Salt & Light

If you'd open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, we just got through two months of the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

And now, we're going to look at what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5, verses 13 through 16.

Matthew 5:13–16

Be in salt and light. It's page 962 and 63 of your Pew Bible.

Hear God's Word.

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

It's 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. No.

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.

May God bless the hearing of His Word.

You know, our nation's top award for soldiers in battle is the Medal of Honor.

And it's given to soldiers who have performed, quote, unquote, conspicuous acts of bravery.

Conspicuous bravery.

Courageous acts on the battlefield that are clearly seen and attested to by others.

So when Jesus tells us,

You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world,

He is calling us to live lives of conspicuous godliness.

Conspicuous righteousness.

Conspicuous righteousness.

Not a righteousness like the Pharisees who sought the praise of man,

but the conspicuous godliness of kingdom righteousness.

Kingdom citizens seeking to glorify the Father in heaven through kingdom character that shows up as kingdom conduct.

But it provides quite a contrast to the rest of the world.

We are God's salt and light in the midst of a decaying and dark world.

Here's what I'm going to try to convince you of this morning from what Jesus is saying.

God's grace causes us to be distinct from the world in order to glorify God in the world.

God's grace has called us out of the world to be light just to send us back in to glorify our God in heaven.

God's grace.

That's why we've called us out of the world to glorify God in heaven.

God's grace.

God's grace has called us out of the world to celebrate our God.

God's grace, to be poor in spirit.

No, we would deny our spiritual bankruptcy if it were not for the grace of God.

We used to celebrate sin, but now God's grace helps us to mourn sin.

blessed are those who mourn.

We used to elevate ourselves over other people

thinking that we are better than others,

but God's grace, blessed are the meek.

We are humble.

We see ourselves in light of who God is.

Do you know what happens when a kingdom citizen,

a Christian who is possessing a kingdom character

like the Beatitudes, lives out conspicuous acts

of godliness in a decaying dark world?

Do you know what happens?

Sunlight.

God's grace causes us to be distinct from the world

in order to glorify God in the world.

And to convince you of that, I want to make four points.

Our conspicuous godliness is a supernatural distinction.

Our conspicuous godliness is a functional distinction.

Our conspicuous godliness is a glorious distinction.

And our conspicuous godliness is not,

we can't make this mistake,

it's not some dysfunctional indistinction.

We are distinct from the world

in order to glorify God in the world.

So let's look at this first point.

Our conspicuous godliness is a supernatural distinction.

If you look at the passage,

in verse 13, Jesus says,

he's talking to his disciples and he says,

you are the salt of the earth.

And then in verse 14,

you are the light of the world.

And in the original language,

that you,

you can translate it,

you and only you.

Disciples,

those transferred from the domain of darkness

into the kingdom of the beloved son.

You and only you.

Among all the peoples on the earth,

of all the people in the world,

you and only you are my salt and my light.

Jesus is clearly making a distinction here

between those who've been saved by God's grace

and everybody else.

And this distinction is a supernatural distinction.

These beatitudes

are not descriptions of people

who have made themselves poor in spirit

and pure in heart.

No.

The beatitudes,

the blessedness of the beatitudes

is God's grace has come

and God's grace has made us poor in spirit.

God's grace has made us pure in heart.

God's grace is making us peacemakers

and God's grace is what causes us

to have a praise and worship time

when we are suffering for his sake.

So, I want to start off with this,

kind of this conspicuous godliness

as a supernatural distinction

because we got to be clear on the source

of our godliness.

It's not you, it's not me.

It's the grace of God.

It's Jesus shining through us.

We get a taste of this

in Ephesians chapter 2, 1 through 10.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Before Christ, we were dead

in our trespasses and sins

and we were following the course of the world.

We were following the prince of the power of the air.

We were living for our flesh,

delighting in our sin.

We were children of wrath

like the rest of mankind.

We were part of the decay.

We were living in darkness.

That's who we were.

