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00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] today's scripture reading is from matthew chapter 5 verse 13 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 town built 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
00:00:52 before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven this is god's word uh good morning everybody it's such a joy to be with you this morning and be able to speak to you out of god's word my name is massimo and it's just a it's just great being back here at first baptist church and the passage that we're going to look at this morning is a very very famous passage um but then again i believe that as you're going through the series in matthew especially in this segment on the
00:01:24 seminal mount almost all segments seem like very famous passages and in a way we are still in the opening words of the sermon on the mount and this particular passage to an extent could be seen as a principle that jesus is introducing on what it means or what it looks like to live out our christian life as a church i wonder and that maybe jesus chose the word salt and light these words because scripture in psalm 34 says that we are supposed to taste and see that the lord is good taste salt and sea light the tasting
00:02:06 and seeing of the goodness of god through the works of the local church is the main emphasis of this passage and even in other scriptures like in hebrews 6 christians are likened to people who have been enlightened and tasted that god is good even in 1 peter 2 we long for spiritual food if indeed we have tasted that the lord is good so what does it mean then to be salt and light this is what we will explore this morning and there's three things that we're gonna be looking at we'll be looking at what it means to be
00:02:46 salt and light how we are to be salt and light and where we will find the power to be salt and light so before we start let me start with the word of prayer heavenly father we have heard the written word read to us this morning and we're about to hear your spoken word proclaimed so we asked would you help us through the power of your holy spirit taste and see the living word jesus christ and i pray this in jesus name amen well the first thing we're going to look at is what it means to be salt and light there are
00:03:32 two images that jesus uses he uses the image of salt and the image of light to define what it means to be a local church and the first thing we're going to look at is we're going to look at the imagery of salt now salt is very unique in a way salt is one of five primary basic tastes that a human tongue can detect it has a particular flavor i mean those tastes are salt sweet bitter sour and umami umami is uh if you're not familiar with the word umami it's kind of the flavor that ajinamoto msg was trying to imitate
00:04:15 to bring out as well so in a way salt is a particular unique flavor so what is the salty flavor of a christian well i would like to say it's a certain disposition on how a certain posture on how we that we take when we engage the community and how we engage our neighborhood and how we engage the city well i do believe that that posture that flavor is best described in the sentences um just above the passage now you have been working through the beatitudes and i think the beatitudes is probably the best description of that
00:04:55 christian salty flavor it says that that flavor is to be poo in spirit to be with those who have to be those people who mourn to be meek to be hungry and thirst for righteousness to be merciful to be pure and hard to be a peacemaker it's a unique christian flavor unlike any other taste it's a humility and a meekness it's a merciful position to extend grace to make peace and not to be proud about it not to be above everybody else or say that you're morally better on a higher ground than everybody else it's a certain
00:05:36 disposition a certain flavor that christians take when they engage the city now salt is not just a flavor especially back then in the culture and this was written the primary function of salt was one that preserves meat or preserves food so it would stop the food from decaying or breaking down it there was no refrigeration back then there was no no samsung or lg around to keep your food uh uh cool and preserve it so they use salt they they rub salt into the meat to preserve it so jesus saying to the to be
00:06:17 a preservative of the earth to preserve the earth because ever since genesis 3 the world has been prone to decay we see injustice we see suffering we see brokenness and we see corruption as salt we are supposed to act as a preservative on the earth against these brokenness corruption suffering and injustice so what are we to preserve we are to preserve god's righteousness god's law and rule god's holiness god's design god's goodness as he created things to be good and how do we preserve it well by
00:07:01 protecting and restoring saving and safeguarding the earth so it's a running towards the suffering and running towards the injustice and running towards the brokenness rather than running away from it we do that to restore and to reconcile to run towards the decay and as we do that we bear the burdens though it might trouble us though it might be difficult for us we are not to avoid the burdens but we are to bear them we are to be the salt that protects and works against injustice suffering brokenness and corruption
00:07:47 well salt is not just a flavor it's not just a preservative but it is also something very unique it is the only flavor in that sense it's the only component that is actually able to enhance every other flavor a cookbook that i have at home is called salt acid fat heat it's by samin nosrad it's a very famous cookbook and she also has a netflix show about her cooking and she says this in the book she says the primary role that salt plays in cooking is to amplify flavor though salt also affects texture and helps modify other
00:08:29 flavors nearly every decision you'll make about salt will involve enhancing and deepening flavor you know those recipes where you're called to put a pinch of salt in i always wondered why a pinch of salt that a pinch of fall salt is not going to affect the saltiness of the dish at all i need a whole bunch of salt more maybe three or four pinches of salt for to take effect but it's the enhancing flavor of salt or the enhancing component or attribute of salt that is being asked to work here that's why a pinch is enough
