Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Salt and Light - Sermon notes
What follows are my notes for a sermon I did on Salt and Light:
Salt and Light
PRAY FIRST!!!
Introduction: Matthew 5:13-16 * Passage tells Jesus’ disciples (and us) who they ARE, what their function is, and gives them a WARNING.
I. Salt in Biblical times – obtained from the salt marshes of the Dead Sea, often contaminated with other substances.
A. Essential to life itself. Dry climate; perspiration. An important mineral in our bodies to keep us healthy.
B. Precious and valuable commodity –
1. Our word SALARY comes from the Latin word SALARIUM, meaning “salt money” and refers to the allowance of salt paid as wages to Roman soldiers.
2. In Biblical times salt was sometimes exchanged for slaves, which is where we get the saying, “He isn’t worth his salt.”
C. Salt as a symbol of covenant
1. Numbers 18:19 “Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”
2. Salt Covenant – Men would keep a small pouch of salt with them, and whenever an agreement was made between them they would each put a pinch of their salt into the others pouch. Since it would be impossible to retrieve their own salt from the others pouch, this was seen as an irrevocable covenant between the two men.
The Covenant of salt ‘ 2 Chronicles 13:5 “Don’t you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?”
3. A sign of the broken covenant – Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” with the spilled salt shaker in front of the figure of Judas.
4. Salt was considered so valuable that salt had to be included in sacrificial offerings. Leviticus 2:13 “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.” Offerings given to God needed to contain something highly prized and valued. Nothing that begun to rot was allowed to used as sacrifice, so the salt also acted as a preservative until the time the sacrifice could be given.
II. The Properties and Uses of Salt
A. As a solid, like a salt lick, animals come to refresh themselves with salt, but they don’t eat the whole thing all at once!
B. As a seasoning, salt is sprinkled or used judiciously to season food. Even Job in his misery cries “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt?” (Job 6:6) If a recipe calls for a teaspoon and you use a cupful, you ruin the dish.
C. As a preservative, salt was used to preserve meat and fish, which were packed in salt to draw blood and moisture from them. Too much salt would make the meat too dry.
D. Salt as a healing property. Salt can be gargled for a sore throat, and a pinch of salt was put on the socket if a tooth was lost. 2 Kings 2:21 “Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.” Salt purifies.
E. Luke 14:34,35 “Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Salt was used in Biblical times as a leveling agent for paddies made from animal dung, which was used for outdoor ovens. The salt was mixed with the dung to make it burn longer and with a more even heat. When the block was used as much as possible it was thrown out onto the road to harden the muddy surface. So, when Jesus says that once the salt has lost its savor, it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled by men, this is what He’s talking about. If salt is so contaminated that it can’t even be used with the manure, then it is worthless indeed. So, we, then, are to be the leveling agent in an unbalanced world. And if we can’t do that, then what good are we?
F. Just as salt was used to heal, salt was also used to make a land barren and worthless. Judges 9:45 “All that day Abimelech pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.” And here is the warning….too much salt all at once can actually cause death. Colossians 4:6 “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
G. So, in this passage Jesus tells His disciples what they, and we, ARE: as salt, they are essential, they are precious, they are valuable. Our function is to season our conversation with God’s grace and love; we are to preserve His Word; we are to use His love and His Word to heal; we are to remain faithful to God as in a covenant of Salt. And we are to heed the warning not to make the ground barren or unfruitful.
“If the salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” I think we need to take this warning very seriously, because once salt is made useless, what good is it? The salt that we present to the world needs to be genuine and having life-giving and healing properties. If we allow our saltiness to be diluted, we are worthless for God’s kingdom.
“Just as tasteless salt lacks value to the person who uses it, so does a professed disciple without genuine commitment prove useless for the work of the Kingdom.”
Sodium chloride, or salt, does not lose its taste (or saltiness) except by dilution. One can dilute the Word by adding non-essential and foreign additives to it, or the Word can be “watered down” to make it more palatable to people, but then the salt has indeed lost its savor and is useless.
How can we, as salt, be diluted? By spending too much time with the temptations of the world. Too much TV. How much time do we fritter away on unimportant activities and pursuits? While it may seem harmless enough at the time, perhaps we need to ask ourselves if this activity honors God and edifies His people.
I don’t think all worldly pursuits dilute us, though. We, as Christians, are called to be in the world, but not of it. We need to stay relevant to those who would need our help. I mean, you don’t have to be a drug addict to reach a drug addict, but it sure helps if you understand the lingo.
III. Light – Mathew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
A. This passage needs to be seen in conjunction with Matthew 6:1-3 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”
Jesus here is warning against acting like the hypocrites, to win human praise. The religious life certainly has outward expression and duties, but piety paraded for human notice and approval gets no recognition from God. The disciple must let his light shine, yes; men should see his good works, yes; BUT he must not seek his own honor or point to himself, but instead to show the glory and goodness of God.
