Being Salt and Light in the World | Matthew 5:13-16 | Gary Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] we're continuing here in Matthew chapter 5 we just started into the Sermon on the Mount last week so you haven't missed much if you're just now joining us and as I said last week and I'll probably repeat through the Sermon on the Mount this is the longest recorded sermon that Jesus delivered it was given on a northern slope of the Sea of Galilee and while non-believers can obviously read this and glean principles for life the intent behind the Sermon on the Mount is not that it would just give us principles for life but it was intended to be received by those who want to be true devoted followers of Jesus Christ as a way of life not just principles for life anybody can read this in glean principles for life but the intent behind that is Jesus is challenging those who really want to be devoted followers of his that these are the things you have to live up to if you really want to be one of my followers this is intended to be a way of life and and so as we head into the Sermon on the Mount keep that in mind now I want to take you again on location by way of picture at least to the hillside of the northern side of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus it is believed delivered this this teaching here and I just wanted you to kind of try to picture him teaching this as I read these verses from Matthew chapter 5 I'm going to read verses 13 through 16 and Jesus said this 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 you are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden nor did 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 let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven let's pray together father as we open up your word today and as we continue in this sermon on the mount we we thank you Lord that you have delivered this teaching not you to the disciples of your day but even to your disciples today to followers those who really want to be devoted followers of Jesus Christ so give us ears to hear what you would say to us through this whole sermon through five six and seven these chapters in Matthew that we would really search our own hearts as followers of Jesus Christ that we might be challenged in these ways and encouraged in these ways so thank you for your word today use it to just stir our hearts and to make us more like Jesus we continue to pray and ask Lord that you would wipe out this virus that has really caused so much sorrow and so much sickness and and here we are not able to really even gather all together Lord because of this so please bring an end to this we pray but thank you for the lessons we're learning through it and we pray now that you would be glorified as we study your word together it's in Jesus name we pray and everybody said amen when you look here at these words that Jesus teaches between verses 13 to 16 these are the only times in the Sermon on the Mount and actually if you out all of the four Gospels where Jesus uses metaphors to describe us and the two metaphors that he uses here in these verses are he calls us the salt of the earth and he calls us the light of the world he says you are the salt of the earth you are the light of the world and what these terms mean for us is simply this he's saying that we are to have influence and impact we're globally that's why he says you are the salt of the earth you were the salt of the world he wants his followers to reflect him and to be instruments that he uses to advance the gospel to live like Jesus to be like Jesus and to share Jesus wherever and whenever we go anywhere this is this is the mandate that that we have received he says I want you to take this globally I want you to be representing me around the world now that doesn't mean that he expects me to take it globally individually or you to take it globally individually what he means is that collectively Christians living in the world will influence their world right where they live that you and I are called to live out our faith within the culture where God has planted us where we live where we work where we go to school and and so this is important for us to understand as we head into these verses today last week we studied the intro to the Sermon on the Mount known as the Beatitudes eight Beatitudes filled with wonderful blessings and promises by God for living in certain ways and I love the fact that Jesus introduces this sermon on that encouraging note blessed are blessed are blessed that are for theirs is for they shall and so it was a wonderful introduction that was the encouraging part of the sermon now we transition into the challenging part of the sermon the rest of what Jesus teaches us is very challenging and it begins here and it might be a little uncomfortable and it might be a little inconvenient as we work our way through the Sermon on the Mount but but again this is a standard this is a bar that Jesus is raising for those who really want to be devoted followers of his and he begins by saying to us in this section here I want you to have a global influence and impact on this world for my glory you are the salt of the earth you are the light of the world in summary what he's saying to us is this that Christians are to have a global impact and influence for Jesus and it starts right where each person lives and works and goes to school now before we talk specifically about the word salt and light and why Jesus chose to use those metaphors to describe us I want to just briefly touch on the whole concept that this is to be a global impact a global influence because it's important for each of us to understand that the body of Christ collectively living out our faith wherever we are around the world will have this kind of global impact if and here's the challenging part if we see this as a mandate from our Lord because that's what this is if Christians are to have the kind of impact and influence in our world that Jesus intended