Salt and Light | Where's the Salt? | Pastor Brodie Kalamen

Welcome to KCC service.

This is Church at Home.

My name is Brody Callman, and I'm just so glad that you're joining with us today.

I'm going to just ask you to take a moment and rally some people around you.

I don't know if it's people in your own home.

If you have to throw out a text message or send out an I am out to some of your friends, just let them know hey, church is live and join with you.

It's just so important that we're getting together and hearing the word of God together.

And so take a moment, go ahead and do that.

Technology is great.

We've got people on cameras today, and we're all online together.

And this is just one of the services that we're providing throughout the week.

We have other opportunities for you to connect.

Family needs it, your teens need it, your kids need it.

There are so many ways for you to connect and just realize you're not alone at this time.

You've got other people there with you.

Also, if you've been serving in any way, and you've been either giving or phone calls or uh just sending emails and of encouragement and letting us know, hey, we're just so blessed by what's happening here.

I just want you to know it means a whole lot to us, and we just thank you.

We don't have an opportunity to do this in person, so we just want to take that opportunity now.

Um we are in our new series, and this series is called Salt and Light.

It's our May series, and it's really our Make a Difference series.

It uh is a great time of the year for me because I know that in our family we have a lot of people who have different birthdays at this time.

We have five people who have birthdays in May, and this is a time where we're usually rallying and gathering together.

Uh, but I know it's not happening the same way as it has in previous years, and it may look different, but we still believe we can in this season make a difference nonetheless.

So it makes me think when we do come back and things do in quote reopen, what is church gonna look like and what are our lives gonna look like moving forward?

And I just want to go back to when Jesus really launched the church and launched his disciples into the mission of the church.

And so I'm gonna take us back to Matthew chapter five, and I'm gonna invite you to read along with me.

Jesus had been communicating and sharing with his disciples on a hill, and he gave the famous sermon, uh, the Beatitude sermon, and he's sharing with the disciples, and other people are listening in, and then he closes off his sermon with a few final verses that are real identifying verses.

Let me read to you what it says in verse 13.

It says, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You are the light of the world.

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp, put it under a bowl, instead they put it on its stand and give it light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

This is Jesus' words to his disciples.

After sharing a sermon on how they should function and act and live, he starts to identify them as you are salt and you are light.

Incredible.

When I was growing up, I grew up in a time where you actually had to watch commercials.

It just was not uh it was not an option.

You couldn't fast forward, you couldn't skip, you just endured the commercials that came on TV.

And I remember there was this viral commercial that was like my favorite, and it actually still continues to be my favorite.

It was this commercial that I actually watched on YouTube the other day.

You're you could go ahead and search it for yourself afterwards, but it was about these three uh older ladies, senior ladies, standing around a hamburger, and it was a Wendy's commercial, and they're looking at this hamburger, and this hamburger is pretty pretty big.

They start commenting, wow, it's got such a big bun.

And then they open up the hamburger and they look inside, and about the size of a toonie, uh, that's for our American friends, that's like a larger quarter or a 50 cent piece.

It's uh it's it's a little bigger than that, but about the size of a toonie uh is this little patty, and these women look at each other and they look at the camera, and this one woman says, Where's the beef?

Where's the beef?

And she starts commenting to her friends, and her friends look and they're looking at this hamburger, and it's like something's wrong with this hamburger.

And they start asking for the asking for the manager, and they're like, We're getting ripped off here.

And the idea is uh this they're just aghast at at the fact that they they it's such a small patty inside this massive bun.

And only the way that a grandmother could show like disapprovement or disapproval, uh, I've experienced it in my life when I I threw something out that she could have used at one point, and I just got that eye.

This was the eye that these three ladies were looking at it.

And I know this is the season for barbecues, and there are two things that you really need that are essential: a good bun and a good patty.

And so when you're looking at this patty and it's so small, it's like, where's the beef?

You've missed it altogether.

You don't have a hamburger anymore.

