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Actual Salt & Light Explained for the Common Man
So what actually is salt and light? How do we know we are actually practicing salt and light and are walking out our faith in Jesus Christ as He called us to Himself? What is it, really, in view of knowing Jesus as our substitute who takes our sins on Himself?
Some say that when we come and worship, we need to experience God's love and leave all the problems at the door. No negativity. Don't mix religion and politics. Don't attack anything, because Jesus didn't attack anything. Is that really the best practice? Sure it is, if your goal is to have believers who bend the knee to the latest fad, Christian or otherwise. Rock on. But here is some straight up spiritual truth, and by it, the hope is that you will experience hope, love, and joy in the midst of our circumstances. We're done playing games to get you to feel good just for the sake of feeling good. That's a waste of time. Those days are over for the real remnant church that's left to advance the kingdom of Jesus in America.
The Text
The text is 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:
"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ."
Destroy strongholds. We don't do that because we just all get together and go out there and destroy. No, it's divine power. Divine power destroying arguments, and that divine power comes from living out the fruit of the Spirit. It's not this agitated, aggressive stance. It's a sure confidence.
Bummer Talk: Where We're At
Let's start with San Francisco. The city has been all over the news for tragic reasons. One national publication ran the headline: "San Francisco street horror only grows as drug overdose numbers spike." The New York Post wrote about San Francisco's "den of death" as a liberal city faces a drug crisis. CNN even reported that drugs are sold out in the open in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. Another headline: "A mother was raising her son in the city she loved. Then San Francisco changed and stole her boy." Drug addicts now outnumber high school students in San Francisco.
So what about San Francisco? Some might say, "What does it matter to the rest of us?" Look, in 2018, the drug overdose rate in San Fran roughly matched the national average. Five years later, it's now more than double the national average. Why? One reason: activists in the city have been pushing for body autonomy, claiming people have the right to put whatever they choose into their veins and lungs. They say it's no one's business but the drug users. Twisted-minded advocacy groups want people to use drugs more safely, saying abstinence is not always a realistic goal. Is that actually compassion? Think it through. G.K. Chesterton observed, "What we all dread most is a maze with no center." That's where we are.
San Francisco is not the only city to slide into unspeakable, unfixable chaos. It's just been on the slide longer than the others. Since COVID, everything has been ripped apart in our society, and it's hard for us to get our minds around how chaotic it actually is out there. LA now has third world tent cities with numbers and crime so massive they can't even quantify it. They don't even try. The invasion at the southern border has reached treasonous levels, and towns are being overrun. The infection will reach everyone in pre fallen America. These are the last days of America before it becomes the Venezuela you read about. It'll be here before you know it. Minnesota just closed a bunch of Walmarts, overrun by an influx of population there. This is now our new world, and we are called, dare I say commanded, to be salt and light in this once great land.
Even Elmo from Sesame Street asked a simple question on X: "Elmo's just checking in. How's everybody doing?" He got an earful. "Elmo, I'm depressed and broke." "Every morning I cannot wait to go back to sleep. Every Monday I cannot wait for Friday to come. Every single day and every single week of my life." "Elmo, I'm at my lowest. Thanks for asking." "Elmo, I got to level with you, baby. We are fighting for our lives." There is hope beyond these headlines if we look in the right direction.
A Post-Christian America
What ties all this bummer talk together? Harvard theologian Harvey Cox said it well: we now live in a post-Christian America. The Judeo-Christian ethic no longer guides our social institutions. Christian ideals and values no longer dominate social thought and action. The Bible ceased to be a common base of moral authority for judging whether something is right or wrong, good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable. The Bible ceased. It's not every day you get to fully agree with a theologian parked at lost, lefty Harvard University, but here we are, because Professor Cox is spot on. In days gone by, you used to go into court and put your hand on a Bible and raise your right hand. Now you just raise your right hand and swear on what? And this has accelerated a hundred miles an hour since COVID.
A.W. Tozer, in The Divine Conquest, wrote this in 1966:
"I am among those who believe that our western civilization is on its way to perishing. It has many commendable qualities, most of which it has borrowed from the Christian ethic. But it lacks the element of moral wisdom that would give it permanence. Future historians will record that we of the twentieth century had enough intelligence to create a great civilization, but not the moral wisdom to preserve it."
I really wonder what he would say about what he'd see around us today. Look, what is true of America does not have to be true of you. We can and must rely on the Lord right now, because we won't be immune for very much longer. We can name our biggest struggles and turn them over to His power and His grace.