it will be only because Christians understand this what he's saying to us here as a god-given mandate to move out into our culture too many times too many Christians are content to sit on the sidelines and not get in the game this sermon that he teaches here through chapters 5 6 & 7 is about getting off the sidelines and getting into the game living out our faith in such a real and tangible way that it is infectious to the world around us that we are influencing our world that we are impacting our world starting right where we live and work and go to school there are sadly too many Christians who think that their faith is something to just hold on to until they get to heaven rather than hold out to others while they're here on earth it's it's just the way too many Christians think my faith is just about getting me to heaven and too many Christians don't have the mindset that they should which is my faith is not just about getting to heaven but it is also about influencing this world for Christ and this is the mandate that Jesus gives us here when he says you were the salt of the earth you were the light of the world when I hear sometimes Christians say I am a Christian but my faith is private what they are really saying is I'm a Christian but I don't want anybody to notice that's really what they're saying when people use that answer it's just private for me I don't I don't talk about it I don't let people know I just they're just saying I don't want to be noticed and I want to ask you when you think about these metaphors that Jesus is using here when you think about salt and when you think about light when Jesus says you were the salt of the earth you were the light of the world do you think he means I want you to go unnoticed no of course not it is impossible consult go unnoticed when it flavors food can light go unnoticed when it dispels darkness it's impossible and so this is this is a mandate for us to live out our faith in a way that influences and impacts the world Jesus is calling true followers of his to make a difference in our world to not be silent to not be passive to not be embarrassed or irrelevant in our faith that's not being salt and light rather he calls us to in be engaged in our culture he calls us to promote biblical values to speak the truth to live for Jesus and share Jesus wherever and whenever we can that's being salt and light everybody get this because that's what we're heading into here and again as I said last week the Sermon on the Mount is not for the faint of heart there are some people who will listen to all this and say it not for me but if you're willing to accept the challenge to be like Jesus in this world to flavor your world and influence your world and impact your world for the glory of God then you will be fulfilling the mandate that Jesus calls us to here so let's look first at some properties and qualities about salt and light so we can better understand why Jesus uses these particular metaphors to communicate who we are in the kingdoms work when we talk about salt in Jesus's day especially we're talking about a rare and precious commodity you know today we take salt for granted it's on every table and you're in your kitchen in fact we're kind of warned don't take too much salt cut back on your salt watch your sodium that's the kind of thing but in Jesus day it was rare and it was a precious commodity in fact in the first century Roman soldiers were actually compensated they were paid with salt in addition to being able to plunder towns and villages that they conquered Roman soldiers were also paid with salt that's how precious the commodity was of course during the Roman Empire they spoke Latin in Latin solarium means of or pertaining to salt it's where we get our English word salary that's how they were paid it's a very precious and rare commodity especially in the first century and we have different expressions now because of how salt is a part of our lifestyle and how it's a necessity so we have this expression like when you say someone is not worth their salt that expression basically means they're not even worth their pay they're not they're they're not really you know working up up to par and they're they're subpar we have this other expression take something with a grain of salt okay if salt is a valuable commodity and we're talking about just one grain of it we're saying something is not really all that important all that a significant you know be careful take it with a grain of salt salt was so sacred that in in these days if you spilled salt it was considered a shameful or disgraceful thing and you might be fascinated to learn and you can go home and google this I'm sure some of you will out of curiosity because a lot of you like to Google to make sure what I say is true which is fine okay Google go home ago when Leonardo da Vinci painted the Last Supper he painted Judas Iscariot knocking over the saltcellar a salt shaker because it was indicative of his betrayal was something shameful so da Vinci painted him knocking over the saltcellar and so salt is an important commodity even today the modern salt industry boasts 14,000 uses of salt including we know some of these things right raising the boiling point of water but also has the opposite effect it lowers the freezing point of ice how many of you make homemade ice cream from time to time only a few of you okay get a homemade ice making machine not the kind you plug in the kind you have to crank okay and when because the plug into the electric kind that's cheating crank it crank that thing but you use salt pellets around the ice to make it colder to freeze the ice cream anyway try it you'll see you'll have fun it also removes rust it puts out grease fires it makes candles dripless in case you wondered how's that work it's salt it keeps cut flowers fresh it kills poison ivy it treats sprains sore throats and earrings wars have been fought over salt in in the civil war in our own American history in the Civil War salt