Salt And Light

“If you want to change the world, start by making your bed.”  (chuckles)

Some of you may recognize that line from the 2014 commencement address that Admiral William McRaven gave at the University of Texas in Austin, which went viral a few years ago and has subsequently been made into a book. Admiral McRaven was reminding those graduates, and everyone who heard his voice, of the power of the little things, our choices, our habits, our influence, that every single one of us has been entrusted with a sphere of influence. We have a home, or a neighborhood, a workplace, a school, a gym, filled with people and friends and family. And the choices we make, the habits we form, the influence we wield shapes and molds and changes our little corner of the world for better or for worse. And, of course, changing the whole world is hard and almost impossible, right? But changing your world, my world, our worlds, that starts when we make our beds and set our little corner of the world to rights, and bring blessing and healing and renewal into our sphere of relationships, a little order in all the chaos, a little kindness in all the criticism, a little light in all the darkness, a little hope in all the despair. It’s the little things that end up changing the world, isn’t it?

And it’s not as if this idea is altogether new. In fact, Jesus makes much the same point in His Sermon on the Mount some 2,000 years ago, but instead of an analogy about making your bed, Jesus talks about the imagery about being salt and light. Small ordinary things, salt and light, make massive, extraordinary influence on its surroundings, and according to Jesus, if we want to change the world, we start off by being salt and light.

Grab your Bibles. We’re going to be in Matthew 5:13–16 this morning. You’ll find today’s reading on page 810 in the pew Bible there by your knees. Let’s read these four verses and jump in together.

Matthew 5:13–16: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven.”

Thanks be to the Lord for the reading of His Word.

In these four verses Jesus is giving us a road map. He is teaching us how to change our world. And in order to do that, to understand what He’s saying here, we need to examine The Overlap of the kingdoms, The Dynamics of Salt and Light, and The Calling of Holy Presence.

Those are our three buckets for this morning: The Overlap of the kingdoms, The Dynamics of Salt and Light, and The Calling of Holy Presence.

Would you bow your heads as we turn to God’s Word and ask Him to be our teacher?

Father, we come here today, the ground is covered with snow, and it is cold and gray. We pray that the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would break through into our lives. Help us see ourselves with clarity. Help us live boldly and courageously in the life of the kingdom of heaven for Jesus’ sake, Amen. Amen.

First of all, The Overlap of the Kingdoms, the Overlap of the Kingdoms. Before we jump into these four verses, what I want to do is remind us of what Jesus has been saying. Jesus has announced that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In other words, the kingdom is on offer in Himself. He said this in chapter 4, verse 17. If anyone would reach out to Him, take His hand, follow Him, they will experience the abundant life of the kingdom of heaven. It will be theirs. It will be theirs for the taking.

It’s a remarkable offer, isn’t it? You may not be much in the kingdoms of Earth, even be poor. You may be mourning. You may be meek and powerless and persecuted, and yet in the kingdom of heaven that is on offer in Jesus Christ, there is a blessedness of abundant life that can be yours now and forever. You can be penniless in the kingdom of Earth and have a treasure in the kingdom of heaven, Amen? You can be scorned in the kingdom of Earth, and yet be crowned with glory in the kingdom of heaven, Amen? You can be a nobody in the kingdom of Earth, and yet be an eternal child of God in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

You see, Jesus is showing us that the universe, as it really is, has two overlapping kingdoms, two overlapping kingdom realities. There’s the kingdom of Earth and then there’s the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of Earth, that’s the one we know so very well, the material world. It’s the world we perceive with our senses. It’s the world of politics and survival and conflict over limited resources. It’s the dog-eat-dog kingdom of Earth. But according to Jesus, there’s another kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, a spiritual kingdom, one we can perceive with our souls, where God reigns as king, and He lavishes His good gifts in abundance. It’s a grace-upon-grace kingdom of heaven. And we don’t have an option of whether we’re going to live in the kingdom Earth. We’re simply born into this world. But we do have the option of whether we will live in the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand in Jesus Christ. If we will follow Him into the the life of the abundance of the kingdom of heaven everything changes. It’s one thing to be alive in the kingdom of Earth, to live in the reality and resources that are on offer in this kingdom. But it’s another thing altogether to be alive in the kingdom of heaven, to live in the reality and resources that are on offer and available in Jesus Christ.

When Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He’s inviting us, don’t you see? He’s inviting us to take Him up on His offer to step with Him into a bigger, wider, fuller way of life, to live in ultimate reality, to live in the abundance of resources that are available in the kingdom of heaven. And it’s theirs for the taking. It’s right here, right now.

