Matthew 5:13-16
“Let’s not talk about religion”
Manuscript
As you know we’ve lived overseas in a few different countries. I’ve had to learn to live in a culture that is not my own. As well as that I’m married to someone from overseas – a Czech. And Czech culture is different to Australian culture. It’s a challenge living in a different culture and learning to adjust to a different culture. But as well as challenging it’s interesting to see how different people do things differently, think differently. And one of the things is when you live in a different culture, you have to learn about how the Gospel works in a different culture. You see, I was born and raised an Aussie. I’m a true blue Aussie - my family on almost all sides goes back to the 1800s. I’ve got at least four convict ancestors. My great-grandfather landed on Anzac Cove in Turkey on 25th April, 1915. Paul had claimed that if anyone can claim to be a real Hebrew, that he could. And I feel that I can say that too. If anyone can claim to be a real Aussie, I can. And I became a Christian in Australia. I learnt how to live and think and act as an Aussie Christian.
So when I went overseas, I had to learn how Christianity fitted in with another culture. I had to learn that some things I thought were Christian were just part of Australian culture, they weren’t necessarily things the Bible talks about. In the old days, missionaries would go to other countries and import their culture as well as the Gospel. So when the natives converted, they would, for example, make them all wear western clothes - that was part of being a Christian! We now look back on that and laugh – or cringe. And now when we go to another country we try to be culturally sensitive and adapt the Gospel to their culture. But sometimes we can go too far in cultural adaptation, because while there are some things in other cultures that are not wrong and that we can accept, there are other things that are downright wrong! For example, where we lived in Asia, they had a concept of shame that we find difficult to understand, but it was so strong that it meant that a person would lie rather than lose shame. Is that right for them to lie because it is part of their culture? No it’s not – it’s just sin. It is something that in the culture that has to be confronted and challenged with the Gospel.
And one thing we learnt, is that every culture in the world has things that are okay, or even good. But also that every culture has things that are wrong and sinful, and hinder the Gospel. And one thing we learnt is that applies to every culture. Not just other cultures, but it also includes Aussie culture. Our Aussie culture has many good things going for it - things like mateship, the concept of a fair go. But there are other things that are actually wrong, sinful, and sometimes when you are in that culture you can’t see them. Before I went to live overseas I was pretty blind to the faults of some aspects of Aussie culture. But when you are out of Aussie culture for a while, you can look back at it and see the good points, as well as the bad points.
And today we are going to look at one of the more negative aspects of Aussie culture. Now, none of us like it when our own culture is attacked. But I’m not attacking it as an outsider, but I’m having a go at it as a fellow Aussie who’s had a chance to look at it from a new angle - so please bear with me! And today I’m going to look at something that is very much ingrained in our culture, into our social culture.
So this is what I’m talking about: - when you meet together with other people here in Australia - social functions, BBQs, school fetes, small talk at work, wherever it is. There are rules for polite conversation, and we know as Aussies, it is ingrained in us since birth, that in social context there are three things that we don’t talk about. What are they? Sex, politics and religion. You might laugh, but it’s almost true. Almost. Because in my experience, we Aussies actually do talk about two of them. We love talking about politics. Of course – you’ve gotta bag both parties so you are being fair, but we actually have no worries about talking about politics. And its increasingly becoming the same with sex. Think of all the jokes with sexual innuendos. So while we say that in conversation there are three things it is impolite to talk about - sex, politics and religion, in point of fact, in reality, it’s only one of them that is actually taboo, strictly taboo to talk about. Which one is it? Religion. Who would agree with me on that one?
And it is an Aussie trait. It’s a cultural trait you don’t see it most other places. Most other cultures are happy to talk religion. I’ve had more conversation about religion from the muslim Pakistani console operatort at the United petrol station on the Bruce Hwy as you come into town in 20 seconds of banter as I pay for my petrol than I’ve got from hours of hanging out with Aussies. We Aussies just don’t talk about religion, it’s not the done thing. Religion is regarded as private affair, something that we keep to ourselves. And the tragedy is that this has affected us Christians too. Let alone in our conversation with non-Christians, but also in our conversations with each other! When you talk with other Christians, how often do we talk about the things of the Lord, what Christ has done for us? And how often to we talk about the things of the Lord to non-Christians? Why do we find it so difficult? It’s because our culture teaches that it is actually wrong to impose our beliefs on others. It teaches us that it is wrong to talk about religion. It’s not polite. We should keep our religious beliefs to ourselves.
And that aspect of our culture, is a Gospel killer.
Today we are going to look at a passage of Scripture which directly confronts this aspect of Aussie culture, and challenges us, and actually gives us no option as Aussie Christians. It forces us to choose - are we Aussies first – or Christians first? And am I willing to break my culture’s rules in order to follow Christ and talk about religion - talk about my faith, talk about God. Today we are looking at Matthew 5:13-16 (pg 810 in the church Bibles), which according to the headings in many Bibles is about salt and light. And this passage says that we are salt, that we are light. But what does it mean to say that we are salt and light? Well first let’s look at what it means to be salt.
Matt 513 “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.
Now the context: first, who is Jesus talking to? Who is the “you” here? Before Easter I spoke on the Beatitudes, and remember, the beatitudes speak about people who seek after the Kingdom of Heaven. People who put aside the things of this world and seek their happiness in God and the world to come. The poor in spirit, those who mourn at the sorry state of today’s world, the meek and humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart – who really know God and aren’t just holy looking on the outside, the peacemakers, and those persecuted because they follow Jesus. In other words, people whose values of happiness are not those of the world, but are God’s values. Followers of Jesus - and that’s us, or should be us - the church. It is these Jesus is now teaching – His disciples, and these days, that is the church. And He tells them and us that they are the salt of the earth. The word “you” here is emphasised in Greek. That means it is the equivelent of underlining it, of saying, “you, yes you.” That is, not anyone else. That is, the disciples of Jesus, the followers of Jesus, only you are the salt of the earth. That means that our task as Christians - we are the salt of the earth.
Now what does it mean to be salt? Well we use salt these days mainly to give food taste, but back in the days before refrigeration they also used salt for preservation. If you put some salt in meat it would last longer. But whatever use Jesus had in mind for the use of salt, one thing we know: that salt is noticed. It is a very small substance. It is tiny, and you don’t need much of it to make a difference. You can’t see it when it’s in food, but you know it’s there as soon as you take a bite. Salt makes its presence felt.
But not if it is no longer salty. You might ask, “how does salt become non-salty? How can salt lose its saltiness?” Well of course pure salt – pure Sodium Chloride - can’t lose its saltiness. But impure salt can. Back in those times they’d often get their salt from the Dead Sea, and it wasn’t pure Sodium Chloride, there were other minerals mixed in too. And it’s the same if you buy sea salt these days. Actually we did an experiment with the kids recently. In November we were at the Sunny Coast and we took a bottle and took the water from the sea, and when got home filled up this glass bowl with water and left the water to evaporate. Most of the water has now evaporated, but as you can see there’s a whole lot of salt left. But it’s not pure salt even though it tastes like salt. But even though it’s not all pure salt it’s the salt that gives the flavour. If you took the salt out and just had the impurities left, well, it would be worthless. What would you do with it? You’d throw it out and anyone walking over it would just trample it underfoot - just like Jesus says in this saying.
But He is not talking so much about real salt here, but about us and comparing us to salt. He is talking to His disciples, which today is the church, and telling us firstly, that we are the salt. It is us who have the answers for the world, it is us who have the hope for the world. It is not philosophy which has the answers, it is not humanism, it is not socialism, or capitalism. It is not Islam, Buddhism, atheism, or secularism. But it is Christ and His people. We are the salt of the earth. But if we lose our saltiness, that is, if we lose what is is that makes us what we are, then we become worthless.
