The Light of the World (Matthew 5:13-20) (2/8/26)

This is the fifth Sunday of the epiphany season

and Remember the epiphany season is how God is

illuminating or revealing who Jesus is And so

here today. Let us consider once again our gospel

reading, but let us pray first Gracious God and

Heavenly Father We thank you for the privilege

that we have in gathering in your name as your

children to look at your word to us We pray that

your grace would be with us this morning as it

has been in the past. We thank you for so great

a salvation in Christ Jesus and your goodness

to us each day. We thank you that you have given

us meaning, purpose, and hope. And so now, let

the words of my mouth and the meditations of

all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O

Lord, our strength and nearest kinsman and redeemer,

Jesus Christ. Amen. So let us hear God's word.

Matthew chapter five once again. 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. You are the light of the world.

A city set upon a hill cannot be hidden. Nor

do they light a lamp or put it under a basket,

but on a lamp stand. And it gives light. to all

who are in the house let your light so shine

before men that they may see your good works

and glorify your father in heaven do not think

that i came to destroy the law or the prophets

i did not come to destroy but to fulfill for

assuredly i say to you till heaven and earth

pass away not one jot or tittle by no means will

pass away from the law till all is fulfilled

Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of

these commandments and teaches men so shall be

called the least of the kingdom of heaven. But

whoever does and teaches them shall be called

great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to

you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness

of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no

means enter the kingdom of heaven. These are

the words of Almighty God. Receive them in your

hearts. There's three things as we go through

this passage that I want you to think of here

this morning right now some of you who are a

Little bit older generation might misinterpret

this first word, but bear with me a Salty Christian

is a reminder by their actions that God's covenant

is a perpetual covenant When I grew up salty

meant, you know can be crossways right? But a

salty Christian is a reminder by their actions

That God's covenant is a perpetual an ongoing

covenant Secondly like Jesus the church is the

light of the world Like Jesus the church is the

light of the world and Finally external righteousness

alone is the path that leads to destruction.

External righteousness alone is the path that

leads to destruction. As you know, all the problems

in this world are caused by the sins of men,

the sins of all men. Don't think it's the sins

of just the rich and influential. No, your sins

are a contributing factor to the difficulty and

problems in this world. Consequently, we cannot

look to sinful men or the rich or the poor, powerful,

frail, to fix the world. All those people, they're

all sinful and unable, through their own work,

to change the world. Too often we have divided

the world into two categories. the right and

the left, the liberal and the conservative. We

see these categories as moral or ethical ideas

and actions. As if our morals and our ethics

can be decided upon by men and not defined by

the living God. Many have rightly complained

that conservatives are not conserving anything

at all. But rather they're just headed to the

same valley of perpetual fear and darkness fire

and darkness rather Just at 55 miles an hour

instead of a hundred miles an hour For the church

the Christian is not called to conserve anything

But rather by the light and salt of Christ to

be used to transform themselves and so the world

for the glory of God. Many read this passage

hearing, you are the salt of the earth. But if

the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

Otherwise, it'll be cast out and thrown away,

right? You see, we think, for us, when we hear

this, we're thinking, well, it's kind of a preservative.

That's what salt is. And it is that. And it is

a disinfectant. If you have a wound and you don't

have anything else, put some salt in it. Now,

it'll hurt. But what will happen? It will help

deal with the wound. But to the Jew, in Jesus'

day, hearing about the salt used for seasoning,

they would have remembered God's instructions

to His covenant people concerning salt being

added to the sacrificial offerings. We see this

in Leviticus 2 verse 13. It says and every offering

Leviticus 2:13

of your grain offering you shall season with

salt You shall not allow the salt of the covenant

of your God to be lacking from your Grain offering

and then he goes on and says with all your offerings

you shall add salt There is a savoriness that

salt brings to the sacrifices that we bring before

God the salt of his covenant What this salt is

preserving is It's reminding us of the eternal

nature of God's covenant promises to his people

It's not preserving whatever thing and memories

we have of the past Where we think it was a better

day and in some ways that's true But that's not

what that's why it's slipping away It's slipping

away because you can't conserve man's best efforts

But rather, we need to think of ourselves as

the salt to the world that's reminding us and

the world of God's covenant promises to His people.

We see this also in Numbers 18, where it takes

on this more perpetual thought. In Numbers 18,

it says this, all the heave offerings of the

holy things which the children of Israel offered

to Yahweh, Have given to you and your sons and

daughters with you as an ordinance forever. It

is a covenant of salt Forever before Yahweh with

you and your descendants with you Again, this

is repeated in second Chronicles. So 1500 years

later Should you not know that Yahweh God of

Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David

forever? to him and his sons by a covenant of

salt. This seasoning of salt has to do with us

being reminded of how God and His promises are

preserved and kept because He has chosen us.

It reminds Yahweh. It reminds us. And it is a

message to the world. Romans 12 teaches us that

we are to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable

to God. We're exhorted not to be conformed to

the actions, attitudes, and words of the sinful

and rebellious world. Jesus has sent the Spirit

to remove our heart of stone and given us a heart

of flesh. In Christ Jesus, we are delivered from

the bondage of sin. That is, sin reigns no more

in us. and we must be conformed to Christ Jesus

to deal with our remaining sin. We remember Christ

covenant deliverance and our lives should be

seasoned with the salt of Christ Jesus for the

salvation of the world. We need to remember that

salt is both a grace and a judgment. Conquerors

of the ancient world would often salt the land

of rebellious and difficult peoples. They'd conquer

a land, and they'd say, hey, all you got to do

is pay us tribute, do a few things for us, send

some stuff along to us. It'll be all right. And

then if that land, if those cities, if those

peoples continued in their rebellious ways, pushing

back, fighting back, eventually they're like,

OK, here's what we're going to do. You're going

to take your land, we're going to tear it up,

and we're going to fill it full of salt. What

will happen? You see they were destroying the

land those peoples could not support themselves

Anymore and thus they are driven into obscurity

by exile and eventually an absorption into other

people They'll die out some will die and some

will be absorbed into others and that people

will be no more Today for all those who rebel

against God and do not repent Their world will

also fall into the judgment of death and hell

driven from this world and to complete an eternal

darkness Now Jesus goes on to tell his disciples

and so us as well You are the light of the world

a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden

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 Let your light so shine

before men that they see your good works and

glorify your father in heaven Remember we've

already learned during this epiphany season that

Jesus is the light that has come To the darkened

lands of Zebulun and Aftali Right, we've heard

that we're reminded that at every point We've

been reading all these passages both in the Old

Testament and in the new About how Jesus came

and he was bringing light into the darkness Jesus

comes to bring light and in it life joy and glory

Jesus sends the spirit to us Through the spirit

the church becomes lampstands in the temple bringing

light to the world We are like him a light to

the world the city on a hill Lighting the world

to truth of the worship of the living God and

the way to life through the Word of God Unbelieving

Israel was supposed to be the light of the world

even their capital There's their city of Jerusalem

on a mountain was supposed to be that light consider

Isaiah chapter 2 Now it should come to pass in

Isaiah 2 · chapter mention

the latter days that the mountain of Yahweh's

house Shall be established on the top of the

mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills

and all the nations shall flow to it many people

shall come and say come and let us go up to the

mountain of Yahweh to the house of the God of

Jacob he will teach us his ways and we will walk

in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the

law and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem he

shall judge between the nations and rebuke many

people and then watch what happens because the

light is shining because they are taught the

words of God they shall beat their swords into

plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks

nations shall not Lift up sword against nation

neither shall they learn war anymore The call

of Jerusalem and of all of Israel was to be the

light of the world Israel was given the covenant

of God his instructions on how to worship his

law God's Judges and prophets and what did they

do? They squandered it all for a dead outward

religion That though all those who were in rebellion

did not bring peace. They didn't bring peace.

They brought they brought judgment. They brought

darkness We see that Israel's light was covered

up and they as a people fell into darkness We

see throughout the Old Testament that there is

a judgment in darkness falling upon the world

think about this the darkness and the plagues

at Egypt The sun moon and stars falling in judgment

as leaders were removed and their influence and

false truths were snuffed out and fell into darkness

And we can search and see it many places Even

what? When Christ died on the cross what happened

there was three hours of darkness In Christ Jesus

we bring the light into the world like a lampstand

And we must remember this. Remember, it says

you're a city on a hill. You don't hide the light,

right? But you put it on a lamp stand. If you

look in the book of Revelation, you see that

God is speaking to the church. And he describes

seven different churches. And in that, what happens?

He says, if you don't live in a repentant way,

if you don't live serving me, if you do what

you want to do, guess what I'm going to do? I'm

going to take your lamp stand out. That's the

word to the church. You see, covering up our

light is living in unrepentance. Now, here's

a very interesting thing as we consider this.

What makes the light shine? You see, there is

a stark contrast between Christians and the world.

And we kind of know that. But you see, our loyalty

is to Christ and his body, the Church. For all

those in the Roman Empire, one of the most astounding

and amazing things of the Church was that they

were made up of a diverse group of people. For

much of the world then, and perhaps even now,

there's an idea that you only have to care for

and have loyalty to your own clan or tribe. Not

so for the Christian Church. The Church cares.

The Church then cared for, and so should we,

Jews and Gentiles. They had both the highly esteemed

Greeks and the lowly barbarians. And we're seeing

this right there in Colossians 3. He's describing

all these people groups, the Church, right? There

is no more any of this because we are a new people

in Christ. So much so that there was There was

no distinction between the Jew and the Gentile,

or the Greeks, or the lowly barbarians. And he

even goes on to mention the Scythians, who were

considered, of all the barbarian peoples, the

utterly most disgusting, most unbelievably uncivilized

people. So bad. And Paul sticks them in. Says,

them too. For the church, loyalty, love, and

care takes no preference. to the slave or the

free, to anyone. Following Christ is simply this.

He is all and in all those who are calling on

His name and are baptized and are striving to

obey all of God's word. So yes, there is something

that you must do. You need to be called by God

and then you in return need to receive that baptism

and for His people and then you just need to

do it. And in that, There is no difference of

who we are. Our loyalty is to Christ and his

body. In this world, there is a cry, peace, peace,

but there is no peace. As you recall from our

study last week on the Beatitudes, the ideas

of the mighty Greek philosopher and the self

-righteousness of the Jews are not able to bring

truth, beauty, or goodness to the world. Their

ideas and efforts cannot restore anything But

only for a short time and then failure is sure

Without the triune God unity is impossible outside

of Christ there can be no consensus on truth

morality and relational ethics It can't be achieved

Today the world around us Desires that we hate

them Wait a minute. No, they want me to love

them? No. No. They desire that we do not bring

the light of Jesus to bear upon them. You see,

for the unbelieving, their heart's desire is

for us to affirm them and acknowledge that their

lifestyles and desires are good and productive

for them and so the world. That they believe

that this will lead to peace and blessing Not

so We are loving them when we bring the light

of Jesus to them when we live our lives Assaulted

living sacrifices before our Lord and our words

and actions and attitudes and obedience to God

Hey, look, let me just say this for a second.

Don't be like Jonah, right? You bring the word

And then you sit up on the hill. I want God to

just get those guys. I'm going to sit up here.

No. His heart was wrong. And what did God do?

He was standing under the sun, waiting for God

to rain down judgment. And what happened? God

gave him a temporary piece, caused a little vine

to grow up, gave him a little shade. And then

the next day, God sent a worm to eat the vine.

And God did restore. Those Gentile peoples, the

Assyrians, the King of Nineveh and all those

people, they repented and turned to God and he

was all flustered. We're the special people of

God. Those are the wicked people. No, he went

and he preached the gospel. He preached turn

to God, repent of your sins. And they did. And

they rejoiced. They rejoiced in the forgiveness

of God. God actually used them to carry out his

purposes of correction to the people of Israel

We are loving them when we bring the light of

Jesus to them And we need to know that when we

are living as salted living sacrifices It's a

pleasing aroma to God, but also a startling disinfectant

to the death wounds of sin both in the church

and out Ephesians 1 tells us this, I therefore

the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk

worthy in the calling with which you were called

with all lowliness and gentleness, with long

suffering, bearing with one another, and love,

and endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit

of the bond of peace. You can't have unity without

loyalty to Christ and his people, the church.

He says this there is one body and one spirit

just as you were called in one hope of your calling

one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father

of all who was above all and Through all and

in you all and by the way Here we are again with

the southern part all those use are all y 'all

It's all y 'all in the church Returning to our

passage Christ declares in verse 17 do not think

that I came to destroy the law of the prophets

I did not come to destroy but to fulfill for

assuredly I say to you till heaven and earth

pass away one jot Or one tittle by no means will

pass away until the law is fulfilled You know

we need to know that Jesus said I didn't come

to get away from the law He didn't come, as you

know, in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is not

giving a new law. No, Jesus is straightening

out the corruptions made by the law, by the scribes

and Pharisees and priests. And you know what

we have to do? There's a whole lot of stuff in

all of our lives where we have said, I know God

said this, but I'm going to interpret it this

way because it works for me. Lord, have mercy.

Let us turn from that. No, turn to God's word

and do what it says. Jesus is the faithful son,

and in so doing, he fulfills the law, and it's

every jot and tittle. What the jot and tittle

is, for those of you that don't know, it's just

the smallest marks in the Greek language. The

New Testament was written in the Greek. Every

small mark. None of that can fall away until

Jesus has fulfilled it all. Jesus does not break

the laws of God but rather he does them and teaches

the law of God rightly Showing us that he is

the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Do you

remember in Daniel chapter 2? There's this vision

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

that Nebuchadnezzar has it's this great big statue

and it's it represents all the empires of of

history of the ancient world and All of that

and their greatness. It's passing along passing

along to others empires fall And then we read

of a stone that was cut out not by human hands.

And it comes and it hits a giant statue representing

all the empires of the earth. And they're all

destroyed. And this rock, it grows. And it grows.

And it grows. And it becomes a mountain that

fills the whole earth. That is the kingdom of

heaven. That is Jesus kingdom. The kingdom of

Jesus grows destroying the rebellious nations

and becomes a great mountain that fills the whole

earth The church the new temple made of living

stones sits on the foundation laid on the rock

of Christ Jesus Jesus became a light in the literal

darkness on the Mount of Olives on the cross

We've been delivered out of the darkness and

we are the light unless We cover it up repentance.

We are the salt of the eternal covenant of God

by living in conformity to Christ Jesus. In Jesus

we are reconciled to God the Father. All enmity

and hate that we once had and so face judgment

for has come to peace by the work of Jesus. Our

passage ends with Jesus saying that our righteousness

must exceed the righteousness of the scribes

and Pharisees, or we cannot enter the kingdom

of heaven. Their righteousness was full of hypocrisy,

a religiously clean exterior, for a covering

of an unclean interior full of death and darkness.

We are to be salted Christians, showing the eternal

promises of life in the covenant of Jesus Christ.

You are called to be a light. Drive out darkness

in your own life and then through that transform

the world by conformity to Christ Jesus Be salt

be light Don't cover the light and unrepentance

And so you ask yourself. What is this greater

righteousness? What is greater than the hypocrisy

of the scribes and Pharisees? Let us end with

this you want to know the answer to that question

Consider Romans chapter 12. And so I want you

Romans 12 · chapter mention

to think about this where you are in trusting

in your Lord and conforming to Him and being

salt and light. Let love be without hypocrisy.

Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be

kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly

love. In honor, giving preference to one another.

not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit,

serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient

in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer,

distributing to the needs of the saints, given

to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who

rejoice and weep. with those who weep. Be of

the same mind towards one another. Do not set

your mind on high things, but associate with

the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good

things in the sight of all men. If it is possible,

as much as depends on you, live peaceably with

all men. This shines brightly in the darkness

Let us pray Almighty God and our Heavenly Father

we thank you that you have broken us you have

made us a new creation in Jesus Christ and Given

us in your word the way to walk and have commanded

us to walk therein We thank you that by your

grace. We can be salt and light Make us a Lord

a beacon of light of grace and all the world

and all those around us to our loved ones make

us a means of seize and sacrifices to bring glory

to your name that this world may see our good

works and glorify you by turning to you in repentance

and find peace in you make us strong oh lord

in your word and in your spirit in jesus name

amen