The Master Teacher- Salt and Light- Matthew 5:13-16

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6

Are we different? I’m not asking if we’re unique in our looks or our intellect, but do we feel like we’re so different from people around us that we are literally a square peg in a round hole world. Have we heard ourselves say to other people that we just don’t fit in, or that they just don’t get it, or understand us? If it stems from our faith, we are not alone. Let’s look at from another angle. Have we ever been in a room and felt alone until we see someone carrying a Bible, and then suddenly we don’t feel so different. We walk up to the person and say, “Are you a believer?” The person says yes and instantly we are connected. It’s as if we have a family member, and we are free to smile. We sit with him. We become his friend and he becomes ours. All because of what? A book he was carrying? What if he’d been carrying a book we’d recently read? Would we do the same thing? Or a movie we’d recently watched? What is it about a Bible that gives us that instant connection? The answer is that it is the light in the darkness. The Word, Jesus, is salt in a bland, tasteless world.

As the disciples of Christ, called to be like our teacher, and bear His image, we are to be as different as He was to the world, and as such we will incur all the responses He had from those around us. Some will be welcoming, some will be wanting, and some will be rejecting, scornful, and even hateful. As we learned last time, we are blessed when we are persecuted for His sake, since we’re in good company.  This time we continue our study on the teachings of Christ with a look at the metaphors of salt and light found in the Sermon on the Mountain.   

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Matthew 5:13

In the first of his metaphors, Jesus compares us to salt. The salt of the earth implies that we are purest of the minerals, that which is drawn from the elements of creation. “ And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 We were created to be in His image, and to bring preservation to all creation. We were to have dominion over all of the Lord’s world, and to keep it for His glorification. Salt preserves for a time, but once it encounters our taste buds it brings out the flavor of what is already there by bringing forth the best of the savoring within the food. It is an amazing mineral, that can last for an extremely long time.

        The purpose of salt in this metaphor is clearly just for seasoning. We are supposed to be a little different. We are supposed to bring out the true flavor of those around us. As Christians, we do that because we expose the truth about them. We tend to bring to the surface what’s deep inside of them that makes them who they are, just like Jesus did. When the Holy Spirit comes to live in each of us, He gives us a special gifting of insight into not just who we are individually, but as a creation of God. He helps us to see humanity at large, and how every person on this planet has a great need to be reunited with God. “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23  As believers, we need to be ready for those times when those around us are being seasoned by our salt. “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” 2 Tim 4:2 This was a command, not a request. I’m not saying to grab our soap box and hit the street. I’m just saying to not be ashamed of our Jesus. We’re salty! We’re not always going to be sweet about being salty. If we are then we will have lost our saltiness. And then…we’re not salt anymore, no one would want to taste us… we’re asphalt.

Salt that lost its saltiness in ancient times was used as asphalt because it still maintained its ability to keep the vegetation from taking over the roadway. It was useful only to be trampled down, to make the ground hard, and compact it so that water couldn’t permeate it. If water sat on top of it, the water became bitter and undrinkable, like the Dead sea. Too much salt, that is unusable, is just as bad as not having any salt. Undrinkable water serves no purpose. We cannot drink it so it will not refresh us; if anything it could kill us. Salt that loses its purpose does that to the elements around it. Christians who lose their purpose do that to others around them as well.  

“We are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

        The darker the night the more welcome the light of day. Years ago my husband and myself went with a friend of ours deep into a cave while on a camping trip. While in this cave we got the idea to turn off our flash lights to see if there was any light to be seen. For the first time in our lives we experience true darkness, and it was terrifying! The thought crossed my mind I was not holding a flashlight, and was dependent upon them. If they should drop them, or the lights should not go back on, we would not be able to escape the darkness. The same thought must have crossed our friend’s mind too because within seconds his light went back on and the fear that was etched across his face, while it caused us to laugh, was really not funny. Darkness, when it is intense darkness, is like nothing else because it takes all the senses away. It’s not just sight. We lose all spatial awareness in darkness. Sound becomes unclear as we lose our sense of direction. So why would anyone want to be in the dark? “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19

One fact about light is that light cannot be hidden, so naturally we make people uncomfortable because we are light, and we shine that conviction of their evil deeds on them just by being in the room with them. In our lives, our faith should be evident in our work place, in the street, and any place venture into. It should be worn in our countenance and our conduct.  We are the cities on a hill, and we illuminate the area around us. Don’t compromise, strive to remain bright because of what a city on a hill at night provides for all those who see it. Like stars in the night sky, the city gives direction, it is a landmark, and a symbol of safety and rest from the dangers that reside in the night.

 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Matthew 5:15

Other than being light in the world is being light within our own home. Sometimes the hardest to reach are those who are closest to us. They tend to see our faults instead of our victories. Yet, we cannot give up on them. We can’t be Christian out in the world, and then when we get home we leave Jesus outside the door. He has to live in our homes as well. Our character is who we are when no one is looking. God is always looking. Who are we when we are alone? Are we real with Him? Are we giving light to all who are in the house with us, or are the people closest to us the ones who know the real person we are when the world isn’t looking?

Or worse are we only a Christian when we’re alone? Are we a closet Christian? One of the worst things that can be said about a believer is “I didn’t know you were a Christian.” OUCH! How could someone not know? Do I not look like a Christian? Do I not act like a Christian? Do I reflect my Lord? Am I so much like the world that I don’t stand out from the crowd? Am I so hidden under the basket of my own fears and insecurities that my light is stifled by the darkness?   

”Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

This verse begins with the word “let”, as in allow, give permission, make the choice to shine before men. We have to choose every moment of the day to choose Jesus over the draw of the world.  ”Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, Him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My father who is in heaven.” Matt 10:32-33 Once we let them see the light of God then we reflect the love of Jesus to them.

The moon is just a rock floating in space. We poetically call the nightlights moonbeams and moonlight, but the moon doesn’t emit any light at all. It is the sun that casts light upon the moon, which acts as a reflector breaking through the darkness of the night. Yet we can only see that reflection when it is dark. With the sun and the moon, we see only the sun’s light, always. And so it is with the Christian and his Master. The light of the Christian upon the world is Christ reflecting through us. We are simply rocks floating through space. It is what we reflect that will make the impact on others. The moon also has a dark side, but could we imagine what our world would be like if that was the only side we ever saw? What if we never saw the beauty of the full moon?

Jesus clearly mentions works in this verse, so when people say that they can be saved, and yet go on sinning, this is yet another verse that demonstrates He never intended His gift of grace to mean we could do whatever we want. ”What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Romans 6:1-2 Some would say, “but a loving God would not condemn anyone to suffer for eternity.”  They are correct. Jesus himself said, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18 It was not God who condemns man, but man himself by exercising the gift of freewill and choosing not be restored the One who loves him. This is a working of man’s own will.

We all show what is in our hearts by the outward expression of our works. “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead. But someone will say, “we have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” James 2:17-18 We come to this conclusion; if we are truly Christians, we can’t help but reflect the light of Jesus, just by being a rock floating around in the space of the darkness around us. If God can place a rock in the heavens, that can make the night seem so much brighter, then how is it that we can’t penetrate the darkness around us. Is it that we have a side to us we aren’t allowing God’s love to touch so we only share that side with the world? Or will we be faithful and reflect our Teacher so that we can bring His glory to those who stumble about in darkness? The choice is ours every moment of every day.

 “It shall be established forever like the moon,
Even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Ps. 89:37