Salt of the Earth, Lights of the World

Matthew 5:13-16

Immanuel – 12/17/23

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). It was an absolutely stunning declaration. What the Jews had awaited for millennia, Jesus proclaimed was near. In fact, the kingdom of God was so imminent that the need for repentance was immediate. There was no time to waste. Even today, there is no time to waste.

As Paul writes, “Now is the favorable time; now is the day of salvation.”

-2 Corinthians 6:2

Paul wrote those words to the Corinthian church, not to a bunch of unbelievers. Now is the time of salvation; a salvation that is only found in Jesus Christ and the kingdom that He has brought near.

Since Jesus has declared that the kingdom of heaven is near, He then preaches on the nature of that kingdom – what it looks like, how it functions, what it’s like to be a part of, and so on. The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ preaching on the kingdom of God: As I said last week, the beginners guide to the kingdom of heaven.

Purpose

1. When Jesus says “You are,” He does not mean, “You should be.”

2. What does it mean to be salt and light?

Read vs 13

Salt

“You are the salt of the earth.”

You. Let’s remember who Jesus is speaking to… the disciples. As I said last week, the entire Sermon on the Mount is a sermon for His disciples. Certainly, there was a great crowd gathered on the slopes beneath Jesus, but it’s more like they are overhearing, listening to what Jesus has to say to His disciples.

I say again what I said last week, if you are a disciple of Jesus, then He speaks to you.

In the ancient world, salt had two purposes: to preserve and to flavor. So, when Jesus tells His disciples that we are the salt of the earth, it has this two-fold meaning. We are to flavor and preserve the earth.

But that’s not very practical yet. How, exactly, are Jesus’ disciples supposed to flavor the earth? There could be a few ways to answer this, but I believe Paul gives us one of the clearest insights on how to be salty.

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. -Colossians 4:5-6

Paul has wisdom in focus with this exhortation. If you know how to answer each person, that means you possess wisdom. Speech, seasoned with salt, is wise speech. I believe there is a direct correlation to what Jesus says. Part 1 of “You are the salt of the earth”, means you are the wisdom sprinkled in a foolish and perishing world.

The LORD by wisdom founded the earth. -Proverbs 3:19

The Lord has indeed founded the earth in wisdom. Who else could have created ecosystems and species and weather patterns and molecular compositions and interwove them into life-sustaining functional beauty? God’s wisdom is beyond measure.

And in His wisdom, He allowed the foolishness of sin to enter His creation. Now, that God has sent His Son, and the kingdom of heaven has come near, God is sowing wisdom back into His creation. If we are to flavor the earth with the salty wisdom of heaven, then how should our speech be seasoned?

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. -1 Corinthians 1:22-24

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the declaration of the wisdom of God on earth. And we, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, have been sent to declare that gospel. Thus, we flavor the earth with gospel wisdom – the very wisdom we find bursting from the Bible.

We just caught a glimpse of that sort of wisdom in the Beatitudes. Without going through all of them; the mourning shall be comforted, the merciful shall receive mercy, the pure in heart shall see God. It was in wisdom that God took foolish sinners, redeemed them, and graciously gave them – gave us – heaven’s blessings.

If you trust in Jesus for these overwhelmingly good blessings, then do likewise for those around you. Would that not be wisdom – wisdom from someone who has been gripped by the gospel? Wouldn’t these blessings taste so good in a world where bitterness and pride and selfishness seem to flavor everything?

Indeed, the gospel wisdom of Jesus Christ is the flavor of life!

Salt flavors and preserves. If we flavor the earth with gospel wisdom, then in what way are we meant to preserve the earth?

A preservative, by definition, is an enemy of decay. The salt of the earth, then, is God’s way to arrest the spread of corruption in His creation. Once again, the Beatitudes help us understand what this means.

The world gets ahead by exercising power and self-promotion, but in meekness we shall inherit the earth. People ravenously gobble up every pleasure, but we hunger for the righteousness of God. And when the path of division and war serve self-interests, we give our lives for the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding.

