Salt & Light // Sermon on the Mount

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Church of the Lookout is an older Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.

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Let's hear the word of the Lord.

It's a beautiful day.

Summer is finally upon us, and it's a reason to celebrate.

Can I get an amen?

Thank you for not going camping and being here.

So I'm not preaching to empty chairs.

So we uh a couple weeks ago, uh Pastor Luke kicked off our series that's gonna actually take us through the summer.

We are looking at uh pivotal teaching moments where Jesus was um gathering on a hilltop with people who, you know, they were really hoping that he was the Messiah, that he was who they had been waiting for, but they didn't really know, you know.

And this is his address that we call the Sermon on the Mount.

And so um, yeah, we just have to realize that this was Jesus' vision for how people were to live out kingdom life, right?

And what Luke kind of presented was a new concept for me, but I always thought it was like a one and done, you know, that this was the one time that he gave the sermon.

But it was probably um something that he had kind of thought through and planned out, and then told this message as he went around from village to village.

Um and then, of course, you know, Matthew documented the gist of it.

Um, and so much of the um New Testament accounts, you're seeing Jesus in total demo mode, right?

He's walking around and he's performing miracles, he's doing signs and wonders, he's um doing all these things that are a demonstration of what it looks like to be somebody walking out in the kingdom.

But in this moment, he is he is in full teaching mode, right?

And he's really trying to help people get an understanding with words, and he's using all these different metaphors and things to help them grasp what he's talking about.

Um, so this morning we're gonna continue on where Pastor Luke had left off, and we're going to focus on Matthew 5, verses 13 through 16.

Matthew 5:13–16

So let's read this together.

Oh, you don't have to read it.

I'll read it to you.

You can just look, sorry.

Uh you are the salt of the earth.

But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, 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.

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.

Okay, so Jesus here is painting a picture, and he kind of gives three metaphors, right?

Salt, a light that's on a light stand, and then this city on the hill.

How many of you have heard a sermon, done a Bible study or something on this passage in your life?

Yeah, I think most of us, if you've been around for a hot minute, you've heard somebody talk about this, right?

And you know, it's usually the evangelism passage, you know.

So if you feel like that's something that you enjoy and uh a calling that you've stepped into, you get really excited about this message.

If that's not been your thing, you're kind of like, oh, here we go.

Um but I think there's so much more to this passage than a simple evangelism thing.

And whether you feel like you have that gifting and you would call yourself an evangelist or not, I promise you by the end of this sermon this morning, you're gonna feel like this passage is for every believer in a very deep, deep, deep way.

Okay, so um.

Yeah, so okay.

Sorry, had to remind myself where we were.

Um so we tend to read the Bible through our own cultural lens, right?

All of us are, you know, we probably most of us here in this room are living in Colorado, but we're all living in America, probably.

And we live in 2024, and so we have this modern lens through which we read the scriptures, right?

And we it's all influenced by how we were raised and different cultural things, and we can't avoid that.

That is the lens through which we are reading it.

So when we read this passage from this morning, we're reading it through that lens.

But Jesus wasn't speaking to us, right?

The people that had gathered up on the mountain to hear him were Jewish men and women, right?

This wasn't even Gentiles.

This these were Jewish men and women living in ancient times, living in the Middle East in 28 AD, right?

And that's who he's speaking to.

So we kind of have to get in that mindset and that frame of um reference in order to really understand what Jesus was talking about.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

So you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

Like I said, if you've been around, you've probably heard a pastor talk about what that might mean, right?

But we don't really know.

It's a little bit of a puzzle, isn't it?

Um now, one benefit is that salt, universally from ancient times to modern times and around the globe, has been used for cooking.

Um so we all have that in common, but still, like what that means could be different depending on the culture, right?

So I'm really thankful for theologians like W.

D.

Davies and Dale Allison who put together a commentary on Matthew, and they came up with nine possibilities of what Jesus might have been thinking of based on ancient kind of viewpoints.