mines were something that Confederate and Union armies tried to attack to their advantage to dismantle there was a in fact they still produce salt in a Southwestern town in Virginia and I was corrected by one of our pastors it's spelled salt Ville but it's apparently pronounced sauval okay but in Saltville or solve 'l depending where you are Baltimore or Ballmer in the Civil War in December of 1864 the Union Army dismantled the salt mine that the Confederates had there in sauval South West Virginia why was that an important thing why do I destroy a salt mine because salt helped to preserve meat without refrigeration in the day and salt was also used to cure leather that they would use to make shoes so it was strategic because if you can cut off the salt supply then they're not able to feed the troops or they're not able to make shoes pretty hard to fight a battle without food or shoes and so salt has been one of these items that over over history has been an important commodity in the Bible salt was necessary unnecessary ingredient in grain offerings and a necessary ingredient in the Temple incense in Leviticus 2:13 it says in every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt you shall not allow the salt of the Covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering with all your offerings you shall offer salt in exodus 30 verses 34 and 35 God said to Moses take fragrant spices all in equal amounts and make a fragrant blend of incense the work of a perfumer it is to be salted and pure and sacred alright enough about salt more things we could say but for the sake of time let me just talk quickly about light some light is visible to the human eye most light is not visible to the human eye some animals and insects can see part of the light spectrum that we cannot that would be an interesting test to see how they figured that out light is an energy beam that moves in wavelengths and along the electromagnetic spectrum radio waves and microwaves all part of the light spectrum are part of the infrared light spectrum things like x-rays and gamma rays are part of the ultraviolet light spectrum light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second for for you to get light from the earth to the moon it would only take one point two five five seconds in the Bible light is mentioned more than 250 times the first time that you see light in the Bible is the first command that God gives in Genesis 1:3 let there be light the last time you see the word light mentioned in the Bible is revelation 22 verse 5 where it says and there shall be no night in heaven they need no lamp nor light of the Sun for the Lord give God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever and of course the Bible describes God as being light in 1st John 1:5 God is light and in him is no darkness at all in John 8 22 jesus said I am the light of the world he who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life having light in the Bible is a metaphor for having truth and having ultimately Jesus as the source of truth walking in darkness is the opposite of that so the Bible uses light in darkness in many metaphorical ways to communicate whether you're walking in truth whether you know Jesus that's walking in the light or whether you walk in darkness that is your you know you're walking in the world you're not walking in relationship with the Lord Jesus said in John 3 19 to 21 he says and this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come into the light lest his deeds should be exposed but he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God so then the question is with this brief background here why would Jesus use these particular metaphors to talk about who we are and the mandate that he's given us so it's interesting to note that salt and light have a few things in common I'm gonna give you three things that I think translate for us in practical ways the first thing is that salt and light both are needed to sustain life salt in life are both salt and light are both needed to sustain life depleted sodium levels in the human body if it gets too low it's called something it's called hyponatremia and it can result in death you can die when your sodium level when your salt level has gotten too low in your body in fact you know athletes who workout strenuously or some competitive sport where you sweat a lot one of the first things you have to do is replenish your salts because one can die if your salt level gets too low a similar thing is true about light without natural light vegetation dies and even people suffer where there's low light conditions people who live in in dark wintery climates people like to live in Alaska where sometimes you don't see daylight for a couple months at a time have to sit under lamps you know some people like this there's actually a disorder called SI D it stands for seasonal affective disorder where people actually get depressed because there's not enough light and so they have to sit under these lights so you know people in Alaska that's what some of them have to do in order to keep seasonal affective disorder from causing them to crash into depression so all these Alaskans are sitting under lamps if you're watching today from Alaska don't you know we know you're suffering where you're suffering from low light although I don't know this time of year maybe there's other times of years Alaska where the Sun never goes down either so anyway it's compensated one way or another all right you betcha all right thus here's the translation for us as salt and light which is a necessary element for life we should be offering life giving hope to a corrupt and dying world I mean understand the metaphor salt and light we're living in a corrupt world we're living in a decaying world really infected world and God calls us to give life-sustaining hope to a lost and dying world this is what Paul said in Philippians to do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights listen same metaphor as you shine as lights in the world holding fast or NIV says holding out the Word of Life so in other words what Paul says there in Philippians 2 is that we are to shine like lights to help people see true life Jesus said in John 10:10 I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly and we talked about this a few weeks ago there's one word in English for life there are two words in the Greek in the original language of the New Testament two words for life in the Greek BIOS meaning physical natural life biology is the study of BIOS physical natural life and then the other Greek word is Zoe and Zoe means spiritual eternal life and so in the Greek when it's recorded here the words of Jesus and he says I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly he doesn't say BIOS he says I've come that you might have Zoe I want you to have life that transcends the physical because that's the real essence of who you and I are one day our BIOS body dies but Zoe lives forever that part of your life your spiritual life your soul you need to make sure is right with God because that's the part that will live forever and so there's a difference between BIOS and Zoe every person born has both you're born you have a physical being you have BIOS you have life but the real essence of who you are is Zoe and that's what Jesus came to die for is for your eternal sake and this is why we must be salt and light in the earth in the in the world so that we can help people understand the Zoe life that is much better much you turn much more eternal much of greater significance than BIOS life okay BIOS life might be for how many years but Zoey life is an eternity and so this is an important distinction some of you know that that I serve as the chief chaplain for the Sheriff's Office and on Friday I got a call about a death in Sterling and so I went down there and called the sergeant on the way on the scene and he said yeah we we got a call by someone who discovered a body in a home 35 year old man young and he said while we were here the young man's mother showed up unannounced she didn't know what had happened and she shows up and here we are cop cars around and we had to tell her the news that she was completely obviously unprepared for him he said she's asking for a chaplain so I went down his precious mother sitting on the curb outside this house just sabe she was from Ghana she was a believer she said her son was a believer I just sat there on the curb with her read Scripture and prayed and through her sobbing she would cry out to God at different times and she would say you were my father you were my daddy and I do not blame you for taking my son because you gave me 35 wonderful years with him and I will see him again one day and she's just naturally you know just sobbing and praying and sobbing and weeping and all this what she's describing is his BIOS is gone but Zoey lives on because who we are the real essence of our lives will live eternally so you got to know Jesus if you want your life to be eternally lived out with him God wants none to perish God wants none to go to hell the Bible says that God originally intended for Satan and his demons that's why hell was created for them and we only joined by rejecting Jesus as the savior of the world through whom we have access to heaven for eternal life and so this is the hope of the world but we have to help people understand BIOS is one thing Zoey is another and our eternity is going to be lived out in one place or another and Jesus calls us to be salt and light that we might affect our world and help them to understand that there is life in Jesus there is life in Jesus so be that salt and light number two another common characteristic shared between salt and light is that both have purifying healing qualities we know that both salt and light are beneficial to our health and well-being in terms of a purifying and healing quality salt is a good antiseptic we also know that light is a good disinfectant used to kill bacteria germs and or viruses to quote dr. Jim moly PhD a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of New Hampshire he said quote germicidal ultraviolet technology has been around for probably 100 years and has had good success in fact they're even using ultraviolet technology to try to kill the corona virus and they know it's effective with SARS SARS is the severe acute respiratory syndrome one study found that at least 15 minutes of ultraviolet see that's the particularly that they need 15 minutes of ultraviolet C exposure inactivated SARS making it impossible for the virus to replicate destroys the DNA the RNA of the virus New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority announced just last month that they're going to use UV light on subway cars buses technology centers and offices so certain light can be a good disinfectant in addition we know that light has healing properties too dermatologists will use light therapy to help treat eczema dermatitis psoriasis and other skin conditions laser which is a form of light laser therapy is used to treat scars and laser surgery in certain circumstances so there's some healing properties there's some purifying properties with light as well as with salt salt good antiseptic everybody knows that a little salt and a wound can be an effective antiseptic because it has antibacterial properties it's the reason why salt can be used to preserve meat because it slows the growth of bacteria and interestingly in the Bible in Ezekiel 16 for this is a really bizarre little reference but in Ezekiel 16 4 it talks about how babies when they were born in ancient times would be coated in salt when a baby was born they would rub salt all over the baby's body not to try to make it into a Virginia country ham but because salt with us antiseptic properties they understood when that babies come to the birth canal it's it's a good antiseptic to help eradicate any germs or bacteria that baby might have picked up so that's Ezekiel 16 for