Salt of the Earth, Light of the World

Matthew 5:13-16

In Matthew 5 we have been studying the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He began with the Beatitudes where He described the character and the blessedness of a true disciple of Jesus, a person who has a part in the Kingdom of Heaven. For me, it has been both encouraging and challenging.

But we cannot leave the Beatitudes behind and simply move on to other subjects. The Beatitudes influence everything else that Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is teaching about His kingdom. Jesus has proclaimed the blessings of this kingdom not upon those who have righteousness, but on those who hunger and thirst for it. The blessings of the kingdom belong to those who are spiritually bankrupt, to those who mourn in repentance over sin, to those who bend their will in submission to Christ.

It is a kingdom of grace that Christ is ushering in, where righteousness is given, not earned. It is a kingdom whose citizens then walk according to that grace, showing mercy for they have obtained mercy; being pure in heart because God is pure; making peace, for God has made peace with them. And this counter-cultural kingdom comes in such apparent weakness that its citizens will be persecuted for proclaiming and walking in the righteousness of this kingdom. This is who the true disciples of Jesus are. His beatitude-living disciples are unlike anything else on earth.

What then should be our relationship with the rest of the world who are not yet in the kingdom? Should we seek to escape persecution by removing ourselves from the world?

As followers of Jesus, we live today in a world that can be characterized by two things: moral corruption and spiritual darkness. Paul writes to Timothy about the moral corruption of this world:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (2 Tim. 3:1-4).

In John 3:19-21 Jesus speaks about the spiritual darkness of this world,

19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (John 3:19-21).

Any disciple of Jesus who by God’s grace wants to live the godly life of the beatitudes immediately recognizes how hard this is because we live in a morally corrupt and spiritually dark world. By grace, God has saved us from spiritual darkness and the destructive course of this world through the death and resurrection of His Son. We live on this earth as people who are destined for eternal glory in the kingdom of heaven.

But when Christ calls us to His kingdom and saves us from sin, He does not usually take us immediately out of this dark, corrupt world. Instead, He leaves us in this world to be that which He has saved us to be. Because life on this earth is characterized by moral corruption, God has made us to be “the salt of the earth”—that which purifies and cleanses and seasons this earth; that which serves as a preservative to prevent corruption. And because the people of this world live in spiritual darkness, God has made us “the light of the world”—that which exposes the darkness of sin, and reveals the truth and grace and salvation in Jesus Christ.

Jesus teaches, “You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world.” The “you” in both these statements is plural and emphatic. This applies only to Christ’s disciples, not to everyone in the world; and it applies to all of Christ’s disciples, not just a few. And notice also that Jesus teaches, “You ARE” these things; not that He wishes we might become these things, or that we ought to work hard to become these things; but that we already are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” This we are by His grace. And also note that Jesus teaches, “You are THE salt of the earth . . . You are THE light of the world . . .” He speaks of us in exclusive terms. We are the only salt and the only light from God that this world has. The Church of true disciples of Jesus is the only “salt” He has provided for its moral corruption, and the only “light” He has provided for its spiritual darkness.

Let’s look a little closer at the two things that Jesus says that we are in this world. As we do, may the Holy Spirit use Jesus’ command to spur us on to make the positive difference in this world that our Father has saved us to make.[1]

First, we see that . . .

1. You are the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13).

Salt has many uses. We tend to think of it, first of all, as a seasoning for our food. Just the right amount of salt adds a great deal of flavor and enjoyment to that which is, otherwise, bland. The Bible even speaks of salt in this way. Job said, “Can flavorless food food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” (Job 6:6). Paul uses salt to picture how we speak to those who are outside the faith writing, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Col. 4:6). We are to salt our conversations with the truth of the word of God.

But a much more common use of salt particularly in the culture of Jesus’ day was as a preservative that prevented the advance of corruption and decay. Since there were no refrigerators or freezers in those days, people would salt their food and meat to prevent it from spoiling. Salt not only enhanced the flavor, but also of prevented corruption. Probably for both these reasons, God often required that the grains and meats that were offered as sacrifices be offered with salt (Lev. 2:13; Ezek. 43:24).

Sometimes, the Bible describes the covenant that God makes with His people as “a covenant of salt forever before the LORD” (Num. 18:19; 2 Chron. 13:5); because the presence of salt, as a preservative, symbolized purity and durability. Salt also prevented the spread of infection and promoted healing and cleansing. The Bible teaches us that, after birth, a brand-new baby was carefully washed in water and gently rubbed with salt (Ezek. 16:4).

