Introduction
Have you ever seen Napoleon Dynamite? It’s a cult film about a teenage nerd from a nowhere town in the Midwest. Napoleon Dynamite is a geek with a wretchedly limited sex appeal. Girls pray he won’t invite them to the high school prom. Amazingly, his name is not in fact the weirdest thing about him. Napoleon Dynamite stands out from the crowd.
One of the problems we have in the church in this country at this time is that many people think it’s only needy losers like Napoleon Dynamite who’d ever want to have anything to do with a church.
They’re wrong of course, but few people know that because only a few ever actually find out for themselves. But the church does have an image problem. Listen if somebody landed at Durham Tees Valley airport and got into a taxi and said to the driver, “Drive me to where the action is,” how many cab drivers would put their foot on the gas and head straight for the local church? Not all that many…
But listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 5.13-16.
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 underfoot. 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 others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Jesus says, “You have got to stand out from the crowd, and for the right reasons.” What we’re going to do tonight is unpack the two images of salt and light and build up a picture of the counter-cultural movement Jesus is calling you to be part of.
Salt: Flavouring, Preservative, Fertilizer and Disinfectant
Have you noticed that we talk about reliable people as ‘worth their salt’. We take random people with a pinch of salt. But if you ask anybody what salt is for, you will tend to get two answers. In fact, this week I asked five people what they thought salt is most useful for and every time I got the same two word answer - in the same order. Food without salt not only tastes horrible, it goes off quickly too. So we use it for seasoning (or flavouring) and for preserving.
Salt is used for flavouring and Jesus said “you are the salt of the earth.” If you and I are true to our calling as Christ’s followers we will make our communities better and less dull places to live.
The biggest complaint from teenagers about church is… what? “It’s boring.” But God’s idea is that churches are put on the earth to brighten up the monotony of life without God! You are the salt of the earth. Your mission is to make what is boring appealing. How did the church in our generation ever pull off the almost impossible feat of making the world even drearier than it otherwise was!
Salt adds flavour to unappetising food, but it also stops it going off. Cured meat like Parma ham, which has had coarse salt rubbed into it, can keep virtually forever.
When Jesus talks about salt he means that the world is decaying. It is going rotten; it is on its way to purifying and stinking. Jesus does not think that the world is basically OK, and that Christians can make it even nicer. Jesus doesn’t think that the world needs improving. He thinks it needs saving.
So it was a Christian called William Wilberforce who worked tirelessly, and in the end successfully, to abolish the slave trade in this country. It was a Christian called Martin Luther King who campaigned against, and finally achieved the outlawing of, racist segregation in the USA 50 years ago. 60% of AIDS relief programmes in Africa today are run by churches. You are the salt of the earth.
Ask yourself this: “Does the rottenness of sinful structures in the UK leave me unmoved? Does the erosion of godly moral values in my city leave me indifferent?” If so, ask the Lord to change your heart! You are the salt of the earth.
But, even though Jesus possibly had seasoning and preserving in mind when he talked about salt, (and they were uses for it in 1st century Galilee) it’s more likely he was thinking of two other uses.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ words are expanded slightly, and the fuller version says this;
“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap; it is thrown out.” (Luke 14.34).
Jesus is talking about two other properties of salt; ones you would probably not guess. When he talked about salt he actually meant salt as a fertiliser (for the soil) and as a disinfectant (for the manure heap).
What they called salt in those days was, in fact, an unrefined, coarse mixture you still find today washed up on the shores of the Dead Sea. It’s rich in sodium chloride, but it also contains traces of potash and other minerals. You have to dilute it a bit but when you do, it is excellent for the soil and it favours the strong growth of healthy crops.
But if you dilute it too much, it loses its properties, and it becomes useless. That’s why Jesus used the expression “salt of the earth” and not salt of the kitchen. Can you see now what he meant when he said “if salt loses its saltiness”?
Listen, Jesus calls you “the salt of the earth” because he expects you to be in the growth business, actively promoting the increase of his government and peace.
Many of his parables are about growth; the yeast, the mustard seed, the sower, wheat and the tares... In Colossians 1 Paul says, “All over the world the gospel is bearing fruit and growing… and we pray… that you may bear fruit in every good work.”
So let me ask you, are you growing? Are you bearing the fruit that Jesus has commissioned and appointed you for? Are you a giver? Are you promoting faith and joy around you? Are you an encourager? Are you a catalyst for love and good works around you? You are the salt of the earth but, says Jesus, salt can lose its saltiness.
So salt is useful for seasoning, preserving, fertilizing and finally sanitizing. It was a disinfectant, an antiseptic. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness… it is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap.” There were no drain systems in those days. So people threw salt on the dung hill downwind from the village and it fumigated it, to keep away flies and rats. “You are the salt of the earth.”
The might of the gospel and the power of Christian love can decontaminate even the most pernicious and evil environment.
