Shine Before Men
Matthew 5:13-16
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour,
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 an 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."
The Lord Jesus Christ
in this part of the sermon on the mount is now telling his people what they are
in the world, in relation to the sinful world.
Christians by their very nature are a number of things: they are salt, and they are light. A purifying influence, a preserving influence
and a flavor enhancer that shows what real life is. And the salt stings on the world's sin, and
the salt preserves from further deterioration on society, and the salt shows
the flavor of real life. How? says the
ungodly. The world thinks that
Christians do not have real life. The
world thinks that the Christian's life is probably boring. Here is how we have real life:
When the world looks
at a true Christian family, they see a father who is respected and obeyed by
his children. They see a mother who is a
keeper at home, who has time to be a mother, a wife, a helper to her husband
who is loved and appreciated. The world
sees children who are submissive and protected, and are happy and at peace. They see the whole family working in a
harmony and order. Father stays with
mother and mother stays with father.
They see children that are raised by both parents like God has ordained
and commands in the Bible. It is a witness, it is salt that stings, its a
preserving agent and it shows real enhanced flavor of life. Jesus Christ is the head of every Christian
family, and every member of that home and family obeys his word and everyone is
cared for and has their duties and their privileges.
Compare that with the
poor single mom in the world, raising her children because father is gone,
because he is a womanizer, and he leaves his wife. He is selfish. Or compare the Christian family with the
career woman, of immodest dress, and she is subject to flattery and wanders
away. She has broken her family and her
marriage for what? She justifies
everything she does.
The pattern of family
life has changed. Immoral family life is
justified by adults that neglect their responsibilities. Who has real enhanced flavor of life? the world may laugh and joke about the quaint
Christian family, but when they look at the wreckage of their own families, it
stings. Who has self-value? who is really respected and cared for, and
who sits alone, bitter and rejected and looking for company?
God's word lays out
what marriage is, what family is, how family is run. Anything less is sin. All unfaithful single parents, all
adulterers, it is all sin. Sin needs to
be felt, convicted of and repented of.
Christians are the salt of the earth.
Is it not sad when in some Christian families the salt has lost its
savor.
Jesus says "ye
are the light of the world"
Christians are the reflected light of Christ, he is the light and we are
the reflected light of Christ. The more holy we are, the more we reflect the
light of Christ, the light of scripture into the darkness of the ignorance of
God in this sinful world.
