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Are Christians really meant to be good for society?
Posted by Semper on 13 November 2006
Last Sunday I preached on “Salt and Light”. I pointed out that the virtue of salt there is that it tastes salty and NOT that it is a preservative. I am sure that the reference is to be being tasty to God - as in Leviticus 2:13
Season all your grain offerings with salt . Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.
and Jesus is not worried about preserving our culture. The context is that of being persecuted for the Gospel’s sake since that is when we are likely to play down our convictions to avoid suffering.
It occurs to me that the persecutors could be right. Loyalty to Jesus could make us a disruptive and divisive element.
The traditional Anglican interpretation of “salt and light” is that we are the preservers of all that is good in our culture and that we must continue to strive for social improvement. As I get older that looks more and more like a red herring. In any case, it isn’t working.
14 November 2006 at 1:26 am
Hi Semper
I enjoyed your sermon on Sunday and appreciated the understanding of the passage that you put forward. As usual I was very happy to agree with you. One thing I did wonder was what you think the application of the sermon is for the church (both ours and the wider one) - as you said at the start of the sermon, the language is plural ‘you’.
For those unaware, you can listen to the sermons online or downloaded via the lighthouse baptist church web site, a link to which is on this page.
14 November 2006 at 2:30 pm
Hi Incon, I am glad someone reads this stuff!
This saying comes right after the Beatitudes and the question “How do you live by the Beatitudes?” is a real doozie!
The application is going to be tough and can not be reduced to simple do’s and don’t’s.
BUT a church which is salt and light will be a proclaiming and witnessing church, kept by the gospel of Jesus and not deflected by unpopularity or persecution.
Doing good is not part of being salt and light. Yet, if we are true salt and light, people we understand WHY we do good works and some will “glorify God.”
The plural “you” means that for some who are not articulate or theologically aware the main part of their witness will be by being loyal members of Jesus and part of a witnessing fellowship.
14 November 2006 at 9:11 pm
Hi Semper
Thank you for your reply.
You have taught us consistently over the years that it is the whole church that witnesses and proclaims not just the ‘paid ones’ or elders. So, I hear of and expect to hear of individual members of the church telling their friends and work colleagues about Jesus. From Sunday they are being salt and light when they do this, do you think that this is enough or that the church plural should have a programme of proclamation and witnessing about Jesus, outside of the activity that goes on within it’s four walls? i.e street work, door to door etc
15 November 2006 at 2:56 pm
I think that those who are good at it should do it. Not everyone is good at proclamation or personal evangelism. Some who think they are good at it aren’t, others surprise themselves when they try.
And I think regular, faithful church attendance is a better witness than most people realise.
I am not sure about programmes for anything, including evangelism.
Churches seem over-programmed generally.
And our culture is very suspicious of organised proselytising or pre-programmed witnessing. Personal testimony which grows out of personal conviction is more powerful