Salt and Light for God's Glory

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.

Salt is a seasoning used to add flavor, to improve flavor. It's also a preservative. It keeps food longer. It slows down decay. It draws out water. Salt is also a purifier. It's used in the grain offering in Leviticus. Salt can also destroy. If you don't want vegetation to grow in a certain part of your property, lay down some salt. It will kill any kind of vegetation there, which kind of makes it interesting that it's the salt of the earth. Obviously, that isn't literal because it's meant to be a blessing. We're to be a salt to fellow humans. We're to seek to be restorative and to improve and to enhance, to change a taste of this world. You see, the idea is there's some way in which we're living as citizens of the heavenly kingdom. We're living under Christ's rule in the midst of the domain of darkness, in the midst of those who are living under Satan's rule, in the midst of those who are still following the deceptive desires of their heart. And there's a way in which the way we live is meant to be salt. It's supposed to be different. It's supposed to enhance their desire for what life is supposed to look like, what human flourishing actually would be like. It relates to and reflects Jesus. It's supposed to give them a taste of what Jesus is like. It's supposed to help them have a hunger and thirst for who Christ truly is in righteousness. The goal of the Christian life is to bless others so that they may actually want to receive and enjoy all the blessings of Christ that we have. Now being salt, as a warning here, comes on the heels of That last beatitude, the last blessing, that's actually a double blessing. Blessed are those who are persecuted. Blessed are those who are persecuted. Blessed are you when you're persecuted for my name's sake. Rejoice and be glad. I believe there's a significant hinge here there and a connection that when we're being persecuted, the temptation would be to stop being faithful. release the pressure of the temptation, which would mean we would stop wanting to be faithful and true. The warning aspect, I believe, is speaking especially to those who would be afraid of the temptation, afraid of the persecution, afraid of the threats, afraid of the danger, and want to shy away from being a citizen of heaven who is making God's will known in this earth. What's really amazing is how some people, by God's common grace, they will see the truth of Christianity and some of its goodness, short of believing in Jesus and actually appreciate the way in which Christians teach human dignity, the way in which common grace, even on the heels of new atheism of all places, created this thing, cultural Christianity, where they refuse to believe anything of Jesus Christ and his incarnation and his death on the cross and his resurrection, but they really like the morals of the church. There's a way in which we can see there's a way, if we just live God's truth, if we teach people what God has said, there's a way in which it's salt, it's preserving, it's good. Now, the question, if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? Well, I want to be very clear, that is a terrifying warning. There's other places in scripture where you hear different terrifying warnings that are actually much more explicit. But I want to be clear, I believe the warning is do not deny Christ in the midst of persecution. As you're being persecuted for his name's sake, for righteousness, do not shy away from being faithful to him. Do not forsake him. The question he asks about salt is can it be restored? If you're wrestling with now some moment this week where you could have shared the gospel, you think, I had an opportunity and I did it, I shied away. Did I lose my saltiness? Did I forsake Christ in a way that I'm in danger now? I think if we all looked around the room, we would all say we've all failed to always be as faithful as we could be in every moment where we could have shared the gospel. Let me be clear about that restoration aspect. We come as people who are dead and are given life, people who have forsaken God but have been reconciled to him. That question about salt and how it loses its saltiness, the key thing we believe is a God who is full of mercy upon mercy where sin abounds, grace abounds. He is the one who restores the dead to new life. His challenge here is, If we stop being salty, who could ever restore it? That does need to weigh in. But Christian, if you're convicted about not being as faithful and salty as you could always be, you look up to God and you ask for mercy and grace and faithfulness. The warning continues. It's no longer good for anything. If salt has lost its saltiness, it's worthless. It's lost its one contribution and so it's thrown out and trampled upon men's feet. And it does seem, if the parallel works, that this is the world throwing out the unsalty salt. Throwing it out as in it's worthless. Why would we even keep it? It does nothing other than make a path because it doesn't allow anything to grow. It's a scary judgment. It's kind of interesting to think about it in this way, that if it is a stewardship Imagine someone from another country. They're sent here to be an intentional representative of that country. They're supposed to come and teach the ways of their country and their customs, their language, their food, their clothing, their arts. But as soon as they arrive, they really embrace McDonald's. They quickly love to go to the mall or the Target or wherever folks get clothes these days, Amazon, and they change the way they look, they change the food they eat, they set aside all their country's customs, and well, they just start looking and acting and sounding just like us. Well, that's not helping anybody. They're failing their own country and they're failing us because they're supposed to come and teach us, be a representative of that other country, but they've become just like us. Christian, that's the danger we face. We're in the world, we're not of the world. There's supposed to be something so significantly different about us as citizens in our character, in our speech, in our conduct. that we are seeking to make God's will known to the world by the way we live and the way we speak and who we proclaim, the king we have allegiance to. Here's the most basic foundation of being faithful and persevering through persecution. Truly trusting God, His will, and His word is what teaches us what true humanity and human flourishing is. Discounting the lie that the world's constantly telling you. Impurity is how you learn how to really enjoy life. No, purity is how you get to see God and be who he has called you to be. First, the warning, do not lose your saltiness. Be faithful. Well, the second is you are the light of the world. Shine as a light to be seen so they look to God. We're called to be light. And again, this isn't light in ourselves. This is us knowing the true light of the world, Jesus Christ, and then making him known. Matthew 14, Matthew 4, 16, again, he's already been declared the one who's shining the light in the darkness to the area of Galilee. John 1, 9 to 12, in the Gospel of John's prologue, makes it very clear John the Baptist was not the light, but Jesus, he has come to be the true light of the world. He shines in the darkness and the darkness does not know him. We read earlier, 1 Peter 2, we're called out of darkness and into his marvelous light. And then John's epistles make it very clear, if we are going to be in the light, we walk in his light. Significant background is the world's full of darkness. Deceitful desires, corruption, destruction, folly. Man has a dark understanding of God and we are supposed to go out and make God known. That's what it means to be light, the light of the world. To be light in the middle of the darkness. The king of light has come to shine upon us. His Holy Spirit has come to illuminate our own hearts so we can see Him more clearly, and the Holy Spirit comes upon us so that we can proclaim Him boldly to make His light known. You are the light of the world. Christian, believe you are the light the world needs. You are the light the world needs. There is no light other than Jesus. There is no light other than Jesus because there is no other mercy for sinners unless they know Jesus. There is no other light other than Jesus because there's no other way to see the face of God except in Christ Jesus. You are the light of the world. There is no other way to be adopted in the family of God and know the love of God except through his son Jesus. Christian, you must understand you are the light of the world and we are the only light because Christ has sent us out to be his representative. If you're a believer this morning, I want to make sure you understand we don't boast of being light in ourselves. We only seek to be faithful to the God who's given us light. And the first thing we see in his light is how sinful we are. We're guilty of not worshiping God the way we ought. We're guilty of not obeying his commands as he's given that are good We deserve punishment, death, and His wrath. But the God of love is the God of light. He's come. The Father sent His Son to become like us in every way, except for sin, so He could die in our place, so we could be forgiven. He's risen again to now give us new life. That's the light we've received, and that's the light we offer. That is a light that will truly give you the hope you're longing for, the joy, you're working for, a peace with God, you must believe in Jesus. That is the only way to receive his light, to know his light, and then you too can make his light known. Notice the way Jesus teaches the light is necessary.

