St Theodore's

Wattle Park

Sermon of the Week
Look up the passage

22/11/04

Salt and Light Matt 5:13-16

Well, here we are at our Annual General Meeting week again. So today I want to ask what should we be like as a church? What should we be like as a community within the wider community of Surrey Hills? What should you and I be like as Christians within that wider community? What's the most important thing for us to be concentrating on?

Some people would say we should be emphasising our distinctiveness as the people of God. Some would say we should be working on purity of life. If you read the article in the Age yesterday about 'The Fellowship' you may have noticed that that was what they were trying to concentrate on as their fellowship grew. Others would say we should be encouraging one another to persevere in our faith. Others that we should be developing our spiritual gifts.

But let me suggest, as worthy as all those aims may be, they're only secondary aims to what Jesus told his disciples in the sermon on the mount.

   Now this is important for us as we come to the end of another year and begin planning for the year to come. What is it that should shape our ministry, our activities next year and in the years following?

   Well, let's look at Matthew 5:13-16 and see what Jesus had to say to his disciples. Remember Jesus begins the sermon on the mount with a list of blessings that come to those who behave in a way that reflects their relationship with God. So those things I mentioned at first, purity of life, godliness of behaviour, spiritual gifts, fruit of the spirit, they're all important aspects of the Christian's life. But having listed those character traits, he immediately turns to his disciples and tells them what their essential identity consists of.

   He says: "You are the salt of the earth." Actually, it's a bit stronger than that. The Greek puts an emphasis on the 'You'. It's as though he's saying "You guys, yes you, you're the salt of the earth." Well, what is it about salt that's important? We don't necessarily pick upon this today do we? These days salt is an evil food. It causes high blood pressure, heart disease, increased risk of stroke. I read this week that apparently, corn flakes and rice bubbles are now considered dangerous because they contain more salt than a packet of potato crisps.

   So we need to translate a little when we read that we're the salt of the earth. Salt actually has 4 characteristics that were important in Jesus' day. First of all, it brings out the flavour in food. If you've ever had a bowl of vegetable soup that doesn't have any salt in it you'll know what a difference even a small amount makes. Secondly it preserves. Before the invention of refrigeration, salt was the main method of maintaining a supply of perishable foods through the winter months. Related to that is the fact that salt purifies. The ancient Egyptians apparently used salt rubs as a way of cleansing their skin. So next time you women go to the beauty counter to buy that expensive skin cleanser, just ask yourself whether all that money might be wasted when you could do a similar job with a little salt. (Yes, I know it wouldn't smell or feel nearly as good would it?) Finally, salt was used as an antiseptic.

   Now we still use salt for all those purposes to some extent, though flavour is the primary one. I still remember when I grazed my knee as a child, my mother would dissolve some salt in warm water and bathe the would with it. So we can get some idea of what Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples that they were the salt of the earth. But before we think about what that means for us let's just notice 2 things. First of all, he doesn't say you're to put salt into the earth. He doesn't say you're to purify the earth, or preserve it. He says you are the salt of the earth. This is essential to your being, to your identity as disciples of Christ.

   So when Jesus says we're the salt of the earth, he's saying that Christians have a role to play in history that will preserve, purify, flavour and cleanse society in a way that's almost inevitable. It's part of our identity as God's sons and daughters that we'll change the world. When Paul visited Thessalonica the comment was made by one of the officials there that 'these people who have been turning the world upside down have come here." If you think about all the things we love about Australian culture, a sense of fair play, an egalitarian attitude to people, a universal education and health system, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, most of those things arise out of the Christian heritage that's come down to us from our forebears.

   But the second thing to notice is that salt functions by getting into the thing it's meant to act on. You won't preserve something by waving a bag of salt over the top of it. The salt needs to be mixed into the thing it's going to preserve. If you want to clean a wound, you need to soak the wound in salt water. If you want your soup to taste better you have to mix the salt up in it. If you just put a heap of salt on the top of a bowl of porridge it'll taste terrible. But if you mix it in it'll be delicious. Now that tells us something about how we're to function if we're to be the salt of the earth, doesn't it? It means that we need to be engaged with the culture.

   It's no good saying we're going to keep ourselves pure by keeping out of anywhere that might taint us. That's what you might call the puritan fallacy. You see there's been a neo-puritan element in the church for a number of years that's said we need to keep ourselves apart from anything that might taint us. So we should avoid places like pubs or night clubs or race tracks where we might be led astray. We should keep out of politics because we know how hard it is to remain faithful in that sort of context. And so on.

