Best. Sermon. Ever.: Being An Obvious Christian

Good morning. My name is Anderson Shore. I'm the pastoral resident here at Christ the King. We like to read scripture together for the sermon, and I'll be preaching out of Matthew 5:10 through 16.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven. — Matthew 5:10-16

This is God's word.

Father, thank you so much for an opportunity to come on Sunday once again to worship you, to hear from you, and to be around your people. Father, I ask that my words would be honorable to you and helpful for the church to see your beauty through it all. So much glory be given to you in your son's name we pray. Amen.

Are Salt and Light Valuable?

Are salt and light valuable? We don't really think about them on a daily basis, yet when they are absent, we begin to miss them. I'm sure there might be some of you today that are still missing your electricity from the storm the other night. That's hard. I don't like that for you at all. But we begin to miss salt and light when they're absent. No salt to tenderize a steak or no salt for popcorn—that's a problem, right? No light for taking photos or trying to see in a tunnel or a cave.

For the original audience of the book of Matthew, the value of salt was instrumental for daily life. They were living in a time with no refrigerators and no electricity. They needed to preserve their meat by covering it in salt. And the only lights that would guide them were the stars, the moon, or a small flame.

So how does it feel when Jesus is calling his disciples, calling you, Christian, salt of the earth, light of the world? Do you see yourself as a necessity for this world, or do you think that in your absence it really won't make that much of a difference? And here's the real question: Do we really want to be visible to the world?

We seem to be living in a time where the world doesn't want to hear from Christians, where their opinions don't matter. And yet we are hearing something completely different from Jesus. Today, I believe Jesus is telling us—telling you—that you are vital for the preservation of this world and you provide beauty to this world.

For the note takers out there, I've got three points today. Here they are: Why are salt and light needed? How to be salt and light. And the results we get to see.

Why Are Salt and Light Needed?

In saying that we are salt and light of the world, Jesus is also saying something about the world. If there was an absence of salt in ancient times, then all the meat would spoil. It would become rotten. If there was an absence of light when the moments of darkness would come, it would leave people blind or without hope.

With our Western eyes, it's very easy to go through our world and not think about these things on a daily basis. The affluence of our world can make us blind to the rottenness and blind to the darkness, or we just choose not to see it.

There's truly darkness in our world—a world that is trying to make their own savior, choosing their own truth, only following subjective feelings at all turns of life. Choosing your own way to live and only listening to your voice would end in darkness, loneliness, confusion. It's very easy to lose your bearings when there's no light.

I mean, in the middle of the night when you wake up and need a glass of water, you go to the kitchen. You're grasping onto walls, making sure that you're not hitting any corners, but we all know that it's inevitable—you're going to get a bruise from the coffee table. It's disorienting in the middle of the night, and I'm pretty sure that we can relate to this idea. But we can also relate to those that are living in darkness, trying to grasp onto things.

So instead of going through or thinking about these people in judgment, we could have sympathy for them. In the absence of salt, rottenness.

You know, by saying the Christian is salt of the world, Jesus is saying that the world is prone to rottenness or even destructiveness. Our world is full of destructive relationships and an ease for relationships to just go by the wayside, for them to die off. Social media, canceling of people, an ease to be flaky in this world reeks of rottenness. In our world, there seems to be a lack of perseverance in relationships. One thing upsets me, and at times I just remove myself relationally. Choose not to engage with that person anymore. I think we see this in our world. I think we see this sometimes in ourselves.

We also know that, thankfully, salt makes things taste good. Just the right amount of salt produces an opportunity for you to taste more of the dish that you are eating. It enhances the flavor. So maybe the things of this world don't taste very good by themselves. I mean, why is it that our world is wealthy, healthy, full of free time, yet it's still disappointing to people? So much mental health struggle in our world. Our world needs salt. We need salt. We need someone to enhance the flavors of this world because without it, life can be a bit bland.

The question remains: do we really believe we are needed for this world? Do we even want to reveal to the world that we're Christians? When I was thinking about if the world was listening to this sermon today and understanding that Christians are to be salt and light of the world, they would respond with, really? Really? If they follow the Christian news stream or are only exposed to what the media and Twitter are saying, I think it would be easy for them to quickly discount the idea that Christians being a preservative, a light, and would make things taste better. They really wouldn't believe that. The Southern Baptist abuse news, power hungry leaders of the church, loud, destructive voices on race, abortion, politics—salt and light. Really? This is dark for me to even say to you today. It sounds like bad news.

