Salt and Light

A large family sat around the breakfast table one morning. As the custom, the father returned thanks, blessing God for the food. Immediately after, however, as was his bad habit, he began to grumble about hard times, the poor quality of the food he was forced to eat, the way it was cooked, and much more.
His little daughter interrupted him, “Dad, do you suppose God heard what you said a little while ago when you were giving thanks?”
“Certainly,” the father replied with the confident air of an instructor.
“And did he hear what you said about the bacon and the coffee?”
“Of course,” replied the father with a note of caution in his voice.”
Then his daughter asked, “Dad, which did God believe?”
Children are sometimes so brutally honest.
Have you ever felt blessed ?
Do you feel so blessed that you are thankful for the blessings that God gave you?
Do you ever feel so blessed that you want to go out and bless others?
Well today we are going to meet a man that was so blessed that his blessing was meant to overflow over to the World.
Could you imagine being so blessed that your blessing would pour out into the world.
This man was called Abraham.
It is hard for us to understand how important Abraham was for the Jewish people.
One Hebrew Rabbi said of Abraham that God created Adam first and when Adam messed everything up then God called Abraham to fix it all.
That is literally how important Abraham was to the Jewish people.
That is why we find Lazarus in Abraham’s Bosom in Luke 16 and we see in John’s Gospel the jewish people call Abraham their father.
So he is very important.
There is also a pivotal passage in the Bible that works like a big hinge that much of the rest of the Bible will hinge on.
In Genesis 12 we see the Call of Abraham and the Promises made by God.
Genesis 15: 1-3
1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great ; And so you shall be a blessing ; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
God comes to Abraham. This is the idea with Israel.
Abraham, I’m going to bless you, but not just for your sake, because the world is a mess, but it’s my world.
And I want it back. I want to fix it, so I’m going to work through you. You will be like a blessing conduit. You will be blessed, to be a blessing.
God’s idea was that He would bless Israel and Israel would bless the world.
Now, this is God’s idea with Israel. They are blessed to be a blessing. God calls this “blessed to be a blessing” relationship a “covenant.” And He uses some different images to describe it.
Now this is all behind Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the MOunt. In the Book of Numbers, God says,
Numbers 18: 19
19 "All the offerings of the holy gifts, which the sons of Israel offer to the LORD, I have given to you and your sons and your daughters with you, as a perpetual allotment. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD to you and your descendants with you
We’re actually going to have Him use salt in the sacrifices. Now, why a covenant of salt, because in our day, salt is optional.
In the ancient world, though, it was not optional. In the ancient world, there was no refrigeration.
Decay and rot were the great enemies of life, and salt was the only force that could arrest decay. It could preserve.
So, it had a power in the ancient world. It was almost like magic. Salt was the beginning, really, of trade in the ancient world. They fought wars over it.
So how important was salt to the ancient world and the world in general?
Homer called it divine.
Plato called it a "substance dear to the gods."
Shakespeare mentioned salt 17 times in his plays.
Perhaps Leonard da Vinci wanted to send a subtle message about purity lost when he painted "The last Supper."
In that painting an overturned salt cellar is conspicuously placed before Judas.
In ancient Greece a far-flung trade involving the exchange of salt for slaves gave rise to the expression, "...not worth his salt."
Special salt rations were given to Roman soldiers and known as "Solarium Argentums" the forerunner of the English word "salary
Because in my world there’s rot, there’s decay, there’s sin, there’s deceit, there’s corruption, there’s selfishness.
Everything’s spoiled. I’m going to start a new people, and I’m going to have a covenant of salt, so that through my people I can begin the process of saving my world from corruption, and decay, and rot.
As you meet with people, you’re freshness, you’re hope, you’re joy. A covenant of salt. Blessed, to be a blessing.
And then He uses another image. In the Old Testament God says to His servant,
Isaiah 42:6
I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles
That word again. Here’s what’s really interesting. And a light for the who? For the Gentiles.
Remember, God said to Abraham, all the peoples of the earth. It’s not just about Israel. It’s not an insider deal.
Isaiah 49:6
It is far too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.
God says my world is dark, the people confused.
They hide, they sin, they’re scared. I want you to be light, poise, truth, confidence, knowing God.
A light not just for yourselves, [but] for the Gentiles, for the whole world.
Blessed to be a blessing. This is God’s vision for Israel. Covenant of salt. Covenant of light.
But this was very largely lost in Jesus’ day. There were in His time, four factions, all of whom had their own vision for Israel that was at odds with God’s vision.
There was first of all Rome. Rome’s vision for Israel was that Israel exists to enrich whom? To enrich Rome. To be exploited financially.
