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Matthew 5:13-16

Introduction

The Beatitudes are descriptions of our new nature. It is who we are. These verses describe our purpose. In other words, why are we the way we are? Purpose is one of the things that sets humanity apart from the rest of animals. You see, God created everything with a purposeThe General Character of Salt and Light

In this instance, it may be helpful to look at the forest before we look at the trees. Verses 13 and 14 set about a pair of sorts, the structure at the beginning of these verses is purposefully similar. The first two words are the exact same “You are,” The first word, “You,” has an emphatic form like we might write in italics. We have mentioned before that although the crowds are here, the primary audience for this sermon is Jesus’s disciples. And so this you is Jesus’s disciples. This includes us today if we follow Christ.

Then Jesus uses two ideas within a larger idea. The larger idea is the world. Earth and world are used for the same concept: referring universally to all peoples. Salt and light are things that are distinct and noticeable in a world of decaying darkness. Just as the light of the stars are noticeable on the blackness of the sunless sky, so the Christian lifestyle is noticeable on the canvas of lostness. Salt is certainly something that stands out.

I remember the first time salt really stood out to me. I was probably 5 or 6 years old. After church on Sunday night, we would usually go to Wendy’s for fellowship. I remember getting my little Frosty and getting ready to enjoy it all. My preacher was sitting across the table from me. He told me there was a really cool fire red car outside the window. I turned around and did not notice anything. I kept looking for a bit and finally turned back around to ask where he had seen it. He told me it had already gone on by. That car didn’t much matter anymore to me since I had my frosty waiting on me. I scooped a bit off the top and put it in my mouth and immediately began to gag. It tasted like they had made the icecream with nasty old sea water. Or perhaps when you make homemade ice cream, but the ice salt bleeds through. The preacher began to chortle right away. He had dumped a large amount of salt right on top of my frosty. I remember being extremely upset, and pouting like a child. I let the bitterness of the salt become bitterness of soul. I refused to let him buy me another, and I refused to look him in the eye again.

Just because something is distinct does not mean its good.

The Christian Life should be distinct because its doing something specific for the world

That “something specific” we will get into in a moment. But for now, I want to consider what it means to be “distinct”1 Peter 2:9ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.John 17:14–15ESV

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

Notice in John 17 that Jesus’s prayer forms that cliche, “In the world not of the world.” In other words, our hungering and thirsting for righteousness does not lead us to become a monk and never live among the common folk. Nor does it mean that we live just like everyone else. Christian distinction is a balance. This distinction may have different cultural expressions, but it is the beatitudes in its essence.

Anyone can be distinct for any number of reasons. You can get a diagnoses, a new “gender identity,” a radical tatoo or hairstyle, you may have an overly boisterous personality. or quite the opposite. Christian distinction is not meant to be merely superficial. The essence of the distinction is not simply because we gather in a building on a certain day of the week. It is not that we vote a particular way or stand for certain political issues. It is not that we all dress a certain way or live family life a certain way. All of these things can certainly be outworkings of Christian distinctions, but they are not the essence. The essence of the distinction is the beatitudes. What sets us apart dear Christian brother and sister, is that we poor in spirit, mourn over sin, meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted for righteousness sake.

The problem is there are so many people fighting for the distinctiveness of Christianity but unwilling to live it out. There a huge problem when someone will fight to demand the 10 commandments to be displayed in schools, and yet refuse to live them out. Being different for the sake of being different is just as much a idol as any other type of idolatry. The verse does not say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for being different than the world,” but rather those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Salt

Now that we’ve explored the general nature of salt and light, let’s look at the particulars of each. Salt is notoriously difficult to figure out. And the reason why is that salt serves so many functions both modern and ancient. One commentator began this discussion with, “Salt had at least 11 different uses in ancient times”

Charles L. Quarles, Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ’s Message to the Modern Church (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2011), 77.

So of course, making that connection between what Jesus intended is extremely important for application. Some say Jesus is referring to adding flavor. Salt adds flavor, therefore, Christians should add flavor to life. There is of course a major issue with this view. Everyone and everything adds “flavor” to life. And there are certainly hundreds of “flavors” out there. But notice that Jesus does not say, “You are salt” or “some salt” but he says, “You are the salt.” In other words, whatever this salt is is something only something the disciples can do.

Some say that salt is a symbol of God’s covenant. This view is somewhat better because it uses a biblical background to interpret the symbol, but it seems to lack a connection to any actionable steps. If salt = covenant then presumably were speaking of the New Covenant. And what would it then mean that believers are the covenant of the earth?

Others say salt was used in small quantities as a fertilizer. And they also take “earth” here as physical ground. So “salt of the earth” would be taken as a whole: fertilizer. Fertilizer works with what is already there and makes it grow. This leaves the question: what are we causing to grow? This view also does not take seriously the parallel of “the world” in v. 14.

Some people say that salt is a preservative of meat. And therefore, the Christian’s primary function is to preserve the world. I do believe this view gets us a good bit closer to what was intended, but preservation is the affect of salt, not what the salt actually accomplishes. The function of the Christian is not merely to preserve the world in its corrupt state.

There is political dichotomy between conservative and progressive; the Christian view is neither, but rather to be kingdom focused. “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” So we are not salty merely to preserve a corrupt culture, but we are salty to purify it.

The salt is the wisdom which purifies the world.

