Matthew 5:13-16 Kingdom Values - Others, not only us
A kingdom value is a summary statement of ambition for believers to grow into as Christ is exalted in all of life. These short statements are statements of ambition that you can deploy and remember so that we don't forget what our kingdom ambitions are. What is it that Christ has called us to as we glorify and exalt Christ in all of life? These little statements hopefully give us a helpful summary of what God is doing in us and what God has called us to as he is remaking us more and more like Christ in all of our lives.
5 Kingdom Values
We've got several of these kingdom values that we will be digging deep into over the next few weeks.
Others, Not Only Us
Unexpected generosity
Kingdom before comfort
Mission, not membership
Changing lives.
“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. You are the light of the world; a town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”. Matthew 5:13-16.
Kingdom’s Purpose- Salt and Light
The context of Matthew 5:13-16 is a statement by Jesus that's sandwiched. This is a larger passage, Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, that we call the Sermon on the Mount. Here, we've been given three little verses towards the beginning of this sermon that are sandwiched together to give us spiritual nutrition. They are meaty verses of what we have just dived into of what we have just read. So, Matthew chapter 5 all the way through Matthew 7 breaks down something like this. In the first two verses of the chapter, the king holds court, and we're told that Jesus went up onto the mountain and sat down. This is not an accidental detail. Jesus went up onto the mountainside, he sat down like a king taking a throne, and then speaking to his subjects, or a king holding court, with many coming in to hear what the king's edicts or dcrees will be.
In verses 3-12, we're then given those repetitions, the beatitudes. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. These statements of blessing, the beatitudes, are statements of kingdom character. It speaks to our character as kingdom citizens under the reign of King Jesus. Jesus doesn't promise that we will forever be without mourning. But he does promise that as we mourn, we will be blessed, for we will find comfort.
Now we come up to the sandwich part, the salt and light part. That's the kingdom's purpose. The king is addressing his citizens, outlining their agenda. This is what the king has for you. The king has brought you into his kingdom, and he is now giving you your glorious marching orders. The king gives us kingdom purpose in this statement that we are salt and we are light.
For kingdom expectations and kingdom righteousness to be met, we've got to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. That's a reminder to us that this righteousness that we are called to is not a righteousness of our own making. It is not a righteousness of our own possession that we muster up, or that we work toward, or that we achieve. But instead, this is the king's own righteousness that he gives to his people as he forms us and shapes us for a purpose with a character and into kingdom living, which is that last portion of the Sermon on the Mount.
The king's corrective instructions. It's the biggest chunk of the Sermon on the Mount. Oftentimes, it's referred to as Jesus' commentary on the Torah or Jesus' commentary on the Pentateuch or Jesus' commentary on the Ten Commandments. Jesus gives kingdom living corrective instructions. We know this portion of the Sermon on the Mount oftentimes best with the phrase, then what does Jesus say? But I say to you. You have heard it said, but I say to you. This is a corrective.
We're right here in this sandwich. It's right here in the middle of this form or breakdown of the Sermon on the Mount. At the very beginning, our kingdom's purpose is that we are salt and light. Our priority is not only about us, but it's about others.
What does it mean?
Salt is a preservative, and light is a guide. I was asked recently whether or not I was progressive or conservative. And I said, I'm more in Jesus's camp on this issue. I'm a preservative. This is what Christ calls us to be. Christ calls us to be and to live as preservatives. If you look at the back of your food, when you read the ingredients, sometimes they'll just have this one word on them: preservatives. Preservatives are very important. And in the ancient world, as Jesus was preaching and teaching to this great crowd that had gathered to him there at the mountain, as the king held court and he spoke to his citizens, he said, You are the salt of the earth. You are a preservative.
You are a preservative, dear brother or sister in Christ. This isn't your pastor just giving you his opinion. This is the king's word to you. You are a preservative. Things in this world naturally go bad as a result of the fall. If we do not tend to our gardens, what happens? Weeds. And the things that we have planted, they die. If we do not look after our toddlers, what do they do? Yeah, they get into stuff that they're not supposed to. They fall down the steps. They find toys that are not toys. It is a preservative act to garden. It is a preservative act to parent our children. It is a preservative act for us as Christians to live, work, and serve in our places of employment, in the church, and representing Christ in our families. You have been placed exactly where God has put you to preserve the king's definition and agenda of what is good. You are a preservative.
Called to be Light- A Guide
Christ not only called us salt, but he also called us light. Light acts as a guide. Without light in the darkness of night, you might be able to make your way from the bed to the restroom because you might have done it once or twice before in the deep darkness of night. But when you go to the Airbnb, you don't remember your way around. And so in the darkness of night, as you wake up to seek out where that restroom is, you turn on a light. Or you even use maybe some pre-planning night lights because you know at some point it's gonna get dark and you will need light along the way.
You dear brother and sister, according to our great king, King Jesus, he says you are a light. You are a light. You are pointing to something. You are helping show some way to go. You are guiding others towards something. Our king calls us both preservatives and guides. We are salt and we are light.