Friends, how salty is the church? If salt loses it saltiness, it means it has lost what it really is and it becomes worthless. Well what is it that defines the church, the followers, disciples of Jesus? Well that’s what we find out as we read the Gospel of Matthew. Basically what defines a disciple of Jesus, is following Jesus and obeying Him and His teachings, which we find in the Gospels! As we go through the Sermon on the Mount we will see some of these things. Let’s quickly look through some of the headings in the Sermon on the Mount (follow along with me). 5.21-26 and 38-48 – anger and murder, retaliation, loving our enemies. When we as Christians hate and have thoughts of hate, when we retaliate, when we don’t love our enemies, we lose our saltiness, we stop being who we are supposed to be. 5.27-30 lust. 5.31-32 divorce, adultery. When we soften our stance on sex, when we allow sexual immorality, when we don’t value marriage and divorce is in the church like it is in the world, then we lose our saltiness, we stop being who we are supposed to be. 5.33-37 – oaths, vows and telling the truth - when we lie and twist the truth, then we lose our saltiness and stop being who we are supposed to be. 6:1-4 – giving to the needy. When we stop caring for the poor, not just here, but in those nations that are poverty stricken, then we lose our saltiness. We stop being who we are supposed to be. And next Sunday we are having Andy Coller from Baptist World Aid who will tell us more about how we can help the poor.
Last Sunday we looked at the Resurrection. Great news that Jesus is alive! And through His death He provides forgiveness. So there is hope if you have sinned in any of these areas in the past – you can come to Jesus to have your sins forgiven! Now that’s great news! But what does Jesus tell us to with that news? Keep it to ourself?
Luke 2446 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
We are told by Jesus to be witnesses. But witnesses of what? That Jesus suffered and then rose from the dead and that if we repent there is forgivenss of sins! When we stop witnessing about that, we lose our saltiness, and we stop being who we are. We are no longer the church, the followers of Christ.
Now as I’ve gone through these things, you’ve probably thought of examples of where the church, or perhaps other churches have gone off the rails. For example, many liberal churches no longer think we should tell people about Jesus Christ. And if they do talk about faith, they don’t believe that Jesus really rose from the dead. Some of them don’t say Jesus is the only way to God. And as they stray from biblical truth, they lose their saltiness in society, and they stop being who they are supposed to be - followers of Jesus. And we have noticed that the more liberal a church becomes, often in an attempt to accommodate society, to adapt to the prevailaing culture around it, then the church loses its saltiness. And very often it loses its members and become trampled on as irrelevant by society at large.
But what about us here? It’s easy to point the finger at other churches who may have strayed in doctrine. After all, while we acknowlege our doctrine at Gympie Baptist Church is probably not perfect, I think it’s generally on the right track. We value the Bible. We believe it is inspired, inerrant. We believe Jesus died and rose again. We believe that Jesus is the only way to God, and that’s good. But that’s all beliefs I have been talking about. How are we when it comes to doing? You know most of Jesus’ teaching talks about doing, not just believing certain things. Loving your enemies. Staying pure sexually. Not retaliating but loving. Submitting to authority. Helping the poor. Doing stuff. How are we going with that? If we aren’t doing what Jesus tells us to do, we lose our saltiness.
Let’s move onto the next saying now – about light.
Matthew 514 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
We as the church are not only salt, but we are light. Now the thing about light, the thing that defines light, is that it can be seen - by its very definition that’s what it is. As Jesus says, it is like a city on a hill. You know if you drive along the Bruce Highway through Gympie, what’s the part of Gympie you can see? Or during the floods in January, if you were stuck over at Southside looking across the mighty Mary River towards Gympie, what part of Gympie could you see? Was it One Mile? No – why? because One Mile is in a valley. It was Calton Hill. You can see Calton Hill from all around. Why? Because its on a hill. A city, a town, that’s built on a hill, can be seen from everywhere around. You can’t hide it. Just like a light. Now it is theoretically possible to hide a light – you could put a lamp under a basket. But as Jesus says in verse 15:
Matthew 515 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.
Why don’t people hide a light? Well it would be totally against the principle of why you have a light in the first place. You light a light so that you can see and to illuminate things, so that everything in the house is seen. And Jesus says we are the light of the world.
Matthew 516 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.
