Salt Of The Earth
5:13
In Jesus’ time, salt was used primarily as preservative. If you rub salt into meat, it slows down the decay process so the meat lasts longer.
For example, in the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, the Joad family slaughters a pig, butchers it, and packs it in a barrel with salt so they could take it with them on the way to California.
You may have eaten some version of salt pork in your life. I had it in the cafeteria in school when I was in 6th grade. It was basically government surplus the school acquired. It was fried and salty to the taste. I had to ask my parents what it was.
So, Jesus was saying that disciples who lived out the beatitudes would preserve the culture of those around them. And, by preserve, he meant to keep it from descending further into depravity.
If the disciples lost their saltiness, i.e., quit living according to kingdom standards, they would become useless. They would not preserve the cultures or countries around them.
One of the “new atheists” is prominent author and speaker Richard Dawkins. He recently expressed the view, however, bemoaning the loss of Christian values in Great Britain. Although remaining an atheist, he now says he is “cultural Christian”.
Even Friedrich Nietzsche, one of Christianity's fiercest critics, worried deeply about the consequences of the "death of God." He feared that abandoning Christian belief would lead to nihilism unless new sources of meaning and value were created. Nihilism is the belief that life has no objective meaning, purpose, or value.
The other side of the coin is that, if we as believers do not live as citizens of the kingdom are supposed to live, we are “no longer good for anything”. We are no good to the kingdom and we are no good for the culture. In fact, we may be a harm to it.
We have seen this in the USA in the decline of the so called “mainstream” Protestant denominations. They embraced the changes in culture, adopting the moral standards and thus became so like the culture they became largely useless.
We have seen this in the USA in the decline of the so called “mainstream” Protestant denominations. That is why Paul wrote: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2)
Light Of The World
5:14-16
Next, Jesus calls us the light of the world. This makes sense because we are in Christ, in the one who is the light of men that is not overcome by the darkness. (John 1:4-5; 8:12)
The symbolism of light and darkness is a recurring theme in the Bible. Light represents good, knowledge of God, and even the presence of God. Dark represents evil, ignorance or rejection of God, and separation from God.
God is light and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) So Jesus says that, in Christ, we are the light of the world. We bring the knowledge of the glory of God to the world. And we are not to hide that light as we might be tempted in order to fit in with those in the world, in darkness, or to avoid confrontation with the world.
So we act as children of God, shining light into the world by our good works and moral behavior. And that brings glory to God. (16)
We shine our light in big ways. We build hospitals, orphanages, and schools. We send food to those in famine. We assist those who have needs of all kinds.
But we also shine our light in small ways. We are kind to people. We are humble. We care about each other and show it by our actions. We show mercy, we respect people, and we live faithfully and responsibly toward our families, friends, neighbors, those we come into contact with in our daily lives.
There is also a battlefield here. The battle is between the children of God and the cultures they live in. We might call that the world. God’s children seek to win the culture to God, through Christ, to glorify God in all things. The culture seeks to penetrate the church and influence it to accept its ways. Who will prevail over the other?
The Fundamentalist movement made errors in this regard in the USA. First, they withdrew from the culture. They advocated avoiding everything outside of the church.
That movement led churches in the 1980s to create worlds of their own. They built campuses with recreational facilities so that you could avoid non-believers while you played or exercised. They put coffee shops in their foyers so that you could get gourmet coffee while avoiding the pagans at the coffee shops. I visited one church that had a gift shop in the foyer. You could buy gifts from the church and not to the mall. They did not believe in being salt and light to the world. They believed in avoiding the world.
Then the seeker friendly church went the other direction. At its extreme, they designed their worship services to having nothing confrontational or upsetting to non-believers. Some adopted practices of the entertainment industry to draw people in. They were not being salt and light. The focus became attendance rather than witness.
Neither of these extremes fit the model Jesus lays out in these verses. When we live and act in accordance with the Christian character set out in the Beatitudes, we can be salt and light to the world. We are then the greatest influence to the world both in restraining evil and in witnessing to the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
This glorifies God.
And it results in our being blessed.
