The Attributes of Salt and Light
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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· 214 viewsThe attributes of salt and light compared to the work of the Disciple of Jesus
Notes
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Matthew 5:13-16
Salt and Light
Last week I told you I was going to give you a big bite to chew and swallow and to be honest I think I succeeded in delivering what I said I would do. We covered 17 verses last week including the call of Peter, Andrew, James and John. I’m not going to re-preach the entire 17 verses but we saw that Jesus did not just call His disciples and leave them on their own He began the training process by teaching them what His disciples look like; He gave them the beatitudes. Then Jesus ended the beatitudes with an admonition of how the world would react to His disciples looking like Him: they would persecute them and speak all manner of evil against them, after all that is what they would do to Him.
Today we are going to look at Matthew 5:13-16. Having seen how the world reacts to Jesus’ disciples we are going to see what kind of impact His disciples, those who have been trained, will have on the world. Let’s pray.
I will have to admit I have heard probably 200 sermons on this passage. That is not a complaint; I love to hear God’s Word preached. The thing is, you have probably heard that many sermons from this passage also, or least you have heard several. The problem with preaching from such a familiar passage is two fold. First from the preachers perspective it is hard to come up with something that someone else hasn’t come up with before. I’m not real sure if what I come up with is original thought or if I have heard it somewhere before. I heard of an old preacher once who said something like this: “I may get my milk from a dozen cows, but I churn my own butter”. So please understand this morning that I churned my own butter. The other difficulty is with you the listener. When you hear what the passage is you say to yourself; “ I have heard that one preached before”, so you go into the half listen mode. Hey I’ve done it too, and I’ll probably do it again. I know that you all do a great job of listening, and I am sure that you will continue to do that great job this morning. If you have not already, please turn in you Bibles to Matthew 5 we will begin reading at verse 13 and read through verse 16.
Matthew 5:13-1613 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.[1]
There are a few things this morning that I would like us to look at as they relate to salt. I have to make a confession to you. I probably eat way too much salt. I love Pay Day candy bars. It is not because of the sweet nougat in the middle, it’s good but it is just sweet. It is not because of the peanuts on the outside, even though I do like peanuts. I like Pay Day candy bars because they are salty. If they left the salt out of their recipe I would never eat another one. Salt is not a food but it enhances the taste and the flavor of food so that it is much more tasty. When all of our kids and grandkids get together for Thanksgiving I make homemade syrup for pancakes and I have been told it is pretty good. It is nothing but sugar and water and a little vanilla. However I do have a secret ingredient. I put just a dash of salt in the syrup. You cannot taste the salt but the salt enhances the sweetness by bonding with the sugar molecules so that they are easier to be attached to your taste buds. The very presence of salt in a recipe enhances the flavor of the food; it brings out its goodness.
One of the things I remember as a kid was in the summer time we would get together with aunts and uncles and cousins and we would all break out our ice cream freezers. My Mom would put the ingredients in the pail and then put the dashers in and give the assembly to my Dad. He would put that into the wooden bucket and begin to pour ice. He would pour in ice then salt, then ice, then salt, alternating back and forth until the wooden bucket was full. Then the cranking would begin. You knew you had become “grown” when you got to turn the crank. I was always fascinated with the salt and ice mixture. When salt is put on ice it raises the freezing point of water. It combines with the water in such a way that it causes the ice to melt making it colder, called the refrigeration affect of ice. The same is true of water on your stove. If you are going to boil some water, if you add a pinch of salt the water will boil sooner, it lowers the boiling point of water. When salt is present it changes things.
Raechel will tell you that one of my favorite breakfast meats is salt pork. I like to slice it thick and fry it just like bacon. It is great. You can put it in beans, cabbage, green beans, even turnip greens. Before they could refrigerate meats people learned that if you completely covered meat with salt you could preserve it for a long time. Mold and bacteria have a very difficult time growing in salt. As long as the salt is present the meat is kept from spoiling. These three things we know about salt; it enhances things, salt changes things and salt preserves things.
Jesus told His disciples that they are the salt of the earth. He did not tell them that they would become the salt of the earth. He did not tell them that they are like the salt of the earth. Because they had received that specific call to follow Him and become fishers of men they had inherited the attributes of being salt. Just the presence of these men, this salt, would enhance to those around, the goodness of God. You see God blesses those that are His. We saw that last week with the (A) poor in spirit having the kingdom of heaven, and the (B) mourners being comforted by the Holy Spirit, (C) the meek living in the fullness of God in the here and now, (D) those hungering and thirsting for righteousness being filled with righteousness, (E) those showing mercy receiving mercy, (F) the pure in heart being at peace with God, and (G) the peacemakers being recognized as the children of God. God blessing Jesus’ disciples and using His disciples will cause people to recognize the goodness of God. The “Salt”(believers) will enhance the goodness of God to the lost. In our lives is where the lost see the goodness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
The very presence of the Salt in the earth will cause people to be changed. If it were not for the presence of the children of God in and amongst the lost no one would come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. It is the presence of the salt that causes lives to be changed. The Salt is showing mercy and the Salt is living in the presence and fullness of God in the here and now, the Salt is even enduring persecution for their faith in Jesus Christ. The presence of the Salt causes people to change. Paul says in Roman 1:16 that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation and it is the work of the believer, the “salt” to share the Gospel. When we share the Gospel people’s lives are changed.