if you're curious on following that up but there are antiviral properties in salt as well the University of Edinburgh published a study into the 2019 that shows salt is a powerful antiviral for the common cold nasal irrigation and gargling with a salt water solution help to heal the common cold to make the virus less contagious to other family members all this to say that the world and the world system is infected it is the world on the world system is infected we live in a corrupt culture and so when we stand for righteousness it has a purifying effect in our world and when we promote biblical values it has a purifying effect in our world and when we humble ourselves as Christians and pray and seek God's face as agents of salt and light it has a healing effect in our nation this is what God meant behind second chronicles 7:14 if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will what will heal their land in addition all of humanity has been infected with a common contagion and it's called sin we are all dying of this common contagion and so what we have to offer the world as salt and light is a remedy to that disease and that remedy is of course Jesus and we bring healing wherever we sprinkle Jesus wherever we spread Jesus we are bringing a purifying effect and a healing effect to an infected world the last one number three is that both have penetrating properties salt penetrates food and gives it flavor light penetrates the darkness and makes it bright they both invade whatever space they are introduced to both salt and light invade whatever space they are introduced to and so should we there is nothing passive there is nothing neutral about salt or light their natural properties go to work and result in change either change in the flavor of food as a relates to salt or change in brightness in the case of light and this is what we're called to be about to infect in in an infectious way in a good way by penetrating our culture by being that salt and light and making a difference in our world I quoted John Stott last week and so two weeks in a row John Stott was a great thing anglican theologian who died in 2011 and he wrote on this topic and he said this I think this is I think these are very sobering words he said this quote if the house is dark at night there is no sense in blaming the house that's what happens when the Sun Goes Down the question to ask is where is the light if meat goes bad there is no sense in blaming the meat that is what happens when the bacteria are allowed to breed unchecked the question to ask is where is the salt if society becomes corrupt like a dark night or stinking fish there's no sense in blaming that's what happens when fallen human society is left to itself and human evil is unrestrained and unchecked the question to ask is where is the church end quote where is the church this is why I encourage people run for public office if you feel called to do that you can impact the world in that way that's one way to be salt and light this is why I encourage Christians vote your values at every election it is one way to help impact your world assault in light this is why I encourage you parents go to school board meetings speak out and speak up when there are policies that are bad that detrimental II affect your kids that is being salt and light in your community this is why I encourage every single one of us to live out our faith and to share our faith so that we can impact this world for Christ because we are living in a culture that needs to be seasoned with salt and illuminated with light and this is our mandate this is what Jesus calls us to be about and Jesus warns us in this text here that we're reading in Matthew 5 he warns us that you and I will be ineffective if we lose our saltiness or if we hide our light under a basket so he challenges Jesus don't lose your saltiness don't hide your light under a basket in other words the warning there is the problem about becoming apathetic about our faith don't lose your saltiness don't become apathetic about your faith and don't become disengaged from the culture don't put a basket over the light he says you set a light on a stand so it can illuminate the whole house and he says there at the end and Matthew 5:16 let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your father in heaven there should be an effect that we have on the world because they see us living for Jesus as salt in the earth and as light in the world this is what Jesus is calling us to to have a global impact for his glory that we might represent him in our world he says you are the salt of the earth you are the light of the world I hope we can accept his challenge amen let's pray together Lord we thank you for this time in your word we pray that we would have an impact and an influence in our world starting with where we live where we work where we go to school that collectively is the body of Christ scattered around the world living for you in our personal respective places can impact the globe for your glory help us to get off the sidelines and into the game help us not to go around saying that I'm a Christian but my faith is private may we accept this as a mandate from you to be salt in the earth and light in the world to make a difference Lord we leave the results up to you we can't change hearts that's your work we can't orchestrate things beyond just being a vessel that you would use that we might let our light so shine before people that they would see our good deeds that somehow the way we live our lives would point people to you Jesus and that even with our mouths with our testimonies may we continue to season our world around us with salt and illuminate the world around us with light to help people see you we love you Lord and we thank you for this time in your word in Jesus name we pray and everybody said

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Id: nPAeaj6l00I

Length: 35min 37sec (2137 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 13 2020