I'm not sure why so many big things are happening in our world today. I'm not sure why that's happening in the Christian sphere as well, but maybe God has a reason for why God is trusting us to represent him in this world. I think Jesus gives an answer to us in Matthew 16, saying that he's building his church. The gates of death, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He has given the church the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection. It might be that Jesus is building his church right now by pruning his church.

So are you willing to be salt and light to a world that doesn't want to hear from you? That's a hard question to answer. You may need more time to answer that question, and we have men and women in leadership at this church that'd be glad to sit down with you to help you answer it. But for now, let's just see what it may look like to be salt and light and if it's something that you want to be.

How to Be Salt and Light

This point consists of three S's. I might have gotten carried away with them, but the first one is signs to the world. With both signs that Jesus mentions in Matthew 5, he doesn't simply say, "you are salt, you are light." No. He says, "you are salt of the earth, you are light of the world." Jesus is talking about our relationship with the world in these verses. Christians are called to be on the lampstand, cities on a hill, and at the same time Jesus is saying that salt can lose its saltiness.

A commentator helped me understand this a little bit more. He says that for the salt to be defiled or to become impure by being mixed with other substances. What does this mean? You might have heard this saying before, but Christians, we need to be in the world but not of it. We see this laid out in John 17. If you have time this afternoon, read John 17. Hear the sweet words of Jesus' prayer to you. We are called to be visible Christians, to be salt, to be light to the world. But at the same time, we need to be careful to not let worldly things enter in and make us impure, to be on gravel for people to walk on.

When pebbles of anger, bitterness, gossip, unfaithfulness enter into a Christian's life or have never left, it's hard for them to be taken seriously. Easy to walk over. Be in the world but not of it. Christian, let's look at how you are in the world. What are the areas where you can be salt and light to the world that needs your presence?

So the second S for this point is strategic.

So where are you spending most of your time? Is it in neighborhoods? At work? In community events? Going to neighborhood parties? That's great. How can we be strategic? We recognize where we're spending most of our time and start developing relationships there. It's important that we are Christians who are not hiding ourselves from others during the week or ignoring people, but engaging in relationships.

If you're spending most of your time at home, that's where you're needing to spend your time right now. What would it look like to invite others into your home? To be salt and light in your home, let others see who you are.

Second, what do you like to do for fun? You all being salt and light can be fun. Gardening, pickleball, breweries, book clubs—I'm not a huge fan of book clubs, but I mean that can be fun. Those all sound like fun things to do. So what if instead of doing those things with Christians, we decided to do those things with other people that don't know the grace of Jesus Christ? Have fun. Enter into the community. Invite someone into the things that you are already doing. Let's not add more to our calendar. Invite people into the things that you're already doing. If we are solely doing these things with brothers and sisters of the faith, then who else is going to experience the saltiness and beauty of Christ?

And last note about being strategic: Remember that you're not defined by how much or how little you do in this. At the same time, we do need to be strategic in how salty, how strong or how weak we're coming off.

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. — Colossians 4:5-6

Too little talk and there's no flavor. Too much and it might leave a bad taste in someone's mouth. The idea of Christians being the brining liquid to society—brine is a salty, liquidy substance that you put meat in so that the salt has the opportunity to enter into the molecules of the meat and tenderize it. Through our time and our actions, our listening and our words, we have the opportunity to enter into people's lives, to tenderize them so the beauty of the gospel can shine forth.

Shining Bright and Being Savory

Shining bright and being savory. Let's start with shining bright. I feel like it's pretty important for showing off art. I mean, there's not really a point in going to an art museum if the lights aren't working, right? But also light makes art pop. Just the right amount of light makes art pop.

There's something about light. For me, I can't stand going into my crawl space. It's dark down there so I'm always bringing a flashlight and my biggest fear is that there's going to be a critter down there just to meet me. That's probably one of my biggest fears. Bringing a flashlight gives me the opportunity to see if everything's working correctly, to see if something's broken. Light has a way to show truth, to show beauty, but also to show truth.

