Salt and Light: Living with a Purpose — Matthew 5:13–16

• A. Loving (13) Being of Godly Character
• B. Serving (14-16) Doing His Good Works

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. 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. (Matthew 5:13-16 - NASB)

Have you ever thought that Jesus made a mistake in the words of verses 13-16? Of course, Jesus must have understood His disciples' weaknesses and everything. But maybe He was just caught up in the swirl of a sermon. Maybe He got caught up in His idealistic Beatitude preaching and went from the “what if” to “what is” without any cautious transitions.

After all, it is easy for us to allow Jesus Christ to preach these beatitudes. We hear sermons all the time. We get used to letting the words of the Kingdom drift by like clouds. They have little or no effect on us. But Jesus, like a bunch of dark and angry clouds, decided that these clouds were going to have a real effect on the land below. And the rain came down. There is more to the words of Jesus than we often give them credit for. Jesus was confident of this.

At the beginning of Matthew 5, we see multitudes gathering before Jesus, amazed at His miracles. Those especially interested came to Him to listen to His teachings. Here, Jesus first begins to use the “Blessed are those...” In what might be a constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven, the principles are set out before everyone. But in verse 11, when Jesus speaks about persecution, He begins to apply these teachings to their own lives. He says, “Blessed are you...” Jesus moves from the crowds to the general disciples and right to the hearts of you and me as His disciples. Jesus sets forth the immortal principles of the kingdom, written throughout creation. Now He begins to address our own mindsets and break through the problems in our lives so that these principles of life can be lived out.

One of the greatest problems that have beset the Christian church is failing to recognize who we really are. Because of that, we have neglected to take our responsibilities seriously. I believe this is the heart of verses 13-16. The crowds were looking at Jesus. Now Jesus was beginning to look at His disciples. Of course, He was always looking at them. But now He was looking at them as a top manager setting the scope of operations and trusting each key man to be faithful in carrying out their work.

Have you ever let the Lord look into your heart and let Him tell you why He is allowing you to live today? His purposes shape our purposes. How have you allowed your Lord to shape what you do today?

Yes, some of us, probably many of us, were looking only for a cure for one or two problems when we became Christians. God, through Jesus, met us wonderfully. We still remember the awesome time when God helped us. But many of us have not understood that Jesus is not a mere band-aid for man’s life problems. He is the Savior and Lord. He has used those problems to open our lives to who He is. You see, there were many people on the plain who saw the great miracles that Jesus did. He cast out demons. But He stepped away because He wanted His disciples to know that the key to a great life was not being healed but being a healer; not just receiving but giving. The special thing is that Jesus was providing what we needed to become like Him. Jesus is not just a patch so you can get through life. Jesus is not just insurance to get through life’s hazards. Jesus is not just a bodyguard to protect you during the ghost festival (Halloween).

In verses 13-16, Jesus turns to His disciples and reveals the heart of His mission. He is taking God’s truth and power and placing them in feeble, fumbling disciples. He knows He will one day be leaving, but through the Holy Spirit He will be living in these same disciples. People will not be able to see, “Look - there is Jesus.” We cannot do this today. His disciples, after a few more years, would not be able to do this. The key to all of this was that Jesus was turning the mission over to these very disciples who were just learning what these commandments were, let alone mastering them.

I believe the world is crying out for help. It is suffocating. I just cannot watch, hear, or see the news the world wants me to see anymore. I myself will despair. We will come back from these economic, political, leadership, moral, and religious scandals and say there is nothing to live for. The best a man can do is hide in his private humanism, shut the curtains and the doors, and keep the world’s curse out. But man can’t do this without harm. Their marriages are falling apart. The children are cursing their parents. They can’t have a decent conversation with their parents. So they leave it all and pretend the route to success is at work. What they can’t believe is that the problems are there too! The women were so happy chasing the men to the workplace to escape the pressures and loneliness at home, only to find they have to endure a rude and arrogant boss and colleagues who care for nothing but themselves. So man runs to himself and hides in his heart. But no. There he finds boredom. He fumbles with sex and silliness. He watches films but afterward finds a desperate loneliness: hatred, loneliness, and isolation.

I don’t know where you are in this race to nowhere, but those around you are caught in an ever-swirling swirl of despair. What I say now, I said before. Jesus is not just offering an answer to some problems in your life; He is the answer. He wants to be your life and your life purpose. Jesus wants to take all that He is and put it right inside you.

