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Matthew 5:13-16
13 “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.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 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. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that1 they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
We are gonna be, in Matthew, the gospel of Matthew chapter 5. This summer, we are taking our time, looking at the Sermon on the Mount, which is the lengthy lesson, found in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. It's a lesson taught by Jesus that gives the core teaching, the central instruction of what it means to follow Jesus as a disciple. And in the first sermon in this series just a few weeks ago, we looked at these opening remarks from Jesus, this introduction, which is called the beatitudes, the blessings. And in that first sermon, Joel said that we can summarize the Sermon on the Mount as being about the kingdom of heaven.
Jeffrey Heine:And keeping that in mind, it it will be helpful for us to to to bear that in mind, the kingdom of heaven, as we continue this summer throughout this series. And where we find ourselves today in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus is giving an illustration, an illustration, 2 metaphors of salt and light. And he's doing this to help clarify and further describe what he has introduced in the beatitudes. And so let's look together. Matthew chapter 5, beginning with verse 13.
Jeffrey Heine:And let us listen carefully, for this is God's word. 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.
Jeffrey Heine: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. This is the word of the Lord. It is to be done. Let's pray.
Jeffrey Heine:Oh, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for this time together as a church family to sing songs of praise, to call out to you in prayer, to be encouraged by our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to gather around, open up your word, and to listen for your spirit. Lord, you spoke, and creation came from nothing. You spoke, and our hearts of stone came alive as hearts of flesh. So will you speak again this morning?
Jeffrey Heine:Fill us with your spirit that we might trust and obey you, Lord, from our hearts. Lord, would you speak? For your servants are listening. We pray these things in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:When I was in the 6th grade, we had to take turns standing up in front of the entire class and recite the preamble to the Constitution. Did any of you all have to do that? What a way to torture 13 year olds in front of their peers. Stand up there, you're doing your best. Everyone knows it, and so they're waiting for you to fail.
Jeffrey Heine:We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union. A quick refresh from your American history class. The US Constitution, the supreme law of the United States of America, originally comprised of 7 articles that outlines the national frame of government. The preamble to the constitution serves as this introductory statement. And it gives the document central purposes and its core principles right there at the start.
Jeffrey Heine:And the 10 commandments also begin with a preamble. In Exodus 20, we read, And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. The preamble lets us know why something is about to be instructed, commanded, or legislated. The preamble gives the context of why this command is being established. And at the start of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus begins with a preamble.
Jeffrey Heine:We've included it in your worship guide if you're looking there. It's it's the beatitudes. It actually runs from verse 1 all the way through verse 20 as kind of this preamble statement, giving this context of why and what's to come. The preamble to the sermon on the mount is a lot like the beginning of the 10 commandments and the the start of the constitution. And it's fitting for Jesus to do this, because the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, in that Jesus is is going to deliver precise commands on how his followers are to live.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus will give commands regarding anger, murder, adultery, lust, divorce, bitterness, anxiety, prayer, worship, and more. But before Jesus goes into this instruction on how his followers are supposed to live, his introductory remarks, they offer a preamble of what's going on. In short, I think we can call it a preamble of promise. In verses 13 through 16, what we just read about salt and light, are a brief illustration of what Jesus has just been talking about in the preamble and the Beatitudes. So what did he just say to compel, really, such a peculiar metaphor to describe his disciples?
Jeffrey Heine:So we've looked at these beatitudes the last 2 Sundays, but let's refresh our minds and and hear this preamble of promise from Jesus, beginning in verse 2. It says, And he, Jesus, opened his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Jeffrey Heine:Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Jeffrey Heine:Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Hold these words in your mind, these words of the beatitude. Think back to the preamble to the 10 commandments, where in Exodus 10, God is declaring and reminding his people that he, Yahweh, was the one who delivered them out of slavery in Egypt. Before God gets to the commandments, the rules for living as the liberated, rescued, redeemed people of God, he begins with this declaration of deliverance.
Jeffrey Heine:I am the one who brought you out of Egypt. It was me. That's exactly what Jesus is doing in the Beatitudes. There are pronouncements of blessing, promises from Jesus that your deliverance into the new kingdom is sure. Jesus isn't starting with commandments.
Jeffrey Heine:He's starting with promises of deliverance. Just like in Exodus, deliverance comes first, then the instructions. Notice that the Beatitudes are declarations, not terms and conditions. They don't say, if you mourn, if you are meek, if you are peacemakers. No.
Jeffrey Heine:Those who mourn will be delivered to comfort. The merciful will be delivered into mercy. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be delivered into satisfying justice. Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount, declaring to his disciples their deliverance into the kingdom of heaven. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount, just like what occurs in the 10 Commandments in the US Constitution, after that preamble, after his preamble of promise, Jesus will give directives for living.
