good and you cannot have too much.

Our theme this year is “Walking with Christ” and we are going through the Sermon on the Mount and exploring Jesus’ famous hillside sermon where he shares the attributes of disciples of the Kingdom of Heaven. We spent several weeks going through the Beatitudes and how those character qualities exemplify a follower of Jesus. Now Jesus goes into the next part of the Sermon where he goes through some qualities and characteristics of how a disciple takes those beatitudes and lives them out.

I am calling this series for the next 8 weeks: Living Righteously

We talked about what it means to seek righteousness, to hunger and thirst for righteousness and the way that the world might treat someone who is trying to live for the sake of being righteous. Now we will spend some time exploring righteous living in the next parts of the Sermon on the Mount.

Let’s open to our passage this morning.

MATTHEW 5:13-16

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.

Salt and Light. These two metaphors or principles that could be like some of Jesus’ earliest parables. How do we live? We live salty and we live bright. What does Jesus mean by this?

SALT

Jesus starts with salt. Salt had 5 functions in the ancient world:

(1) Purity

(2) Preservation

(3) Flavor

(4) Healing

(5) Creation of Thirst

In this passage, we could see how all 5 of these attributes of salt make this passage true. You are the salt of the earth. You are the purity that lives in your world preserving for long lasting living. You bring flavor to those around you and healing to those who are hurting. You create thirst for righteousness.

We notice that Jesus says “You are” the salt of the earth. The idea in the original text is emphatic. You and no one else are the salt of the earth. Not you will be or you can be. You ARE the salt of the earth. Today, right now, you are salt.