Matthew 5:13-20 (Isaiah 58:1-9a)
Kingdom Ethics: Light and Salt
James Sledge February 6, 2011
Those of you who know me well know that I love technology. And I probably spend too much time on the computer and on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. But as big a waste of time as this can be, I do run across a lot of different perspectives, especially on Twitter. I follow people on Twitter I’ve met at conferences, and through them I’ve found other people to follow. A lot of these are younger pastors and people connected with the Emerging Church movement. And it is very interesting to observe some of their conversations threads.
One thing that I noticed early on, these younger pastors come from a very different religious landscape than the one in which I grew up. In high school, virtually all of my classmates were Christians and church members. But these pastors have lots of friends and conversation partners who are of different faiths, who are agnostic, who are atheists, who have a very jaundiced opinion of the Church, who do not view the Church as a force for good in the world, but rather as a problem.
These young pastors defend the Church to their friends. They point out all the good things the Church does in the world, but they are also sympathetic to their friends’ view of the Church. After all, they can look around at our society and see far too much hate and divisiveness, too much anger and screaming, too much lying and spin, too much demonizing and attacking. They can also see far too little restraint and humility, far too little listening and considering the other’s view, far too little love. And quite often, they see the Church a willing participant in this, rather than embodying something better.
But while these young pastors can sometimes seem discouraged, most of them are working tirelessly to renew the Church, to help her become the agent of hope and love and God’s dream that Jesus calls us to be.
There was a time in my life when, although I knew the Church was supposed to care for people in need, I thought its primary job was to help people get their name in the correct column of God’s heavenly spreadsheet. We were to help people understand and believe the right things so that they were “saved” by faith, “saved” meaning getting your ticket punched for heaven.
Jesus does come to save, but when we define save simply to mean getting into heaven, we pervert the good news Jesus proclaims into something Brian McLaren calls “a gospel of evacuation.” This false gospel says that Jesus doesn’t give a whit about how things are here on earth, only about the status of our “souls.” But that’s not what Jesus says. Jesus proclaims the nearness of God’s kingdom, that day when God’s will is done on earth. And he calls those who will follow him, his disciples, the Church, to begin living now in ways that will help the world see this new day.
In Matthew’s gospel, the Sermon on the Mount contains the core of Jesus’ teachings on what it means to be his followers, his Church. These teachings include the Beatitudes which we heard last week, and they continue on through our readings today and for the next several weeks, encompassing all of chapters 5, 6, and 7. And if you sit down and read these teachings, you will discover that Jesus says very little about what we are to believe, but he says volumes about how we are to live and what we are to do.
The entire Sermon on the Mount is about the ethics of the Kingdom, about what it looks like to live as Kingdom people. And as Jesus makes clear in the verses we heard today, our living by these Kingdom ethics is supposed to provide a light to the world, a way that the world sees the wonderful things God is doing in Jesus.
Jesus is talking about our witness as his followers. But if you are anything like me, you may think that witness has to do with telling others about your faith. Or maybe that’s just me. Growing up in the South I regularly heard “witness” used to describe Southern Baptist styled evangelism where people were asked whether or not they were saved and, if not, then told what they had to do to get saved. But the witnessing Jesus talks about here has nothing to do with words. Our witness, our light shining in the world, is our good works.
We Presbyterians have often downplayed works, seeing them as a threat to the teaching of being saved by grace rather than works. But Jesus says as clearly as he can that being light for the world, being salt for the earth, is about us being a force for good in the world so that others see what we are doing and say, “Praise God!”
Many lifelong Presbyterians grew up hearing about faith and grace versus works. But I think much of this conflict between faith and works is a misunderstanding. True, God’s love for us is not the product of anything that we do. God doesn’t save us because of our works. God loves us and embraces us because that’s just how God is. But Jesus says that those who experience God’s love are called to show it to the world with our good works. God embraces us in Jesus so that we can share the hope of God’s new day with the world.
I think that’s why Jesus connects our being light and salt with the law and the prophets. Jesus doesn’t call off the law or prophets because these guide us in our witness. They describe the shape of God’s new day and help us to move beyond words and beliefs and religious rituals. As the prophet Isaiah says to us, Is not this the fast (the religious ritual) that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house?
When a mother who has been laid off receives food and Christmas presents for her children and says, “Praise God,” a tiny glimmer of light shines in a dark world. When someone who has been told he is worthless and disgusting comes into a church congregation and meets God’s love in people who welcome and embrace him, the light shines. When the poor and the oppressed know that the Church will be their advocate, will stand up to the powers-that-be on their behalf, the light shines and God is glorified. When someone steps into a local church congregation and finds a community that together is discovering a spirituality that leads to a life of serving others, the light shines and God is glorified.
A month and a half ago, we gathered here on a Saturday morning to assemble nearly 400 boxes with food and Christmas gifts for needy families. And one of the things that struck me that day was seeing more people I did not know than I did. More non-members than members assembled those boxes. And while some were members of other churches, many were not. They had simply been drawn to the light that they saw shining here.
A lot of people are worried these days about how traditional church congregations are doing. Our culture no longer tells people, “You’re supposed to go to church.” In fact, our society tempts people with all sorts of other attractive activities at the same time most churches hold worship. In response to this situation, denominations that have never thought a lot about evangelism suddenly find it a compelling topic. There are all sorts of programs that train members to share their faith, that guide churches in how to advertise and get their message out. And there is much to learn from such programs.
But when our light shines, when our worship and spirituality connect to Jesus so that we hear and do the good works he calls us to do, people will notice the light. Many will be drawn to it, and God will be praised and glorified.
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