Christian, You Are a Blessing to the World

by Pastor Edwin Lehmann on March 22, 2018 in

The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany                   February 4, 2018
Text: Matthew 5:13-16                                   3 Year Series A                        18:2048
Theme: Christian, You Are a Blessing to the World.

A little clock in a jewelry shop window stopped one day for only half an hour. The hands stood still at twenty minutes to eight. Children on their way to school, noticing the time, stopped to play; adults on their way to work, when they saw the clock, slowed their pace; and a man scurrying to catch a train, slackened his step when he saw that he still had plenty of time.
But the children were late for school, the adults were late for work, and the businessman missed his train – all because one little clock had stopped! Never had these people realized how much they depended on that little clock in the jeweler’s window – until for the first time in their lives it had led them astray.
I am like that clock – so are you. Everyone who professes faith in Christ and claims to lead a Christian life is like that clock. People all around us are consciously or unconsciously being influenced by what we say and do. If we permit our Christianity to “stop” for just a little while, if we by careless speech or improper conduct set a bad example, we are likely to lead our fellow man astray, just as surely as the clock in the jeweler’s window.
It is wrong to assume, even for a moment, that our lives do not count; that our actions are unimportant; that our influence is insignificant. In a sense more real than we suppose, God has placed every one of us as His people into this world to “tell the time” – to influence those around us in this journey towards eternity.
“You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus said. “You are the light of the world.” Christian, you are a blessing to it!

I. As salt you flavor the world and keep it from spoiling.
Jesus did not tell us that we should be salt, or that we will be salt. He said we are salt. How? Consider that which salt does.
Salt adds to the flavor of food. It makes it taste better. People use it differently and in different proportions. Some people put a lot of salt on their food; others just a little; each according to their tastes and dietary needs. But, in either case they use salt because it makes their food taste better. Just a few grains of that tiny white stuff can make a difference in your enjoyment of the food you eat.
As a Christian your faith is like that. No, it won’t add flavor to the food you eat, but it flavors the life you live, and it has its enjoyable affect upon the people around you.
God has given us the great news of forgiveness and life in Christ our Savior. Along with that He has poured His love and gifts into us. That makes us like salt, seasoning the world that knows little of Christ and what He means for us as our Savior. What a source of flavoring to the earth Christians become when they show by what they say and how they live that Christ crucified is important to them for time and eternity. Such a blessing you are to those around you. Like salt you flavor the world.
Salt has another purpose, too, besides flavoring food – a very important purpose in Jesus’ day when they had no refrigerators and freezers. Salt acts as a preservative. It keeps food from spoiling.
I didn’t grow up on a farm, but I had friends who did. And sometimes they talked about the pork barrel that their grandmothers kept in the days before refrigerators. They would put meat in a barrel then add lots of salt on it. The salt kept the meat from getting rotten. It kept the worms out.
In a Bible class the other day, one of our members agreed with that. Her parents would salt their meat, wrap it, and bury it under grain in a granary on their farm. The salt kept the meat from rotting.
Our Savior wants to keep us and the people around us from rotting. He wants us to help people become God’s children through faith in Him so that they will not perish apart from Him and will join us in leading God-fearing and good lives. When we tell others about Jesus and when we give them a good example by the way we act, we are like good salt flavoring others around us and keeping the world from spoiling in the devil’s clutches.
But Jesus also warned that we might lose our salty purpose. In our time, we can’t imagine how salt can lose its properties. But the salt in Jesus’ day didn’t come from a grocery store like we have it.
Some people say that at times the salt long ago was scraped up from dried up ponds that had been filled with saltwater. When the water evaporated, the salt was left on the bottom of the pond and collected. But such salt also included sand and other things. If the salt got wet and dissolved, only the sand was left. So, the salt had lost its flavor. What good was it? None. It couldn’t do its job. Throw it out.
Maybe if Jesus were talking to us today, He might change His illustration a little and say, “You are a saltshaker. But if a saltshaker is empty, what good is it to people?”
As God’s salt in the world, I need to examine myself to see what I say. Is it kind or unkind? Does it help others, or hurt them? Does it point the way to Christ or just myself? I need to look at what I do. Do I treat others with the love with which God has treated me? Am I concerned for them, or just myself? Do I add something good eternally to the lives of others by how I act?
Oh, boy, sometimes I think I must be like an empty shaker that has lost its salt. But my salt does not come from a dried-up pond, nor does it come from the grocery store. My salt as a Christian comes from Christ, my Savior. As He has loved us and given His life for us, so He gives the love we need to show others. He flavors our lives and keeps the devil from spoiling us forever so that we can flavor the world and keep it from spoiling. That’s the power of the Gospel working within us.
So, Christian, as you heed God’s Word and return to the Savior again and again for the happiness of your own forgiveness and life, you are God’s salt – a blessing to the world.

II. As light to show it the way to Christ.
Jesus also said, “You are the light of the world…People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it give light to all who are in the house. In the same way let your light shine before people that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
It’s been 10+ years now since the big ice storms of 2007 and 2008 hit our area and took out our electricity. What did you do for light at night in those days? I lit a candle in our living room and I was surprised by how much light one little candle gave to the room. Oh, of course it’s not like the light bulbs that we have today that seem to get better and better at giving us light. But that candle was probably more comparable to the type of light Jesus had in His day when He spoke these words. It’s amazing how one candle, even just a match, lit in a totally dark room is seen. It is noticed.
You heard again this year in the days after Christmas the prophet Isaiah saying (9:2), “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” That light, of course, is Christ. And we were those who lived in darkness – the darkness of sin and unbelief. But then the light of Christ shone into our hearts and lives and we saw Him, our Savior, and rejoiced in the help that God sent to bring us back to Him. But how did that light get into your life? You didn’t put it there; someone else helped to bring you that light so that you could shine with the light of faith in a Savior.
You know, a candle can’t light itself. Someone must light it. Who lit the light of salvation in you? In the end the Holy Spirit is the one who brings faith to fire in us. But the Holy Spirit uses people in the process. For me He used my parents first. Then the people at church, pastors, teachers, other members, relatives, friends. They let the light of the Gospel shine through them so that I might receive the light of Christ as Savior for myself.
And in similar ways the same has happened to you. God used others as lights to show you the way to Christ. And now we rejoice together in His light of salvation. But we also have a job to fulfill, a job that is a privilege and vital – to let that light of Christ shine in and through us to others by what we say and what we do for there are still so many in the darkness of sin and unbelief and they will perish there without seeing the Savior.
“But I don’t know that much,” you might say, “to tell them.” Ah, dear friends, but you know Christ who was born in a stable, who died on a cross for you, and rose again from the dead. And knowing Him you live your life differently than others do. You live in the joy of salvation. Show it by what you say and do. Simply live the enjoyment of knowing where you stand with God now and forever. A little light in a dark room goes a long way. And the more flickering candles you put together, the brighter the light is. If you had a hundred lamps that shone brightly, that would make the light real bright, wouldn’t it? Oh, what a blessing to the world you are! Think of how much this world needs us today!
So, dear friend, whether you work quietly like salt works in your food, or more visibly like light in a dark room – you know Christ as Savior and are flavored, preserved, and enlightened with the gifts and joys of salvation. You are God’s salt in the earth and His light of the world. Let your light shine that the world may see and glorify God and His Son above. And, like a little clock in a jeweler’s window, keep “telling the time,” never stopping for a moment because no matter how little you think you are, your Christian influence on those around you is great on this journey into eternity. God grant it to us for Jesus’ sake. Amen

Pastor Edwin Lehmann

Preacher: Pastor Edwin Lehmann