The Preaching of the King – Part 7
Matthew 5:11-16
In verse 10 Jesus said the blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. It verse 11 it seems like Jesus’ attention is turned from the multitude to His disciples. Persecution is the usual experience of God’s people, but it is the special portion of His servants. This is confirmed in verse 12, where the maligned ambassadors of the Lord are told, “For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The ambassadors of the Lord are in the same position as the "prophets" of old, namely those called of God to act as His mouthpiece and interpret His will. Additional proof is found in what immediately follows, where after further designating them the "light of the world" Jesus added, "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” a figure fitly pertinent to the ambassadors of the Lord who are made a light in the world. What Jesus said in verse 15 plainly pertains to the ambassadors of the Lord rather than to their hearers, for the candle on a candlestick again speaks of official office, and the giving "light to all that are in the house" is plainly the one man ministering to the many.
In chapter 4 verse 19, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to be fishers of men. In verses 13 and 14 of chapter 5 Jesus tells His disciples what His plan for them is and what will be expected of them. It is only in recent generations, when the spirit of socialism has invaded the religious realm, that this passage has been applied to Christians. The two symbols used to describe Jesus’ plan for His ambassadors and what is expected of them has a definite purpose. He tells them they are to be like salt. Using the world salt is to humble them. Salt is cheap, common, and insignificant. He uses the word “light” to encourage them. Light is illuminating and conspicuous.
The ambassadors of the Lord resemblance salt in their labors. They are to preach and teach the Word, both Law and Gospel, in such a way as to express the qualities of salt. When salt is applied to raw flesh it will sting. It is annoying. When applied meat it makes meat savory to our taste, it preserves meat from putrefaction by drawing out of it superfluous moisture. Salt is an indispensable necessity of life. It is God’s great antiseptic in a sphere of decay. It is wrought into the very rocks and soil of earth so that the waters filtering through them become purified. It is a necessary element of the blood, which is the life of our bodies. How well suited it is then as a figure of the truth, by which means the soul is sanctified, as salt arrests natural corruption, so the Word of God arrests moral corruption. This figure, then, furnishes clear direction to every minister of God as to his manner of preaching. Since the Word alone is the savory salt whereby souls are seasoned for the Lord, then it ought to be dispensed purely and sincerely. If salt is mixed with dust and rubbish it loses its pungency and efficacy, and if the Word is mingled with levity or exciting anecdotes its power is nullified.
This figure plainly warns the minister it is "salt" and not sugar coated candy he is to use in his preaching and teaching. Something which the ungodly are more inclined to spit out than swallow with a smile, something which is calculated to bring water to the eyes rather than laughter to the lips. The minister, then, must not expect faithful preaching to be acceptable and popular. Faithful preaching is contrary to human nature. Those whose consciences are pricked are not pleased with those who wound them. The ambassadors of the Lord must be prepared for to face the displeasure and opposition of the ungodly. This is a testimony that their ministry is “salt” that it has bitten into the depravity of their people. Instead of being discouraged and dismayed they are to endeavoring to season their congregation more and more with the pure salt of God’s Word.
The responsibility of the hearer is to receive instruction from this figure and see what he is in himself by nature: depraved and corrupt, as unsavory flesh and stinking carrion in the nostrils of God. This should humble us and cause us to lay aside all pride and self-righteousness. Every one must learn to suffer the word of reproof, whereby secret sins are discovered and denounced. When our conscience is searched we must be willing for salt to be rubbed into it, for mortification precedes salvation. We must be willingly seasoned with this heavenly salt so that the thoughts of our heart, the words of our mouth, and the actions of our life may be acceptable to God. If we sit under the ministry of the Word, oral or written, and is not seasoned by it our actions are doubly evil (Judges 9:45).
If salt loses its savor it is good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden underfoot of men. This was spoken by Jesus to move His servants to fidelity and diligence in their ministry by the danger in doing the opposite. Infidelity in the ministry is like unsavory salt: ineffectual, worthless, despicable, subject to a fearful curse. This is the great danger of the pulpit: to become men-pleasers, to yield unto the demand for smooth speaking, to tickle the ears of their congregation with novelties. Such preachers become unsavory salt, unprofitable in their ministry, failing to season souls so that they are not acceptable to God. Ministers become unsavory salt when through lack of prayer and continuous study they fail to increase in spiritual knowledge, or when adopting false doctrine they preach error, or when they cease to denounce sin, or when they fail to practice what they preach.
The greatness of the danger attending ministers who become unfaithful and unprofitable is pointed out by Jesus in His words "how can it be made salty again?” Those who depart from fidelity are very seldom, and then only with great difficulty, recovered and restored. Read what is recorded of the false prophets in the Old Testament and the New Testament, where is there an instance that any repented. How diligently, then, do ministers need to take to heart that injunction, "Meditate upon these things; give yourself wholly to them; that your profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto yourself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself and them that hear you" (1st Timothy 4:15-16); and “follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness" (1st Timothy 6:11).
The unprofitableness of unfaithful ministers is expressed in the words "it is no longer good for anything” just as unsavory salt is worthless to season meat, so unfaithful ministers are valueless to God and man. The curse resting upon such is, "it is cast out and trodden under foot of men," that is, such preachers are condemned both by the Lord and by their fellow men. "Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as you have not kept My ways, but have been partial in the law" (Malachi 2:9), such was the fate pronounced upon the renegade priests of old. No doubt Jesus was making an indirect reference to the scribes and Pharisees of His day, affirming their unprofitableness.
Using the term “You are the light of the world" Jesus likens His disciples to "light," and that with the object of stirring them up to preach the will of God. It was as though He said, your position and condition is such that your sayings and doings are open to the ear of man, therefore be careful to please God. Spiritually the world is in darkness (2 Peter 1:19) and sits in the shadow of death (Matthew 4:16), because in Adam it turned away from Him who is Light. But ministers of the Word carry with them a Lamp of Truth, and by the illumination of their ministry they are to shine upon the darkened souls of men. By their preaching ignorance is to be exposed, that their hearers may be "turned from darkness to light" (Acts 26:18).
By this symbol Jesus shows how the Word is to be handled. It is to be so applied to the minds and consciences of men that they may see their sins and their woeful wretchedness and bring to the remedy for their misery, which is the person and work of the Lord Jesus; and then to make plain the path of obedience in all good duties to God and men which He requires in the life of a Christian. Preachers may display great homiletically skill and deliver flowery discourses, but may not be true preaching which conveys the light of spiritual knowledge to the heart and leads souls to God.
Since ministers are the light of the world it is incumbent upon all who hear them to raise the blinds of carnal prejudice and open the windows of their souls so that the illuminating message may receive due entrance into their heart.
Jesus said, "A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light to all that are in the house" (vv. 14, 15). Such is the case with God’s ministers by virtue of their calling. Jesus has identified His servants as "the light of the world," and they may be inclined to regard themselves as men of some renown, therefore He informs them what His intent is. It was not to give them titles of praise, to puff them up, but to acquaint them with the demands of their office: by reason of their high calling they would be public spectacles, heard and scrutinized by men, therefore it doubly behooves them to see to it that their message was acceptable to God and their walk blameless before men, for if by their fidelity they might "turn many to righteousness," infidelity would send souls into eternal destruction.
The Lord’s ambassadors must not think it strange if they are more open to manifold reproaches and abuses of the world than do the rank and file of God’s people, and the more godly their conduct be the more distasteful to the unregenerate. Therefore, it follows that the ambassadors of the Lord cannot without great sin hide the gifts and talents which He has bestowed upon them, for they are as lighted candles which must not be put under a bushel, that may be done in various ways. The refusing to humble themselves and speak in terms suited to the capacity of the most simple, by refusing to give out the Truth of God, by toning it down through the fear of man, by flirting with the world and adopting its ways.
The ambassadors of the Lord are to let their shine before men, that they may see their good works, and glorify their Father which is in heaven (v. 16). Let your light shine refers to ministerial teaching, whereby God’s will and grace are made known to His people, backed up by a godly example. The ambassadors of the Lord by their calling are to be conspicuous in the world that God’s people and the ungodly may not only hear their doctrine but also see their good works, and be moved to follow the same, and bring honor and praise to the Lord. These two things must never be separated: sound doctrine and holy deportment are to be conjoined in a minister. God will have men learn His will in two ways: by hearing and seeing.
This double charge which lies on every minister, his hearers or readers must, for their part, remember in their prayers to crave of God that their pastors may be divinely enabled to preach to them by lip and life. It is striking to note how often Paul requested the churches to pray for him. If the chief of the apostles needed to be prayed for, how much more do the ordinary minister of God! A reason for praying for ministers is found in Zachariah 3:1. Satan stood at the right hand of Israel’s high priest to condemn him before God. Though he opposes every Christian, yet he aims especially at the minister to cause him to fail, if not in his teaching, then in his conduct.
"That they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven" is the chief though not the whole end of good works, subordinately they enrich ourselves and benefit them. They serve as means of giving evidence of humbleness by obeying the commands of the Lord. They serve as tokens of gratitude for all His mercies, both spiritual and temporal, for thankfulness is to be expressed by life as well as lip. They serve to make us followers of God, who has commanded us to be holy as He is holy (1st Peter 1:16) and put into practice the duties of love to our neighbor. This must be the main aim of the ambassadors of the Lord. Though the unregenerate are quite capable of perceiving the minister’s failures, it is only real Christians who can discern his spiritual graces and the fruit thereof, as it is they alone who will glorify the Father because of the same. Probably the Day to come will reveal that few things have evoked so much genuine praise to God as His people’s returning thanks for the piety, integrity, and helpfulness of His servants, who untiringly sought their good.
