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.
Salt is good as long as it maintains its integrity, however, in the ancient world salt could be contaminated and be useless. It could “lose its taste” and its saltiness could not be restored. So they would throw it out. Literally out onto the path or in a pile of manure and compost. Luke 14:34-35 speaks to this truth:
LUKE 14:34-35
34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Being salt in our world means you are adding seasoning to their otherwise bare world. You are seasoning their life-food with purity and flavor. You awaken the senses for people to see the important things in this world—Jesus Christ and His Good News.
Salt is only good if it gives a bit of itself away. Salt loses part of its greater whole by adding to something else. That is the service quality of salt. When you give of yourself; your time and your love and energy, you lose a bit of yourself for a time but it is added back by the saltiness of others.
LIGHT
Next Jesus goes into the second of his metaphor/parables. He speaks about being light.
You are salt. You are also light. You are the light of the world.
Light is brought out in much of Scripture. It was the first thing God created in the midst of void and darkness.
GENESIS 1:3
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
In Isaiah 49, the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord is referred to as
6 I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
And in John 8, Jesus says about himself,
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Now, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus applies this to us! What a privilege! But what a responsibility! We are now the light that shines out sharing the Good News, shining bright to bring light to a dark world, pointing to Jesus.
This light that we bring is to not be hidden. That’s what Jesus points out. We don’t find the light of Jesus just to hide it under a basket. Literally this word meant a clay bowl (which would never let light escape).
Jesus says we put light in one of two places: (1) on a hill where is cannot be hidden and (2) on a stand to give light to a dark house.
Light is meant to be seen. To help light a dark place. I have 2 real-life illustrations of salt and light I want to share with you this morning.
GANG LIFE
Francis Chan has spoken over the years of a man named Rob who was new to the church and is now an elder at the church. Rob spent most of his life in gangs. He encountered Jesus when he was imprisoned and placed in solitary confinement.
Rob would tell Francis stories of gang life and the fear that he felt when he left his gang to join the body of Christ. To do this in prison would be suicidal because he would have to make a serious break with his gang and gangs don’t let you just quit the gang.
But Rob attributes God’s intervention to spare his life. It wasn’t just the physical beatings or death that he feared; he dreaded the rejection by those he truly did love. The gang was his family. These were loyal and dear friends who looked out for him 24 hours a day. There was love and camaraderie in the gang and now he would lose those relationships and be hated by them.
One of the first few Sundays after Rob’s baptism, he felt like it was different in the church—and not in a positive way. He felt isolated and hardly anyone talked to him. So he left. And waited. No one called him for a month. Rob called Francis.
“Hey, I’ve been gone for 4 Sundays and no one has checked on me.”
Rob said something profound. The gang is more of a family than the church. That’s painful. When Rob describes gang life, much of it sounds like what the Church was meant to be. Obviously, there are major differences (drugs, murder—you know, little details like that), but the idea of “being a family” is central to both gang life and God’s design for the Church.
Let us be salt and light. A light that shines in a dark world of gangs and murder and drugs and people living on the street and people who are lost and cannot find their way in this life. I am not glorifying gangs. I lived in a city where gangs were too prevalent and I know the terrible pain they are on those citizens who are just trying to get by.
But that dark world is out there and the light of Jesus should be more of a family than the gang life. Rob is now shepherding people to be that light to the dark world and teaching his church to pay more attention to those who are rough around the edges with tattoos and scars from wounds. How to be a real family.
BROOKE BRONKOWSKI
Francis also speaks of a beautiful 14-year-old girl named Brooke Bronkowski who was in love with Jesus. When she was in junior high, she started a Bible study on her campus. She spent her babysitting money on Bibles so she could give them out to her friends. Youth ministers who heard about this brought her boxes of Bibles to give away.
Brooke wrote the following essay when she was about twelve. It should give you an idea of the kind of girl she was.
“SINCE I HAVE MY LIFE BEFORE ME” by Brooke Bronkowski
I’ll live my life to the fullest. I’ll be happy. I’ll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ. I will go on adventures and change the world. I will be bold and not change who I really am. I will have no troubles but instead help others with their troubles.
You see, I’ll be one of those people who live to be history makers at a young age. Oh, I’ll have moments, good and bad, but I will wipe away the bad and only remember the good. In fact, that’s all I remember, just good moments, nothing in between, just living my life to the fullest. I’ll be one of those people who go somewhere with a mission, an awesome plan, a world-changing plan, and nothing will hold me back. I’ll set an example for others, I will pray for direction.
I have my life before me. I will give others the joy I have and God will give me more joy. I will do everything God tells me to do. I will follow the footsteps of God. I will do my best!!!
During her freshman year in high school, Brooke was in a car accident while riding to the movies. Her life on earth ended when she was just fourteen, but her impact didn’t. Nearly 1500 people attended Brooke’s memorial service. People from her public high school read poems she had written about her love for God. Everyone spoke of her example and her joy.
Francis preached a sermon on Brooke’s life and gave the invitation as Brooke would have wanted. There must have been at least 200 students who wanted to give their lives to Christ that day. Ushers gave each of those students a bible—bibles that were in Brooke’s family garage—the ones she had one day hoped to give to all those who didn’t know Jesus. In one day, Brooke led more people to Jesus from the grave than most ever will. She was faithful to Christ in this life.
Brooke was salt. Rob is light. This is how we should all be. Now. Because we ARE salt of the earth. We ARE light of the world.
This is what disciples of Jesus are called to. We don’t repel people. Our saltiness and our brightness should attract the hurting world. We have to examine ourselves if people are repelled by our lives and by our attitudes. What are we missing?
Our scripture reading this morning is from Paul’s letter to Ephesus. Let’s read this and then we will conclude our message this morning. Turn to Ephesians 5.
EPHESIANS 5:8-14
8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
At one time, we were all in darkness, but Paul says, now we are light. Walk as children of light. That’s our theme this year. Walking with Christ. Paul ends with this quotation,
Therefore it says, “Awake, O Sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” It says…what says? This isn’t a quote from Scripture. Most scholars believe this was a quote from a well-known song they sang in that day. And this happens in a few places where other works are quoted in our Scriptures. Often the authors of our Scriptures will quote other well-known Scriptures to help the hearer and reader remember the words given to them in the past. Here in Scripture, in this letter, we have a quote from something that isn’t a Scripture, but a praise hymn.
What does Paul say? Wake up. Those of you who were dead, are now alive in Christ. So, shine like your Teacher.
Friends, are you awake? Or are you dead? If you are awake, shine bright! If you are dead, let us help you this morning find the life in Christ that makes you wake up and shine like the Son.
INVITATION