What is it that we are to preserve? We are to preserve, as we've said, the king's agenda. In the midst of our mourning, in the midst of our challenges, in the midst of persecution, in the midst of opposition, in the midst of just a little bit of pushback, we are to preserve the king's agenda. We are like that salt that is rubbed into meat to make sure it doesn't go bad. You, as a Christian, are being rubbed into your circumstances, into your family, into your community, into your seminary, into your college, into the challenges that arise, into your friendships, into your social groups. You are being rubbed as the salt of the earth to preserve the king's agenda in those very places he has called you to. And if you are not there, what happens to meat, sandwiches and food? If it's left out with no preservatives, it goes bad.
We are specifically in the places that God has called us, such that there may be kingdom agents throughout the world. You are a preservative, and you are to preserve the king's agenda. You are a guiding light, and you are to point those around you towards the hope of Jesus Christ. Your light is not just there as a random light pointing to nothing. I can remember there's one particular cornfield in Southern Illinois. You drive for roughly 10 miles in any direction and will not find a traffic signal or a city light. And then all of a sudden, because one farmer said, I got sick of not having any light, he built a pole and put a giant light on it. One farmer was getting sick of the darkness and wanted a spot to park his truck where there would be some light. And so he put up a light.
That light was visible from a ways away. I remember whenever I was driving near that area at night, I always thought I must be much closer to home than I actually am, because that light, you can see it from a ways away. Some of us are lights in places of incredible darkness. Some of us are called to be lights where it seems like there's not much other light around. Yet, God has not made a mistake in calling you to be light into that place and to those people, to point them towards the King, towards the goodness of the King, and towards the way of life. We are to preserve the King's agenda, and we are to guide others towards the King.
Preserve the King’s Agenda and Light to Shine
My job as a dad, as an employee, as a citizen, as a brother, as a son, as an uncle, as a cousin, my job is to preserve the King's agenda. I'm in all of those various relationships and capacities, and my job is to preserve the King's agenda. Oftentimes, though, lights can't be hidden under a basket, right? A city on a hill should not be hidden. The temptation when we do seek to preserve the King's agenda is, I'm going to preserve
the King's agenda, and I'm going to do it in such a way that nobody knows. We biblify it, we excuse it by saying, well, I don't wanna practice my righteousness in front of other people, our own justification.
When the work of preserving is not welcomed and is in fact retaliated against, we need to remember that second part of what Christ has commanded our agenda to be, that we are salt and that we also light, that our light is to shine. We are to preserve in such a way that others take notice of not us for our sake, but of the king
for his sake. Another way to say this is, if we're gonna have problems as we are preserving the
king's agenda, let them be problems that we use to point others to the king. Oftentimes, we get into problems because we're not pointing to the king, we're pointing to ourselves.
Let's put Kingdom Values up against what naturally comes to us as fallen, broken sinners. Others, not only us.
Others, not only us comes from the Lord, right? That is a new orientation of our lives, that we live our lives in such a way that it's not all about me. One of the challenging things about raising little ones is that they come into the world prepackaged with a core belief that everything is about them. And you and I were the same way. It is a gift of the king for us to grow into this. It is a gift of the work of the Holy Spirit growing in us. It is, we could say, a fruit of the Holy Spirit that we grow into this agenda, that our lives are not only about us, but are also about others.
The natural, sinful statement that comes so easily to us is just, everything's about me, and it's always just about me. We don't need to have lectures or seminars or sermons teaching us to grow into how everything is about me. We really don't need much to grow into that. That part comes naturally. The part that comes from God that is divine, that is God working in us, is this change in attitude from me, always just me, into an attitude of others, not only us. This takes place both on a personal level and on a church-wide level. There are some churches that I've been to that more embody the one statement, me, always just me, than others, not only us.
Others, not only us, point to how God has given me a joyful faith to share with others. Is that true of you? Has God given you a faith that you just can't wait to tell somebody about Jesus? Has God given you a faith that you are excited when that opportunity comes up, and you are hopeful and expectant and happy when a conversation comes up and you get to talk to somebody about Jesus?
That me ,only me thing, one way to look at that is, my faith is a private thing between me and God. That's a pretty common one here in the United States. I don’t want to push anyone’s buttons; my family knows where I stand on that issue. Some of us have said this, some of us truly believe this, that my faith is a private faith between me and God. Others not only us speaks back to that preservative and to that guiding principle that God has give you a faith to guide and direct others back to the Lord Jesus Christ, and so this is ambitious for us. That we are going to live in such a way as Christ empowers us to share a joyful faith with others
God equips me by His Holy Spirit to do good that will point others to glorify God. Look again at the end of Matthew 5:16: “in the same way let your light shine before men so that they may believe.” There is a difference between genuinely preserving the king’s agenda in such a way that it is inescapable for people to see that we live with a different ruler than this world. We live with the eternal, everlasting, resurrected, Lord of Lords, reigning King of Kings as our ruler, and he has an agenda for us. That me as me just me, point to my good works will point to my good character. If we are preserving the King’s agenda, then our life will do some talking but it won’t point people to the reality that we hold a particular political belief, social persuasion, or football team allegiance. If we are living the King’s agenda, to be preservatives in this world that is in decay, if we are point others towards Christ Jesus by the good that we do, our good works won’t point back to us. The good works that we do for Christ will point back to Him. As we pursue good works that point back to him?
We are to do good, and as we do good, it ought not point to us but to Him. If it really is good, it will be in line to what our King says is good. God has called you for the moment of decay to preserve the good.