Thinking Outside the Walls of the Church Pt. 3

So many details go into making any kingdom or country run smoothly. The success of any group is in direct proportion to the work that is accomplished by each of its members. In any kingdom, the king is sovereign to appoint different tasks for his subjects. In the same way, presidents or prime ministers often appoint cabinet members for specific roles in order to help things run smoothly. Several parallels might be drawn between such nations states and the kingdom of God. However, the kingdom Christ speaks of in Matthew 5-7 is a kingdom of perfection to look forward to—a kingdom for which we are all on mission today. As we continue to examine our mission (to know Christ, grow in Christ, and show Christ to others) and strategy for accomplishing this, we are going to examine Jesus’ own words on the role each one of us plays as citizens in the Kingdom of God. In fact, in Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus reveals that while God’s kingdom subjects have so much to look forward to, this is no cause for them to sit still or grow comfortable. Jesus’ calling on kingdom subjects comes by means to two word pictures.

1) WORD PICTURE #1: The Salt of the Earth-5:13

The first image Jesus compares his subjects to are granular pieces of salt—“You are the salt of the earth” (5:13a). In light of the radically different lifestyle Jesus has called the Jews around him to emulate thus far in the Sermon on the Mount, what Jesus says next is striking. For many Jews in Jesus’ day, living a life of separation from the world and isolation from the lost followed repentance. So far in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus seems to be playing into this pattern as the beatitudes described a counter-cultural way of living. What Jesus has suggested so far goes might have suggested strict separation between God’s people the culture around them.  

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However, Jesus does not advocate for isolation or separation from what he preaches against. Instead, He encourages the exact opposite. Christians are called to permeate society as agents of redemption. Salt, while used for flavor, is primarily referred to here as a preservative. Salt is considered to be an antibacterial. That is why it is good at preserving products, especially food stuffs. How does it work? Anything that is called antibacterial is called so because it inhibits the growth of bacteria. Bacteria feeds off your food and cause it to spoil and salt prevents the moist environment that bacteria requires to thrive. This is because salt is very good at dehydrating and absorbing the water from anything it comes into contact with. In the same way, Jesus calls his disciples to target, arrest, and prevent moral decay in their world as they seek to advance the Kingdom.

After describing what a kingdom citizen looks like (in Matt. 5:1-12), here, Jesus delineates their calling. Believers everywhere are to spread themselves over and around the rotting and decaying world around them, confronting their culture and context, and act as a preserving and decontaminating agents through the redeeming power of the gospel. What a calling!

After painting this first word picture of the care God’s people are to provide, Jesus asks a pointed question—“but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?” This does not describe the scientifically impossible idea of salt becoming flavorless; rather, it exposes the common problem many Jews faced when salt was mixed with various impure substances and, as a result, became worthless as a preservative agent. With the call to be salt comes a warning. Although the subjects of the kingdom are called into the world as a preservative, they are also asked not to become defiled by that world—i.e. adopting its ways—and prove worthless / tasteless. The severity of this proposition is revealed in Jesus’ suggestion that if salt loses its saltiness, it is near impossible to ever get that back. If/when kingdom citizens are mixed into the world, they lose their effectiveness for the kingdom mission.

Not only are those who lost their saltiness ineffective, Jesus suggests that they are worthless—“it is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trample underfoot by men” (5:13c). Jesus answers the question that he posed earlier—" but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?”—by acknowledging that defiled salt is trash. In fact, besides just being fit for discarding, Jesus goes a step further and says that defiled salt deserves to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Luke 14:34-35-“Therefore, salt is good: but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

What both of these passages reveal is this: subjects in the kingdom of God who fail to act as they should in arresting corruption in the people, places, and institutions around them become worthless as agents of change and redemption in the mission of God. Those who advocate for peace and salvation but avoid the decomposing world around them prove impotent and unable to fulfill their divinely given role in the world. To be a preserving agent does not mean to be passive and hands off to the world. This is what the first century Jews were doing—those very Jews that Jesus was instructing in this passage. Jesus’ call of his subjects is to be change agents for the cause of Christ.

2) WORD PICTURE #2: The Light of the World-5:14-16

The second image Jesus places before his subjects is a light—“You are the light of the world” (5:14a). In fact, what Jesus calls his subjects here is exactly what the bible says of Jesus Himself later in John 8:12.

John 8:12-“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’”

In the same way that Jesus shone brightly in the world he entered, his subjects are to reflect his light as his followers in the same world they are preserving around them. The “world” mentioned here is parallel to the “earth” mentioned in the previous verse and both speak not only of the planet, but the fallen systems thereupon. In the last verse the image of the world was of a decaying and rotting bacteria-infested piece of meat. In such a world, God’s people were called to be salt. In this verse, the world is a dark domain of wanderers. Amidst the darkness, the subjects of God’s kingdom are called to be lights that pierce through the darkness and illuminate Christ to all who are stumbling around.

