A Flavorful Life
If you have been a follower to Mill House Ministries for any amount of time, you have probably heard us state that we are ambassadors for Christ here on earth and have heard us quote Matthew 28:16-20 a number of times. If you do not know what that passage is regarding, it discusses the Great Commission, the call for all Christians to spread the gospel among all people and nations. While the fact that we have been commanded by Jesus Christ to do this places this commission on a standard that we must strive to meet, I feel as if we often forget how we are to do this. Today I want to discuss another standard that Christ has set before us in regards to our call of being ambassadors for Him.
“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 trampled under people's feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 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. 16 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.”
Matthew 5:13-16
For only being three verses, this passage packs a powerful meaning. In this passage we see not only how Christ views His followers, but also how we need to be acting. I want to point out here that the disciples Jesus Christ is addressing is not the twelve disciples that we know, instead Jesus Christ is addressing this statement to the large crowds that have followed Him from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan (Matthew 4:25). I want to state that with this knowledge, we can automatically assume that the passage in Matthew 5:13-16 is meant for anyone who is a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. It is not a statement that has lost its meaning to us today.
Before we get into the meaning of this passage, I want to point out that verse 13 is not a passage arguing that we can lose our salvation. When we become followers of Christ there is nothing that can separate us from Him, “38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 “28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:28-29 are just two verses that dispel all argument that we can lose our salvation.
This passage begins by describing His disciples as salt of the earth. If anyone has spent any amount of time cooking, you can attest that the right amount of salt adds to the flavor of a dish, while too much ruins it and too little leaves the flavor falling flat. To be described as salt, Jesus is stating that those who follow Him are to add flavor to the world. Oftentimes, the worldview of Christianity is a boring life, the world would have us believe that to follow Christ is to live a life without flavor. That is not true, to follow Christ is to have a life full of adventure with the knowledge that we have someone backing us when we are struggling. A Christian does not walk through life alone. This is how our walk can be described as salt, for the unbeliever is subconsciously or consciously looking for something to fill the void that they are feeling. Many Christians have come to know Christ when they are at their lowest points in life, they then place their trust in Jesus Christ and begin to see that flavor in life that He has to offer.
I feel that verse 13 describes a Christian who has been walking in the faith for a larger amount of time, the person that Jesus is describing here is not a new believer but someone who has been involved in showing others Christ but has in short become burnt out by the world. Christians today are meant to walk amongst the world to show the lost that we have meaning to our life. We are meant to walk with our heads held high and our eyes focused on Jesus Christ so that when people reflect on our behavior they know that there is something different about us. We are meant to point them back to Jesus Christ by our behavior. The second half of verse 13 is meant as a warning. Again not that we can lose our salvation, but instead that when we walk around with our heads low and distracted by the fears of this world, we are not pointing others to Christ. They see someone without hope just as they are. This is how we lose the “saltiness” and by doing so we are not fulfilling the purpose that God has for us to lead others to Him.
The second description that Jesus Christ uses for His disciples is that of a light. To me this description is of a new believer. When you light a candle you create a new flame, something that was not there before. For a new born-again Christian, we become a new creation in ourselves, “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” 2 Corinthians 5:17. Just as it would be foolish to place a candle under a basket, thereby hiding the light from it, it would be foolish of a new Christian to hide what Christ has done for them. We are called to shine among men and light their way. This means again that our behavior should be pointing to Christ. We should not hold back in sharing what God has done for us and the promises that He has for His followers. The “good works” described here is not anything that we can do on our own, but rather the post salvation actions we do in accordance with the Lord to further point those to Christ. Our behavior thus our actions and works need to be continuesly pointing people back the Christ. Let them see the adventure and the light that we have in Christ.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex