Daily Bread 2011 - Matthew 5
Daily Bread Together – Friday – Matthew 5
Verse of the Day Matthew 5:13-16 – Sermon on the Mount “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
What Does This Mean? Matthew chapters 5-7 comprise what is commonly called the “Sermon on the Mount”. There is a similar grouping of Jesus’ teaching in Luke usually called the “Sermon on the Plain”. Some have called this material some of the finest grouping of teaching on ethics the world has ever seen. In verses 13-16, Jesus challenges His disciples with how they can apply this sermon.
Jesus is teaching his disciples that, as his followers, they have been set apart. He uses two metaphors “salt” and “light” to describe their distinctiveness. In both examples, Jesus warns the disciples that while both salt and light are important, they can lose their usefulness if they lose their intrinsic qualities. As Jesus lives among his disciples, he shows them what life is like in the Kingdom of God. As they live in the power of the Kingdom (where God is ruling, not our sinful nature), they will like be salt and light.
The “Beatitudes”, in verses 3-11, describe the “blessed life”, with the phrase, “blessed are”, which can be translated “happy are”. Meaning, Jesus did not come to steal our joy, but to show us how to truly live. And as we live this “blessed life”, we will be like “salt” and “light”. You see salt when it is working preserves and seasons. Light, when it is on, illuminates and reveals. In the same way, as Jesus’ disciples lived the “blessed life”, they would shine in season and out of season. And this light would draw people to the truth, not drive them away. Rather than contributing to the corruption and rotting of the world dominated by sin and darkness, the disciples would “season” and “preserve” this world that God so loved by sending His only Son. In this way the Kingdom would come in and through them in through God’s power.
What Does This Mean For Us? As we look at the quality of our lives and those in our church we must ask the question, are we “salty” Christians? Do we preserve the world, or have we lost our saltiness? I am also reminded that salt makes people thirsty, and as Christians live out the abundant life they make others thirsty for the living water that only Jesus can provide.
It is easy for us to complain about the state of the world and get in our “holy huddles” to avoid everything and anyone in the world. But God called us to be “in the world, not of the world”. He called us to let our light so shine before others that we might glorify God in heaven. We can’t shine unless we are interacting with the world. Jesus didn’t begin the transformation of the world by only hanging out only with his friends. He hung out with those on the margins of society: the forgotten ones, the outcasts, the poor, lonely and lepers.
Heavenly Father you have called us to be salt and light in the world. Get us out of the salt shaker, so we can shine the love you have for the world through Your Son, Amen.
Verse of the Day Matthew 5:13-16 – Sermon on the Mount “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
What Does This Mean? Matthew chapters 5-7 comprise what is commonly called the “Sermon on the Mount”. There is a similar grouping of Jesus’ teaching in Luke usually called the “Sermon on the Plain”. Some have called this material some of the finest grouping of teaching on ethics the world has ever seen. In verses 13-16, Jesus challenges His disciples with how they can apply this sermon.
Jesus is teaching his disciples that, as his followers, they have been set apart. He uses two metaphors “salt” and “light” to describe their distinctiveness. In both examples, Jesus warns the disciples that while both salt and light are important, they can lose their usefulness if they lose their intrinsic qualities. As Jesus lives among his disciples, he shows them what life is like in the Kingdom of God. As they live in the power of the Kingdom (where God is ruling, not our sinful nature), they will like be salt and light.
The “Beatitudes”, in verses 3-11, describe the “blessed life”, with the phrase, “blessed are”, which can be translated “happy are”. Meaning, Jesus did not come to steal our joy, but to show us how to truly live. And as we live this “blessed life”, we will be like “salt” and “light”. You see salt when it is working preserves and seasons. Light, when it is on, illuminates and reveals. In the same way, as Jesus’ disciples lived the “blessed life”, they would shine in season and out of season. And this light would draw people to the truth, not drive them away. Rather than contributing to the corruption and rotting of the world dominated by sin and darkness, the disciples would “season” and “preserve” this world that God so loved by sending His only Son. In this way the Kingdom would come in and through them in through God’s power.
What Does This Mean For Us? As we look at the quality of our lives and those in our church we must ask the question, are we “salty” Christians? Do we preserve the world, or have we lost our saltiness? I am also reminded that salt makes people thirsty, and as Christians live out the abundant life they make others thirsty for the living water that only Jesus can provide.
It is easy for us to complain about the state of the world and get in our “holy huddles” to avoid everything and anyone in the world. But God called us to be “in the world, not of the world”. He called us to let our light so shine before others that we might glorify God in heaven. We can’t shine unless we are interacting with the world. Jesus didn’t begin the transformation of the world by only hanging out only with his friends. He hung out with those on the margins of society: the forgotten ones, the outcasts, the poor, lonely and lepers.
Heavenly Father you have called us to be salt and light in the world. Get us out of the salt shaker, so we can shine the love you have for the world through Your Son, Amen.
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