Because of the presence of His disciples, the salt of the earth, people’s lives are being preserved for eternity. Do not for a moment think that your presence in the world is not making a difference. I have not yet had the opportunity to get out in the community much but I am sure that I will find people who will tell me of the impact some of you have had on them for all eternity. In 1 Timothy 4:12 Paul tells Timothy: “12Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” That phrase “be an example” literally means be a person of impact. The word “example” in the Greek language is “tupos” and it means to “strike and leave a mark”.
Salt, Jesus’ disciples, you and me, enhance the goodness of God, causes changes in peoples lives and bring people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Let’s look at verse 14 real quick, I’ll come back to the last part of verse 13 and verse 15 and 16 in a minute. Read Matthew 5:14 14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
When we looked at the attributes of salt we see that salt really does not do anything. It is the presence of salt that causes reactions. When you put salt in water to cause it to boil faster it does nothing but cause the water to behave differently. The salt is not food it simply enhances the flavor of food causing the food molecules to bind with your taste buds more easily. You can wash the salt from the outside of the salted meat but the presence of the salt has already deterred the growth of bacteria and mold, it has preserved it.
However light is different; light does something. There are 3 attributes I want to look at this morning concerning light.
First, when you have a water hose in your hand and you spray the water out moving the water hose back and forth the water has some lag time, it doesn’t follow it’s source immediately. However when you are in the dark and you do the same thing with a flash light the light follows its source immediately. There is no lag time for the light to catch up. Light always follows its source.
Second, where light is, darkness cannot be. When I worked as an air conditioning technician I had to go into way too many attics. That is not a good place to be in the summer time in Texas. We all know that attics are dark. I have been in attics when the batteries of my flashlight would go dead. It always seemed to happen when I was the fartherest from the crawl hole. It would be pitch dark. But if I would wait for just a few minutes for my eyes to adjust it was amazing how much ambient light was present. Just a nail hole in gable of the house would give enough light to get back to the crawl hole. When you shine a flash light into a dark corner the darkness has no choice but flee. Light always dispels the darkness. Darkness cannot be where there is light. Light follows its source, and light dispels the darkness.
When it is dark we are uncertain as to how to place our feet. This is a true story, Raechel knows that I do this to her because I have confessed it to her, but sometimes we used go outside at night for a walk when we lived in the country. We always took a flashlight with us because Raechel always wanted one. Usually I let her have the light but sometimes I am just a little mean. We will be walking back to the house and I will shine the flashlight in the wrong direction. I will continue to go the right direction but Raechel will inevitably follow the light. The reason is simple; light directs our steps.
Light always follows its source, light always dispels darkness, and light directs our steps.
In Genesis 1 we see that on the fourth day God made lights in the firmament. The greater light to rule in the day, we call that the sun, and a lesser light to rule in the night, we call that the moon. In Genesis God did not inform us as to how the lights functioned. The sun is a constant nuclear reaction that will continue to shine as long as God desires it to shine. The moon however has no light of its own; it simply reflects the light of the sun, the greater light. God still calls it a light though. Jesus tells His disciples that they are the light of the world. Not they will be the light of the world or that they are like the light of the world. In John 8:12 Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Just like the sun is the greater light and the moon is the lesser light reflecting the light of the sun it is still a light. We are the light of the world reflecting the greater light, Jesus Christ. Wherever that Light goes, whatever that Light does, we are to be reflecting that Light, because light always follows its source and our source is Jesus.
When light shines into the darkness, darkness must flee. Since light dispels darkness then when you live the life of holiness that God has called you to as Jesus’ disciple then the darkness of sin will be revealed. People recognize that you live a holy life and they can see that their lives are far from holy. Your job as the light is not to go about pointing out sin, your job is to be so different and shine so brightly that the darkness of sin is exposed and it is dispelled by the righteousness of God lived out in your life. If the lesser light, Christ’s disciple, follows the greater Light, Jesus , darkness will be dispelled.
Light guides our steps. When His disciples are following the source of Light our steps will be guided. When we see people in need we will meet that need. When we see people in pain we will comfort them. When we see the lost we will tell them about our relationship with God through Jesus Christ and do all within our power to usher them into the kingdom of God. That is the direction the light always goes and all we need do is step into those same footsteps and do what our Master is doing. Light always guides our steps.
