Living the Dream
10/15/2006 - The Power of Salt & Light
At 4:45 a.m. this past Thursday morning, while most of us were sound asleep, a large backhoe took its first bite out of the overhang on top of the porch of the one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Lancaster County. After that it knocked down the bell tower and then toppled the walls. And within 15 minutes the building was reduced to a pile of rubble. By 7:30 that morning the debris was in a dumpster on its way to a landfill and all that was left behind was a patch of bare ground.
And while the building is now gone and the school that it housed has moved into the garage of a nearby farm, the memories of what happened there will never be gone. The demolition of the school came exactly one week after the solemn funerals for the five girls who were killed there. And we will never forget the darkness that descended on that place that day.
But we will also never forget the light that shined in the midst of the darkness, the light that could not be overcome. That light shone bright in the compassionate response of a community that not only reached out and wrapped its arms around the families of those who lost loved ones, but reached out and wrapped its arms around the family of the killer who stole their loved ones lives.
I read an article this week on the tragedy in which the writer said, "The difference between being ordinary and extraordinary is simply a choice …. Last week I watched Americans all across this country choose to be ordinary or extraordinary. A man chose to walk into a school and kill innocent kids. A group in Washington postured and played political gamesmanship to beat an opponent. They both walk in darkness because their motive is hate."
"Then there is a group of folks who chose to be extraordinary simply by living out their faith in a God of love. They didn't blame or criticize. They didn't look to gain advantage in order to destroy their opponent. No. They loved and forgave and chose to walk in light …. They chose to love and not to hate. I can only hope each member on Capitol Hill and each person across the nation heard the message coming from Pennsylvania this week."
Of course, the message that came from Pennsylvania this week first came from a hillside in Judea two thousand years ago when Jesus said to his followers, "You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth."
This morning we continue our series called Living the Dream: The Sermon on the Mount with a look at how Jesus describes his followers in Matthew 5:13-20. If you have a Bible meet me at Matthew 5.
We've been saying for months now that God's dream is to one day bring his kingdom to this earth so that he can dwell among his people just like he did in the garden so long ago. We will see his face one day. That's God's dream and that's our dream as well. But until that day comes he has chosen to dwell in this world through his followers, through ordinary people like us who have made the choice to follow Jesus, a choice that can lead to extraordinary things.
And so Jesus looks at his followers on the hill that day and makes an astounding statement. Look at Matthew 5:13,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. 14You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither 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. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Jesus uses two metaphors to describe his followers. He calls them salt and light. And when you think about it, salt penetrates and light illuminates. It's interesting to me that Jesus doesn't say, "Be the salt of the earth." He says, "You are the salt of the earth." He doesn't say, "Be the light of the world." He says, "You are the light of the world." That's our identity according to Jesus. That's who we are in him. Now we can make choices, and we do everyday, that determine the worth of our salt and the strength of our light, but we are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. God has chosen to make his presence known in this world through us. We are, as someone said, God's marketing strategy for this world.
To those listening on the hill that day salt was something they used to preserve food. They didn't have refrigerators and freezers like we do today. Instead, they would massage salt into their meat to keep it from rotting. Salt was a preservative.
Salt was also used to add taste and flavor to food, much like we use it today. I'm one of those guys that puts salt on everything even before I taste my food. I know it's a bad habit. Jennifer tells me all the time, "Taste it first!" And I tell her all the time, "I don't have to!" And I've heard that if I did that on a job interview I might not get hired. And maybe that's true. But I'm not looking for a job right now! I like my food to have taste and flavor and salt adds that.
Salt also creates a thirst. Someone has said, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Someone else said, "That's true, but you can give him salt!" I guess that's why I sometimes drink three glasses of iced tea with dinner. Salt makes you thirsty.
Jesus is saying to his followers, "You are the salt of the earth. We live in a world that's in decay. It's rotting and at times it stinks. That's because the curse has corrupted everything. But, just like me," Jesus says, "I want you to penetrate your world to help prevent decay and bring zest to life and create a thirst in others to want to know God too."
Jesus wants his presence in us to be salt in every relationship and in every situation we're in. He wants us to help prevent decay. Moral decay. Ethical decay. Physical decay. Environmental decay. The decay caused by poverty and injustice and oppression. Relational decay. He wants us to help him reverse the effects of the curse in this world. That's kingdom work. That's the mission of Christ.
This week I received an email from a person who is struggling in a relationship and they were afraid that the friendship was breaking down. Some things had been done that was causing distance between this person and their friend. And so in the email they told me that they couldn't let it go any longer. They needed to approach their friend and say some hard things to make it right. That's preventing relational decay. That's being the salt of the earth.
Two weeks ago I had to call a good friend and talk about some things that I was afraid had the potential to come between our relationship. I didn't want to make the call. It wasn't my first response. But as I said last week usually my first response is not the Spirit's response. So I put it off and I waited. But the Spirit kept prompting me to make the call. So I finally picked up the phone and after some small talk launched in to what I really needed to say and it led to an hour long conversation. But it was good. And when it was over I felt a great deal of peace that we cleared the air and my friend received it well.
Salt prevents decay. Salt adds flavor and zest to life. Did you see the joy on the faces of the kids in the Operation Christmas Child video? That's what the salt of a shoebox can do for a needy child. Salt creates a thirst to know God. Over one million children have come to Christ through the shoebox gifts. A whole village was changed. A new church was started.
I love what that gentlemen said when he was talking about the impact of the shoebox gifts. "It's a very powerful message that God loves them. There is nothing that would give that assurance other than somebody far away packing a gift box to give to a child that they don't know anything about. It can only be God."
