The Sermon on the Mount Lesson 4 - The Responsibility of the Kingdom Citizen
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· 115 viewsA look at the call to be salt and light
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The Kingdom Citizen in the World
The Kingdom Citizen in the World
marks a movement in the text from a contemplation of the character of the kingdom citizen to a contemplation of the how the citizen interacts with the world around them.
1. How are we intended to manifest the spiritual attributes of the beatitudes in the physical world we inhabit?
This section answers the question how do we manifest the spiritual attributes found in the beatitudes while inhabiting this physical world.
The counter-cultural message of the sermon is not a call to withdraw from society, rather it is a call to impact society in a manner that demonstrates the reality of the kingdom.
The counter-cultural message of the sermon is not a call to withdraw from society, rather it is a call to impact society in a manner that demonstrates the reality of the kingdom
The kingdom citizen is called on to exert influence on the world around him, and as a result to become a blessing to those he comes in contact with.
Instead we see that the Kingdom Citi
We will see that this influence is exerted as the citizen acts as an agent of redemption working to stave off the corruption that is in the world while guiding others to the salvation that Jesus alone offers.
To fail in this is to fail in a fundamental role that God has intended for us. Being blessed by God (vs. 3-12) is never an end to itself, but a means to an end. (Chumbley, pg. 89)
“You are the salt of the earth”
“You are the salt of the earth”
Critics point out that sodium chloride is a very stable substance that does not lose its essential qualities. However, the ancients did not have access to the refined salt that we used today.
Jesus was likely referring to the white powdery substance that is found around the dead sea. This compound contains a large amount of sodium chloride but it is mixed with other elements.
When Jesus speaks of such salt becoming “tasteless” or losing its “savour” (KJV), He used a word that literally meant “to become foolish” (BDAG, cf. ; ).
The intended idea is that the salt loses its saltiness, i.e. its ability to act like salt. It becomes defiled.
This would be caused by either moisture causing the sodium chloride to dissolve leaving behind a worthless compound or by contamination of other substances that diluted the amount of actual salt.
Salt has three basic uses
2. What are the three basic uses of salt?
3. What conclusion can we draw about the world when we find that it needs to be salted?
Salt can be used as a preservative. Salting meat can prevent decomposition allowing the meat to remain edible for long periods of time.
Salt was used in the ancient world as an antiseptic. Salt kills many bacteria by drawing the water out causing cellular death.
Salt is used as a flavor enhancer. This is effective because of the difference in taste between the salt and the food itself.
It is doubtful that Jesus had seasoning under consideration as the amount of salt used to preserve meat in ancient days left little need to add salt for flavor. We would do better to concentrate on the preserving and antiseptic qualities of salt and how that might apply to our being in this world.
One implication we might take from verse 13 is the fact that the world is given to rot and decay. Whatever good remains in our world today, remains only because of the influence God’s word and God’s people have had upon the culture around them.
4. Is it acceptable for the Christian to simply withdraw from the world?
With this in mind we see that the kingdom citizen is not at liberty to withdraw from the world. Instead, he must work to arrest the moral decay that is taking place around him.
Worthless Salt
Salt was extremely valuable in the ancient world.
In some instances, it was traded ounce for ounce with gold. Rome’s major highway was the Via Salaria, the Salt Road. Smuggling salt was a capital offense in most countries. “Those worth their salt were paid a salary. That word comes from salarium, money paid to soldiers to buy salt” (Chumbley, The Gospel of Matthew pg. 90).
“Those worth their salt were paid a salary. That word comes from salarium, money paid to soldiers to buy salt” (Chumbley, The Gospel of Matthew pg. 90).
The picture Jesus paints of salt being thrown onto the road would be a very uncomfortable one to an ancient audience.
"no longer good for anything..."
Any other food having become insipid or beginning to decay can have salt added to it and once again be valuable as food. However, if salt loses its saltiness is has no value whatsoever.
The figure of being thrown out emphasizes this. Jesus is not saying at least we can pave the road, He is saying we have no value at all.
The ancient salt referred to here was known to destroy the ground even if all the actual salt had leached out. The only place it could be disposed of without causing harm to the land itself was the road where no vegetation was desired.
Jesus is not saying at least the defiled salt can pave the road, He is saying that such salt has no value at all.
You are the Light of the World
You are the Light of the World
5. What similarities between salt and light is Jesus using to teach on the responsibility of the kingdom citizen?
Ancient cities were often built on top of hills for defensive reasons. As a result, they were visible for miles especially during the night when any light would stand out clearly from the darkness.
Like salt, light is valuable because it is different from the darkness.
Jesus is the true light (). He is the source. We are only capable of serving as light when we reflect His character which is the character described in the beatitudes.
Hiding our light
We are only capable of serving as light when we reflect His character which is the character described in the beatitudes
6. Can we truly possess the character of the kingdom citizen if we do not accept the responsibility of kingdom citizenship?
Here again, Jesus uses the discomfort caused by waste to emphasize his point.
Ancient lights burned valuable oil. It would be hard to imagine a situation in the poverty of the ancient world where one would light a lamp and then hide the light. This would be worse than useless, it would be wasteful of a valuable resource.
Jesus’s point is clear, there is no value in developing the character of the kingdom citizen if we will not accept the responsibility of kingdom citizenship.
Matthew has made the evangelistic nature of the kingdom clear in chapter 4.
- Jesus proclaims, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
- Jesus calls disciples to become “fishers of men”
- Jesus went “throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom”
Living as salt and light
Living as salt and light
There is a fundamental difference between Christians and non-Christians, between the church and the world
7. What would cause a kingdom citizen to become “no longer good for anything”?
When we lose our distinctiveness by becoming more like the world around us we become defiled and “no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot.”