Romans 8:37 says, "We are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Paul says in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." How about Romans 8:31: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" If there was ever a time for real salt and light, it is right now. Why? Because war is at our doorsteps.
Tearing Down Strongholds, and Building Up
Loving people, we must be willing to tear down strongholds and destroy arguments. It doesn't stop there. We must be willing to build up. Build up people who, once redeemed, will put on the full armor of God and walk in the fruit of the Spirit, serving the living King without apology. Sometimes we have to shine a light in the dark places. Sometimes we have to rub salt in an open wound. We don't want to. But sometimes we have to.
So let's tear down some strongholds, things that, whether you like it or not, we've been groomed by the culture not to discuss, not to oppose, or else we get cancelled.
Welcoming and Affirming
Starting with the LGBTQ+ folks and their advocates: they repeatedly browbeat the church to be "welcoming and affirming." Sorry, not sorry, but that's manipulation, and some of us have been given godly wisdom to see through that garbage. They join the two words together at the hip, welcoming and affirming, in an effort to box us in. Then they lie and say Jesus was like that to sinners. Get this in your head, nice and warm, like "sick and tired." Used together to express a single concept. In doing this word shell game, many advocates for sinful lifestyles emphasize that Christians are not truly welcoming unless they are affirming.
Yes, Jesus welcomed all kinds of people, including the worst of sinners in that culture: tax collectors, prostitutes, and all other kinds of social castoffs. Jesus associated with them and interacted with them, as have many of us over the years. If an openly gay, transgender, whatever fill in the blank person has a flat tire, there are plenty of men of God in this church who would want to help. But show me where He affirmed them. You won't find it. Why? Because He treated everyone with the offer of deliverance from those sins. He was always delivering folks from bondage to sin and condemnation. Look up John 8:11: "Go, and sin no more." Jesus offered the living water to whoever would come to Him. But He also set clear boundaries.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:13-14 says it straight up, hard to miss:
"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
That warning Jesus gives to the LGBTQ+ folks is the same warning He gives to you and me. All are sinners. Jesus welcomed everyone just as they were, but He also called all to leave everything, including their own way of life. Leave it all behind, then come follow Me, said the Savior. Don't miss that. Our Jesus was welcoming, which is why we were welcomed, which is why you are welcomed. But there is zero in the Scripture about being affirmed in our sin. Don't get duped.
There's only two genders. That's based on factual biology. We now have mastered grifters trying to say otherwise, and we've got Christians out there saying, "I can't disagree with that or they'll cancel me." Do you know Jesus or not? The only context of a godly union we call marriage is one biological man, one biological woman. Sorry, not sorry. What about "love is love"? Sin is sin. Do you know the Lord or don't you? If you know the Lord, then you are a living stone to build up and sacrifice.
Living Stones
First Peter 2:1-5:
"So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good... As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
Quit affirming sin so you will be liked by this carnal world. We got to stop it. We're chewing on some steak today. You want to tear down strongholds in the USA? It's time to belly up to the big boy table. Time to put your big girl pants on.
Loving people, we must be willing to tear down strongholds and destroy arguments, and we must be willing to build up people who, once redeemed, will put on the full armor of God, live by the Spirit of God, show the fruit of the Spirit, and serve the living King. That is the deal.
The Antidote
What if you had dying people all around you? You can picture it. You lived through COVID. What if it was actually happening, and you had the antidote, you had it in your hand, enough for everyone, and you said to yourself, "Well, if they come and ask, I'll give it to them"? Why don't you offer the solution to what is killing them? "I don't want to offend anyone." "Some don't think they're going to die." Some even go so far as to say the antidote is cruel and makes people feel bad about the death they're about to suffer.
Thousands of testimonies are out there of people who have come out of a very sinful lifestyle. Many sinful lifestyles: adultery, chemical abuse, alcohol abuse, sexual sins, etc., etc., etc. Fill in the blank. You know what yours is. And if you don't know it, and you think you're pretty good, and you're not Hitler, so you're probably going to go to heaven, that's a whole other discussion, because you don't know the Savior yet.
Any testimony of healing found in the substitutionary death of Jesus must not be silenced. Satan will not allow those stories of healing, restoration, and renewal found in Christ to gain traction without a fight. So where are the warriors of the Lord Jesus Christ? Who will fight on our side, the saved side? Where are the men and women who will fight in the fruit of the Spirit, putting on the full armor of God, and with love and truth boldly share the gospel of Jesus Christ without shame, our King, who took on our punishment that we rightly deserved in front of God?
