Living In The Kingdom 5
Scripture: Matthew 5:13-16; Colossians 4:6; Second Corinthians 4:6
This is part five of my series “Living in the Kingdom.” In the first four parts of this series, I covered what is known as the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-12. In those verses Jesus demonstrated how those who are a part of Him should live in this world as a part of His kingdom. He discussed what our attitudes should be when we are persecuted for righteousness and He talked about what will follow for those who are truly walking with Him and responding to the world according to His direction. The Beatitudes, as a whole, are a set of contradictions to the “mind of the flesh.” They tear away the false illusions the multitude had pertaining to the nature of the kingdom. Can you imagine how some hearing this message would have been disgusted and possibly turned their backs on Christ at that moment? Think about how people today would respond to these attitudinal shifts once you enter His kingdom. For those hearing His words, many would have made the decision then if they were in or out. The same applies to each of us. This morning we will be looking at Matthew 5:13-16. In these verses Jesus continues with the reasons why we are to do what He said in verses three through twelve.
Matthew 5:13-16 says, “You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savor, how shall it be salted? It is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under a bushel, but on a lamp stand; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Let’s pause for a minute and talk about salt. Salt is a seasoning and preserving chemical, but if exposed to the sun, rain, and air, it loses its flavor and is worthless. But here is the point that I really want you to focus on. You do not salt a living thing! You put salt on something that is already dead so that it does not rot. The salt preserves the thing that is dead. Do you see where I am going with this statement? Actually where Jesus went with this statement! Jesus indicates here that human society, without His influence, is a dead carcass that is rotting away and disintegrating. We, those who have accepted Him and are living according to His will, are to be rubbed into this rotting carcass to stop its decomposition and corruption. That being said, in order for salt to do anything (preserve or flavor) it must be brought into close contact with the substance upon which it is to work. Therefore we must be brought into contact with evil and wickedness – through family and friends, at work, in our communities, etc. We cannot divorce ourselves from the world that we are tasked with influencing for Christ. We cannot withdraw ourselves from contact with the evil. The only way by which the salt can purify is by being rubbed into the corrupted thing. We are also to provide flavor to its dullness and to save it from its own wickedness. We are the salt of the earth! When Paul wrote “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:6) In other words, our speech should be seasoned with answers/responses that will oppose sin and preserve from corruption. Let me say it this way, because of our relationship with Christ, we have power within the world!
The chief one is that of our power, and therefore our obligation, to stop the corruption round us, by our own purity. The presence of a good man hinders the devil from having elbow-room to do his work. Do we exercise a suppressive influence (if we do not do anything better), so that evil is ashamed to show itself in our presence? Listen to what I am saying. There are people who know that I am a Pastor and they will not cuss or drink when I am around. The fact that I am a Pastor, for them, suppresses their desire to do things that they know might be wrong in front of someone who they believe is trying to live right. Our lifestyles should be influencing those around us if those around us are living in darkness. But it goes deeper than this. Christians should not only suppress sin around them, but we should also bring forth the best in the people with whom we come in contact with. That is what it means by adding flavor versus just preserving. It is a fact that every man who does right helps to make public opinion in favor of doing right, and likewise every man who lowers the standard of morality in his own life helps to lower it in the community of which he is a part. This is a fact that we see living out in our communities now. So the men and women who have Christ in their hearts and Christ's conduct and character repeated in theirs are to be the preserving and purifying influence in the midst of this corrupt world.
Jesus said that “….if the salt has lost its savor, how shall it be salted? It is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” If you have ever cooked something, chances are you have added salt to it. Job said, “Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” (Job 6:6) We know that salt is used to add flavor and therefore if it has lost its saltiness for whatever reason, it is no longer any good for use for its intended purpose. Jesus said the same applies to us. Jesus makes the point is that it is possible for us, who are Christians, to lose our penetrating spiciness/flavor, which stops corruption, and become no better than those we are supposed to influence. While we know that there should be, in fact there is not much difference between those claiming to be Christians and those who are not – if you use the standard of how they are living. When the world cannot tell us from them, then we, according to Jesus, have lost our saltiness and are therefore good for nothing! I know that there are many who are trying to live right and are laboring to keep themselves unspotted from the world, but I also know that there are those whose religion have next to no influence on their general conduct, and therefore does not keep them from corruption nor empower them to be a source of purifying influence. Some would argue that you cannot tell a Christian from a non-Christian because the world has grown so much better, but do you actually believe that argument? Just look around you. Next Jesus said that we are supposed to be a light that shines in darkness.
“14You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 15Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under a bushel, but on a lamp stand; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Someone said that religion is private and their relationship with Christ is private between them and God. Well if that was the case, would Jesus have said that we are the light of the world? How can we be a light in darkness if our relationship is private? A private relationship is hidden – it is not public. We are supposed to be light which chases away darkness. The only way this can happen is when we are on. When a light is off darkness appears and spread. Darkness is only removed in the presence of light.
