Spreading the Salt and Light of Grace

“Spreading the Salt and Light of Grace”
Matthew 5:13-16
6.25.06 . Kevin P. Larson . Grace Church of Columbia

Last week, we finished eight weeks of study on the Beatitudes in our series on the Sermon on the Mount entitled “Transformed by Grace.” In those verses, we saw what could be called the character of those transformed by grace. In today’s passage, Matthew 5:13-16, we see what could be called the influence of those transformed by grace.

It has been implicit in Matthew 5:1-12 that Christians can’t practice the Beatitudes privately. Being “meek” involves others. The call to be “merciful” presupposes relationships. “Peacemakers” can’t fulfill their calling in the closet. And, most clear, living out those characteristics results in being “persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”

But here, in Matthew 5:13-16, that idea becomes explicit. Christians are called to have an influence in society. They are to be “salt” and “light.” They can’t be “poor in spirit” and “mourn” for their sins and “hunger and thirst for righteousness” and be “pure in heart” in private. They must take it public. Not only are those Beatitudes not intended for the closet, but the last Beatitude, that teaches persecution will come, can’t send us back there. Despite the certainty of persecution, Jesus commands us to take our faith to the world. We are commanded to have an influence. Let’s begin by reading the passage.

Matthew 5:13 "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 that they may see your good
works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.We’re going to cover quite a bit of ground this morning, so let me tell you where we’re headed.

· First, we’ll look at what the passage presupposes.
· Second, we’ll discuss who the passage addresses.
· Third, we’ll examine where the passage applies.
· Fourth, we’ll see what the passage demands.
· Fifth, we’ll take a look at what the passage condemns.
· Sixth, we’ll talk about how the passage looks.
· Seventh, we’ll discuss why the passage matters.

First, let us look at what the passage presupposes. As I will detail further shortly, I argue that the primary meaning of being the “salt of the earth” has to do with serving as a preservative. This means that Jesus assumes that the world is corrupt and deteriorated and spoiled. Let’s read two lengthy passages in Romans. Listen to Romans 1:18-32.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to
them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in
the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they
knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became
futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to
be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for
images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore
God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of
their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for
a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is
blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable
passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are
contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women
and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts
with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And
since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased
mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of
unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God,
insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31
foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree that
those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give
approval to those who practice them.

This is what the people of our world look like. We have suppressed the knowledge of God, refused to worship Him, and have turned our minds and hearts to idols instead. So God has given us what we wanted and has let us plummet into a destructive downward spiral of sin.

Romans 8, however, says that this doesn’t just apply to humans. It applies to all of the creation. Listen to verses 18-23.


Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation
waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the
creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who
subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its
bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of
childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have
the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as
sons, the redemption of our bodies.

It wasn’t this way in the garden, but, since the fall, the entire creation, including humanity, has been subject to corruption. 2 Timothy 3:12, which we read last week, says that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” But the reason for this follows.

It says, in verse 13, “While evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” The reason why we need to be “salt,” as well as the reason why we will be persecuted, has to do with the fact that the world is corrupt.

In addition, this passage also presupposes that the world is dark. John is the apostle that emphasizes that Jesus is the light. At the beginning of His gospel, he says this, in verses 4 and 5: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus came shining His light into a dark world. Later in the gospel, in John 12:46, our Lord said, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” Our world is a dark place.

D.A. Carson writes regarding “light” that, “in the Old Testament as in the New Testament, it most frequently symbolizes purity as opposed to filth, truth or knowledge as opposed to error or ignorance, and divine revelation and presence as opposed to reprobation and abandonment by God.” The world is trapped in impurity, ignorance, and separation from God. We see this as people stumble around, unable to get their bearings, unable to see things as they really are. We have all been there.

I don’t know how anyone could deny this corruption and darkness after watching Invisible Children last night. The fact that thousands of children could be kidnapped and forced to be brutal murderers for an evil warlord is staggering. How awful is it, when probably the only solution to the problem is to destroy the army which is largely made up of children!

