THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (part five)
Matthew 5:13-16
Intro: Make connection between the beatitudes and us being salt and light.
1) We need to be salty.
Matt. 5:13, "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."
At one time salt was a more precious commodity than it is today. “On October 2, 1864, one of the worst battles of the American Civil War was fought. 2800 Confederate soldiers squared off against 4500 Union soldiers. The battle is forever recorded in American history as one of the worst atrocities that has ever occurred on US soil.
After a day of intense fighting, shots continued throughout the night muffling the cries of wounded Union soldiers. This intense fighting and great loss of life was all over salt. One of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War was fought over Saltville, VA--the largest supplier of salt to the Confederate army. Salt was so valuable that more wars have been fought over it than gold.”
Syracuse, the salt city. Salt museum. The salt industry has a long history in and around Syracuse going back to 1654. Onondaga Lake was once known as Salt Lake. In 1784 the region came to be known as the "Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation" and provided the basis for commercial salt production from the late 18th century through the early 20th century. The majority of salt used in the country in the 19th century came from Syracuse.
In many societies salt was so valuable that it was used for money. The English word salary is derived from the Latin word Salarium which refers to the payments made to a Roman soldier with salt. Pretty valuable stuff. Jesus calls us salt. How are we like salt?
One way is that salt is a preservative. They didn’t have refrigerators back then so salt was the means by which they preserved their food. The salt was rubbed into the meat before it was stored. The salt hindered or stopped the process of decay. Therefore we are called to hinder or stop the decay of the world. We are called to preserve the gospel; we are called to preserve the image of Christ.
Another meaning of preserve is to protect or defend. We're to defend the faith against false teachings and protect the integrity of Christianity against misrepresentation.
Another purpose of salt is flavoring. Salt makes bland food tastier; more appealing. Some people aren’t interested in the gospel. As the salt of the earth we can help make the gospel more appealing. We can show them how flavorful life can be if they come to Jesus.
Salt also helps to motivate people to become thirsty. Like the saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. No, but you can put salt in his oats.” We are the salt whose intended purpose is to make people thirsty for the living water.
Titus 2:9-10, "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive."
Apparently it was somewhat common for servants to disobey or shirk responsibilities and talk back to and steal from their masters. Paul wants to communicate a way for new Christians to show themselves to be different; more attractive.
We can apply this at our own workplace. Show our boss that we can be trusted not to take anything that doesn't belong to us; and that includes taking longer than allotted breaks (time stealing). Show them respect, show them hard work and integrity; show them and your co-workers the attractiveness of Christ.
This applies in every facet of our lives. We are to be alluring; drawing people in by our godly example. By living a more appealing way we can make the teaching about Jesus attractive to people.
Col. 4:6 says that our conversations with people are to be seasoned with salt. Part of being the salt of the earth is in how we are talking with others. We are to be having conversations that are wholesome and beneficial. By the way we live, speak and act we can draw others to Jesus.
“There was a business owner who had employed many Christians in his company. He would watch them closely. "You know, I was naturally drawn to God by observing Christian workers who were conscientious and kind and thorough and aggressive on the job," he said. "But I’ll tell you what really impressed me.
One day a guy who I knew to be a fresh convert asked if he could see me after work. I agreed to meet with him, but later in the day I started to worry that this young religious zealot might be coming to try to convert me.
I was surprised when he came in my office with his head hanging low and said, ‘Sir, I’m here to ask your forgiveness. Over the years I’ve worked for you I’ve done what a lot of other employees do: borrowing a few company products here and there, taking some extra supplies; I’ve abused telephone privileges and I’ve cheated the time clock now and then.
But I became a Christian a few months ago and it’s real. In gratitude for what Christ has done for me and in obedience to Him, I want to make amends to you and the company for the wrongs I’ve done. So could we figure out a way to do that? If you have to fire me for what I’ve done, I’ll understand. I deserve it. Or, if you want to dock my pay, dock it whatever figure you think is appropriate. If you want to give me some extra work to do on my own time, that would be okay, too, I just want to make things right with God and between us.’"
