"The Christian Call"

Scripture: Matthew 5:13-20

Last week we began consideration of Jesus’ teaching in his Sermon on the Mount, starting with what we refer to as The Beatitudes. These verses address the honor that some will receive in the Kingdom of God, and he reveals the qualities that each blessing will take.
Today, we continue in the Sermon to learn about both our call to mission here on earth, as well as the attitude and trust that we are to have in the word of God.

From an anonymous author:
Did you know that churches can carry spiritual baggage? Very often, it's a big old steamer trunk labeled "tradition."

Tradition in the church is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's a marvelous source of stability and connectedness with the past. There's nothing like a classic hymn that has stood the test of time, or the immortal words of institution from the Lord's Supper. Yet, on the other hand, tradition can get in the way of adapting ourselves to the demands of mission to a rapidly-changing world.

During the French and Indian War, some British officers traveled through America's North Country, followed by wagon-loads of luxury items like fine china and wooden furniture. That was the way officers traveled along the improved roads of Europe -- but, along the Indian trails of upstate New York and Canada, this sort of baggage was ludicrous.

Traveling light on the journey of Christian discipleship sometimes requires us to leave certain beloved, but cumbersome, traditions behind.
- Anonymous, from Homiletics Online

The Church’s response to God’s call to mission must include a set of new eyes when it comes to serving the Lord in a new era. We can’t always do it like we always have – we need to begin doing it like Jesus would.

Read Matthew 5:13-16

Here are 3 images that Matthew offers to a mission conscious people – that of salt, light, and an elevated city. Let’s look at each one individually.
“You are the salt of the earth.” The first point that Matthew offers is not in the word “salt”, but in “you”. In context, he is saying that it is the believer, and not the rest of the world, who must be “salt” for others. So what is “salt” all about? The properties of salt are not for salt’s sake, but for humanity’s sake. Salt in Matthew’s time, and to some degree even today, was about a number of things.
For Israel, salt was an integral part of the temple sacrifice. In Leviticus 2:11-16, we read “Season all of your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings”. Salt, in representing God’s covenant with the people, is offered as an integral part of the Thanks offering. When we claim the Lord’s covenant for our lives, it changes our outlook on faith.
Salt also implies loyalty and faithfulness to the covenant, as described in the offerings that are given to the priests. In Numbers 18:19 – “Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings … I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord”. It’s a symbol of God’s faithfulness, as well as an example of the loyalty that we are to show to the Lord.
Salt also represents fellowshipping together, and a binding relationship, and purification, and seasoning, and, of course, preservation. Salt was, and is, a vitally important aspect in both that day and this. Of course, our doctors today would have us know that too much salt is medically inadvisable, just as too much salt provides poor seasoning.

And then Matthew adds the admonition regarding salt losing its saltiness. How does salt get less salty, you may ask? When it is so diluted by other elements, when it becomes impure, when it becomes a very small part of the whole, it can no longer offer any of its benefits to us. When our salt, or our seasoned covenant with God, becomes so diluted as to lose its appeal, it becomes useless.

“You are the light of the world.” Once again we see this emphatic use of “you”. In the introduction to John’s gospel (1:4-5), we read “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” When Matthew writes that we have become the light of the world, he is not saying that we have become God-like, but is reminding us that by faith in Jesus Christ, we are charged with carrying his light throughout the world. We are to be his witnesses; we are to be his standard bearer; we are to be obvious in our service to the Lord. Light, just as with salt, is not light for light’s sake – it is to illuminate and reveal the truth of all that fall within its beam.
It is not to be hidden or set aside, for if we do, those who are around us – family, friends, and even strangers - will be left in the darkness. And “darkness” represents evil, or the absence of God. It seems that we have been given quite a responsibility, doesn’t it? And Matthew isn’t done yet!

“A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” In making the connection between “light and this image of “city”, it tells us that we are to carry the hope of Christ into the world. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we not only can never hide our faith, we are to offer Christ’s promise of refuge and safety to all who struggle in the darkness, the sinfulness, of earth.
The church, and all who follow Jesus, are a form of “lighthouse” to the people of earth. The Lord’s Light illuminates the dangers that are inherent in the world, and defines the direction that others must take to arrive at a safe and loving haven.

Read Matthew 5:17-20

Jesus tells us that the Law and the prophetic word that has come down through the ages is not to be discarded. As a matter of fact, even though Jesus would be accused of doing that very thing, he never advocates that the law or the prophets should ever be ignored! He fulfills them both.
Fulfillment can be understood in a couple of ways. First, Jesus is the “completion” of an incomplete, or misunderstood, law, and is the “culmination” of the prophetic word. Both of these pronouncements have a connection to Christ’s return and the Final Judgment.
Fulfillment can also be understood as an act of “perfecting” as well as completion. Throughout the gospels, Jesus offers correction to the law, such as with his teaching regarding divorce, which we’ll get to in a later message, and his instructions regarding sacrifice (Matthew 9:12-13 and Hosea 6:6).
The Law, in and of itself, is not a bad thing – it just needed some “tweaking” from what humanity had done to it, and since God gave the Law to start with, only he can do the correcting. All too often, the people of earth want to make all the changes to scripture, when the truth is that we should never assume that we know enough about God’s intentions and plan to make improvements to the Lord’s word.

And not only is the Law NOT a bad thing, we read that not a single letter of the Word of Almighty God will be taken away until the Lord’s ultimate plan has been completed. And in the meantime, breaking the Law will bring about dire consequences for the “sinner”, and for those who teach others that the Law can, or even should, be broken, they will experience even greater penalties. James 3:1 reminds us that “Not many should presume to be teachers, because … we who teach will be judge more strictly.”
The point is that the smallest and least significant commandment is just as important as the greatest (“Love the Lord” ... and “Love your neighbor”, Luke 10:25-37).

And the last verse is the ultimate warning – that those who believe that proclaiming Jesus is sufficient to replace the Law, are just as lost as those who rely solely on the Law and ignore the Law Giver (Messiah).

Following Jesus is not such an easy thing after all! We need to be his representatives in the world, showing others the way to his glory, while at the same time being faithful not only to the Law, but to all that Jesus has done to perfect it. Is it any wonder that Bible study is so vitally important to the Christian life? Not just reading the Bible on a regular basis, but delving into it, seeking the fullness of its truth for our lives, discussing its significance with other Christians, looking not only to the Law and prophets for guidance, but to all that Jesus taught about it.

Matthew wrote “whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Great advice, as long as we remember that the complete opposite is also true.