So here we go.

You ready?

Now, some of these you might be like, yep, yep, yep, I've heard this, but there were some that I was like, really?

I did not know that.

So let's see if you find something new as well.

All right.

So um scripturally, we actually find that salt was often used as a key element in animal sacrifices offered to God.

Did anybody know that?

I did not know that.

Leviticus 2.13 says, and every oblation of your meat offering shall you season with salt.

And Ezekiel 43, 24, the priest shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering.

So who knows?

Was Jesus thinking about that?

Okay, uh, number two, the Bible links the relational commitments and agreement God has with God has with his people to be faithful to each other to salt with this phrase, salt of the covenant.

So that promise that God has for everlasting love towards his people and what he invites us into with him, that covenant, um, they use salt to talk about that.

I've never noticed that in the Bible myself.

Um, okay, number three.

Again, in the Bible, it references salt as a mechanism to clean things.

In second, oh I'm sorry.

Yeah, in 2 Kings 2, 19 through 21, they actually reference washing newborn babies with salt.

Can you imagine?

Uh so okay.

All right, number four, purifying water.

There's a reference in 2 Kings 2, 19 through 21 where Elisha throws water or sorry, salt into the water uh to cleanse it.

All right, number five, you probably know additive for food to season or enhance with flavor.

Who likes a little bit of salt?

I am like a salty person versus uh sweet, you know, so give me a bag of chips versus like a bag of cookies.

In fact, I think I was just raised in this.

My dad salts everything before he even tastes it.

He just preemptively is like it's not enough salt.

In fact, growing up, we salted our watermelon.

Is there anybody who has done that?

Okay, so but to the point that by the time I was a freshman in college, I really had no clue that people ate watermelon without salting it.

So I find myself at this picnic that our school had put on um out on the like lawn, you know, in the common area or whatever.

And they didn't bring salt out, I guess, from the cafeteria, but they had watermelon.

So I actually had to taste watermelon without salt.

And I was like, this is really amazing.

I'm like, I love salt, but watermelon is just fine without it, you know.

Um, and I was like telling my friends, like, I can't believe they don't have salt for the watermelon.

They're like, what?

And I'm like, you don't salt your watermelon?

And like, no.

So yeah.

Anyway, you might try it if you haven't.

It's it's fun, but I don't know that it needs it.

Um, but yes, I'm thankful for salt, uh, bringing out flavor in food.

Amen.

If you agree with me.

Okay, um, number six, pre-refrigerated days.

Um, salt actually helped preserve food and help it to last longer.

Um, so I've recently gotten into fermenting food, and I have a trip coming up, but when I come back, I'm I've told my husband, our kitchen is gonna turn into a little science project.

I'm gonna start growing things like um, anyway, you can do sauerkraut, and all you need is water, cabbage, and salt, and then it creates all of these wonderful probiotics that are good for your tummy, whatever.

But I mean, isn't that amazing that salt does that to cabbage?

It's pretty cool.

Um, and then it can it can be like in your free refrigerator for nine months and not go bad, but I will eat it faster than that, I'm sure.

Okay.

Um, Jesus actually links salt to peace.

I have never noticed this, but in Mark 9:50, it says, have salt in yourself and have peace with one another.

Mark 9:50

Okay.

Um, and then lastly, number nine, Greek mythology.

Okay, so people were salting their food in ancient Greece, and they thought, you know, you've got to really make these gods happy because they're temperamental.

And so when we offer food up, we're gonna salt it, make sure it tastes really good, and they'll be happy, and then they won't, you know, zap us with lightning bolts or whatever.

So, all right, so which reference, which metaphor was Jesus thinking about?

Was he like, okay, people, I want you to help purify the world and purify yourselves?

Is that what he was saying when he was saying be the salt of the earth?

Was he saying, oh, y'all need to add flavor?