   But can you see the fallacy of that approach? It's saying we need to keep ourselves pure, while Jesus says, you've been made pure, now get in there and begin to purify your world. It's taken the principles of the puritans, of purity and godliness, but it's misapplied them. You see the puritans got involved in their world. They got involved in politics. They connected with the ordinary working people. A lot of the Christian hymns we now sing were originally songs sung in pubs, that Christians added new words to. They were the rollicking tunes of the times. But this approach has said let's be not only not of the world, but lets keep out of it as much as possible.

   And do you see what the result of that approach has been? Like the heap of salt on the top of the porridge, these neo-puritans have left a bad taste in the mouth. People have come to see traditional Christianity as negative; killjoy. Jesus said I came that they might have life in abundance, but this approach has reduced life to a series of do's and don'ts. So the first question these people ask is should I risk it? And as a result Christianity has come to be seen as irrelevant and at worst as a joke.

   Again, don't miss the fact that Jesus is saying that we are the salt of the earth. This is not a command. It's a statement of fact. But there's a warning that follows immediately. He says "But if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?" There is a danger that our saltiness can be lost. We can become stale or insipid. Now that probably doesn't happen with real salt, but for us, it can easily happen. How? By us allowing ourselves to be absorbed into the culture, overcome by it. By us beginning to enjoy the culture to the point where we no longer see a need to transform it, to purify it. If we're to retain our saltiness then we're going to have to be counter cultural. We're going to have to have a radical element in our approach to life. That means that we'll need to show a certain degree of courage so we can stand before the pressures of the culture in which we're immersing ourselves. It's a hard thing to stand against the culture and say 'No, I'm not going to conform. I'm not going to fall into the trap of materialism, of workaholism, of needing more and more gadgets, bigger and better houses. I'm not going to teach my children that they have to be busy doing different activities every day if they're going to be happy.' But that won't be easy.

   If we're going to be salt in the world in which we live it'll affect our work life, our social life, our speech, our temper, our attitude to others; every aspect of our life. And as soon as we compromise in one of these areas we'll lose our effectiveness.

   Do you remember the promise God made to Abraham? He promised that through his descendant all people would be blessed. Well, we're part of that promise. We've received God's blessing as a free gift through Jesus Christ, but now we're put here to pass that blessing on. But Jesus gives us the severest warning possible. He says "If salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot." That is, if we lose our saltiness, if we compromise with the standards of the world, then we run the danger of losing the benefits of what God has given us. If we lose our counter cultural edge, our radical approach to life, then the world will cast us aside. It'll walk all over us, treat us as insipid, worthless, irrelevant. If you think about it, the fact that the world no longer considers us worth persecuting is a worse punishment than anything meted out to the early Christians. And why is that? Perhaps it's because the church, in the west at least, has adopted western culture as its own.

   Someone was telling me the other day that when they read that book, "The Heavenly Man" that Michael mentioned a few weeks ago, they felt terrible that we have it so easy here in Australia, while Christians in China and other places are persecuted so badly. Well, maybe we have it so easy because we've basically rolled over under the pressures of our culture, rather than working to transform the culture into something a little more like God would have it be. Maybe it's because we haven't raised our voices against the injustice and evils of our nation or our world. Maybe it's because we've confined our efforts to our own Christian community.

   The Micah challenge that Hao talked about a few weeks ago, is an opportunity for us to raise our voice against the insularity and self-centredness of the rich countries of the world, including our own. It's a movement that's arisen directly from Christians reading the books of Amos and Micah and seeing that God wants us to speak out against injustice in our world. If you haven't yet signed the Micah call, please add you name to the list. Don't let your voice be silenced by the powers of darkness in the world.

   But that brings us to the next picture. Again, it's a statement of reality, not a command to obey. "You are the light of the world." Literally, "the light of the cosmos". In the reading from Isaiah we saw how the Servant of the Lord is told "I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Jesus was sent to be a light that would bring salvation to the nations. So Jesus commissions his followers to continue that role. We too are called to be the light of the world, to bring God's salvation to the ends of the earth.