Most of you have probably heard about the Duke rape scandal involving the lacrosse team. This blog I read all the time quoted an article at Rolling Stone discussing the culture of sex on the campus of one of America’s most prestigious universities. It is shocking how some of our nation’s brightest women degrade themselves repeatedly on a nightly basis. Our world is corrupt and dark.

But, it’s really not that much different from Jesus’s day. We can’t have historical amnesia and think that we’re the only generation that has dealt with such things. Jesus is talking to people in the Roman Empire, after all, where there were wicked soldiers and temple prostitutes. Our Lord is telling His original hearers, as well as us, that the world is corrupt and dark.

Second, let us look at who the passage addresses. You can’t see this in the English, but there are two interesting things about the word “you.” First, Jesus says, “you are the salt of the earth,” and “you are the light of the world.” The pronoun is first used emphatically in the verse. Some of you know Spanish. “Hablo espanol” means “I speak Spanish.” However, if you add the pronoun, “Yo,” which means “I,” you don’t just have “I speak Spanish.” You have “I speak Spanish.” I speak Spanish as opposed to you speaking Spanish. The use of “yo” is for emphasis.

The same thing is happening here. The Greek word for “you” is used at the beginning, when it is unnecessary, in order to provide emphasis. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “You and only you are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” If we, his disciples, don’t fulfill this, nobody will.

Notice that I said “we.” Second, the word “you” is plural. Jesus isn’t speaking to individuals here, calling them to be salty and shiny. He’s talking to a group of people. This is critical, because God wants us to change the world corporately. He wants us to be on mission, but He wants our missionary success to build His church.

He wants our individual witness to be in the context of community. He doesn’t just want us to win converts, but He rather wants us to bring them into the fellowship of the church. And He wants us to have a corporate witness through the practice of community. As people see us love one another, as Jesus says in John 13:34-35, all people will know that we belong to Him. So, when Jesus says “you” are salt and light, he’s not talking about individuals—he’s talking about His church corporately. We obey Jesus here as a group.

Third, let’s examine where the passage applies. Now this is obvious from the passage, but it’s worth noting. We are slow and sinful. We need reminders. Jesus says, in verse 13, “You are the salt of the earth.” In verse 14, he says “you are the light of the world.” This obviously teaches that we have to be on the earth and in the world. We can’t function as “salt” and “light” if we’re not there.

In John 17:15-18, Jesus prays this:


John 17:15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep
them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the
world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into
the world, so I have sent them into the world.

Notice what Jesus says here. First, he does not ask the Father to take us out of the world. He wants us there. Second, He prays that God would protect us, while in the world, from the enemy. Satan will attack us. Third, He says that, like Him, we are not of this world. We’re citizens of a greater kingdom. Fourth, He asks God to sanctify us or make us holy by His word while in the world. We will need help to withstand this earth.
Fifth, He says that as He was sent into the world, He has sent us there. He made us His missionaries, as He was the Father’s missionary.

So there’s no doubt from this passage, as well as Matthew 5:13-16, that Christ wants us in the world. Do we believe that? Do we acknowledge that He has chosen, instead of taking us now to be with him, to send us into the world on mission? Do we believe that He will make us holy while on earth and that He will protect us from Satan while in the world? Do we trust Him that He can use us as missionaries in this world, and also bring us safely to our home in the new earth?

I fear that the phrase “we’re in the world, but not of the world” has become meaningless Christian jargon. Are we really in the world? Or have we so often separated ourselves from the world, avoiding the mission to which Christ has called us? I listen to a very limited amount of Christian music. But I have noted before on my blog how the CCM group Avalon recorded a well-known song called “In It, Not of It.” Listen to just a few of the lyrics:

I hide me far away from trouble
The world outside me grows darker by the day
So I promise to stay here close beside Him
Surely God would want His children safe
Then reading, how my eyes were opened
I find that He is leading us out into the world
Into the middle of fallen saints and sinners
Where a little grace is needed most

Not bad lyrics, huh? Sounds like this passage! Now I don’t doubt their motives at all. But the irony is that this song proclaiming our need to go into the world was sung into a culture of people that rarely do so. It was a song by Christian musicians to a Christian subculture. Now, maybe we’re not of the world, but, in the modern evangelical church, we’re rarely in it either.