So the Christian can shine bright by not shying away from the hard, dark things of this world. Tim Keller stated in one of his sermons that the church actually has the opportunity to be the ones that call out injustice. To see a problem and enter in, to shine truth, to point out what's wrong so that beauty has an opportunity to enter in.

It's so important to give plants like veggie plants the light that they need. If there are branches that are overhanging it and the light isn't getting to that plant, that plant doesn't have an opportunity to thrive and produce fruit. The same is true for people in this world. If there's something overshadowing them, then light needs a way to get in. God has found a way for light to enter in. It's through you church. It's through you.

When we see darkness, we get to enter in and shine the truth of who God is. I believe God is doing some pruning right now. He's cutting back some branches that need to be cut back. He's cutting back broken systems that have continued to hurt people. He is not letting sins keep going that have gone on for far too long. And the reason for it is so that people can begin to experience life, to thrive, to produce fruit.

I want to be careful with this sermon because I understand that this sermon is very mission focused. Being salt and light sounds a lot like, hey, go do this, don't do that. Hey, do this, don't do that. And I want to be careful. Because what happens when darkness is surrounding us in our life?

When it feels like we don't have any light in ours? Or it feels like Satan is persecuting us, the broken world is rearing its head, what do we do in those moments? First off, I want you to know that Jesus knows your pain. Jesus knows that hurt. But he also wants you to know that he is with you in that. He desires for you to know that he is present with you in the darkness. But second, what if God has eyes to see something that we can't see in the moments of darkness? Maybe if we share our pain with those that we are in relationship with. We share what's going on in our circumstances and through that, the Holy Spirit can shine a light when you are unable.

This would be different than the world. This would be different in the world that in our suffering we are trying to hold on to joy, hope and peace that is offered to us in Jesus. That would be an opportunity to be savory.

Salt as a Recipe for Christian Living

Samin Nasrat, the author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat—Samin, I apologize if I said your name wrong—Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is a great cookbook but it's also a great Netflix show. Go watch it. It's awesome. But she says this: "Salt is fundamental to all good cooking. It enhances flavor. It even makes food taste more like itself. In short, salt brings food to life. Learn to use it well and your food will taste great."

It's interesting to me that a way that we look and taste good to society around us is actually through the beatitudes we've been going through. It's interesting because the world likes spaces to mourn, meekness, seeking right living, injustice, peace. And I don't think that this means that we do everything that the world does and we value everything that the world values, but what an opportunity. They like the things that our Lord Jesus is teaching us. Christians, we have the opportunity to show, to use this recipe of the Beatitudes and show people who the original writer of that recipe is. Might be a little cheesy but we do. We have an opportunity before us to show people how Jesus makes the Beatitudes even more beautiful.

The world and us love this next idea but we don't necessarily want to get involved with it. And this is actually the linchpin of what is going to make the Christian beautiful and savory to the world. It's this: sacrifice. We don't like the idea of doing things we aren't inclined to do. We don't like sacrificing our time, our money, our effort and we don't like to be the sacrifice. Sacrificial love is messy but man is it beautiful.

Salt and Light in Practice

In thinking about salt and light, we could boil it down to the idea of salt being an influence and impact in the community. This might be serving the city, being present in neighborhood meetings, joining groups that are pursuing the benefit of those that aren't seen in the city. And with light, it's the idea of bringing truth and hope to dark places by proclaiming the name of Jesus and the truth of what God's word says.

Did you wince at one of those? Did you get uncomfortable when I was reading one of those? When I read those off, which one made you feel just a little bit of conviction? Or which one sounds more like an inconvenience to you?

In all honesty for me, it's the idea of salt and being in the community. I'd rather be in my home, comfortable, possibly judged from the sidelines. That doesn't take sacrifice. I'm hesitant to engage. I'm quick to make excuses. That's where I struggle.

You see the Christian life of being salt and light, it means doing both. Being salt in the community and proclaiming the name of Jesus with words. I know that trusting in the Holy Spirit and putting yourself out there in the community is a vulnerable place to be. And it's also nerve wracking to think about opening your mouth and proclaiming the name of Jesus to the people that you're in relationship with. But how else will people believe and see the beauty of Jesus? How else will glory be given to God?

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. — Hebrews 13:15-16

There has to be a point in time where we stop preserving and seasoning the relationships that we're in and we share the good news of Jesus so that people can pass from death to life. Are you willing to be inconvenienced? Are you willing to sacrifice for others? Being a Christian means sacrifice. It means getting messy for the benefit of another.