   But again, there's a warning. A city placed on a hill can always be seen. When someone lights a lamp they don't then place it under a basket. Here's the same principle as before. If we're to function as light in the world, then we need to be seen. It's no use being a Christian moving within your world if no-one knows you're a Christian. You may be able to act in some way as salt in your world, but not as light. If you're to bring the light of the knowledge of God to people then they need to know that you're a Christian. But having said that, notice that this isn't some difficult task Jesus is giving us. In fact it's the opposite. He says "You are the light of the world." You don't need to be anything special in order to show Christ's light to the world. Just being there will do that. But you do need to let your light shine. You do need to let people know why you behave differently to others; why your attitude is so counter cultural.

   And how will your light shine? Through people seeing your good works and giving glory to your Father in heaven. Again, unless they know you're a Christian then they're just as likely to give glory to your mother or your father or your private school for teaching you good values as a child.

   So here's something that every Christian is made for. We're built to be salt and light. This is not a matter of gifting, this is a matter of the nature of a Christian. If you're not shining as a light in the world, then there's something wrong. If you've lost your saltiness, then you'd better do something about it.

   What should we be like as a church? What should you and I be like as Christians within our community? We should be like salt that cleanses, purifies and preserves; that adds a pleasant flavour to life. We should be like a light that shines into the world showing the glory of God and offering the salvation that Jesus Christ brings for all people.

   How are we going to do that? First by making sure that people know the source of our lifestyle. That is, that our motivation isn't just a humanistic desire for the betterment of humanity, or a middle class niceness, but that it derives from the life of Christ within us.

   Then by making sure that we influence our culture not the other way round. That is that we maintain our cutting edge when it comes to reflecting on and commenting on the attitudes and behaviour of our world.

   And thirdly, by the way our lives show the light of Christ. That expression "good works" simply means "our lives". So our whole lives need to be lived to the glory of God. Whether it's as individuals or as a Church everything we do needs to be modified by this question: 'Will this bring glory to God?' I wonder how differently our lives would be lived if that were the question most often asked by each of us. And I wonder how much more effective we'd be in sharing the gospel if it were the glory of God that shaped our every action, our every word.

   As we begin to think about the year to come as a Church, let's make sure that that little phrase at the end of our mission statement has the greatest importance to us. Let me remind you again of our mission statement:

   To: Know Jesus Christ as Lord;
Make Christ known to others in the parish and beyond; and
Nurture and Disciple people in a mature Christian faith
For the Glory of God.

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	Sermon of the Week	Look up the passage
	22/11/04
	Salt and Light	Matt 5:13-16