We often claim to be spreading salt, but it’s a lot like how the trucks do in the winter. They drive through really fast, throwing salt all over everything, making a terrible mess, and don’t come back.

We often claim to be shining light, but it’s more like a police search light from a helicopter. We fly over and shine the light, but then we go back to headquarters where it’s safe.

We may go in the world from time to time, but do we live there? Do we make this earth our temporary home, as Christ did? More often, our salt and light looks more like spiritual drive-by shootings or evangelistic flashing.

What causes us to avoid being in the world? Let me suggest just three things. First, I would argue a fear of being corrupted by the world keeps us out. We don’t have confidence in our Lord to protect us from Satan and make us holy, so we stay out.

Second, I would argue a desire to pursue light hinders our mission. Some of you may be familiar with the acronym “DTR.” You start hanging out with a person of the opposite sex, things start getting awkward, expectations start coming, and you have a “DTR.” You “define the relationship.”

Well, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had something similar with Christians over the years, and I’m fairly young. I get to know another younger believer. He starts taking off spiritually. Before you know it, I’m having a “DTR” with him, as he’s trying to figure out how to define his relationship with God. He starts growing and he assumes that he should certainly be involved in full-time ministry. It doesn’t occur to him that God could use him in society, in the workplace, in the world as a banker or construction worker or a chef. Others reinforce this idea, telling him that he should certainly go to bible college or seminary and get in ministry.

This fear of being corrupted by the world and this desire to pursue the light smacks of a protestant monasticism or clericalism where real Christians become monks and leave or become priests and do ministry. It has at its root an unhealthy distinction between the sacred and the secular, assuming that some things are spiritual, where other things aren’t.

Some people are called to preach and lead the church, and they’re called to be paid for that. I think I’m one of them. But I think those are few. In general, I think God wants most of us being normal Joes, cultivating the earth as Adam did, but trying to be “salt” and “light” in the process. It’s hard to be the “light” of the world if you’re not there. If you’re not content in your work, if it’s hard, that’s part of the curse of Adam. It doesn’t mean you need to be a pastor. And just so you know, that’s not always easy either. The point is that most of us should be in the world, being “salt” and “light” for Christ. That’s honestly why I keep working at the Cherry Street Artisan when I don’t necessarily have to.

Third, I would say that an apathy or arrogance toward the darkness prevents us from being “light” there. We can get to where we don’t care about the world. Or, worse, we can get to where we don’t think the world is worth saving. We look down our noses at lost people or we don’t look at them at all. But this dishonors God in two ways. First, God thought the world was worth saving so much that He sent His Son to live and die. How can we not care? And, we are one of those people He saved. How can we be arrogant?
Second, God ultimately is drawing worshippers from every nation to praise Him. If we become so self-absorbed and self-righteous that we don’t share the gospel, really we’re acting as if we don’t care if God receives more worship.

So, let us repent of our disobedience. Let us go into the world. In Jesus’s day, if you headed about 100 miles south, the Jordan River ran into the Salt Sea. This sea was so salty that it was also called the Dead Sea. Right there, a monastic community of people called the Essenes lived in caves overlooking that sea, trying to avoid the wicked world. They called themselves the “Sons of Light.” But their light never left those caves. And their salt never got anywhere, much like the deposits lining that sea. They were anything but the lights of the world or the salt of the earth. Sometimes I think we look too much like them.