You don't have it.

And so Jesus, when he's talking to his disciples at this point, he begins to challenge them and he says this he says, You are to be the salt.

You're to be the light.

This is the essential part of your existence, to be salt and light.

And really, it creates a huge implication for me and for you as a listener today.

The question is like, how do we live as this salt and the light to the world?

If this was Jesus' message to us, how do we live and what does that mean for our day-to-day living?

In a nutshell, this scripture really means that Christians, just by living their lives with integrity in a godly manner, can help society and keep society from actually going bad.

It's the nature of the Christian to better society.

We are or should be some of the best citizens for a country.

Canada, if Canada is full of Christians, Canada is blessed because of the way Canadian Christians function.

Because we carry in us a kingdom mandate to make a difference wherever we go.

And the world should realize that and should see that, and it should be visible to them.

So Jesus knew this.

It was this kingdom mandate, and he demonstrated it in his own life.

He he went ahead and in today's culture it would mean wearing gloves where applicable, it'd be wearing a mask, we're applicable, keeping social distancing, wear applicable.

But in general times, it means like bringing order out of chaos and writing injustices and helping people in stressful times who are dealing in the middle of distress or bringing healing to people who are sick.

It's that type of spirit and agenda to help restore relationships, not between even family members, but friendship networks and relationships, even between people and Father God.

Salt in itself is a preservative and light has more to do with good deeds.

It's being kind to a neighbor, which is really a fruit of the Spirit.

It's living with integrity, loving people around us, caring for the people around us, the way Christ loved us.

And that includes not paying evil for evil, but overcoming evil with good.

So Jesus even says this, he says, uh, it's by your good works that people will be attracted to Father God.

Peter says it the same way: do good works and people will come to know Jesus.

And we're supposed to do this in not only our public lives or not only just our private lives, but we're supposed to bring it with us wherever we go, not just to be hidden in the background, but actually active in our faith, making a difference with our lives.

The light on a hill is so amazing, it just can canvas everything.

And the salt goes into every corner and every alley and every space that's hard to reach.

We're there to make a difference.

So today I want to talk to you about what it means to be salt, what it means to be the salt of the earth.

Where's the salt?

Where is it?

Where's the salt in our life?

Where's the salt in our activity?

In our program.

Matthew 5, 13, going back, says this you are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can you be salty again?

It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out, trampled underfoot.

The message says it this way.

Let me tell you why you're here.

This is your purpose.

You're here to be salt, seasoning, that brings out the God flavors of this earth.

It's a huge purpose for each of us.

And if you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?

You've lost your usefulness.

You'll end up in the garbage.

It really comes out as a warning.

And Jesus is very descriptive in how he challenges people.

It's a rhetorical question, really.

Like if salt is lost at saltiness, it's no good.

It's useless.

And there's no way to restore salt back to being salty.

Once it's done, it's done.

And I can see this happening in the lives of people who want to have a relationship with God that's just convenient for them, themselves, and they want to keep God at a distance, and they don't really want to activate what God has actually put in them, then really what they're carrying is useless.

But we've been given something incredible.

We've been given something to be able to use to make a difference in the world.

So we have to get close.

We have to engage.

We have to put ourselves in maybe contact with others to make a difference.

Billy Graham was once asked this.

They said, What is your greatest fear, Billy Graham?

And he said, My biggest fear is that he'd lose my ability to preach and my ability to make a difference in the world.

That God would take his hand off of him and he wouldn't have the opportunity to do the things that he was doing, make a difference with people.

And sometimes it could be very simple.

And I'm just going to be honest with you, if there's hidden sin, or if there's secret sin or if it's just a lifestyle of just putting God in a corner or coming to him on a Sunday, you're not going to be able to experience the value that you have potential for and purpose for.

But this warning also acts as a motivation.

And for me, it challenges me.

Hey, I want to be salty.

I want to be able to connect and make a difference wherever I go.

I want to be able to be rich in flavor.

