The Perfect Time for Salt and Light (Matthew 5:13-30)

Salt can lose its taste. Light can get covered. And a “good” life can still be hollow. We stay in Matthew 5 as Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount and gives two identity statements that don’t let us hide: we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We talk about what salt meant in Jesus’ day, from currency and “worth his salt” to purity and preservation, then ask the uncomfortable question: are our lives actually slowing moral decay, or have we blended in until we’re useless? 

From there we move to Jesus’ picture of a city on a hill and a lamp on a stand. When the world feels darker, the instinct is to panic or withdraw, but Jesus’ answer is simple: turn on the light. We reflect on how dark the Roman culture could be, and why God planted the early church right there anyway. Lighthouses aren’t made for sunny days, and neither is Christian witness. 

Finally, we listen as Jesus defends the Old Testament Scriptures, insisting he fulfills the Law and the Prophets down to the smallest stroke, then he drops a bombshell about righteousness exceeding the Pharisees. He proves the point by aiming at the heart: anger that functions like murder, lust that functions like adultery, and reconciliation that matters more than religious performance. We end where the message ends, with the gospel invitation to come to Christ for forgiveness and a clean heart. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the line that challenged you most.

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Transcript

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Our wisdom journey today picks up as Jesus continues delivering what is known as the Sermon on the Mount here in Matthew chapter five. We're now at verse thirteen. 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. Well we know from history that old salt back in these days was used to cover pathways like we use gravel today. Now we typically think of food when we think of salt, but in Christ's day

Salt That Preserves A Culture

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salt was so valuable that it served as currency. Roman soldiers were often paid in salt, or the Latin word was salarium, which we've used today for the word salary. To this day we we might say that somebody's worth his salt, that is, he's worth his salary. Back in Christ's day, salt also represented purity. In fact, the Gentiles would offer salt as an offering to their gods. Its shimmering white appearance created all kinds of mystical superstitions. In fact, the Greeks called salt theon, which means divine. Now, salt was used to slow down corruption and decay in food. It was a preservative. So Jesus will be bringing that in here in his analogy as well, saying his disciples are to be, you know, hard workers representing the true and living God. Their pure lives are used by God to preserve a decaying culture. It's interesting that the Bible never says believers are sugar, but salt. Now that that doesn't mean that we, you know, we shouldn't be sweet. But our presence, our existence, our lifestyles are to preserve in our culture all that's pure and holy and true. Now with that, Jesus goes on to say here in verse fourteen, 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. I remember when our little children learned how to sing that song, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Well I don't think we should ever stop singing that tune. You know, it's interesting that Jesus said over in John chapter 8, verse 12, I am the light of the world, but here he says we are

Light That Refuses To Hide

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the light of the world. We are shining with the light of the gospel into our dark world. You know, people say to me all the time, Stephen, boy, the world is is it's growing so dark, it's so wicked, you know, what in the world are we going to do? Well, how about turning on the light? Lighthouses were never made for sunny days. They were made for dark days. Likewise, you and I, believers, we were we were built to shine. And they're shining, according to Jesus, his desires back here during the days of the dark days of the Roman Empire. Just read a little history, beloved. When the church was founded, the Roman culture was mocking heterosexuality as arrogant and narrow. In fact, bisexuality was considered normative. The Roman Emperor Nero dressed up like a woman had married a man in public, and there wasn't any public reaction at all. Add to that the fact that child prostitution was legal during the days of Jesus, as well as drugs and pornography was culture wide, and fantaside existed. If a couple had a baby girl and they'd wanted a boy, or if their child was born disabled, well, they could just leave it out on the front porch at night for animals that roam the streets. Seneca, one of Nero's court advisors, wrote a letter in which he said, We strangle a mad dog and children who are born weak, deformed, we drown. What a dark world. But let me tell you, God decided that that world was the perfect place and the perfect time in which to create the New Testament church. It was the perfect time to turn on the light because the world was so dark. Well, with that, Jesus emphasizes his own personal integrity and commitment to the Old Testament scriptures. He says here in verse 17, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. In other words, nothing in the world is going to keep Jesus from fulfilling Scripture, no matter how dark the world was. The law and the prophets

Jesus Fulfills Every Scripture

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together, by the way, refer to the whole of the Old Testament. The iota, the dot he mentions here, refer to the smallest Hebrew letter and the smallest little stroke of a Hebrew letter. In other words, every word, every inch of God's word, every little dot is true, and it's all going to come to pass. Now with that, Jesus makes this rather shocking statement here in verse 20. I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. What? Everybody here is going to assume that if anybody was going to get into heaven, it's going to be the Pharisees. But Jesus says here, you got to be better than they are. And that effectively means that that nobody, including none of us, will be good enough to get in. And that's the gospel truth.

Righteousness Beyond The Pharisees

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Paul puts it this way in Romans 3 10. There's none righteous, no, not one. And that's true for the Pharisees as well. You see, the Lord is going to talk about the heart here. He gets past that religious facade. He exposes the depravity in all of our human hearts. No matter how good we think we are, we are all lawbreakers. In fact, Jesus talks first about anger in the heart here in verse 21. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Jesus is expanding on this sixth commandment. He shows that malicious anger in the heart, well, that's just as good as murder. So he condemns not only the act of murder, but the attitude of hatred. Of course, that's the foundation for murder. Jesus goes on to urge people

Anger And The Urgency Of Peace

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to reconcile. Don't let anger seethe inside of you until it boils over. He says here in verse 24, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Listen, beloved, the Lord is placing a higher priority on reconciling with someone than he is actually attending a worship service. Frankly, reconciling with somebody is an act of worship, isn't it? And it's glorifying to God. Now Jesus moves on from anger in the heart to lust in the heart. He says here in verse 27, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. You see, the Pharisees believe that if you avoided the physical act of adultery, you'd be okay with God. Jesus raises the bar here and says that lust is sinful adultery in the heart. So with just these two commandments, what's

Lust Of The Heart And True Healing

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he doing? He's showing us that we're all terribly guilty before God, just like the Pharisees and the most righteous looking, most spiritual sounding people on the planet. So how sinful are we? Well the Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately sick. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9. We are all sin sick. We are all terminally ill, by the way, with sin. Let me tell you, we need heart surgery, and we need the divine physician to perform it, to cleanse every act and every thought of hatred and anger and lust. The apostle Peter himself writes that Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree, that is the cross, through his suffering and death, we can find healing. Our hearts can be cleansed. That's our only hope of forgiveness. That's our only hope of getting into heaven one day. You gotta come to Christ. You have to admit you're a sinner. In fact, you can do that right now. You can pray a very simple prayer, Lord, I I admit right now that I'm a sinner. I'm guilty of hatred and anger and lust and selfishness and more. But the Bible tells me that you, Lord Jesus, paid the penalty for all my sin on the cross. I'm asking you right now to forgive me. I'm going to trust in you alone. I realize I can't go to heaven because I deserve it,

A Simple Prayer To Be Saved

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but because you paid for it. And I want you, Lord Jesus, right now, to save me. Well, if you prayed a prayer like that by faith just now, I want you to know He saved you just now. The Bible says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, we're out of time for today, beloved, but until we set sail again, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.