Here is a question. Do
you believe that our lives can make or should make a difference in this world?
We have previously considered
Matthew 5:3 - 12 (The Beatitudes) in which our Lord Jesus teaches us
concerning the essential (and
very counter cultural) character of a
Christian. The salt and light metaphors which now follow in 5:13-16 indicate that our lives should
be an influence for good in this world.
A word about our context is in order. The opening verses of
this Sermon on the Mount (Chapters
5-7)known as the “Beatitudes“ (5:1-12) are seminal, for
here the Lord Jesus teaches us
concerning the essential marks of
Christian character. So, you say you are converted? You say that you
have repented of your sin and turned to Christ? So, how do I know, how does anyone else know
that you and I are a Christian? What are the essential marks? Who are those
that are truly considered blessed by God? Jesus taught the following (5:2):
- A Christian knows their own poverty before God and therefore their need of Him (5:3).
- A true Christian mourns because of the sin that is in the world (5:4).
- Because of this a Christian is a meek person (5:5).
- A Christian hungers and thirsts after righteousness – the righteousness of God (5:6).
- A Christian is merciful (5:7).
- A Christian longs for purity in heart –for godly holiness (5:8).
- A Christian is not a troublemaker, but a peacemaker (5:9),
- ...and yet paradoxically because of their Christ-like attitude they are often persecuted for righteousness sake (5:10-11).
These are the typical actions and attitudes of the true
Christian. They are not known primarily by their words, but by their fruit (Matt. 7:20).
And now, following the Beatitudes, Jesus proceeds to show us
how a Christian life ought to affect or influence our surroundings. I am
answering my question: Do you believe that our lives can make a
difference? ABOLUTELY YES! In order
to illustrate this influence Jesus makes
use of two metaphors: Salt and Light!
There is much to say about these two metaphors and therefore I will divide this subject into
two sermons. Today we shall simply consider the first metaphor,
SALT in 5:13 : “You are the salt of
the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty
again? It is no longer good for
anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. “
3 Observations from
this text…
1.
The Christian life is meant to be lived out and expressed in this earth
(world).
2.
The effects of living the Christian life are comparable to the effect
that salt has on its environment.
3.
‘Salt-less’ Christians are contradictions in terms and useless for God’s kingdom
purposes.
1. The Christian life is meant to be lived
and expressed in the earth
The context of our Christian life, lived out in the spirit of
the beatitudes (5:3-12), is
this earth, this world. This is the world into which we are born into,
and this is the world in which the Spirit of God causes a Christian to be born
again. In this world a Christian is called to live out their faith.
The Christian shares a common humanity
with all the people of this world, but
through the new birth, and by the sanctifying power and work of the Holy Spirit
the Christian has received power and desires to think and act differently to the norms of this world. The
contrary nature of their thinking and acting has already been explained in 5:2-12. In
this world, Christians must be nurtured
and raised to the glory of God. What a challenge!
When you become a Christian, God does not transport you to
another planet. Neither does He place you into a protected environment.
Christians are not given separate cities to live in. They are not given a
Christian country for themselves. Christians
are called to live by God’s power and standards, and they must often do this
living in the midst of ungodly, atheistic, agnostic and idolatrous societies.
It appears to be a strange paradox by which the Christian
must live in this world. The Christian
is told that he must live in this world, and yet he is not of this world. He is
ultimately not a citizen of this world. Jesus, in His High priestly prayer (Jn.
17) prays to the Father concerning His disciples, says on the one hand, "They are not of the world, even as I
am not of it" (Jn.17:16)
and yet He prays: "...take them not out of the world, but protect them from the evil
one." (Jn.17:15)
Biblical logic is very counter-cultural and very unusual. What lasting influence can the poor, the mourning,
the meek, the merciful, the pure, the peacemaker have in this world? Will they not simply be trodden upon or
persecuted, as indicated 5: 11-12?
How will they survive in an aggressive, self- centred world, where things can
seemingly only get done through
assertiveness, brutality and selfishness?
It is evident, that Jesus does not share my scepticism. He
tells His disciples that they are to be "salt and light" in this
world despite the fact that it may not go well with them. So, how can Christians, with such, humanly
speaking weak influences exert a powerful influence in this world? In this text we have an answer to
this question.
2. Salt has an Effect on its Environment.
"You are the SALT
of the earth". Here Jesus says two things. Firstly, He describes
the effect that living a Christian life
has on this world. Secondly, He also tells us something by implication
what the world is like.
Jesus uses the salt
metaphor to describe Christian influence. When Christians live in the spirit of 5:3-12
they act
like salt. We know that salt is a
preservative. When used as a preservative it keeps food from rotting. Christians are the preservatives of the earth.