And as we do these things, we are the salt of the earth. God is telling us that we have a preservative effect over His earth. Our gospel influence, our saltiness, prevents the world from hurtling over the edge into abject corruption and decay.

Notice how Jesus’ statement works: “You are the salt of the earth.” This is not about how Jesus’ disciples should be, it is about how Jesus’ disciples are. Yes, it is a command, but it’s more like a command of creation. Like, “Let there be light” and there was light. “You are the salt of the earth,” and so you are. It is your new nature in Christ. A fish ought to swim, a bird ought to fly, and a disciple of Jesus ought to be salty. It’s who you are, part of your identity in Christ.

Which is exactly why the next thing Jesus says is, “If salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

It’s interesting that the phrase, lost its taste, comes from a single Greek word: moranthe. It’s a verb that can also be translated as to make foolish. Salt that loses its flavor is a disciple that has become a fool. And since the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10), a disciple who does not fear the Lord is no longer good for anything. Such a person is, in the most Biblical sense, a fool.

Such a statement begs the question, if a disciple of Christ has no fear of the Lord, were they ever a disciple? You see, unsalty salt is a contradiction in terms – like water that isn’t wet or a bachelor that isn’t single. Salt that is not salty, it was never salt.

A disciple that has never been transformed by the gospel, that does not fear the Lord, that is not flavoring and preserving the earth, they were never a disciple of Jesus to begin with. To keep the metaphor going, perhaps they are like a stone that falls in with a bunch of salt. The stone will rub against the salt and get salty, it may even taste savory – for a time. But the stone is not salt.

It's much like Jesus will say towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

Read Matthew 7:21-23

It is possible that someone “tastes” like salt; but in the end, they are not salt. Like all the rest of the unrepentant, as Jesus says, all they are good for is to be thrown out. It’s a euphemism for hell.

The disciples of Jesus, who carry the kingdom of heaven in their hearts, flavoring the earth with gospel wisdom, preserving the earth with gospel influence, these are truly the salt of the earth.

Read vs 14

Lights of the World

In the same way that you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. It’s your identity. When Christ called you out of darkness, He called you into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). You are now the children of light, the lights of the world.

Matthew has already introduced us to this concept when He quoted Isaiah. Look back at Matthew 4:16. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.

That great light which people have seen is, of course, Jesus. This perfectly harmonizes with what Jesus said of Himself in John 8.

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” -John 8:12

You see, though Jesus calls His disciples the light of the world, our light is a reflected light. We are not the source; we are the echo. We are not Jesus, but we bear the radiance of His image.

So, if we are lights in this world, reflecting the image of Jesus, then let’s put the metaphor aside to understand how we truly shine. I have two passages to help with that.

For at one time, you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. -Ephesians 5:8-10

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.

-Philippians 2:14-16

According to these passages, we shine in the world by doing what is good and right and true. We do not grumble or dispute, but shine with rejoicing and peacemaking. We try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. But as the foundation for all these things, we hold fast to the word of life; or we hold fast to the gospel.

Yes, Jesus is the light of the world, but He no longer walks these streets…for now. Until He returns, He puts His light of life within us that we may be the brilliance in this dark land.

And the more we gather together, the more brilliantly we shine. “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” No individual disciple is a city on a hill. Rather, a city is a collection of light, countless light of varying degrees of brightness. But collected together, as in a city, its radiance is unmistakable, visible from a very great distance.

What is the shining city of Christ’s disciples? Is it not the church?

Read Ephesians 3:10

Yes, the church has its problems. No doubt about it. We are all sinners, broken and battered. We are not perfected yet. Even unsalty salt finds its way into church pews.

But remember, it is not our light that is shining (or lack thereof); it is Christ’s! God has pulled us from the darkness, looking into the inky depths of our godless souls, and He speaks, “Let there be light!” And there is light!

Even if we have all started in a dark place, even if we slip into dark places again, we need to come again to the city of God, brilliant and life giving: the church. We might not see Jesus so clearly in ourselves, He is easier to see as we look around this room.