	Well, here we are at our Annual General Meeting week again. So today I want to ask what should we be like as a church? What should we be like as a community within the wider community of Surrey Hills? What should you and I be like as Christians within that wider community? What's the most important thing for us to be concentrating on?
	Some people would say we should be emphasising our distinctiveness as the people of God. Some would say we should be working on purity of life. If you read the article in the Age yesterday about 'The Fellowship' you may have noticed that that was what they were trying to concentrate on as their fellowship grew. Others would say we should be encouraging one another to persevere in our faith. Others that we should be developing our spiritual gifts.
	But let me suggest, as worthy as all those aims may be, they're only secondary aims to what Jesus told his disciples in the sermon on the mount.
	Now this is important for us as we come to the end of another year and begin planning for the year to come. What is it that should shape our ministry, our activities next year and in the years following?
	Well, let's look at Matthew 5:13-16 and see what Jesus had to say to his disciples. Remember Jesus begins the sermon on the mount with a list of blessings that come to those who behave in a way that reflects their relationship with God. So those things I mentioned at first, purity of life, godliness of behaviour, spiritual gifts, fruit of the spirit, they're all important aspects of the Christian's life. But having listed those character traits, he immediately turns to his disciples and tells them what their essential identity consists of.
	He says: "You are the salt of the earth." Actually, it's a bit stronger than that. The Greek puts an emphasis on the 'You'. It's as though he's saying "You guys, yes you, you're the salt of the earth." Well, what is it about salt that's important? We don't necessarily pick upon this today do we? These days salt is an evil food. It causes high blood pressure, heart disease, increased risk of stroke. I read this week that apparently, corn flakes and rice bubbles are now considered dangerous because they contain more salt than a packet of potato crisps.
	So we need to translate a little when we read that we're the salt of the earth. Salt actually has 4 characteristics that were important in Jesus' day. First of all, it brings out the flavour in food. If you've ever had a bowl of vegetable soup that doesn't have any salt in it you'll know what a difference even a small amount makes. Secondly it preserves. Before the invention of refrigeration, salt was the main method of maintaining a supply of perishable foods through the winter months. Related to that is the fact that salt purifies. The ancient Egyptians apparently used salt rubs as a way of cleansing their skin. So next time you women go to the beauty counter to buy that expensive skin cleanser, just ask yourself whether all that money might be wasted when you could do a similar job with a little salt. (Yes, I know it wouldn't smell or feel nearly as good would it?) Finally, salt was used as an antiseptic.
	Now we still use salt for all those purposes to some extent, though flavour is the primary one. I still remember when I grazed my knee as a child, my mother would dissolve some salt in warm water and bathe the would with it. So we can get some idea of what Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples that they were the salt of the earth. But before we think about what that means for us let's just notice 2 things. First of all, he doesn't say you're to put salt into the earth. He doesn't say you're to purify the earth, or preserve it. He says you are the salt of the earth. This is essential to your being, to your identity as disciples of Christ.
	So when Jesus says we're the salt of the earth, he's saying that Christians have a role to play in history that will preserve, purify, flavour and cleanse society in a way that's almost inevitable. It's part of our identity as God's sons and daughters that we'll change the world. When Paul visited Thessalonica the comment was made by one of the officials there that 'these people who have been turning the world upside down have come here." If you think about all the things we love about Australian culture, a sense of fair play, an egalitarian attitude to people, a universal education and health system, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, most of those things arise out of the Christian heritage that's come down to us from our forebears.
	But the second thing to notice is that salt functions by getting into the thing it's meant to act on. You won't preserve something by waving a bag of salt over the top of it. The salt needs to be mixed into the thing it's going to preserve. If you want to clean a wound, you need to soak the wound in salt water. If you want your soup to taste better you have to mix the salt up in it. If you just put a heap of salt on the top of a bowl of porridge it'll taste terrible. But if you mix it in it'll be delicious. Now that tells us something about how we're to function if we're to be the salt of the earth, doesn't it? It means that we need to be engaged with the culture.
	It's no good saying we're going to keep ourselves pure by keeping out of anywhere that might taint us. That's what you might call the puritan fallacy. You see there's been a neo-puritan element in the church for a number of years that's said we need to keep ourselves apart from anything that might taint us. So we should avoid places like pubs or night clubs or race tracks where we might be led astray. We should keep out of politics because we know how hard it is to remain faithful in that sort of context. And so on.
	But can you see the fallacy of that approach? It's saying we need to keep ourselves pure, while Jesus says, you've been made pure, now get in there and begin to purify your world. It's taken the principles of the puritans, of purity and godliness, but it's misapplied them. You see the puritans got involved in their world. They got involved in politics. They connected with the ordinary working people. A lot of the Christian hymns we now sing were originally songs sung in pubs, that Christians added new words to. They were the rollicking tunes of the times. But this approach has said let's be not only not of the world, but lets keep out of it as much as possible.
	And do you see what the result of that approach has been? Like the heap of salt on the top of the porridge, these neo-puritans have left a bad taste in the mouth. People have come to see traditional Christianity as negative; killjoy. Jesus said I came that they might have life in abundance, but this approach has reduced life to a series of do's and don'ts. So the first question these people ask is should I risk it? And as a result Christianity has come to be seen as irrelevant and at worst as a joke.