So the function of the salt is purification; the substance of salt is wisdom. And I say this because Matthew gives us a hint in this regard. The text says, “If salt has lost its taste. . .” Those three words “lost its taste” actually come from one word in the original language. And that one word is where we get the word “moron.” Jesus is probably using a play on words. The words “saltless” and “brainless” were very similar in Jesus’s language. We see the close tie between salt and wisdom in Colossians 4:6 “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

And so, to be the salt is to act with wisdom, God’s wisdom, in such a way that the world is purified as a result. This is God’s wisdom as embodied by the beatitudes. Living out our new nature purifies the world.

Yet Jesus also gives a warning. He asks in v. 13 “How shall its saltiness be restored?” Restoring saltiness to salt had become idiomatic for something that is impossible. Jesus does not ask the question anticipating a possible answer. It is impossible for this salt to be restored. Here is the person who claims to be a Christian and yet lives according to worldly wisdom.

And what happens to this salt? It is thrown out and trampled underfoot. It is often brought out from history that people would throw salt out on the path to maintain it, but please don’t think that Jesus is trying to make a positive statement here. The salt which was intended to purify has now become something that brings death.

A lot of times we think we want to go out and change the world. We think what it takes to change the world is to have lots of money, fame, power, or all three. If only we could influence legislation or politics, so we campaign. if only we could influence Hollywood, so we boycott. Abe Hamilton who I enjoyed listening to on American Family Radio often said, “What goes on in your house is far more important than what goes on in the white house. Purifying the world seems like a grandiose calling, but it starts in our own heart first. To purify the world means that I focus on living personally according to God’s wisdom, according to these beatitudes. It means that I try to be faithful to my new nature.

In today’s society we hardy ever platform a Christian because how they live out the beatitudes. We platform them because we like what we hear, they have talent, or they advocate for things I want. We are to be the salt of the earth, not the placebo of the earth, not the perfume of the earth. Light

Light, just like salt, has extensive symbolism throughout the Bible. However, how Matthew used this symbol in the previous chapter will greatly assist our task to find the point of the image. In Matt. 4, Matthew quotes from Isaiah saying that Jesus is the light, “Is. 9:1-2Isaiah 9:1–2ESV

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Matthew says this prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus traveled to those regions. People who were lost were given hope and salvation. Isaiah 49:6ESV

he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Notice here the exclusivity: there is no other light. Jesus is the only way, and his disciples, by extension, are beacons showing people that one way. Thus they are , “The light of the world”

The light is the bringing of salvation to the world.

Sermon On The Mount: Restoring Christ’s Message to the Modern ChurchMatthew 5:14–16

Jesus insisted that the disciples’ mission of shining in the world, extending salvation to the ends of the earth by proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and living transformed lives, is intrinsic to genuine discipleship

Caving illustration

Petty John’s Cave

Picture someone sitting in the pit of one of these caves, maybe a cave in even occured. There is no chance to even move a muscle. In desperation to make movement only cuts the skin against the rock. At this point all hope is lost. The air becomes thin. The hunger from days sets in. It seems as death is inevitable. And then a light pierces the darkness. There is hope of salvation from this terrible state.

This, my friends, is the Christian life. The world is in a state of lostness, hopelessness. Our lives are to be a light in such a way that it signals the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ. Living according to our nature, this light should be obvious. Jesus said “A city on a hill cannot be hidden” — that who we are and our deeds, our nature, our acting according to God’s wisdom is likened unto a city on a hill. Everyone around this city can see that its there. It’s impossible for anyone to attempt to hide it. In fact if anyone were to hide their righteous acts it would defeat their purpose.Matthew 5:15ESV

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

The Christian is not supposed to retreat into monastic societies, he is not to live by the lies of the world, to live according to God’s wisdom then cover it up would defeat its purpose. The purpose of living our new nature is not to pat ourselves on the back or receive the praise of men, but to lead them to Christ and bring glory to God. Matthew 5:16ESV

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

It is unmistakable that God is the author of these good works.Conclusion

While vv. 1-12 get at the heart of our nature, vv. 13-16 get at the heart of our purpose. The Christian life is not simply a new way to experience the same world. Positive thinking is a new way to experience the same world. Positive thinking is just dressing up, mascaraed, putting on a pretend play. The measure of success of is not found in how you experience the world, but how you transform it. And so, our purpose is to be distinct in such a way that purifies the world and leads it to find the hope of salvation in Christ alone. We are not to hide in monasteries or blend in megachurches.

Our distinct life leads to persecution, but it also fulfills our mission.

In verses 11-12, persecution will come to those who have a new nature. And yes, standing our does have those consequences. But standing out is just what we are called to do, so that just in the way we live our life, perhaps someone else will come to know him.

But how bleak would it be if we let the light shine and never brought the message of the gospel. It would be like breaking through to a victim of a cave-in and allowing him to see the bright light but never carrying out any rescue.

When we think of being salt and light this does not just mean being friendly, or strange, or just having a better outlook on life. It means to live intentionally; with purpose to affect the purity of the world and bring about its salvation. We don’t merely live our life at allow the gospel to smooth out the rough edges, no, the gospel is our life!

It is in Christ’s righteousness we abide, in Christ’s death we die, in Christ’s resurrection we rise, in Christ’s reign we reign. We don’t merely live a purpose driven life, we live a Christ-driven life. This is our purpose.

We cannot choose how people respond to our difference, to our salt and light; however, we can choose to be faithful.