Good morning. There we go. User error. Sorry about that. It's good to see you all here this morning
as we gather together on the Lord's Day to worship Him. It's a little hot and muggy.
I do want to remind you, if you are feeling overwhelmed, there is a meeting room downstairs
that has the service live streamed and has air conditioning. So if you need that, don't feel any shame in getting up and moving down there.
The delay is probably enough that if you move quickly, you won't miss anything at all.
So salt has many uses. I put it on my broccoli and my chicken to bring out its flavor or on my caramel chocolate ice cream sundae
to make it salted caramel chocolate, which is really yummy, right?
Some of us might use salt to throw over our shoulders for good luck.
Many of us eat food that is salted for preservation.
In the winter, if it snows, we throw it on our paths to melt ice, or at least we used to before they created those chemical pellets that work better.
But it's one of the uses.
It can be used to kill weeds in your garden or on your path when they're growing up between the bricks.
Salt has many uses.
In the ancient world, salt was so precious that it was actually used as a form of currency.
And so the phrase that we have in English today,
he's not worth his salt, actually comes from the fact that he's not worth what we're paying him.
Because salt was used to pay workers at times.
Why am I talking about salt?
Well, because Jesus talked about salt.
In our passage this morning, if you've been here for the summer,
you know we've been preaching through the Matthew chapter 5.
And if you want to turn there now, it's page 759 in your pew Bible.
We've been going slowly through the first 12 verses, verse by verse.
The Beatitudes, as we explored what it meant to live in the kingdom of God,
and what it would look like in our personal character.
And as we transition into the fall, we're going to keep going.
We're going to do the rest of the Sermon on the Mount through the end of chapter 7.
Again, it will probably extend beyond Christmas.
We're not going to take it one verse at a time exactly, although today we are.
But typically, we're going to let Jesus' words break up our passage from one topic to the next.
So the passages will get a little bit longer as we go.
And again, if you're new here and you have,
what is God doing or what is Jesus doing in this sermon?
Well, if you go back to chapter 4, Matthew says this,
and he, that is Jesus, went throughout all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom
and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
So it said, Matthew says, Jesus is going around preaching and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.
And what we then have is a teaching section that helps fill in what is it that he was teaching.
He was teaching about the nature of God's kingdom.
That is, what does it look like when God rules and reigns,
whether it's in a person's heart or in a society or a community,
what does it look like for God's kingdom to come?
And this is really good news that he's preaching.
It's a gospel that is good news of the question.
The question I want us to be asking as we go through this passage all fall is,
how is it that God calls us to live distinctively as Christians in God's kingdom?
What are the ways that he wants us to understand and live distinct from the kingdoms of this world
and the worldviews of this world?
How is it that he calls us to be set apart, distinct in the way that we live?
And so this brings us to chapter 5, verse 13, which will be our passage today on salt.
But I'm just going to read the context.
So I'm going to start in verse 2 of chapter 5 for our reading.
So let me read through this, and then after I pray, we'll take a look particularly at verse 13.
So let's read God's word.
As he opened his mouth and taught them, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
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 for anything 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 who is in heaven.
So this is God's Word.
Let's pray for His help as we look at it today.
Lord, help us this morning.
Lord, I pray for Your help, that You would help me to speak as I ought with clarity,
and Lord, with truth.
Spirit, help me this morning,
and help us as a congregation to sit under Your Word,
to receive this Word,
to allow Your Spirit to work it into our hearts and into our lives.
Lord, use this Word this morning
so that we might love You more,
so that we might obey You more,
so that we might know You more.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So in some ways, verse 13 is very straightforward.
It's a very simple image.
It's a very straightforward idea.
But I think there's a lot of richness to it.
So we're going to try to tease out some of the implications and meanings of it this morning.
We're going to ask three questions of the text.
The first is, what does it mean that we are the salt of the earth?
The second one is, why does Jesus warn us about losing our distinctive saltiness?
And the third question is,
how does the gospel shape and fuel that distinctive saltiness?
So, what does it mean?
Why does He warn us?
