Armando V. Munoz

Setting Captives Free

October 15, 2014

Salt and Light

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus had just finished ministering to the multitudes by healing all manner of ailments as well as teaching and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.  He went up into the mount and began to teach His disciples on the ethics of the Kingdom beginning with the beatitudes.  As He finished discussing the poor, meek, hungry, merciful, pure in heart, persecuted, and evil spoken of, He proceeded to speak to them about the mission and vocation to which they and we are called.  He said:

Ye are the salt of the earth:  but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?  It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  (Matthew 5:13-16).

In biblical times, salt was used for seasoning, preservation, cutting covenant, and for holy sacrifices unto the Lord.  The light was used to illuminate paths of travel, houses, cities, and the world (sun and moon).  Jesus was telling His disciples that they were to be what those things are in the natural to the world at large in a spiritual sense.

As a preservative, God’s judgment upon sin is restrained or withheld because of the presence of His children.  (Genesis 18:16-33; II Thessalonians 2:7; Matthew 24:22).  They would be a planting to restrain or preserve life.  They would be a beacon of hope and source of peace wherever they went.  As a seasoning, they would incite hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness (Matthew 5:3-6).  This could only be accomplished through a reconciled life in right relationship with God.  The blessings of this relationship and the fruit of this intimacy would cause others to hunger and thirst for it.

As a symbol for covenant, they would demonstrate the necessity for commitment.  This relationship is a picture of the marriage covenant.  It was not intended to be loosely accepted without any sense of responsibility or accountability.  As a seasoning for holy sacrifice, it required self-sacrifice.  It anticipated laying down one’s life for God and others as a living and holy sacrifice.  This means putting God and all others before self and not being selfish, self-centered or self-exalting.

Jesus went on to describe what happens if salt loses its savor rendering it good for nothing.  Salt loses its savor when it is continuously exposed to the environment or when mixed with other things.  Spiritually, it is not being grafted into the body of Christ by remaining part of the world as a way of life.  Being mixed with other things is having our selves diluted by continuing to be committed to idols of and the old ways of life.  We cannot serve two masters.

When salt lost its savor, it was strewn into the streets.  When we refuse to walk in a way that demonstrates we are faithfully committed to God through self-sacrifice and become entangled with unbelievers in idolatry, we demonstrate we never entered into covenant with the Lord.  We remained in the world and not in the love of God.  In so doing, we subject ourselves to God’s judgment by being thrown out into the streets according to our choosing.  We have no savor and have rendered ourselves ineffective for our intended purpose.

Light provides people with the ability to see.  Light speaks to understanding, revelation, and vision.  The world lies under the control and deception of the devil and as such is in “darkness.”  In the natural, we cannot see in the dark because light is needed to enable the eye to see.  When there is light, we can see our location, condition, environment, others, ourselves, and have clear direction for mobility.   Someone once said, “All the darkness in the universe cannot put out the light of one small candle.”  Therefore, as the light we reveal, spiritually speaking, these things to the world around us.  We also demonstrate what it means to be in right relationship with God.  We demonstrate the Kingdom life by our manner of life, our speech, our actions, and our good works.  We have our own unique culture in which we have been taught by God and we have the Spirit of God.   We must be careful not to exalt ourselves because truly the Light is actually Christ abiding in us.

We are not to put our light under a bushel.  A bushel was a sort of pot used to measure grain.  Therefore, the effect of putting a candle under a bushel is to deny those in the vicinity the benefits of light.  In other words, it is keeping people in the darkness; as disciples we are not to hide the gifts God has given us.  The light is to be demonstrated for all the world to see whatever the results.  Like a city on the hill that cannot be hid, we must reflect the glory of God everywhere, always, and before everyone.

We shine best when we act like Him.  We do this by honoring those He honors:  the poor, oppressed, and captive.  He called them, “the least of these.”  (Matthew 25:25).  When we act like Him and refuse to retaliate and love in adversity, we shine God’s light (glory) in the world.  We reflect His glory working in our life when we act as instructed by His Word and example.  Christ said that He was the light of the world, the phos, the source of all revelation of God.  Now He says you, as the body of Christ, are the phos of the world.  As the body, we are called to carry on His mission as He demonstrates the love of the Father through us to a lost and dying world.

Where am I?  What are we doing here?  These questions I often ask God.  He shows me again and again that it is not about me.  It is about identifying with Him and His mission.  The answer to both of those questions is the same.  You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.  So like a city on a hill that cannot be hid, nor can I.  So I must act accordingly everywhere, always and before everyone.  I, as all believers, am planted in whatever city to be that demonstration of His love, a beacon directing the world to the Lord.  We are to make them thirst for the love of God which knows no limits and cannot be confined to any measurable set dimensions.

When I dig deeper, I realize this calling is bigger than me.  It is the call and mission of the church to reflect His glory in its individual members, but also as the community of the King.  It is not the world mission of one man, but the world mission of each man together as the body of Christ in a lost and dying world.  The Church is a “city” set on a hill that cannot be hid.  It is the Church that must work in unity in the power of the Holy Spirit with each member doing his/her part and function as a whole toward revealing the glory of God.  As the Church and individual members of the Church, we are to heal, preserve, attract, sacrifice, and be committed to shine as the light of God.  As a result of this epic call, I am challenged to remind everyone as was Paul to walk worthy of the vocation with which we are called (Ephesians 4:1).

Bibliography

1. Module IV, Capstone Curriculum; Foundations for Christian Mission
2. Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version, Scripture Review
3. Companion Bible, King James Version, Scripture Notes Review
4. Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, Salt; Light
5. Vine’s Expository Dictionary, “Phos”
6. Finally but most importantly, the Doctrine is not my own, but that which I have received of the Father…