Jesus is right. There is more to life than meets the eye, and we can spend all of our lives living for this world, for this kingdom, this kingdom of Earth as if this is all there really is in life, but if we do that, we’re not living in reality—not all of it, because we were meant to live for so much more. We were meant to live in the kingdom of heaven. We were meant to be alive to the presence and power of God Himself, drawing resources into ourselves from the kingdom of heaven so that we might live.

Every moment, friends, of every day is an opportunity to be with Jesus, and live in the reality and resources of the kingdom of heaven. Every moment of every day is an opportunity to be with Jesus and to live in the reality and the resources of the kingdom of heaven. And as we’ve seen, that’s what all these blessed people are doing. These people, these nine-fold list of blessed people that Jesus opens His Sermon on the Mount listing here, these people are living in a bigger universe. They’re not just living in the kingdom of Earth. They are living in light of the kingdom of heaven. They’re living in the reality and resources of the kingdom of heaven, even as they live on Earth.

Look at these. Listen, you can handle spiritual bankruptcy in the kingdom of Earth if you are trusting in the riches of grace that are yours in the kingdom of heaven.

You can mourn openly in the kingdom of Earth if you know that the God of all comfort is near and is at hand in the kingdom of heaven and will never leave you or forsake you.

You can meekly let other people go first in the kingdom of Earth if you know you have an unshakable inheritance in the kingdom of heaven that will never perish, spoil, or fade. It is kept for you.

You can endure unrighteousness in this kingdom of Earth if you know that one day justice will be satisfied in the kingdom of heaven.

You can keep giving mercy to undeserving people in the kingdom of Earth if you know there’s an unending fountain of mercy that is yours in the kingdom of heaven.

You can be modest and pure, never turning a head in the kingdom of Earth if you know that you will see the face of God in the kingdom of heaven.

You can absorb wrongs, the wrongdoing of other people, with forgiveness in the kingdom of Earth if it means you will become ultimately like your Father in the kingdom of heaven.

You can face all kinds of persecution and rejection in the kingdom of Earth if you know there will be honor and glory forever in the kingdom of heaven.

See, this list that Jesus opens up with is a list of blessed people. They’re simply blessed, not because they have anything particularly going for them on this Earth, but because they are alive to the reality and the resources of the kingdom of heaven that are on offer in Jesus Christ. These people are living in the kingdom of Earth, but they are living for the kingdom of heaven, and it is these upside-down “kingdom-blessed” people that Jesus has in mind when He says in verses 13 and 14, “You are the salt of the earth,” “You are the light of the world.” You, you who live in the overlap of these kingdoms, who live on Earth with an eye on heaven.

Now, let’s look at The Dynamics of Salt and Light.

Verse 13: “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.”

Now, what does it mean when Jesus says those who follow Him in the abundant life of the kingdom of heaven are like “the salt of the earth”? What does this mean? Well, in the ancient world, salt had two primary functions. First, well, let me just give them to you and then we’ll walk through.

Salt served as both a preservative and a seasoning. A preservative and a seasoning.

First, a preservative: Salt acts, I don’t know if you know this, salt acts as a kind of antiseptic. It prevents decay. It keeps decay from setting in. In the days before refrigeration, salt was the essential way that people cured and preserved their meat.

Jesus is saying that His followers, when they live in the reality and resources of the kingdom of heaven in this world, have a preserving influence on the decay of the world around them. Wherever the world is breaking, we are there to mend. Wherever it is decaying, we are there to heal. Wherever it is faltering, we are there to strengthen. This is why, by the way, the followers of Jesus Christ have always been at the forefront of medicine, building hospitals, and orphanages, and homeless shelters, and disaster relief agencies, and crisis pregnancy centers. To be salt is to be a preservative in the decaying world around us. That’s the first image, preservative, a preservation presence.

The second idea here is seasoning. Seasoning. Salt, just as we do today, we salt our food in order to bring out the flavor, don’t we? It accentuates the palate. It seasons for taste. So in this idea Jesus is saying that His followers, when they live in the reality and resources of the kingdom of heaven right here in this world, are drawing out the flavor of the world around them. It’s here to cultivate the beauty of God’s creation. We are here to draw out its goodness. We are here to enhance the wonder of all that God has made. This is why, again, followers of Jesus have always been investing in the forefront of music and the arts because as dark as this world is, there is still much light to be found. We are here to draw out the beauty of the world around us. We are here to adorn the darkness. We are here to season and savor this world. To be salt is to be a seasoning in the world around us. That’s the first metaphor. You are the salt of the earth.