B. What is light? Light is what enables us to see. It makes vision possible. Cave story. So, what is the purpose of light? The purpose of light is to illuminate, expose, guide, and direct.
C. If you are a candle, you shed your light outwards, to illuminate what is in the room. Looking at the candle itself serves no purpose. Its only purpose is to shed light elsewhere. So Jesus is telling us that our light is to shine not so that people will see US, but so that people will see where our light comes from.
The purpose of a lighthouse, for example, is not to draw attention to the light, but to draw attention to the dangerous rocks nearby! It is a warning light. So, perhaps, are we called to be “lighthouses,” also called to point to danger.
Luke 11:33-55 No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar, nor under a peckmeasure, but on the lampstand, in order that those who enter may see the light. The lamp of your body is your eye; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you may not be darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it shall be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”
Here our warning is to keep our light pure; once again, not to dilute it with things that are not worthwhile. Else, the light that people see will not shine to point the way to God. Any light that shines with the express purpose of illuminating ourselves is of no use to God.
D. So, when Jesus says we are the “light of the world,” what is He saying? He is saying we are, like salt, is essential, precious, and valuable. Our function is to illuminate the world around us, and make sure our light shines towards the Creator of all light; we are to expose the folly of the world,. We are to use the light given us to guide and direct people to the true path, the one that leads to God, to Jesus Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” And we need to take warning that we do not lead people to ourselves.
Conclusion: Read Matthew 5:13-16 again.
So, we are not called to DO “salt and light,” but to BE “salt and light.” A porcupine cannot be a pig. So, if we ARE salt and light, that is not something we can put on and remove like a garment. Then salt and light would just be something we wear when it suits our fancy. But Jesus says we ARE salt and light, so that indicates a change in the very nature of our being, right down to the molecular level.
So, as salt and light, Jesus says we are ESSENTIAL to His plan for the world; Jesus says we are PRECIOUS to Him; Jesus says we are VALUABLE.
Our function is to season the world with His love, to preserve His Word, to heal in His name, and to remain faithful. We are to illuminate the nature of God to believers and unbelievers alike; we are to guide and direct people to God, and we are to take care that we do not draw attention to ourselves, but that all our actions reveal God’s love for His people.
Let us pray…..
Salt and Light
PRAY FIRST!!!
Introduction: Matthew 5:13-16 * Passage tells Jesus’ disciples (and us) who they ARE, what their function is, and gives them a WARNING.
I. Salt in Biblical times – obtained from the salt marshes of the Dead Sea, often contaminated with other substances.
A. Essential to life itself. Dry climate; perspiration. An important mineral in our bodies to keep us healthy.
B. Precious and valuable commodity –
1. Our word SALARY comes from the Latin word SALARIUM, meaning “salt money” and refers to the allowance of salt paid as wages to Roman soldiers.
2. In Biblical times salt was sometimes exchanged for slaves, which is where we get the saying, “He isn’t worth his salt.”
C. Salt as a symbol of covenant
1. Numbers 18:19 “Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring.”
2. Salt Covenant – Men would keep a small pouch of salt with them, and whenever an agreement was made between them they would each put a pinch of their salt into the others pouch. Since it would be impossible to retrieve their own salt from the others pouch, this was seen as an irrevocable covenant between the two men.
The Covenant of salt ‘ 2 Chronicles 13:5 “Don’t you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?”
3. A sign of the broken covenant – Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” with the spilled salt shaker in front of the figure of Judas.
4. Salt was considered so valuable that salt had to be included in sacrificial offerings. Leviticus 2:13 “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.” Offerings given to God needed to contain something highly prized and valued. Nothing that begun to rot was allowed to used as sacrifice, so the salt also acted as a preservative until the time the sacrifice could be given.
II. The Properties and Uses of Salt
A. As a solid, like a salt lick, animals come to refresh themselves with salt, but they don’t eat the whole thing all at once!
B. As a seasoning, salt is sprinkled or used judiciously to season food. Even Job in his misery cries “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt?” (Job 6:6) If a recipe calls for a teaspoon and you use a cupful, you ruin the dish.
C. As a preservative, salt was used to preserve meat and fish, which were packed in salt to draw blood and moisture from them. Too much salt would make the meat too dry.
D. Salt as a healing property. Salt can be gargled for a sore throat, and a pinch of salt was put on the socket if a tooth was lost. 2 Kings 2:21 “Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.” Salt purifies.
