“The world needs salt—not sugar. Although salt and sugar may look somewhat alike, when analyzed or when applied they are certainly different. Neither did Christ call Christians to be the shade of the world. We are not to muffle or encumber the light of the world. Rather we are to broadcast it. The metaphor of light clues us that we are to distribute the good news as widely as possible, given the means that God provides.”
One of the things that is clear from the Beatitudes is that they cannot be practiced in total isolation. Evidently, the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount were not designed primarily for monastic living. You cannot be meek or merciful alone. It is impossible to follow those norms of the Kingdom in a purely private way. They are all to be lived among other people. And living this way among others will have a decided witness.
As Jesus continues in his sermon, this implicit assumption from verses 3-12 is made explicit in verses 13-16. If the Beatitudes describe the essential inner character of the disciples of Jesus, the metaphors of Salt and Light here indicate their outer influence or witness for good in the world. In our Lord’s mind, there is a connection between attitude and action; in fact, there is no separation. In this part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we move on to consider the function or purpose of the Christian in this world. In preview, it is this: All those to whom God gives the internal attitudes described in verses 3-12 will also have an external influence described in verses 13-16.
As my title suggests, Christ did not say you are the milk-toast of ineffectiveness. He did not say you are the honey or sweetener of the world. The Christian who lives the Beatitudes will not be some sweet nothing who has no troubling effect on the world. Instead, we may aggravate wounds like salt in a cut. The Beatitudes-person will be an irritant often because the world in which we live is decaying and putrefying. The world needs salt—not sugar. Although salt and sugar may look somewhat alike, when analyzed or when applied they are certainly different.
Neither did Christ call Christians to be the shade of the world. We are not to muffle or encumber the light of the world. Rather we are to broadcast it. The metaphor of light clues us that we are to distribute the good news as widely as possible, given the means that God provides.
Christ taught his original disciples and later disciples that Christians are to have a definite, lasting impact on the world because the character and person of Christ lives in us.
Now before we examine these two metaphors, there is one giant presupposition that lies behind them and is common to them. Don’t overlook it. This giant unwritten truth is that the church—made up of Beatitude Christians—and the world are different and distinct communities. They are not confused but significantly different.