Evangelism Series #1
CHCC: January 15, 2006
Salt and Light
Matthew 5:13-16
(Outline adapted from Rodney Buchanan’s sermon: Being Salt & Light SermonCentral.com )
SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 5:13-16
INTRODUCTION:
I’ve asked the deacons to pass out some Pretzels this morning. When they come by, take one and pass them on. I’ll explain why in a minute.
Meanwhile, I want you to imagine you’re having a back-yard barbeque. You’ve grilled steaks, along with baked potatoes and corn-on-the-cob. You’ve invited all your neighbors --- and Dallas --- like he suggested in his sermon last week … he likes food and will preach to your neighbors.
It was day-light when you started grilling, but by the time the food is ready it’s dark outside. So you turn on lights and everyone sits around the dining table. You plop a big hunk of Sirloin Steak on each plate. Your guests start unwrapping the baked potatoes and the corn-on-the-cob. Then someone says “Please pass the salt.” But there is no salt. You explain this is a salt-free meal. In fact, you didn’t even salt the meat, potatoes, or corn before you cooked them…
The interest level goes way down. But they’re still hungry --- so someone takes a bland bite of corn. Someone else starts chewing on a tasteless hunk of meat. (No one even bothers to try the potato.)
And then --- to make matters worse --- the Electricity goes out. Now it’s pitch black. No one can see their food … they can’t see their plates … they can’t even see the table. But they don’t really care anyway --- because flavorless food isn’t all that appealing.
And that brings us to why we handing out Pretzels. You’ll notice they are SALTED Pretzels. I hope a SALTY Pretzel helps you remember that Jesus said: You are the salt of the earth.
You can eat it now --- but you might want to save it for later --- because the SALT will make you THIRSTY. Producing THIRST is only one of MANY things I could say about SALT. In fact, in one source I found a list of 85 things that Salt does.
Jesus also said: You are the light of the world. And I’m sure there are at least 85 things I could say about LIGHT, too. But I decided to have mercy on you this morning and talk about 3 things that BOTH SALT and LIGHT have in common. For one thing:
1. Salt and Light are important for survival
We all know that LIGHT is essential. Nothing could grow --- and nothing could live --- without light. Turn off the Sunlight and the world would quickly die.
SALT is also a necessity of life, but we tend to take it for granted. After all, you can pick up a pound of salt for just a few cents at any Grocery Store. But salt was not so easy to come by during the time of Christ. And in the days before Refrigeration, salt was the primary way to preserve meat. When you need salt to preserve your food, and when it is hard to find, it takes on great value. In fact, salt was sometimes used for money in the Roman economy. The word “salary” comes from the Latin word salarium --- it refers to the practice of paying Roman soldiers with SALT. We still say that hard workers are “worth their salt.”
When Jesus said that His Followers are SALT and LIGHT, he was saying that Christians are essential for the survival of the world. It’s no wonder Jesus said no one would ever light a lamp and then put it under a bowl. There’s a good reason no one would do that. Remember, they didn’t have electricity back then. If you put an Oil Lamp under a bowl, it would go out.
And that is the point. Put your lamp under a bowl and it will go out. Hide your relationship with God and it will be extinguished. Take your LIGHT out in the open, and it will burn brightly. In the same way, if you let the Salt out of its Shaker, it can flavor all your food. In other words, we have to get out there in the world if we are going to reach the world.
To do this we have to take Risks. That’s what Dan Farnam talked to our men about at the last Prayer Breakfast. We have to be willing to get out of our comfort zones. We may have to be inconvenienced. We may need to put forth effort. We might have to get our hands dirty or try something bold and new if we are going to be SALT and LIGHT for those who need it.
The second thing SALT and LIGHT share in common is that
2. Salt and Light can produce purity
Nothing smells better than clothes than have been dried out in the SUNLIGHT. And few things smell worse than a pile of wet clothes that were left in a dark hamper for a few days.
SALT also has purifying qualities. It can be used in wounds to speed healing. We still talk about “rubbing salt into a wound.” It may be painful, but it produces healing. Mothers used to rub salt on their newborn babies to protect them from infection. In the Old Testament, salt was used in order to make Sacrifices acceptable to God.
Jesus made a puzzling statement when He said: … if 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. Matthew 5:13 In a technical sense, salt cannot lose its saltiness: sodium chloride is a stable compound.
But the people of Jesus’ day understood what he was talking about. In the part of the world where Jesus lived, Salt was collected from around the Dead Sea. The Salt Crystals were often contaminated with other minerals and impurities. Since the actual salt was more soluble than the impurities, rain could wash out the salt. That “unsalty salt” was worthless. If someone gave it to you, you’d probably throw it on the ground --- just like Jesus said --- to be trampled by men.
The Greek word that was used for “unsalty salt” is moraino. It’s the word from which we get the term moron. Christians who are contaminated by sin will loose their effectiveness. A Christian who lives like the rest of the world, and then tries to witness for Christ, will look like a fool.
That’s why it matters where you go, who you spend time with, what sites you visit on the Interne, … what Movies you rent, what books or magazines you read, what TV shows you watch. How can you have a purifying effect if you yourself have become contaminated?