I’ve been with you as you have gathered together for emergency prayer meetings in someone’s house. I’ve seen you serve when no one was looking. I’ve watched as you have cared for the sick, the lonely, the grieving. We’ve celebrated together, we’ve cried together. Sure, we let each other down and get on each other’s nerves, but that does not diminish the love in this church.

The further you keep yourself from the community of this church, the less you see its love. The closer in you come, the more the brilliance of Christ is obvious. Even still, stand far off in some distant valley, and Immanuel is like a city set on a hill; it cannot be hidden.

And so is Utica City Church, and Christ the King Church, and Bethel Baptist Church, and others. These are all cities of light in the kingdom of heaven.

Read vs 15

Our society tells us that we can believe whatever we want, so long as we do not impose that view upon others. In other words, “Sure, be a light in the world, just put your lamp under a basket.”

But as you should be able to see now, such a concept goes against our light of the world nature. And it is not that we are imposing our belief upon others. No! Our faith in Jesus is the only true hope, the only cure for corrupted hearts, the only forgiveness for sinners condemned to die. We are not imposing anything. We are urgently calling those lost to the darkness, “Repent, and come to the kingdom of heaven; today is the day of salvation!”

That’s what it means to set our light up on a stand and fill this dreary house with light! Proclaim the gospel of light! We need to fill the whole house with light. Or, in other words, Christ has called us to proclaim the gospel in all the earth.

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

-Mark 16:15

Read vs 16

There is a subtle shift in this verse, and it is indicated by the words, “In the same way.” It is like saying, “Similarly.” It’s working like this: “Let your light shine in the world through gospel proclamation. Similarly, let your good works shine before others.”

I’m quite certain that sitting at Jesus’ feet, riveted by every word, was Peter. Not only did we see Jesus already call Peter to follow Him in 4:19, but years later Peter writes words so familiar to these that Jesus speaks.

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

-1 Peter 2:12

Peter is echoing, or reflecting, Jesus. They are both saying the same thing. We should strive to practice what we preach. Our lives should authenticate our words.

Just think about it. If we call people to repent and believe, but ourselves are not repentant, won’t our light be terribly distorted? If you say you love Jesus, but you treat your spouse like an idiot, who wants that? If your coworkers know you more for your complaining than your commitment to the church, then how will they see Jesus in you? You’d be like salt that has lost its saltiness.

Conduct yourself honorably, not because it’s that or else. But because Jesus has shone His glorious light upon your dark heart. You were a child of wrath, good for nothing, destined to be thrown out. But Christ faced the wrath you deserved on the cross. His death paid for your sins. But His life is greater than death, and He rose from the grave. The light of life that is in Him, He has offered it to you. Repent and believe it!

And if you do, then blessed are you, for yours is the kingdom of heaven! You are a new creation in Christ, redeemed, forgiven, free. Now, because of Jesus’ work on your behalf, may your whole being rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory! Christ’s good works lead to our rejoicing!

In the same way, as Jesus says, let your good works lead others to give glory to our Father who is in heaven. Put away your pride, your stubbornness, pursuing your own pleasures and comforts, and live your life to love and serve others. Maybe, just maybe, they will turn to God, finally seeing that He is a loving Father, and glorify Him.

That’s what we want, isn’t it? That the light of Christ in our hearts would set a spark in someone else’s heart. Oh, what a calling! And how our own flesh – my own flesh – tries to darken this and get me all self-focused. But that the Spirit would cleanse me, and the grace of Christ would shine all the brighter through my weakness, and the Father be glorified in this sinner’s life!

The blessedness of the kingdom of God is present. We only need to come to Jesus in faith and all is ours. That’s what we learned last week. Jesus is the only Blessed, and in Him are all the blessings. So let us come to Him. Today is the day of salvation.

And if that is the blessedness of the kingdom, then our passage today is about how that blessedness transforms us. We were in darkness, in Christ we are supremely blessed, and now we shine as lights of the world. Now, just as we have been transformed by the gospel, we flavor and preserve this world with gospel wisdom and gospel influence.

It is not what you should do, it’s who you are. You are the salt of the earth. You are lights of the world. So, shine!