And then verse 4 and 5,

but God, being rich in mercy

with the great love with which he loved us,

he made us alive in Christ.

We were dead.

He made us alive.

By grace, you've been saved.

By grace, you've been lit up.

By grace, you've been saltified.

And now, verse 10,

because we are his workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus,

made alive in him,

well, we do good works now.

Good works doesn't save us.

We are saved for good works,

being salt and light.

It's this grace of God

that took those who were dead in their sin,

living in darkness,

and made them alive in Christ

and lit them up

as part of the kingdom of light.

That's who you are.

That's what God has done.

It's who you are.

You're salt and light.

He's radically changed your character,

and that shows up in your conduct.

But we forget.

Paul Tripp calls it gospel amnesia.

We're amnesiacs.

We roll out of bed,

and we forget

that we have been radically changed

by God's grace,

delivered from the domain of darkness,

transferred to the kingdom

of the beloved Son.

We forget our eternities have changed.

We forget that God in the flesh

shed his blood for us.

We forget we're salt and light.

How do you remind yourself of that?

How do you remind yourself every day

that you're no longer your own,

but you belong to Jesus?

You can start this way.

A daily declaration of devotion

where one of your early moves of the day,

it's real close to you waking up

because we all know how the day goes.

Real close to waking up,

you are putting a stake in the ground,

and you are saying,

Lord Jesus, I am not my own.

You've been raining on high

all throughout the night.

You were the one who died for me,

raised me from the dead

so that I can live for you,

and I now declare my purpose today

is to live for your glory,

not my own.

Great way to start the day.

And it's recognizing that

this conspicuous godliness

that we're being called to here,

the salt and light,

it's got a supernatural distinction.

It's a supernatural source.

God, by His grace,

has made us distinct from the world

in order that we would glorify Him

in the world.

Second point,

our conspicuous godliness

is a functional distinction.

And what I mean by functional

is practical.

What I mean by functional

is it's real.

It shows up.

In this passage,

just like with everything

that Jesus does,

He chooses His words

very carefully.

He's being very intentional here.

So it's not a mistake

that He's talking about

salt and light.

And what salt and light,

what they are essentially doing,

it's a functional distinction

between His people

and the rest of mankind.

It's ways of talking

about a difference.

In fact,

I think what He's getting

at are two sides

of the same coin

of conspicuous godliness.

It's about being distinct

from the world.

So when Jesus talks about salt,

do you know what He's talking about?

Okay, so you go to festival,

you go to Woodman's,

you buy some hamburger meat.

You come back home

and you put the hamburger meat

where?

The refrigerator.

Because it's cold.

Refrigerator's coldness

slows down decay.

It keeps your meat

from becoming corrupt,

putrefied.

But before there were refrigerators,

there was salt.

And so in order

to preserve meat,

what they do,

they would rub

a steak

with salt.

Get that salt

all in there.

Do you know

what salt does?

It dehydrates

moisture

in a piece of meat.

And why that matters

is because bacteria

and parasites

love the moisture.

And so by dehydrating

the moisture,

the source

of this,

of bacteria

and parasite

is removed.

And so you're able

to preserve meat.

So if you're picking up

on what Jesus is saying,

He's saying,

you're the salt

in the meat of culture.

And apart from you,

it's just going to decay,

moral decay.

And we're living in it, gang.

I'm not sure

if anybody in the room

would argue

that Romans 1

is not in effect.

in our culture.

God has

rubbed us in

in order that

we would slow

the moral decay

in our culture.

Our presence,

our salty presence

slows the decay down.

Here's the deal.

If you put,

rub salt on a steak,

the steak's not going

to say,

ouch.

Because steaks

aren't alive.

But if we're salt

in the living steak

of our culture,

it's going to sting.

Has anybody had salt

put in a wound before?

It stings.

And what Jesus

is saying here

is not only

going to flavor,

you're going to sting.

Here's how that shows up

three ways.

You ready?

You walk to work

or you're in school

or you're a family gathering

and people start to gossip.