Then there was another group of people, in Jesus’ day. These were Israelites.
They were called the zealots. Anybody know how the zealots felt about Rome?
They hated Rome. They were committed to the violent overthrow of Rome.
They were engaged in things like assassinations. They were involved in practices that were considered terrorism by Rome.
That kind of tension is nothing new. And their mission for Israel, their idea was that Israel was created by God to eventually rule the earth.
So, their vision was that Israel would rule the earth.
Then, there was another group of people. And, they were called the Sadducees.
Oddly enough, a lot of them were priests. But, these were folks who had given up, really, on the Kingdom ever coming down here, on God ever doing anything.
So, their deal was, they collaborated with Rome. That’s how they got power, and were able to rule in the temple and so on.
Their vision was, get a piece of the pie. We’re going to become like Rome, and get while the getting is good.
Then there was another faction, who were kind of disgusted with these folks.
So, we might call them the reformers. These were people like when you come across the word, Pharisee, [think] reformer. The Pharisees were reformers.
And their deal was: Israel, why don’t we just isolate ourselves from everybody who doesn’t obey the law?
From all the Israelites who aren’t pious enough, and from all the Gentiles, and everybody that are unclean?
Then when God sees how good and pious we are, then He will destroy everybody else, and the world will be ours.
So, these were the visions
. Rome, they kind of were the world.
And the zealots said we exist to rule the world.
Sadducees said: we ought to be like the world.
And the reformers said: we ought to withdraw and isolate from the world. Nobody was talking about blessing the world. It was in the middle of this cauldron that Jesus comes.
He stands on the side of the mountain, and He remembers how God said to Abraham one day,
I will bless you.
Jesus talks to this rag-tag group that He’s been healing and delivering.
What’s the first word in the Sermon on the Mount, of the Beatitudes?
Blessed! Blessed are who? Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, and blessed are the hungry. Blessed are you.
you are blessed to be a blesser.
Here’s where Jesus makes this turn. It is part of the thought in “The Sermon on the Mount.” It is to be regarded as an extended, very careful reflective thought, not just a series of random sayings.
Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. “You are the salt…”
Now see if you see the progression that we saw with Abraham and How God wants to bless others.
Matthew 5: 13-16
13"You are the salt of the earth ; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.14"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden ;15nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.16"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
You’re the salt of the earth, light of the world. And the people respond, of course.
Who, us? Insignificant us?
Not the Romans, with all of their power and wealth?
Not the Zealots, with all of their passion?
Not the Sadducees, with all of their connections, not the reformers with all of their piety and religiosity? And Jesus says, no. He says they’re all wrong.
The subjugators and the dominators and haters, and the collaborators and the isolators, they’re all wrong. And here’s what I’m going to do.
I’m going to love them all. I’m going to love the Centurions.
I’m going to have a Zealot become one of my people.
I’ll love the priests, I’ll love the Pharasees, and I’ll love them all.
But a lot of them won’t get it.
They’ll fight me, they’ll oppose me, they’ll persecute me, and they’ll imprison me.
Eventually they’ll kill me. And then, here’s the next step in the plan.
You, my little rag-tag crowd, you will love them.
And then they’ll fight you and oppose you and persecute you and imprison you. And kill many of you. And what will you do?
Then you’ll love them even more.
Isn’t that a great plan? Aren’t you all fired up about that plan?
And, of course, a lot of people weren’t.
But some people were. And it happened just the way He said it would.
Unbelievable brilliance. But now, it would take a different kind of person—
it would take a salt and light company, and, of course, people were not there. So Jesus has to talk about how does transformation happen.
Ironically, when it comes to transformation, that’s what these guys, the reformers, religious leaders, scribes and Pharisees were most interested in.
Jesus was in a lot of ways most similar to these four factions to this camp. But He had His biggest disagreements with these guys.
And it’s critical to understand this to get His teaching. Because this is what got Him into so much trouble. We turn there now.
Jesus says,
In Matthew 5: 17-20
17"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets ; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.18"For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.19"Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven ; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.20"For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Loaded and dangerous language, here! Now, what made Jesus different from all of these other folks, from the teachers of the laws?
Two areas that didn’t, and then the one that did. Jesus is not different from them because they loved the law and he didn’t.
Rabbis in Jesus’ day loved the law. And no one loved Torah, no one loved the law more than Jesus.
He uses quite technical language in it.
The smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet was the letter yodh. It was made by just a little mark like this, that’s all it was.
That was the smallest letter, the least stroke of the pen.
