It is no accident that Jesus talked about us being salt and light immediately after he spoke the Beatitudes. It is in learning how to think as Jesus thought and live as he lived in submissions to God, that we become agents of healing and light in the world. It is when we live as people who do not live for the kingdom of this world, but the kingdom of God that our lives take on eternal value. It is not that God does not want to bless us here and now. He does want to, and he does. Every blessing we have comes from his hand. The Bible says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). But when we do things simply because we think they will bring blessings from God, we are on the wrong track. Only when we begin to desire to live for God and his kingdom, do we know we are going the right direction. When we begin to want to take on God’s nature and be like him, we experience the transformation that can only come through him. When we live for the here and now we get our reward here and now. That is why Jesus said,
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.” Luke 6:24-25
1. Jesus was again telling us not to live for the kingdom of this world, but for the kingdom of God.
C. S. Lewis said, “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”
Joni Eareckson Tada, has a special ministry to people with disabilities. She knows something about it since she is a quadriplegic – paralyzed from the neck down. At the age of 17 she was injured in a diving accident, and from that day to this someone has had to take care of her every need. It was not a fun journey, and you can read her story and her struggle in her book simply titled Joni. You might understand why she is looking forward to having a new body. In a recent devotional she wrote that there are those who “say that being so heavenly- minded does you no earthly good. Not so! Those whose minds are on heaven do earth a world of good. When you realize that your citizenship is in heaven, you begin to act as a responsible citizen should. You begin to invest wisely in relationships. Your conversations, goals, and motives become more pure and honest, and all of this serves you well not only in heaven but on earth. Heavenly-minded people are for earth’s highest good.”
Jesus was saying, “Aim at the good life and you will miss it every time. Aim at the kingdom and you get the kingdom and the good life as well. He said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39
2. Jesus is saying that we play an important role in the life of the world as salt and light.
I have read elaborate explanations which try to describe how salt can possibly lose its flavor, but I think it misses the point of what Jesus was trying to do. After all, salt is salt and it does not matter whether you keep it in the refrigerator or cupboard, it does not spoil or lose its flavor. Again, Jesus is employing statements which shock in order to get people to think. Tasteless salt is an oxymoron. If it was possible for salt to lose its flavor, people would simply through it out.
In the same way, people never light a candle and put it under a bowl. That defeats the whole purpose of the light and it would go out. It would seem ridiculous, especially to people whose only source of light at night was a candle or small lamp. Why light a candle if you are only going to put it out?
In the same way, why become a Christian if you only want to be “saved” and do not intend on being a light to the world or make it more palatable? What good dows it do to become a Christian if you are going to be like everybody else? The answer is: Your life would become tasteless, dark, useless to the kingdom. But if you see your responsibility and privilege to, as it says in the vows of membership, “to live a life that becomes the Gospel,” then your life has meaning and purpose. There is some value in becoming a Christian, but only if we live the life and daily strive to be a disciple of Jesus.
The problem with our particular brand of Americanized Christianity is that it has become so exclusive and personal. For many it is “all about me and Jesus.” I “get saved”, get my ticket to heaven, and then just sit back and wait till Jesus comes. I want God’s blessings so my personal life will “work” or be better in some way. I want God to fix my marriage, my finances, my children, my health or I want God to give me protection. I want to avoid hell, but I’m not sure I want to have the responsibility of living for God and making a difference in the world.
But what good does it do if you are going to have your life lit with the light of God if you are not going to let that light shine into the world’s darkness? If your life was meant to be like salt in a tasteless world and you lose your flavor, what good does it do? If you believe certain things, or become a Christian just so you can feel more comfortable, or God forbid, so that you can feel superior to other people, it amounts to nothing. You are living in darkness.
A Friend of mine posted on Facebook a query on her status, asking people to respond to the question: What are the top three things you are worried about? Here are the responses she got from people: Three mentioned health, Two said money, two said pleasing people, two said safety, one said their job, one said kids, and one said Republicans. All of these folks were Christians, and some were in ministry, and no one said that their concern was that their life would mean something for God and the kingdom. No one said that one of their top concerns was that their life would make a difference. No one said they were concerned about passing their faith on to their children. No one said they were concerned about their faith being contagious. The question is, how would that question have been answered any differently by people who had no relationship with God?
We are worried about things that Jesus said we should not worry about. He said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.... And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:19-21, 28-34
Jesus is concerned about what our chief concerns in life are. And he says that our chief concern should be whether we are really salt and light in a dark and flavorless world. Are we actually seeking the Kingdom? And if we really are seeking the Kingdom, all the rest will take care of itself.