But more than this, Jesus has done it. He has given us what we need to live like Christ. This is not for full-time Christian workers. This is for all His true disciples. If we could only believe and understand that God is now working His great work through His disciples like you and me, we would see the truth. This is why the Christian life is called a life of faith. He does it so that we can share in His eternal rewards, not because we have specialized in theology or are good at teaching or even at giving. We all have special gifts and interests that follow these giftings of the Spirit, but what is much more important and foundational is the focus of our calling. It is to be like Jesus. God took Jesus out of the world and entrusted the rest of the mission to His disciples. What is so special is that when we begin to take this mission seriously, we change, and the world around us changes. The world is waiting for the church to wake up and live under its calling. It has nothing else to wait for but judgment. Christian, live like Christ, and the world will cast its eyes on you! Like Christ, you will need no ads, for God’s glory is shining in a place with so much despair and darkness.

Jesus shares two aspects of this mission He has given to us. The first is to be of godly character, and the second is to manifest good works.

A. Being of Godly Character - Loving (13)

I am not interested today in listing all the uses of salt. Let me state my point briefly. If the world is getting darker, it is not because of the President, the Congress, the economy, or even the public education system. It is simply that the Church of God is becoming more worldly. The church has lost her saltiness.

I love a good theological fight, but I will withdraw. Let me put my gloves on the table and let you fight this out. When does salt lose its flavor so that it is no longer salt? If you have a molecule of sodium chloride, you have salt. Take either away, and it is obvious. But if you have a clump of salt molecules and it loses its saltiness, is it adding other elements and/or losing some essential elements?

Now we can say that there are many essential elements of a good worship service, but the most important is a godly lifestyle untainted by the world. If unbelievers are not flocking here to know more about God, it is because of two problems. Either we are not living, or we are not telling. The point is, when a nonbeliever comes by after church and you start talking to him, that is good. But when you whip out your catalogues and start talking just like the people at work, he turns silent and sad. He was hoping there was something in a Christian that he could maybe find hope in. But when your mind is on the world, you are focused on getting a better job or running like the world runs. He just gives up on Christianity. Why? Because you have lost your salt, brother or sister! Some people might come here just to eat Chinese food or be with like faces, but there is another reason. They are looking for hope that there is something out in this world that will bring hope. The more we think, live, and act like the world, the more we have lost our salt and are good for nothing but being trodden upon.

But instead, if we get serious with the Lord about calling us to be the salt of the world, and we allow God to begin remaking our whole lives, we see a transformation that is simply radical - but in a good way. Most people think of godly people as dull and having no fun. As far as I know, people who are dull and not having fun are sad and depressed. But when I look into the world, all I see is people who are sad and depressed. They are miserably bored. They are lonely. They have no meaning in life. The world only looks forward to exciting and frantic moments of life, when the lottery number is selected or the drug is taking effect or the sin is affecting his or her body, but after the seconds of excitement wear off, they live in constant guilt, pain, misery and boredom until the next peak of excitement comes.

Do you think Jesus was dull and sad? Of course not. He was the most godly person there was, full of love. Don’t you love being loved? Wouldn’t you love to be one of those loving people? Each of the beatitudes begins with the word “Happy” or “blessed” because the only way to overcome the sadness of the world is to live in harmony with the Creator. The world, by definition, lives in opposition to the Creator. It grows tired and depressed because it is always at war with God. However, when you understand your new calling to be happy all the time, you are floored. You can’t believe God wants to pour this much love and grace upon you. And admittedly, it is a lot of love and grace we need to get there. And when we affirm our desire to be like Christ, to be of godly character rather than like the world, God is then free to pour extra grace into our lives to make us more like Him.

Let me remind you that we can all lose our salt. Christian life must be lived in the present, not in the past or future. We live now in the presence of God. God is with us now, working in our lives.

Os Guiness says, “The problem with Christians in America is not that Christians aren't where they should be; the problem is that they're not what they should be right where they are.” - Os Guiness, Radix, Vol. 20.

Application:

What is God asking of you today? Have you lost your saltiness? Have you sided with the world? Could you now confess your waywardness and ask Him for forgiveness? Have you lost your goal of becoming like Jesus? Commit yourself now to memorizing the beatitudes, and more than that, ask Him to make them your living principles.