Jeffrey Heine:And if we detach those commandments from this preamble of promise and we skip just to those directives, we will see, just merely a grocery list of laws. We'll see them as instructions of how to get into the kingdom, how to know if you're really making the cut. So please pay attention to these words of caution. Because if we miss the purpose and the message, these promises, these opening words of deliverance, what happens with the Sermon on the Mount is that we will either read it as lofty, unreachable goals, goals of perfection that none of us can meet, or we will interpret them as laws that only serve to condemn us. They will become unrealistic or legalistic, and neither response will lead to faithful obedience to Jesus, But he's actually calling from each of us in the fullness of his grace.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus begins not with instructions on virtue or rules for how to get into the kingdom. Instead, Jesus begins with a declaration of your deliverance into his kingdom, where you will be comforted, satisfied, given mercy, and called God's children. It's his promise to his followers. The beatitudes don't describe how to be blessed, but how you are blessed in Christ delivering you into the kingdom of God by his grace. To quote, the theologian and Christian ethicist, Glenn Stassen, He he said, quote, the Sermon on the Mount and these introductory beatitudes aren't simply hard teaching, it's gracious deliverance, end quote.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus goes from here to illustrate for us how we now live in light of this great and gracious deliverance, which leads us to our focus today. We're at this transition point. Specifically, Jesus has just talked about the promised blessing for Christians who are persecuted, who are slandered, who suffer. Jesus moves to an illustration for what he has just described in the beatitudes using these metaphors of salt and light. Let's look again at verse 13.
Jeffrey Heine:You are the salt of the earth, but a 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 on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and he gives light to all in the house.
Jeffrey Heine: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. So what is Jesus doing here using these illustrations at this point in his sermon? Well, Jesus is using an illustration to make a point about what he has just been teaching and to lead into what he's about to instruct, starting in verse 17. Preachers do this all the time. I do this too.
Jeffrey Heine:I will tell a little story, give a metaphor, an illustration to reiterate a point, to try and bring some clarity or connection. Sometimes, it's funny, or it tries to be. Sometimes it's a quote or a cultural reference, and sometimes people even get my cultural references. Sometimes I do it to relieve pressure after talking about intense subjects, and sometimes it's to change the pace of a sermon. Sometimes I give an illustration to pivot to a new topic.
Jeffrey Heine:And sometimes it's like a ramp on an interstate to slow down and to provide you with a chance to merge back in, like I'm doing right now. Jesus uses 2 metaphors, salt and light, to illustrate a point. So what do salt and light have in common? Well, they each have an effect, an impact. Simply stated, salt, salts, and light, lights.
Jeffrey Heine:Salt by nature is salty and light by nature illuminates. Their being dictates their doing. Does that make sense? Their being salty and being luminous, those effects are fundamental and essential to what they are. If salt loses its saltiness, it's not salt.
Jeffrey Heine:If a light is covered up with a basket hidden from view, then it doesn't offer light. Salt and light do what they are. How does that connect with the beatitudes? Jesus is assuming that his disciples will be salt and will be light because they are his followers. Salt, salts, light, lights, followers follow.
Jeffrey Heine:And those followers will have an impact on what's around them, their place, what Jesus calls the earth and the world. The men and women seated on the mount listening to Jesus, they would have used salt daily. It was obtained from the Dead Sea, and it was used daily for seasoning and flavoring food. It was used in the daily sacrificial system of worship, where salt would be added to grain offerings and animal sacrifices. It was also used for purification.
Jeffrey Heine:And lastly, it would have been used daily for the preservation of food. Salt was known for its enduring qualities. It was often used as a symbol for consistency, faithfulness, commitment. There's a thing actually called a salt offering or a salt covenant. But unlike today, in 1st century Mediterranean, it was actually possible for salt to lose its saltiness.
Jeffrey Heine:At that time, people needed to regularly check the salt, especially if its use was to keep food from rotting. If the sodium chloride corrupted because there were so many different other minerals, it wasn't pure salt, there's so many other minerals within the salt, it could corrupt over time. And you would have to taste it to see if it was still tasting salty, because if it tasted salty, it was still doing the work, preserving the food. And so if it lost its salty flavor, then you knew that it was worthless. And you wouldn't want to put it into the trash heap necessarily, because that's where you would have the compost, and it would be bad for that.
