In this passage of Scripture, the Lord Jesus likens the effect of His disciples in the world with these two figures: the figure of salt and the figure of light. I confess that for years I took this for granted. But during our Bible Study I found out the beauty and balance of the Christian life in this world through the use of these two pictures. I am going to share with you the basic function of a Christian in the world we live using these passages of Mathew 5:13 – 16. As I was doing my study I found some basic things about a Christian as salt of the earth and light of the world.
Basic things about a Christian
Christians are basically different from other people. Just as salt is different to the thing that which it purifies, preserves and flavors, so is the Christian who is basically different from the world in which he lives. As light in any room is basically different from the things that they throw light unto, the Christian is basically different from the world in which he lives as he gives light for the sake of Jesus Christ.
A Christian is always in contact with the world. Salt is of no use if it does not touch the meat to flavor it, preserve it or purify it. Light does no good unless it illuminates something.
A Christian should continue to do good even if the world doesn’t know and appreciate it. Salt checks the process of putrefaction and decay. So a Christian by his mere presence in society is a check for the inherited tendency of corruption. He is the light concerning truth and God’s standard of ethics, morality and living.
Basic things about the World
When Jesus said to His disciples in verse 13 that they are the salt of the earth, He is actually saying that the world is a falling, decayed and corrupted world. If the world is corrupted it needs salt to check its corruption. If the world is decaying, it needs salt to check it. If the world is flavorless, it needs salt for flavor.
Secondly, it tells us that the world is spiritually dark and ignorant. Jesus said in verse 14 that we are the light of the world. Because the world is in spiritual darkness, it needs light. Jesus said to His disciples “you are the light of the world.” It indicates that the world is in darkness and we are supposed to be its light.
Thirdly, we found out that the world desperately needs the influence of true Christianity. If the meat is about to decay it desperately needs the influence of salt. If a man who is stumbling in darkness and about to fall, he desperately needs light. The world desperately needs more Christians. This is the basic solution to most problems in our society. This is the basic solution to moral decay in our generation if more Christians, more men and women filled with the Spirit, will become salt of the earth and light of the world.
JESUS WARNS US AGAINST LOSING OUR SALTINESS
Jesus said in Matthew 5:13,
“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, with what shall it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be thrown out and to be trodden underfoot by men.”
Do you notice what the Lord Jesus is saying in both passages? He is warning us about losing our saltiness. He says that “As my followers, you are salt, but there is a terrible possibility that you may lose your capacity to flavor and to preserve.” But when the salt has no longer have the capacity to purify, flavor and preserve, it has already lost its saltiness. Jesus said from that point on, “it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trampled under the foot of men.”
How do we lose our saltiness according to this passage? By prolonged contact with impurities!
In our present day technology we can buy purified salt and we can store it for many years and it will not change its saltiness. But during Jesus’ day, the salt was mined in certain areas wherein salt mingled with dirt, with clay and forms of earth and it was stored in a certain place, sometimes with the prolonged contact with the impurities which will mingle with salt. The salt, over a period of time. will actually lose its entire savor and saltiness. And when it does, no one could take this salt pile neither as fertilizer nor for flavoring. It is actually good for nothing; he will find a path and just throw it on the ground so that the ground will be firm. This is the exact picture Jesus is telling us in this passage.
Salt, with its prolonged contact with the impurities will gradually lose it capacity to function as salt. For me this is the most horrible possibility which faces me as a Christian, which faces you as Christians, which faces us as a Church. The terrible possibility that, through a gradual process, we can lose our capacity to purify, flavor, and preserve society: the shops, the schools, the places of our work, the neighborhood in which we live. In essence the Lord Jesus is saying, “As my people, you must avoid all contact with all that absorbs your capacity to function as salt. Don’t do anything that can lose your capacity to be savoring.”
There is a very clear illustration in the Old Testament we don’t have to go in details because most of us know the life story of Lot. In 2 Peter 2, Lot is called “righteous Lot.” He was a saved man. When he separated from Abraham his uncle in Genesis 13, he went down to Sodom and Gomorrah. In those wicked cities, he should had acted as salt in those cities. His life should be an influence to his neighbors. But during that long period of association with the wickedness of the people of those cities, Lot lost most of his saltiness. When the time came for God to judge those cities and in answer to Abraham’s prayer, He sent angels to take Lot and his family out of those cities. But they were reluctant to leave because they were so attached and so accustomed to the filth and corruption of those cities that they were no longer able to be the preserving influence. Lot’s wife had such an attachment. Do you know what happened to her when they were fleeing? She turned around and turned into a pillar of salt! (Gen 19:26)”
As children of God, this is a crucial issue. Sometimes we are so attached to this world that we gradually adopt its pattern. We adopt the attitude of the world! We do what other worldly people do until we lose our preserving influence in the world. Salt functions only as a salt when it is qualitatively different from what they preserve and flavor.