And your gossip alarm

goes off.

You're like,

this isn't good.

So,

as salt,

you get to say

something like this.

You know what?

I can't do this.

I can't participate in this.

If you have a problem

with someone,

you need to go

and talk to them about it,

not talk about them

to others.

Do you know what will happen

with those people right there

you just told that to?

Sting!

Ouch!

Who are you to tell me that?

But you're slow in a decay.

We want to use our speech

to build up,

not to tear down.

Or let's take abortion.

Abortion.

We will not

discriminate people

based upon

the color of their skin.

We're all image bearers, right?

Whether you're brown,

whether you're black,

whether you're yellow, red,

white,

we're not going to discriminate

based upon

your racial classification

or based upon

your gender

or based upon

what neighborhood

you live in.

Right?

We're not going to discriminate

on the basis of that

because everybody's

an image bearer.

And we cannot discriminate

whether or not

someone is a human or not

if they're in the womb

or out of the womb.

They're an image bearer

in the womb

and out of the womb.

And when we say

things like that,

you can catch some heat

for that.

But it's slowing

something down

in our culture.

the taking of lives.

Or how about this?

You get invited

to your nephew's

gay wedding.

You're torn

because

if you don't go,

you know that

it's going to create

relational tensions

across the board.

But if you do go,

you're thinking

something doesn't seem

right about this.

And so you seek counsel

and the issue

becomes crystal clear.

God

does not recognize

a marriage

between two men

and two women.

That is not a wedding

in God's eyes.

In fact,

that's grievous

in God's sight.

And so you start realizing,

I can't go

because I can't celebrate

something that is grievous

in God's eyes.

in my devotion

to God

is more important

than maintaining

the peace

in a network

of relationships.

You're going to

catch heat for that.

It's going to

sting people.

And it might

come back on you

and when you start

getting reviled

for that

and start people

selling all sorts

of falsehoods

because of that,

it's praise

and worship time.

It's praise

and worship time

because Jesus

is worth it.

There's a reward

waiting for you

in heaven

and you're

in good company.

Salt has a function,

a distinct function

and it's to slow decay.

As salt

of the earth,

you're to slow decay.

It's going to come

at risk.

But Jesus

also says

we're the light

of the world.

Not just salt,

we're light.

And we know

from our Bibles

that light,

especially Ephesians 5,

talks about

when you were saved,

you were delivered

from the domain

of darkness

and brought into

the kingdom of light.

Your children of light

walk in the light.

So no longer

do we kind of

participate

in works of darkness.

We expose them.

So there's this

exposing nature

of light.

But Jesus talks

about light

in this passage

as good works.

Look at verse 16.

In the same way,

let your light

shine before others

so that they may

see your good works.

So the rays

of the kingdom,

they shine

through us

as good works.

light.

And so where

salt

is a preservative,

it slows decay,

light,

according to Jesus here,

is revealing

God's good ways.

It's a goodness.

The rays of the kingdom

shining through

our work.

Now you might be asking,

well,

what does that look like?

What are the good works?

Jesus shows us

in the Sermon on the Mount.

If you look at 5,

chapter 5,

verse 21 through 26,

he talks about

good works

as not

kind of

getting angry

and fighting

with one another,

but pursuing

reconciliation

with one another.

In chapter 5,

verses 43 through 48,

the good works

that Jesus about,

kingdom good works,

the conspicuous

acts of godliness

of a kingdom citizen

is not hating

your enemy,

it's loving your enemy

and praying for them.

Now that will get

somebody's attention.

Furthermore,

if you look at

chapter 6,

verses 19

through 24,

some more conspicuous

acts of godliness,

it's not storing up

treasures on earth,

it's storing up

treasures in heaven

because your God

is Jesus,

not mammon.

Conspicuous acts

of godliness.

Good works.

In chapter 6,

verses 25 through 34,

we,

brothers and sisters,

live in an anxious culture.

Highly anxious.

anxious.

