My Flavor of Salt, My Color of Light

My Flavor of Salt, My Color of Light

(Matthew 5:13-16)

                  

<My favorite flavor of ice cream>  

Do you like ice cream? I was not a huge fan of ice cream, but since I moved to Houlton, I became a fan of Houlton Dairy ice cream which is called "the world's best ice cream". We are so proud that we have Lilley's family of Houlton Dairy Farm in our church. 

What is your favorite flavor? There are lots of flavors of ice cream. Our family’s favorite flavor of ice cream is Victor’s homemade Banana nice cream. For making ice cream, there is the transformation from milk to cream, from cream to ice cream. We are transformed from milk to the world’s best ice cream when we decide to follow Jesus as his disciples. We can be called “Jesus’ ice cream” We have all different flavors. We have the same gospel, but we can share it with all different our stories. Imagine if we have no flavor of ice cream in the world, it would be faster to order ice cream, but we can't have the joy to taste lots of different ice cream flavors. What’s your flavor as Jesus’ ice cream? Some of you might be sweet and gentle like vanilla ice cream, and some of you might be crunchy and chunky like maple walnut. May we listen to God's voice again to call us the salt and the light of the world, and may God open our eyes to see when, where, what, and how we need to live as Jesus' favorite flavor of ice cream through this service.  

 

<You are the salt of the earth> 

Jesus calls us "You are the salt of the earth" and "You are the light of the world" in Matthew 5:13-16. Jesus does not ask us "Do you want to be my salt and light?" He proclaimed our identities as His followers. 

 

“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 underfoot.” (V.13)

 

What is salt? After they discovered salt, they preserved the food, and they could develop society. Before we have money, they sold items with salt. Salary's origin is salt. We need salt in our bodies. Salt is a nutrient source. Salt is a texture, color, and flavor enhancer. Salt has been used for thousands of years to clean and treat wounds. When we sprinkle salt on the ice, it makes ice into the water. There are lots of different kinds of salt. Even when I am cooking, I use several different salts for different purposes. There are Kosher, red, pink, black, sea, table salt, and my dad's Tot salt. There are many uses for salt. There are three key functions of salt; a preservative, a disinfectant, and a seasoning. We can examine ourselves and how we can live as the salt of the world. 

First, salt is a preservative. At Jesus' age and place, salt was very important to preserve food in the hot temperature. Salt not only draws water out of food but also draws moisture out of any bacteria or microorganism that is on or in the food killing them in the process. Salt transforms food. Recently I made Kimchi, Korean traditional food, with my children. The very first step is wilting the cabbage with salt. When I sprinkle salt all over the surface of the cabbages with a little bit of water and keep it for a few hours, the cabbage will be wilted. How about us? As salt transforms others, can the people around us experience “Spiritual transformation” through us? (Hodgdon- Jacob Lilley's confession about coming to church, Houlton- Cynthia's confession to talk about Jesus with her student, Rita, and Tina's families story to come to church, Mars Hill- Cyrel's membership) 

 

 

Second, salt is a disinfectant. Have you ever been in the ocean with an open wound? It stings! We can find which part is wounded by salt. It reveals which part needs to be healed. Even though we do not say anything, people around us know which is a good life, and which is a sinful life. Salt heals the wound. When we have a stuffy nose, we use saline. Salt kills some bacteria, and it is helpful to cure wounds. Sometimes we use salt for cleaning. I usually use salt and hot water for a drain of a sink for cleaning. As salt cleans others, can we reveal unclean and lead them to true holiness? Can we help them to be healed by listening or counseling or leading them to the true healer? 

 

Third, salt is a seasoning. Have you ever tasted salt itself? It's not good taste, and we cannot have salt by itself. Salt is needed in our body, but always we can have salt with others. When salt meets other ingredients without losing its taste, it works. As salt is in the middle of others, can we live with others in this world without losing our taste as a disciple?  

 

                 

The Dead Sea is the second-saltiest lake in the world. Its surface and shores stand at the lowest elevation (around 435 meters or 1,430 feet) of any land mass not under water or ice. With a salt concentration above 30 percent, lake water is nearly ten times saltier than the oceans. They can find salt easily by digging, or pouring sea water in the pit and drying it. Some of them are good, but some of them lose their saltiness. That salt is useless. It will be thrown away. How about us? As salt which loses saltiness, do we lose our identity while we are living with others as disciples of Jesus? 

 

<You are the light of the world> 

Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world. In John 1:1-5, we can find Jesus' identity. 

 

" 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it." 

 

Jesus was the Word, with God, God, and the light which shined all creatures. He is light, and He created us with His light. We can see how he created us with His light in Genesis 1:26-27. 

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image,  according to our likeness..." 

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; 

male and female he created them.”

God created us in the image of God. We are totally different with God, but He shared a piece of His light as the image of God. Isn't is beautiful that we were created in the image of God? 

When Jesus came to us, he said He is the light of the world in John 8: 12.  

 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness 

but will have the light of life.”

The same light of creation came to us, and He proclaimed we are the light of the world, too in Mark 5:14-16. 

"14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 

15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it 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."

Since we invite Jesus into our hearts as the Lord, we are called "the light of the world", too. As the light, we can't hide our light by being quiet, going along with crowds, denying God's truth, letting sin dim our light, not explaining our light to others, and ignoring the needs of others. I am glad to see many lights in our churches. (Brian's jelly and wreath ministry, Donna's lay leadership, Diane's music ministry, and Mary's children's ministry) 

How about us? As His light shines on us, do we shine His light on others? As His light shines on us, I pray we can shine His light on His people. 

 

                       

       

   

<My unique beauty as a Christian>  

We became Jesus’ ice cream. We were transformed. God gave us our unique personalities, situation, and special our story. Everyone has a different story to encounter God with different flavors, but we are all the same to be called Jesus’ ice cream. 

We are the salt of the earth. May God transform our children, our family, our co-workers, and our community through our life. May God clean, disinfect, and make holy our sinful nature around us. May the people come to the Lord to see our life from their sinful life. May we live in this world without losing our identity as salt enhance texture, color, and flavor. 

We were created in the image of God with His light. Jesus came to us as the light of the world. He proclaims that we are the light of the world. As white light goes through a prism, and it shines all different colors, through Jesus, we can shine His light with all beautiful rainbow colors. May God shine His light from creation to the second coming on us, and we shine His light on our people. May we can shine His light altogether when we get to heaven.