So be the fun person in the party, you know.

Uh was he saying, help preserve the meaty word of God?

Was he talking about um, oh, I missed one.

Where was that?

Communion.

Yeah, that's an important one.

Okay.

Where was my notes on that though?

Oh, here it is.

Number two, it was supposed to be.

Sorry, guys.

Um, the Bible links, relational commitment, and agree- No, I did that one.

I think I just missed it in my notes.

All right, anyway, the concept is that you know how we say past the salt?

Um, it's because we're sitting down and having dinner with people.

So they had this phrase that was like salt of friendship or salt of uh shoot, why is it not in my notes?

Anyway, um, oh no, that yeah, sorry, found it.

Woo! It was number seven.

Eating salt with someone was the it's an old phrase.

So when you would say that you were eating salt with somebody, it meant that you were you had friendship with them to where you would, you know, sit down, like so it's supposed to be evoking these pictures of sitting down and having a meal with somebody that you would, and it's a casual meal because you'd be like, oh hey, pass the salt, right?

You probably wouldn't do that if you were in the um eating dinner with the president or something, you know.

You wouldn't be like, yo, pass the salt.

So the idea is like it's this communion kind of friendship thing.

Okay, I don't know why I missed that.

Um, so is Jesus saying, I want you to have communion with people, I want you to um, you know, have meaningful connection, I want you to pass the salt with people.

All right, well, we don't know, but it's interesting because how many of you like to watch Chosen series, right?

This really Dallas Jenkins has been um informing us, right?

He's giving us a lens through which to see the scriptures.

Um, so what did he have to say about this moment with Jesus and salt and light and cities on a hill?

Let's watch and see his take on it.

What does the word the salt of the earth even mean?

I'm not good at that.

If we can maybe start that over, that'd be great.

It is hidden what does the word the salt of the earth even mean?

I'm not good at metaphor.

Salt preserves meat from corruption, it slows its decay.

I want my followers to be a people who hold back the evil of the world.

Salt also enhances the flavor of things.

I want my followers to renew the world and be part of its redemption.

Salt can also be mixed with honey and rubbed on the skin for maladies.

I want my people to participate in the healing of the world, not its destruction.

Then why not you say that?

Come on, Matthew.

Allow me a little poetry, huh?

Not everyone is like you.

Some people like a little flavor.

Read the songs of David or or Solomon.

I'm not going nearly as far with metaphor as Solomon.

I'm reading him next.

Well, good luck.

He's probably.

Sorry, that was just so cute.

I couldn't couldn't help but show it.

I mean, honestly, we don't, we're not gonna really know.

I mean, we're relying on Holy Spirit to bring revelation, but until we can sit down with Jesus face to face, we're not gonna know, right?

But I do kind of appreciate Jonathan Peddington.

Um he's a theologian, and he found a way to link all three metaphors together to say the same thing.

So, in other words, instead of it being three different metaphors that are all saying an individual thing to bring this sentence, he's saying they all said the same thing.

Which to me that was interesting, because I've never heard that.

So trusting that maybe you haven't, and if you had, well, it'll just reiterate what you already know.

So let's take a look.

Uh let's pause on salt for a minute, since we talked about that a little bit.

Let's talk about light metaphorically.

All right, in the Bible, it's commonly linked to wisdom, right?

There's lots of passages about light illuminating a path that we are meant to walk, right?

Um culturally, we we have kind of adopted that concept, I believe, from the Bible, and it plays out in lots of ways, right?

When someone has come up with a good idea or innovative thought, what do we say?

They had a bright idea, right?

We even will illustrate for those of us that draw.

Andy, have you ever drawn drawn a light bulb above somebody's head to symbolize that they're thinking?

Yeah, right.

Um when a mystery is uncovered or a new revelation or breakthrough realization is discovered, we say, I saw the light, right?

Uh probably because of um Paul or Saul, you know, on the road to Damascus.