Let’s look at the second one. Verses 14 to 16: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

What does Jesus mean when He says that those who follow Him in the abundant life of the kingdom of heaven are like “the light of the world”? What does that mean? It’s just like salt had two primary uses, light had two primary features in the ancient world.

Light served as both a deterrent and a beacon; a deterrent and a beacon. First, deterrent. Light, if you think about it, keeps the darkness at bay, doesn’t it? That’s why we turn on the lights when we go on vacation. You leave a light on with the timer, right? Why do you do that? Light keeps the darkness at bay. That’s why we have security lamps outside our homes. Light drives the darkness away. And Jesus is saying that His followers, when we live in the reality and resources of the kingdom of heaven right here, right now, we are like light that drives the darkness into the shadows, that evil that is arrested when goodness is around, that by our very presence in the world, God’s people, we drive the darkness back.

A great example of this is the role that someone like Willian Wilberforce provided in the abolition movement, getting rid of the slave trade. It was the light of the Gospel that drove out so much darkness.

To be the light is to be a deterrent to keep the darkness at bay. Secondly, it’s to be a beacon. Think about it. If you’re lost in the desert outside of Jerusalem, you’re out in the middle of the desert somewhere, and all of a sudden you look up and you see a city of light on the hill in the dead of night, that’s a beacon, isn’t it? It’s a beacon of hope, of refuge. It’s a vision of life. I’m not going to die in the darkness. There’s a future. It’s salvation. It’s right there.

And Jesus is saying that His followers, when we live in the light of the kingdom of heaven, and the reality and resources of the kingdom of heaven right here, right now, we’re like a light shining, a ray of hope and life and salvation in a dark world, that Jesus is the way, that abundant life is on offer in Him, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand, shining in this dark world. Which is why followers of Jesus Christ build so many churches and spend so many resources to make sure the good news of Jesus Christ is proclaimed to every nation on this Earth. To be light is to be a beacon of hope to the world.

Do you see what Jesus is doing here in these metaphors? He’s showing us how to change the world. This is so much better than just “get up and make your bed in the morning” (as helpful as that really is, it gets you moving). But Jesus is telling us wherever you go, wherever you live, work, learn, or play, you go with the resources and the reality of the kingdom of heaven, you bear those resources in the world that are poured in you through Jesus Christ, and so you go. You go to arrest the decay of the world that is falling apart. You go to adorn the beauty of this world around you. You go to drive back the darkness wherever you see it. You go to shine hope for a lost world. “If you want to change the world,” Jesus says, “start off by being salt and light.” Salt and light.

Now, to be this kind of salt and light that changes the world you’ve got to avoid two things. There are two errors we’ve got to avoid. Jesus talks about both of them. The first one is syncretism. That’s a good word, syncretism.

Syncretism is when we try to fit in with the world around us, and go with the flow and compromise. It’s when we try to blend in with the world around us. It’s like a chameleon, a chameleon that blends in with its surroundings and loses, you can’t even distinguish it from its surroundings. We act this way when we want to be so accepted by those in the kingdom of this Earth that we slowly give in, we slowly fade, we slowly become like everyone else around us, and in the end we find ourselves disloyal to the way and teachings of Jesus. So many have gone down this path. And to use the language of Jesus, what happens is we lose our saltiness. We lose our saltiness, our flavor, our preservative influence. We are good for nothing, Jesus says.

In Jesus’ day, salt was mined or scraped off the Dead Sea Shores and so it wasn’t one-hundred percent pure, and when the salt had leached out of it, they just had dirt, and they just threw it out. Jesus said, “Look, salt only works if it’s salty, if it’s distinct. It has to be different from the world around it or it’s useless. It can’t arrest decay. It can’t season. If it loses its distinction from the surrounding world, it is utter uselessness.”

Friends, syncretism means losing our holiness, our identity as the people of God, and it’s way too big a price to pay. You can’t go there.

The second error is an equal but opposite error, and that’s separatism. Separatism is when we separate, when we hide out from the big, bad world around us, where we form a Christian bubble for protection. (Chuckle) If syncretism is a chameleon, separatism is a turtle: pull into the shell, form a hard barrier, and stay inside where it’s safe; hide out from our surroundings.

Turtle-postured people are so concerned about being tainted by those in the kingdom of Earth that we disengage and we lose contact with the very people Jesus has sent us to be salt and light to. To use the language of Jesus, we hide our light, we put it under a basket and keep it for ourselves, which is, of course, dangerous because the basket usually lights on fire (laughs).

