A New Job Description - Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church

Matthew 5: 13-16 — 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 underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built 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 others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Today we continue with looking at the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is the first and longest message of Jesus that we have in the New Testament. Many theologians believe that these are the authentic words of Jesus.
Jesus had been announcing that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, not in the future but now.
Jesus has been calling for people to repent and to prepare for the kingdom.
The Sermon on the Mount is a detailed explanation of what it looks like to live as the follower of Jesus and to serve as a member of God’s Kingdom.
In many ways, Jesus’ teachings during the Sermon on the Mount represent the major ideals of the Christian life. Jesus made it very clear that His followers should live in a noticeably different way than other people because His followers should hold to a much higher standard of conduct — the standard of love and selflessness that Jesus always would embody.
Pause
Doesn’t this sound familiar: A woman was checking out at the grocery store one morning. The young cashier handed her the receipt and said cheerily, “Have a nice day!” This is something that we all hear every time we purchase something. But in this case, the woman replied, “I’m sorry, but I have other plans.” Maybe she did have other plans, or maybe she just didn’t appreciate being told what to do by someone she didn’t even know.
“Have a nice day” is not the sort of thing Jesus ever said to anyone when leaving them or when they were leaving him. He said things like, “Go and sin no more,” or “Rise, take up your bed and walk,” and “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . .”
In today’s Scripture verses (Matthew 5:13-16), Jesus is saying, “Go, be salt and light.” Of course, lots of people, then and now, respond with, “Sorry, I have other plans.”
Who likes to be told who to be and what to do by someone they don’t even know?
Especially when it seems to come out of the blue. That’s how this salt and light nametag seems on first reading. Like suddenly being handed a nametag and a job description without ever having applied for the position.
Let’s look at what salt and light mean and then how it applies to us.
“You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.” “You are” is emphatic in both verses. The intent may be to contrast Christians with their counterparts in the synagogue down the street. There is an implied imperative. “Be salt. Be light. Be who you already have been called to be and are capable, by the power of God, of being in and for the world.”
In Biblical times, salt was very important. People did not have refrigerators or ice cube makers and so salt was very important to preserve food.
They preserved vegetables.
They would preserve fish for the winter time; that is, they would salt it and dry it out.
In Biblical times, they said that a man’s life was as valuable as a bag of salt. And when they offered their cereal offerings, the Jews always put salt on the cereal offering so the cereal would not mold or rot.
When they had new babies, they would wash the new babies in salt water for medicinal purposes. Salt water would help preserve the baby’s life.
The Jews of the Bible would make a covenant with each other by using salt.
Let’s say that you, and I were going to make a deal with each other, there was no written contract.
You would take some salt from your house; I would take some salt from my house; and we would throw salt across each other’s shoulder. It was called the covenant of salt. Salt was symbolic of the preservation of a contract.
But salt was also a symbol of the preservation of life. If you don’t have salt, all you have is decay. It is very important to understand that. You have to have salt to preserve life.
Scholars have puzzled over whether salt can lose it flavor. Since salt is a very stable, non-reactive compound, the only way it can lose its flavor is by being diluted.
Also during Biblical times but not mentioned in the Bible is the story of a woman who went to the market one day to get her salt. The woman was getting salt in order to preserve her fish. She was going to salt her fish with the salt that she had purchased at the market, but, the salesman at the market had cheated her. The salesman had mixed white sand into the salt. In those ancient days, you cheated people by mixing white sand into the salt, and the woman realized that she had purchased bad salt, diluted salt, weak salt. You cannot separate the white sand from the salt, so all you could do with bad salt was to throw it away, to throw it out. .
“Lose its flavor” could also be thought of to “become foolish.” There may be a sense that if the disciples allow their wisdom (salt) to be diluted by the values of the surrounding culture, it will be indistinguishable from them and therefore worthless. Its ability to season, preserve, and purify will be lost.
Many times we use “salt of the earth” to mean a way of saying “really good person.” When we say, they are the “salt of the earth,” we mean they have good values and are people of integrity
But when Jesus hands us our job description and says, “Go be salt,” he means something much more specific and sacrificial.
In today’s passage, Jesus said he means his followers to be “the salt of the earth,” living in such a way that they “preserve” what is good in the world. He said bluntly that if people have lost their “saltiness,” they are “good for nothing.”
As disciples of Jesus – we are to be the salt—our mission is to spread the good news of the coming of the kingdom.
You are the Light (get flashlight)
In what ways are you living out your faith in such a way as to preserve the good in the world? What would be the point of following Jesus if not to join in his mission to be salt and light in the world?
