Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier
St. Matthew 5:13-16
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
In today’s gospel text from Matthew chapter five, Jesus says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works…” (Matthew 5:16, ESV) In chapter six Jesus says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them…” (Matthew 6:1, ESV) In addition to these two passages, Jesus ends today’s gospel text with these words, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20, ESV)
In one passage we are told to do good so that others can see and in the next passage we are warned about doing righteousness so that others can see. At the same time, Jesus requires that our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees who devoted themselves to being righteous. How are we to take these words of Jesus? Should we be diligent about making our righteousness known? Should we stop doing good works so that nobody can see them?
As those who belong to Christ, we are to shine so that others may see His light. Jesus says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, ESV) We don’t let our light shine so that God can see it; rather, we let our light shine so that others, who dwell in darkness, can see it. The whole purpose behind others seeing our light is so that they give praise to God.
To reemphasize this truth Jesus goes on to say in Matthew chapter six, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1, ESV) The purpose of making our light shine is not to be seen in and of itself. Our goal is not to be praised. Rather, it is a means to the end. The goal is that God is praised.
At the end of today’s Super Bowl, there will be one man on the winning team that will be awarded the Most Valuable Player award. Now he won’t say that he out performed his teammates so that he could be the MVP. See even the losing team will have a player who out shines the rest of the team, but he cannot be the Super Bowl MVP. The MVP will not play his best so that others will tell him how good he is; instead, he will play his best so that his team can win. Football is not an individual sport.
In a similar way, we do not let our light shines so that at the end of the year we can win the MVL award, that is, the most valuable light. The goal and motivation of our shining like stars is so that others will praise God from whom all blessings flow. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights.
We do not do good things to be praised by others; rather, we do good things so that God would be praised by others. We do not pray so that others can call upon us as a prayer warrior. We do not give alms so that others would be impressed with our generosity. We do not fast so that others can admire our zeal. We do not love others so that others will love us.
Because we still dwell on the earth which is darkened by sin, the LORD warns us about doing good. It is so easy to start off on the right foot doing our good works so that others will see them with the purpose of God being praised and then later slip into doing our righteousness so that others praise us. Just think about that last time that you did something that went unrecognized. Oh, how quick the human ego wonders why nobody noticed.
In our heart of hearts we like to be praised. We like to be told how good we are. Jesus warns us so that we keep our motives in check. We are to beware of falling into pride and arrogance. We are to assess our actions. Are we doing this for our own glory or for God’s glory? Are we bringing dishonor to the name of our Redeemer? We do not do good so that God can see how good we are. We do not do good so that others can see how good we are. We do good so that others can see the goodness of God.
The LORD our God requires us to be good, holy, and righteous. Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” It is common practice to have a salt shaker in the kitchen and or on the dinning room table. It is used for bland food. Now if the salt lost its saltiness, what good would it do to pour on table spoon after table spoon onto your plate? It would do no good at all. There would be no point in using that salt on your food or keeping it in your kitchen. It would be thrown out.
In the same way, what good would a church be on earth if it has lost its saltiness? What good would it be for us to build a new building in this community if we do not salt the community? What good would it do this community if we built this new building and never opened the doors or even bothered to turn on the lights? Even worse what good would it be for this community if other saw our bad works? Would this result in giving glory to God?
Keep in mind that our new building is in plain sight on Diamond drive. Jesus says, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” (Matthew 5:14-15, ESV) If you have ever driven home from Santa Fe at night, no doubt you have noticed the lights of Los Alamos a city on the hill. On the higher ground, Los Alamos can be seen from the valley. It shines bright in the darkness. If you have ever experienced a power outage, no doubt you scoured around the house looking for a flashlight or a candle. Once you found the emergency source of light, I would image that you set it out in the open to light up the darkness. No one would light a flashlight and put it under a basket. Our works will be seen by others.
Jesus teaches us, His disciples, that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. When we are honest with ourselves, we realize that we are not the brightest bulbs in the box and we are not the tastiest salt. The law of God shows us how bad we are. The problem is that by nature we are unrighteous, unholy, and evil. It is impossible for our own righteousness to exceed the scribes and Pharisees and to gain us access into the kingdom of heaven. The Law of God teaches us this reality.
Then Jesus teaches us, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5, ESV) Through holy baptism, we are united with Christ and are blessed in Him. We have an alien righteousness. We have Christ’s righteousness which exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees. It comes from Christ works and not our own. In Christ, we are holy and good. The gospel tells us how good we are in God’s sight for the sake of Christ’s goodness. As Paul says, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6, ESV)
Today’s gospel text flows right out of the beatitudes in which we are taught that in Christ we are blessed. Thus, Jesus says,“You are the salt of the earth” and again“You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13-14, ESV) Now of course these words were originally spoken to the twelve disciples. They were the salt of the earth and the light of the world. If they had not salted the earth and lit up the world, there would be no disciples in our day. They were sent out to all nations to make disciples by baptizing and teaching. We continue as disciples in our day. In our day we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The LORD sent His Apostles out to bring the light to those who dwelt in darkness. The church remains the city on a hill as a beacon in the night.
Take note that Jesus declared them to be the salt and the light. This was not achieved, merited, or earned. They did not make themselves salt and light. As salt they salted the earth. As light they lit up the world. As we have been baptized and connected to Christ we continue to shine as lights in the midst of the darkness of the world. We have been made good in Christ and therefore we do good things. These good things will be seen by others. We may not be flood lights. We are small dim night lights. We may not be large pieces of rock salt. We are a pinch of table salt. But in Christ we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
On this day, we gather around Christ who is the source of all light. He is the Light. The light of Christ shines in our darkened hearts and glows in our lives. We gather around the Lord’s Table to be salted by Him. We eat at His table for the forgiveness of our sins. We have the righteousness of Christ by faith. In Christ we are salt and light. Amen.
