SALT AND LIGHT:
PARABOLIC EXPRESSIONS OF THE KINGDOM
8-4-2019
Salt
Matthew 5:13 NET
"You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it
be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out
and trampled on by people.
What
is the purpose of salt? It can be said
that salt makes food taste better, but its historical use (until the invention
of the refrigerator) was to preserve food so it would not spoil. In other words salt could prevent fresh meat
from becoming spoiled or corrupt although it could not cure or preserve meat
that was already spoiled or corrupt.
If you are a follower of Jesus living the
beatitudes, you matter. You have an important role to play because you are the
salt of the earth. Salt preserves and Christians help preserve what is good in
the culture. In the ancient world, salt was very valuable: the Greeks thought
it contained something almost divine, and the Romans sometimes paid their soldiers
with salt. A soldier who didn't carry out his duties “was not worth his salt.”
You are a seasoning agent. In a sense, you can bring the distinctive flavor of
God's values to all of life. You can make life palatable.
The
allegory is that a “salty” person would be a moral individual who is basically devoid
of corruption (and lawless ways).
However, if the moral person becomes involved with worldly things, that
person becomes salt blended with non-salt elements that resemble salt or lawlessness,
in the case of an individual.
Pure
salt is always salt and always tastes like salt. The only method for salt to lose its flavor
is for it to be blended or mixed with another ingredient. During the first century salt was valuable
and some dealers would expand their supply of salt by mixing other elements
with it. If is became overly adulterated the salt would lose its distinctly
taste and it would fail to preserve food.
Adulterated
salt could not be purified during the first century (actually many centuries).
When it became worthless it is said that it was thrown onto the pathways as a
means to prevent the growth of grass.
Thus it was trampled on by pedestrians.
Salt
only prevents the spread of spoilage or corruption, it never cures
corruption. If meat, or a person, is
corrupt a salty moral person cannot make that person non-corrupt. Only God, i.e. the Holy Spirit, can perform
that task. A moral person can only
prevent the spread of corruption and present a moral image.
Salt is a preservative that works only when it
penetrates into food, and becomes useless when contaminated by other chemical
substances. It must remain pure to do its job. Jesus says that Christians,
likewise, must penetrate society while keeping themselves from being influenced
by sin in the world.
The
function of a Kingdom citizen is to prevent the spread of lawlessness in a
lawless world. Only God can cure it,
cleanse it, and make it pure.
Note that salt, to be effective, must be in contact
with the meat or fish it is to preserve. To be effective, we must be involved
where we work and where we live. This puts us in a tension because the dominant
culture doesn’t necessarily like us.
Light
Matthew 5:14-16 NET
You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. (15)
People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it
gives light to all in the house. (16) In the same way, let your light shine
before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your
Father in heaven.
Light
represents a spiritual revelation that radiates from the citizens of the
Kingdom. The primary source of this
light is, of course, Jesus Christ,
John 8:12 NET Then
Jesus spoke out again, "I am the light of the world. The one who follows
me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
When
Jesus was resurrected and ascended to the right hand of the Father, His
followers, the true overcomers, maintained His light until and beyond the
present time. When we are yielded to
Him, when our minds think as He thinks, when we are subjects of His Kingdom,
obeying Him, then we too become the light of the world.
John 9:5 NET As
long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
The
light shining from an elect overcomer show the glory of god. However, although the sun supports all life
and gives the ability to see things clearly it should not be stared at. The Kingdom citizens do not desire personal
glory (i.e. to be looked at) but only for the things of God to be clearly
seen. The light of the Christian shining
in the world illuminates all the worldly order, so that men see the true way to
God.
A city located on a hill
cannot be hidden. This city provides
illumination for great distances. One
individual cannot provide this, but together, many congregates with the same
mindset can present this radiance in abundance.
Every church (a congregation of believers – not a building) should be a
city set on a hill, illuminating the Godly life beyond the capabilities of a
single person.
People do not light a lamp
and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the
house. The light should also illuminate the
home. The light bearing overcomers
should shine within their family and household and not hidden.
Psalms 119:105 NET Your
word is a lamp to walk by, and a light to illumine my path.
The
Word of God (the Bible, the scriptures) is a lamp of light that directs our
path in life. It keeps us from deviating
from the true way rather than into the ways of the world.
Each
confessing Christian man and woman has to fulfil a double function in the
world. The whole Church in its corporate relationship, in the bonds of love,
friendship, and service, is to illuminate the distances; and then in the home,
with the shut door, the lamp is to illuminate everything there.
We don’t just live out our faith inside the walls of
our churches and of our homes. We’re not to be of the world, but we’re to be in
the world. We’re citizens of an earthly kingdom as well as a heavenly one.
Citizens participate in the culture, everything from what children are taught
in school to what appears on TV screens.
Lay
Up Treasures in Heaven
Matthew 6:19-22 NET
"Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy and where thieves break in and steal. (20) But accumulate for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves
do not break in and steal. (21) For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also. (22) "The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is
healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
An
earth centered worldly life is futile.
If may be pleasurable at the present but it may exempt one from the
first resurrection. The second
resurrection will require a certain amount of correction or punishment of some
type.
Nothing
acquired during this life will be carried over into the second life. All earthly possessions are subject to
destruction. Jesus used the examples of
moths and rust to indicate destruction.
Possessions can also be stolen.
During
the earthly life of Jesus, the wealth of the Middle East consisted of fine
fabrics, fine twined linen, and purple clothing; and of metal, in coinage, or
in precious things that rust spoiled. Treasure was kept underground, and there
was the possibility of thieves digging and discovering it and so treasure would
be lost.
In
this last passage, Jesus again took the illustration of the eye. The subject He
was illustrating was the necessity for singleness of motive in life, having one
aim, purpose, passion. He ended this section by saying, "Ye cannot serve
God and mammon." He says the eye is the lamp of the body, not the light of
the body. Think of the human eye, and of its value. If there be no light the
eye is quite useless. The light is not in the eye, but the eye is the means of
interpreting the light and applying the light. The eye is that which regulates
the motions of the body. It is wonderful how those denied the great blessing of
sight have other senses sharpened. But those blind would be the first to admit
that the natural order is that the eye is the lamp, in which the light shines,
and through which things are seen because light is shining.
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