And Jesus says,

hey,

let this light shine

where you're not anxious

but seeking first

the kingdom,

you have this

settledness

knowing that your God

is going to take care

of you.

These are the good works.

John 13,

Jesus says to his disciples,

a new commandment

I give to you,

you love one another

just as I have loved you,

you are to love one another

and everyone will know

that you're my disciples

if you have love

for one another.

Do you know what this means,

brothers and sisters?

Our love for one another

as members of this church,

it is a corporate shining.

It's this corporate good we do

where we love one another.

salt is a preservative

where light is a revealer.

Reveals good works

of kingdom citizens

who've been radically changed

by God's grace.

So in both salt and light,

there are these conspicuous acts

of godliness

that make for a functional distinction

from the rest of the world.

It's where it shows up.

And there's no denying it.

We are functionally distinct

from the world

in order to glorify God

in the world.

Point three.

Our conspicuous godliness

is a glorious distinction.

Looking back at Matthew 5, 16,

we see,

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.

God uses our saltiness

and God uses our shininess

in order to bring glory

to his name.

The goal of these good works

is God's glory.

In other words,

when people see our good works,

and you're like,

why are you doing that?

We don't say,

because I'm great,

we say,

the Christ-shaped life

you see in me,

that's God at work in me.

That's his grace changing me.

You're just giving credit.

You're just citing your source.

That language there,

when Jesus says,

so that they may see

your good works,

for some of you,

that might make you

a little uncomfortable

because you know

what Jesus has said

to the Pharisees.

If you flip in your Bibles

to Matthew 23,

Jesus goes into

a series of woes,

not blessedness,

woes on the Pharisees.

And in chapter 23,

verse 5,

Jesus says of these things,

they do all their deeds

to be seen by others.

For they make their phylacteries broad

and their fringes long,

and they love the place of honor

at feasts,

and best seats in the synagogues,

and greetings in the marketplaces,

and being called rabbi by others.

So what we have here is

the Pharisees want to be seen by others,

and here Jesus is saying,

you're the light of the world,

you need to be seen by others.

What's going on here?

The issue isn't being seen by others.

The issue is why you want to be seen by others.

The motive of being seen by others.

The Pharisees wanted to be seen by others.

Their version of righteousness

was designed for self-glory.

To draw your attention to them.

To be esteemed.

To be well thought of.

To get as many likes as possible.

But Christians practice conspicuous acts

of kingdom righteousness,

not to, like, be worshipped,

but for God to be glorified.

We're salt and light for the glory of God.

Has anybody seen the moon

the last couple nights?

Phenomenal.

So I texted the moon last night.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

Hey, moon, you look great.

Very brilliant.

I hope you're well.

Bing, bing.

Comes back.

Thanks.

Period.

That would be a mistake of the moon.

What if I said,

hey, you look great tonight, moon.

I hope you're well.

And the moon responds to me by saying,

yeah, just to be clear,

the brilliance you see

is not my own brilliance.

It's the sun's brilliance on me.

I'm just reflecting the brilliance of the sun.

We've got to be clear

on the source of our brilliance,

of our glory.

As Christians,

our good works don't bear witness to us.

Our good works bear witness

to the glorious grace of God

who can change people.

How do you go from seeing good works

to glorifying our Father in heaven?

Is there a,

it seems like Jesus is kind of missing a step here.

What is he assuming here?

For someone to see your life

and to see kind of what God is doing in you

and then to give glory to our Father in heaven,

what needs to happen?

We need to say something.

That's what needs to happen.

Our good works

plus a gospel word

will bring glory to God.

Let me show you how that works.

Let's say someone comes up to you

and they say,

you know what,

I've noticed

that when everybody attacks you,

you don't attack them back,

but you're kind to them.

Now you could say at that point,

yeah, you know,

it's just in the home I was raised in

and I'm just a nice person.

That would be a mistake

because now you get to speak a gospel word.