Fourth, let’s examine what the passage demands. We are told, in verse 13, that we are the “salt of the earth.” Some have said that the whiteness of salt means that we’re called to be pure. Others have said that salt brings flavor, and so are we to do that in the world, making Christianity attractive. Others have pointed out that salt in wounds stings, and so should our words of truth bring discomfort. Others have noted that salt brings thirst. Likewise, Christians should cause others to “hunger and thirst for righteousness.”

We could note biblical support for each of those ideas, for sure. But it’s doubtful that’s what Jesus meant here. Salt, in that day, was primarily used as a preservative. It was rubbed into meats to hinder spoiling.

God, of course, is the ultimate preserver of the universe. By God’s common grace, evil is restrained and corruption is hindered. If God pulled back His hand for even a moment, things would get out of control.

But Jesus here calls us to be salt. He wants to rub us into the world, hindering its decay and restraining corruption. God has ordained the state and the family to restrain evil, but more than anything, he has given the world the church. Our presence keeps the world from being as rotten as it could be.

We are told, in verse 14, that we are the “light of the world.” This means primarily that we are to shine forth with the truth of Christ during our sojourn here.

Jesus, of course, calls himself the same thing. In John 8:12, he states, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” His words and deeds loudly proclaimed the truth about God during His incarnation.

But He has made us lights, as well. Colossians 1:12-13 speaks of believers “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” He has brought us into the light. Now, we are like the moon. We don’t create our own light. We reflect the light of the Son so that the earth can see Him.

Listen to Ephesians 5:8-11.

Ephesians 5:8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that
is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Once we were a part of the darkness and corruption, but now we’re “light in the Lord.” We’re now called to proclaim and display what is “good and right and true” and the converse. We’re also called to “expose” the “unfruitful works of darkness.” Being “light” primarily has the idea of us giving the truth about what is good and what is evil to a fallen, dark world. We emit light, displaying the truth about who God is and what His gospel entails. We illuminate the darkness, showing evil for what it really is.

Many have pointed out that being “salt” is primarily a negative thing, while being “light” is primarily positive. As “salt” we stop decay. As “light” we emit truth. It’s one thing to hinder evil. It’s another thing to present good. We are called to do both.

To bring this a bit closer to home, let me use two illustrations from cross-references dealing with “salt” and “light.” Listen first to Colossians 4:6. It reads, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer each person.” Ponder how easily our words can hinder corruption in conversations in the workplace, for example. It doesn’t mean that we’re prudes. It doesn’t mean we can’t have fun. It doesn’t mean that we go around rebuking people. But just a few simple, serious words can bring a whole conversation and a whole afternoon out of the gutter.

Listen second to Philippians 2:14-16.

Philippians 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning, 15 that you may
be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a
crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16
holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud
that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Here’s a great statement of how we can display his light. Who historically did much “grumbling or questioning?” The Jews did, from the Exodus to the Promised Land—throughout their history. They constantly questioned the loving providence of God, blaspheming Him and causing the nations to blaspheme Him because of their lack of faith. Do we want to shine in this world? One way that we can do it is by looking at God’s providence and trusting Him, not worrying and not griping.

This is exactly what Jesus says later in the Sermon on the Mount. He says, “Don’t worry about food and clothing. You have a heavenly Father, unlike the pagans.” If we fret and complain just like lost people who don’t have God as Father, we will fail to be lights to them.

One day God will refine the heavens and earth, and this corrupt world will be restored. There will be no more decay. One day, as Revelation 22:5 puts it, “Night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” Until that time, however, we are commanded to live as “salt” and “light.”

Fifth, let’s discuss what the passage prohibits. We notice first that verse 13 says,

"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.

Some have noted that salt can’t really stop being salt. Sodium chloride is a very stable compound. However, salt in Jesus’s day was fairly often filled with impurities. It had other materials in it. As the salt was more soluble, it could be washed out, and all you had left was a white powder that looked like salt but wasn’t salty. Apparently this was thrown on Jewish roofs or on roads where it was trampled upon.