But um, when we want to understand something unknown to us that someone else knows, uh, we say, Oh, enlighten me, right?

Um, and when we acknowledge that someone has helped us understand something, we say, You shed light on that for me, right?

So this concept is um with us today.

But for the people sitting there listening to Jesus and Jesus himself, they may very well, the probability is high that they were thinking about the prophet Isaiah, because he had a lot to say about light, he had a lot to say, even of this metaphor and this idea of a city and a city illuminating light.

So let's dig into it, shall we?

Okay.

Um, oh sorry, before we do that, the word um instruction and the word uh yeah, instruction um or law, this is referencing the Torah, which is the rules and the law that God had given to Moses, right?

It's the Torah.

What's interesting about that word Torah, it has the word or in it, and the word or anybody know in Hebrew what that means?

It means light.

So every time that um Isaiah is referencing the Torah or God's instruction, God's law, there is this idea of it being light itself, right?

And bringing light.

Okay, so we're gonna read Isaiah 2, 1 through 5.

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it, and many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk.

In the light of the Lord.

Okay, so we he's he's seeing this vision of a day to come, of a time to come.

It wasn't then, right?

And he's seeing this mountain, and mountains represent this place where people went up to meet with the Lord, and it was a a touch point of where heaven and earth met.

So he's seeing this mountain, and it's interesting because it said the people flew flow up.

It's evoking this image of rivers, right?

And Garden of Eden had these rivers that flowed around it.

But now we see these people.

It's not a river, it's a people flowing up to this mountain where you can meet with God, where heaven and earth are touching.

And in this place, God's light shines through his law onto the people, illuminating life and how to see things and how to view life.

And in this place, justice is brought to the nations that brings great peace.

Okay.

So Isaiah keeps getting more and visions, and in the book of Isaiah, he's sharing them with them.

So in Isaiah 42, he has another vision, and this time he sees a servant.

And this servant comes, and he is not walking in the light like the people were in the past verse.

He is the light.

And he is shining, and his justice, uh, Isaiah says, will bring restoration and wholeness to the communities.

And this servant who is the light, he actually embodies the covenant relationship with God.

So he is a walking example of what it is to be in friendship with God, to be devoted to God, to follow his laws, to follow his ways, and do it in a way that is bringing life to him and to everybody around him.

Then in Isaiah 49, we actually hear from the servant's mouth, and it's documented that he is saying basically the same things that were said about him, that he will do these things.

And then in Isaiah 60, he the prophet sees a picture of God addressing people who have been restored by the light on a mountain, and that they are enabled and invited to share that same light with others.

Okay.

If we had, you know, two hours, I could have gone through and read all those for you, but you can go and look at Isaiah when you get home if you want.

Um, but I think there's two points here.

One is do you see the picture and the evolution?

Um there were a people that the light was shining on them.

They were encouraged to walk in the light.

Then somebody comes as a servant who we now have the ability to see that that was talking about Jesus.

He would come and he would be the light and he would be the covenant relationship, uh, walking that out perfectly and bringing justice.

And then God would then um enable a people to be the light.

So it is probable, like I said, that Jesus was thinking about this when he was saying um what he said in Matthew 5.

And it's highly probable that the people listening would have been familiar, you know, with what Isaiah had talked about.

And and when Jesus is talking about a city on a hill, this is evoking that mountain moment that Isaiah was seeing.

Okay.

So Isaiah is speaking of a light that would shine on a mountain, that was a meeting place between heaven and earth for people to come to, that would shine out through the law, the Torah, to bring justice to the nations, that a servant, Jesus, would come who would live walking around in the flesh example, representation of the covenantal commitment God has between himself and mankind.

And then it would end with a people who had been restored by that servant light to become light and to offer it to others to find restoration.

And Jesus gets up in front of that crowd and he says, You are the salt of the world.

You are a light that cannot be hidden, you are a city on the hill.

