"13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
We welcome you to worship
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my honor and privilege to have you
here with us today. We are especially grateful for those of you who have
been sharing the ministry website, and social media platforms with all of your family and friends.
Your faithfulness and commitment to share God's Word with others
continues to bring about tremendous results. People are responding to
God's Word! This is all so amazing. We ask you to pray that God will
continue to give us boldness to speak the truth in ministry in the face
of adversity in the coming days! As you may have noticed, it's becoming
more and more challenging in the day in which we live.
I
want to let all of you know how grateful I am for all of you. We are so
thankful your prayers and continue to pray for all of you. Prayer is
such a powerful tool, and a mighty weapon against the adversary. And
through your sharing, God continues to bring a number of people to faith
in Jesus Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this
ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives. Let's give God some praise for all He has done!
We must engage our culture and the world, as a witness for Jesus Christ. I am amazed by the number of Christians, who really do not want to identify themselves with Jesus in their friends, families, places of work, and their neighbors. If we do not identify with Christ in every aspect of our lives; plain and simple, we are an enemy of God. Whether or not we are aware of it, our life is a witness to a watching world. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. Tithing doesn’t make you a Christian. Calling yourself a Christian doesn’t make you a Christian. Most people would say, it simply means believing in God and accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Many Christians do not live by the principals given in the Bible. If we are truly Christian, our lives will reflect the truths of the Bible. We should be defined not only by the things that we don’t do, but also by the things that we do. Far too often, people try to focus on arguing one truth against another, living as true Christians, it doesn’t matter how I feel about it, it matters what the Bible says.
In John 4, Jesus explains that there is much more to worshipping God than just being in a certain place or following certain rituals. In verse 24, He explains "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." To worship God in spirit means we obey Him, not because we have to, but we obey Him out of love. In John 14:15, Jesus made it clear, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."
When we are living as Christians, we live in obedience to the truth.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Today's Message: Salt & Light
There are many references to salt in the scriptures. In the Old Testament, we see it also used for ceremonial offerings. In Genesis 19, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt. Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt. Their monthly allowance was called "salarium," from which we get the English word "salary." In fact, that's where we get the phrase "He’s not worth his salt." Salt was worth its weight in gold. The Greeks thought it contained something almost divine.
In studying for this message, I found over 40 references to salt in my concordance. If you are a follower of Jesus living the beatitudes, you have an important role to play, to help preserve what is good in the culture. The church is to be, in a sense, a seasoning agent bringing the distinctive flavor of God's values to all of life. However, in order to be effective, we must be involved in society, that means where we work and where we live.
But we need to be prepared for the tension it may bring to a sin dominated culture, touching the lives of everyone around us. We must therefore, be prepared for the challenge, ready to show mercy and making peace, so far as it depends on us, when we touch the lives of those who do not know Christ, lest we run the risk of bringing shame on the name of Christ by responding in an unlike Christ manner. Because it is the most effective place to witness to Jesus Christ. Let's be honest, it is difficult to be a true Christian and live in the world, with a culture that doesn’t necessarily like us and what we stand for.
Open
your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5. As we return to our study of this wonderful, rich text, we're working our way through the Sermon on the Mount as it concatenates to the entire gospel of Matthew. I invite you to follow along with me as I read the verses we are looking at today, thirteen through sixteen.
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men."
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
In these four simple, yet very powerful verses, our Lord illustrates to us the function of the believer in the world. It is a clear picture of the Christian in the world. In other words, if we are living according to the Beatitudes, the sum of our Christian character, we are going to have an influence on the world as salt and light, it is how we live, that effects the lives of others.
Elihu Burritt, a prolific lecturer and journalist, once wrote these profound words; "No human being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the sum total of human happiness, not only of the present, but of every subsequent age of humanity. No one can detach himself from this connection. There is no sequestered spot in the universe, no dark niche along the disk of non-existence, to which he can retreat from his relations to others, where he can withdraw the influence of his existence upon the moral destiny of the world; everywhere his presence or absence will be felt, everywhere he will have companions who will be better or worse for his influence, and one of the fearful and fathomless statements of import that we are forming characters for eternity." In other words, no one can live, and not have influence, whether for good or for evil. He’s talking about how you and I influence the world.
That is precisely what our Lord is saying in these four verses. To influence the world we live in, just as He did. In today's society, it seems like an impossible task, when we remember His words in John 17:16, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." In order to dispel darkness, to have an influence on the culture in which we live, we must be in the world as salt and light, mingled with the substance the darkness is affecting. In other words, in our interactions with the culture, we must retain our saltiness, in order to be effective. The challenge then becomes more difficult, when we are reminded of John's words by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in I John 2, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
Verse 13, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men."
What Jesus is saying is in order to for us to influence the world, it presupposes having the kind of character as defined in the Sermon on the Mount. As we manifest these characteristics, we will have a profound effect upon the world. Though there are times, when the world will react adversely and begin persecuting us. The world is going to hate us. But, we cannot bow down to the world, we must still retain our saltiness. Let's face it, we alone are the salt of the earth, the world may hate us, but it is completely dependent upon our influence of the gospel. Without the manifestation of the gospel, it will remain lost.
In our society, there is a cynical distrust of everything, and everyone. Rather than listening and learning, they would much prefer mocking others and having a laugh at someone else’s expense. As a result, at the end of the day, they still have no answers for the problems in which they face. When Jesus was looking out over the multitudes on His day, He saw the corruption and He knew what they needed most was salt to halt the decaying process. If the world was dark and decaying in Jesus' day, it certainly isn't getting any better today! In fact, it's getting worse.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy wrote, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
Here, Paul is referring to this age, the time since the first coming of the Lord Jesus and describing the savage nature of men. The way of sin has always been down-hill, all we've done is increase the rate of speed at it occurs. And, there is more people today then there were then. It didn't take long until God looked at man and said "All I see is only evil continually." Man just keeps getting worse and worse...and worse. It's this debauchery and moral decadence that will eventually cause God to bring about final judgment, because man loves his darkness rather than light. Man is depraved from his birth.