You can say something like,

you know what,

I can't take credit for that

because there was a time

where I'd attack people back,

but God's grace in me has changed me

and so I'm actually

trying to love my enemies there.

And then that person can say,

wait, hold on a second,

God does that in people

and now we're on our way

to glorifying our God in heaven.

Or your work group

is under the knife,

under the axe

and everybody in your work group

at work,

they're living in anxiety.

They're like,

I don't know if we're going to have

our job next week.

But they notice you,

you're not flipping out,

you're actually marked by joy.

And they're like,

come up to you,

hey, why aren't you flipping out?

And you're like,

well, you know what,

I am just temperamentally

an even-keeled person.

That would be a mistake

because if you, in fact,

have been crying out to God

and saying things,

I'm trying to seek first

your kingdom, God,

would you meet all of our needs?

And you have this settled assurance

that he will.

You get to sell people,

you know,

that's God's grace at work in me

because normally I would be

flipping out right now.

And now people can be like,

wait, what?

God does that in human beings?

And you're like, yeah,

if you can do it for me,

he can do it for you.

Now, if you want more information

on how to actually share

the gospel of Jesus with people,

I would recommend

Greg Gilbert's book,

What is the Gospel?

Short little book,

very helpful,

and it hits four points,

God, sin, Christ,

and respond,

very helpful.

What I want to make sure

you're seeing, though,

is that the glory

of the salt

and the light

is not the salt

and the light.

The glory of the salt

and the light

is our God.

There's two mistakes.

One is the hypocrisy mistake.

That's where you speak

a good gospel word,

but there is no good works

to substantiate it.

You say, God is good.

He changes lives.

But your life's a mess

in the sense of like,

okay,

Jesus loves his enemies,

but you are hating yours.

People will hear that

and they'll be confused by it.

Like, what?

Jesus doesn't make a difference

in your life.

You're like everybody else.

So the first mistake here

is some kind of

hypocritical mistake.

The second mistake

is the plagiarism mistake.

Plagiarism is when

someone will write something

and they'll use

somebody else's ideas

or words

and they won't

give them credit for it.

And so people,

the audience

of the person

who's written something

or speaking about something,

they will draw

the conclusion

that, oh,

this is their stuff.

It's academic

kind of falsehood.

It's a lack of integrity.

And when God

is at work in us

and we don't give him

credit for it,

it's a theological

lack of integrity.

We're not giving him credit.

We've got to cite our source.

We've got to say,

what you're seeing in me

is not my doing.

It is God's grace

at work in me.

I'm not the son.

I'm the moon.

I'm glad you're noticing.

I've got to give credit

to where credit's due.

Kingdom character,

the beatitudes,

show up in kingdom conduct

being salt and light.

And when there is

a word of the kingdom

added at just the right time,

God gets the glory

and then God's kingdom expands.

We're not the sun.

We're the moon.

We're his salt and light.

And he has called us

to be distinct from the world

in order to glorify him

in the world.

ours is a reflective glory.

Which brings me to the last point.

Our conspicuous godliness

cannot be confused

with dysfunctional indistinction.

In this passage,

Jesus actually provides

a couple warnings.

I'm sure you picked up on it.

You're the salt of the earth,

but if salt

has lost its taste,

how shall its saltiness

be restored?

It's good for nothing.

Jesus says of light,

a city on a hill

cannot be hidden.

It defeats its purpose.

You don't light a lamp

and then put it under a basket.

It defeats its purpose.

Salt is meant to be salty.

It's its purpose.

It's a preservative.

Do you know how the church

loses its saltiness?

It's...

By becoming like the world.

We become indistinct

from the world

when we love the world

and want to be like the world.

You see,

worldliness in the church

is a dysfunction

in the church.

It grieves God.

It's...

You're living

not who you were

meant to be.

Salt and light.

To be distinct

from the world.

So instead of being

distinct from,

we...

We're...

End up being part

of the decay.

It's not God's design

for us.

Have you lost your saltiness

because of worldliness?

Are you trying to

store up treasures

on earth

thinking that

that is going to

give you security?

Are you kind of

imbibing entertainment

without discernment

and content

and volume

just like the world?

Are you living in anxiety

just like the world?

Does your family schedule

look like the world's

family schedules?

does your conversations...

Do they...

What do they smell like?

Life or death?

Do you know

how to become salty again

if you've...

If you're feeling

the encroachment

of worldliness?

Do you know

how you become salty again?

You turn from worldliness

and you turn to God's grace.

You treasure Jesus

above all else

and he will saltify you.

It's just a matter of time

after treasuring Jesus

with everything you've got.

It's just a matter of time

before the conspicuous acts

of godliness

start showing up.

Just a matter of time.

When it comes to

the light of the world,

in verses 14 and 15,

I think Jesus is moving

not to talking about worldliness

as so much he's talking

about something else.

Hiddenness.

Hiding.

Covering up.

You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill

cannot be hidden.

Back in the first century,

you have a city

on a mountain.

At night,

it's lit up

and there's no denying it.

You cannot ignore that.

It can't be hidden.

It would be defeating its purpose.

Or,

you don't light a lamp

and then put it under a basket.

No.

Cities on hills are high up.

Lamps are to be put on lampstands

high up

and they give light

to all.

that they're to be seen.

Christian,

salt of the earth,

light of the world,

are you hiding

who you are?

are you ashamed

to cite the glorious

source

of your good works?

When was the last time

you spoke the word

Jesus

in the presence

of a non-Christian?

solution.

This little light of mine,

I'm going to let it shine.

This little light of mine,

I'm going to let it shine.

I'm not going to put

a bushel on it.

No,

I'm going to let it shine.

I'm not going to put

worldliness over it.

No,

I'm going to let it shine.

I'm not going to let

fear of man

be a basket

over my light.

Nope,

I'm going to let it shine.

I'm not going to let shame of what other people think about me because I'm a follower of Jesus.

I'm not going to let that hide my light.

Don't hide, Christian.

Shine, Christian.

You were saved for.

God's grace has made you distinct from the world.

God's grace has made me in order so that you would glorify God in the world.

Do you know how to stop hiding your light?

You admit your fear and shame to the light of the world, Jesus.

You say, forgive me, Lord Jesus, for being fearful of what other people think about me.

In light of what you have done on my behalf.

I am really sorry.

And then you start praying prayers like this.

God, would you light me up?

Would you show me your glory?

Would you help me to treasure you above all else?

Would you be the controlling center of my life?

Would you be my one consuming passion, my all-governing reality?

And out of the overflow of your heart, your mouth will speak.

I can't take credit for that.

That's God's grace in me.

All glory to his name.

God has saved us by his grace, called us out of the world.

He has made us salty and lit us up to send us back into the world for the glory of the name of Jesus.

Distinct from, to bear witness to.

Coming off the Beatitudes, Jesus describes our distinct relationship to the world as being salt and light.

We are supernaturally distinct.

It's by his grace that's the source of our saltiness, the source of our brilliance.

We are a functional distinction.

We slow the moral corruption, the sinful corruption in our culture, and we shine.

We reveal God's goodness.

And we are gloriously distinct.

We cite our source.

We don't plagiarize.

We say, it's his doing, not mine.

I'm a moon.

He's the sun.

And we say no to the dysfunction of indistinction.

We don't blend in.

We stand out.

We say no to worldliness.

We say no to the fear of man.

We say no to shame.

God has made us distinct from the world so that we would glorify God in the world.

And it's our privilege.

Let's pray together.

God in heaven, whether we live in the city of Kenosha or we live in Union Grove, we live in Africa,

you have graciously and radically changed us from the inside out.

And now we get to be your salt and light.

Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world.

You are the great sun of our solar system.

And now it's our joy to reflect your glory,

to live out the good works you've called us to and prepared for us,

so that more and more people would come to see you and trust you

and live for you and for who you are.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.