Before we turn to today’s Scripture from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, though, let’s think about salt for a moment.  Sometimes images used in the bible don’t connect as readily as they once did.  Salt is one of them.  When I hold up this container (a salt shaker) what comes to mind?  (Better taste?  High blood pressure?  Preservative? Water retention? Healing? Money?) In Jesus’ day salt was used to enhance food’s taste, to preserve meats, as a healing agent, and as money. In our day we often think of it primarily as “sodium,” a source of high blood pressure, water retention, strokes and a host of other medical conditions.  The reality is human blood contains salt, so do the cells of our bodies.  While salt in excess—just as light in excess—is bad, the right amount enhances and sustains our lives.  With that background let’s turn to today’s Scripture. If you have your bibles, please open them to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5, beginning with verse 13.  (That way you’ll be able to compare as we read  from the MOT and the NLT this morning, and taking any notes you’d like to have in them.  For those who are new this morning, “MOT” stands for “My Own Translation.”  That means I’ve taken the original Greek New Testament and translated it into English, seeking to bring out the points that may not be so obvious through the NLT)  Please stand and join me as we read God’s word aloud from the screen: 

     ¹³You (all) are the salt of the earth, but if the salt be tainted, by what shall it be salted? For it is strong (useful) no longer except to be thrown out and to be walked on by people. (MOT)  Okay, now the same verse from the NLT.  ¹³“You are the salt of the earth. 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.  (NLT)

      ^14”You (all) are the light of the world.  A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.” (MOT)

     ¹⁴“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. (NLT)

    ¹⁵”Nor do they light a lamp and place it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it lightens (or gives light to) everyone in the house.” (MOT)

     ¹⁵No 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.  (NLT)

     ¹⁶Thus, let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good works and may glorify your Father in heaven (or the heavens.) MOT

     ¹⁶In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. (NLT)  Let’s pray………. Amen. (Please be seated)

     ¹³You (all) are the salt of the earth, but if the salt be tainted, by what shall it be salted? For it is strong (useful) no longer except to be thrown out and to be walked on by people. (MOT) 

     ¹³“You are the salt of the earth. 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.  (NLT)   How many of you have ever read this Scripture before?  How many of you think you’ve read this Scripture more than ten times?  Sometimes when we’ve read a certain passage of Scripture many times, we start skimming over it, because we think we already know everything about it.  We probably already knew that salt was used not only to enhance the taste of food, but as a preservative, a healing agent and as money in the ancient world of Jesus’ day.  So, we wouldn’t be surprised that Jesus used salt as an illustration for our lives as Christians.  As you look at the two different translations of the text, the key points to note are that when Jesus said “You,” He meant everyone who was listening, or in our case reading, His words, not just one “you.”  The other minor distinction is that the original text tells us that when salt is no longer STRONG or USEFUL, rather than “salty.” Neither point is crucial to the meaning in this case, but as we consider our living as salt, my focus will be on our remaining strong and useful. As we consider the image of salt we would immediately think:

            1)  Jesus’ followers are to add FLAVOR to life!

            2)  Jesus’ followers are to PRESERVE life!

            3)  Jesus’ followers are to bring HEALTH to                                         others!

            4)  Jesus’ followers are to ADD VALUE to others!

Here’s the question:  Do WE?  Do WE add flavor to other people’s lives? When folks find out we’re Christians do they say, “All right!  Let’s have a conversation about Jesus!”?  Do they say, “You’re a Christian?  Wow! Then you really know how to have a good time, right?  Would you show me?” 

     Do we preserve life and bring health to others?  When those who’re hurting, struggling, or feeling life isn’t even worth it, do they immediately perk up when we come along?  Do they say, “Yes!  I’m so glad you’re here?”