This principle is seen throughout the New Testament.
- We are to be a “peculiar people” (KJV), or a “people for God’s own possession.” We are to accomplish this by standing out as “aliens and strangers” (vs. 11).
- We are to follow the example of men like Paul who sought the mind of Christ above all things. In doing this, we will be distinct from those who “set their minds on earthly things.” This is an expression of our true citizenship which is in heaven. (cf. )
John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 63.
This theme is basic to the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon is built on the assumption that Christians are different, and it issues a call to us to be different. Probably the greatest tragedy of the church throughout its long and chequered history has been its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture (John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 63.)
The kingdom citizen must do “good works” from a selfless motivation.
The work of the church in this physical realm is to glorify God, not to make our society more to our liking.
Any social benefit that might arise from our good works is a secondary effect of God’s grace. This should be obvious from verse 10-12 and the realization that hungering and thirsting for righteousness most often leads to persecution.
We must accept the responsibility which this distinction puts upon us
Both verse 13 and verse 14 begins with the emphatic pronoun “you.” There is no way to avoid the responsibility seen here as belonging to each citizen of the kingdom.
Both verse 13 and verse 14 begins with the emphatic pronoun “you.” There is no way to avoid the responsibility seen here as belonging to each citizen of the kingdom.
This responsibility requires a personal discipline to remain distinct from the world.
However, we must have an inward concern, i.e. we must discipline ourselves in order to
At the same, time this calling has an outward manifestation, i.e. we must be concerned for others.
John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 63.
It is when in each metaphor we bring the affirmation and the condition together that our responsibility stands out. Each affirmation begins in the Greek sentence with the emphatic pronoun ‘you’, as much as to say ‘you and only you’ are the earth’s salt and the world’s light. And therefore—the condition follows with inexorable logic—you simply must not fail the world you are called to serve. You must be what you are. You are salt, and so you must retain your saltness and not lose your Christian tang. You are light, and so you must let your light shine and not conceal it in any way, whether by sin or by compromise, by laziness or by fear. (IBID)
We must live a God-focused life.
8. How much of our life must be characterized as salt and light?
The “good works” of verse 16 do not speak to particular actions that stand out from the rest, but from the general conduct of our life. In other words, the light must always be on.
The reality is that any demonstration of selfishness or materialism seen in our life dims the light of our influence.
‘Salt and light have one thing in common: they give and expend themselves—and thus are the opposite of any and every kind of self-centered religiosity.’ (IBID)
The focus of verse 16 emphasizes this reality. We must live in such a way that others see in us reason to glorify God.
We must see our Christian responsibility as twofold
9. Considering the uses of salt in the ancient world, what does the the figure “you are the salt of the earth” demand that we do?
Salt, as it is used in the figure, is largely negative. Salt prevents decay.
To be salt in this world we must be prepared to fight against much of what we encounter. ()
Salt dries up an withers away those things which need to be removed.
The Gospel cannot be preached in its fullness nor lived out in its wholeness without an ever present realization of the reality of judgment. To refuse to participate in sinful things may cause some discomfort, but the antiseptic often stings. To call sinful things sinful sinful will undoubtedly cause hurt feelings, but the alternative is to allow the rot to set in and destroy indiscriminately.
Helmut Thielicke takes up this same theme of the necessarily sharp or ‘biting’ quality of true Christian witness. To look at some Christians, he says, ‘one would think that their ambition is to be the honeypot of the world. They sweeten and sugar the bitterness of life with an all too easy conception of a loving God … But Jesus, of course, did not say, “You are the honey of the world.” He said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Salt bites, and the unadulterated message of the judgment and grace of God has always been a biting thing.’ (IBID)
Nevertheless, the kind of service each renders is different. In fact, their effects are complementary. The function of salt is largely negative: it prevents decay. The function of light is positive: it illumines the darkness.
10. We are to be the “light of the world,” what should this drive us to do?
The function of light, as used in the figure, is positive. Light reveals what is good.
As Christians, we ought to do more than grumble about the things we do not care for.
If we are to learn to “rejoice and be glad” during persecution, surely we can find reason to rejoice during times of mild discomfort.
We must demonstrate the power of the Gospel as we focus on the promised reward so that others may see what we have in store and desire to become kingdom citizens as well.
Rather than merely complaining about the world, we must be working diligently within our sphere of influence to show people the truth and guide them away from evil. We can hardly blame the meat for going bad, and likewise we can hardly blame those walking in the darkness from becoming lost. The real question is where is the salt? Where is the light?
One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: where is the salt?
John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 64.
the world’s light. And therefore—the condition follows with inexorable logic—you simply must not fail the world you are called to serve. You must be what you are. You are salt, and so you must retain your saltness and not lose your Christian tang. You are light, and so you must let your light shine and not conceal it in any way, whether by sin or by compromise, by laziness or by fear.
You...
You...
Both of these admonitions begin with an emphatic “you.”
There is no sense in which the individual Christian can put this responsibility off on another. There is no special class of people in the kingdom who are responsible for being salt and light while other classes are dismissed from this charge.
It is when in each metaphor we bring the affirmation and the condition together that our responsibility stands out. Each affirmation begins in the Greek sentence with the emphatic pronoun ‘you’, as much as to say ‘you and only you’ are the earth’s salt and the world’s light. And therefore—the condition follows with inexorable logic—you simply must not fail the world you are called to serve. You must be what you are. You are salt, and so you must retain your saltness and not lose your Christian tang. You are light, and so you must let your light shine and not conceal it in any way, whether by sin or by compromise, by laziness or by fear.
John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 63.