Matthew 5:13-16
Introduction
You probably remember from school, whether it was high school, college, or university, that there were easy courses and hard courses. If you wanted to get a good mark with very little work, you needed to be very strategic in your course selection. When I was in seminary, I took Hebrew, which was a challenging course for me. But about half our class were Jewish students from the university. One of them told me they were taking it because it was the easiest course that they could take. These were often described as “bird courses.”
Well, when we turn in our Bibles to the Sermon on the Mount, we are definitely not in the category of a bird course. This is some of the most challenging teaching for us as Christians that we will find in the Bible. In fact some people have struggled with how to integrate this into our faith. The Apostle Paul says we are saved by faith and not by works and so why should we have to do all of this hard work. There are even people who teach that the point of the Sermon on the Mount is that we cannot do what Jesus commands and so we are forced to rely on faith. I think this is based on a misunderstanding of what both Paul and Jesus are saying about faith and works. The point of being a Christian is not to just have a vague belief in Jesus. There is something deeper. Plus we are not just limited to the options of a faith that has no impact on our life and attempting to earn our salvation by being perfect.
Think of it this way: What does it mean to get married? The actual getting married means standing in front of a pastor and some witnesses, declaring your commitment to one another, signing some legal documents and being presented by the pastor as being married. It is relatively easy. But we would never say that all the work is done once the benediction is given at the end of the wedding ceremony. The work is just beginning. We work hard not to become married, but because being married is worth the work.
It is the same thing for becoming a follower of Jesus. We confess Jesus as Lord and get baptized but that is not near the end of the story. The Sermon on the Mount is an advanced course on how to live out the values of the kingdom of God. It is a difficult course but it doesn’t mean we are kicked out of God’s family every time we stumble. These are teachings that we need to work on for our entire Christian life, hopefully growing as we move along. We are going to begin with Jesus’ teaching on what it means for us to be salt and light.
Salt of the Earth
Jesus begins by telling us that we are to be the salt of the earth. What does that mean? The two main uses of salt in the ancient world was for taste and for perseveration. Salt was extremely important, so much so that in many places in the ancient world used salt as currency. In Rome, salt was used to purchase slaves. If a particular slave was not productive enough, they would say, “He is not worth his salt.” Salt was used to pay soldiers and our modern term, salary, comes from the phrase salt money.
But we might be missing out on an important point when we focus on what it does and neglect the fact that it does something very noticeable. I knew someone whose daughter baked muffins as a treat. Unfortunately she used salt instead of sugar. That is not something that you can just ignore. When salt comes into contact with something, it has a definite impact. I don’t cook with salt or even add salt to my food once it is on the dish. So when I eat something that has had salt added, I notice it right away.
So when we think of the church as the salt of the earth, let’s first ask if we are having an effect on the world around us. What is the church to the surrounding community? Are we just a nice building or even a place of past memories? One way to ask this question is to imagine what would happen if we decided today to shut down the church permanently, would anyone notice? How long would it take the community to notice that there was no longer a Brookfield Baptist Church congregation? My impression is that people would notice very quickly and that shutting down would leave a major hole in the community.
As you know, as long as salt is stored in a container, everything is safe from its influence. But once it is shaken on something or scooped into other ingredients, it begins to do its work. This is what Jesus is getting at. We need to look at strategic ways for our saltiness to affect our community. That can happen in both formal and informal ways. The pandemic has limited the programs of the church but it has not limited relationships or acts of compassion. If we are not letting our saltiness affect those outside the church, then we are losing our purpose.
Light of the World
In addition to telling us to be salt of the earth, we are also called to be the light of the world. This teaching has a similar goal of getting us to influence in a positive way the world around us. Light has always been important for humans, whether bonfires, candles, lamps or electric light. You might like the dark, but you at least like to have the option of turning on a light when you want it. Imagine that there was a blackout because of a power outage. You ask a family member to light a candle and they do it. But then they cover the candle so that the light cannot shine in the room. That would not make sense. But that is exactly what Jesus is warning about. We are the light of the world and we are supposed to let that light shine so that others can see.
Jesus explains that the light is our good works, the things we do as we work for the kingdom. People are supposed to see that we are having a positive impact on the world. But in the very next chapter, still part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will say: “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1) So what is it? Are we supposed to allow others to see what we do or not?
The way we make sense of this is to distinguish between being transparent and seeking self-promotion. This is applicable both for individuals and congregations. There is a motivation to do good deeds to impress others. There are people who will give money to a homeless person and then take a selfie of them doing it to share on social media. It comes down to the purpose for doing what we are doing. Are we seeking the praise of others?
What Jesus is talking about regarding the light of the world is something more organic. It is ironic because the light that shines when we focus on doing the right thing rather than promoting ourselves is brighter than when we focus on building our personal platform. People recognize when people have pure motives. Notice that Jesus tells us to let our light shine, not for us to try and get people to notice the light. The warning he gives later in the chapter is when we try and get people to notice us.
This is one of the things that I appreciate about small church ministry. We are not a brand that we are trying to build. We are simply followers of Jesus, trying to be his disciples and to build his kingdom in our little corner of the world.
Conclusion
We are a congregation that meets in a certain building at a certain time. We sing songs and pray and study the Bible. All of these things are important. As I have argued previously, our first job is to build up the community of faith. But it doesn’t end there.
We are called to be salt and light. The thing about both salt and light is that you cannot ignore either one of them. If I add salt to your meal, you will notice it. If someone turns your bedroom light on in the middle of the night, you will notice it. Can the world ignore the church? The world would like to do that. The world would like to see the church as a quaint institution that tickles our nostalgia. But we are called to be salt and light. I remember seeing a billboard for a college that said, “What we do in here, matters out there.” That would be a good motto for the church. Let us work toward growing in saltiness and brightness as we follow Jesus so that people will know that the gospel is truth.