     Would people say that as followers of Jesus we ADD VALUE to their lives?  Are servers in restaurants excited to find out that a group of Christians has just come in and sat down at their assigned tables?  You know what? By in large, they’re not.  Christians are known as complainers, as sitting around for a long time during busy hours and leaving small tips.  Do business people get excited when they find out that they’re dealing with Christians?  Do they say, “I know this guy will fulfill his commitments, because he’s a Christian?” No, they don’t.  I’ve talked with many business people who’ve told me that they’d rather not do business with Christians, because they don’t keep their word.  Here’s one more?  What kind of libraries do you think have the highest rate of books stolen from them?  Seminary libraries!  The libraries in places where the students are studying to be pastors and church leaders!  That’s not adding value is it?

     Okay, I’ve painted a pretty grim picture here.  Why would I want to do that?  Because today we’re talking about what followers of Jesus DO!  Followers of Jesus LIVE as “SALT” and “LIGHT”.  Salt and light are good.  In fact, in Jesus’ day salt and light were considered to be two of the most crucial necessities in life.  Wouldn’t it be great if people in our communities saw us as NECESSARY to life!  Have you ever gone somewhere and felt out of place because you’re a Christian?  As a pastor, I can break up a party pretty much just by answering the question every guy is asked after he’s asked, “What’s your name?” and “Where do you live?”  What do you do? When I say, “I’m a pastor,” it’s like cockroaches when somebody turns on a light.  They scatter everywhere.  Or they say, “Oh, that’s nice.” And  they ask me some religious question, or tell me about why they don’t go to church anymore, or just sort of look nervous and stare at the floor.

     Sometimes Jesus’ followers act like we AREN’T  Jesus’ followers, because we don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable.  Here’s my question from Jesus’ illustration of our being “SALT”:  If we are SALT for the world, then why don’t people see us as ADDING FLAVOR, PRESERVING, BRINGING HEALTH and ADDING VALUE to their lives?  Here’s my answer:  We’ve forgotten that being followers of Jesus means we’re supposed to be absolutely crazy about people who are far from Him.  We hesitate to ask our friends, co-workers and acquaintances to worship, or a LIFE Group, or a youth activity, because we’re not sure they’d “fit in.”  We hesitate to hang out with folks who are far from God, because we know that we make them uncomfortable if they know we’re Christians.  And after we’ve been Christians long enough, we feel uncomfortable around them.  Funny, isn’t it that Jesus was always hanging around with people who would make most of us very uncomfortable, and both He and they felt quite comfortable?  Why do you think that was?  Because He really was “salt.”  He added FLAVOR, LIFE, HEALTH and VALUE to people’s lives.  He didn’t treat them as outcasts, or as “lost” people.  He treated them as “Children of Abraham,” as members of God’s family.

     God has been doing some heavy-duty work in my life recently.  He’s worked a lot through Men’s Fraternity, which I’m going to say more about at the end of the message.  He worked through my reading some powerful books, and listening to several younger pastors across the country via the internet, the “Whiteboard Sessions last month, and CD’s.  He’s worked through Nancy’s health challenges.  Most of all He’s worked by showing me that I can be and do a whole lot more as a follower of Jesus than I’ve been and done up to this point.  You might be thinking that with God pushing me and working me over like that, I’d be depressed.  Not at all!  Through all this God has been pushing me to challenge all of us, starting with me, to recognize that He has so much more for us than we’ve been living, and He wants to offer so much more of Jesus to our families, friends, co-workers, acquaintances and community THROUGH us!  Being salt and light and living as salt and light are amazing opportunities! 

     One more amazing trait of salt is if you apply the right amount to food, it makes the food taste more like it’s supposed to taste, not more like salt.  For example, let’s say you cook a nice, juicy steak, put it on your plate and sit down to eat.  You take a bite and say, “Mmm. That’s good, but it’s missing something.”  So you add just the right amount of salt.  Then you say, “Wow! Now, that’s great steak.”  You don’t say, “Wow! Now, that’s great salt!”  You only notice salt, when it’s missing or when you’ve used too much!  That’s the challenge we face as followers of Jesus.  We enter a room, whether a friend’s house for a party, or a supermarket, or a bank, or you name the room.  When we enter, and start to interact, if we’re living as “salt,” the people around us notice a difference.  It won’t be an overpowering difference.  They won’t say, “Ugh!  That was a Christian.  I can spot them a mile away, always trying to change me, always trying to put their ‘flavor’ on me.”  They’ll say, “Mmm. I feel better. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but I want more of it.”  Salt, also makes us thirsty, doesn’t it?  The facets of Jesus’ illustration of salt go on and on.  That’s why He used it.  Great illustrations stick with us.

    Let’s move on to LIGHT, now, since the message title IS “Lights!” right?  Let’s look again at what Jesus said about light:   ^14”You (all) are the light of the world.  A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do they light a lamp and place it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it lightens (or gives light to) everyone in the house.      ¹⁶Thus, let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good works and may glorify your Father in heaven (or the heavens.)” MOT. Jesus recognized that even though we’re salt and light as His followers, our natural tendency is going to be to withdraw, to hide, to keep to ourselves.  The purpose of light is to illuminate. (Turn on flashlight.) We don’t want to over-illuminate—shining the light in someone’s eyes, but a light properly placed makes all the difference in the world.  Jesus tells us that when we let our light shine before people, they’ll see the good works and glorify our Father in heaven.  All light is either “original” light or “reflected” light.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I AM the Light of the world.” When Jesus says that about Himself, He’s talking about original light.  He is God.  His life IS light. He’s the source.  His goodness is inherent.  And consider this: When original, inherent light shined on people—tax collectors, prostitutes, “sinners” they started to shine themselves.  They received the light.  It changed them and then they reflected it to others.  That’s our task.  Just as the sun shines on the moon, and the moon reflects its light to us, so when Jesus shines on us, we reflect His light to others.

     Think about this for a minute.  Human beings were created for RELATIONSHIP and RULE.  When God created Adam and Eve, what did He tell them to do?  They were to REFLECT His image.  They were to be in relationship with God and each other, AND they were to rule over the earth, to have dominion and subdue it.  That’s what we see in Genesis 1-2, the first two books of the Bible, BEFORE sin entered the world and brought darkness to human relationships and rule.  Let’s fast forward to Revelation Chapters 21-22, the last two books of the Bible.  What do we find there?  You may or may not know this, but what we find is that human beings are once again living in relationship with God AND ruling with Him!  Humanity is restored, but instead of a garden, it’s a great city come down from heaven.  Think about this:  What is supposed to happen between Genesis 2 and Revelation 21?  In all the chapters and books of the Bible after Genesis 2 and before Revelation 21 God is on a rescue  mission.  We must be salt and light; we must live as salt and light, because once we have been rescued ourselves, the sign of which is reflecting the light of Jesus, and living as salt—adding flavor, life, health and value to others, we become part of God’s rescue team. 

     When you get up in the morning, do you think of yourself as part of God’s rescue team?  Do you picture yourself shining the light of Jesus in the dark places all around you?  Do you picture yourself adding flavor and value to people’s lives, who are living tasteless, routine lives?  You know the right answer, don’t you?  You’re supposed to say, “Yes! I’m locked and loaded. I’m ready for action.”  But you also know the reality?  Much of the time, if not most of the time, most of us are like lamps set under bushels, or salt that’s lost its strength, its usefulness.  We don’t want to be that way, but it’s easier.  It’s so much easier to blend in with the darkness, than to shine with the light of Jesus.  It’s so much easier to let someone else do it, to think that the task is so overwhelming that the darkness is going to win.  And we’ve all been blinded by the Christian who is “shining” the light of self-righteousness in our eyes, and we don’t want to do that to anyone.  So, here’s another question, Are we going to do what Jesus tells us to do, or are we going to let the world win?  Are we going to be chameleons or lights?  Are we going to be salt substitute or salt? 

     At the end of the day, at the end of our lives, when we face Jesus what’s that moment going to be like?  Most of us have heard the song, “I Can Only Imagine.”  I really like the song, because it pictures what it’s going to be like when we face Jesus, and the portrayal is so great.  The choices are between singing “alleluia,” standing in awed silence; between dancing before Jesus, or bowing in humility.  What the song doesn’t imagine is Jesus asking us, “Were you salt and light? Did you shine brightly for me?  Did you add flavor, life, health and value to your neighbors, your friends, your family, your co-workers?  Whose lives did you illuminate, with the light of Jesus?  Whose lives did you enhance with the taste of Jesus?

     As your pastor, my goal is that the day you meet Jesus will be the best day of eternity for you.  Every Sunday that I stand up here, my goal is to show you Jesus loves you and died for you—and me; and that He calls us to live in the power of His Spirit, so we can go out and live victorious, transformed lives in His name.  It’s always some variation of that, because once Jesus IS Lord of our lives, the only reason for us to still be here is to participate in the rescue mission.  We all have friends, neighbors, loved ones, acquaintances who don’t know Jesus, don’t we?  If it’s up to us, will they ever make His acquaintance?  Will we do whatever it takes to be salt and light to them?  I know it won’t be easy.  I know sometimes we’ll be uncomfortable, but I still haven’t found the place in the Sermon on the Mount--or any of Jesus’ teachings for that matter--where He says, “Come follow me, and I will make your life easy and comfortable.”

     The time has come for us who follow Jesus to engage the world, to stop apologizing for speaking the truth in love; to understand that if our approach always drives people away from Jesus, then we need another approach, because salt and light DRAW people.  The hardest thing about being salt and light day-in-day-out is it takes time and energy.  We’re going to have to order our lives in such a way that when Jesus says, “Now!” We’re ready to join in the search and rescue effort.  AND we’re going to have to train to be ready.  (If you’re here for the first time today, and you’re thinking, “Whoa!  Is this guy always this fired up?  The short answer to that question is, “Pretty much.”  That’s because every time I open God’s word, I find another challenge for us to live in the light as He is in the light, to add value to everyone’s lives, and I want to make sure that we live those truths in the love of Jesus!)  So, here’s TODAY’S CHALLENGE:  I will soak up the light and salt of Jesus, so I can live as salt and light to others!   What does that mean in real life?  First, it means getting connected to Jesus—whatever that takes, because we can’t become the salt of the earth and the light of the world by our own efforts.  Only Jesus can make us salt and light—He gives His character and life to us through the Holy Spirit.  Having said that, we DO have our part!  For some of us it will be investing more time in prayer.  For others it will be reading our bible more or some to find out our “marching orders.”  For others it will be going for walks and listening to God’s instructions as we go.  For all of us it will mean participating in the relationship and rule of God, so we can be part of the rescue team. 

     If you’re a man, I’m going to give you a very specific “training” opportunity to pray about for this fall. It’s Men’s Fraternity.  I can honestly say that Men’s Fraternity has done more to show me what it means to be a real man, husband and father according to God’s standards than I ever learned on the football field, or as a carpenter, or being a pastor.  You’re going to be hearing more and more about Men’s Fraternity in the weeks ahead.  The plans are to start in September, specifically Wednesday, September 17, 2008.  You’ll need to invest 1½ hours a week for 13 weeks in the fall and 12 weeks in the spring.  We’ll be meeting in the morning, either from 5:30-7:00, or 6:00-7:30, depending on when works for the most men. As interest merits we’ll make an evening opportunity available as well.  I’ll tell you now that the course isn’t for cowards.  You’ll have to address your past, own up to your present, and plan a future with God first. God will do some heavy-duty work in your life, and you’ll be leading the rescue mission of God in the people around you in ways you never imagined.  It’ll be the best investment of 36 hours you’ll ever make.  Wives, mothers, children, the best gift you’ll ever give your husband, son or dad is to clear the way for them to be part of Men’s Fraternity. 

     Let’s look at today’s challenge once more:  TODAY’S CHALLENGE:  I will soak up the light and salt of Jesus, so I can live as salt and light to others!  Life is too short to hide under a bushel, or be thrown out and trampled under feet by others.  Let’s make today the day we either step up or step in to God’s rescue mission.  After all, if we want the words of “I Can Only Imagine” to be the reality we experience some day, we have to live out that life NOW!  Let’s pray……..Amen.