Sunday, September 6, 2009: Christian Influence

Christian Influence
Matthew 5: 13 – 16.

I. Introduction.

An older married couple had just arrived in heaven. They began to walk around on the streets of gold, through the gates of pearls, looking at the fabulous sights of heaven. It was almost more than they could comprehend. They began to share with each other how beautiful each part of the scenery, making sure to point out anything the other might not have noticed. After several hours of just walking with their mouths open wide, the husband turned to his wife and said, “Honey, did you have any idea that heaven would be this wonderful?” His wife replied, “No! This far exceeds anything I had ever heard or read about heaven.” The husband spoke up, “Just think. If you had never started us on that salt free diet, we could have been here 30 years ago.”

Salt free diet! That sounds awful! Some of you may be required to eat a salt free diet, so you agree with me.

A friend of mine has a “ritual” he performs in his church every time they observe baptism. When the person comes out of the water, he places a taste of salt on their lips. Then he hands them a lighted candle. They walk out of the baptistery holding a lighted candle and with the taste of salt on their lips. This is a reminder of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount that Christians are to be salt and light in the world.

Now imagine what the world would be like on a “salt free diet.” What would the world be like if there were no Christians? Would the world be a better place to live? Or, would the world be no different than it is today? I hope Christians make the world a better place to live. In fact, that is what I think Jesus is saying when he calls us salt and light.

Read Matthew 5: 13 – 16.

II. Christians Are Supposed to Be Different from the World.

There are two ways we can interpret Jesus’ words about salt and light. On one hand, these words might reflect an understanding of the individual Christian life. On the other hand, these words might describe a Christian community—the church.

Honestly, I don’t think we should choose one over the other. I think Jesus is describing both individual faith and the life of the Christian community.

As individuals, Jesus calls us to be different from the rest of the world. When light enters into a dark room, it is noticed. When salt is added to food, it is noticed. We notice the light and the salt, because they are different from their surroundings.

Can we say the same thing about individual Christians in the workplace? Is your life noticeably different from the other people you work with? When you enter the room, does the complexion of the room change? Do you cut other people down with your words to make yourself look better then them? Do you cheat your employer by not working a full day or by doing personal work on company time? What about your ethics? Christian employees should be the most ethical people in the work place, different from all the other employees—like salt and light.

What about at school? If you are a Christian student, then you are supposed to be different from the other students at your school. The Christian student should not cheat or cut corners in their work. Christian students should not use the same kind of coarse and vulgar language. Christian students should not engage in underage drinking or sexual activity. Do you look exactly like the other students at your school? Or do people notice that you are different—like salt and light?

What about in your neighborhood? This is a tough one, because no one puts on a mask when they come home. We might put on our “spiritual masks” when we go to church on Sunday or even project a certain spiritual image at work and school. But, no one pretends at home. This is the one place where we can be ourselves. When you let down your guard and act like yourself, do your neighbors see you as salt and light? Or do you live just like the rest of the neighborhood—just like the rest of the world?

It’s interesting how Christian men and women forget that we are supposed to be different. We just want to fit in—to be one of the guys, or one of the girls. But, Jesus didn’t call us to be one of the guys / girls. Jesus called us to be salt and light. We cannot serve Jesus if we are just like the rest of the world. In fact, no one benefits when individual Christians become like the world.

This reminds me of what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 12. Therefore, I urge you, brothers (and sisters), in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not (be) conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12: 1 – 2 NIV).

When you blend in and fit in with the world, you are conforming to the pattern of the world.

Who are we serving when we conform to the world’s standards? We are not serving God, ourselves or the world. No one benefits when Christians fit in.

Just as individuals face the temptation to conform to the world, so the church faces this same temptation. Just as Christians are called to be salt and light—to be different from other people—so the church is called to be different from the Rotary Club. If there is no difference between church and Rotary, then we have failed to live up to our name…our calling…our character.

III. Be the Person God Called You to Be.

The best way we can be different from all other individuals, clubs or organizations is to become less self-serving. Life is not about you. It’s not about the church. God has placed us here for a purpose, and that purpose is not to serve our selfish wants and desires.

Think about how salt and light serve their intended purposes. Both salt and light are only effective when they give themselves away. This is not a selfish act. This is a self-less act of giving away who we are and expending ourselves on behalf of others: Giving ourselves away to make the world a better place to live.

Another way salt and light fulfill their purposes can be illustrated in the way they penetrate something else. For example, salt must penetrate the water to make the water salty…salt must penetrate the food (meat or vegetables) in order to be effective. Also, light must penetrate the darkness in order to light up a room.

Salt is good as long as it stays in a bowl…or a shaker. It has to get out of the bowl / shaker in order to be useful.

A lighted candle does no good in a room filled with light.

Can you see where I am going with this? Today is Sunday morning, the traditional time for Christians to gather in the church. (It’s kind of like a bowl full of salt, or a room filled with hundreds of lights.) What purpose does a bowl full of salt fulfill? How much light shines in a dark world, when all the candles are gathered in one place?

