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Matthew
5:13-20 (NIV84)
13 “You are the salt of the earth.
But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no
longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14
“You are the
light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither
do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its
stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16
In the same
way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and
praise your Father in heaven.
17
“Do not
think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to
abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the
truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least
stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is
accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least
of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in
the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be
called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20
For I tell
you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the
teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
One
Peanuts cartoon, (you know, the one with Snoopy and Charlie Brown?), shows
Peppermint Patty talking to Charlie Brown. She said, "Guess what, Chuck?
The first day of school and I got sent to the principal's office. It was your
fault, Chuck." To which Charlie Brown replies, "My fault? How could
it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?" And Peppermint
Patty responds, "You're my friend, aren't you, Chuck? You should have been
a better influence on me."
Like
it or not, God calls us to be a better influence on the world around us in our
text. He says…
You
are the salt of the earth.
- Salt preserves
- Salt bites
- Salt brings wonderful
seasoning to life
Salt
was a necessity in the ancient world. If
you purchased any meat that was perishable, unless you ate it that day, it
needed to be salted or else it would spoil.
When you went to the market, one way to cheat folks was to mix in white
sand with the salt. If you got home and
you found that your salt was half sand, you couldn’t very well use it on your
food, so you tossed it out the window.
It’s worthless.
Tomorrow
is a very special Hallmark Holiday. With
the advent of that special day just hours away, let me introduce you to a happy
couple. This is John
and Anne. They knew each other long
before they divorced their spouses for each other. In their early forties – both with children,
they realized that they were both in love with each other. Anne said, “I didn’t want to sneak around and
sleep with him on the side. I wanted to get up in the morning and read the
paper with him.” Both John and Anne feel
terrible for how they have hurt their ex-spouses, but they realized they didn’t
have any choice. Neither believed in
soul mates, but now they do. The problem
is that John and Anne are relatively normal.
The New York Times is not a font of morality. The article closes with Anne commenting on
the circumstances – This is life. This
is how it goes.
13
“You
are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be
made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled by men.
It
is kind of fun to point out the deficiencies in our society and rip on
them. This takes the focus off of us and
puts it on someone else. It feels
better, doesn’t it? If you complain
about the sins of society and how things sure aren't the way they used to be…
well, guess who's to blame? If meat goes bad, there is no sense in blaming the
meat. That is what happens when the bacteria are allowed to breed unrestrained.
The question to ask is, "Where is the salt?" If society becomes
corrupt like a stinking fish, there's no sense in blaming society. That's what
happens when fallen human society is left to itself and human evil is allowed
to breed unrestrained. The question to ask is "Where is the church? Where are the Christians?" Or maybe – “Why shouldn’t people divorce
their spouses and stomp all over the hearts of children?” After all they should be happy, shouldn’t
they? If you cannot hear the rot in
those words, there is something very wrong.
While it may be easy to spot the decay of sin in John and
Anne’s lives, they are only convenient Valentine examples. If you only show expressions of love to your
spouse on Valentine’s Day, you are rotting.
If you have ever sought happiness or love in someone or something that
takes the place of your spouse - maybe because things are not wonderful at
home, you are rotting. God expects us to
be the salt. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made
salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and
trampled by men. If none of this applies
to you? Jesus says, 20 For I tell you that unless your
righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you
will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Pharisees had 613 Laws on top of all the laws in God’s word. And yet they couldn’t control the filth that
drifted through their minds, can you? I
have a hard time with just my action and words!
Is it any wonder that God hasn’t cast us out of his kingdom so that we
would be trampled into the dirt awaiting judgment?
In exchange for the bouquet of our moldy lives that reak of
our sin, in exchange for a box full of assorted sins – God gave us the best
Valentine gift ever. He gave up his Son
who was as perfect as was. He comes and
says to us – Be Mine. I want you in my
family – he can say this to us not because he doesn’t know about our past or
the sin in our lives – he says this because he has mercy on our sinful souls.
If
someone thanks you for rubbing salt in their wound, that isn’t necessarily a
good thing – normally that’s sarcasm.
Salt bites. Yet that was a great
way to keep infection out of a cut – also crazy painful – but it worked. Yes, it saved lives. You are the salt of the earth. You are forgiven and therefore qualified to
be salt. Sometimes that means your words
may have to bite.
I
think – after a little practice at least – the children would figure out that
sugar is a much better option than salt for a treat. It was once said that Pastor’s are the syrup
of the earth. The rub was that we – the
clergy, as a group – are more interested in making you feel good about
yourselves, than we are rubbing salt into your sinful lives. I pray that’s not true of my ministry. Jesus says, you are the salt of the
world. How are you at using words that
bite? I wonder if John and Anne our
newly weds from New York had any Christian friends who tried to salt their
sinful wound?
There
is a painting of a little girl out in the open sea, in the middle of a storm,
clinging to a rock with both hands as her ship is sinking in the
background. It's a great picture of
Christ our rock who rescues us from our sin, who we cling to in the Word. But later, I found out that the artist did a
second painting almost identical to the first.
The second painting has the same girl, the same rock, and the same ship
in the same storm-tossed sea, but in the second painting, the little girl clung
to the rock with only one hand. With the
other, she was reaching into the ocean for a little boy who was struggling to
keep his head above water.
That's
a great picture of what God has made us. We live our lives in the hopes that by
our actions and by our words, we might be instrumental in saving others from
the storm of sin and from drowning in hell.
We are to them God's life preservers.
16
In
the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good
deeds and praise your Father in heaven. And
make no mistake. They're watching.
A
pastor was in his yard making a wooden trellis to support a climbing vine. As
he was pounding away, he noticed that neighbor boy was watching him carefully
without saying a word. Pleased at the thought that his work was being admired,
the pastor finally said, "Are you trying to pick up some pointers on
gardening or carpentry?" "Neither," the boy replied. "I'm
just waiting to hear what a pastor says when he hits his thumb with a
hammer." Now before you think less
of that little boy, remember Peppermint Patti’s point – you need to be a better
influence! Or Jesus said it well, you
are the salt of the earth. You are the
one’s responsible for preserving the world.
You know what the sting of God’s law feels like – it’s a terrific pain
on the soul – pain that gives life when followed by the gospel of Jesus. As salt bring your wonderful seasoning to the
lives around you. Yes, you are the salt
of the earth. Amen.