	Again, don't miss the fact that Jesus is saying that we are the salt of the earth. This is not a command. It's a statement of fact. But there's a warning that follows immediately. He says "But if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?" There is a danger that our saltiness can be lost. We can become stale or insipid. Now that probably doesn't happen with real salt, but for us, it can easily happen. How? By us allowing ourselves to be absorbed into the culture, overcome by it. By us beginning to enjoy the culture to the point where we no longer see a need to transform it, to purify it. If we're to retain our saltiness then we're going to have to be counter cultural. We're going to have to have a radical element in our approach to life. That means that we'll need to show a certain degree of courage so we can stand before the pressures of the culture in which we're immersing ourselves. It's a hard thing to stand against the culture and say 'No, I'm not going to conform. I'm not going to fall into the trap of materialism, of workaholism, of needing more and more gadgets, bigger and better houses. I'm not going to teach my children that they have to be busy doing different activities every day if they're going to be happy.' But that won't be easy.
	If we're going to be salt in the world in which we live it'll affect our work life, our social life, our speech, our temper, our attitude to others; every aspect of our life. And as soon as we compromise in one of these areas we'll lose our effectiveness.
	Do you remember the promise God made to Abraham? He promised that through his descendant all people would be blessed. Well, we're part of that promise. We've received God's blessing as a free gift through Jesus Christ, but now we're put here to pass that blessing on. But Jesus gives us the severest warning possible. He says "If salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot." That is, if we lose our saltiness, if we compromise with the standards of the world, then we run the danger of losing the benefits of what God has given us. If we lose our counter cultural edge, our radical approach to life, then the world will cast us aside. It'll walk all over us, treat us as insipid, worthless, irrelevant. If you think about it, the fact that the world no longer considers us worth persecuting is a worse punishment than anything meted out to the early Christians. And why is that? Perhaps it's because the church, in the west at least, has adopted western culture as its own.
	Someone was telling me the other day that when they read that book, "The Heavenly Man" that Michael mentioned a few weeks ago, they felt terrible that we have it so easy here in Australia, while Christians in China and other places are persecuted so badly. Well, maybe we have it so easy because we've basically rolled over under the pressures of our culture, rather than working to transform the culture into something a little more like God would have it be. Maybe it's because we haven't raised our voices against the injustice and evils of our nation or our world. Maybe it's because we've confined our efforts to our own Christian community.
	The Micah challenge that Hao talked about a few weeks ago, is an opportunity for us to raise our voice against the insularity and self-centredness of the rich countries of the world, including our own. It's a movement that's arisen directly from Christians reading the books of Amos and Micah and seeing that God wants us to speak out against injustice in our world. If you haven't yet signed the Micah call, please add you name to the list. Don't let your voice be silenced by the powers of darkness in the world.
	But that brings us to the next picture. Again, it's a statement of reality, not a command to obey. "You are the light of the world." Literally, "the light of the cosmos". In the reading from Isaiah we saw how the Servant of the Lord is told "I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Jesus was sent to be a light that would bring salvation to the nations. So Jesus commissions his followers to continue that role. We too are called to be the light of the world, to bring God's salvation to the ends of the earth.
	But again, there's a warning. A city placed on a hill can always be seen. When someone lights a lamp they don't then place it under a basket. Here's the same principle as before. If we're to function as light in the world, then we need to be seen. It's no use being a Christian moving within your world if no-one knows you're a Christian. You may be able to act in some way as salt in your world, but not as light. If you're to bring the light of the knowledge of God to people then they need to know that you're a Christian. But having said that, notice that this isn't some difficult task Jesus is giving us. In fact it's the opposite. He says "You are the light of the world." You don't need to be anything special in order to show Christ's light to the world. Just being there will do that. But you do need to let your light shine. You do need to let people know why you behave differently to others; why your attitude is so counter cultural.
	And how will your light shine? Through people seeing your good works and giving glory to your Father in heaven. Again, unless they know you're a Christian then they're just as likely to give glory to your mother or your father or your private school for teaching you good values as a child.
	So here's something that every Christian is made for. We're built to be salt and light. This is not a matter of gifting, this is a matter of the nature of a Christian. If you're not shining as a light in the world, then there's something wrong. If you've lost your saltiness, then you'd better do something about it.
	What should we be like as a church? What should you and I be like as Christians within our community? We should be like salt that cleanses, purifies and preserves; that adds a pleasant flavour to life. We should be like a light that shines into the world showing the glory of God and offering the salvation that Jesus Christ brings for all people.
	How are we going to do that? First by making sure that people know the source of our lifestyle. That is, that our motivation isn't just a humanistic desire for the betterment of humanity, or a middle class niceness, but that it derives from the life of Christ within us.
	Then by making sure that we influence our culture not the other way round. That is that we maintain our cutting edge when it comes to reflecting on and commenting on the attitudes and behaviour of our world.
	And thirdly, by the way our lives show the light of Christ. That expression "good works" simply means "our lives". So our whole lives need to be lived to the glory of God. Whether it's as individuals or as a Church everything we do needs to be modified by this question: 'Will this bring glory to God?' I wonder how differently our lives would be lived if that were the question most often asked by each of us. And I wonder how much more effective we'd be in sharing the gospel if it were the glory of God that shaped our every action, our every word.
	As we begin to think about the year to come as a Church, let's make sure that that little phrase at the end of our mission statement has the greatest importance to us. Let me remind you again of our mission statement:
	To: Know Jesus Christ as Lord; Make Christ known to others in the parish and beyond; and Nurture and Disciple people in a mature Christian faith For the Glory of God.