13: "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 trodden under foot by men.
14: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.  15: Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  16: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. 

Our Word for today comes from Matthew 5:13-16 a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  The answer to the question can be found there.  Listen to the Words of Jesus again,

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can it’s saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all 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 in heaven.”

The message that I will deliver today is a collaboration inspired by the Holy Spirit between me and John Wesley-the father of Methodism.  I was so inspired by his sermon delivered in 1748 entitled, “Upon Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount-Discourse IV” that I had to speak a word on the subject. John Wesley said, “Christianity is essentially a social religion and to turn it into a solitary one is to destroy it.  To conceal this religion is impossible, as well as utterly contrary to the design of its author”.

After reading our text, and listening to Wesley, we see that we are called to a religion that is not personal or private but social and community centered.  The life of discipleship is conceived as life within the community of faith, a community charged with a mission to the world. If we love God it’s got to show.

You can’t hide the light under a bushel basket and for salt, saltiness is not an option!  How can we not show our love to others if we love God?  Because we are thankful to be loved by God, we in turn are God’s love in expression to others.  Our hands heal, our arms reach and our words teach.

What’s all this talk about love when we’re talking about salt and light? This is how Matthew 22:37 & 39 says it,

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s all about love. Love is the salt and the light! Remember, we reflect the light only-God generates it!

Have you ever experienced love?  That love at first sight kind of love?  A love so strong that you just don’t understand it and you just can’t figure that thing out?  The kind of love that just fills you to overflowing?  I have!  24 years ago my daughter was born. When I saw her for the first time I knew what love was and what love is.  Some of you may have had an experience like this at some point in your life.  God’s love for us is even stronger than that!

As we love God ,our love for others just comes out of us like an effervescent tablet dropped into a glass of water. It just bubbles out. We can’t help but share and show our love to others. We have to share it. We have to tell it. We cannot keep this good thing to ourselves.

There’s a song we sing sometimes that speaks to this

“I said I wasn’t gonna tell nobody but I, I couldn’t keep it to myself, couldn’t keep it to myself.  Couldn’t keep it to myself.

Said I wasn’t gonna tell nobody but I couldn’t keep it to myself--

what the Lord has done for me!

You oughta been there, when he saved my soul,

you oughta been there when he put my name on the roll.

Then I started walkin’, started talkin‘, started singin‘, started shoutin’, what the Lord has done for me.”

Or if you prefer a more traditional song we sing,

“Ask ye what great things I know, what delights and stirs me so.

What the great reward I win? Whose the name I glory in? Jesus Christ the crucified!”

How can you keep that good news to yourself?  As Christians, we can’t!

If we look to the Bible for examples of the community nature of religion we see many examples.  Let’s look at the woman with the bleeding problem or the issue of blood.  Luke 8:44 tell us

“She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.”

That should have been the end of the story. This was a personal or private act that she hoped to accomplish. If she could but touch him…it was personal and no one would know.

Verse 45,
“Who touched me?”, 

Jesus asked. 

It was no longer personal or private but out in the open.

Verse 47,
“In the presence of ALL THE PEOPLE, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.” 

I can hear her explain to Jesus and the crowd that she had heard about the healings and other miraculous things Jesus had done.  She thought that if she could just get to him…look at him or better yet perhaps a touch of just the edge of his clothing would convey healing power.  I can hear her say that she wanted to try to see if these things were true that were being said about Jesus.  For this woman, it started out as personal but ended up as a testimony to the glory of God.

Let’s go back to salt and light. It is our duty as the Body of Christ to demonstrate to others what God is like. We must convince the world of the reality of the gospel or leave the world unconvinced. As Christians we have to walk the walk and talk the talk.

As the salt and light of the world we have to get involved in showing PDAs or Public Displays of Affection.  Public Displays of Affection are the works of mercy we perform in the name of Jesus in so many areas of life.

We feed the hungry by sponsoring a World Vision Child or volunteering at a local soup kitchen or our church family sponsors a meal for the needy during the year or we welcome someone into the fellowship hall at coffee hour who happens to be walking down the street asking if there is any place he could get something to eat and someone coming out of the church says, “go into the church. They are serving now” and the person is welcome.

We clothe the naked by giving to clothing drives or giving our gently used clothes to the Salvation Army or another local organization for distribution to those in need or we give to a friend who is from an African nation and says he would welcome donations to send to the people back home in his town or village.

We remember the sick and shut-ins with prayers, cards, calls, visits and running errands.

We remember the imprisoned with prayer and visits and being supportive of children left behind.

We welcome the stranger in our midst at church, at school, in our neighborhood, at work, wherever there is a need we can fill it.  There are many things to do.

We worship together in community, have fellowship together, support and encourage each other by offering a shoulder, an ear or a hand. We pray together in community calling upon “Our Father” not my father, but Our Father!  We season wherever we are with godly salt.

Our lives are in view and seen by other Christians and the worldly crowd.  This is very open and public and in no way private for self only.  We must be examples others want to follow.  As we do good for others we do it out of love and not trying to impress God or send tokens to get into heaven.  We can’t do that anyway!

Our desire is to be a reflective light to show others God’s love and to “give glory to our Father in heaven.” Genuine faith in a Christian and in a Christian community is made evident in words and action.

Some may say that inward holiness of heart is enough and that it isn’t necessary to do all these things. They feel that no matter what is done some people won’t appreciate it so why bother with them.

Well, that’s not for us to decide.  We don’t know what God is doing through us.  Remember seeds fall on rocky ground and fertile ground as well.  We just need to be obedient and do as thus says the Lord!  We don’t want to be like Jonah who wanted to keep God all to himself and not want the Ninevehites to experience the grace and love of God that he had experienced.

John Wesley put it to his society this way in a question in his sermon, “Will it not suffice to worship God who is Spirit with the spirit of our minds, without encumbering ourselves with outward things, or even thinking of them at all? Is it not better that the whole extent of our thought should be taken up with high and heavenly contemplation? And that instead of busying ourselves at all about externals, we should only commune with God in our hearts? Again, I say, NAY!”

Inward and outward holiness of heart and life are both necessary to be obedient to God.  Our lights shine, our salt seasons and through these expressions God is glorified.

Here’s the question again. Is it personal? We say “NAY!” My friends, be salt and light.