What is Jesus’s point? It’s that, if we lose our saltiness, our ability to restrain corruption, we’re worthless, just like that white powder. This passage prohibits becoming the corruption we’re called to restrain. We can become so much like the world that we become part of the problem instead of part of the solution.

Verses 14 and 15 state,

Matthew 5:14 "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.

This passage also prohibits restraining the illumination we’re called to exude. Jesus says, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” We are not to gather in a valley, out of view, but rather on the hill where all can see the light of Christ in us.

Today, we are very rarely away from light. But we could go to places on the globe where, at night, we would be miles and miles from anything and, if there were no stars in the sky, we could hold up our hand in front of us, and we couldn’t even see it. However, we could walk over a hill and see a city with lights blazing, illuminating the darkness.

Jesus wants us to be like that city, placed up on the highest hill where all can see. Again, some will be drawn to the light. Others will cower back into the darkness. But that rests in God’s sovereignty. Our job is to shine.

Jesus goes on to say, “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.” People of Jesus’s day would light an olive-oil lamp and place it on a stand where it could illuminate the house. Just as it’s ludicrous to cover it with some sort of basket, it’s also ridiculous for God’s people who remain on earth simply to shine for God to hide that light.

Jesus prohibits His people from not being salty and not shining. When we abandon either, we no longer fulfill the purpose for which we remain on earth—to restrain evil and promote good. What good is salt without saltiness? What good is light that doesn’t shine? Both are worthless.

The image of the “city on a hill” may have also brought to mind in Jesus’s readers Old Testament prophecies describing Jerusalem lifted up with all nations streaming to her. Listen to Isaiah 2:2-5.

Isaiah 2:2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the
house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and
shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and
many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the
LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that
we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the
LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide
disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in
the light of the LORD.

Now, we’re not certain this is what Jesus had in mind. But it’s possible. And brothers and sisters, we’re the fulfillment of that prophecy. We are the new city, the new people of God, the church. We are called to be lifted up, with our light shining, to call all nations to God.

Sixth, let’s talk about how the passage looks. Let me just mention four spheres where Christians must be present to be “salt” and “light.” You could think of more.

Take business. The presence of believers can hinder oppression and reduce unjust gain as “salt.” They can promote sound, fair practices of commerce as “light.” The Cherry Street Artisan, where I work, is an example of this. I see all the time how the place makes choices not simply based on dollars and cents, but on truth and righteousness.

Take education. The presence of Christians can hinder instruction that glories in godlessness. They can proclaim objective truth in a pluralistic, postmodern world. I’ve heard numerous times that the philosophy department here at Mizzou has many Christian professors. They can be salt and light on a corrupt, dark campus.

Take the arts. The presence of Christians can hinder the decline of music, film, sculpture, and the like into the gutter. They can exhibit the creativity and beauty of God. I think of the hardcore band Thrice that I’ve been listening to lately. They haven’t taken their music to a Christian label where youth groups would only hear them. They’re singing where the world can hear. I’ve been thumping this song “Image of the Invisible” lately that speaks loudly about the biblical truth that we’re made in the image of God. But it isn’t just about making Christian songs that nonbelievers like. You can play the cello or paint a sunset or direct a film like “Invisible Children” and still serve as “salt” and “light.”

Take government. The presence of believers can hinder the decadence of Washington and Jefferson City, where it sadly generally has to do more with pleasing people back home and getting reelected than truly serving the people. They can stick up for the weak, protect life, and promote the common good. I think of my friends Merilee Crockett and Richard Hicks, both assistant prosecuting attorneys, who are striving to stand up for victims of domestic violence and sexual misconduct in a way that honors God.

Brothers and sisters, we can’t exit all these realms. It’s not an option for us based on Matthew 5:13-16. We can’t peddle WWJD junk to each other and call that business for the glory of God. We can’t just all move to teaching and learning in Bible colleges. We can’t live in a bubble with our own art and music and Veggie Tales videos. We can’t buy our own country and move there and let everybody else go to hell. We are called to be “salt” and “light.” We are commanded to display to a corrupt, dark world the difference a Christian worldview makes in all the spheres of life.