Our light was always meant to shine, friends. It was meant to come into contact with the darkness and drive it back, and be a beacon of hope. It’s meant to be seen. It’s meant to be showered out into the universe, so that others might see and give glory to God our Father who is in heaven. Light only works if it shines. It only works if it’s pushing back the darkness. It only works if it’s giving hope to the lost. Friends, separatism means losing our presence in the lost world that Jesus has sent us to be a light, to redeem and draw to Himself. And friends, that is too big a price to pay.

To be salt and light, we’ve got to avoid both syncretism and separatism. Instead Jesus calls us to embrace The Calling of Holy Presence, The Calling of Holy Presence. Friends, Jesus calls us to be a people holy unto the Lord who are also fully present in this lost world.

Do you see the tension? We are a people holy unto the Lord. We are to maintain our distinctiveness, our saltiness, the purity of our light. And we are to be fully present in this lost world. We are to maintain proximity, to be in full contact with the decaying world, to drive back the darkness, to give a light of hope to those who are lost.

Don’t you see Jesus models for us this kind of life in the incarnation? Jesus, when He came and became fully human, fully proximate, all the way down to be with us in our brokenness and sin. He never lost His holiness before God, did He? He never lost His identity as the Son of God, and yet He was fully present and engaged with lost people. He ate with sinners and tax collectors and yet He never became a sinner Himself. Holiness and presence at once! The salt of the Earth, the Light of the world. And so you and me, we are called to be holy unto the Lord, to maintain our saltiness, and to be fully present in this lost world, and to let our light shine.

Or to say it another way, the old way, we are to be in the world, but not of the world. In the world, but not of the world. We are to be fully engaged citizens, residents of the kingdom of Earth, and yet maintain a life wholly in our ultimate citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. This is a tension, friends. It’s a balance, like an arch that is held up in the middle by two opposing forces that seem like opposites and yet, in the tension, support and provide stability and structure. We are to be both holy and present. It is the tension of an incarnational life. This is what we are called to.

Now, here’s the challenge. Jesus is probably the only one who managed to integrate heavenly holiness and earthly presence with perfect balance and precision. Okay? Anybody else feel like they’ve got that down? The rest of us we lean, don’t we? We lean toward one side or the other. The tension in the arch is stronger maybe on one side or the other, and so we kick and we lift one way or the other.

Do you know which way you lean? Do you lean toward syncretism or separatism? You probably lean one of those two ways. I do. Now maybe you don’t know which way you lean. Here’s a helpful test. Which of the two errors do you feel, do you tend to think is more dangerous? Separatism, where you hide out from the world, and have no contact? Is that the thing you fear the most, that that’s the thing that the church gets wrong. Or do you most fear syncretism, being sucked in and becoming more like the world around you? Whichever one you think is more dangerous, you’re probably overreacting the opposite way. Does that make sense? Whichever one you think is the biggest threat, you are probably doing the opposite. So once you know which way you lean, the question is what will you do about it?

If you lean toward syncretism, the question is where is God calling you to live in radical holiness before Him? If you lean toward separatism, the question is where is God calling you toward radical presence in this world?

The takeaway is simple: “Go and be the church.” (laughs) We say that every week. Now you know what we mean when we say, “Go and be the church.” This is what it means. It means go and scatter and be like salt and light in the universe. Go. Be the holy people of God. Wherever you go, shine, be salty. Go and be fully present in a lost and a dying world, shining the light of Christ. Go, scatter, shine! Go live in the reality and resources of the kingdom of heaven that are yours in Jesus Christ. Drink deeply of the kingdom of heaven that is yours in Jesus. Be filled with the life of the kingdom of heaven, and then go pour yourself out.

Go arrest the decay of the world that is falling apart wherever you live. Go adorn the darkness wherever you reside. Go drive back the corners of darkness wherever you live. Go shine hope to lost people everywhere. Go and be the church! (applause)

Friends, if you want to change the world, start off by being salt and light. We are the people of God, called by His name to mission, on mission with Jesus, filled with the Spirit, tethered to the resources of the kingdom of heaven, who are scattered out to change the world.

Salt and light in the kingdom of heaven.

Let’s pray.

Father, everybody wants to change the world, and nobody wants to make their bed. (chuckles) Teach us to do the little things in the power and presence of Jesus Christ, to love difficult people, to forgive those who wound us, to let others go first, to bring healing and blessing and renewal into all of our spaces, into all of our relationships.

There are so many people in Chicago and in this world, and a huge number of them will never come to church, but the good news is that the church goes to every single one of them. We gather here to be filled up and we scatter to pour ourselves out for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

May our lives matter. May our souls be contagious. May people far from Jesus but near to us be drawn to the life and light and salt of the kingdom of heaven. Fill us, we pray. Use us for Jesus’ sake. Help us change our way for the glory of your name, Amen.