E. Luke 14:34,35 “Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Salt was used in Biblical times as a leveling agent for paddies made from animal dung, which was used for outdoor ovens. The salt was mixed with the dung to make it burn longer and with a more even heat. When the block was used as much as possible it was thrown out onto the road to harden the muddy surface. So, when Jesus says that once the salt has lost its savor, it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled by men, this is what He’s talking about. If salt is so contaminated that it can’t even be used with the manure, then it is worthless indeed. So, we, then, are to be the leveling agent in an unbalanced world. And if we can’t do that, then what good are we?
F. Just as salt was used to heal, salt was also used to make a land barren and worthless. Judges 9:45 “All that day Abimelech pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.” And here is the warning….too much salt all at once can actually cause death. Colossians 4:6 “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
G. So, in this passage Jesus tells His disciples what they, and we, ARE: as salt, they are essential, they are precious, they are valuable. Our function is to season our conversation with God’s grace and love; we are to preserve His Word; we are to use His love and His Word to heal; we are to remain faithful to God as in a covenant of Salt. And we are to heed the warning not to make the ground barren or unfruitful.
“If the salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” I think we need to take this warning very seriously, because once salt is made useless, what good is it? The salt that we present to the world needs to be genuine and having life-giving and healing properties. If we allow our saltiness to be diluted, we are worthless for God’s kingdom.
“Just as tasteless salt lacks value to the person who uses it, so does a professed disciple without genuine commitment prove useless for the work of the Kingdom.”
Sodium chloride, or salt, does not lose its taste (or saltiness) except by dilution. One can dilute the Word by adding non-essential and foreign additives to it, or the Word can be “watered down” to make it more palatable to people, but then the salt has indeed lost its savor and is useless.
How can we, as salt, be diluted? By spending too much time with the temptations of the world. Too much TV. How much time do we fritter away on unimportant activities and pursuits? While it may seem harmless enough at the time, perhaps we need to ask ourselves if this activity honors God and edifies His people.
I don’t think all worldly pursuits dilute us, though. We, as Christians, are called to be in the world, but not of it. We need to stay relevant to those who would need our help. I mean, you don’t have to be a drug addict to reach a drug addict, but it sure helps if you understand the lingo.
III. Light – Mathew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
A. This passage needs to be seen in conjunction with Matthew 6:1-3 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”
Jesus here is warning against acting like the hypocrites, to win human praise. The religious life certainly has outward expression and duties, but piety paraded for human notice and approval gets no recognition from God. The disciple must let his light shine, yes; men should see his good works, yes; BUT he must not seek his own honor or point to himself, but instead to show the glory and goodness of God.
B. What is light? Light is what enables us to see. It makes vision possible. Cave story. So, what is the purpose of light? The purpose of light is to illuminate, expose, guide, and direct.
C. If you are a candle, you shed your light outwards, to illuminate what is in the room. Looking at the candle itself serves no purpose. Its only purpose is to shed light elsewhere. So Jesus is telling us that our light is to shine not so that people will see US, but so that people will see where our light comes from.
The purpose of a lighthouse, for example, is not to draw attention to the light, but to draw attention to the dangerous rocks nearby! It is a warning light. So, perhaps, are we called to be “lighthouses,” also called to point to danger.
Luke 11:33-55 No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar, nor under a peckmeasure, but on the lampstand, in order that those who enter may see the light. The lamp of your body is your eye; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you may not be darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it shall be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”
Here our warning is to keep our light pure; once again, not to dilute it with things that are not worthwhile. Else, the light that people see will not shine to point the way to God. Any light that shines with the express purpose of illuminating ourselves is of no use to God.
D. So, when Jesus says we are the “light of the world,” what is He saying? He is saying we are, like salt, is essential, precious, and valuable. Our function is to illuminate the world around us, and make sure our light shines towards the Creator of all light; we are to expose the folly of the world,. We are to use the light given us to guide and direct people to the true path, the one that leads to God, to Jesus Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” And we need to take warning that we do not lead people to ourselves.
Conclusion: Read Matthew 5:13-16 again.
So, we are not called to DO “salt and light,” but to BE “salt and light.” A porcupine cannot be a pig. So, if we ARE salt and light, that is not something we can put on and remove like a garment. Then salt and light would just be something we wear when it suits our fancy. But Jesus says we ARE salt and light, so that indicates a change in the very nature of our being, right down to the molecular level.
So, as salt and light, Jesus says we are ESSENTIAL to His plan for the world; Jesus says we are PRECIOUS to Him; Jesus says we are VALUABLE.
Our function is to season the world with His love, to preserve His Word, to heal in His name, and to remain faithful. We are to illuminate the nature of God to believers and unbelievers alike; we are to guide and direct people to God, and we are to take care that we do not draw attention to ourselves, but that all our actions reveal God’s love for His people.
Let us pray…..
# posted by Phoenix MaryGrace Hocking : 11:39 AM
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