An Authentic Gospel Place
People need an authentic gospel place they can come to, regardless of their past. That is the calling: to be that place. We welcome anyone in, and we provide the settled truth of Jesus being our substitute, so we can be rescued from certain destruction, given a new life, turning from our wicked ways, and pursuing righteousness together. There's room here for you. This calling rests on Titus 3:7, the kind of life verse this whole message is built around: being justified by His grace, made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
But what if you don't want to believe like that? Can you still come in? Yeah, you can come in. But you're not one of us. Sorry, we want you to be, and we're going to show you that path. But if you choose not to walk it, don't tell us we're not welcoming.
When did Christianity become a self-esteem project that makes you feel good about your sin? You let go of the old ways and you latch on to the new ways, and you don't do that with perfection. You will wobble. You will struggle. That's why having authentic Christians around you, who will accept you as you are in your sanctification journey, is so important. The old ways get you oppressed by evil, the same way idol worship got ancient Israel oppressed by evil. Old way leads to death. New way, following Jesus, leads to life. You can have fear, or you can have faith. It's your choice. But understand this: fear is contagious. Faith is contagious.
What Jesus Said Was Coming
Those of us soundly saved and redeemed need to look forward to His return, going all in with Jesus, because by doing so, we will be given strength to endure hardships and even persecution. How did the great believers of history endure persecution with such strength? They knew they were soundly saved. They knew they were redeemed. They looked forward to His return, going all in with Jesus.
You want to believe we live in the end times? Then we should look at what Jesus said is going to happen in the end times. Matthew 24:9-14:
"Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. Many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come."
Much of this passage is about Christian on Christian, professing Christian on professing Christian, and I say "professing" because not everybody who professes Christ knows Christ. Turning away, love growing cold, betraying each other. Are you ready to be an outcast, hated, and even possibly killed for Jesus? That, my friends, is authentic salt and light. It's tough. That's hard cheese. Which is why it is so easy to soften our stance and bend the knee to carnal, impostor kindness. But if a church is full of real salt and light Christians, it will be the beautiful bride of Christ, and there is nothing better in life than being a part of that.
The word for today is fortified. A group that is fortified will not easily betray each other. Will not easily see their love grow cold.
The Ten Bridesmaids
There's a passage about ten bridesmaids. Five have oil, five don't have enough. While the five without oil go to get more, the bridegroom comes. Matthew 25:10-12:
"But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he called back, 'Believe me, I don't know you!'"
Many around us in this modern, self-centered culture have lamps. They have an invitation, but they have no oil. You get to heaven and the door is locked, and you're like, "Jesus." And you hear Him say, "I don't know you." But didn't I love the culture the way you told me to love? Didn't I do this? Didn't I say a sinner's prayer? Do you know Him?
The Good News
This is what gets me up in the morning. This is what gets me motivated every time a phone rings or somebody knocks on the door. First Corinthians 15:57, latch on to this and hold on to it, those of you who know Jesus: "But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Four Points
Number one. We need salt and light in our homes. It starts in your home. You got idols in your home? Get rid of them.
Number two. We need salt and light in our church. We must have sound teaching. We must be able to share what's been shared here and everybody understand how much love is in that, and how much truth is in that.
Number three. We must tear down false gods. Can't play games and be salt and light. Jesus says it straight up. You can't do it. Look up Judges 6 in your spare time.
Number four. We must then build up that which honors God. Don't miss this one. As we're growing, as we're being sanctified, you will know in your heart. If you know Jesus, the Holy Spirit will put it there. There is no honor in a wink at sin. "Yeah, I'm a sinner, you're a sinner, we're all okay." You won't stop there.
Going All In
If you decide to follow Jesus, you need to pray for an enduring faith. You need to be strong for such a time as we live in. There are going to be days when we celebrate the goodness of the Lord. When I say go all in with Jesus, I'm using a poker term. Think about the poker table. It doesn't matter what you're dealt, you just go all in. And Jesus has promised that if you ever get beat, He's going to quadruple your losses back to you. Whatever you lost in those hands, He's going to quadruple. So you can't lose. You will win every single hand until the day of judgment.
People say, "Well, Jesus is coming soon." That doesn't necessarily mean a rapture, a trumpet sounding. It could mean He calls you home in the next ten minutes. We don't know the day or the hour. So why wouldn't we go all in with Jesus? If our chips get cashed in and we go to see Him, we get quadruple the blessing of what we put out on the table.
If you go all in with Jesus, there are promises in the Scripture, and part of that is peace, the peace that passes all understanding. That peace gets lost the moment you're required to wink at sin in order to grow a ministry, a church, a platform. It's amplified when you're around like minded believers who have also gone all in with Jesus. It's a beautiful thing.