Better and Brighter - Matthew 5:13-14
Will Willimon has got a great sense of humor. He was the Chaplain at Duke University, the Dean of the Chapel, and he got a phone call one day from a very upset parent, who started off the conversation by declaring, “I hold you personally responsible for what’s happened to my daughter.”
And Will said, “What’s happened to your daughter?”
This wealthy executive said “Well she just graduated from Duke with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and she did great in all of her studies. Her mother and I are very proud of her. She was headed to graduate school but oh no, she’s made a decision instead of going to graduate school, she’s going to go to Haiti and dig ditches for poor people! and I hold you personally responsible!” He said, she’s throwing her education away!
Will responds with, “Well I doubt she’s received much training in the engineering department for that kind of work but she’s probably a fast learner and she’ll pick up the skills of ditch digging in just a few short months.”
“Look," said the father, “this is no laughing matter. You were completely irresponsible to have encouraged her to do this and I hold you personally responsible.”
Will Willimon says to the dad, “Hey, why you blaming me? You’re the one
who introduced her to Jesus! You’re the one who took her to church! You’re the one who put her in Sunday school and she’s just following him! You’re the one who caused this!”
Father’s response was classic - “Yeah! I took her to church but all I ever really wanted her to be was a Presbyterian!”
Can I tell you something? It’s so easy to become religious instead of Godly and you just can’t find anything in the New Testament encouraging you and I to become a Presbyterian or a Lutheran or a Methodist or an Influencer or whatever it is.
The invitation of JESUS is not come join a church.
The invitation of Jesus is to follow him and be the church.
In Matthew 5:13-14, he makes two identity statements,
“You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”
In other words, the faith you and I have? This reconciliation you and I are blessed to have because of Jesus? It will have a practical effect on this world. What kind of effect? Well what do Salt and Light do?
They didn’t have access to modern refrigeration so how did they keep their food? By preserving it with salt! Salt doesn’t just preserve against rot, it is also a flavor enhancer. Salt preserves and improves everything it touches. Can you say the same for your own life? Are the lives of people around you being preserved? Are the lives of people around you better because you are there with the Spirit of God in you?
Yet he also calls us light and what does light do? It illuminates dark places. It makes the hidden thing plain. Nearby the place where Jesus taught is a place called the Qumran caves, and in his day, there was a group that lived in those caves called the Essenes. They hated the sin in the world and how dark the world was. They were a group who decided to hide themselves away in a cave to preserve what they believed was the Lord’s way. Guess what they called themselves,
The sons of light.
Don’t be like the Essenes who hide themselves away in a dark cave! Light is far more useful when it’s pushing back the darkness. What happens when you cover a flame with a bowl? It goes out. If you hide your light, your faith, away from the people who need it you might as well not have it in the first place.
You are called to be Salt and Light - Light makes everything brighter and Salt makes everything better.
This isn’t something you have to muster up on your own, but a natural outpouring of when we humble and submit ourselves to Jesus as our Savior, King and Friend.
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1. Read Matthew 5:13-16, What stands out to you? How have you seen someone be Salt and Light? How can you?
2. How will you share the encouragement this week with someone?