And so that any place I touch, lives are changed, lives are impacted, and I can bring and make a difference.

So Jesus is warning us, and I just want to address that.

There is that warning.

But the first thing Jesus says is this you are the salt of the earth.

And really that's an identifier to you that God has placed in you an identity to actually go to the earth and flavor the earth.

Flavor it.

He says, this is who you are.

And sometimes when someone calls your name and calls it out of you, your identity, and says, this is who you are, you may not even feel like it, but after allowing it to penetrate your heart and beginning to believe it, you begin to behave and function like yes, you are the salt of the earth.

It's an incredible, it's an incredible opportunity for each of us to make a difference to the world.

We need to first agree with that identity, what God has called us to become.

And we have to realize it and recognize it and make sure it's we're true to ourselves in that in that visual.

This message was not just a simple, jovial, like off the cuff message.

And I think sometimes when we hear even the title salt and light, we think, oh, I've heard that before.

I've heard that before.

I've heard it since I was in Sunday school, or perhaps you've just seen it plastered everywhere.

Salt and light, salt and light, that you forget that this mission really is critical.

Literally, in addressing his disciples in the presence of all different types of people around him, he's making an incredible statement in the presence of people who had lived their lives, keeping every detail of the law, keeping every detail to life, and trying to get up and go to bed and keep every rule on the go.

Jesus is saying, it's not them that I'm calling it.

I'm calling you the uneducated, the fishermen, I'm calling you my disciples.

You are going to be the salt of the earth.

You've got something different in you because of your proximity to me, because of the relationship you have to me, because of the heartbeat that you have, that's like my heartbeat.

There's something different about you, and you've got something that other people now will need.

And really, it was nearly like borderline.

I could see this being offensive.

He's calling them salt.

But everyone else around is if there's salt, then everyone else is really, he was calling tasteless and decaying and in need of help and living in the dark.

So Jesus knew that this message was an aggressive message, but he needed the disciples to actually realize why you are here.

So why are you and I here?

Well, salt, its primary function is actually preservation.

Preservation, it was applied to meat, to fish, it was applied to uh like soldiers would receive an allowance to go and buy salt, and that's why we even have the term today like that man is worth his salt.

It was valuable, people would carry it because it allowed in a time without refrigerators like we have today, it allowed uh food from spoiling, from decaying.

And Jesus used this language very clearly and on purpose to identify the disciples who were actually in the world.

And he says, You exist, you exist, the church exists for the world.

You are the salt to the world, you are the salt to the earth.

You're gonna bring flavor, you're gonna bring preservation, and I always go back to that scripture where Jesus would say, This is how you pray.

Pray like this thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Like this prayer, your purpose is to be the salt, be the light, and bring heaven to earth.

And it's a reality that we're supposed to bring into our culture an opportunity to bring a fresh reality.

And I feel like COVID has allowed us to reset.

And now, as we return and reopen, what are we going to bring?

What are we going to offer to the world?

And I'd suggest today bring salt, bring preservation.

Like heaven is a place where I try and think about, but it actually becomes difficult to think about because it's an eternal place.

And it's a place beyond even my imagination.

And I've got grand ideas of heaven, and the Bible only says a few things about heaven, but one of the things the Bible says about heaven is that is a reminder to us about what it's like.

It says, in heaven, there's not going to be any rust.

There's not going to be any decay.

There's not going to be any moth that's going to eat up your clothes.

There's not going to be any thief that's going to come into your home and rob from you and steal from you.

There is going to be no decay in heaven.

And that's what Jesus was saying to his disciples.

You are the types of people that I'm going to plant on the earth.

You're going to be a gift to people, a gift to the earth that's going to keep the earth from decaying.

You see, naturally, things over time do not remain preserved.

It's the literally the second law of thermodynamics that virtually says that things break down and eventually enter into a more disorderly space over time.

Chaos is natural.

Breakdown is natural.

Even the sun itself will eventually burn out.

Eventually.