A city 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.

These two are both examples of why light is so necessary. The first one, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. And I had always read this as if it were a city in a hill at dark with light. But that's not because we're talking about light. I think he's speaking of if you walk past a mountain and you see in broad daylight a city, it can't be hidden. There's something comical. Would people try to sew a bunch of blankets together and hide a city? Or is a city hiding behind a tree? What's going on here? It's meant to be somewhat ridiculous. It is impossible for a city on a hill to be hidden. It's in broad daylight. You see it. It's obvious. But then it's even more of a practical point. Who would light a lamp and then cover it? Now there, darkness is assumed. It's nighttime. You want to come together as a family and see each other's faces in a conversation or read something together, so you need light. Why would you light something and then hide it? That's ridiculous. Not as impossible, but absolutely, utterly ridiculous. Light in darkness is meant to be seen. A city on a hill must be seen. You are the light of the world. You're necessary. You must be seen. Verse 16 makes it connect to us in the same way. As much as the thing itself is revealed, right? Light shines light. Water is wet. There's a necessary relationship of what it is to what it does. Now in the same way, let your light Shine before men, before others. There's an intentionality there. You know the light, Jesus Christ. You've received the light by the Holy Spirit so that you can see Jesus all the more clearly. You have the light of God, and now as you are the light to the world, shine. Let your light shine before others. There's an intentionality of what Jesus is saying. Let your works go before men. Whatever your theology of works is, whatever your definition of legalism is, Jesus is telling you what must fit into it. You must do good works before men so they see the Father. If you are the light, you will do good works before men. This is similar to James 2.

Faith without works is dead.

The most significant word in that passage is show. Show your faith with works. If your faith has nothing to show for it, it isn't clearly alive or saving. A saving faith shows work. Faith that is seen and shown in the church where we learn what light is. We're coming together to hunger and thirst after God, to know what it means to be light, to be merciful, to be pure, so that we know what his light is, so that we can shine brighter and more faithful. We're supposed to shine his light with our good works before men. Now, I love a good counterfactual, so you should flip over to Matthew 6. It's the same sermon, same section. We wanna flip over to Matthew 6 and we're gonna see maybe a counterfactual to wrestle with and that's where he says,

be careful of practicing before men to be seen by them.

And then he declares no reward, you will have no reward for your father who's in heaven. Verses three and four, do not give in order to be seen by men. No, it's supposed to be in private and your father in heaven will see it. Well, our text says to shine before men so they give glory to the Father. You see, the difference with those two texts is he's warning us of giving before men, doing good works for men so that we would receive the praise. The warning there is do not do good works so that others will esteem you, think much of you. No, the good works of the true God of light is that the good works are pointing to him so they would see him more clearly. Shine your light before men so that they might give, so they might see your good works and give glory to our Father. We're called to be salt and light in a public way. Christ came to be publicly known. Christ came to be publicly crucified. He came and was testified by eyewitnesses of the resurrection and now he sent us out to be his light, to shine as lights to reflect him. If you want to do good works before men, you must know Christ and his life. Now, there's going to be many, myself included. How do I wrestle with this? I'm constantly tempted with this idea and feeling like I do want people to recognize I'm doing good works, but I also want to do them for the glory of the Father. Well, that's also going to be everybody in the room. When you get to heaven, you'll have pure motives all the time. If you're waiting to have a perfectly pure motive to do good works so that they'll glorify God, you'll never do them. But the good news is we can walk with each other and encourage each other and pray with each other that we would be able to do them in such a way that God would be glorified, that we would become more pure. One of the most helpful things, find people who already don't think too much of you. It's good to have friends who really know who you are so that when they see your good works, they're like, wow, God's really done a good work in you. We're called to be faithful in a way that the world has never seen, in that we're showing the mercy of God, a mercy that's costly. We're showing a purity of God, a purity they'll despise because it runs up against their very desires. And thinking about salt and light, well, the early church was an incredible witness of what it means to be salt and light. There was a counter-cultural way in which the church obeyed Christ no matter what that ran against culture, and it was their unity. In the Roman culture, men and women did not eat meals together in a social gathering. Different folks at different society levels did not eat together in a social setting until the church, where they all recognized they're all one in Christ. They've all come under the same light and they all belong to the same table because they've all been invited by the same father to participate in the meal of the same lamb. It's an incredible witness that helped change culture to recognize the dignity of women. To flip the problem of master-slave abuse. That's what the church's light and salt is supposed to be in society. I'm so encouraged by the way that I see members of Jefferson Park being salt and light. Our Way Truth Life ministry, Faithful Brothers Preaching, they're truly the gates of hell, proclaiming Christ came to give life in the midst of those who are considering taking the life of their child. That's being salt and light. We call Southwood Ministry, going out into unreached children, a neighborhood with unreached children, and seeking to bring them in for a meal and an event and a proclamation of the gospel. Seeking to be salt and light. The Spanish study, crossing all kinds of obstacles, bringing all kinds of folks to come hear the word of God in their own language. Campus outreach, tabling, the nations are there right at our footstep. Members in the world, connecting with your neighbors, opening up your homes. It's been so encouraging to see how members of this church have faithfully persevered through even false accusations at work to bring glory to God in the way they conducted themselves under the most intense pressure of possibly losing their jobs. Such an important ministry to remain faithful, to remain faithfully present in the dark places, in the dangerous places. One of the ways you can be a salt and light is just by being hospitable to your neighbors and your friends and your coworkers. Inviting them