The Salt and the Light

[podcast]http://www.revkwon.com/podcast/sermon-salt_light.mp3[/podcast] Last week I left you with a question: if the kingdom of heaven is here and now, then where in my life do I see the blessings of the kingdom? Today, we pick that idea up in verse 13 of Matthew 5. Let’s read. 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 underfoot. (Matthew 5:13-16) [slide change] The uses of salt:

• Mixed to make paper – did you know, if you rip up paper and eat it, its’ salty. Haha. Just kidding. But you need salt to make paper. It keeps all the little pulp together.
• Melt ice – it melts ice on the roads
• Soap – it is used in soap to create all the little suds to wash away the dirt on your skin.
• Ice cream – yes, it brings out the sweetness in iced cream.
• Sausages – if you ever wondered how sausage meat is held together before being put into that lining, its with salt.
• Fire extinguishers – you want to put out a fire then pour salt on it.
• Toothpaste – toothpaste has salt on it. When you rub it, it cleans your teeth.
• Shampoo – shampoo has salt in it. It gives it character.
• Food flavors – everything tastes better with salt.

Salt is in everything! It gives flavor, it enhances other properties, it holds things together that wouldn’t naturally be held together. Just think about it. But you knew all of that. Salt does all those things that we don’t think about or realize because it’s there. Let’s go back to the Bible passage. Look at what Jesus says now in verse 13: when salt loses saltiness, it is useless, so there is nothing you can do except throw it away. Here’s your first blank: Saltiness is a metaphor for character. All of us have a certain saltiness in our personalities. It is what makes us, well, us. We act a certain way, talk a certain, think a certain way because of our character. That is our saltiness. It is the thing we have that holds other things together in our worlds but never really goes recognized. Let me give you an example. Think about all your friends. Think about your relationship with those friends. They’re such odd characters, aren’t they? In fact, if you weren’t in that mix of friends, they probably wouldn’t be friends with each other. But because you’re there, they are friends too. You’re the salt in the friendship sausage. Let me give you another example—don’t you feel like without, nothing really goes the way it’s supposed to? That’s because you’re the salt that connects things to happen. Now think about what happens when you are not a part of that web, or your influence and your character isn’t on that relationship or situation—that’s right, you become useless and are thrown out of that relationship and/or situation. Jesus says it himself, it’s good for nothing and it has to be thrown out. Now I want to talk about how and what people do that makes them lose their character. Because as we get older, as we become more exposed to things and to people. And as we are exposed to them and those things we start to become more and more like them in terms of behavior, attitude and views. You see that’s not an entirely bad thing. Definitely not. But let me tell you when it becomes a bad thing—when you start giving up your views, your values, your thoughts, your character to satisfy and soothe the wants, needs and tastes of another group of people. This is why your parents tell you and pray that you make good friends and have good friends to help you make good decisions and instill good values. When we start trading those things that make us uniquely us, then we are not good for our being who we were created and born to be. Once we lose character, we can never get it back. Don’t compromise who God created you to be, so that you can fit in or be a part of something smaller than God’s kingdom. This is not to say everything that made us uniquely us or gave us character is all entirely good. Because it’s not. I can think of a lot of things that is in my character that just sucks—like my anger management problem. It’s such a bad thing. But more than that, my sin nature, my ability to lie, cheat and steal, much like your own bad character natures that stuff can be thrown out. Yes. That type of saltiness is useless and really not good for anything and deserves to be kept around. But that’s a good thing right? I said it before, but once we lose character, we can never get it back. So throw that out. Did you understand that? When you come to Jesus, and say to him in prayer and in faith—Jesus, I trust in you, I love you, and you saved me. We are actually saying, “Jesus, there are things in my life, things that are so much a part of who I am, that you need just throw it out for me, because I can’t do it on my own.” Yeah. That’s what we’re saying. Let me tell you what happens when we say this prayer. When we accept Jesus into our lives and into our hearts. The bad character which used to define who we were, it’s never coming back. We can’t be that anymore. It’s a true story. Write this down: Some decisions will alter our future forever. One of those life altering decisions is like the one I described. When somebody gives their life to Jesus in faith, that changes our future forever. Our bad character is thrown away and all that remains is the character saltiness that is from God. Isn’t that amazing? Yeah, it is. I know it is. I want to talk about the flip side of that though. The reason we’re going to talk about it is because we’re going find ourselves facing a decision that will alter our future forever and what will happen is that we’ll take that saltiness that God created us to be and trade it for something temporary, like cheating on a test to pass a test. Instead of taking it on the chin, we’ll make the decision to throw away the good character that God gave us for not even an “A”, but a “D.” It’s pathetic and stupid, but some of us will face that. Maybe, we won’t do that—maybe what we’ll do is make the decision to take what we value and who we are and give it all up for a boyfriend or a group of friends—hanging out in the wrong place, at the wrong time knowing full well that it’s not us. Yeah—this is how people get into drugs. I’ve seen it happen. Here’s the reason we want to be wise to the decisions we make. Let’s go to verse 14. ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built 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 others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. When your character shines, it provides the world with a perspective God entrusted to you. We all have a saltiness for a reason. We were created a certain way, do things a certain way, and feel a certain way because it gives a unique perspective that God wanted you to have. It is because you have this, that you can change the world around you. Nobody else in the world or in this universe is equipped to see the world as you see or understand the things, situation and people around you like you do. This is why Jesus says, “be salty and stay salty.” Likewise, this is why Jesus says, “you are the light of the world.” Underline that—you give light it—you are the reason people will see things, because of your perspective. So let your light shine. Make decisions that retain your character. Do what God created you to do. This week, as we go into our world and remain salty, I want you think about this memory verse when you do everything you do: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31.  Let’s pray.