Well, they worked things out. And the business owner said that this conversation made a deeper spiritual impact on him than anything else ever had. It was the most impressive demonstration of true Christianity he had ever witnessed.” We are to be the salt of the earth.
Salt losing its saltiness. Salt can literally lose its saltiness. There’s an interesting description of this by a man named Maundrell. “In the land of Judea there is a place known as the Valley of Salt. On one side of the valley, toward Gibul, there's a small precipice about 12 feet long, occasioned by the continual taking away of the salt; and, in this, you may see how the veins of it lie. I broke a piece of it, of which that part that was exposed to the rain, sun, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, it had completely lost its savor. However, the inner part, that which was connected to the rock, retained its savor."
Maundrell discovered that the salt that had become disconnected from the rock had eventually lost its saltiness but the salt that had stayed connected to the rock hadn’t. That’s the formula for us as well. Stay connected to the rock which is Christ and we will not lose our saltiness.
We can become unsalted through ignoring the beatitudes and not pursuing godly attributes. We can also lose it through giving ourselves back over to sin. In Mark 9:42-50, Jesus talks about cutting sin off (if you foot causes you to sin cut it off, if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out, etc. Better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.
He didn't mean that literally but the point is to take sin seriously. Better to do the painful thing and cut it off and enter into heaven than to keep hold of it and be thrown into hell. At the end of that passage in Mark he talks about salt losing its saltiness, like he did in Matt. 5.
We also lose our saltiness through giving up and not persevering in the faith. In Luke 14:25-35, Jesus talks about counting the cost of being his disciple. He gives two analogies-one is a king who is having to face another king coming against him. He needs to decide whether he will fight or surrender. The other scenario is a person who needs to decide if he has enough resources to build a tower. Because if he starts without thinking it through and he doesn't finish he will be ridiculed.
The point is we need to determine whether we're ready to truly commit to the Lordship of Christ. If we don't persevere and finish the race, as Paul describes it, it will not be good. Again, Jesus finishes this passage by talking about salt losing its saltiness.
I need to maintain my connection to Christ, his people and his church. Once these things start to lose their flavoring, I will begin to lose mine. Losing our saltiness is losing our effectiveness. Losing my saltiness is losing my value, my worth (it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men).
Losing my saltiness is like when Jesus cursed the fig tree because it wasn’t bearing any fruit. It’s not a happy ending if that happens. Jesus is warning us. He’s telling us to be on the alert. It’s as if he’s saying, “You are the salt of the earth. You have been given a great privilege but also a great responsibility. Be prepared because you will encounter troubles. I am sending you to heal wounds. And what happens when salt enters the wound? It hurts? It’s helpful but it’s not pleasant.
Some will not understand and will react unfavorably toward it. I’m telling you this so you will be forewarned and persevere through it. And watch out for your enemy; the devil. He hates you because you bear my name and are spreading my message of salvation. He wants to steal your saltiness through things like deceit, sin, fear and apathy. Don’t let him! I am with you. Cling to me and you will not fail. Be diligent and remain salty so you can escape the consequences of being unsalted.”
2) We need to let our light shine.
Matt. 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
Wait a minute? Jesus said in John 8:12 that he was the light of the world. Here he is saying we are the light of the world. Which is it? Jesus is the true light of the world. But he gives us his light which makes us the light of the world. We have no light of our own but we are reflectors; reflectors of Christ. We are to be a moon and reflect the Son.
How brightly do I shine? How well do I stand out? How well do I show others that I am a disciple of Jesus? “The Definition of a Saint.” A young boy went with his parents touring around Europe one summer. Part of their tour included visits to the great old cathedrals of the past. As he visited cathedral after cathedral, he was impressed by the massive stained glass portraits of the disciples and other saints as he stood in their great empty halls.
Upon returning home, he was asked by his Sunday school teacher what he liked the most. He thought for a moment and said, "I loved the sense of awe and the hugeness of who God must be, and I loved the stained glass windows with their images of the saints."
"And what is a saint?" his teacher asked. His mind went back to those beautiful windows and he said, "A saint is a person the light shines through." That's a good definition of what a saint of God is supposed to be. We are to let the light of Jesus shine through us to a lost and dying world.