And when I think about this, just think about friendship and friendship that doesn't give up. We've referenced this at the beginning of the sermon that one reason our world is rotten and destructive is because relationships are so flaky these days.

And I just want to say, please hear this: there are some relationships that you do need to not be in, that you need to be safe. But I'm not talking about the relationships where it feels like a little bit of an inconvenience. Those are the ones that I'm talking about. The opportunity to stay engaged, to be gritty, to be salt and light to our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers. If we stayed in this, that would be different than the world.

You know, in this moment I got an illustration coming, and I could easily harp on Samwise Gamgee and how he's just such a great friend to Frodo, how he sticks with him to the end. I could use that. I mean, he was great, really awesome friend that kept with Frodo in the darkness, but I won't use that illustration today. So we'll do something completely different for those that don't like Lord of the Rings.

Harry Potter. You know the friendship of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, those are true friends. They stick with Harry throughout all the time. I mean, it was assumed that they would just be with him when they would get in trouble. It was assumed that they would help him carry his burden, being with him on the journey of defeating evil every step of the way. It was that good assumption. Not taking advantage of them, but it was that good assumption. I just assumed that these friends are gonna be with me to the end. Those are the type of friends that we can be.

Christians, what if we were people that showed grit? As Hebrews 12 says, that we finish the race that is set before us, to be with people, to keep showing up when darkness enters into their world, to keep pursuing and seeking to understand the person that's different from us or the injustice that's happening in our world? What if we keep wanting to learn and be curious? Don't you think people would think that's attractive? Even to people that don't agree with everything we say.

And what if we have built so much relational capital with people and we share the gospel with them? We built so much relational capital that they just wanna keep being our friends, but we keep going. We keep sharing how Jesus saves sinners. This will take time. This will take money. Maybe laying down your reputation, this will take sacrifice. But with sacrifice comes great blessing. Great blessing.

The Results We Get to See

And before you leave this place, making the decision on whether or not you want to be salt and light, we need to look at the results that Jesus tells us are possible.

You know, in my research, I learned that a city on a hill was actually a very vulnerable place to build a city. They were more built in the valleys of the mountains. I mean, if you build a city on a hill, it's easier for it to be attacked, but also there's not as much comfort because the more fertile land was in the valley. So what does it mean when Jesus is saying that you are a city on a hill, church? It means that you are vulnerable to being attacked.

And Jesus tells us this in verse 11, that others will revile against you, persecute you, utter all kinds of evil against you. That doesn't sound too good. Church of Jesus Christ, you will know if you are truly walking in the ways of the Lord when you are being persecuted. Persecuted for shining a light in darkness. Persecuted for speaking out about the truth of God. But Jesus says this is a blessing? A blessing? I mean, persecution doesn't sound too good to me.

I love how the NRSV version says it. Jesus says:

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

In these moments, you have to hold on to the idea that the persecution that comes from the world is not being put on you, it's being put on Jesus. And he is strong enough to carry that. He is the one being mocked, spit on, and he is willing to do that for you.

And not only that, but the persecution that you receive from this world—you know, it's an opportunity for us to fully dive into the love and comfort that the Father in heaven has for you. Instead of the "what have you done for me lately" love that the world offers, it's an opportunity for us to be reminded that we are so loved by the Father in heaven.

Alright. This is an absolute ridiculous analogy. I heard this from a pastor. I feel like pastors just walk around and you're like, that's an illustration. That's an illustration. But I heard this from a pastor and it's really interesting. So he's walking along and he sees this woodland creature stuck in a cocoa tin. His head is stuck in a cocoa tin. And so he's like, okay, I'll go and help out this little creature. And he gets up to it and it's a skunk. He gets up to it and it's a skunk.

And so he thinks, alright, what am I going to do in this situation? He says, okay, first off, like don't be an idiot. Stand upwind. But also don't be cruel. Save the little fella.

In relationships, you could be sprayed with persecution or friendships flaking out on you. But the other result is one of bringing them out of darkness into glorious light. And them experiencing fuller life through you reflecting Jesus to them. You being in relationships with people could result in them tasting and seeing that the Lord is good and glory being given to the Father through salvation of a friend. Or through you someone could enjoy the benefits of peace and joy when their lives are full of chaos and sadness.

