Matthew 5:13-20.                              Salty Christians??                                              5/2/17

(13)  "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. {14} "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. {15} Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. {16} In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. {17} "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. {18} I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. {19} Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. {20} For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Here in this reading today Jesus continues his hard-hitting sermon to the people of his day and us as well. Here again there is another vital element to the Christian life that we need to take seriously. When we do we find the most glorious, freeing, and uplifting message that we could possibly receive.

Suddenly the Christian life comes much easier and simpler. We find Good News, instead of the dread of trying harder in order achieve the impossible. We find certainty, instead of the constant seeking to change and simplify God’s Word in order to fit the culture of the day and our own whims and wishes.

He begins this section with a very good analogy of God’s people. He is saying to his disciples and all these people who are chasing after him to receive his miracles and hear if this is the possibly great Prophet that was promised. He says, if you consider yourselves to be my people then remember that: You are the salt of the earth.

Now the question needs to be asked what does he mean when he says: You are the salt of the earth. Well, what do we use salt for? The two main reason salt is used is to give taste and flavour to one’s food, or it is used to help preserve food so that it does not go bad and can be kept for longer periods of time.

Now both of these aspects could be what is being referred to here. As God’s people we are helped to see and know how good God and his Word really is, and also to stop the Christian faith from being corrupted and going bad. Both of these aspects are important for all of God’s people.

Here also take note of the fact that he says you are salt. Not ought to be, or to work at it or whatever. You are the salt of the earth. Either you are or you aren’t salt. In fact, the next sentences are very telling here. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. Serious stuff!

The same applies when he says that: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. You are light. A light is not hidden, and it is no good if the batteries have gone flat.

So with this in mind we then need to ponder as to what Jesus point is here, and what it is that makes us salt and light.

Interestingly and importantly in today’s context he goes straight on and says the following.

 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

So to be salty salt, we need to hold fast to God’s Word as it is given to us in the Scriptures. In a Christian culture that is playing fast and loose with God’s Word this is vitally important. Where the idea is that God loves us and nothing much else matters this text is quite telling.

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

Twisting and changing God’s Word to suit the culture of the day is thereby taking the saltiness out of the salt. Saying the Bible can be ignored when it speaks of homosexuality and women pastor’s, or sex outside of marriage and much more, is to take the effectiveness out of God’s Word. To say that the Law is no longer relevant to God’s people is to also say that the Gospel is irrelevant. So life then, simply becomes living as I see best, and everything will be alright.

Yet that is not what Jesus is saying here quite clearly. Not one word of God’s commands are to be done away with. In fact, he goes on and says: that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now that is a huge call for us. Here remember the Pharisees were very good living people. They prided themselves in keeping God’s Law. So already they are way beyond us in terms of being good enough for God. Yet Jesus says that that is not good enough. In fact, perfection alone is all that is acceptable.

Jesus’ whole point in this Sermon on the Mount is just that. God’s expectation is way beyond what we can do. There is to be no lessening this point, or a ‘watering of it down’. God’s Law is to be taken seriously in its entirety. Our aim is to live as he is outlining for us. As difficult and impossible as that is us for us to do, that has to be what we earnestly seek to do.

Then since we can’t do that, we have to have help from outside of ourselves. Our only hope is to look to God, first and foremost for forgiveness for our failure to do so. Then to seek his help to then live as his Law commands. It is absolutely critical for us to receive and have this forgiveness and help.

Instead of trying to justify our position or to lessen the severity of it, we are to acknowledge our failure to be the people that he would have us be. Instead of having the simple view that God loves us and accepts as we are, so none of this matters, is to not take Jesus and what he says seriously.

However, we can be honest and ‘fair dinkum’ about our failure to be the people. We can accept what Jesus is calling for here, from us. We can aim to fully keep these commandments and teach others to do the same. Even though we know that we will fail by our own efforts, we can now set out to do what he is calling for.

We can do so when we look to God and the help that he has provided for us. As we trust him we know that with the help of his Holy Spirit it can be done. As we rely totally on him it is possible. Unfortunately, however, we still have a sinful human nature that continues to get in the way.

But even here as we look to God and trust in him, we find that he has made possible the forgiveness of sins for us. So when we fail to live this perfect life we can look to him and the help that he has provided in this regard.

Here remember that Jesus went on from here to eventually go to Jerusalem for the very purpose of being put to death on the cross. He willingly took the punishment on himself, that we deserve for our failure to have our righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. He died so that forgiveness could be extended to each and every one of us.

So now we can get on with life with boldness and confidence. Not in ourselves and our abilities, but in Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. Not with a false sense of security, thinking that it doesn’t matter how I live and act; Or that by changing or ignoring what his law commands, that it is not all that bad.

But as we face life as God expects of us, and our failure to live up to it. We can now trust that Jesus Christ has done what is necessary for us to go forward positively. Forgiveness is there for us, so we can trust him implicitly, and thereby to seek to live and be the people that he would have us be. We also find the most glorious, freeing, and uplifting message that we could ever possibly receive.

So as we take seriously, both his Law in all of its severity, and the sweetness of his Good News of forgiveness, we are the salt that he is speaking of here. In this way people can see and taste both the rich flavour of his Word and that which enables us to be preserved and kept from going bad and rotten.

So let us all remember and take seriously his message here.

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.  "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

To him alone the be all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish