Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:13-20
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Salt of the Earth and Light of the World: Living in Christian Freedom
A Sermon on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13-20)
Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Salt of the Earth and Light of the World
Today we hear Jesus speaking in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. He is introducing many of the teachings that are to come. He starts to teach about anger and divorce and lust and all sorts of other things that we'll see if you read ahead into the passage, but he begins with two images that lead into what I'd like to talk about today, being salt of the earth and the light of the world, expressing that his church is more than just a bunch of people who follow rules, but we are to be his, his expression of his love into the world, light, casting away the darkness, salt, making the things good to eat.
Christ Came to Fulfill the Law
And he comes to tell us this. He says, Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. He has not come to abolish but to fulfill, Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, everything that was in the Old Testament, all of the Law of Moses, every message that the prophets had given, calling God's people to repentance and to turn to Him. All of that finds its fulfillment in Christ, Jesus' life, His death, His resurrection and his ascension into heaven. All of that fulfills the mission of God brings about salvation for the world, because no one could actually do what God had commanded them to do. We needed someone who would be perfect, someone who could do everything correctly, live not just the text of the law, but the spirit of the law itself, so that all of us could be saved. And that's what Jesus did. He lived a perfect life. He turned to God, trusted in him, followed him in every way, because we could not.
St Paul tells us that now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Jesus came to fulfill the law, because the law for us only means condemnation as we look at our sins, as we look at our errors, the things that we feel guilty for, we know that we need a savior, Jesus, whose life, death and resurrection is for you, whose righteousness is for you, whose perfection is yours by faith in Him.
The Old Written Code No Longer Applies
And what that means is that now that the law is fulfilled, the old written code is now no longer applies to the holy Christian Church on earth. The story of the book of Acts tells us all about this. As Peter and Paul go out into the world, they realize that because Christ has fulfilled the law, all of those things that were written in the books of Moses are not required by the church. This is why we don't do circumcision. This is why gathering together today does not involve the sacrifice of a goat up in front and sprinkling a whole lot of blood on the altar. Thankfully. Yuck. Right? Jesus has fulfilled everything in the Old Testament. He has completed it all. That means the sacrificial laws. That means the food laws, the ceremonial laws, the civil laws that govern all of the all of the affairs of the nation of Israel, and all of the moral laws as well, the 10 Commandments, the things that were given to Israel as part of their old covenant, everything written in that law, the prophets, all of that is fulfilled. Live in Christ, he has completed it.
No More Checklists
And this leads us to ask a question, what do we do with that? Then we as Christians, how do we interact with the law? What does it mean for our lives as we consider living in Christ's love and being salt and light in the world. It means that since Christ has come, we actually don't have a checklist to see what makes God happy, and sometimes that's what the ancient law was used for. I think this is why Jesus says that you have to have righteousness greater than the scribes and Pharisees, because they saw the law as a step by step plan for God making for making God happy. And if you just check off a box, check off this box. Check off this box once you've got all the boxes checked off, God is happy with you. That sounds kind of easy, right? I mean, that's a great way to do it. And then once you've checked everything off, you can do whatever else you want in your life. And human beings love this. We love simple directions. We love having a rubric so that if we go, excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent, we know we're done and we can figure out what else to do. That's why school is is so great for people who like these sorts of things, because the teacher will give you instructions, and you can say, I have done this, I've done this, I've done this, I've done this gold star, and we like that, but that's not what God's will for our lives is all about it's not about checking off boxes. It's not about making sure we have a formula to make God happy. Christ wants us to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world.
The Law as Guardian
This is why St Paul talks about the law as a guardian in Galatians chapter three, he says, Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. He is using a metaphor of being a child under a tutor, like a student in a classroom, we can see that a student in a classroom who is given an assignment has a very easy, simple path to follow, follow the instructions, get a good grade. It's pretty straightforward. And kids, when they're like this, they think that they are under the most terrible restrictions. Because parents, they just they tell them what to do and they have to do it. Teachers, they tell them what to do and they have to do it. And they think to themselves, when I grow up, oh, I just can't wait, I'm going to get out of school and then I can do whatever I want. You. Maybe not so much.
The Burden and Freedom of Christian Responsibility
I remember back in my college days, so many years ago, thinking I'm so busy now I can't wait until my schedule frees up. All this work, all this stuff. Oh, it's just piling up. You remember that we're all laughing? Because when you go from being told what to do to having the responsibility to make decisions yourselves, all of a sudden it gets worse, right? When you're in charge of your own life, you have to make real decisions. You don't just follow what other people say, and then you're left on your own, free to do whatever you want. That's why it's become relatively popular for people to complain about adulting, to say, I'm now out of school, and I have to do all of this for myself, and the challenge for the Christian church. Is that since Christ has come, we are no longer children with checklists. We have to make decisions about our own lives, examine all of the situation and simply do our best to be salt and light in the world, there isn't a checklist. There isn't a formula.
To examine everything in your life and say, if I do this, God will be happy. If I do this, God will be angry. If you want that, become a Mormon. You what we have to do is, as people filled with the Holy Spirit, examine a life that is filled with all sorts of options. Usually it's not good thing, bad thing. Usually it's good thing and bad thing, good thing and bad thing. And it would be really great if God came down and said, I have a scripture passage that will tell you exactly what to do, or an angel appeared and said, Don't take this job. You should take that job. Don't move here. You should move here. But that's not how the Holy Spirit works, nor how the message of God's works. He's granted each one of us wisdom and grace in Christ, and it means we just have to make decisions on our own, and sometimes it's decision between terrible thing and terrible thing, and we just have to choose the thing that is least sin. Do you feel the burden now? It's kind of tough, isn't it, but the freedom in that is actual freedom too, because we aren't bound just by the checklist.
Living in Grace and Freedom
What we can say is, how will Christ be revealed in my actions? Give it a shot, and then if we choose wrong, it's okay if we make a mistake, we say, I think this is the right way. And we go in faith, and we say, Yes, I can do this. And then it fails miserably. We don't have to go, oh no. Now God is angry at me because Jesus fulfilled the law, he lived the perfect life for you. He has granted you His Holy Spirit and revealed to you His grace and will and life. So the things we do don't define that part of our relationship. We are still in Christ, who is the true light of the world, the true salt of the earth, which means we can just make decisions and not sit in terror wondering, Will God judge me? Will God be angry if I make a mistake? Because you will, we can just trust in His grace and His love and know we do our best. We ask for Repent, for forgiveness and live in His grace. And how much better is that than having to go and look into some arcane text in Leviticus to see whether I should go to the doctor or not, or to see whether I should make a decision or not. We can take the love of Christ, apply it to our lives and just do our best. Sure, it's a lot of responsibility, but it's also freedom in the forgiveness and grace of Christ in His name Amen.
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