And how does the gospel interact with this idea of distinctive saltiness?
So, that's our question.
The first one then,
what does it mean that we are the salt of the earth?
Jesus, in this context, has gathered His disciples,
and His crowd is listening,
and He looks at them and He says,
you are the salt of the earth.
Now, this is a metaphor, right?
But what does it point to?
Now, biblically, if we teased out salt in the way it's used in other places,
it's used sometimes for, as an image of destruction or judgment.
Sometimes it's used, particularly in the Old Testament temple,
as purification,
as it was a part of offering in the temple.
Certainly, preservation is one of the ways that we see it used as well.
But the fourth one is the one that I actually think is most in view in this passage today,
and that is flavor.
Now, flavor feels kind of weak,
but I think it's actually the idea,
and one of the reasons I think that is because of the second half of the verse, right?
You are the salt of the earth,
but if the salt has lost its taste,
its other versions,
loses its saltiness,
lost its flavor in the New King James,
has become tasteless in the New American Standard.
So, this idea is pretty,
and it's a really interesting word.
Sorry, word nerdery for a little bit.
When you look at this in its original,
what it actually says is,
it has become foolish.
If your salt has become foolish,
which clearly was an idiom in the day,
but I think the idea is,
and one of the ideas is that rabbis often used salt as an image for wisdom,
and so Jesus is making a really cool play on words here.
But what he's saying is that if we lose our essential nature,
becoming foolish is somehow being separate from who we were,
who we are meant to be biblically, right?
So, this idea of flavor,
we are meant to have the flavor of God and His kingdom in our lives.
This is what it means that we are meant to be the salt of the earth,
that you and I bring as followers of Jesus,
a distinctive taste of God's kingdom to the world that we live in.
And it's a flavor, it's an aroma,
it's a taste of something better,
of a kingdom that, as C.S. Lewis says,
a kingdom we've never been to,
a music that we've never quite heard,
a story that we're meant to bring this flavor to the world
that is enticing, that is inviting,
that at times may be challenging or confronting to the world,
but we're meant to bring the flavor of the kingdom of God.
But you may ask,
okay, that sounds nice.
Well, what does that mean?
Well, starting with,
it means we live out the Beatitudes.
In the context, this comes right after Jesus has just said,
this is what it looks like to live in the kingdom of God, right?
Poor in spirit,
mourning,
meek,
hungering and thirsting for righteousness,
merciful,
pure in heart,
peacemaking,
persecuted for righteousness' sake.
If we want to think through,
what does it mean to be the salt of the earth?
Let's start here.
We look at this and we think,
when we live in the kingdom of God,
when God rules and reigns in our hearts,
these things are characteristic,
or should be characteristic,
of us.
When we live this way,
it allows us to be the salt we are meant to be.
And we'll see that this doesn't just look backwards in the Sermon on the Mount
to say saltiness looks like this.
Looking ahead to the rest of the Sermon on the Mount,
I'm not going to preach the whole thing today,
but what is it?
It means that we have a morality that is heart-centered
and not merely skin deep.
It means we have a heart of costly service
and humility before others.
It means we have a single-minded devotion
to God who is the King of our kingdom.
And it means we have a radical devotion to Jesus
and following Him
in sacrificial love for those around us.
We'll see all of those themes played out
in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.
So Jesus gives us these character qualities.
And listen, if you're not sure what that looked like,
put Trinity on your podcast list
and listen to the sermons from earlier this summer.
And then keep coming back.
And throughout the rest of the fall,
we'll get a picture fuller and fuller
of what it means to have this salt.
I do want to make sure I say this too.
Like when we talk about having a flavor or aroma,
we always think of this as a positive thing typically.
Oh, I love the taste of fresh-cooked bread
when we make bread at home.
You know, I love that aroma.
But we need to recognize that the aroma
isn't always pleasant to everyone, right?
Verses 10 through 12, right before this,
have told us that when we pursue righteousness,
that is right living in the kingdom of God,
at times we will get persecution and rejection for it.
It will provoke reviling and hatred
from those who hate God and who despise His kingdom.
All right, so that's still conceptual.
