Salt and Light
I want to begin this sermon today by reading Matthew 5 13-16 it says...
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the 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 underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Today's sermon is all about Salt and Light... In Matthew here we see Jesus preaching about Salt and Light... This was part of Jesus sermon on the Mount that we can find in Matthew 5 and it lasts all the way until Matthew 8. We could literally spend an entire year on this section of scripture... and who knows... somewhere down the line we may do a sermon series or a Bible Study on it ... for for now I want to focus on these 3 verses that Jesus calls us to be Salt and Light...
As you all know by now, i like to give definitions... so i want to read out to you the definitions of those 2 words...
The dictionary says this about salt... as a noun it is
a crystalline compound, sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring as a mineral, a constituent of seawater, etc., and used for seasoning food, as a preservative, etc.
as a verb it is "to cure, preserve, or treat with salt."
and as an adjective it is related to taste, curing, and preserving...
We then move onto to light... the dictionary defines light as something that makes things visible or affords illumination. It is referred to when talking about burning, as a candle, lamp, fire, match, or to ignite.
I'm sure many of you are thinking.... "Why am i getting an english lesson here... i know what these words mean..." lol. but it is important that we draw out some things about these words because it will come in useful a little later in the sermon...
God created us to be Salt and light... You''l notice in Matthew here, Jesus doesn't tell the crowd that they will become Salt and Light if the do XY and Z... He said you are salt and light... so that means God created us to be these things. To be the salt of the earth... to let our light shine before others...
I'm sure we have all heard that saying saying before "awww Billy (Jim Miskimmin) ... salt of the earth". And that's normally my response when people ask me how the folks are down in Ballyeasboro, I normally tell them "aww they are salt of the earth". . .. but that phrase we normally associate with meaning... the best of the best. The cream of the crop. And that's how I think Jesus refers to it here in Matthew 5.
If we go back to our dictionary definition of salt, we can even see here that it is God given. The dictionary describes it as a mineral, which we all no is a natural material that comes from the earth. Not man made or distorted, but natural. Not man made but God made... So, if Jesus is calling us the salt of the earth, then that is because God created us to be that way...
The same goes for light... Gensis 1:2-3 says... 2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3And God said, “Let there be light,”a and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.”
Have you ever stopped to wonder why God saw that the light was good? The light was good because it separated the light from the darkness.
John 1 says 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. (here we see life equals light, so that must mean that darkness equals death... Stay with me here) 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
So if John came to bear witness to the light, what is this kind of light that the Bible is talking about here in Genesis 1 and in John 1? We can find that answer in John 8:12 it says ... 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Here we see light and life being mentioned again in the same breath... So if Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world in Matthew 5... He also means that we are the life in the world... Keep that in mind... that bits important...
You see in Genesis 1... God rejoiced over the light because He knew that humanity always wants to choose darkness.. No matter how good God is in our lives, no matter how amazing things are going... we always seem to find our way back to the things that are in darkness. So, the reason why God rejoices over the light is because that light always wins. Wherever the light is... darkness cannot be.
I believe God is telling us here that he has put the light inside of us so that when darkness tries to overwhelm us... that we have a answer for it... That when Goliath tries to come and take from us what God has given... we have a stone for Goliath...
If Christ is the light, like we read in John 1... and Jesus says we are the light, like it says in Matthew 5... then that's because the light of Christ shines from within us! When people see the light within us... they see Christ... that lights points them to God... and when that happens... the darkness that is in their own hearts can no longer hide.... because that light brings hope... it points towards salvation... because our salvation is found in the light that is Christ.
Hebrews 2:3 says ... how can we neglect so great a salvation... I want to draw a parallel here.. if we look back at Genesis 1 it says ... And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
Darkness cannot overcome the ligh t... this salvation that has been bought by the love of Christ is one that cannot be defeated by death. If we look back at John 1:5 it says 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
Christ's light has shawn into our darkness and the darkness cannot hide. Our sin and shame have come under the light of Christ... It has been defeated through the work of Jesus on the cross so that we may be reconciled to the father. As it was in the beginning... That's why we say that line as part of our service where we proclaim the word. We are saying As it was in the beginning, when Humanity walked in the cool of the day with God in the garden... is now... because Christ has reconciled us to the father through the cross ... and darkness cannot hide from that light... so we declare our salvation is "Now and ever shall be, world without end... Amen".
That's what it means to declare the word... to proclaim the word... it means to live in the light of the word from now until forever....
So... if we associate light with Jesus and our salvation... What does it look like to be the salt of the earth?
If we remember back to our dictionary definition we heard words like to cure, preserve, or to treat.
I believe that is what it looks like when are walking in our salvation... The disciple, the follower, the redeemed... is called to lead people to Christ, look after all of God's creation... people and the world we live in, and to be a blessing...
The Bible talks about sin using words like unclean, impure, and iniquity... So if Salts purpose is to cure or cleanse... then it is our mission to lead people to Christ who cleanses us from sin and purifies us through His blood which was shed on the cross....
Scripture also gives us a mandate to look after God's creation. Genesis 2:15 says The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. . . We have been made stewards of God's creation for the purpose of taking care of it and looking after it. Preserving it. That includes people... it includes the earth... it means to be a steward of the things God has given us... It also includes ourselves. We too have been created by God and God is telling us through the scriptures here that we are to work on ourselves and to look after ourselves... We sometimes forget that... that the salt needs to preserve us too...
The third thing the dictionary told us is that Salt is used to treat... That word treat can be interpreted as bless... We all love a wee treat every now again... me more than others as u can tell lol... but that word treat we can take to mean bless... Matthew 5 that we read from earlier is the sermon on the mount. It begins with the beatitudes... Blessed are the poor... blessed are those who mourn etc... We are to be a blessing to those that God has called us to bless. Not only as individuals, but as a church. . . We spoke about all the ways that we can do that over the last number of weeks in our Service Series (which you can go and check out on our Youtube Channel, and can i encourage you to please do)... So I'm not going to go into too much detail on that...
But I want to close with the practical part now... the "what's next" sort of questions...
Charles Spurgeon once wrote...
Men know not the gold which lies in the mine of Christ Jesus, or surely they would dig in it night and day. They have not yet discovered the pearl of great price, or they would have sold their all to buy the field wherein it lies.
We where created to be Salt and Light so that humanity may know God and be reconciled with Him. So that they may see the Gold that lies in the mine of Christ as spurgeon said.
So can I encourage you...
Don't hide the light of Christ that's within you
Tell others of the salvation that cures our sin and shame
look after one another and the world we live in
and finally... Be a blessing so others may see God through you.
In everything you do... may it be for the glory of Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and forever shall be world without end... Amen