Let me go back to the second half of verse 13 real quick. but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. The King James version uses the word “savor” and the NKJV says “flavor”. I’m not going to make an issue of this but in actuality pure salt cannot lose its savor. The word savor is not simply another word for flavor; savor has at its root the idea of usefulness. If this were said that a man had lost his savor it would mean that he has become a fool and useless. The salt of Jesus’ time was salt that was taken from the Dead Sea area. It contained a high concentration of sodium chloride, table salt, but it also contained other minerals, it was impure. When the impure “salt” was stored in a building, usually with a dirt floor, it would get damp or wet and the sodium chloride (table salt) would be leached out of the rest of the minerals and what was left was useless as salt; it had lost its savor. All the good part is gone and the contaminants dominate the “salt”. Jesus is telling His disciples, the ones there then and us today that we must maintain our saltiness. We must not let the contaminants become the greater part of us making us useless as salt of the earth. We must guard ourselves and examine ourselves as we saw last week when we talked about the pure at heart; content in pleasing their Master are those who examine their thoughts, emotions and attitudes for they shall see God. We are the salt of the earth. Being the salt is our attitudes towards God and towards the world and our attitudes are what draw people to our Master. What happens when we let our “saltiness” be compromised? We develop bad attitudes towards God and the world and no one wants to be around someone with a bad attitude; right? When you attitude is bad it makes no difference how much truth you proclaim no one is going to hear it. As the salt of the world you must maintain your usefulness by examining yourself.
Verse 15 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Sometimes in the course of the earth around the sun and the moon around the earth the moon goes into an eclipse. The earth gets between the sun and the moon and the moon ceases to be a light for a season. It always comes back and there is really nothing that the moon can do about going dark. But just like the moon going into an eclipse sometimes we let the world come between us and the Light of Jesus Christ and we go dark. That is when we put our light under a bushel (This little light of mine I’m going to let it shine. Hide it under a bushel no, I’m going to let it shine.) Unlike the moon we can do something about that. Do not let your light be hidden under a bowl, be that bright and shining city on a hill that shines as a beacon of righteousness and love for a lost and dying world.
One last look at verse 16 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.[2] Like I said earlier salt, our attitude, really doesn’t do anything it mostly serves as a catalyst. Light on the other hand does much. It follows its source, it dispels, darkness, and it directs our steps. Light is our works. Our works will not save us, but our works will glorify God and bring others to our Savior. Light is the steps that He directs us to take, it is the proclaiming of the truth that dispels all darkness. Light is the following of the source of all righteousness, Jesus Christ. Our saltiness draws people to us affording us the opportunities to let our light shine because the light draws people to God through Christ. Our saltiness draws people to us but the light reflecting Jesus draws people to God.
Psalm 34:8 says: 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed isthe man who trusts in Him! Folks no one is going to want to taste the Lord if we have lost our saltiness and our light is dim. We know we have lost our saltiness, our usefulness when our lives are not enhancing the goodness and mercy of God to the lost world. We know we have lost our savor, been contaminated by the world, when lives of people around us, people we should have an impact on are not changed, when the lost are not coming to Christ because the preserving effect of the “salt” not seen and the gospel is not proclaimed. So I ask; how is your saltiness?
Just like we let the world contaminate our “saltiness” we also let the world come between us and the Son and our light dims. We know that our light has dimmed when we are not going where Jesus went, to the lost. Our light has dimmed when we sequester ourselves inside the church building or with family or close friends who are believers; when we do not go out amongst the lost so that we can reflect Christ in the darkness. We should be doing and going what and where Jesus went and did. He preached the gospel to the unlovelies of His world, He bound up the broken hearted amongst the lost. He didn’t wait for them to come to Him, He went to them.
We know our light has been dimmed when sin is not even recognized in our community or our culture because the light of Christ is not reflecting off of us. We can be sure that our light has dimmed when we are comfortable in our own sin and the sin of others; when things are on TV and we are not troubled by them. We know our light is dim when we put ourselves into situations where we know we will likely fall to temptation. We know our light is under the basket when we do not even notice sin anymore much less are we offended by it. When you are no longer desiring to follow in His footsteps, when you are not concerned with proclaiming the gospel, binding up the broken hearted, helping the hurting and seeking the lost you can know that you have let the world come between you and the Son. So I have to ask you like I did about your saltiness, how is your light shining before men. Can they see your light? Is it glorifying your Father in heaven? Let’s pray.
"The bible is not the light of the world, it is the light of the church. But the world does not read the Bible, the world reads Christians! You are the light of the world." C.H. Spurgeon
[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 5:13–16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 5:13–16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.