So the word-picture of “the salt of the earth” is meant to convey that disciples of Jesus serve as that which prevents the corruption of sin and wickedness. Our function as salt is to resist decay. Salt is aseptic. It cannot change corruption into incorruption, but it does prevent corruption from spreading. It is used to hold decay and putrefaction at bay.^[2]

Let me just illustrate how this might apply in our family life. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul wrote about the problem of a believer who has an unbelieving spouse. This is very practical, many times one spouse will come to Christ and desire to live for Him while the other spouse is still very worldly in unbelief. Paul wrote to tell them, “. . . If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy” (1 Cor. 7:12-14). Paul was not saying that the presence of a believing husband or wife results in the automatic salvation of other members of the household; they all still need to believe on Jesus personally. But nevertheless, the presence of the believing wife or husband has a ‘sanctifying impact’ on the others and many times God will use the holy life of one family member to bring others to faith in Christ.

I believe that Jesus is telling us that, in the same way, the presence of His disciples on the earth has a ‘sanctifying impact’ on the culture in which it is found. By our reverence for God; by our passion for moral purity; by or obedience to our Savior’s commands; by our practical love for one another; by our willingness to be the servants of others; by the Holy Spirit producing His fruit in us; by living examples of the Beatitudes; we can have a ‘sanctifying impact’ upon this earth, keeping it from the total corruption of sin.

Someone has said, “”Believers are not to be honey in the world to soothe the sinful world, we are to be salt in the world, and whenever we see a place where there’s already a problem, we just throw ourselves in and make it sting.”[3] Salt irritates, it stings in a wound. Sometimes, being salt requires that we directly confront sin, and stop the spread of wickedness in a direct and confrontational way. The prophets of the Old Testament served as salt in this way.

Now, this leads us to an important matter when it comes to our role as “salt” on this earth. As we read on, we find that Jesus asks a question: “. . . But if salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

As a chemical compound, salt (sodium chloride), is very strong and stable. It doesn’t really lose its quality as “salt” in and of itself. But it can and does lose its “salty” impact – its “flavor” – when it becomes mixed with impurities that contaminate it. Then, it no longer has the effectiveness of salt. Much of the natural salt that those in Israel used was found around the Dead Sea. Some of the “salt” around that area is so mixed with other minerals and contaminants, that it is little more than useless white powder. And what can you do with it? You really can’t ‘salt’ salt! You’d not only fail to ‘salt’ the bad salt, but you’d also end up contaminating the good salt!

As believers, we are always “the salt of the earth” – no matter what. We are, as we said, the only “salt of the earth” that there is. So long as we are in Christ, we will never ‘not’ be salt. But we lose our effectiveness as salt when we become mixed up and contaminated with the sinful elements of our culture.

We all feel the pressure to conform to the world. It is tempting to watch the same shows on television that the world watches or to listen to the same music. It is easy talk the same way as the world. Its influence is all around us. When we adopt the sinful habits of our culture we become indistinct from it and our influence is nullified. We have lost our savor and our effectiveness; and we no longer make the impact on this world that God has left us here to make.

Let me ask you; are you living a life that is distinct and separate from the sinful things of this world? Do you live a distinctive life in your home and with your neighbors? Are you the same at home as you seek to be perceived at church? When people put pressure on you in the workplace to compromise with respect to God’s holy standards for you and in your obedience and devotion to Christ, to you stand firm? Does your conversation with your friends reflect the speech of the Savior, or does it reflect the influence of the world? Are you distinct in what you watch and what you read? Have you lost your effectiveness as “salt” because you’ve tasted too much of the world’s “sugar”?

To be effective as “the salt of the earth”, we must be “pure salt” – not mixed with the contaminants of this world. We must be distinct. May God search our hearts and our lives; and show us where we are not pure before Him! And may we repent of the sin He reveals in our lives so that we may be useful to Him in this world.

One of the things that makes “salt” effective is its close presence to that which it seeks to purify. It can’t have things mixed up with itself, or else it will become impure and ineffective. But at the same time, it must have contact with the things it purifies, or it will remain ineffective by simply sitting there alone. As “the salt of the earth”, we must be, as Jesus prayed for us to be, “in the world,” but “not of the world” (John 17:16). Jesus sends us “into the world” to be effective as salt—in the corrupt world but uncontaminated by it.

The secret to the effectiveness of the next thing is “contrast”. This leads us to Jesus’ next affirmation of what we are . . .

2. You are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14-16).

What does light do? It drives out darkness. Darkness cannot coexist with even a little bit of light; and the darker the darkness, the brighter the light shines. Jesus Jesus teaches His disciples, “You are the light of the world.” (Matt. 5:14).

Now having studied the Gospel of John you might think, “Wait a minute, I thought Jesus said that He was the light of the world!” He did. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” He also said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). Later He told the people who were doubting Him, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does no know where he is going. While you have light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (John 12:35-35). Jesus was the light of the world. He came to bring the light of life to those in darkness. But the time was coming when He would leave the world. Would that mean the light was gone?