Salt penetrates. Light illuminates. Look at verse 14, You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither 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. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
The people listening to Jesus that day knew the importance of light. They lived in houses that were very dark. With no electricity they depended on oil filled lamps. And because they didn't have the convenience of lighters or matches, once they lit a lamp they had to keep it lit.
When they were home the lamp was perched on a lamp stand to illuminate the house. But when they went out they put the lamp under a clay bowl so that it would stay lit without the risk of causing a fire. But the purpose of lighting a lamp was not to put it under a bowl, but to put it on a lamp stand to be seen, to illuminate the darkness.
Jesus is saying to his followers, "You are the light of the world. The world can be a very dark place. But the darker it becomes, the brighter your light can be. I want your life to draw attention to me. Don't hide the fact that you're a follower of mine. Let your light shine! Then when people see the good things you do they'll know whom to praise, my Father in heaven. He'll get the credit, not you."
Calling God's people the light of the world was nothing new. God had called Israel to be a light to the nations. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, the city set on a hill, was supposed to be a beacon of hope to the Gentiles. Israel was to shine God's bright light into the world's dark corners, not just to expose evil but to help people who were stumbling around in that darkness to find their way out. Now Jesus says that role has been given to you and to me and to all his followers.
I was talking to someone this week who was telling how much their life has changed over the past year since they've been worshipping with us here at Valley View. They first came here with a jumbled view of spiritual things, but have since come to see that it's really all about Jesus. He has now become the center of their spiritual world and they just want to tell their family and their friends and everybody to come and see, see for themselves what this is all about.
Remember, Jesus lives in us. He is the light of the world. And we take that light into every relationship and every situation we're a part of. And that light shines through our good works not to bring glory to us, but to bring glory to our heavenly Father. Let the light shine wherever you are.
At the end of our gathering today we're going to pray for John Tall. John works for GE. That's where his light shines during the week. But on Thursday he's taking his light to the country of Croatia to lead a seminar with Life Quality Ministries to help bring light into the darkness of that place. John Shoen just returned home from taking his light to Mexico and encouraging a group of pastors there.
Jon and Dawn DiCandilo have something in our E & O's this week about taking the light into Pottstown through a literacy program and Emily Bryant has something in there about taking a group to Philadelphia Cares next Saturday to help clean up the city. Sue Gilmore's collecting meals today for those in need. Wherever we go, whatever we do we take the light of Jesus to illuminate the darkness of this world so that people can find the help and the hope that we've found in Christ.
Now at this point in the sermon I can just see some people on the hill kind of leaning back, crossing their arms thinking, "Who does this guy think he is? And what's this stuff about salt and light that's he's talking about? Here we go again. Another candidate for Messiah who thinks he's got all the answers! We've already got the Pharisees who think they know it all. Why should we listen to him?"
So Jesus stops and says in verse 17,"Don't think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Jesus looks at the skeptics in the crowd and says, "Relax. Don't be so critical. What I'm saying to you is not off the wall. I have no intention of violating your Sacred Writings. In fact, I've come to fulfill them right down to the smallest letter and to the least stroke of a pen."
The words Jesus uses here are actually the Hebrew words "jot" and "tittle." A jot would be like the dot on top of the letter "i" in our alphabet. It's that small. And a tittle was the slight stroke of a pen that would turn a capital "O," for instance, into a capital "Q" or a capital "P" into a capital "R."
Jesus is saying, "I'm going to fulfill all the commands of God found in the Law and the Prophets." What we call the Old Testament. "I'm going to do what nobody else has ever done. I'm going live life the way God dreamed all of us would live life."
Then he says in verse 19, Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoa! Did he just say that! That statement right there in verse 20 could have sent everybody heading for the exits that day. Game over! Talk about a sound bite that could end your campaign for Messiah. Jesus just committed political suicide. Verse 20 would have not only offended the Pharisees in the crowd who were quite proud of their righteous living, but would have totally demoralized those on the hill who knew they could never live up to the Pharisee's standards. So who would be left to follow?
"You've got to be kidding, Jesus! We have to do better than the Pharisees and the teachers of the law to get into your kingdom? That counts me out! There's no way."
Last week, I told you that the Pharisees believed that the kingdom of God would come when there were finally more good people like them in the world. And they defined goodness by all kinds of external rules and regulations.
Let me give you just one example. Exodus 20:8 is one of the Ten Commandments that says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest."
Well the Pharisees took that single command and came up with 39 ways you could break the Sabbath and for each of those 39 ways they had 39 more ways to do them. So 39 times 39 is 1,521 ways to break the Sabbath. You couldn't tie a knot on the Sabbath that was work. You couldn't pick up a quill on the Sabbath that was carrying a load. You couldn't kill a flea on the Sabbath that was hunting. If you were a woman you couldn't look in the mirror on the Sabbath, because is you plucked out a gray hair that was harvesting. You couldn't bathe on the Sabbath. You couldn't spit on the ground on the Sabbath. You could spit on a rock, but not on the ground because your spit would make a little furrow in the dirt and that was considered plowing.
That was the righteousness of the Pharisees. It was all about do's and don'ts and rule keeping and jumping through hoops. And so Jesus says, "Your righteousness has got to be better than that." Did he mean that we need more rules? No. He meant that we all need a new heart. The righteousness that God is after is not about more hoops, it's about the condition of our heart. And when we put our faith in Jesus as our Messiah he gives us a new heart. People look at the outside, the Bible says, but God looks at the heart.
And so verse 20 becomes the thesis statement for the rest of the sermon as Jesus addresses issues of the heart like anger and hatred and lust and honesty and humility and love and generosity. It's the gateway for all that will follow.
The good news is that our righteousness can exceed that of the Pharisees if we've received the new heart that God gives to all those who follow his Son. Have you received that new heart? Have you put your faith in Jesus? He's the King who's bringing his kingdom to this world.