You're still saying, okay, Matt, what does this look like?
I could, we could be here all day
with me trying to paint a portrait.
But let me give you a few ideas.
When I was in high school, before I was a Christian,
there were a couple of my friends in high school
who were Christians.
And I knew that they went to some meeting somewhere
on Wednesday nights and it was exciting
and I didn't want to go.
But they went.
But what I saw in my relationships
is that they were faithful
and they were trustworthy
and they were humble
and they were joyful
and they were grounded in a way that I wasn't.
And they talked about Jesus
being the source of all their lives.
And they weren't perfect
and they made mistakes
and all sorts of things.
But there was a picture there.
I experienced in my interactions with them
something.
And I thought, whatever it is,
I can taste something that I want more of.
It was part of how God brought me to Christ.
And I think they were living out the verse
that we looked at earlier in Colossians
where they were ready to pray for an open door
to share about their faith
and then that they were going to live their lives
with their speech seasoned with salt
that is seasoned with the flavor of the gospel.
Even if it's not the whole gospel told all at once,
they could plant seeds
and give invitations for people to talk more
about what's most meaningful
and what do we do when we fail
and where is there forgiveness
and what does it mean to love
and all these things lead us to the gospel.
And that's what happened to me.
So that's one kind of saltiness
that I've experienced in the world.
There are also people
who are doing salty things in their workplace.
Some of you remember Lydia Dugdale
who was a member here for a while
who's now a professor down at Columbia.
She's written a book called
The Lost Art of Dying.
And it's a beautiful book
that's engaging with the question
of how do we as a culture
think about dying
from a Christian perspective.
And some of you are academics in here.
Some of you are scholars.
Some of you are going to go on
and have opportunities to write books
and to teach others.
How can you bring your Christian worldview
and integrate it into your subjects
so that you can bring a saltiness
to your job
and to your thinking
and to your worldview?
Sometimes saltiness
simply means faithfulness
to obey God
in unusual,
in circumstances
where everyone else
is doing something different.
I remember working in campus ministry
and I discipled a guy
who was on the lacrosse team.
And if you don't know anything
about lacrosse teams,
they're not always
the most savory guys on campus.
Or maybe they're super savory
in all the ways
you don't want them to be.
They can be a bit rough and tumble
and a bit of the party crowd.
And he had a girlfriend
who really wanted to sleep with him.
And he kept saying,
no, I don't feel like that's right.
That's not what God wants me to do.
And he kept saying no.
And the grief that he got
from his teammates on this,
like they would make bets every week,
like maybe this is the weekend,
he's going to not do it.
And he didn't do it
by condemning them
or telling them
they're all terrible people.
He didn't do it
by separating himself out
and saying,
if you're going to be like that,
I'm not going to be part of this team.
But he just humbly,
steadfastly lived out a calling
to follow Jesus
in that particular way.
There are lots of other ways
this might look.
Think about the value of hospitality.
We're actually going to do
a Sunday school on it
later this fall.
Hospitality is a lost art
in our culture today.
People are moving fast
and they think of their home
as a private space
and you don't invite people in
and it's weird
to go to each other's houses.
But Christian hospitality
is such a beautiful way
of connecting
and loving people.
How do we be salty
by inviting our neighbors,
our friends,
our co-workers,
our classmates
into our homes,
into our worlds?
William Wilberforce
is another example
who spent his whole lifetime
in politics.
53 years in total.
No, actually,
45 years in politics.
27 of them
to get to the point
where his bill
to abolish slavery
actually passed.
Let me rephrase that.
To abolish the slave trade
in England passed.
And then another
26 years,
if my math is right,
before Britain
actually outlawed slavery
in the country.
he spent his whole life
being salt
in trying to change
the societal values
through the laws
of the land,
bringing the hope
and the light
of the kingdom
to the British Empire.
And again,
many of us live
mundane lives
and we may not
change the world.
Some of you might.
Some of you might go on
to have those opportunities.
Will you maintain
your saltiness?
So I hope
that's a little bit
of a picture.
And our saltiness
can be in all sorts
of things.
