“If our church disappeared from North Springfield tomorrow, would anybody notice?” There is a thought-provoking question. I know we would notice. But what about our neighbours? What about the people in our community? If North Springfield Baptist Church just vanished, would anybody else actually notice?
God expects Christians to make a difference in the world. And God expects His church to make a difference in the neighbourhoods and in the communities we belong to and where He has placed us. One of the clearest places Jesus tells us this is in the Sermon on the Mount immediately following the Beatitudes. Jesus is teaching about God’s Upside-Down Kingdom, which turns this messed up world the right way up again. He has told us that the people who are truly blessed, the happiest people on earth, are in reality the people who are poor, those who are mourning, the humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. Even though they will experience persecution, they should rejoice and be exceedingly glad, they should leap for joy because the Kingdom of God is for them. And then Jesus goes on to say two more amazing things to his disciples. “You are the salt of the earth.” “You are the light of the world.” Christians will be salt and light in the world. The church is to be salt and light for the world. Let’s think through what that all means for us.
Matthew 5 13 “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 by men.
YOU are the salt of the earth. Ancient peoples used to obtain their salt from the Mediterranean by natural evaporation of the sea water. But the Israelites especially blessed because they had an unlimited supply of salt on the shores of the Dead Sea along with a 15-square-mile area called the Hill of Salt which was on the South West corner of the Dead Sea.
Our modern world takes salt for granted. For us salt is very cheap and always available. But the people of the Ancient world understood the value of salt far better than we do. The Romans use to say that there was nothing as valuable as salt, except for the sun. Many Roman soldiers received their pay in salt and this may be where the old phrase “he’s not worth his salt” came from. The people listening to Jesus knew that to be called “the salt of the earth” was to be something very special and valuable.
Salt has many important uses.
Salt adds flavour and seasoning to our food.
We all can taste the difference just a little salt makes to food. Without salt, many foods taste bland and boring. Just a pinch of salt brings out the flavours. If nothing else, that tells us that Christians as the salt of the world should make the world better for everybody and not worse. The Christian life should not be dull. Christians should not be dull people. Church should never be dull. We should add flavour and seasoning to life.

Salt is a preservative
In the days before fridges and freezers and artificial preservatives, salt was one of the most important natural ways of preserving foods, especially meat and savoury foods. Christians should help preserve society. The church should help keep the world healthy.
Salt keeps us healthy – as a nutrient salt is necessary for life
Without salt naturally present in our foods food people become ill and even die. Depending on what foods people have in their diets, it is sometimes necessary to add extra salt. A certain amount of salt is essential for health and even for life. Just as faith in Christ is necessary for eternal life, life in all its fullness. And the church exists to bring Christ’s life to the world.
Salt is a natural antiseptic: it cleanses and heals
In Old Testament times new born babies were washed clean with water but then salt was rubbed on them and helped sterilise them. Salt can purify and sterilise cuts and grazes and help bring healing. Christians are meant to spread God’s purity and holiness around the world. The church exists to bring God’s wholeness and healing to the community.
Salt makes us thirsty and hungry
As the salt of the earth, Christians should be making folk around us hungry for God and thirsty for the Living Waters of the Holy Spirit by the way we live our lives. Our job is to make people thirsty for Jesus
Salt symbolises friendships and relationships
Salt featured in eating together so it came to symbolise hospitality and friendship. There is an Arab saying, “There is salt between us.” More than that, because of its use as a preservative, salt came to represent permanence and faithfulness. People in the Ancient Near East used salt in ceremonies to ratify their agreements and covenants. When Numbers 18:19 talks about the relationship between God and Israel it says “It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.”
Jesus was talking to Jews who would have known that sense of salt symbolising hospitality and friendship, relationship and covenant. As the salt of the earth the church embodies the faithful and eternal relationship between God and His people. Christians should be trustworthy, reliable, faithful people.
Flavouring and seasoning; a preservative; an essential nutrient; an antiseptic; stimulating thirst and hunger; symbolizing hospitality and friendship, relationship and covenant. You are the salt of the earth, Jesus said to His disciples. And he went on to say something else quite amazing.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city 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 men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

YOU are the light of the world. Even more than salt, people today take light for granted. We are able to choose never, ever, to be in darkness. If we want, our world can always be full of light. Built into our mobile phone most of us are always carrying around a powerful torch. At home we have electric lights. A century ago there were gas lamps. But think back before that. In earlier generations for thousands of years there were only oil lamps and candles. For people of Jesus’s time, as indeed still today in parts of the developing world, once night brought darkness the only light would be the moon and the stars and just a single oil lamp or candle indoors. Darkness was filled with all kinds of dangers, from ferocious wild animals and hostile strangers to the simple challenge of following a rocky path by moonlight.
