Why Are Christians Called To Be Salt And Light?
We sometimes use the phrasing "you are called to be salt and light." This is a bit misleading as you are not called to be salt and light. Jesus tells you that you are salt and light. He doesn't say, "Go be salt and light." He's telling you what you are. You are salt and you are light, which exposes a few fundamental truths. Jesus is assuming the Christian lives in a context of darkness, total pollution, decay, and sin. He's not assuming Christians are ever reaching this glorified entity where we all live together. He's assuming because we are salt, that we are going to be mingled with a substance that is dying.
Salt in the New Testament has two primary functions. The first function is a preventative for decay and the second is to provoke thirst. The Christian lives in a society where people watch them live and notice the peace that surpasses all understanding. They want what the Christian possesses. So while it prevents decay, it also provokes thirst. When Jesus tells us we're salt, He's assuming that we are not huddled as Christians, but we're out in the world. Salt is the Christian's conduct of how to live.
This contrasted way of living is manifested repeatedly in the New Testament through the call for purity. When a Christian is living in contrast to the unsaved world, there is a need to walk in purity. Not only in sexual purity but also in the way they employ their tongue. This is one of the clearest ways people will look at Christians and recognize a difference. Jesus says throughout the New Testament that one of the distinctive marks of a Christian is that they talk differently from the world. Ephesians 4 says, "Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth." Then it says in verse 30 that when we speak in an unwholesome manner we grieve the Holy Spirit. "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." God grieves when Christians think they can talk like the world talks.
We've talked about salt, now let's move on to light. Light is the transforming power of the gospel. Light exposes the darkness. Just by very definition, if you're in a dark house and there's a single match, it's going to expose how dark it is.
Not only does it expose the darkness, it transforms the darkness because the light is the verbal testimony of who God is. We've talked about this line before. "Preach the gospel and if necessary, use words." That element often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi is the salty element where our life preaches a strong sermon. While this is true, Jesus tells us we are not only salt but also light. Light necessarily includes this element of verbal testimony to who God is. How will they know who to glorify if we're not telling them? The reason we are who we are is because of the work of our Father in heaven, which necessitates verbal proclamation.
If we're to live in a way that glorifies God, we're to remember that we are salt and light. Lights aren't supposed to gather together in isolation. Candlesticks don't gather in the same room and just talk about how dark it is. We are supposed to be a city set on a hill. This means we are to be strategically located in areas of darkness. Christians aren't supposed to just huddle together and shake their heads at how lost the world is. They are to go and be mingled with the decaying and sinful world that they're in.
A lack of conformity to Jesus Christ also prevents us from being salt and light. If we want to be more salty and more light, we need to seek to be increasingly transformed into the image of Christ. The purpose of being salt and light, which is our identity, is not so that they may see our good works and glorify us. It's so that they may see our good works and glorify the Lord. When people try to shine bright to receive the glory, they have the wrong priority, because people aren't attracted to the bulb, they're attracted to the light. People aren't drawn to us, they are drawn to Christ in us, which is supposed to reflect His glory. So we are salt and light. We don't have to become anything. We have to be who we are in Christ through His Spirit and His power.
