Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house.Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house.
7 sermons cite this verse
… Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine to others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. We'll stop there. Notice that Jesus says, first we are to be salt, then we are to be light. First you're salt, then you're light. Why is it given in this order? Well, first the salt, I have a preserving effect. I create in others a thirst for God and then having acted as salt, I can function as light. And effectively, I earn the right to be heard. See, well, you know what? I admire your life, a nonbeliever says. Look at your family. How do you raise kids like that? In this world today, they ask, is their baby's looking at an iPad in their stroller? Or they're letting their kids behave in a crazy way with complete disrespect and total irresponsibility. or they ask you, how can you have a smile on your face when you're going through the hardship you're going through? …
… Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine to others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. We'll stop there. Salt and light. Why did Jesus use these two word pictures? Answer, because the world is a dark and corrupt place. And it needs salt and it needs light. You know, despite all of our advances in every field, from science and medicine and education and technology, we just go from bad to worse. Modern man has just found more ways to corrupt and destroy himself. We go from war to greater war, from crime to greater crime, from immorality to greater immorality, from perversion to greater perversion. We're just playing out the truth of the scripture that says the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things who can know it. You know, if you believe that man is basically good, you're gonna be very disappointed in life. …
… five through seven, the most concentrated portion of Jesus' ethical teachings. So today we're going to focus, we're going to start Matthew chapter five, verses 13 through 16. And this is where Jesus gives two metaphors for what we are to be and do as individual Christians, but he uses the plural you. So he's really talking about us together. And it's really emphatic. He says, you yourselves are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. So we're going to unpack those, and then we're going to go into six of the hard sayings or teachings of Jesus as found in the Sermon on the Mount. So let's start with you are the salt of the earth. Now, you've no doubt heard people describe this way. You know, somebody's the salt of, they're just salt of the earth. Usually that means they're just really good, solid people, right? But this phrase comes directly from the Sermon on the Mount. And so we have to ask, what did Jesus have in mind by salt of the earth? …
… And next week, we're going to talk about Matthew chapter five, verses 13 through 17. This is where Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. I don't want you to miss it. It's gonna be a powerful weekend of worship. And these messages will speak directly to your heart and to your friends' hearts. So I wanna encourage you to do that. I wanna invite you to go to core.org slash next and you can download there the Beatitudes as your wallpaper. So I have it now on my phone. And every day when I pick up my phone, I can say those again. I can pray those. Lord, help me to be poor in spirit. When I'm poor in spirit or mourning, be with me, help me. Help me to be meek and hunger and thirst after righteousness and all the rest. They're right there. They could be on your phone. I'd like to encourage you to do that. You'll also find more information about something I mentioned in the sermon, and that is the chance to sponsor a classroom of children in Honduras, in Malawi, in South Africa, in Uganda. …
… are. So in the gospel today, what does Jesus say? He doesn't say, hey, one day you're going to be the light of the world. He doesn't say, hey, one day you're going to be salt of the earth. He looks at his disciples and says, you are the salt of the earth. Right now, you are the light of the world. you do not have to wait for this this is this is the reality that this is your who you are not what you might be you know it's fascinating I've talked about this before but in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles to the scene is this that Jesus has already lived he's died he's risen from the dead he spent 40 days with his apostles teaching them living with them and at the first chapter of Acts he walks up to the city of Bethany and in Bethany you can see all of Jerusalem. Like you can see the upper room where Jesus gave us the Eucharist. You can see Golgotha where he crucified. You can see where he rose from the dead. You see it all. And the apostles at this point, they ask Jesus one question. Because they know who he is. They know he's the Messiah. They know he's the king. So they say, Jesus, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? They said, when are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus says two things. …
… A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. I love Wingstop. Thank you. to know me is to know I love wing stock I get about that honey barbecue that Korean barbecue that lemon pepper I might skip the 1215 just go get wing stop I love me some wing stop but what is it about the what is Jesus talking about he's talking about the flavor and there is a unique flavor that God has given you there is a unique flavor that he's wired you with and he's given you this so that you can walk in the calling that he has for your life, the purpose that he has for your life, to do the things, to love your family, to love your coworkers, to love your neighborhood and your community in the way that God has wired you to do it. …
I DON'T KNOW OF A, OF A PASSAGE IN THE BIBLE THAT impinges more on Matthew chapter 5 and verses 14 through 16 than First Corinthians 1. Now look, if you will, in First Corinthians 1, talking about man's enlightenment, man's wisdom without the Lord, uh, God says in First Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20, he asks a rhetorical question, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where WHERE IS THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD? WHEN HE'S TALKING ABOUT THE WISE AND, AND THE, THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD, WHAT HE IS REALLY TALKING ABOUT IS THE, IS THE INTELLIGENTIA. WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT HERE ARE THE PHILOSOPHERS. HE'S TALKING ABOUT THE, THE THINK TANKS OF THIS WORLD. HE'S, HE'S TALKING ABOUT ALL OF THE DISTILLED WISDOM. HE SAYS, WHAT DOES THAT AMOUNT TO? WHERE IS IT ALL? WHAT HAS BEEN THE RESULT OF IT? THAT'S WHAT HE'S ASKING. WHAT HAS IT REALLY, REALLY DONE? NOW THE EMPHASIS I'M MAKING IS THE DARKNESS OF THIS PRESENT WORLD. I WANT TO ASK YOU A QUESTION. IS TODAY'S AGE, IS IT AN ENLIGHTENED ONE OR IS IT A DARKENED ONE WITHOUT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? I, I WAS THINKING ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY OF THIS AGE. THE, THE TECHNOLOGY OF TODAY IS THE SCIENCE FICTION OF THE, WHEN I WAS A BOY. I MEAN, THE THINGS THAT WE DO TODAY, IT'S INCREDIBLE. UH, I, UH, I WAS THINKING ABOUT MY AUTOMOBILE. …