How we parent
and how we care
for our aging parents.
How we engage
in political discourse
with one another.
How we engage
with the PTA
in our school district.
How we deal
with gossip
in our workplace.
How we love
our elderly neighbors
and single parents
among us.
And so on and so on.
I could continue
to lay out
different contexts
and different ways
in which we need
to think about
how are we being
distinctively Christian,
which means we need
to study God's Word,
think about how it applies
to all of these contexts,
and then living
faithfully in that.
Being a foretaste
of the kingdom of God.
And people will see it
and they'll know it.
John has a great
bunch of friends
that he knows
at the gym.
And they have
great conversations
with him
because they taste
the kingdom of God
in him,
I believe.
And they see something
in the way
that he loves them
and listens to them
and engages
with their questions
that they're hungry for
and they want more.
And they don't even
necessarily know
they want God.
They might,
but they're there.
Jesus says,
you are the salt
of the earth.
This is definitional.
If you are in God's kingdom,
you are the salt
of the earth.
It is also an invitation
and a calling.
Be the salt
of the earth
in the world.
Jesus then goes on
and he warns us.
He warns us
about losing this.
Right?
And we've talked
about this idea
that you are
the salt of the earth,
but if the salt
become,
this might be
a more literal translation,
but if the salt
might become foolish,
in what way
can it be salty?
That is,
if it loses
its fundamental essence,
then it's no longer salt
and it can't do
what salt does.
Now,
some of you
are chemistry majors here
and you're thinking,
okay,
so NACL
is a stable compound
and it doesn't degrade.
Salt doesn't actually
become unsalty.
It can't happen.
So,
first of all,
in the first century,
a lot of salt
that was used
wasn't actually
mined salt
that was that stable,
but it was often
evaporated salt,
say,
from the reeds
on the sides
of the Dead Sea
and the evaporated salt
would be mixed
with other minerals
and things
and so it could
degrade over time.
So,
this is one thought
that some people have,
but others just have,
it might just be
worth saying,
don't push the imagery
too far.
Jesus isn't talking
about chemistry.
He's using an idiom
of a particular substance
that everybody knows,
but he says,
if salt is no longer salty,
then what good is it?
It's not good.
It's not worth anything.
If you put non-salty salt
on your food,
your food still tastes
like whatever it did
before you put the salt on.
If you try to use it
to preserve your food,
it's not going to work.
When salt loses
its distinctive character,
it becomes useless.
And he says,
all you can do
is throw it on the path
and trample it
under your feet
because that's really,
that's all it could do.
Maybe try to keep
the dust down a little bit,
like gravel.
But it's not worth anything.
Jesus says,
in reality,
this is a danger.
You might lose this.
You could lose this.
How might that happen?
Well, I want to point out
two ways in which I think
we lose our saltiness,
our distinctiveness
in the world.
The first one is
by becoming
just like the world.
This is a proverbial
frog in the kettle, right?
You put a frog
in a cold kettle
and you turn up the heat
and the frog
will stay in the kettle happily
and it will boil to death,
right?
Because it doesn't know
that it's becoming affected
by the environment around it.
So, we live in the world
and we often become
just like it.
There are some terrible examples
of this from the past.
The church at times
has supported slavery
and using,
owning people.
The church has at times
done things like
ban interracial marriage.
These were morals of the day,
commonly assumed
among the culture
and the church
swallowed it wholesale,
much to our shame.
There are other ways
in which we can
lose our saltiness.
Theologically,
we lose our saltiness.
If you read the history
of the 1800s
and 19th century,
you look at theology,
the importing of
enlightenment principles
into the work
of theology
led some
or many
to believe
that a scientific process
and a scientific worldview
and even a naturalistic
scientific worldview
was the right
and proper
and dominant way
to think about things.
And so,
they went back
to the Bible
and they said,
well,
God can't do miracles
because that's not
the way the world works.
that's a very broad brush.
John could give you
all the details.
But it was one of the
outworkings was
that this naturalistic worldview
then grew to such a point
where churches were just saying,
well,
God can't do miracles
because that's not the way
the world works.