So what Jesus is saying is basically that moment that Isaiah was seeing, this is now.

What you have been waiting for, it's here.

Okay, so we've talked about the both kind of metaphors of salt and light.

Um what?

Like we might conceptually be getting this, but like what?

How are they um connected?

Let's let's hear a clip.

This is the theologian Jonathan Pennington, um and he's kind of gonna help help us connect all these metaphors.

Hey, this is Jonathan Pennington, and when we think about the metaphors of salt and light, it can be confusing sometimes because salt has a lot of potential meanings.

In the ancient world, salt was used as a metaphor for a lot of different things, and sometimes light was as well.

But I think what's really crucial to understand is that Matthew has put these two metaphors in parallel with each other very clearly.

So to understand both salt and light, it's helpful to think are there places in the metaphorical meaning of salt and light that overlap with each other?

And I think there is a very clear place.

The place where both salt and light can be used in the same sense is with the idea of a covenant.

You use salt to make a covenant, to emphasize the permanence of a covenant in the ancient world, and light is maybe even more clearly something that's used all throughout the Old Testament, especially in the book of Isaiah, to refer to God's covenantal light and revelation going forth in the world.

Pretty cool, huh?

So let's break this down a little bit.

Okay, so salt, so to the ancient listener, they would have associated salt with emphasizing the permanence of a covenant because of its preservation qualities.

So, in other words, um salt makes things endure just like the covenant does, right?

The covenant is meant to be enduring and withstanding time.

Yeah?

And aren't we thankful that God's not wishy-washy and like, eh, I'm India, no, I'm not.

Oh, I'm India, no, I'm not.

Like he is steadfast and true with his love and consistent.

Um, okay, to call the covenant salt of the covenant was a way of noting, again, its lasting nature.

Um, I had referenced Numbers 18 through 19.

It actually says this it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.

So what's interesting is once we start to really view you are the salt of the earth, as God's saying, you are my walking, embodying example of covenant, of what it means to be in a deep, devoted, committed relationship where you are following the things that I've asked you to do because it's going to bring you life and it's going to bring the people around you life.

Then all of those other meanings can flow through that lens of covenant because, like for instance, salt washing things, yeah, when we are committed and in a covenant relationship with God, he does wash us and make us clean, right?

Um when we are in a covenant relationship, yeah, he purifies us and cleans us.

Um, we also get to pass the salt with God all the time, right?

He invites us into communion to sit down at his table.

So we can go on and on, but you get the gist, yeah?

Okay, so light, an ancient listener would have heard Jesus saying, You are a light on the stand that doesn't hide under a basket, and you are a city on a hill, and associated it with Isaiah's prophetic visions.

Um they would have been thinking these promises were for a people who were committed to going up to the mountain, to meet with God, to be in long-lasting relationship of devotion and obedience to his ways and to his words.

And they also it would have evoked um memory of Moses, right?

He went up to a mountain, he was given the Torah, he was given the law, and um, what happened to him when he came down the mountain?

He was shining, he was glowing.

Yeah, so they would have been thinking about that.

Like as we are in communion with God, as we are in this place of fellowship and friendship and love and devotion with him, in a meeting place, um, it changes us, it transforms us, and we become the light.

Okay, so what is Jesus talking about though when he says salt losing its saltiness and throwing it out and it being trampled on?

Like who wants to be thrown out and trampled on?

Not me.

So I want to understand what is he talking about?

It's interesting because salt actually cannot lose its saltiness.

Did you know this?

It's actually impossible.

Like the compound of sodium chloride, in order for sodium chloride to be sodium chloride, it is salty.

And if it's not, then it's not sodium chloride.

It's no longer salt.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

So how many of you know Jesus is funny?

I love that clip because it was showing his humor, but I mean, I think our modern lens, we tend to be way too serious about Jesus.

You know, we read it and we hear him saying things, and he's just like, all business, and let's get down to being spiritual.

But he was funny, and he makes a lot of jokes, and they go over our head because we don't tend to think about him being funny.

But, you know, he was joyful.

They talk about Jesus being joyful and the spirit of joy being all over him, you know.

So I think he was cutting it up quite a bit.

So this actually is Jesus being funny, like this whole thing.

He's like, if salt isn't salty, then it's not salt.

In other words, you are the covenant of God.

And you can't not be it.

Once you enter into that relationship with Jesus, then that's what you are.

And so you're walking around and you are the representation to people to see what it means to be in relationship with God.

So your life is communicating something, you know, to people.

If they know that you are in a relationship with God, then they and then then they're looking at you and they're like, oh, that must be what it means to be in a relationship with God.

Like you cannot not be salt, is what Jesus is saying.

And then with the light, he's like, think about it, right?

You don't turn a light on, whether it's an oil lamp in ancient times or us flipping a switch and then try to cover up the light.

Like, who does that?

You would be insane.

If you want light, you turn the light on, right?

And what does light do?

It shines, it can't help it, and wherever it reaches, it's there's no darkness anymore, it's just lit.

So he's like, as an individual, you are light.

So wherever you walk, you're shining things up.

And then he's saying, collectively, when y'all get together, you are a city on a hill.

And who builds a city and puts it up on a hill and then hopes that no one sees it?

You're gonna see it, right?

So he's saying, we are these things.

Whether we feel it, whether we believe it or not, the fact is the fact, people.

You are salt, you are light, you are a city on the hill.

It's what we are.

Yeah.

So essentially, Jesus is saying, be it.

Be it.

So the question we have to ask ourselves this morning, and what I hope will stick with you for a while, what does that mean for me?

If I really own this, what would it mean?

So I'm gonna go back to the evangelism thing because I think a lot of times this passage has been used to encourage people to share the gospel with their friends.

And then we get weird images about standing on a sidewalk with a sign that says, the end is near, repent, you know?

Or like sitting down with a colleague at work and saying, Where do you think you're gonna go when you die?

I mean, maybe God's gonna call some of you to do that, but I would say probably 99.9% of us, it's gonna look different than that.

It's gonna look like, I don't know.

When you are cleaning your house and the people that you live with, would they say that you're being light?

Would they say, oh, I can see what it looks like to be in relationship with God while I'm cleaning the house?

I mean, are we exhibiting the fruit and the evidence that we're in a relationship with God?

Would people point to us and say, yeah, they're always they're joyful.

They have peace.

Does it mean that we like never have any hard things happening in our lives?

And we're just like, la la la la la, it doesn't matter.

I'm salt, I'm light.

No.

Horrible things are gonna happen, right?

Horrible things happen to Jesus, horrible things happen to people that Jesus cared about.

John the Baptist was beheaded while Jesus was on the earth.

But are they gonna say, yeah, but despite that, they still have this underlying current of joy and hope.

They still have this undercurrent peace about them.

So I don't know what it's gonna look like, you know.

Some of you, like Andy's an artist.

So what does it mean for him to be salt and light as he's doing art?

We've got nurses here, we have teachers, we have businessmen.

What does it mean for you to show up to the world and say, this is what it looks like to be in relationship with Jesus?

This is what it means like to obey him and follow in his ways.

Can they tell?

Are we are we different?

Are we living in a way that is different and appealing?

I think the church has been good about being different sometimes, but it's not always appealing.

But listen, I mean, this moment that we've been looking at where Jesus is talking here about salt and light, it was kind of a setup.

It was like the inspirational moment, the humor moment to then unfold very practically what does it mean to live this out in my everyday life?

How do I do this thing at home with my family?

How do I do this in my workplace?

How do I do this in church life?

And so the rest of this summer, we're gonna be looking at the remainder of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus gets very practical.

He starts talking about this is what it means to handle conflict resolution as somebody who is salt and light and the collective city on the hill.