00:09:07 so what does that mean for us here if we take it out of the metaphor into our practical lives it is to see the good in the world and enhance it to bring out what is already good and to amplify it god says go into the world see the good that i have made and make it flourish go into your neighborhoods and enhance them go into your relationships and enhance them go into your work and enhance it it's a it's a very opposite mindset than going there to be served but you're going there to serve it's a it's a shift of thought
00:09:45 on how you approach and engage the world you no longer look around and say what is the value here for me how can i benefit out of this neighborhood out of this housing project but how can i help bring out the best in these areas how can i help flourish scripture tells us that we are supposed to go out and seek the welfare of the city so with this word solved with this metaphor salt jesus is saying is take on a unique flavor preserve god's righteousness god's law rule god's wholeness design restore safeguard but also
00:10:27 seek the welfare of the city go in and enhance and make it flourish well salt is not the only imagery being used here the other one is light so what does it then mean to be light well of course the first thing comes to our mind when we think about light it illuminates light in scripture is often likened to god's presence and it's his presence as it illuminates the room as it creates brightness or is it creates light what it means it provides hope and joy into a situation hope enjoy into a sphere hope and joy
00:11:05 into a neighborhood so to be the light of the world is to light up a place to bring it hope and to bring it joy the prophet isaiah in isaiah 9 captures this really well and i'm not reading the whole uh chapter 9 but in verses 1 to 3 he he says and i'm paraphrasing as well he says but there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness on them has a light shone you have multiplied the nations you have
00:11:43 increased its joy they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest as they are glad when they divide the spoil this is a really famous passage because it's a famous christmas passage at the end of isaiah 9 it says for to us a child is born to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace so it's a famous passage but it starts with talking about taking darkness and then bringing light and how that is
00:12:17 hope and joy bringing hope and joy one preacher reflecting on this passage in isaiah says that in the dark there is danger and the unknown but in delight there is safety and security in darkness is anxiety but in light there is confidence and hope so light is the presence of god and darkness is the absence of god light is where the values and the priorities of gods are visible and darkness is where they are not seen transcendent goodness and beauty that lights up the world and that brings hope and joy that
00:12:57 otherwise we would not have is the calling of every christian to bring that light into the world now light as we think we are glad it it brightens up a place but as it brightens up a place as it creates it creates visibility so things become visible so what it does it exposes light shows you what needs cleaning if you ever tried to clean and dark you you probably won't get very far you need to switch on the light because only when you switch on the light the light exposes the dirt that you see all around
00:13:35 so light exposes sin corruption and brokenness and as christians as we are supposed to be the light as a church as we are supposed to be the light we are supposed to expose sin corruption and brokenness now we have to be careful on the intent on why we expose it uh we intend to expose it not in a form to judge other people or put them down but it would intend to lead people to repentance remember the flavor i talked about earlier i guess to keep it within the light metaphor it's as we exposed we're
00:14:09 supposed to do it with a certain color a beatitude color a b attitude flavor to be meek poor in spirit pure in heart and as peacemakers means we expose for redemptive purpose filled with grace with the hope to lead brothers and sisters to repentance so that they can then have joy and hope well light does not just illuminate and expose but it begs the question for us to ask who is the source of the light jesus elsewhere says that i am the light of the world so is he the light of world or are we the light of the world well
00:14:53 clearly god is the source of light we are not the source it is his presence that illuminates not ours jesus is the light of the world he was the presence of god on earth when he was here and now the presence of god the light of the world is the local church that is the presence of god in the world so what we are called to do is reflect his light reflect his goodness his hope his joy his character his attributes in the spaces of our influence we are to go into the world reflecting his attributes
00:15:32 and expose sin and bring hope and joy to the people around us so that's our first point what does it mean to be salt and light well it means to have a certain flavor it means to enhance it means to preserve it means to illuminate to expose and to reflect now the question is how do we do it how are we to be salt and light now i will not go into many practical examples because i believe that the rest of the sermon and amount which you'll be working through are going to be very practical examples and how you take this principle into
00:16:16 actual life and we'll talk about various aspects of lives and the rest of the seminar amount will give you really great illustrative examples but since this is as i mentioned earlier on a principle i will stick with the principles of a how so what are some principles on how are we are to be salt and light well the first principle is we are to be salt and light together as a community if you look throughout the passage it is actually plural language it says you are the salt of the earth you are the light of the world now in english
00:16:58 you can't really tell that it is plural but in the original language and it's a clear plural in other language if you look at if you're any language skills or speak other foreign languages you might look if that languages have plural use then this is actually a plural you it is the christian community that jesus is addressing not the christian individual one theologian says it is the christian community that are jesus great missionary means it is christian community that is salt and light and not
00:17:30 the christian individual one granule of salt can't flavor up a dish it takes 30 40 50 100 granules of salt the other illustration is used here is we are a city on a hill to build cities on a hill was quite expensive it took much resource to do so but when it was built on a hill it was visible for miles and miles you see you can't just be one light or two lights or three lights to be a city on a hill to be greatly visible you have to be many lights it cannot just be the elders who are the light it cannot just be