In Psalm 51, David wrote "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." From the moment of conception, I was a sinner. Today, there are more crimes of every kind, more murder, more rapes, it never seems to end, it just get worse. If we see the world in this way, just imagine what God must think of it.
What the Lord is saying here, is if Christians are living impure lives, if your life is influenced by sin, you are not going to create a thirst in somebody for God, because you’re just like them in behavior. Salt creates thirst. If we’re living Christ-like lives, we're going make others thirst for the Living Water, which is Christ.
About a month or so ago, I had a conversation with a woman who told me that it was funny that I had reached out to her that day, because she had just been talking to someone about me. I joked with her and said "Whatever it was, I didn't do it." She laughed and said, "Yes you did! When I was going through a difficult time, you were kind to me, you offered to pray for me. You treated me like I’m really somebody." I explained what I did was seize an opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her. I tried to be salt in somebody’s life by the way I treated her, making her thirsty for the Living Water. Beloved, evangelism is a lifestyle, we are the salt in people's lives by the way we live ours. By the way, this was the first time she opened up to me and I had been talking to her for over 10 years!
Little by little, the way I treated her by living a consistent Christ centered life had an impact on her. Often, when we share the gospel, we expect to have immediate results. Sometimes, it's a very slow process. It wasn't my brilliant Bible exposition that impacted her, it was consistently living a "salty" life over time. By being kind, gentle, and having a Christ-like spirit. It was an influence for good in this sin-filled, corrupt world. Others are watching the way you and I live. This is exactly what Jesus is referring to in our text. If our lives become tainted by the world and sin, we lose our effectiveness. Tragically, many Christians are going through the motions, living lives devoid of any Christ-like love for others. Every time we give in to that sinful impulse, by responding as the world, we fail the Lord. Therefore, we stand in the way of the gospel. Jesus didn't put up a front, He didn't wear a mask, pretending to be something that He wasn't. He lived a life that could not help but to impact the lives of others.
Verses 14 and 15, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house." In a sense, salt and light balance each other. Salt works secretly to preserve from the inside, while light works visibly from the outside. By being salt, as we quietly live out the gospel, we affect society’s thinking and living by the power of our lives. By preaching the gospel, in a sense, we turn on the light, so that everyone can see the message of the gospel. It is both by our words and our godly conduct, we can effect change in the culture.
Salt cannot stop corruption, it can only retard it's progress. Therefore, we must turn on the light, by sharing the gospel that has the power to transform that corruption into incorruption. When we speak the truth of the light, and live the truth of the light, we shine a light into the perpetual darkness of the world. Light is relative to the true knowledge of God. If we as Christians lose the qualities of Christ-likeness that make us distinct by living lives indistinguishable from the rest of society, we lose our influence against sin, evil and corruption.
In John 8, our Lord Jesus spoke these words "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." It is that Light that we are to shine on the world. He is the only true light, we are merely reflectors of the Light. We can only can enlighten men, because we have been given the knowledge of His glory through Christ Jesus. If we have to be hated, let us be like Christ without a cause. In other words, we have to live the life in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Your light is not supposed to be hidden. As the world around us rushes recklessly into sin, our corner of the world ought to be influenced for righteousness by the kind of life we live. By not participating in the world’s sinful activities that dishonor the Lord, we can be a powerful influence.
In Romans 1, Paul wrote "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." When we talk about Christ to others, God is making Himself known, drawing non-believers to Himself.
We are not a cult, to be known only to a few, we’re a city set on a hill, meant to be seen by the world around us. However, we must have the character and the influence of Christ before we can have a message that is believable. If we are not walking in the Spirit, if we allow the sin of the world to enter into our lives, we will stop being effective as salt, and we will be useless as light. We must understand, that as Christians, we have a tremendous responsibility.
That brings us to verse 16, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." When we live as Jesus commanded, being both Salt and Light, using our time, gifts and talents to meet the needs of those around us, we are pointing them toward God. Jesus calls us to be front-line disciples, not backseat followers. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus command us to live in isolation, separated from the world physically. We are called to live a public kingdom life and make a difference by influencing and impacting the world around us.
Tragically, because many Christians are living lives that are indistinguishable from the world, the church has lost its influence in the culture today. As Christians, we have neglected our responsibility to live as Christ has called us. Because we have decided to live as the world lives, the world has decided to ignore us, calling us hypocrites. However, the opposite is also true, when to decide to live as salt and light, the world pays close attention to what we say and do.And, in turn, the world hears and listens, even when we aren't aware.
In Closing...
I believe that Jesus chose to use both salt and light, because of their unique qualities. Both are ubiquitous, and have an immediate impact. As Christians, we have a responsibility of not only pointing out sin, but practically offering healing and help and pointing them to Christ. When Jesus said "You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world," He was talking about you and me. I'd like you to notice that He didn't say the words "like" or "as," He said you are! Just as salt is distinctive from pepper, as is light from darkness, as Christians, we are to live lives that are distinct from the world.
We cannot save the entire world, but we can make a difference in the lives of those touch. Surely, we had ought to do everything we can, by living out our lives with kingdom influence. While it's true that we can't do everything, we can and should do something. And that is what being Salt and Light are all about!
May it be so..
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen