Missing the Point

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16, NKJV

I love it when the Word of God becomes fresh to my spirit. For years, I was taught that these verses from Matthew referred pretty much exclusively to evangelism; letting our light shine required us to go out, knock on doors, hand out tracts to strangers, and so on and so forth.

Though I never realized it then, I confess that I doubt there were too many people looking at my “good works” and then glorifying my Father in Heaven as a result of them.

But Jesus says that’s the purpose of letting our light shine, and He doesn’t seem to be talking about simply your fellow Christian glorifying God for your works. Jesus’ emphasis seems much more general; let your light shine before men in general, so that they may glorify God for them.

Certainly, I am not saying evangelism is wrong — nay, every Christian is commissioned to be a voice for God in sundry ways — but there is a vast difference between assaulting the culture via “God hates fags” and “Liberals, gays, Mormons, and feminists are going to Hell” campaigns and engaging the culture by living out the Sermon on the Mount in our daily lives.

Keep this in mind; Matthew 5 is Jesus’ first teachings to His disciples as disciples (after they had already repented at His initial call to them). They have yet to be told to evangelize anyone, so why assume verses 13-16 of Matthew 5 refer to that?

I prefer to think of those verses in light of not only the whole of the Sermon, but especially in light of Matthew 5:3-12. Much of this passage is made up of the beatitudes, and I just love those!

How can we let our light shine before men? What good works ought to be filling up our lives?

These are things like peacemaking (v. 9), being merciful to others (v. 7), and for living a pure (v. 8), meek (v. 4), poor in spirit (v. 3) life.

Our light shines brightest when our character reflects that of our Savior, that precious Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

We as Christians are at our saltiest when we engage the world in love and compassion, not when we leap headlong into assaulting the world of unbelievers.

It is sorrowful that so many have missed the point of these boundlessly beautiful verses. May we endeavor to live as Christ lived, so that the world is constantly made better by our actions within it.

Tagged as: Beatitudes, Christian living, evangelism, Jesus Christ, Sermon on the Mount