Christ pushes the metaphor further suggesting that these lights cannot and should not be ignored or hidden—“a city on a hill cannot be hidden” (5:14b). “A city on a hill” refers to a collection of lights giving direction to the surrounding areas. Thus, the subjects described in the previous verses are to radiate together and, if acting as they should, should not be hidden or ignored by the world around them.

Lights for the gospel in a dark world ought never be hidden—the very idea to Jesus was preposterous—“ nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket,…” (5:15a).

One of the bad habits (I know it is a stretch to believe I was guilty of any of these) I had growing up was leaving a light on somewhere in the house. In fact, there would be many occasions that my dad or mom would get onto me about leaving a light on in the house because I was no longer using the room that was now burning electricity and contributing to the utility bill. By nature, however, even in the daytime, what happens when we enter a room, even for just a second? We turn on a light.

This was not the case in the first century. While we might be able to click on an off a light for the fun of it, in days prior to Edison’s light-bulb people lit a light for and on purpose. It took time and was not something someone did frivolously. To the primarily Jewish audience listening in the first century, Jesus suggests how silly it would be for someone to go to the trouble of lighting a lamp (getting the fuel, acquiring a flame, etc.) just to then cover it up. It is like me walking into a room, turning on a light, and immediately leaving the room with the light on. It is not being used! No one does that (or, at least, no one should!). In the same way, God does not illuminate people with his Spirit at salvation so that they can then be covered up and hidden from the lost world around them. That would be absurd.

The correct thing to do with a light is put it to good use by allowing it to illuminate the area around you and give direction to those who are in the dark—“ but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house…”(5:15b). (Interestingly, my parents never got onto me about being in a lit room, as long as I was in the room putting those photons to good use). The Jews in the first century would never cover a light. Instead they would allow it to take a prominent place in the house so all might benefit from it. In the same way, Christ did not create subjects in his kingdom to be hidden away. It is not his purpose to create undercover Christians. Rather, the proper place for His subjects is to be prominently placed so that Christ’s reflection might be able to bring direction and illumination to those still in the dark.

After making this case, Jesus provides some guidelines for the lights in his kingdom and instructs those listening in how to properly reflect the gospel. First he suggests that it being on mission as lights happens in public—“Let your light shine before men” (5:16a). This is a general term used for everyone around you. Second, being on mission as lights involves the demonstration of good works—"in such a way that they may see you good works” (5:16b). Christ realized, as should all who listen to his words, that one’s life and actions may be the only sermon a person witnesses in their lifetime. Good works reveal faith and true repentance in the life of a subject of the King. Jesus communicates here that although it is one thing to share the message of redemption verbally, he calls believers in this verse to be lights and not loud-speakers—demonstrating in acts of service what is being proclaimed and putting hands and feet to the words proclaimed. Third, Christ reminds that this should be done not in pride and religious arrogance, but in humility giving any and all glory to God who is in heaven—“ and glorify your Father who is in heaven…” (5:16c). Again, this is contrary both to the worldly behaviors and the corrupt religious system active in Jesus’ day (and in our day as well). The world is an expert at being self-glorifying. Similarly, the Pharisees of the first century were all about glorifying themselves through legalistic works and pompous platitudes. However, a subject of the King is a mirror, reflecting glory away from himself/herself and toward the Father in heaven. 

So What?

Salt and Light. A preservative agent used as a catalyst for change and a light, amidst a dark world, guiding others out of the shadows. These are the callings placed on God’s subjects as they are about the mission of the Kingdom of God. For so much of Israel’s history, they had proven useless. In the popular religion of Jesus’ day, focus was on themselves and creating a holy bubble of belief rather than venturing out into the world or shining the light beyond the temple walls. Their salt was useless, and their light, wasted. Unfortunately, these trends are not specific to first century Jews. Many churches today take on the same traits Jesus teaches against here. Today, we must take a sober look at how we are behaving as God’s Subjects. Are we at all guilty of hiding ourselves in the four walls of our church, hogging the salt for ourselves and those already in the fold? Are we busy lighting regions of our lives, this community, or this world that are already well lit? We must determine to venture out, bringing the restoration and love that only Christ can offer to the decay and rottenness that we often times avoid. We must seek out the darkness and put our light to good use. We’ve learned today that being a disciple of Christ, being a subject of the King is not about being a lone-ranger, or secret-agent. It is about being in the open, standing in the gap, and being Christ’s ambassadors. Is it not about isolating ourselves in safety and the comfort of our religious system, it is about venturing out in the muck and mire and to there be the church to a dying and hell-bound world.