Dear brothers and sisters, I relay to you the warning of our lord Jesus Christ that it is possible for you and me to come into a place of being good for nothing, but to be cast out and trampled underfoot by men. How is this going to happen? Salt never losses it saltiness overnight, it is a slow gradual process. As it is mingling with dirt and the clay in the salt pile, there is a gradual seepage of its saltiness until it no longer functions as salt.
This is going to happen with God’s people, unless they are determined by the grace of God not to lose their saltiness. What shall we do then?
Things we should do to preserve our saltiness
1) We must be fed daily with the Word of God.
We should study the Bible. We should hear always the Word of God. Neglecting to obey the Word of God is the first step in absorbing the ways of the world.
When we are feeding on the Word of God, it is the Holy Spirit, through the Scriptures, that exposes the impurities that we have allowed into our lives. It is the Holy Spirit who will convict us so that we will be able to remove the wrong influences in our lives that suck our saltiness. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Father, purify them, sanctify them through Your Word, Your word is truth.” Jesus said in John 15, “they are cleansed through the word which I have spoken unto them.”
As a reminder, that if we neglect the daily reading of the Word of God, we are denying ourselves the basic instrument which the Holy Spirit is using to keep us salty. When we are too busy for the Word, when we have no time for Bible studies, then we are going to absorb the impurities that make us lose our saltiness.
2) We must spend time in the secret place with God. We must pray always.
We must pray that, by His sufficient grace, God will give us the strength to endure the trials and temptations that lead us to commit sin in our lives. In Psalm 139:23, it says…
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wicked ways is in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.
If you want to preserve your saltiness there must be a feeding on the Word. And there must be a time in the secret place with God.
3) We must Fellowship.
We must be obedient to the command of God not to forsake the assembling of God’s people (Hebrews 10:25).There must be a blessed influence in communing with God’s people. For as salt is in contact with other pure salt, it will maintain its purity.
When salt is too long in contact with those other impurities of earth, it loses its capacity to be salt. You and I are always in contact with impurities in our places of work, in our accommodations, etc. Wherever we are, we are always surrounded with impurities. That is why we need to fellowship together with God’s people to preserve our saltiness.
Perhaps some of us have already lost some of our saltiness. We are too busy during Mondays or Fridays. Or life is too comfortable Monday nights or Fridays sitting at home, doing nothing. We are going to lose our saltiness if we do this regularly and habitually. Jesus said that if salt loses its savor, it is good for nothing. Maybe some of us have already reached that point, as far as being instruments in God’s hand to preserve, to purify, to flavor those lives we touch, that we are good for nothing because we lost our saltiness by failure in contact with other godly people.
Now we move to the next figure….being the light of the world. Notice Jesus’s contrasting concepts of detachment from the world and being a light to the world.
On one hand with the figure of salt, Jesus said that it is possible for the Christian to be so absorbed, so attached to the world that surrounds him that he loses all his saltiness. So in essence He is saying that we must remain distinct from the world in which we live, in our attitudes, in our patterns of thought throughout our lives. Don’t become too absorbed into this world. You must separate from it, for the salt does no good unless it is different from what it is flavoring. Some of us would say, “let us run away from this world so that we will not be defiled with it. But, on the other hand, Jesus said in this next illustration that lead us to my next point … The Function of a Christian being the Light of the World.
Mat 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
When we light a candle what do we do? Jesus said that we are not going to put it under a basket, but we must put it on top of a lampstand so that everybody can see it. So the whole emphasis here is that light does not do any good unless it can be seen, observed, or illuminating others.
So here is the balancing truth that if we are Christians and we are living in a corrupt world, we must remain by the grace of God undefiled by the world in which we live but we must remain in contact with it in order to give it light, we must not put ourselves under a basket of mere Christian association so afraid that the world may defile us.
The Function of a Christian being the Light of the World
1) They must be visible Jesus expects His disciples to do good works, the changes in their lives to be seen by the world.
Daniel is a wonderful illustration of this. Here Daniel was in exile in a heathen society in Babylon filled with wickedness. There Daniel lived for the Lord. Every day he went to his place of prayer with windows opened to Jerusalem where he knelt down and prayed. Why was he doing this? He did it because he loved God, and he wanted men to know that he belongs to Jehovah God of Israel. When the decree came that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except the king, shall be cast into the den of lions (Dan 6:7). But it did not bother Daniel. He went back to his place of prayer in an open window and bow unto God, knowing that people can see him. He doesn’t care about this. He is willing to let his light shine before men.
