Sermon on the Mount 4 - Salt & Light | Sermon 11/17/24

These words of Jesus are a great commendation and also a weighty responsibility. Jesus didn’t say we are becoming salt and light, He says His followers are salt and light. This is a part of our identity. The challenge is to live into that Identity so that God is glorified and others come to know Him. It can be scary and uncomfortable to shine light into darkness, or to have a “flavorful and preserving” influence in our culture. At times we fulfill this responsibility and at times we fail it. Jesus knew we would be tempted to lose our saltiness and dim our light. The Beatitudes scaffold us, reminding us of the upside down values of Christ’s kingdom and the blessing of relationship with Him. This is the source of our strength and empowerment to shine brightly, not so that anything is made of us but that much is made of Jesus!

“The object of our shining is not that men may see how good we are, nor even see us at all, but that they may see grace in us and God in us, and cry, ‘What a Father these people must have.’” (Spurgeon)

Prepare for this week’s message by reading Matthew 5-7 giving special attention to 5:1-16