Much to our shame
and to our laws.
Here's the third example.
Enculturation and missions.
Right?
God has called us
to take the good news
of the gospel
to the ends of the earth
and to all peoples
everywhere.
But He didn't call us
to take coats and ties
or organs.
Those are cultural expressions
of Christianity.
But you go to
equatorial countries
around the world
and the Western church
has exported
certain things
that have nothing
to do with the gospel.
They've exported culture
instead.
And in doing so,
they've become,
they've embraced
the world around them
that said,
we need to,
in the 19th century
missional view,
we need to civilize
people who haven't,
haven't yet embraced
Western European culture.
Much to our shame.
So we need to recognize
the danger is real.
Where are the pressure points
we feel today?
What are the ways
in which we might become
like the world
and not even be aware of it?
Well, here's an idea.
How about radical individualism?
Let me ask you
some diagnostic questions.
Do you plan your schedule
around your community
or around your own
life goals?
Do you value
group success
over individual achievements?
Do you value
gathering as God's people
more than your own
personal plans
for spiritual growth?
I think radical individualism
has the danger
of undermining
and destroying
the church
that God
and we often
just absorb it
and just think
this is normal
when it's not.
I promise you
we won't talk about
this every week
but good heavens
the church's engagement
with politics
right now
is a mess
and we have become
like the world
in anger
and attacking
lacking humility
in the way
that Christians
have engaged
in political discourse
and listen
I'm not saying
that there's something
there is good
we'll talk about that
there's good
in engaging
in political discourse
but we must do it
distinctively
as Christians
and here's my guess
there are probably
some people
who are doing it
but they never
make the headlines
because it's not
splashy
and it's not
it's not controversial
because they're working
humbly
and carefully
and lovingly
and persistently
and faithfully
but friends
we need to consider
how on a
large scale
organizationally
and on a small scale
individually
can we engage
with others
about politics
in a way
that's going to have
the aroma of Christ
can we
can we feel
like Jesus
to others
when we're talking
about
elections
policies
principles
I think
there's also
a danger
today
of us
losing
a distinctly
Christian
sexual ethic
again
I don't want
to beat
this horse
over
but we need
to recognize
how much
assumptions
about
sexuality
how we work
why we work
it is seen
as the right
and good
human flourishing
for people
to be sexually
active
in whatever way
they want to
that is what
our culture
says
and the Bible
says something
very different
the Bible
says
that
sexuality
was given
as a gift
with a very
particular purpose
in a very
particular context
and yet
the church
in a
misguided
attempt
to love
everybody
without
regard
is starting
to say
well maybe
we don't
actually have
to hold
to those
things
some of you
are college
students
you know
what your
friends think
you know
and it's
very tempting
to say
well maybe
it's not
such a big
deal
but do you
see in doing
that we
lose the
distinctiveness
we lose
our ability
to be salty
when we do
these things
those are a
couple of
examples of
where we
might lose
it
we could
probably
think of
a bunch
of others
how we
view
marriage
parenting
family
how we
deal with
money
there are
so many
ways
so many
areas
of our
lives
where we
can lose
our
Christian
distinctiveness
by becoming
like the
world
I think
there's a
second way
and I need
to be careful
in how I
say this
but I'm
going to go
here
because I
think it's
worth saying
the other
way we
lose our
Christian
distinctiveness
is by
being distinct
but not
Christian
in what
we are
and by
that I
mean we
become
distinctive
for the
wrong
things
when people
look at us
and what
they think
about us
and what
they see
in us
is not
the kingdom
and the
gospel
but something
else
there are
some
historical
examples
monasticism
is an
interesting
way of
saying
hey we're
going to
be distinct
from the
world
we're going
to withdraw
and live
within our
own
insular
community
and interact
only
tangentially
with the