“A city on a hill cannot be hidden”. Jesus wants us to be fulfilling the purpose for which his light was placed in us. He wants us to be exposed; he wants us stand out. Jesus wants us to be recognized as his followers. A city on a hill draws attention. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing-standing out and drawing attention-in a good way! A city on a hill can be seen far and wide. Jesus wants our light to shine far and wide. He wants our influence to be talked about and spread around.
Light a lamp and put it under a bowl. This sounds pretty absurd, doesn’t it? Who lights a lamp and then covers it up? Like Jesus said, no one does this. But that’s what we can have the tendency to do as Christians, though. God has placed his light in us for a purpose but sometimes instead of fulfilling that purpose and letting our light shine we hide it.
Matt. 6:19-24, “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.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
If we have the light of Christ and allow something to hide that light; if we allow some form of darkness to overshadow the light how great is that darkness! It’s one thing to have nothing but darkness in you. But what’s worse is when we have the light of Christ in us and instead of letting it shine through we allow the darkness of the world to overshadow it.
Children’s song-this little light of mine. Hide it under a bushel? No! The kids scream this word. We should be like this. Are we going to allow a bushel of pride to hide our light? Are we going to allow a bushel of lust, greed, envy or addiction to hide our light? Are we going to put the bowl of materialism over our light? Hopefully we’ll answer the way kids do-with a loud and strong-NO!
And as salt can lose its saltiness, what happens when you cover a candle (oil lamp)? It goes out. It goes out because it's not getting any oxygen to it; it's being smothered. When we cut off our oxygen supply our fire will die out. When we smother our light with worldly things then our light will be taken over by darkness.
Jesus mentioned that persecution is coming our way. So it makes sense to caution against us becoming unsalted and hiding our light because that’s the danger of handling persecution in the wrong way-it will drive the salt right out of us and it will cause us to hide our light.
We are told in 1st Thess. 5:19 not to quench the spirit’s fire. Satan’s got the hose; God’s got the wood. We need to make the right choice. Sometimes our fire dies down; sometimes we may just have some embers burning. We need to allow God to get his poker out and stir them around and rekindle the flames before they die out. Our light may get dim, sometimes it flickers but it can come back-just make sure you don’t let your wick get snuffed out. Jesus wants us to shine.
All this shining we do is not for our own glory but for his-‘that they would see your good deeds and praise God’. 1st Pet. 2:9-12, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."
We have been given a prized honor as a chosen people and royalty. God called us out of the cold and smothering darkness to be embraced in his warm and wonderful light. We have been set free from the gloomy dungeon of sin to live in the glorious freedom of righteousness. So we respond to that undeserved mercy by casting off the darkness and embracing the light.
We have been called out to stand out. We are to live as children of the light bearing the fruit of the light; part of which is when those who don’t understand the light see our shining example and in turn are changed and come to glorify God because of it. The reason we are to be salty and bright is so our lives will influence the world for Jesus. It's about being used to help bring people to salvation; filling God's kingdom. Salt and light for the glory of God.
CONCLUSION: “In the Canadian province of New Brunswick there is a church building on Deer Island that for many years has served as a physical light house to the fishermen of that community. It is not that the building has any unique architectural design that would resemble a nautical lighthouse. It fact, it resembles the style of many church buildings built a century ago. It is the location of the building that makes it ideal as a lighthouse.
The Worship House for the Church of Christ in Lord's Cove is elevated a few hundred feet higher than the Cove below. For many years the fishermen returning to port could see the steeple of that Church building for miles from the water. In the days before electronic equipment guided them home the fishermen would aim for the Church building when returning to port.
From miles away, the men would aim for the church, or the light in its steeple. That course of direction would guide them past all the ledges and shoals, and safely back to the home port. In the 1960's the government installed navigational lights for the fishermen, but prior to that the church building had served as the Lighthouse.
Just as the physical light of that building led many safely home, so also the Light of Jesus Christ leads all who will follow his light to their heavenly home. May we serve as a light for Christ to guide others to the home port of heaven.” Jesus referred to the seven churches in Rev. as “lampstands”. Cornerstone is a lampstand that burns bright in the darkness. We need to keep our lights burning so people can be drawn to the light of Christ and make it home.