00:18:10 you know dr peter and arnold and edm uh who are the lights and every one of you or else is a candlestick holder or it's not that they are the city and you are the hill upon which they sit no you are all to be light for it to work to be a city on a hill there must be many many lights shining for it to be able to give direction and visibility for those who are trying to find their way out of darkness you are to be an alternate city using alternate values alternate ethics alternate motives and alternate goals
00:18:46 it can't just be one or two people it takes a community to make a difference it's not a house on a hill it's a city on a hill one light can be hidden but many lights nobody can hide it takes shared responsibility it is the local church that is salt and light not the individual christian it takes a community to be a city on a hill that's why every missionary effort every effort to engage the city with the gospel should in time lead to planting of new churches that can be the salt and light within
00:19:25 their local community now the main point is here it's something that we do together so fbc you are collectively the salt and light of the world now it's not just that we do it together as a community but we also have to get out and get in and what i mean by that is salt needs to get out it needs to get out of the mines it needs to get out of the ocean it needs to get out of that salt shaker and it needs to get into the meat that's why we often say you have to rub the meat with salt the salt has to
00:20:01 really get into the dish to be able to do its function to be solved therefore means to be deeply engaged within the city and community you have to be deeply engaged at your work deeply engaged in your neighborhoods making a difference there leaving your comfort zones to go out and get in to go out and engage being salt and light is not the call to be a holy huddle but it's a call to be a missionary you do it together but you don't do it to become an exclusive club you engage the world you are together
00:20:45 and then you disperse and go out and influence and get into the communities and then enhance preserve flavor the city all over until it tastes like jesus well not only are we supposed to get out and get in what do we do when we get in well we are to be distinctly different salt is not sugar salt may look like sugar it may feel like sugar it might be the same size as sugar but it is distinctly different we can't mix sugar and salt together and think that we're going to get the same effect when a recipe calls for two grams of
00:21:28 salt you can't just take one gram of salt and add a gram of sugar because you think it's going to taste better or sweeter that way it will not have the flavor it's supposed to have it's not going to have that beatitude flavor it's not going to have that jesus flavor it's not going to be salty jesus says if you're not directly or distinctively solved you are no longer if you no longer have the attributes of salt you deserve to be trampled on and thrown away he says if you do not have the characteristics of salt if you lose your
00:22:01 saltiness in this passage he says you are absolutely useless you either are salt completely or you are not either you have saltiness or you don't either you have these attributes of salt or you don't now how do you know that you have lost your saltiness or how do you know that you do not have these attributes well you if you go into the community and you're not enhancing and preserving then and you don't have that flavor well then you are not salt we describe that flavor as the beatitudes so maybe looking at
00:22:42 the opposite words of the beatitudes might help for you as an indicative to see if you have lost your saltiness you are not salt when you think you're morally self-sufficient you are not salt when you fail to be sorrowful about the brokenness of this world when you fail to mourn you're not salt when you're hearty arrogant and overbearing you're not salt when you're content with unrighteousness you're not salt when you are uncaring and unsympathetic you're not salt when you're impure and corrupt in the heart you're not salt
00:23:27 when you're a troublemaker now it says the beauty is you're supposed to be a peacemaker i understand that there's probably two ways that we can fail to be a peacemaker we can either be a peace breaker a troublemaker or a peace faker somebody who pretends that there's fees and looks over rather than being a peacemaker to engage and to reconcile salt is distinctly different it has a unique flavor either you are or you are not salt but it's not just the salt that caused me to say that you have to be distinctly
00:24:02 different it is also the metaphor of light that is distinctly different light's value resides in the fact that it is completely different than darkness it is the complete opposite of darkness so light is complete visibility to be a city on a hill is therefore to shine which is distinctly different than being hidden and being dark which brings us to the last aspect of what how we are to be salt and light which means to visibly display it says here don't hide a city on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it
00:24:48 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 light is supposed to be front and center propped up visible so that others can see so the question is to what degree are you supposed to display your saltiness to what degree are you supposed to display your light well to the degree that people can taste and see you need sufficient salt to preserve a meat you need to
00:25:35 shine or be in the right position and shine in a specific specific space in a room to eliminate the whole room until it's visible and noticeable you need to display yourself as salt and light until you receive a visible and noticeable reaction from others you know that you have reached the level of displaying to your distinct difference when people are reacting and responding to you and there's two forms two ways and how those people might respond to you well one you're already covered it says that people will revile you
00:26:23 people will persecute you because you showed them that you are different you because you expose them for who they are broken and corrupt people will persecute you that is one way to tell that you have displayed enough the other way is that people will taste and see that the lord is good people will give glory to god as they taste and see jesus through your being salt and light they will give glory to god you have displayed the degree that creates a reaction if you do not display to that degree if
00:27:08 you're not visible to that degree you are a lamp under a basket you're not a city on a hill now the reason why we often do not display or the reason why we hide i think often is fear it is fear from the persecution and the cost we could have of displaying it's the the pain that we will have to bear the suffering we have to bear the fear from the consequence of having displayed as being different displayed ourselves as being different it is the fear of being distinctly different that's why we hide
00:27:47 now we also hide because often we are afraid that we are not bright enough or that we are not salty enough we don't display ourselves because we think we have some dark spots and then people can see our true brokenness and our and we have to make ourselves really vulnerable but we have to remember that we are not the light that is supposed to be displayed in that particular way jesus is the light we merely reflect second corinthians 4 says for what we proclaim is not ourselves but jesus christ as lord
00:28:24 with ourselves as your servants for jesus sake for god who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ but we have these treasures in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to god and not to us so what it's saying here we are these jars of clay these broken vessels and it's often through our cracks that the god that god the glory of god shines so it is often as we display ourselves
00:28:59 as to our brokenness and our insufficiencies that we have the opportunity to point to the person who is the light the person who actually gives us hope we point to jesus and people will give glory to god we are displaying him not us and sometimes that's another way that we hide we hide the glory of god by veiling his light with our self-glory we are visibly displaying our light not his people are to give glory to god and not to themselves so a certain amount of brokenness that salty flavor that
00:29:41 the attitude poor in spirit meekness flavor needs to come through it is required as we display to be his light but yet display to be meek and poor in spirit so where do we then find the strength and the power and the means to then be that salt and light and that's the last thing that we're going to look at where we find the power to be salt and light where do we find the power to overcome fear where do we find the socket to plug into that source of light where do we receive that flavor that i'm
00:30:27 talking about where do we find the boldness to display yet be poor in spirit a humble boldness a bold humility well we find it when we look to jesus and it begins by saying that we have to taste and see that the lord is good for ourselves in the passage early on in the one corinthians passage it says for god who said that light china of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ we need to see the light for ourselves we have to taste
00:31:06 and see jesus for ourselves we have to savor that flavor we have to be exposed and repent and then have that joy and that hope ourselves and we only can have that when we look to jesus we have to personally taste and see that the lord is good that's the first place that we have to look at the first thing that needs to happen for us to have that power to be salt and light well secondly when we look at jesus when we take a close look at him what we will see we will see that he got out and got in he left heavens and he got into this
00:31:46 world for us he left the most glorious place to enter into our brokenness and while he was here he was distinctly different he had that unique flavor he preserved god's rule law and holiness he and he enhanced and amplified he restored and reconciled through his work and through his deep engagement with humanity protecting and restoring the kingdom of light was the summary of his work he was visibly displaying his nature and his attributes and his power he's shown light into our darkness he exposed sinners and the self-right
00:32:33 righteous but filled many with hope and joy as he bore the pain and suffering for humanity he is emmanuel god with us he is the light he is the presence of god visibly displayed and when we look at the cross we see the light of the world who instead of being able to be propped up and shining bright had to embrace darkness so that we can receive his light and that gives us humility that gives us this flavor of meekness and being poor in spirit for it tells us that we are sinful so sinful so dark that we couldn't save
00:33:23 ourselves that god had to send his son to come and die for us that we need a savior and that should root in us a deep deep humility we are incapable of saving ourselves but at the same time it should also give us boldness for god did send his son jesus to die for us and if god is for us who can be against us it is when we see jesus sacrificed for us we receive that humble boldness that helps us to be the salt and the light that helps us to display his light with meekness pointing others to the glory of god
00:34:11 and to the degree we see jesus going out and getting in for us bearing the consequences for us to that degree we taste and see that the lord is good and to the degree that we taste and see that the lord is good to that degree we will get out and get in that into our community and be that salt and light in the passage it says you are the salt and light it does not say you will be the salt and light it does not say you should be the salt and light fbc you are the salt and light do you have that humble boldness
00:35:01 will you go out and get into your neighborhoods get into the workplaces get into your families and friendships and relationships get into supang jaya get into metro kuala lumpur to preserve to enhance to illuminate to expose to reflect jesus and sprinkle that flavor all over town till all can taste and see that jesus is good will you walk worthy of that calling let us now close in prayer and ask god through the power of the holy spirit to help walk worthy of this calling heavenly father we come before you and
00:35:46 this morning we ask that your spirit will work in us in such a way that we will taste and see that the lord is good father that we will take on that flavor and father you will give us this humble boldness that bold humility to go out into our communities to be different and display your light and your flavor father would you help us walk worthy of that calling would you help us be salt and light and i pray this in jesus most precious name amen