If Jesus was talking to those who belonged to Him, then He was saying that He has not lit the lamp to put it under the bushel. He lit the lamp (each of us) that we might give light. God has made us partakers of His grace, and has given to us to be light in the Lord and impart that light to others. When God gives us His grace, His pardon, His love, the quickening of His Spirit by our acceptance of His Son, Jesus Christ, He did so for a reason. Not so that we could hide our relationship and keep His influence on our lives private, but to broadcast it and shine a light into the world. Paul wrote “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (Second Corinthians 4:6) The purpose of God is that we may shine. The lamp is lit not to shine for itself, but that it may “give light to all that are in the house.” Jesus said, “16Let your light so shine before men…” the word “let” means that we have a choice to let the light shine or not.
Why would anyone accept Christ as their personal Savior and want to hide it before men? We know that in some countries today people are being killed for acknowledging Christ as their personal Savior, but not here in the U.S. Why would anyone here want to hide their light? Sometimes the answer is as simple as wanting to fit in and not offend others. But to do this, to hide our light, indicates that we are willing to disobey Christ in order to be accepted by the world which needs our lights to shine. People choose to hide their lights in order to live in this world. We do so by burying the light of a holy character under a whole mountain of inconsistencies. One day we are holy and the next day we are not. One day we are encouraging others and the next day we are tearing them down. How many of us have drowned our consecration and devotion in the muddy, foul waters of worldly lusts? How many of us have let the love of riches and material things and the pleasures of this world place a dark, light cancelling shade over our lamps? The question seems simple but the answer is a lot more complicated in a world where everything is acceptable as long as the majority thinks its okay.
There is another way that we hide our lights and it’s probably the most dangerous way of all because, when we hide it this way, it’s as if it was never on and darkness continues to exist and expand. This second way is through our cowardly, indifferent silence. There are many Christians who are devout in Church but would be ashamed to say they were so in the miscellaneous company of someone who was not. There are professing Christians who have gone through life in their relationships to their fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, wives, children, friends, kindred and others but have never spoken a loving word for their Master. That is a sinful hiding of your light under the bushel and the bed. Christianity is not a private club for a limited few – it is for all the public. The only way the public will know about us and Christ in us is how we life for Him. Jesus said that we are to let our light shine before men “that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Our light shining is not for our benefit!!! We do not turn on a light in our homes so that we can look at the light. No, we turn the lights on so that we can see something else. The light provides clarity in the room where their once was darkness. People may see God through our words and through our conduct that may never have seen Him otherwise. And what is so bad about this last statement is that the world always takes its idea of Christianity from the Church! Not from the Bible, nor from the words of Christ, but from the Church! And who makes up the Church? Inconsistent Christians who say their sins are forgiven and yet continue doing the old sins day by day which you say are pardoned. It’s made up of un-praying, un-inspiring, worldly Christians who lack character and have no self-restraint or holiness in life different from those in the world. If any of what I just said describes you, then I must tell you that you are hindering the coming of Christ’s kingdom! We must take a look at our lives and see if we are truly letting our lives shine at all times; some of the time; or not at all. Only one of those situations is acceptable to Christ!
Consider this; if we are to be ‘light’ if we are ‘in the Lord’ then it is only by our union with Jesus Christ that we partake of His illumination (His light). A sunbeam has no more power to shine if it is cut off from the sun just as a man can no longer give light in this dark world if He be separated from Jesus Christ. If you cut the current by flipping the switch and the electric light dies, it dies because it is now separated from its source. My point is this, the condition of our being and providing light is our keeping our union unbroken with Christ Jesus. The nature and property of light is to radiate. It cannot choose but shine; it has not choice as that is its function. We are to be a light in the world and therefore we have no choice once we accept Christ. It’s part of the package. Consider as truth what the Word says in the following verses;
John 8:12: “Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’”
Ephesians 5:8: “For you were once darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of light.”
Philippians 2:15: “That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”
First Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
First John 1:5-7: “This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
After we accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, He said that we are to be the salt of the earth. We are called to be a light that shines in the darkness. Salt flavors and preserves. Light removes darkness. If the world is dead as we are to preserve some of it by reaching the lost for Christ, then we are being salt and light. When we talk to people about Christ, we are being salt and light. When the world says one thing in its darkness and we counter it with what the Word says, we are being salt and light. We know that we will not be able to save everyone, but don’t you at least want to influence that person that Jesus has brought before you? Don’t you want people on your job to know that you are a Christian so that when things are bad in their life they know that you can shine some light in their darkness? We have been called. Are you salt? Are you light? If I were to ask this of your family, friend, co-workers and strangers who see you out and about, what would they say? What is heaven sayings about your saltiness and how bright your light is shining?
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(We are once again conducting live services on Sunday morning beginning at 9:15 a.m. We will continue to broadcast live on Facebook Live at 10:00 a.m.. Please tune in to "New Light Christian Fellowship Church" and like our page if you wish to watch our broadcast and be notified when we go live. If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. We also have Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. via Zoom that you are also welcome to attend – please email me for the link. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. If you would like to donate to our ministry you may do so through our website: newlightchristianfellowship.org by clicking on the PayPal or Cash App buttons. May God bless and keep you.)