into your home, that's something people just don't get to enjoy anymore. Inviting others into your home so they can see your life and you can share the gospel with them in your home around your table. One of Virginia's esteemed statesmen, James Madison, corrupted religion. Seemed like all of our esteemed statesmen did that at some point. I appreciate he was committed to the state not interfering at all with religion, but he went so far as to say religion is a perfectly private matter. Nothing should ever press in on the conscience of someone's religious beliefs. I believe that's true when it comes to the government, but I am adamantly opposed to that when it comes to the church, because we as a church are supposed to adamantly press in on your conscience just like this. You are the light of the world. Let your light shine. Do your good works before men so that they will see your father and glorify him. That's what we come to do, to stir each other up into those good works, to a greater faith in who he is and that he's gonna preserve you as you make him known. We build each other up. We encourage each other. We're training each other on how to speak with mercy so that we go out and have mercy. We know how to do peacemaking within of those who know the peace of Christ. We know how to be peacemaking out there. Again, the call to worship, we bring each other in through the word of God, and we're going to send each other out through the word of God to be his salt and light. True religion is practiced in public. If you only love Jesus in your heart, you don't truly love him. If you only have a faith in theory, you do not have a saving faith. Your religion should not be like something like a UFO sighting or Bigfoot. There shouldn't be suspicion and curiosity about it. It should be clear and concrete. And what it means is we're merciful. We're practicing mercy. We're seeking to regularly show mercy out in the world because it's one of those borrowed things from Christianity in our own culture, but true mercy is costly. To show kindness to an enemy, to love an enemy, to forgive, there's a costliness to being that life. It means we seek to be pure and promote purity. We are going to run against folks who hate the idea of what purity is. If scripture says we can only be purified in Christ, and by being purified we seek purity, and by seeking purity we see the face of God, we're called to shine that light into the world. Christian, as we reflect Christ's light from heaven, we deflect that light up among men so that we deflect the praise up to the Father. This is the great purpose of the passage. We receive light to reflect and then we deflect all the praise to the Father. The goal is to glorify God with our lives. This is the chief end of man, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Part of that is being salt and light to the world. As we consider some aspects in conclusion, we know God and we see Him with a pure heart. We see him because his light has purified us, his truth has purified us, his own son has purified us. We seek purity so that we can help others see the true God who can also purify them. There's a way in which we're seeking to just grow closer to God so that we know him, so that we can make him known. The second is some theological connections here. The hope is that the world would glorify our Father who is in heaven. Well, we go back to,

blessed are the peacemakers, for they should be called the sons of God.

We see here an assumed adoption theology. If we go back to the Jesus baptism,

this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

He has come to die for us so that we can now live lives pleasing to him in his light. It is only by Christ that we are adopted in the family of God, can know the family of God, can know the family values of God, the citizenship characteristics, and then shine them forth. The whole idea of being a son of God is that we become more like Jesus, the true son. The whole idea of being a child of God is to become more like him in his light so that we shine it forth and we do what Jesus did. We keep bringing people to the Father, but we do so only by first pointing them and declaring to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christian, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. God has greatly blessed us with light from him to reflect so that we can enter into his praise, so that we can declare him to the world so they might also glorify our father in heaven. Will you pray with me? Father, thank you that you have rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us in the kingdom of your beloved Son, where we receive his righteousness, we receive his forgiveness, we receive mercy and purity. Lord, may we truly hunger and thirst for your righteousness. May we be filled with you. May your Holy Spirit Fill us in a way that we love your light. We love your word that shines light. We love being with other Christians as they speak light into our lives. We love singing with one another as that light echoes and reverberates in our ears and our minds and our hearts together. Or may we know how to love your light to the light in it so that we might shine it throughout Charlottesville, Virginia, and the world. Jesus, let me pray. Amen.