Last week we started this new series called “Counter Culture” where we are looking at the Sermon on the Mount. When we talk about “Counter-Culture”, I want to clarify that we are called both to engage and create culture. Both the culture outside of us and the culture inside of us.

LEARNING TO WALK IT OUT FROM THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

If you truly want to be counter-culture, you need to do what the disciples did as Jesus began His message.

If we want to learn from Jesus, we have to adapt the same position as the disciples did on the side of that mountain. We must come to Him!

We must spend time with Jesus to be SALT and LIGHT, instead of SALTY and LIT.

Last week we found out how truly COUNTER-CULTURE Jesus wants us to be, as we looked at the Beatitudes. What we will continue to discover in this series is how Jesus shifts the culture of our life. Our ‘normal’ culture is that everything we do is about making us better, bringing us glory…whereas Jesus culture is all about others…making THEM better.

Let’s get started today;

When you think about salt and light, what are some things they have in common?
· They change something
· They make a difference
· Too much at a time can be undesirable
· They are hard to ignore when present
· Their usefulness depends on their being used

o Salt wasn’t made to sit in a salt shaker or in a bag
o It won’t flavor your food if it’s not ON it.
o It won’t melt the ice on the sidewalk by sitting in a bag next to it.
o The flashlight in your purse won’t help you see in the dark if it’s not in your hand and on.
o It doesn’t matter that you have electricity, if you don’t flip the switch, you won’t have light.
o Salt and Light are intended to MAKE a DIFFERENCE but they can only do that if they are USED.
o If you follow Christ, it is intended that you MAKE A DIFFERENCE, not that you just exist and live your life.

SALT AND LIGHT WERE MADE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

10 days ago, I spoke at InterVarsity at Carroll University on this same passage. I found it pretty awesome when I was invited, back in the summer, to speak there this Fall. When I looked at the assigned topics, I thought it was awesome that they were launching a series on The Sermon on the Mount the same week that we were. So I focused on us ‘being the light of the world’ to them. Today, because we are blessed to have several Carroll students that call Bridge Church their home, I will share a couple of thoughts about us being light, then I really want to focus on us being salt.

Let’s focus briefly on LIGHT. Again, Jesus said: “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.”

He said, “NO ONE lights a lamp and hides it!” Light is intended to MAKE A DIFFERENCE! It can’t do that, if it is hidden!

WE WERE MADE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

I want you to imagine that you are in the deepest darkest cave EVER! There is NO light source AT ALL. You are placed there without light. You can hear things, running water perhaps, loud echoes, scurrying feet. How would you feel? What would a flashlight provide for you in that setting?
· Hope
· Perspective/Vision
· Clarity
· Truth

How do we get that light inside us? We DO NOT have our own source of LIGHT. Jesus is the light within us.

Let Christ’s light shine IN you so His light shines THROUGH you!

It’s REALLY important that we let our light shine! We are the LIGHT of the world! That means when we disconnect from Jesus we leave the world people around us in the dark. SO, let YOUR life shine! How does it shine? CHRIST IN YOU! It’s not YOUR light! This is why it matters how you live as a Christian. You ARE the light of the world!

Now, let’s look at salt.

To understand this verse, perhaps it would be helpful to understand how salt was used in the times of the Bible.
Salt is found in great quantity in the Dead Sea area and purchased by the Jews from traders. It served many uses. It was used as a condiment to season food, to preserve it from putrefying. It was used ON some of the sacrifices, especially the grain offerings. Because of its medicinal properties, newborn babies were bathed in it and rubbed with it. A pact of friendship was sealed with the gift of salt which is still observed by Arabs today.

“YOU are the salt of the earth.”

Who is YOU? Reminding you from last week that He was talking to His disciples with the crowd listening in. He was talking about Christ followers, disciples.

“You ARE the salt of the earth.”

He doesn’t say, “try to be the salt”, or “work at being the salt”, or “you are meant to be salt”. He says “YOU ARE the salt!” You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to embrace it, you don’t have to believe it, but IF you are a follower of Christ, “you ARE the salt of the earth!” And one of the properties of salt is this…when it is present and flavorful, it can’t be ignored. It makes a difference!

WE ARE MEANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

“You are the SALT of the earth.”