How to relate to the opposite sex, how to interact with people who have hurt you, how to be a peacemaker, how to resist evil.

So if you're wanting very practical hand-hold things, then come to church and listen as we kind of get into the nitty-gritty in the weeks to come, okay?

And it's fun because we're gonna hear from a lot of different voices in our community, so that'll be fun.

But there's also something practical.

Um, Andy, Andy, do you mind standing and doing a little twirl so people can see you?

This is Andy, if you don't know Andy.

Um he is gonna be gathering on Wednesday mornings and hiking up to different uh mountaintop peaks in our area that overlook Boulder County, and um inviting any of you that want to join them, and they're gonna pray.

They're literally going up to the mountain to a high point to release the light of Jesus and blessing over Boulder County, right?

That's I mean, that's a very real practical way to do that.

So if you want to join him, there he's gonna be doing that on Wednesday mornings at 6 a.m.

And we will have information about that on the website.

Um, you can look Tuesday evening, and it should be there.

Um, or you can just talk to Andy after service.

Um, but yeah, so what I want to do this morning, I'm gonna have the worship team come.

Um, this gal that I know from Tulsa wrote this song, and I just kept hearing it as I was preparing the message because um, well, I was not expecting to get emotional.

It's one of those worship songs that's like it is worship to the God to God, but it's also like a rallying call to each other.

And it's come on, come on, people of God, be who you are, is the chorus.

And so this morning, I just want to, you know, I know that this message is like one more of those like inspiration, and it's not like a handhold, but it's an identity thing that God's talking about here.

And identity is something that you just have to choose to own, it's not about how you feel or necessarily what you think.

It's just saying, okay, God, you have said this about me.

And so I'm gonna choose to say, okay, that's who I am.

And it's all right if you're like, I have no idea how to live this out.

I don't know what that means practically on my everyday to be salt, to be light, to join with other believers and be this city on the hill that's worth looking at and gazing at for people to come.

But when we can grab a hold of this, it's the promises that justice will go out as God's light goes out.

And so, my or the Lord's invitation through me this morning is can we just say, I'm gonna accept this?

And I'm I'm gonna be it, and I'm gonna trust Holy Spirit to help me walk it out.

First, we have to be, and then we can do.

So this morning it's about can we own the being part, church.

So the admonition of all of this is to be who you are.

I just praise God for this message because it's funny.

I have read that metaphor so many times that I'd actually kind of viewed it as a threat.

That if you lose your salt, you're gonna be thrown out and trampled.

I'd never really seen it as a humorous statement because I knew you couldn't, salt didn't lose its flavor.

I kind of didn't really know what Jesus was doing there until I really thought about it, and it's an admonition.

It's like you're not gonna lose your flavor.

You are salt.

So be salt.

Live like salt.

You are light.

So be light.

Live like light.

Don't walk in the darkness.

Don't live like you're not salt.

Live who God created you be.

Be who you are.

And we can do that through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The power that resurrected Christ from the dead lives in each of us.

And regardless of what we've gone through and what we've been through, we can walk as salt and we can walk as light.

And I want to bless us as we go.

Lord, you are our God.

You are the God that resurrected Christ from the dead and broke the power of sin and death over all of us, that has given us and embedded in us the power of the Holy Trinity to enable us to be salt and light in every circumstance, in every place in the darkness of this world, in every place that needs life, and every place that needs abundance, in every place that needs light, every place our footsteps, every place we go, we can bring you, your light, and your life with us.

I praise you for that, Lord, that you are admonishing us to carry you with us and to make you known in us and through us, Lord.

And I just pray that over our family here, Lord, your people, the city on a hill that is the lookout, that your power would be at work in each and every one of us to make us your salt and your light, to bring change, to bring healing, to bring renewal, and to bring life everywhere we go.

That you would be in every situation and circumstance that we step into, because you are in us and move through us.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.