Worship is one of the five purposes of the church. We gather on Sunday mornings to worship. We also have good fellowship with one another in the church on Sundays. And fellowship is one of the five purposes of the church. But, worship and fellowship are not supposed to be all we do. We are also called to grow in discipleship, to serve as ministers and to do the work of evangelism. If all we do is gather at the church, like salt in a bowl, we are not fulfilling all that God has called us to be and do. We have to get out of the church. We have to penetrate the culture.

In Matthew 5: 1 – 12, Jesus described what it means to live a “blessed” life. (We typically refer to these verses as the Beatitudes.) Everything Jesus described as blessed stands in stark contrast to the world’s opinion of what blessedness looks like. If we compare Jesus’ Beatitudes with his teaching about salt and light, it seems apparent that Jesus was calling us to be “counter-cultural.” On one hand, Jesus wants us to be different from the world. On the other hand, Jesus wants us to change the world to become more like us. He does not call us to allow the world to change us or to conform us into the pattern of the world’s values and behavior. Our values and behavior are different from the world. But the world will not change as long as we remain like salt in a bowl or light gathered into one room. We must penetrate the world.

IV. Two Christian Responsibilities.

Every home in the ancient world had access to both salt and light. Neither salt nor light was reserved for just the rich or just the poor. Everyone used both salt and light. We can say the same thing about households in the Twenty-First Century. We know what salt is. We know what light is. And, we know how to use them.

It’s interesting to me to think about how we use salt and light. Do you remember where you were when Hurricane Ike came through Lufkin? I remember, because it was my first hurricane. The electricity went off in my house about 7:00 that morning. We were some of the more fortunate ones, because our electricity was turned on about 36 hours later, on Sunday night. Others of you went without electricity for 5 – 7 days. However long you went without electricity, none of us pulled out our salt shakers. We used flashlights and candles, because salt and light have two completely different purposes. Salt will not help in the dark. And no amount of light makes bland food taste better! This makes me think Jesus is telling us we have two responsibilities in the world.

Our first responsibility is to be salt. Most of the sermons I have heard about being salt focus on the way salt was used in the ancient world to preserve meat, since there was no such thing as refrigeration. However, I noticed something this week by reading all the Old Testament references to salt. I decided to read the Old Testament, because I believe the Old Testament stands behind what Jesus has to say in the Sermon on the Mount. (We will see this most clearly next Sunday when we read what Jesus had to say about the Old Testament Law in Matthew 5: 17 – 20.)

In the Old Testament, salt was used in four different ways. But, the Old Testament never refers to salt as a preservative.

In Job 6: 6, we read: “Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?” Salt was used as a seasoning, to enhance the flavor of food.

Judges 9: 45 says: “All that day Abimelech pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.” In this case, salt was used to prevent the crops from growing back in the destroyed city.

2 Kings 2: 19 – 22 tells a story of Elisha the prophet after his mentor, Elijah, had been taken into heaven. Elisha encountered a group of men in a remote city. The city was about to die, because they had poor water. They asked Elisha for help. Elisha took a bowl of salt and threw the salt into the city’s water source. Immediately, the water was “healed.” This was obviously a miracle, but in the miracle salt was used to symbolize purity.

2 Chronicles 13: 5 says: “Don’t you know that the LORD, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?” Then Leviticus 2: 13 says: “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.” These two verses illustrate an ancient point of view. Salt was viewed as a long lasting mineral. It is almost impossible to change the nature of salt. Therefore, a covenant made with salt was an eternal, unbreakable covenant. God made David the king of Israel with a covenant of salt—an unbreakable covenant. God made his promises of forgiveness of sins with sacrifices that had been salted—again, an unbreakable covenant.

I think Jesus’ use of salt as a metaphor for the Christian life ought to be viewed through these four Old Testament references to salt. Christians add flavor to the world. Christian influence in society keeps society’s evil from growing and spreading. Christians are the only source of purity in the world. Christians represent God’s eternal and unbreakable covenant in the world. As long as there are Christians in the world, God will always keep his covenant promises. But none of these are possible if the salt remains in the bowl. We must penetrate the culture of our world and change it.

In the Old Testament, light was not used in as many different ways as salt. Light is slightly less complicated. It is only used in two distinct ways.

First, light was often used to symbolize the presence of God. In Exodus we read the story of the Hebrew people. After they were released from slavery in Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. During those forty years, God reminded them of his presence by providing them with a cloud to lead them by day and a pillar of fire (light) to lead them by night. In the book of Leviticus, we read the story of how God gave his Law to his people during their forty years in the wilderness. When God gave them the Law, he also gave them instructions for building a tabernacle for public worship. That tabernacle had a series of lamp stands, which burned all day, every day. This symbolized God’s presence in the tabernacle. In the book of Psalms, David (and other authors) used “light” as a poetic metaphor to describe God’s glory and presence.

Second, light was used to describe God’s people. Isaiah 42: 6 – 7 says: “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” God’s original plan for Israel was that they would be a light to the Gentiles…Spreading the light of God’s salvation to all people.

V. Conclusion.

Now, Jesus has given this same assignment to his followers. You and I are called to be God’s covenant people (salt) and to serve as his light in our dark world. We cannot do this if we stay in the bowl or gather all the light inside the church building.