Jesus 101: Salty and Shiny


What role did Jesus want his followers to play in the world?  Matthew 5:13-16 says he wanted them to be penetrating and transforming agents for God's kingdom.

In this passage, he said they were the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world."  In Jesus' time, salt was a penetrating and purifying agent.  It penetrated food and killed the corruption in it.  That's why in the days before refrigerators people salted meats and other foods.  Light was a penetrating and revealing agent.  It penetrated the darkness and revealed what was in it.  It showed what was true.

This passage appears in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  In this section, Jesus described the ideal attitudes and behaviors of kingdom citizens.  When you read through it, you'll find that kingdom citizens were to have unique lifestyles that went against the grain of our broken world.  As they went into the world and lived by the distinct values of the kingdom, they would transform the world.  It would become more like God's kingdom.

Jesus still wants us to be salt and light in this world.  We're to be distinctive in our love, forgiveness, righteousness, justice, and more.  When we fail to be distinctive in these things, we lose our saltiness and hide our light.  And the world is worse off for it.

"Deep divisions" are words we hear repeatedly today to describe the western world, particularly America.  Some say America is more divided than its ever been since the Civil War.  Enemies like Russia are feeding and exploiting those differences.  

People need the good news of Christ in our country.  That's it's greatest need.  But beyond that, it needs people living by the values of the kingdom.  It needs people who will tear down walls and build bridges between hostile parties.  

It needs salty and shiny Christ followers who live in this current age by the values of the age to come.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Dynamite: The Battle Within

Image
"It was on fire when I lay down on it."  Robert Fulghum wrote about reading this statement in a small town newspaper.   Smoke was billowing from a second story window.  The Fire Department arrived, broke down the front door, ran up a set of stairs, and pulled a man off a burning bed.  Later, when they asked him how he got in that predicament, he said, "It was on fire when I lay down on it." Why on earth did he do that?  We don't know, but his story reveals a human truth.  We often do self-destructive things.  We testify, "People told me not to do it, but I did it anyway."  "I knew it was wrong, but I did it." The apostle Paul wrote about our human propensity to sin and self-destructive behavior in Romans 7:14-25.  Verse 15 sums up his point, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do."   He describes an intense inner battle.  On one side is the "flesh," his
Read more

God's Dynamite: More than Conquerors

Image
One person goes through a terrible experience and emerges from it stronger, more mature, and more loving.  Another goes through a similar experience and emerges from it weaker, less mature, and bitter.   What's the difference? I think it has to do with what's in the person's heart.  It has to do with his or her faith and perspective of life.   In Romans 8:35-39, the apostle Paul asked, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?''  Is there any person or place or experience that can remove us from Christ's loving presence?  Trouble? Hardship? Danger?  Sword? Paul could answer this question because he experienced all the above and more.  He said, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."  We conquer all these things through Christ's love for us. To be sure, we can have times when Christ's love seems far away from us. In the depths of suffering in times like these, we can won
Read more

God's Dynamite: Resurrection Transformation

Image
Easter is about more than you going to heaven.  That's part of it, but not near all!  It's about your death and resurrection. In Romans 6, Paul was answering opponents.  Those opponents said that if salvation is by God's grace through faith, then you have no motivation for righteous living and good works.  Why not sin more to get more grace? Paul answered by using the image of baptism.  He said when the pastor plunged you under water, he symbolized your death in Christ.  Through faith you died on the cross with Jesus.  Your old self was a slave to sin and rebellion against God.   Paul said when the pastor raised you up from the water, he symbolized your resurrection in Christ.  Not just in the future but in the present.  In faith, you identify with Jesus' death and his resurrection.  You're raised to a new life, free from slavery to sin. So Easter is about more than personal salvation.  It's about transformation: dying to an old life and ris
Read more