And while you do these things, you will be blessed, church. The words of salvation will be on your lips and the joy of salvation will come anew to your heart. You will be blessed, church.

Why Salt and Light Together?

Last thing for today. Do y'all wonder why Jesus uses salt and light together? I think that's intentional. Do you know why he uses salt and light? It's really interesting.

In the book of Exodus, we see the Israelites being saved from darkness of Egyptians. And then Moses goes up to Mount Sinai. He receives blessing. He receives the law. And the glory of God is shining bright like fire. And God's glory was so magnificent that Moses was shining bright when he came down from the mountain after meeting with him.

And not only do we see this magnificent life light and then source of life, but we get this note about salt in Numbers eighteen and nineteen. That sacrifices from the people of Israel that were presented to the Lord were covenants of salt forever. Salt was used for grain offerings and to season the animal sacrifices. The use of salt was to show that God was making an eternal, unbreakable covenant with his people. And the priests that were performing these sacrifices were literally tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. They were getting bloody in the process, but while they were doing this, they were able to taste the meat. And through these sacrifices, their sins were being forgiven.

And Christian, first Peter two five says that God sees you as chosen and precious and that you are being built up to a holy priesthood that offers spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

You are a priest. — 1 Peter 2:5

Through your sacrifices of worship and good works you offer to God, you get to taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see. Taste and see.

No matter the way that you've chosen to live your life up to this point, if it's just being salt or if it's just being light or if it's you trying to find a way to preserve your own life, today you get to taste and see that Jesus is good.

You know, it's interesting. We know from the stories of scripture that the people of God messed up over and over again just like God's people today. They needed a better sacrifice than the one that they could offer. This perfect sacrifice that shines with the glory of God in all truth, justice and brilliance is Jesus. Jesus held up his end of the covenant he made with God. He was perfect. And in his perfect work, there's no righteousness or rottenness. There's a lot of righteousness, which means you will be preserved for eternity.

His work provides peace and joy so as we go to be agents of preservation to our world, we can know that he will remain faithful and be with you to the end of your days. And with Jesus by your side, he will make the sweet things in life taste even sweeter. And he will make the dark moments—there will still be light in those dark moments because of who Jesus is.

And as you experience vulnerability and persecution in this life, you will be a city on a hill that has eternal protection and eternal covenant comfort. Why? It's because Jesus took the hill. Jesus took the cross on the hill. He became fully vulnerable in your place. He wants to provide you with eternal protection by taking your sins on the cross. He is the eternal sacrifice for you.

And as you go to this world to be salt and light, you get the blessing of being reminded of how beautiful it is that Jesus is salt and light for you.

You know, the chance to serve at this church has revealed to me that y'all are people that are fun. You are a fun people. You are a gifted people. And it has been a blessing to me to see who you are. The world will be blessed by you stepping into it. The world will be blessed by you stepping into it.

God desires for you to be agents of change in this world and a little bit of salt makes a difference. Right? A little bit of salt on popcorn. A little bit of salt on a broiled marshmallow. Try it. A little bit of light can guide people out of darkness and it doesn't have to look too different than it did two to three years ago. And we break bread in our homes.

We enter into the community to be a light. And we share the sweetness that Jesus saves sinners. Let's be visible again. Are you willing to be salt and light to this world because it needs you?

Matthew 5:16 ends by saying that our good works bring glory to God. Listen to God's word. We're gonna close by me just reading Isaiah 42 about the glory of God and what he's done in our lives and what he's calling us to do in the world.

If you like, you can close your eyes as I read Isaiah 42, or you can just look out the windows or look up, whatever it may be. I'm gonna read Isaiah 42 and then we'll close in prayer.

Thus says God the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison of those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass and the new things I now declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. — Isaiah 42:5-9

Father God, we are so thankful that you have chosen us and that you delight in us. God, we wanna pray for these people that are receiving this word today. God, for those that need your comfort, I ask that you enter in. That they would release the way that they are living so that you can enter in, Father God.

Father, let these people, let these Christians that go to the world, that they would be salt and light and just hold tightly to you. I pray that for these people, Lord, that we would hold tight to you as we go. We're so grateful that you promise us that you will be with us wherever we go.

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.