Jeffrey Heine:The only thing you can do with it is just toss it into the street for people to walk on it. So this is the warning from Jesus that if the salt is spoiled, corrupted, if you aren't a follower who follows, then how will you give flavor and preserve what is corrupting? So what are the places of impact and influence that we should have as followers? What should be flavored and preserved? Well, coming off of the beatitudes, we should first consider those who mourn, the meek, the oppressed, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Jeffrey Heine:We should consider the places that need peacemaking and bringing God's shalom to the earth. We should think of those who suffer persecution and false witness for the sake of Christ. For Jesus' first audience on that mountain, he's telling them that they are the salt of the land to preserve and season their place. Jesus then moves to the metaphor of light. Light gives light so long as it's unobstructed.
Jeffrey Heine:The light offers light if it's given a place, of influence for illumination, like a city that's on a hill visible even in the darkness, like an oil lamp that gives light to a room. His followers are to bear witness in the darkness. If you hide it under a basket, it won't be effective. It won't have an impact. But if you put it on a lampstand and you give it this place of influence and exposure, it can shine broadly.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus says that your good works are just like that. They should go out into the world and have an effect, an impact in the world around you. Others here, meaning non followers, they should experience the impact of these good works. A non believing world should experience, benefit, and delight in your witness. Here, for these first listeners sitting on this mountainside, Jesus anticipates that his followers will be an enlightening for the non believing world of Gentiles and the good news of the kingdom to come.
Jeffrey Heine:And I believe that more than just the results of salt as a preservative or light as illuminating. I think Jesus is using the metaphor to describe how his disciples live, how they function. He's saying that those whom he delivers into his kingdom of heaven, they live now as citizens of heaven. And their living affects and impacts the world around them. So hear this.
Jeffrey Heine:You have been delivered by Christ into his kingdom. He has promised you the eternal blessings of his comfort and his mercy, and you are to live according to his kingdom in your place today. Because this earth, this world needs your salt and light. Your light and saltiness affect this place with the goodness and the blessing of his kingdom. Your being and your doing preserve what is corrupting.
Jeffrey Heine:It gives light in the darkness. In being salt and light, you bear witness to the kingdom of heaven on earth. And this is how Jesus sets the stage for the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, to have a confrontation with his first listeners and with us. He's going to describe what this kingdom living looks like when it comes to our relationships, when it comes to marriage, divorce, anger, suffering, possessions, materialism, money, politics, conflict, enemies, which means the rest of the Sermon on the Mount will not be instructions on how to get into the kingdom, nor will they just be unattainable or unrealistic descriptions of living. Instead, the rest of the Sermon on the Mount will be guidance for kingdom living, living as the delivered people of God that we are in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:The US constitution, it regulates the life of the citizens of the United States. It's not a road map for how to become a citizen. It's not a step by step guide for immigration. Instead, it gives the regulations for how we live as citizens. And the teaching from Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount will teach us how we live now as the adopted children of God, as citizens of his kingdom now.
Jeffrey Heine:We have to remember that Jesus actually expects us to obey him. I I have to remind myself that all the time. I either forget because I get distracted by shiny things, or in my attempts to justify my own sin, I pretend like Jesus doesn't really expect me to obey him. A century ago, the Indian activist Mohandas Gandhi remarked, much of what passes as Christianity today is a negation of the Sermon on the Mount. Much of what passes, what is just kind of culturally given the thumbs up as being Christianity, Gandhi says, much of it that I see today passing as Christianity is a direct negation of the Sermon on the Mount.
Jeffrey Heine:There was nothing more prolific than the Sermon on the Mount in the first 400 years of the church. Nothing was quoted in Christian writing more in those first 400 years than the Sermon on the Mount. It was central for these early Christians in figuring out how to be a follower of Jesus today. So how does this happen? How do we go from Jesus giving specific guidance on what it means to follow him, and then we not do those things, and then we still call it Christianity?
Jeffrey Heine:How does that happen? Those of you from, Georgia, maybe more specifically Atlanta, Georgia, might recognize the code name project Kansas. In 1985, the Coca Cola company was losing ground in the soda world that it had dominated for 99 years. And these taste tests were showing a gravitation of consumers to a a sweeter drink called Pepsi. And so, they came up with this secret plan for a big change.
Jeffrey Heine:Project Kansas was the top secret plan to reinvent that flagship product. The Coca Cola recipe was going to be reformulated to be sweeter and introduced. So on April 23, 1985, a day we all remember, On April 23, 1985, new Coke was introduced. And the swift rage from the public immediately followed. If you visit the Coke Museum in Atlanta, which why wouldn't you, you you put priority on your summer plans.
Jeffrey Heine:You can read the wildly angry letters. You can listen to these voice messages of people so angry. You can watch videos of people protesting, like, they took time, like, may maybe even, like, took time off of work to go protest Coke. They were furious. And within weeks, the old recipe was back on the shelves.
Jeffrey Heine:New Coke was no more. Old Coke was back, and the sales actually of the Coca Cola company had never been better. The people wouldn't let new Coke pass as Coke. It had lost its flavor and was no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. It was unacceptable.