I’m not saying this is an easy thing to do. There are two extremes we have to avoid. In our Day and Age, Christians get too involved in the culture and become contaminated by it. But the other extreme is just as dangerous. It is best illustrated by the Monastic Culture that was prevalent in the Middle Ages. Certain Priests and Monks would shut themselves away in Monasteries so they could stay completely Pure. That may have worked in some ways, but it also caused the church to lose influence in the everyday world of most people.
Churches can fall into that same trap. We want to protect ourselves and our families from the World. But if we go too far in separating ourselves from the culture, what influence will we have? “When the church retreats into the monastery of their four-walled church building, they cease to be of any use. Their light is extinguished under a bowl, and their salt looses its flavor.” Paul Michael Raymond The Dominion Covenant. Feb.2003
So how can we stay Pure while still being “out there” in the “real world”? Jesus answered that question in Matthew 5:14. After He said, You are the light of the world, He explained further: A city on a hill cannot be hidden. What does that mean? I am not a city. I’m only one person. I am only one candle in the darkness. But I was never meant to shine alone.
When we gather together, we help each other stay PURE. We encourage each other. We hold each other accountable, so that we are ready to go back into the world. That’s why it’s good for you to attend a Sunday School Class. (plug for New Classes) That’s why our Pueblo Groups are so important. (plug for Pueblo Groups starting this week)
We can’t stay SALTY and shine BRIGHTLY on our own. We were designed to spend time in Community with other Believers. God’s plan is for us to be a city on a hill. No one can put a whole City under a Bowl. When we Shine together, we can reach far out into the darkness.
Both SALT and LIGHT have one more thing in common:
3. Salt and Light will reveal truth
When I sprinkle SALT on a juicy piece of Steak, I don’t end up saying, “Wow, that was great salt!” Salt on steak brings out the steak flavor. Salt on popcorn brings out the popcorn taste. Salt on a Pretzel brings out the essence of Pretzel. Even recipes for Cookies or Cakes call for a dash of salt.
You see, SALT enhances the flavor of anything it touches. And that’s the effect you have at home, at work, at school, in the church, or in your neighborhood. If you are a Follower of Jesus, you will just naturally enhance the environment around you … everywhere you go.
Colossians 4:6 says Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
It’s not necessary to preach to others, or debate with them. The way we talk … the way we act … the way we REact to stress … at work or school or home will make a difference.
If our conversation is full of grace, seasoned with salt, we will draw attention … not to ourselves, but to the ONE we follow. That’s how we can be the salt of the earth in our daily lives.
Last weekend, Susan and I drove to a little town near Houston (where we lived before moving here) to attend a funeral for a good friend. At the funeral, his Pastor told a story that shows what made John Windham a salt of the earth kind of person.
Just a few months earlier, some middle-school students in the church took an interest in entering a Bible contest. It sounds like it was similar to Bible Bowl. They were studying 3 chapters in the Bible on their own. The Pastor thought they should have some help so he asked John and his wife, Iris to help them.
Now, you need to realize that this was an elderly couple. Iris can’t hear well and John was having trouble with his memory. But they took what must have felt like a big RISK. They agreed to meet with those Middle School students every week and help them learn the Bible. Well, in the process, the kids found out Old People can actually be nice --- and that sometimes cookies and cake comes along with Old People.
As it turned out, when they went to the contest, those students won FIRST PLACE in the contest. And the first thing they wanted to do when they came home was to call John and Iris and let them know. That’s the kind of effect salt of the earth people have … no matter how young or how old they may be.
SALT always enhances flavor. And LIGHT always reveals the TRUTH. When you turn the Light on in a dark room, you don’t think much about the light itself. Instead, you look at what the Light reveals. Light illuminates the room. You see furniture or decorations that were hidden by the darkness. If it’s dirty, you see the dirt. If it’s beautiful, you enjoy the beauty. Light reveals the TRUTH.
If you are a Follower of Jesus, then you give Light wherever you go. Just by being who you are, you help people see the TRUTH about God … and about their own lives. It is amazing the effect that one Christian can have when they love other people the way Jesus loves them.
You may feel like your light is no bigger than this little book light. You can hardly see it in this bright room.
(Lights go out.)
… Notice how this little light looks when surrounded by darkness…
Even a small light grabs your attention. It gives a point of reference. If you needed to, you could make your way toward it. (It gives me enough light to see my notes!)
As Christians, we should not ever be afraid to come in contact with Darkness. Darkness is passive … darkness is nothing but the absence of light. When the LIGHT of CHRIST enters, the darkness always gives way.
(Lights come back up.)
CONCLUSION:
Now, I want you to notice what Jesus did NOT say. He did not say: You need to become salt and light. You don’t have to worry about how you can get salty. You don’t have to figure out how to shine. If you are a Christian, you ARE salt and light.
In fact, this room is full of SALT and LIGHT right now. But the purpose of shining together is not to draw attention to ourselves so that people say, “Wow, what a great church that is over there on West Avenue.” Our purpose is to draw attention to the TRUTH.
We just need to let our LIGHT Shine and get our SALT out of the Salt-Shaker. When we go out into our community, people will see how Great our God is. They will be drawn to Jesus Christ.
If you are not a Christian, I hope you can see the TRUTH today. Come to Jesus who will give you life … and make your life worth living.
(Prayer)