No, Jesus made His disciples to be lights also. What does Jesus mean when He calls us the light of the world? Well, it certainly doesn’t mean that we are the light of the world in the same way that He was; because He alone is the light-source. Rather, it means that, now that He is gone from the world and has returned to His Father in heaven, we are the bearers of His light in the world.

Maybe in a similar way that the moon reflects the light of the sun, the church now serves to ‘reflect’ onto the world the light of Him who is the true light. He shines upon us; and we shine upon the world. Paul wrote, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:6).

What does light do? In a positive sense, it illumines. It pierces the darkness and reveals things as they really are. In that sense, the light of Jesus pierces the spiritual darkness by showing people the truth of God and the truth about themselves. John spoke of Jesus, in John 1:4-5, by saying, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (that is, the darkness did not “overcome” it).

But there’s another thing that light does; in a negative sense, it exposes something that was intended to be hidden. John speaks again of Jesus and says, “And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds where evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:19-20).

God has called us to be “the light of the world“, pointing people to the way to salvation through Jesus and exposing the depths of the evil of sin that He died to save them from. But people who love sin hate that light! They want to snuff it out! And so, we are often tempted to try and hide it.

The light in us, that has Jesus as its source, can’t be hidden. It’s silly to even try. Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matt. 5:14). He compares us with a huge city that is situated high on a hilltop. It can’t be hidden from view; and neither can Jesus’ light in us. Paul says that he and his fellow apostles “have been made a spectacle to the world” (1 Cor. 4:9). And he said that we, who follow Jesus, are an ‘epistle’ “known and read by all men . . .” (2 Cor. 3:2).

Jesus teaches, “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house” (Matt. 5:15). When we, who bear the light of the world, try to hide it from the world, we’re working in a manner that is very much contrary to our intended design! How foolish we would be to try to do that!

That leads us, then, to the command. It’s the only command found in a passage that is, otherwise, focused on simply telling us what we are. Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Because of what we are in Christ, we are called to live in this world and behave like what we are! We are commanded by our Savior to behave as salt on this earth and as light in the world because God has provided no other salt or light for the world than us.

The “they” does not refer to fellow believers but to those that are still in darkness. They are watching you even when you do not realize it. Perhaps it is the neighbor that never speaks but quietly he watches you, or the ornery person at work that watches how you respond to him. Or maybe it is the student that sits in your class during the school year and never says a word to you, but she is watching you. We do not control the “they,” we are to just be faithful to let the light shine where Christ has put us.

What a great honor; but what a great obligation! What hope does this world have, if we do not behave faithfully like what we are?! And isn’t it wonderful that Jesus doesn’t command us to become light? We couldn’t possibly do that. He has already made us to be the light. And isn’t it also wonderful that He doesn’t command us to climb up on the lampstand? He’s the one who puts us where He wants us to be. All He commands us to do is shine; and not try to hide the light.

We don’t have to make ourselves “salt” and “light”. If we’re in Jesus Christ, “salt” and “light” is what we already are. But as I’ve studied this passage, I have wondered if there was anything that we should do to behave more like salt and light in this world. And I’ve come to the conclusion that the context of this passage gives us the answer.

What does it mean to be “salt”? It means that we are God’s only provision of a preserving agent in this world that prohibits its moral corruption, keeping the world from going bad. And we retain our “flavor” and our effectiveness as salt in this world when we do what Jesus said in the first four beatitudes: that is, when we come before God “poor in spirit”; when we present ourselves to Him with genuine mourning over our sin; when we come before Him with meekness and humility; and when we truly hunger and thirst for righteousness. If those qualities are true of us, then we are being distinct. We are going in a completely different direction than this world. We are being salt.

And then, what does it mean to be “light”? It means to so shine and reflect the holiness of Jesus that people see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. And we faithfully shine that light when we do what Jesus said in the last four beatitudes: that is, when we show mercy to others as we have been shown mercy by God; when we seek after purity of heart just as we have been declared pure in God’s sight by faith; when we work to be peacemakers just as we now have peace with God; and when we display joy over our future reward, whenever we are persecuted for righteousness sake because of our identification with Christ.

So long as there is moral corruption and spiritual darkness in this world, “salt” and “light” will be needed. And God has provided us to be that “salt” and “light”. Don’t let your salt be contaminated or your light be hidden. Live to bring glory to your Father in Heaven.

[1] Greg Allen, Salt and Light, https://www.bethanybible.org/archive/2004/090504.htm Copyright © 2004 Bethany Bible Church. I adapted Allen’s outline and used some of his points in developing this sermon.

^[2] John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of Matthew: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch, 2014), Mt 5:13.

[3] John MacArthur, You are the Salt of the Earth, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/2207

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