This implies that the earth without the presence and influence of Christians
rots.
Since the fall in Genesis 3 death and decay is written into the DNA of this earth. Every
living thing grows and dies. We die. The
wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Nothing lasts for ever.
The Bible teaches us that man is not naturally tended towards good. Leaving a child to grow up by itself will not make it better. Life needs a restorative power. That restorative power is provided by God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. But the gospel of Jesus has been put into the hands and mouths of Jesus’ redeemed people. And so we can say that Jesus’ people, the church of Jesus, has been given for the healing of the nations. The church stops the rot! As the church preaches the gospel, and as people are saved through the life –giving Word of God, and as the Holy Spirit opens ears, eyes and hearts so people are plucked out of the fire and they are now justified before God by grace through faith. They have eternal life. But that is not all. Now they must be discipled. That is the process of sanctification. They must grow out of their sin and out of the rot, and they must grow up into Christlikeness. Men and women learn to put off the rot by being godly men and women , better husbands and wives, leaving their respective societies in a better shape than they find them. The church, that is the sum-total of all Christians, must do the preaching that leads sinful men and women away from damnation to justification, and the church must also do the preaching that leads to sanctification. The great work of the church is to worship and to work. Working for Christians means, acting like salt.
From worship on
Sunday we go into the week meeting, praying for, encouraging, helping broken sinners - broken by personal sin and broken
by being sinned against. Daily
Christians go to work , working against the
strong satanic tide of destruction,
bringing the salt of Christ’s
gospel into every situation. We leave people in a better shape than we find
them. In this way we see that Christian
people are the salt - the preserving agent of society.
The encouraging fact is that
a relatively small amount of salt makes a huge difference to the
preservation of meat. A small church filled with true disciples of Jesus, with the
heart of a Christian described in 5:3-12,
can have an amazing influence
upon their society. Christians do not have to be a majority in order to
control their ever decaying society.
Christians that are truly salt i.e. “that
have salt in themselves” (Mk. 9:50) can make a huge difference, even though they are in the minority. Simply think of the influence which a
Christian has when they enter into a room in which people are blaspheming
and gossiping. Their presence has an immediate effect. The Christian
does not say a word, but people begin
to modify their language. He is acting like salt; she is controlling their
decadent language. In the same way, a
honest God fearing Christian begets an ethical work environment. A holy pastor
begets holy church members.
From this perspective it would also be unimaginable to think
what would happen if you took Christians out of this world. The world would
bite and devour one another without the influences of the men and women of the
statue found in 5:3-12. Imagine there was no one mourning over sin, no
one having mercy and no peacemakers. If you take Christians out of the world,
it is just as good as saying that you take God out of the world, for Christians
are the means through which God acts as salt.
The stress is also on the individual – on you to be salt. All too often we hide behind an organization, without having salt in ourselves. We can see this chronic ineffectiveness in these large humanitarian organizations managed by people that do a job but they have no motivation to be there, except to get their salary at the end of the month. And then take an exceptional man like George Mueller of Bristol who in his life time led an orphanage which cared for, clothed, fed and educated over 10 000 orphans. Think of a man like C.H. Spurgeon whose church had 66 societies (including an orphanage) for the biblical upliftment of humanity
3. ‘Salt-less’ Christians are useless for kingdom purposes
Finally, Jesus speaks about ‘salt-less salt’. This is really a contradiction in terms. It is unimaginable for salt not to be salty. And that is precisely the point here. Salt-less salt is useless. Jesus uses this terminology to describe the paradox of a Christianity that has no effects upon its society. It is useless. He uses very strong language, “ It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men …”
This is the same as what Jesus says in Matt 25:30: “Throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…”.
Salt-less
Christians are like fruitless trees. They are
a contradiction in terms. Therefore such will not be found in heaven.
This is no idle threat. This is a warning!
Jesus is not interested in you being a mere member of your Church. Dead
branches are also attached to a vine and they will be cut off. The question is this. Are you a productive, preserving agent
working together with the "Eastside
Baptist
Church Saltworks" for the
preservation of our corrupt
society ? Are you exercising a healing ministry in this rotten world?
Don’t hide behind the
church, and say: "I'm a member of
such and such a church, and my pastor says...". NO! “Have salt in yourselves!” (Mk.
9:50) Stop the rot! All the acts of
parliament will not stop the rot. Newspaper articles will not arrest the decay.
Obedient Christians – Christians in keeping with 5:3-12
will! This and nothing less will
preserve our society from decay, for this is God’s plan for the church. Be salt!
No comments:
Post a Comment