Light brings all kinds of benefits.
Obviously light replaces darkness
As the light of the world, Christians are meant to bring light to dark places.
Light helps us find our way
In Jesus’s day, they did not have flat and even roads like we do today. They did not have street lights. Just finding your path from one place to another is so much harder in the dark. As the light of the world, Christians are here to help everybody find their way through life. We would be foolish to try to drive in the dark without any headlights or streetlights. But our neighbours and friends are racing headlong through life in pitch darkness, not knowing where they are going, unless the light of the world is shining in their lives.
Light reveals obstacles
Even the smoothest paths are much more difficult to walk along in the dark without tripping. Paths up mountains or beside streams would have the added risk of falling over the edge or into the water. Travelling in the light is so much easier and safer. As the light of the world, Christians should make everybody’s journeys through life smoother and safer.
Light warns us of dangers
There are good sensible reasons why many people are scared of the dark. From cliffs and streams, to wild beasts, to enemies lying in wait. The dark is full of dangers. As the light of the world the church is here to warn people of the dangers they are facing, which most of the time people just don’t see.
So light prevents all kinds of accidents and disasters which can strike in the dark. Light provides safety and security. Light chases away the Shadows and the Gloom and all the terrors of the Unknown. Light reveals and illuminates warms and inspires us. Light can cheer us up and energise us and stimulate us and motivate us. You are the light of the world.
But as well as the literal sense of light, the word is also used in a number of metaphorical ways. In the Old Testament, light referred symbolically to joy and blessing as opposed to sorrow and adversity. Light represented God’s presence and favour and even God’s salvation. Light and darkness were also used to represent good and evil. Light is used to refer to God’s holiness and God Himself is said to dwell “in unapproachable light.” 1 John even says, “God is light.” In the New Testament Jesus said “I am the light of the world.” This light is God’s holiness and love shining into a world darkened by sin and death.
So light helps us find our way. Light reveals obstacles and warns us of dangers. But much more than that, Jesus tells his disciples, you are the light of the world. You bring joy and blessing. You bring understanding to ignorance. You bring wisdom to foolishness. You bring God’s love and peace to a world lost in darkness. Your light will drive away Darkness and Evil.
You are the light of the world, pointing people to God and to Jesus who is the Light of the world.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Christians are called to let the light of Christ shine through us into this dark world.
Philippians 2 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life
Shining like stars in the universe – holding out the word of life. You are the light of the world.
That picture reminds me of a lighthouse. A light shining out in the darkness to warn ships of dangerous rocks. A light you can see for miles pointing the way to port and safe harbour even in the middle of the storm. The church is God’s lighthouse shining out in the darkness and leading people to safety.
Christians are the salt of the earth. Christians are the light of the world. We do not have to work to try to be these things. These are what God has made us.
Unless we lose our saltiness. Unless we keep our light hidden.
We 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 by men.
You may ask how can salt cease to be salty? Remember that in Jesus’s day the salt they had was what we would call rock salt. It was salt mixed in with sand, much like the stuff we put down on roads and paths to melt the ice in winter. If rain fell on that mixture, the salt would get washed away just leaving the sand behind. Jesus was warning his disciples that this could happen in their lives. We are the salt of the earth. But if that saltiness is not used it can get washed away.
You are the salt of the earth. Bringing flavouring and seasoning making life better for everyone. A preservative, stopping the rot! An essential nutrient. an antiseptic bringing cleansing and healing. Stimulating hunger for God – making people thirsty for Jesus. How good are we at being the salt of the earth?
And we are the light of the world.
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.
Is our light shining bright? Or is our light hidden under a bowl? Light helps us find our way. It reveals obstacles and warns us of dangers. As the light of the world we should be bringing joy and blessing and understanding and wisdom We should be chasing away darkness and evil and bringing God’s love and peace to a world lost in darkness. How good are we at being the light of the world?
When Mahatma Gandhi was the spiritual leader of India, he was asked by some missionaries, “What is the greatest hindrance to Christianity in India?” His reply was, “Christians.”
You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.