Okay so here is the bit that goes against Aussie culture. Our culture that tells us not to talk about religion. That our beliefs are a private matter to be kept to ourselves. But what does the Bible say? What are we to do with this light we have? This light of Christ? We are to let it shine before others! How do we do this? Well, we need to talk about it! Yes, we need to talk about God! We need to talk about our relationship with Christ before others. We must let our light shine. And it musn’t just be words, as Jesus reminds us when He says “so that they may see your good works.” And I guess this can lead into the debate many of us have heard. Do we witness with our words, or with our actions? You’ve probably heard the phrase “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.” And that phrase seems to fit in with what Jesus is saying here. That is, that as we let our light shine, they see may see our good works. So surely then, our good works is the preaching of the Gospel. As we display the likeness of Christ in our lives, as we give to the poor, are kind to others, as we think of others before ourselves, that is our main witness to the Gospel. And then when necessary, we can use words. And that fits with our Aussie culture too doesn’t it? We can still keep our culture of not talking about religion or God. We can still keep our faith private, just let our light shine before people, and occasionally – only when really necessary, use words.
But I want to tell you that that saying is one of the most dangerous for evangelism. I want to tell you that the saying, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words,” is a cop-out and is totally unbiblical. Yes, sure, our good works are important – they are vital. But our good works alone, or our good works with the rare few words, are not sufficient. Why do I say that? Well let’s read on. What happens when we let our light shine by displaying our good works? What is the result?
Matthew 516 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.
Give glory to your Father who is in Heaven! And how do they know who our Father is, if we are silent? If we never speak about our faith? If we don’t discuss religion? If they see our good works, but don’t know it’s because Christ lives in us, then they’ll praise us, but they won’t praise God. They’ll only praise God if we tell them about what Christ had done for us, and how He has changed us. So they know our good works are not from us, but from God, and then they will give praise to the Father! John 6.68 says:
John 668 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
The good news that Jesus died for our sins is a message communicated with words - words of eternal life. Friends to say, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words,” is like saying “We should feed the hungry – and if necessary use food.” In the same way it is necessary to use food when feeding the hungry, it’s also necessary to use words when preachng the Gospel. John 5.24 says:
John 524 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
To obtain eternal life someone has to believe, and to believe they need to hear the words of Jesus. Someone needs to speak to them, and that person is You. You are the light of the world. But we must also have good works to go with our words. We’ve all probably heard people telling others about Jesus, but their lives don’t match up to what they are saying. They are talking the talk but not walking the walk. We must also take seriously what Jesus says here about people glorifying God because they see our good works. Good works are not just important. They are essential. They are mandatory. They are part of what it is to be light, to be salt, and we are going to be looking at them as we go through Matthew.
Friends, let’s talk turkey as we close off today. We are to be salt and light. We are to be salty salt and light that actually lights up. We are to be bold in our declaration of Christ to others, speaking the truth of the Gospel, and we need to demonstrate that we are salt and light, by our holy lives that love and care for others. We need to go against our cultural trend, and talk about religion. You know, before I was a pastor I worked in a secular workplace for many years like most of you do now. I remember how hard it was to to talk about God, to be a witness of Jesus. Like most of us, it’s something I find difficult to do – but I still did it. But I also remember that when I did say something, when I put it on the line what I believed, that invariably, not long afterwards, maybe a few hours later, maybe a few days, even a few weeks, in a quite moment when no-one else was looking, someone would come up to me and say quietly, “Hey, I’m a Christian too!”. Well it was great to know there was another Christian in the workplace. But you know what? That person was unsalty salt. A lightless light. They weren’t shining. They hid their life in Christ under a basket. Exactly the opposite of what salt and light is supposed to do.
In our Aussie culture, we are encouraged to keep our faith a private matter. And I’ve met many so-called Christians who tell me that they have a private faith. It’s inside and that’s all that matters. But that’s not the Christianity of the Bible. That’s not the Christianity Christ tells us we are. We are to be salt and light, and I’ll be the first to admit that I find that challenging and a big ask. But a good place to start is with each other. When you meet with other Christians, how much do you talk about what Christ has done for you? What He is doing in your life now? Your joys, struggles and difficulties as you do you best to follow Christ in today’s world? Make talking about spiritual things a natural part of your conversation with other Christians, and then it will also start to become a natural part of your conversation with non-Christians. Go against the grain. Go against our Aussie culture. Be impolite. Talk about religion, talk about God and live a life of good deeds too. Be salt and light.
