Stopping the Rot
Concern for Society
Andrew Thorburn’s recent ejection from the CEO’s role at Essendon has, I suspect, just heightened the concerns many of us already have about the direction of our society. It seems to be going to a place where, not only will life be harder for Christians, but many destructive evils will continue to spread unchecked – all kinds of sexual immorality, substance addiction, greed – and freedoms we have taken for granted, like freedom of speech and freedom of association, will be curtailed. We sometimes wonder what we can do about it, what we can do to influence society for the better. Should we become more politically active, even organise a new party? Should we develop a war chest to fund legal challenges to bad legislation? Should we perhaps form organisations to support those who will be undoubtedly harmed by unrestrained sin? Should we seek to become through writing an influencer, contending on the net for truth?
Now all those things may be appropriate for some who have the gifts and opportunities to pursue those actions. There is a place for sober political action. There is a place for those with legal training to consider how the law can be used to defend our freedom to preach and teach. There is a place, in fact will be a need, for those who can organise help for those left wounded, isolated, impoverished, by sin and its consequences. And there is a place for those who can write, who can organise arguments to promote the truth and critique lies, to be active on the net and in other creative arenas.
The way for us all
But what I want to draw your attention to as we reflect on the state of our society revealed in the Thorburn incident and people’s reaction to his departure is that the Lord Jesus has given a way for all of us to influence the society in which we live, influence it for the better.
In Matthew 5 our Lord said to His disciples:
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are 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."
Salt stops things from going off, stops the rot. It keeps things wholesome and tasty. That is what believers are to be in the world – those who stop the rot.
And light dispels the darkness, and brings with it safety and security, making it possible for people to make their way safely in the world, helping them to find their way home.
But light is only useful where it is not hidden but can be seen, and salt only has its effect if it is genuinely salt. It seems odd to talk of salt losing its taste for we are used to pure salt. They used salt cut from the salt pans of the Dead Sea, where the salt was contained in a mixture of other minerals, particularly gypsum. In some circumstances the more soluble salt could leach out. The substance would look the same but have no taste. When it lost its taste it went from being a valuable preservative to being useless and was thrown out and used as road base.
We are only salt of the earth where we continue to be genuine followers of Jesus, marked out by the character Jesus has just described in the Beatitudes, in vv. 3-12, and expressing that by practicing the righteousness Jesus will describe in the rest of the sermon that follows. As our society needs genuinely salty believers, and the way of being Jesus describes is not what we often expect influential people to be like, let’s think about who Jesus says His followers are to be.
The Character of those who are salt and light
He starts of speaking of his disciples as the poor in Spirit. These are people who know they must depend on God and His mercy. They have nothing to offer God, are not the rich and self-confident who think they can rescue themselves by their own resources, establish their own kingdom. This humble dependence is the starting point for all that follows.
Then those who are salt of the earth know how to mourn. They know grief at the world sin has brought about and don’t dismiss the harm and hurt that sin brings about as if it didn’t matter. They are meek, control themselves to put the interests of others before their own, even being willing to suffer loss, because they can entrust themselves to their faithful Creator. They are not always asserting and insisting on their own rights, not willing to deprive others of their rights to get their own way. And they are determined to live God’s way, hungering and thirsting for righteousness. They are sustained by living according to Jesus’ word and can find no rest – for thirst and hunger are disturbing and preoccupying – where that conformity to His teaching is not present in their lives.
And Jesus’ disciples are merciful. They are not looking to shame and embarrass, or exact the full penalty, or punish unintended mistakes, not trawling through the past to find reasons to condemn. They are pure in heart, that is single-minded in their desire to please God in all things, not making their decisions based on how it will advance their career or gain popularity for them. They are peacemakers both in sharing the gospel that preaches peace with God for all who will repent and believe [Eph. 2:17] and in promoting reconciliation through repentance and forgiveness in their personal relationships. They are not seeking to divide, to set one group against another for personal advantage.
Suffering and open following
And above all Jesus’ disciples are willing to suffer for righteousness, reckon themselves blessed by God when they do. They are willing to suffer for doing what God says is right, for keeping to the standards He has revealed in bringing people into relationship with Himself for they know relationship with the living God is life, for God is the almighty Lord, the judge and giver of life. And this means [Matthew 5:11-12] they are willing to suffer for being known as Jesus’ person, the follower of the One God has exalted over all.
11 “You are blessed, said our Lord, when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
We cannot be the salt of the earth without this willingness to suffer for Jesus.
We should resolve that in our minds now.
And we cannot be the light of the world if we are not willing to be openly followers of Jesus. That is what Jesus is telling us when He says
14 "A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.
We have been saved to be seen,
to give light by being Jesus’ disciples, the blessed of Matthew 5:2-12. ‘Let your light shine before others’ said our Lord so that people see the good we do by being Jesus’ followers – by showing mercy, making peace, being people of integrity determined to do what’s right, being the meek who allows the interests of others to flourish, taking the grief and hurt people suffer from sin seriously, being the humble who will rely on God and not create their own kingdom, and being those who in being willing to suffer for Jesus point others to the only One who can save them from death and hell.
Concerned about the direction our society is going? Whatever our particular gifts and opportunities, we can all play our part in stopping the rot and dispelling the darkness, but only Jesus’ way, by being genuine followers of the Lord Jesus, those who are really blessed by God. Trust him, and be who He calls you to be.