Maybe some of you during lunch or break time may be too embarrassed to thank God for your food in your places of work or in restaurants. People might think that you are trying to show off! No, but Jesus said, “let your light shine before men.” Even if you know that they are looking, let them know that you are thankful for the food God gives you. Why are you are doing this? Not to tell people that you are wonderful, but you do it so that they will see that your father in heaven is working in your heart and you are not ashamed to let others know that you are grateful for His provision.
Never be ashamed to bow your head to pray during lunch time, in restaurants or in fast-food courts. Never be embarrassed because you are giving glory to our God.
2) They must radiate or illuminate (Give light)
As a Christian, don’t isolate yourself from unsaved people. They need the light in our lives. Unless we get next to them, they will not be illuminated. If you have a friend at work that is not saved, and you know that he has an interest in sports like basketball or tennis, go play with him. Let him know that you are different from the world so that you could show them that you never cheat or never speak foul words. Perhaps you could invite your unsaved friends at work for dinner.
Even if you never speak anything about Christianity, your home is a Christian home. Your home is a light to them. Let them come into your home that is free from the stench of tobacco, free from the influence of pornography, free from cursing. Let them come in to our homes that are filled with real love between a husband and wife, and a family that gathers around the table thanking God for everything. You may never say a word to them about the Lord in a direct way, but let the light of your Christian home shine before them. Invite them into your homes; you will not fall as a Christian if you have unsaved man in your home. You are just being a light, a light to the world. Let your light illuminate them.
3) They give glory to our Father
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.
I know some of you have a problem with this passage. You might ask, “Brother Melvin! Didn’t Jesus say somewhere in the Bible that our good works should not to be seen by men? That right! That’s in the next chapter (Matthew 6). Notice what He says in verse 1:
Take heed that you do not do your merciful deeds before men, to be seen by them.
There seems to be a contradiction when He said in Mat 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men” then he said “don’t let your merciful deeds be seen before men.” What does He mean? So let’s read on…
Mat 6:1 says, “Take heed that you do not do your merciful deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in Heaven.”
Now notice verse 2…
Mat 6:2 Therefore when you do your merciful deeds, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.
Now notice the phrase “that they have glory from men.” but in Mathew 5:16 said that they may glorify what? “Your Father who is in Heaven.” See the difference? It’s a difference in motives!
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees were admired as great leaders. And Jesus said that the Pharisees walked in the street in the market place looking so pious, so spiritual and made sure that everyone was watching them. Somebody even blew a trumpet for them so that everybody knew that they were coming. They would pray and looked unto heaven with their faces looking so spiritual. But Jesus said that deep inside their hearts, they had only one motive: to give glory unto themselves. They did things to get glory from men.
What is the desire of a true Christian?
Jesus said that “let your light shine before men.” You let them know that you are a Christian by doing things that a Christian should do. Let your light shine not in the absence of men, but before the very face of men. And what’s your motive? That they might see the change and difference in your life! That they may not glorify you but acknowledge that the God in heaven who is your Father has made this changes possible.
If you and I are saved, God’s light in us deserves to radiate to others. So if somebody comes to you and says that if you are a follower of Jesus, you must not be talking about it in our workplaces and remain quiet about it. No. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men, in the presence of men. The difference lies not in the activity but in the motive. TO GLORIFY OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN!
Conclusion
As salt, never be absorbed in the lost society of men and women that we lose our saltiness. But as light we will never be separated from them, so that we will never fail to illuminate them. We are to be the “light of the world!”
As Christians, do not withdraw in isolation from unsaved people. Some of us in our desire to hide from the world because of the first warning “don’t lose your saltiness,” so we withdraw from the company of unsaved people thus hiding our light in a basket of Christian fellowship. And all our contacts, all our friends, our social lives are limited only within the basket or bushel of our Christian associations, we never associate with unsaved people, neighbors, colleagues, etc.
Don’t isolate yourself from the unsaved people. They need the light in our lives. Unless we get next to them, they will not be illuminated. We are not going to radiate. Our Lord Jesus is the perfect example for this when He passed by Samaria on His way to Jerusalem. He stopped by the well. Do you remember what He did? He used His normal social contact skill. He stopped by the well and asked the woman to pour Him some water to drink in spite of the fact that He knew what kind of woman she was. Jesus knew what her life was. Later on He began to tell her that she had 5 husbands and the one she was living with at that time was not her husband (John 4:18). But the Lord did not run from her, even though she was an immoral woman. But most of us would have.
If you think that you are too weak to talk and you are going to fall, then you’d better run! That’s what Joseph did with Potiphar’s wife. He did not witness to her when she made him know her intension. When she grabbed hold of Joseph, he ran away and that’s why you better do the same. If you have any doubt of your ability to stand for Christ, don’t associate! But if you are walking with Him in the power of His Spirit in your heart filled with compassion for sinners, you will not be defiled. If we will not go near them and gain their confidence, we will not be able let our light shine before them.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven. Amen!
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