As a pastor, I want our church to be known as people who are good, moral and kind. I would love our reputation in this community to be of exceeding pervasive goodness. (Indeed, many of us have bemoaned the fact that the Mormons in our town are overwhelmingly thought of as the paragons of virtue, and many of us Christians are considered far less so!) Last week I challenged our church to imagine what it would be like if everyone in town, especially those who DON’T attend our church or DON’T even follow Christ were to agree that the people of San Clemente Presbyterian Church are the best people to do business with, the best teenagers for their kids to be friends with, the best examples to emulate, the most morale, the most honest and compassionate. I really do want the people of our church to be known as those who are the truly good people of the world.
But that is really not the point of being salt and light (as we have been looking at in Matthew 5:13-16).
This passage is not about doing “good for goodness sake” but doing the distinctive “good works” of God’s Kingdom that we will learn about more in the Sermon on the Mount. Want a sneak preview? This is what Jesus says salty living looks like:
Keep your heart free from malice and lust. (Matthew 5:22, 28)
Keep your word at all times. (Matthew 5:32, 34)
Do more than people ask, expect or demand of you. (Matthew 5:42)
Love your enemies. (Matthew 5:44)
Do good and expect no one to even notice. (Matthew 6:1-4)
Jesus teaches us that these are the hallmarks of someone who is responding to his announcment of the presence of the Kingdom. They are not just good moral citizens of this world, but people who live out the reality of the coming of HIS world into ours. And if we do these kinds of things, living these kinds of lives, living like people who belong to Jesus as our King, being salt, then the sermon teaches us, then we will BE light…
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. "
Being salty and distinctive from the world is necessary to show the presence of God on earth. But ultimately, distinctiveness is not enough. We could all decide to live life in a commune separated from the world, helping us keep our distinctiveness. But the point, however, is to be salt that is poured out, light that is shining in the darkness to reveal God’s presence. Which requires us to not only be different from the world, but poured out liberally in the world: not only to be salty, but publicly salty.
Every now and then someone will tell me that their Christianity is so personal and private that they don’t like to talk about it. They would rather keep their personal beliefs to themselves. And frankly, they are half right.
Christianity is a deeply personal faith. Following Jesus is a deeply personal decision. Being a Kingdom person is life-transforming personal commitment. But it is never, ever a private one. Never, ever. (I dare say that Jesus would not have been crucified if he had kept his deeply personal relationship with his heavenly father to himself!)
(While some may doubt the very salvation of such folks, I tend to instead lump them into the category of those who belong to Christ but are not very useful to him. For Jesus, being salty or unsalty is about our usefulness in shedding light--not whether we are in the Kingdom or not.)
But there is also one more part about being salt and light that we dare not overlook. Salt and, especially light, were the ways that God’s people, together as a community, were described in the Old Testament.
Jesus isn’t saying that each of us is to be a single grain of salt or a tiny little candle, but that instead, by the way we live together in this world—distinctively together—in our relationships together, in our work together, in our worship together, in our meals together, in our lives together, and in our welcome of others (especially the least!) we point to God’s saving work and light in the world.
Being salt and light is not so much about how I (or you, for that matter) become more salty and shine more brightly, but how we respond to the call of Jesus to be the people of God who in all our saltiness--our distinctively Kingdom focused communities—are light to the world.
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