A few weeks of isolation, social isolation, you know your body doesn't get better and stronger and more fit.

It's breaking down.

It's the world that we're living in.

But it just so happens that we actually live in a time where we're taught since children, and sociologists call it the myth of progression, where we're taught that we're actually becoming better, and that education and technology will make us better, stronger, richer, that we're going to be able to leave a better planet for the rest of the world.

And civilization is going to progress.

All you need is better education and better technology.

And after a while, if you learn how to better yourself through these tools, you yourself almost become like this little God that's going to be able to solve every problem in the world.

It's like the ego gets blown up.

And Jesus comes in, and this is what Jesus is literally saying.

He's saying, you are not a savior.

You are a disaster.

You are a mess.

You are a mess left to yourselves.

You're tasteless, you're dark, you're decaying, you're spoiling, you're breaking down, and you need help.

And the help that's going to come is going to come from the salt of the earth.

My people who are close to me, who carry my spirit, carry my heart.

You see, this world, we're able to do great things with education and technology.

We're literally sending machines and robots and rovers to Mars.

Yet there are atrocities happening on the globe today, and people are taking advantage of us.

And exploiting each other.

We need the salt and light in this world.

And that's why the church exists.

That's why we're here to make a difference.

Some of you may be listening today and thinking that you don't need a savior.

And you don't need God in your life.

And I hear this, I hear this often when I just have conversations with people.

Most people haven't really thought about it, but they're just saying, you know, I just don't need God in my life.

My life is good enough.

And it's what we face every day.

Like this message is preached to us every day.

It's a humanist message that says, like, you've got the spark of the divine in you.

Just work it out, read enough books, connect with your heart and figure it out and get educated and find the secret to life, and then you'll wake up one day and you'll just become the hero of your own life, and somehow you will save yourself.

But Jesus' message was completely different.

By saying that we are the salt, the disciples are the salt of the earth, he's saying, others are tasteless and decaying, and they need you.

The earth needs you.

I love the fact earlier he had just said on the Beatitudes, he said, Blessed are those who mourn, who recognize their spiritual need, who recognize their depravity.

Because the Bible says, then you'll actually be filled.

You'll actually, you'll actually begin to hunger for something that's going to be satisfying.

But we have to come to that place where we realize that we need a savior.

We're not the savior.

So what do we do about this?

How do we live in a culture like this?

When Jesus says, You are you are the salt of the earth.

The salt, this pres this preserving agent on the earth.

Like no one is ever surprised when meat or fish left on their own begin to spoil.

You don't say, bad meat, bad, bad fish, you know, you're spoiling.

You don't blame the meat.

But as the salt, our job is to come into contact with the meat.

Come into actual engagement with the earth, with something to preserve it.

And this preservation process begins with that contact.

And I think about it much like the way like the salt doesn't become the meat, the salt just engages with the meat to preserve it.

And so it's like we are in this world, but we're not of this world.

We're in this world, but we're not of it.

We're in it to become preserving agents for it, making a difference in the world.

And so we go ahead and we make contact with the world, we preserve the world, and we preserve relationships, and we preserve marriages, and we preserve finance, and we preserve government, and we preserve recreation.

And Jesus is virtually saying, We found a better way.

Go into the world and preserve communication between people, preserve the environment, preserve the world.

Go ahead, you can do it.

You are the salt of the earth.

I look at this season right now, and we're in this place where everything just seems a little cold.

And in in we're called to be as a church, and people to have this opportunity in this time to be in people's coldness, we can be kind.

We can be kind when other people are cold.

Like you're walking or going to a you know, on a walk, or spending some time outside just to get some fresh air or going shopping.

It feels like people are just avoiding you, and you can feel alone because no one's giving out even a gesture or a smile or a wave or or a pleasant response.

And instead of just reciprocating likewise, head down avoidance, go ahead and actually be the change agent.

Be the salt to the earth and see what God can do in that moment.

I'm not saying to go and break social protocols, but I'm saying smile, give a gesture.

The coldness of the season provides opportunity for us to be salt.

Don't go on Facebook and bash and become that keyboard warrior that's just running everyone down from governments to individuals.

Go ahead and be a blessing.

Take a moment and just be a blessing.

We can make a difference.

We're called to preserve the earth.

We're called to be the salt of the earth.

Integrating, connecting, engaging with people in the world, keeping it from spoiling, keeping it from decaying, keeping it fresh, giving it life.

And we do this, and the Bible says that the people will see your good works, and they'll begin to glorify God in heaven.

They'll begin to recognize the good things that you've done are wow, that's they'll see God in it.

They can't see theology, but they can see your deeds.

And Jesus is saying, go, everyone, scatter.

Get out there, be the salt.

Get into every corner.

Just get to places that are decaying and be the salt at this time.

Contact really is essential.

The salt is no good in the shaker.

We I talked about this earlier.

It's no good in the shaker.

It's useless in the shaker.

Salt cannot preserve or doesn't benefit salt.

Salt needs to be scattered, it needs to be poured out on this world, and that's why we're here.

So how do we start?

I'm gonna give you three groups of people you can begin with.

The first is your family.

Family, if you've begun to trust in Christ in your life, you know that uh people will see a change in you.

And if if you've just been spending time with family over the season, you know that sometimes family is the most difficult group of people for you to be salt to in your life.

And I just want to challenge you.

Even Jesus understood this, where he said, listen, a prophet is without honor in his own hometown.

He he understood the complexities of family.

But I'm challenging you today to go into your family, be the change agent, be the salt to your family.

Children, teens, honor your parents, be quick to forgive each other, be quick to be generous in gesture and love towards each other.

Be the salt of the world, starting first in your own home.

In your own home.

Secondly, go to your neighbors.

And you might have to practice this a little different, but we all have a neighbor.

We all have people in our life and that I believe that have their own stories, that have their own language, that have their own uh history and feelings and interests.

And go ahead and actually begin to engage those individuals in their life.

I believe God placed your neighbors around you on purpose.

And I believe that each of us have a neighbor that God put in our life on purpose.

So go ahead and reach out to your neighbors.

Lastly, your co-workers.

I know many of you are working from home, but the people in your life that you have contact with, I may, or probably more than likely, will never have opportunity to connect with and engage.

But you, whether in this season or the next that we move into, you're gonna have contact with people that I could never connect with.

But God has put you in their life for a purpose, to be the salt in that relationship, to bring flavor, to bring hope, to bring life, to bring opportunity to their life.

Romans 1 16, a powerful verse, says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, because it's the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

There is power that comes with this language, with this function.

We can actually walk into a space, our home, our neighborhood, our workplaces, and actually see salvation.

So, how do we do this?

How do we have meaningful contact?

And I I know that a lot of people make this really complex, and some people are just naturally good at it, but I just want to give you three points here.

I want to say the first thing you do is just engage.

Engage.

It sounds simple, but I I just think you can engage.

The first thing I I want to encourage you to do is take out a piece of paper or take out a fresh uh note in your on your phone and write down five to ten names of people that you'll just commit to pray for.

That's a point of engagement.

Pray for them.

Be committed, be faithful to pray for them at this time.

That is being the salt of the earth.

That is beginning to function how you were designed and created to function so that you can start believing God to make a difference.

I did this while I was coaching volleyball at a number of the high schools in the city here.

I would have all the names of the students on our volleyball teams written down, and I would pray for each one individually, and it was amazing what God would speak to me about those individuals and how that prayer opened doors to conversations, which leads to the next step.

Oftentimes, uh just begin to share.

So you engage and then you share.

And what you share is your story.

Each of us has a story, and the Bible actually says your story has power to it.

It's true because it's happened to you, it's undeniable because you lived and experienced it.

And oftentimes I'll just I'll just sit back and just share my story.