John Wesley, following the teaching of Jesus, said, “Christianity is essentially a social religion.”
Jesus did not retreat and live on an isolated island, and he does not call Christians to vacate their cultures for an exclusively Christian environment.
God’s followers are to be “salt and light” in the world. God empowers us to “preserve” what is good and live lives that shine light into the darkness of our world.
Lamps light up the darkness. It would be pointless to light a lamp and cover it up.
Jesus compared his followers to a lamp in a dark room, or a city on a hill at night, seen for miles around.
God still calls us to be his light, to help people lost in the darkness find their way to the light, and ultimately dispel the darkness.
What choices do you make in your attitudes and actions to ensure that those around you see Jesus’ light more clearly as they spend time with you?
In the world, Christians are to be the light of Christ. What does a light do? * When you see a light in the sky, it is a symbol of hope and renewable and guidance in the world.
You are to be the light of Christ in the world.
Our lives are to be an inspiration to the lives of others around us.
Our lives are to be like a beacon that shows people the way.
Our lives are to be like a lighthouse, guiding other people’ lives through nasty storms.
Talk about job descriptions. When I was 10 years old I got my first paying job. I delivered newspapers. I had a route that was about 60 homes. In those days everyone got the Baltimore Evening Sun. My job description was very simple. Every day deliver the papers to each house. Make certain they were on the porch and out of the weather. Don’t break anything when I throw the paper on to the porch. Also, I was to keep a record book with the money that people owed for the papers and would collect for the papers every two weeks. My job description was very clear.
As I got older the job descriptions became more detailed and complex. Sometimes they were several pages long. I tend to succinctly summarize my job description as a pastor – “All things required.” Actually a detailed job description sometimes is very hard to follow all of the requirements. Something more basic is really better as it permits you to have added opportunity to innovate.
So here is the new job description per Jesus.
Salt and Light for the Whole World. Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon are directed far beyond the narrow circle of the disciples themselves.
We are to be salt and light for the whole world, not just a shaker of salt to season food with.
Not just keeping the electric bill paid so the heat and the air conditioning in the sanctuary stay on. We are to be the salt of the earth and light of the world.
Salt and Light Give Glory to God, Not Ourselves. The goal of being salt and light is to give glory to God.
These two metaphors are perfect for depicting a ministry that points beyond oneself towards God.
Salt shouldn’t call attention to itself in a well-seasoned dish. It enhances the combination of other ingredients.
Light illumines other objects in the room beyond itself.
Salt and Light Lead to Blessedness. The disciples are to be salt and light by living the commitments and virtues Jesus states lead to blessedness in the Beatitudes (5:1-12). The Gospel of Matthew speaks of the rewards for faithful discipleship. But he affirms that authentic discipleship only happens in response to Jesus’ mission as teacher, healer, and Savior. In keeping with the tone of the Beatitudes, the disciples are to live now the life that will be realized fully only at the end of time. It is a life that is, through Jesus, already breaking into the world
Wrap up –
A Hindu woman was converted to Christ, primarily through hearing the Word of God read. As she walked with Christ, she was persecuted by her husband and suffered much at his hands. One day a missionary asked her, “When your husband is angry and persecutes you, what do you do?” She replied, “Well, sir, I cook his food better; when he complains, I sweep the floor cleaner; when he speaks unkindly, I answer him mildly. I try, sir, to show him that when I became a Christian I became a better wife and a better mother.” The consequence of this was that though the husband could withstand all the preaching of the missionary, he could not withstand the practical preaching of his wife, and he gave his heart to God because of her.
If you are a genuine Christian, then you are salt and you are light by virtue of the righteousness the Holy Spirit is developing in you. Do as this Hindu convert to Christ did and continue on that path to develop as salt with a better flavor and become a brighter light. Do not allow your saltiness to become contaminated and do not hide your light. Live in such a way that others will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Prayer: Father, you are indeed worthy and deserving of a people who are fully committed to you and unafraid to say so. Forgive us for sometimes hiding our commitment to you in order to avoid unpleasantness from unbelievers. Help us to be unashamedly salt and light in your world, until you return with the full uncompromising brilliance of your Coming. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Dick

Here is the status of PGUMC. On July 1, 2023, PGUMC will become a member of the North Carroll Cooperative Parish. Your pastors will be Rev. Dr. Melissa Rudolph, Rev. John Rudolph and Pastor Jerry Gautcher. Pastor Gautcher will live in our parsonage. The NCCP may operate the Saturday evening dinner church, but that is still under discussions. We are currently working through the details concerning our cooperative relationship. Our future is bright as we step into the unknown.

My last day, as your current pastor, will be June 30^th. On July 1, 2023, I will be the visiting pastor at Reisterstown UMC. All pastoral duties after June 30^th will be the responsibility of the North Carroll Cooperative Parish leadership.