The Church: Being A City Set On A Hill - Week 1 (Matthew 5:13-16)
Matthew 5:13-16
〰️
Matthew 5:13-16
〰️
Matthew 5:13-16 〰️ Matthew 5:13-16 〰️
This week, we began our new sermon series, The Church: Being A City Set On A Hill. Our prayer during this series is that we, the church, would have a clearer picture of what it means to follow Jesus. Now, every church and ministry depicts this in different ways with different expressive convictions, and so we should remember that there isn't inherent morality to some external and internal expressions of following Jesus. Some church communities place emphasis on justice in their city; some church communities place emphasis on evangelism; some church communities place emphasis on missions. All of these are good and wonderful things, but few, if any, can represent everything. This is where the beauty of the "Big C" Church comes in: we all work together to spread the Gospel in word and deed, obeying Christ where we live, work, and play.
That said, this sermon series will be a great opportunity for us to help set the foundation for our people, ensuring we are all on the same page with what we desire to be as a community. This week is an intro to the sermon series, so the five upcoming weeks will cover the following:
1. The Gospel Amazes Us
2. Treasure God's Word
3. Aware of our Dependence
4. Joyfully Obedient
5. Committed to the Great Commission
These are the five focuses that we hope mark us as a people who are set apart from the world. With that in mind, let's dive into this week's passage!
This week's passage is only four verses, but they're entirely in red letters, which means we should listen up: these are Jesus' words. This passage takes place in a long discourse from Jesus, known as the Sermon on the Mount. Here, Jesus gives a robust theology on God and His Kingdom, and provides answers for questions on how we should follow God amidst culture. He begins with the following phrase:
You are the salt of the earth.
As with many passages in the Bible, the original audience would have better known this meaning. We don't really use it in this way anymore, but particularly at this time, salt was used as a purifier, cleansing food for consumption (Ex. 30:35). As the salt of the earth, we who follow Jesus are to live righteously in a world filled with unrighteousness, leaving our surroundings and people better than we found them. "However, contaminated salt does not promote purity. The verb translated lose its taste indicates foolish and immoral behavior. It refers to a professing disciple whose unrighteous lifestyle promotes destruction rather than purification."¹
You are the light of the world.
Verse 14 is an allusion to Isaiah 9:1-2, 42:6, and 49:6. These passages describe what the Messiah, Jesus, would be like with His ministry on earth. In these passages, He's described as a "light for the nations" in a world of darkness. Because of this, Jesus describes those who follow Him as "the light of the world...A city situated on a hill" (ESV uses the word "set" instead of "situated"). Just as salt is no good if it loses its saltiness, a light is no good if it's hidden away; it's meant to be displayed and seen for the sake of others. "In the same way," Jesus continues, "let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (v16).
So this is what we desire to be as a community living in submission and obedience to Christ. How beautiful it is to be described as a light in a world of darkness. We who are in Christ possess this light not from our own works or labor, but from God's gift of the Holy Spirit within us.
Discussion Questions
What stood out to you from the passage?
Does anything in this passage remind you of another part of Scripture?
Do you have any questions?
Being called "the salt of the earth" is a fairly common phrase. How might the cultural expression be different from Jesus' use in this passage?
How might it look to be a "light of the world" in your workplace, home, or classroom?
What are some fears or hesitations that cause us to "lose our saltiness" or "hide our light"?
Faithful evangelism is often described as "ordinary people, doing ordinary things with Gospel intentionality." What could our regular venues of life look like if we all lived with this kind of Gospel intentionality?
1. Charles L. Quarles, CSB Study Bible: Notes, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1506.