13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste,
how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is
thrown out and trampled under foot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be
hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but
on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Jesus
says, “You are the light of
the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.”
He does not say you are going to be a light of
the world. He does not say that someday
you are going to become a city on a hill.
He says this is what you already are.
You ARE the Light of the world.
You ARE the city on the hill.
The question is this – when people look at you,
what kind of city do they see?
Now there are at least three levels of
understanding this city on a hill.
One level is personal and individual.
You, Joe, are the salt of the earth, a city on a
hill.
And Jane, you are also the salt of the earth, a
city on a hill.
And the same is true with you, and you, and you, and oh by the
way, ME!
This business of being watched by the world brings with it a great
burden of responsibility.
People are watching.
Children and youth watch adults and we present a model of how to
be and behave. For good or bad!
People our age are watching us for inspiration and encouragement.
And non Christians are watching because they love to catch
Christians being hypocrites!
People are looking at YOU as an individual to be
the city on a hill that inspires and encourages. So you best be the salt of the
earth kind of person.
On another level, however, you can understand
the church is the city on the hill.
We, collectively, make up that city when we come
together as a church. And people are
watching Grace/Orlando. Others look at
us and want to know how we respond to the homeless. How do we respond to crime and to victims of
crime. How do we welcome strangers when
they come in.
The church is a city on a hill, not just
individuals – but the church as a whole is that city.
So we together need to work together to make
sure that what our community sees in us is the kind of city set on a hill that
Christ desires.
Now there is one other level in which we can
understand the call to be a city on a hill.
And it is this level that particularly resonates
with us later this week as we celebrate the Fourth of July.
It is us as a nation.
I have a friend on Facebook, and like a lot of
friends on Facebook I have never met Kate.
Kate and I share the hobby of astronomy and that is how we have
connected. Kate would be furious if she
found out that I was talking about her in a sermon – she is an atheist and
hates anything to do with the church. But
we do have good conversations about astronomy, and sometimes about faith. She is intensely interested in politics. She wanted Hillary to win so badly. She is watching the news very closely about
Trump’s appointment to the US Supreme Court.
She counts the roll call votes on certain proposed legislation.
Which surprises me because Kate lives on the
other side of this planet. She lives in Australia !
I asked her one time why she had such a deep,
deep passionate interest in our politics. I mean, I don’t follow Australian politics.
She said it was because what happened in America was
felt all over the world. She looked to America to lead
the rest of the world. In other words,
even though she is an atheist, and even though she might not realize it, she
was in agreement with the words spoken by Jesus when he said to his disciples,
“You are the light of the world, a city on a hill.”
In 1630 eleven ships carrying a thousand
Puritans left England to
immigrate to Massachusetts . On one of the ships, the Arebella, their
future governor, John Winthrop, delievered a sermon named, “A Model of
Christian Charity.” In it he referred to
this text from Matthew and said that the colonies in America were a city on a hill and
the eyes of all people were upon them.
The eyes of the world are still upon us.
The problem is that we are not doing as good of
a job as we should.
We fail, and we often fail miserably.
As an individual, as a church, and as nation, we
are not that wonderful city on a hill for the world to see and be inspired by.
We have crime in this nation.
We have racism.
We have scandals and corruption.
Because we have a Constitution that guarantees a
free press we air our dirty laundry whenever we discover problems and try to resolve
them.
Hmmm…. Has there been an example of a community
that was called to be a city on a hill that failed in that calling?
Well, Sodom
comes to mind!
And that is not a very comfortable thought!
You probably know the story of Sodom
and Gomorrah .
We have the impression, I think, that Sodom and Gomorrah were the rotten cities
of the ancient world. Like Flint , Michigan ,
with the corruption in its city government that failed to provide clean and
safe water.
Or like Las
Vegas and the greed and lust we associate with that
city.
Or like Washington
DC and the political quarmire we associate
with DC.
But no, according to many Bible Scholars, they
were model communities. They were, by
many standards, living up to the call to be a city on a hill. Other communities looked up to them.
Except for God.
God decides to destroy them because of their
sin.
Do you know the sin that condemned them?
Well, the best interpreter of the Bible is the
Bible, and in Ezekiel 16:49, we read this:
“This
was the guilt of your sister Sodom :
she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did
not aid the poor and needy.”
As the story goes in the Book of Genesis,
Abraham learns about God’s plan to destroy Sodom , and Abraham is concerned. And he becomes an advocate on behalf of Sodom .
Now we all know the old saying that one bad
apple spoils the whole bunch.
Abraham
turns that around and wonders if a few good apples can save the bunch, or in
this case, the city on the hill, Sodom .
"Wait a minute," says father Abraham.
"What if there are in that city, 50 righteous people? Will you save the
city?"
And the messenger of God, an angel, says,
"Yes.”
Almost
immediately, Abraham thinks he might have overestimated the number of good
souls in Sodom . He might not be able to come up with 50
righteous people.
“What if there are 45?"
"I'll save it."
"What if there are 40?"
"I'll save it."
"30?"
"Save it."
Abraham is on a roll here.
"20? 10?"
"Even if there are only ten, I'll not
destroy it."
The concept of course, is not that one bad
apple spoils the bunch, but that one good apple can restore the others.
A few good people, simply by being Christian people, the
salt of the earth, and the light of the world, can preserve and restore a
broken society.
You see, anytime we complain about the politicians in Washington not doing
enough, we need to look toward ourselves and ask, “what can I do to restore my
broken society?”
We live in an age of violence. We may not be able to change
society, but we as individuals can say, I will not be violent.
We live in an age of dishonesty, tax cheats, and workers who
steal from the office. We can't change others. But we can be the salt of the
earth and as individuals be people of honesty.
We live in an age
in which others break their word and their pledge. We cannot change others
perhaps, but we can change ourselves. We can be people of integrity.
John Winthrop preached a sermon to a group of
Puritans who were coming to this nation to help build it. He told them they were the city on the
hill. He told them that the world would
be watching. And the world has watched.
If we don’t like what we see in our nation, then
we need to listen to one of the lessons of Sodom and start finding a few
righteous souls to redeem the city on the hill – and the only way to find such
people is for us to be better individuals.
If we are to redeem this nation, it is up to the
individuals who make up this country to become the salt of the world.
Don’t like what you see in this country, or community? Don’t look at the sin of others. Look for the righteousness in yourself.