Date: Epiphany 5a
Text: Matthew 5:13-20
Theme: I Am the Light of the World?

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

One night Phil was relaxing at home after a hard day a work. The telephone rang; it was a collect call from Phil's friend, George. Phil accepted the charges and said, "Hi, George. What's going on?"

George responded, "My car broke down in Los Angeles and I need $200 to get it fixed."

"There must be something wrong with this line," Phil responded. "I can't hear a word you're saying."

George yelled into the phone, "I said, I need to borrow $200."

"What did you say? I can't hear you. Speak up."

At this the operator broke into the call, "Hello, this is the operator. I can hear your party plainly."

"Well, you give him the $200," Phil replied.

George and Phil--and the operator--had different expectations. And we often have different expectations when it comes to living out our Christian faith in the world today. Last week, looking at the Beatitudes, we asked the question, "What does God expect of me?" and we pick up that question again this week as we continue to look at our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. As we look at today's Gospel lesson we learn that our Lord expects a number of things from us. He expects us to be zealous and faithful; he expects us to be beacons that attract people to him; and expects us to live in a right relationship with his law.

As we look at the lesson we see that our Lord expects us to be zealous and faithful to him. We see this in verse 13 of the lesson, "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." By using the example of salt in this verse our Lord tells us of our need to be zealous for him and to remain faithful to him. When I use the word "zealous" I am using it the way the Bible does. To be zealous for God means that we maintain absolute loyalty to him.

In Jesus' day salt making was a time consuming process. Salt water was poured into large, shallow pans. The sun dried up the water and left a residue of salt. This salt had to be used rather quickly because it took on the odors of the materials with which it came into contact. The odors would leech into the salt and the salt would lose its flavor. When that happened the salt would be of no use and of no value. All you could do was throw it out.

Jesus uses this picture to describe our relationship with God our heavenly Father. We are to maintain total purity, loyalty and devotion to our God. We are not to allow the corrupting odors of surrounding religions and philosophies to creep into our faith and corrupt our faith and destroy our faith.

The corrupting influences are present. They are all around us. Perhaps the most corrupting influence we, as Christians, face today is that of religious pluralism. We live in a society which likes to believe that all religions are equally valid. We live in a society which declares that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere in your belief. The Bible doesn't go along with this. The Bible tells us that there is certain, absolute, religious truth. And anything that disagrees with Biblical truth is wrong. In an age of religious pluralism, where we are called upon to be open minded, but Christ calls upon us to remain absolutely faithful to him.

Does this mean that we go out and beat up and persecute anyone who is not a Lutheran, much less a Christian? Not at all; zealousness for the Lord is not a zealousness that persecutes people but it is the act whereby we declare that we are Christians and we are not ashamed of being Christians and we will maintain our faith and confession in the face of an unbelieving, pluralistic world.

But the temptation is always present for us to water down our confession, to water down our faith, and say that it is one religion among many that are equally valid. When we do that our salt has lost its flavor and God will toss us out for we are of no value to him. We have turned our backs upon him; we have deserted him; we have broken loyalty with him.

God expects us, as his church and as individual members of his church, to remain faithful to him. We ARE the salt of the earth. We bring God's good news to people who need to hear it. We cannot, we must not, adulterate that good news with the prevailing philosophies of the day or we will lose our saltiness; we will lose our flavor; we will lose our heart and soul and message as God's church in the world today. And we will not, we must not, do that.

Jesus further tells us that he expects us to be a beacon for him. We see this in verse 14 through 16 of the lesson, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

We, you and I, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, are the light of the world. We have been commissioned by God to bring his message to a world living in the darkness of unbelief and sin. The light does its job. It is the light of the law which comes and exposes our sins. It holds our sins up to light of God's law and shows us how badly we have failed to keep that law. It is the light of God's good news which exposes God's answer to our sins. As the light of the world we shine God's message all over the place so that people may come to know their loving God and Savior and come to faith in him.

We are to be like a city on a hill; you can't hide a city on a hill; it's there for all to see. We are not to hide our faith. We are to display it at all times so that people will have no question as to who we are--and as to WHOSE we are. But the fact is, people do hide their faith. The Bible tells us that Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus were disciples of Christ--but in secret because they were afraid of the Jews. They did not want anyone to know that they believed that Jesus was the Messiah because they were afraid it would hurt their standing in their church, in their community, in their neighborhood, in their daily lives.

We also hide our faith; we do it ever so subtly. We don't want to stick out as fanatics; we don't want to be offensive; we believe that everyone is entitled to their religious opinion--and they are. We want to be like everyone else--our workmate, our school mates, our playmates. But our Lord wants us to be a city on a hill. He wants us to stick out like a sore thumb that will attract people to himself so that they too can come to him as their God and Savior.

But our Lord wants us to be his disciples in more than word; he wants us to be his followers in deed. That is why he tells us to let our lights shine so that people will see our good deeds and thereby glorify, or worship, our Father in heaven. Our good deeds are to be lights that attract people to God. In the same way as moths are attracted to the flame, our good works are to attract people to God. People will see the good things we do and ask, "Why are they doing them? What compels them to do them?" Our actions are to be like honey, a sweetness that attracts people to the love of God so that they can come to him and know him as their great God and Savior just as we do.

But God also expects me to live in a right relationship with his law. We see this in verse 17 through 20 of the lesson where Jesus gets into a big discourse about coming to fulfill the law and the prophets. Jesus wants us to know that, as Christians, the law has a two-fold purpose in our lives. The law has two purposes for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The law shows me my sins and my need for a Savior and the law also is a guide for me in living the Christian life.

The law is guide for me to live the Christian life. The law as a guide is good. It is a gift from God. God gave me his law so that I can live a life which pleases him. But, wonder of wonders, the law also protects me from the devastating impact of sin in and on the world. God has given me his law to protect me. God has given me his law to protect me from sexually transmitted diseases. God has given me his law to protect me from joining gangs that engage in violence. God has given me his law to protect me from drug abuse. God has given me his law to protect me from alcohol abuse. God has given me his law to protect me, to protect me from myself and from my desire to feed my sinful wants and inclinations.

But God has also given me his law to show me that, try as I might, I, in and of myself, am never good enough for him. No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, my righteousness will never exceed that of the scribes and pharisees. The law acts as a mirror which shows me my sins in all of their damnable glory.

The law makes me take a good hard look at myself and realize that I am not good enough; I have not loved God with my whole being; I have not loved my neighbors as I love myself; I have not loved perfectly and completely and, if left to my own power and ability, I would suffer God's eternal judgement; I would suffer his eternal damnation. The law does its work. It shows me my sin and it shows me that I will never save myself.

And we have come full circle. God expects an awful lot of us and we would like to live up to his expectations but we don't. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in order to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. By his perfect life and sinless sacrifice on the cross, Jesus has done what we cannot do. He has kept the law perfectly in our place; he has lived up to the Father's expectations--something we cannot do. And he has given the benefits of that perfect life and sinless death to us. We are in a right relationship with God not because of the things we do but because of what Jesus did for us. In him and his righteousness we find our righteousness, a perfect righteousness which far exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, Christ's perfect righteousness which is freely given to us through faith by Christ our Lord. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all human understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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