There are several things that salt does, which we have touched on a little bit, but the verse hints at what salt characteristic Jesus was specifically referring to. FLAVOR! Salt makes a difference in the flavor of food. For most of us, salt makes the food much more enjoyable. A Christian, living out their life with a good testimony, is like good salt added to good food. It makes it more enjoyable, more palatable.

WE ARE MEANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

“You are the salt of the EARTH.”

Wherever you go, whatever you do, whenever you do it, you ARE salt! For most of us, all of our years, days, moments will be spent on the earth. While we are alive, there won’t be a single moment for 99.9% of us that will not be on the earth. So Jesus is saying, you don’t get to clock out of being SALT. As a follower of Christ it IS WHO YOU ARE! The context of the verse says that we can be good salt or we can be bad salt but we ARE SALT all the time.

Matthew 5:13b – NLT - “But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.”

Now, if you happen to be a salt connoisseur here this morning, you might protest that pure salt doesn’t lose it’s saltiness. That’s true, but I remind you that Jesus was talking in 1st century Israel and was talking about salt from the Dead Sea which was obtained by evaporating some of its water. The resultant salt was impure and with time would become nothing but a worthless, unusable residue.

WE ARE MEANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

How are we to bring attention to our light and our saltiness? Do we…
· Wear our “I Am Salt” or “I Am Light” t-shirt
· Post a picture of ourselves doing a good deed on Instagram #beingJesus, #I.am.salt.and.light
· Announce it to our friends at school
· Put a “salt at work” sign on our door on our job site.
· Our “need a light…here I am” bumper sticker

No…Please NO! So, how then? First, to be salt and to be light, you have to have a relationship with Christ, spend time with Jesus. He is the source of the light, He is what brings flavor to your salt. If we do not spend time with Christ, we are putting obstacles in the way that blocks our light and mutes our flavor.

One minute Jesus says, “LET your good deeds shine out for all the see” and the next minute He says, “Don’t do your good deeds publicly to be admired by others.” WHAT in the world? The key is motive!

WHY YOU DO WHAT YOU DO MATTERS!

It’s important we don’t get confused who we want to be the star! Who we want to be noticed!

WHO do YOU want to get the attention?

Michelle and I were blessed with a gift certificate to Mr. B’s Steakhouse a couple of years ago. It was INCREDIBLE! It was the best steak I have ever had. Though I certainly enjoyed the seasoning that night, I did not walk out of there talking about the incredible salting of the steak. SALT isn’t intended to be the STAR of your meal. It is meant to bring out the flavors to their full potential so that the meal is enjoyed more fully. Salt IS meant to make a difference!

WE ARE MEANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Jesus wants us to do good works AS a result of our relationship with Him and wanting to magnify Him to others. We cannot make Him bigger than He is, but we can bring Him into focus more. He doesn’t want us to do good works IN ORDER for US to be magnified, for US to be praised, for US to be the focus. Does that make sense?

Now, there is one more key to HOW we are to be light and salt found in Matthew 5, but we must go back a few verses earlier. Let me read it fully.

So, PPT #31WHAT is it that shines in the world, WHAT brings out the flavor of Christ? WHAT stands out about a follower of Christ?
I like how John Piper put it:

“You’re being beat up…beat up by circumstances, beat up by disease, beat up by your job situation, beat up by people, who don’t understand you, don’t care about you, don’t like you, beat up by your marriage, by your kids walking away from Christ, beat up in a church where people don’t trust you anymore. BEAT UP! But because you SEE…the REWARD set before you, you don’t murmur, you don’t grumble. You don’t criticize or complain. You don’t do vengeance…YOU REJOICE! NOW, when people see THAT, that’s BRIGHT! THAT’S SALTY!”

How you handle the hard things in life…the hurts…the disappointments…the struggles should produce a “What’s THAT, I’ve NEVER seen THAT before!” It shines a spotlight on JESUS! The SOURCE. It brings out the flavor of Christ and His grace that CANNOT be missed. I love how Eugune Peterson translates verse 13 in the Message:

The presence of THAT kind of attitude in the face of great trials or difficulty CANNOT BE IGNORED! It makes a difference like salt to the meal and light in the darkness.

WE ARE MEANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

How Counter-Culture is that attitude of the way we would normally respond? Either our presence enhances the God experience of those around us or it decreases it. Let’s determine to NOT hide our LIGHT. Let’s determine to be salty SALT, because…
“You ARE the salt of the earth!”
“You ARE the light of the world!” And…

YOU WERE MEANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!