B. Doing His Good Works - Serving (14-16)

Again, I don’t want to get into the physics of light. I would love to. Light fascinates me. But Jesus starts off essentially as He did before. He places all the responsibility and success of the kingdom of God on us! It is simply amazing. If before we talked about quality, now we are focusing on marketing, and if before we talked about living, now we are focusing on communicating. The only thing Jesus wants us to know about light is its natural need to be displayed. We are all very familiar with these things called lights. It is one thing to have a light switched off. That is our choice. But who would turn a light on except to have it shine forth? Who would purposely turn a light on and then shut it in? No one. The only exception I know of is when I was in Singapore. They put lights in the closets on so the bugs would be able to see what they were doing. No. But because of high humidity - before air-conditioning - the light would give off a little bit of heat to keep down the humidity so clothes would not spoil so easily.

As a Christian, your light has been turned on by God. You have been born from above. If we look carefully at verse 16, we will see that it is the good works that are the actual light waves. In the first point above, our hearts and attitudes began to change the way we relate to, care for, and help people. Our motivation in life has shifted from forcing our own likes and wants to what God wants. We will then naturally live a life of good works that testify to the Lord’s love.

Note the change of heart when a person now understands the great mercy with which God treats him. Now he will treat his money as God’s, not his own. He will be willing to give it to the poor because he truly cares about people in need, rather than to look good or ease his guilt. Or maybe he will begin to see the need to care for his parents from a whole different perspective. When he did not focus on being like Christ, he was set on winning every fight. His fights were silent but mean. But when he started molding himself into a peacemaker, he began to see how to reconcile with his parents and genuinely care for their needs.

This church is indeed a church of good works. So many of you are busy helping other people. Some of you make meals for others. Some drive people around. Some spend a long time discussing other people’s problems. This is the way we should be. The warmth stemming from these ‘light’ works is enough to communicate that God’s love is here. The supreme test of goodness is not in the greater but in the smaller incidents of our character and practice; not what we are when standing in the searchlight of public scrutiny, but when we reach the firelight flicker of our homes; not what we are when some clarion-call rings through the air, summoning us to fight for life and liberty, but our attitude when we are called to sentry-duty in the gray morning, when the watch-fire is burning low. It is impossible to be our best at the supreme moment if character is corroded and eaten into by daily inconsistency, unfaithfulness, and besetting sin. – F. B. Meyer in Our Daily Walk

In summary, let me close with a few observations.

• It is totally inadequate to have good works without the right light. Many Christians are immediately challenged to help someone in a practical way. This is good, yet we need to be careful to ensure we have first been caught up in pursuing Christ Himself. Otherwise, the good works are done out of the wrong motive and will fade away over time. This is the person who does not have salt. The light will be only the wavelength of the world.
• We also need to be concerned about having only salt and not displaying our light. In fact, though many Christians pretend to be salty, they have to face the fact that genuinely pursuing Christ will always produce the light of good works. James said that if they say they have faith but no good works, they are deluded. Jesus said the same thing in a different way when He said that those who abide in Him and in His Word will bear fruit.

We must not focus on either social works or on having a spiritual life. For Jesus, spiritual means rightly relating to people you don’t like. We must stop faking a spiritual life when we see few good works in our lives. In the end, we will see God’s work in us when people see our good works and don’t applaud us but instead recognize God’s remarkable work in their lives through us.

Tozer has said,

“We must continue to pray that she [the church] should cease her disgraceful fornication with the world and return to her first love and her true Lord. Her living has degenerated, her tastes have declined, her standards have sunk to the bottom. Nothing short of a radical reformation can save her. Only those with anointed eyes are able to see her plight and only those with Spirit-filled hearts can intercede for her effectively.” — ‘Touching Heaven in Prayer’ pp. 63-72, "Leaning Into the Wind", A.W. Tozer, 1985.

I thought it didn’t really matter whether I shared Christ with others. I thought it didn’t make much difference whether people knew the truth of God’s principles or actually lived them out. The difference is between light and darkness, life and death, hope and despair. You might have heard of these principles but considered them immaterial because you are doing okay. You don’t need to get that serious with God. But if you are genuinely a Christian, remember that the blood of those around you will be on your own hands. You have become impure salt and a hidden light.