In each of those realms, as well as others, we can proclaim and display the four key aspects of the gospel: creation, fall, redemption, consummation—where we came from, what the problem is, what the solution is, where we’re going. And we don’t have to do it in a cheesy way that only is heard within a Christian subculture. We can show those truths in creative, winsome ways that earn dialogue. True, most people don’t want to hear the gospel. But Jesus just tells us to be faithful as “salt” and “light.” He will draw people to Himself through us.

Seventh, let’s discuss why the passage matters. Read again Matthew 5:16. It says, “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.”

We are told to do “good works” to be seen. We’ll see soon in chapter 6 of Matthew that the Pharisees did things to be seen, as well. They gave to the needy, prayed, and fasted in ways that people would see them and glorify them.

We, however, are called to do works that bring glory to God the Father. Again, we are to display light but not light that is our own. We are to be like prisms that take in the light of Jesus and refract it in beautiful ways. People see it and acknowledge its beauty, but they have no doubt where it comes from. It comes from Christ.

If we do this, we will be fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. If we ask my two-year-old son Hadley, “What is the chief end of man?” he will reply, “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” That is why we were made. If we do good works, serving as “salt” and “light,” we will bring glory to God and be what we were made to be.

However, note that we are told here to bring God glory in a certain way. We are to bring God glory through mission. In other words, this passage clearly doesn’t deal with our worship. It deals with us inciting worship in others. It deals with making disciples. We do good works, people see them, and then they worship God. It’s important for us to see that worship is the ultimate aim of evangelism. We share the gospel of Jesus. People come to worship Jesus. As Piper says, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.”

Here at near the beginning of Matthew is a preview of the end of the book. Jesus gives the Great Commission there. He says,

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to
the end of the age."

We share the gospel of Christ with our words. But here, in Matthew 5:16, it teaches that we also share the gospel through or works.

We also see here a preview of the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13. There Jesus prays, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” As we serve as “salt” and “light” faithfully, this “Father who is in heaven” will be “hallowed” or glorified more and more as His will is done more and more here on earth.

In doing this, we will fulfill the prophecies spoken about Jesus and about His people in the Old Testament. In the “Servant Songs” of Isaiah, the prophet speaks of Jesus, who would come as a light in the world. Read Isaiah 49:6.

Isaiah 49:6 he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to
raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will
make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of
the earth."

God says, “It would be too easy for me to just have you redeem Israel. I’m going to have you redeem the earth. You will be my light.” In Acts 13:47, Paul and Barnabas preached that this also applied to Christ’s church. As His “light of the world,” we proclaim and live in such a way that people from all nations come to glorify the Father through Christ Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus wants us to be people of a certain character. We saw that in the Beatitudes. He also wants us to be a people of influence. We see that in our passage this morning. We have this amazing opportunity to be in the world, in the culture of Columbia, yet standing as a counter-cultural community within that restrains corruption and proclaims truth. In the midst of our wonderful city, we can stand as a “city on a hill,” a preview and foretaste of the city of God, calling all people to flow to Christ, the “light of the world.”

Do we understand the world is dark and corrupt?
Do we recognize that we and only we are charged to deal with it?
Will we own up to our calling to be sent into the world?
Will we restrain corruption and exude light?
Will we refuse to become corrupt or hide our light?
Will we take that salt and light boldly into society?
Will we live to see others come to worship God in Christ?

Will we be a “city on a hill?”


Some of you today may be still trapped in corruption and mired in darkness. You need to come to the “light of the world,” Jesus Christ, repenting of your sin and embracing Him by faith. You need to see His holiness, your sin, and His marvelous cross that brings reconciliation with God. Come to Christ in faith.

Others of you have begun to look like the earth. You have become part of the problem, instead of the solution. You’ve not shined your light. You’ve hidden it. You’ve forgotten why you’re here in the world. Come to Christ in repentance.