Jeffrey Heine:Much of what passes as Christianity today is a negation of the Sermon on the Mount. That was a 100 years ago, observed on the other side of the world. This is the problem with treating the Sermon on the Mount like some unrealistic idealism. We reinvent Christianity to be something other than what Jesus explicitly sets forth, and we end up trying, as Joel said, I believe last week, we try to domesticate his teaching. We can take our cues from culture.
Jeffrey Heine:We can reimagine the formula of Christian doctrine and practice. We can preach something that is more acceptable and less demanding and more marketable. But at some point, we have to admit that Jesus actually expects us to obey him. So what do we do? I'll go back to Glenn Stassen and paraphrase him once again.
Jeffrey Heine:The point is not merely to be convinced that we have not done what Jesus commands and should repent. It's more than that. We are to be convinced that we have not done what Jesus commands, that we must repent, and that we must strive to obey him. When we fail, we repent, and we strive to obey him again. This is not to earn God's grace.
Jeffrey Heine:It's because you have it. We have to remember that repentance isn't the end. Repentance is always a beginning, and repentance always leads us in the direction of obedience to Jesus. So how do we know that? Because the Holy Spirit was given to the children of God to direct us and enable us to follow Jesus, to obey what he has commanded of us.
Jeffrey Heine:The Holy Spirit leads us in repentance and in obedience. The Apostle Paul writes of this in Galatians chapter 5. You've got it in your worship guide. 16 through 24. Let me read it.
Jeffrey Heine:But I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to one another, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident.
Jeffrey Heine:Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Again, such things there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Paul is talking about the life of those inheriting the kingdom, not earning it, inheriting it. Do you know the difference?
Jeffrey Heine:Earning the kingdom is righteous living trying to obtain the kingdom. Inheriting the kingdom is righteous living because you've been obtained by the king. You've been adopted through Christ. That means that you are due to inherit the kingdom based on your adoption into his promises. The Spirit bears the fruit for what makes kingdom living possible for you and me here and now.
Jeffrey Heine:He bears in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. That is how here and now on earth we can be salt and light. In our passage today, Jesus is transitioning from this pronouncement of promise to instruct his followers on what it looks like to live as the children of God who are inheriting his kingdom. He says it's like salt and it's like light. It preserves, and it illuminates.
Jeffrey Heine:And when we repent and obey, we live the kingdom witness in a world that needs salt and light. The world needs followers being worked into places that are corrupting, corrupting physically, emotionally, socially, economically, politically, educationally, spiritually. We are to be worked into the places of decay, the places of decay where darkness needs light, where your kingdom witness matters, not just your morality, but your actions of justice and mercy. This call is to repent and do, because in Christ you are promised deliverance. You've been promised his kingdom.
Jeffrey Heine:Salt and light have to do what they are, and Jesus is saying so do you. Followers follow. You are the child of God and are promised an inheritance of his kingdom. And as the children of God, you season the earth around you. In doing that, you preserve what would otherwise corrupt without faithful witness and good works.
Jeffrey Heine:The faithful presence in dark places, you give light. And it can't be hidden. It's to be in the open for the common good of everyone. That means that in schools and hospitals, in neighborhoods, apartment complexes, in homeless shelters, and in country clubs, you have a witness to bear, a preserving and illuminating presence, a witness in which you continually repent and do, and you're empowered to do this work. You're empowered to do this work because of who you already are in Christ Jesus, the very child of God.
Jeffrey Heine:In the coming weeks, you will hear the words of Jesus preached, and you are called to obey them. Jesus will give commands that are challenging, but they are not mere idealism. They are commands from the king for the people of his kingdom, and he expects us to do them. But listen closely. This is not a call to legalism.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not at all. It's a call to life in the kingdom as the delivered, redeemed, beloved children of God. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. You have been saved into his kingdom, and life in his kingdom means obeying the king and believing that obedience to the king is actually always better than not because he cares for you. He gives rest to his beloved an assurance of forgiveness.
Jeffrey Heine:So take a breath. Know and believe that the father has promised you his kingdom. Know and believe that the presence of the Holy Spirit is enabling your kingdom living. And know and believe that the King of kings, Christ our Lord, knows you and holds fast to you in the relentless grip of his grace till kingdom come. Let's pray.
Jeffrey Heine:Spirit, would you fill our hearts, our minds, our ears, our strength to turn to Christ with all that we are, not held back by the condemnation, the guilt, or the shame of our past, but emboldened in a new day with new mercy, held in your grace in this moment. May we turn to Christ to trust him, to obey him, and to love him with all that we are. We pray these things in the name of Christ our King. Amen.