The Yod – when God changed Saraii’s name to Sarah was a Yod was removed.
The Rabbi’s told a funny story to their students to illustrate the importance of one Yod.
They told their students that that little YOD protested to get back into the Bible and it protested so hard that finally God put it back in the Bible.
When Moses changed Hoshea’s name to Joshua it was changed by the simple changing of one YOD.
The Rabbis would then tell the students that not one JOT or Tittle not one YOD will be abolished from the Torah.
You see that was the original intent of the Law- Jesus has come to embody that Law – to show that this is God’s plan.
God’s Plan is that YOU are the LIGHT of the World. You are SALT.
Once again we need to let that set in and not go over our heads – our vocation, our calling, we are to be a light- salt
To bring purity to corruption to this decaying world.
To illuminate darkness.
In everything that you do that is your calling – where sin corrupts you bring salt to help bring back purity from putredness.
Where there is darkness you come to shine a light into that darkness.
So what does that look like? We just need to look at Jesus and He shows us just what that looks like.
Lets see what this is going to look like:
Matthew 5: 38-48
Matthew 5: 38-48
38 "You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' 39 "But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 41 "Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 "Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven ; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have ? Do not even the tax collectors do the same ? 47 "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same ? 48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
1) Jesus tells us not resist those that are evil to us.
If one slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also.
This image would be from the Roman Empire in which slapping one on the right cheek meant that you hit them with the back of your hand.
This was the ultimate sign of disrespect in the ancient world and Jesus tells us that we need to be willing to take abuse for His sake.
This doesn’t mean that we are to be pushovers and go around volunteering our cheek to be slapped but we do see this come true in the Passion narrative of Jesus. In the story of the crucifixion we see that the High Priest Temple guards strike Jesus on the cheek and Jesus questions why they do this.
Jesus does not resist but still questions why they do it.
2) Jesus tells us in verse 40 of chapter 5 that if anyone wants to take your inner garment and sue you for it you are to give them your outer garment also.
This seems so bizare to us today. To have such a giving attitude that we would be willing to give to those that even mean to harm us. The context of this teaching of Jesus means that you have an attitude that is giving to those that mean you harm.
We see this specifically fulfilled by our Master in the Crucifixion account.
We see in Matthew 27 that Jesus is stripped of his garments and the soldiers cast lots for his garments.
Jesus willfully allows this to happen because Jesus gave up His life willfully.
He allowed the soldiers to take His garments.
Our master specifically models what He expects from us to love those that hate us so much we would give them more than what they ask for from us.
3) In verse 41 Jesus states that whoever would force you to go one mile, you should go with him two.
This refers to a Roman Law that allowed Roman soldiers to make an occupied Jew carry his pack for one mile. The Jews had put posts up one mile from their homes to tell them exactly where to stop.
No good Jew would walk one step further for a pagan Roman but now Jesus is saying something totally odd.
According to Jesus you are to go two miles and not just one.
That is exactly what Jesus did.
Jesus would be lead from the High Priests residence to the Praetorium and Pilate, to Herod and back, and then the path to the cross.
Jesus would willfully walk with these Roman soldiers and will go the extra mile to His death.
He literally takes the extra mile.
4) Jesus tells us in verse 44 that we must love our enemies. A radical concept of trying to love those that hate us.
We are to love our enemies so much that we are to pray for them.
On the cross, as He was crucified, Jesus prayed for those that crucified Him.
Jesus said, Father Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Jesus in his moment of pain and self giving thought about those that were killing him.
These pagan Romans and Jewish leaders that hated him so much, he asked for their forgiveness. Our master modeled perfectly how we should live.
This is what it looks like when you are acting as salt and light.
When you live in a fallen world that is full of sin, we bring purity
We bring light like Christ.
So today – many of you are wondering how do I act as Salt and Light?
Some of you are doing it right now.
Some of you are nursing sick loved ones back to health – bringing light to their world.
Some of you are teaching classes and showing children the way – The Bible teaches That Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.
Some of you are living pure lifestyles in a workplace that is full of bad language and dirty jokes – everyday you bring salt to your environment.
Some of you are raising faithful kids, grandkids, and you are bringing hope and light to a dark world.
Some of you are writing cards and notes of encouragement to those that are sick or newly baptized.
Some of you give of your means so the Church can bless those that are hurting by helping people financially.
You see that being salt and light is something that you do all the time. It is what we are called to do.
If I can challenge you today to anything I would say – live intentionally this way –
go to work or in your home purposefully living as salt and light for those around you.
Be a self sacrifice for others – live just to bless other people and it will be paid back to you in spades.