When insurgents attacked St George’s Church in Baghdad, they had to start holding church services in the safe compound. Andrew White ran Alpha courses in the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office complex.
Many came to faith in Christ, and they even baptized new converts in Saddam Hussein’s palace swimming pool! In the midst of suicide bombings, hijackings, kidnappings, beheadings and general anarchy the church in Baghdad grew and God did amazing things. Salt is a disinfectant.
Jesus expects you to be part of his programme of change for all that is bland and putrid.
Light: Visibility and Distinctiveness
Jesus also says “You are the light of the world.” Be visible; don’t hide away, he says. God expects his church to be a beacon in its community. If we are invisible we are as useful to God as a pocket torch with a flat battery.
Here’s a question for you; how much of what we read about Jesus in the gospels finds him situated outside a religious building? Answer: about 95%. It is time to be a church without walls and get out on the streets where the action is.
Just two weeks from now, Christians from nine different churches in our town will be out and about meeting people on the streets and in their homes. We call it Love Stockton Mission.
From next week, flyers will go out to homes all over Stockton, Eaglescliffe and Long Newton offering practical help; DIY, gardening, filling in forms, debt counselling, litter picking, walking the dog, shopping and so on.
We will be contacting the BBC and the local press, so pray we’ll get good media coverage as well.
Why are we doing this? Because Jesus said in v16 “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
We did this last year in All Saints’ and we found that, as we engaged with people practically with random acts of kindness, God opened up doors to engage with them spiritually.
Here’s an example of what that looks like. Two weeks ago, a man came into the centre in my church grumbling about his back pain. The easiest thing in the world would have been to say, “Ah, well I hope you’re feeling better soon.”
But someone said to him “Well, would you like us to pray that God will heal you?” They laid hands on him, (Do you know, I’m not even sure if they waited for his answer!) They asked God to take away the pain. “Ooh,” said the man, “You know what, I can feel heat on my back pain as you pray.” By the time they had finished praying the pain had all gone. He phoned up later to say “It’s still better, it’s amazing.”
Do you know what I’m finding? God doesn’t do amazing things every time I step out in faith and pray. I wish he did. But that’s his business. But the more I step out in obedient faith, the more amazing things God does.
Light is only effective insofar as it is distinctive from the environment around it. When I read the display on my mobile in a dark room it’s a lot easier than when I try to read it on a sunny day outside. There’s no point in limiting our light shining to church buildings.
I was talking to someone recently and he was telling me how he met his girlfriend. It wasn’t in a church context, it was at work. But he knew she was a Christian. She wasn’t wearing a WWJD wristband, or a cross necklace or have a fish sticker on her car. She didn’t whistle Matt Redman tunes as she worked, or read her Bible in front of everyone at coffee break.
He saw that there was something about her that so reminded him of Christ that he guessed she must be a Christian, and he guessed right. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Now I don’t want to embarrass you, but I want to ask you six questions. I am simply going to ask you to raise your hand if what I say is what you think. And I hope you won’t find that awkward. Here we go.
Firstly, would you please raise your hand if you are confident that you will be admitted to heaven when you die.
Secondly, hands up if you believe that Jesus was really raised from the dead.
Third question, raise a hand please if you think that studying the Bible is beneficial.
Fourthly, hands up if you believe that sending missionaries to lands that know nothing of Jesus Christ is a good thing.
Fifthly - and I’m not taking notes - hands up if you think that Christians should give a generous proportion of their income to the Lord, to support Christian causes and to alleviate suffering in the world.
One last question, raise a hand if you think lay people should have a say in the way the church is run. Thank you.
Jesus said, in v20, a few verses on from our passage tonight; “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Please listen carefully now, here’s the link. We know from the Gospels that the Pharisees and teachers of the law would have raised a hand to all six questions I asked just now - and yet Jesus said you’ve got to do much better than them to enter the kingdom of heaven.
The Pharisees were committed to obeying every aspect, every detail, of God’s word, no matter how trivial it seemed to be.
But they criticised sinners instead of making life easier for them. They looked down on others who were struggling but they didn’t lift a finger to help them. They were all mouth, no action. Don’t let the Pharisee spirit raise its ugly head in your life.
Conclusion
So, as I close, can you hear God’s voice calling you to be like salt; bringing a taste of heaven to Stockton, encouraging the growth of his kingdom here and sanitizing all that is foul? Can you hear Jesus saying, “You are the salt of the earth”?
Is he speaking to you about being more visible as a Christian? “Nobody sticks a lamp under a bowl” he says. Is your light hidden away between the four walls of your church?
Has the time come to shine more brightly, to speak out more, to take a risk, to go for it, to be a beacon? When are you going to shine like you know you want to? Can you hear Jesus saying, “You are the light of the world”?
Let’s stand to pray…
Sermon preached at Stockton Baptist Tabernacle, 29th April 2012