And my story isn't like a you know no one's gonna write a movie on it.

But my story has value because it's mine.

And everyone has a story to share.

And that story, it's called your testimony.

It can go ahead and make a difference in someone's life.

They'll hear maybe what you went through and how they can accomplish it, they can get through the same uh same obstacles or same challenges the way you did.

Go ahead and share your story.

Oftentimes I ask when I'm engaging, I'm like, hey, do you have a faith?

Uh I want to know where people are at in their life and their relationships and their spiritual walk and their faith.

I want to talk to them about their story.

And this story gives me an opportunity when I'm sharing my story, because my faith is such a big part of my life, it gives me an opportunity to actually share with them about even Jesus.

So we engage, we share.

Go ahead, share your story, share your faith, share what Jesus has done in your life.

And lastly, take a moment to just open a door of invitation.

This doesn't mean have to mean today a physical invitation.

It can just be like, hey, I'm available.

You want to talk, you want to meet up again, you want to hit up a breakout room or a Zoom room, you want to, you want to share a story over a fence, you go ahead and let's let's talk this through.

Let's talk this out.

It may even mean just sending them a link or a passing them a message that we've preached at times here at KCC.

Go into our archives and if you know of something that they're going through, we may have something available to be a blessing to them, to that individual.

Go ahead and invite.

It's very simple.

Go and do that with your family, go do that with your neighbors, go do it with your coworkers.

Become the salt, become that preserving agent on the earth.

Bring flavor, bring taste, bring excitement, bring that pop to life that you can bring because of who you have in you, who you've been given.

I'd just like to take a moment here, is just we close, just to have a moment between you and God.

I believe God is speaking to you today.

If it's someone in the room that you've looked at your life and said, you know what, I've I've been distant.

I don't feel like I've been active.

The way God has created me to be active, I haven't been that active agent in the world.

I haven't been preserving things.

I've been, in fact, I feel like I'm on the side of bringing decay and spoiling conversations.

And I'm a part of the gossip train, and I'm a part of the I'm part of that conversation I have online behind the keyboard that that just isn't beneficial to the world at all.

And I need to change, and I'm gonna pray with you, but I'm also gonna pray with people who today who may be listening and saying, I want to know this Jesus who brings flavor and allows me to be a blessing to others, so that I can be a blessing to this world too.

And if you have never received Christ, today's a great opportunity to do this because life is breaking down.

The world is breaking down, but Jesus is here to give you life and to give you that life with abundance.

So would you bow your heads with me?

Father, I pray today for those in the room who may be looking at their lives and saying they need to change, they need to carry the weight of being the preserving agent that you called them to be in this world.

And I ask, Lord, that you would not only be with them, but your grace, Lord, would be upon them and restore them to that place where there's that energy again to make a difference in this world.

No, despite the season that we're living in, I just want to make a difference.

Ask, Lord, that you would touch every heart, every open heart today.

Lord, that you would make us aware of our lostness, our depravity, and your goodness to us.

And Father, I pray for those individuals today who are thinking about this language that I'm speaking of, and just saying, I want that in my life, and in order to have that, I need to have Jesus.

I'm just gonna pray a prayer and I'm gonna invite you to pray this prayer after me and make a decision to make Jesus your Lord and invite him into your heart.

Pray this with me today.

Father God, I acknowledge that I'm a sinner.

I've lived my own life according to my own rules.

My life is a disaster, and I desire to have you.

Would you forgive my sins?

Forgive me.

Make my heart clean again.

I ask that you would become my Lord, that you would become my Savior, and allow me to walk in freedom and live this life of preserving the world with you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you prayed that prayer today, there's so many ways that we'd love to be able to engage with you, connect.

Just go ahead and just comment below.

If you're watching, or uh go on the website and just fill out that contact form.

We want to know that you made that decision to follow Jesus today and make him your Lord.

Uh, go ahead, go into the world, be the salt that the world is looking for.

Go ahead, make a difference.

God bless you.