3. Jesus was talking about a new way of obedience
Up to this point the majority of people in Jesus’ day thought of living for God in terms of outwardly obeying a moral code, but Jesus was talking about a morality that exuded from the interior life.
Obedience was taking on a different direction. It was no longer to be conforming to an outer moral code written on a stone tablet, it was to be an obedience that was a result of a law written on the hearts of God’s people. It was not about forcing myself to do what God says, it was having a heart transformed so that I want to do God’s will. My heart becomes one with God’s heart. His will becomes my will. It is no longer something I have to do, it is something I want to do. It is a heart that has fallen in love with God and desires him and loves his ways.
This had always been the purpose of God, even in the Old Testament. Jeremiah wrote, “‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” Jeremiah 31:33
When Jesus said: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20, you have to understand that in the culture which Jesus lived no one was more righteous than the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They obeyed everything explicitly stated and everything implied, and many more laws as well that they made up to go along with the OT law. They were so scrupulous that they even tithed their spices. They followed every dietary and sacramental law they could find in the Bible. So what Jesus said seemed impossible to the people to whom he was speaking.
But Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain’” Matthew 15:7-9 And he would say the same to us when we think of ourselves as better than others, yet do not follow what Jesus clearly taught.
The Pharisees were good at obeying the law, but they had a heart problem. Their righteousness turned into self-righteousness. They were worried about what went into their mouths (no pork for instance), but not worried about what came out of their hearts. Jesus said, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’ “ Matthew 15:11
He said, “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.” Matthew 15:17-20
So now they understood that Jesus was not talking about being better at keeping rules, but having a transformation of the heart and thereby an obedience that came from the heart. This is the only way that they could exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.
Do you realize you could obey every law and rule in the Bible — Old and New Testaments — and not be a Christian? You could obey perfectly and miss the Kingdom, because the Kingdom is not a matter of keeping rules, but of getting a new heart.
What we need is not more resolve, or more discipline, so that we can follow the rules more precisely. What we need is new hearts – transformed hearts that do not see God’s will as burdensome, but a delight. And that is how we become salt. It is how we will light the world.
Chuck Colson tells this story: “My mind goes back to a Christmas 20 years ago in Romania, when the country was still in the grip of communist tyranny.
The story begins with Laszlo Tokes, pastor of a fast-growing reformed church in the city of Timisoara. His powerful preaching had caught the attention of communist officials, and they began a strategy of suppression. They stationed police officers around his church, machine guns cradled in their arms. They hired thugs to attack him. Finally, just before Christmas, they decided to send him into exile.
But when the police arrived to hustle Pastor Tokes away, they were stopped cold. Around the church stood a wall of humanity. Christians from around the city-Baptist, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic-had joined together to protest.
All through the day they held their post. As it grew dark, a young Baptist student named Daniel Gavra pulled out a packet of candles, lit one, and passed it to his neighbor.
Then he lit another. One by one the burning candles were passed out among the crowd. Soon the darkness of the December night was pierced by the light of hundreds of candles. When Pastor Tokes looked out his window, he saw a sea of faces lit up by a warm glow.
That night, he said later, was the ‘turning point in my life.’ He would never erase from his mind the picture of believers from all denominations joining hands in his defense.
Two days later, police finally broke through the crowd and dragged Pastor Tokes away. But that was not the end. The people now streamed to the city square and began a full-scale demonstration against the communist government.
Once again Daniel Gavra passed out his candles. Once again the night was lit by their glow.
Finally, the communist officials began to panic. They brought in troops and ordered them to open fire on the crowd. Hundreds were shot. Young Daniel felt a searing pain as his leg was blown off.
Yet the brave example set in Timisoara inspired the rest of the nation. Within days the entire population of Romania had risen up and the bloody dictator Ceausescu was gone. The churches filled with worshippers offering praise to God.
For the first time in half a century, the people of Romania celebrated Christmas in freedom.
In the hospital, Daniel Gavra celebrated while learning to walk with crutches. His pastor came by, offering him sympathy, but Daniel wasn’t looking for sympathy.
‘Oh, Pastor,’ he said softly. ‘I don’t mind so much the loss of a leg. After all, it was I who lit the first candle.’
What a powerful image for us here in America — the picture of a black December night lit up by the glowing testimony of God’s people.
What mighty things the church could do today when it is truly is the church: when we stand shoulder to shoulder with all our brothers and sisters, ready to fight evil, prepared to give our limbs — and yes, even our lives — to light a candle in the darkness.
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise [not you, but] your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
Rodney J. Buchanan
Amity UMC
February 6, 2011
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