outside world
right
and what
did they
become known
for
celibacy
tonsures
burlap
sacks
it seems
you know
it's
so that's
one historical
another historical
example
and again
I want to be
careful here
because you
can be a
real follower
of Jesus
but maybe
lose your
saltiness
by becoming
a monk
the other
example I'm
going to
use is
the Amish
and because
the Amish
I think
there can be
true believers
within the
Amish community
I'm not
judging their
spiritual
but what
are they
known for
the way
they dress
they don't
drive cars
they don't
use electricity
they want
to separate
themselves
from the
world
in a
particular
way that
seems very
culture bound
and that's
what they're
known for
and again
we want
to say
what are
we
if we're
distinctive
for things
that aren't
about the
kingdom
and about
Jesus
don't we
also lose
our
distinctiveness
then we
just
to be blunt
we just
become weird
we just
become odd
maybe we
like
revel in
our
distinctive
otherness
because we
see the
evils in
the society
we have
but if
we're not
distinctive
about the
kingdom
the things
of the
kingdom
then we
also lose
our
saltiness
Christians
can become
distinctive
about
diet plans
and money
management
and
what movies
we watch
and don't
watch
we can be
distinctive
about all
sorts of
and listen
there are
great
opportunities
for us
to think
Christianly
about all
of those
things
right
none of
those things
are bad
topics
for us
to think
Christianly
about
but we
want to
make sure
that when
people
meet us
our
distinctiveness
is
characterized
by
and points
to
the thing
that we're
meant to be
most
distinctive
about
and that
is the
gospel
for
ultimately
our
distinctiveness
is that
we are
no longer
ours
but we
have been
bought
by a
price
that we
were dead
in our
sins
and trespasses
and God
has made
us alive
with him
in Christ
the
distinctiveness
is that
we
now
live
and engage
in the
world
because of
the message
of the
gospel
that God
has come
to us
to rescue
us
from sin
and the
condemnation
we deserve
that by
his life
death
and resurrection
Jesus
has freed
us
from
sin
so that
we can
know
God
unlike
other
religions
it is
that
not
our
works
that
save
us
but
it is
his
freely
given
grace
that we
receive
by
faith
this
is the
good news
of the
gospel
and God
calls us
to repent
of our
life
in the
world
and to
come
into
his
kingdom
and be
a citizen
of his
kingdom
and a
child
of the
one
true
God
having
together
Christ
as the
head
of us
our
community
to
follow
him
living
as
members
of the
kingdom
and this
is the
thing
that should
be most
distinct
about us
and this
distinctness
shows itself
in different
ways
it's
distinct
because
we know
we're
sinners
so
we can
say
I'm
sorry
and ask
for
forgiveness
we know
we're
saved by
grace
so
we don't
have to
be
self
righteous
about
what
we do
we're
distinct
because
we know
we deserve
judgment
so we
don't
look at
ourselves
as better
than others
around us
but instead
we are
people who
know
we've
received
mercy
and that
gives us
great joy
and mercy
for the
people
around us
we're
distinct
because
we know
a savior
who did
not count
his glory
with God
something to
be
held
on to
but
who
humbled
himself
and
showed
his glory
through
his
humility
and his
sacrifice
and his
death
and so
we follow
him
in the way
that we
love
others
in that
way
one of
the most
fundamental
things
that I
think
is
we
in his
kingdom
know
that the
world
is not
about us
anymore
it's
about
him
and so
everything
is changed
everything
is reoriented
about
knowing
and loving
and following
Jesus
this is
the distinct
thing
and when
we love
and trust
in
and obey
and delight
in Jesus
this
distinctiveness
will be
seen
and we
will be
the salt
of the
earth
let's
pray
together
oh
Lord
we pray
as we
have
reflected
on this
simple
passage
and on
its
challenging
content
Lord
search our
hearts
we pray
show us
if there
are ways
in which
we have
become
too much
like the
world
or become
distinctive
in ways
that we
ought not
and Lord
help us
to become
distinctive
in increasing
measure
by returning
to
the core
of our
faith
the person
of Jesus
and his
work of
salvation
for us
Lord I
pray this
would be
true for
me
I pray
it would
be true
for us
as a
community
at
Trinity
I pray
it would
be true
for your
church
throughout
the world
pray this
in Jesus
name
amen
to
you