A Calling Coined with Two Sides

Jesus is calling his church into a two-dimensional, twin vocation, a calling coined with two sides.

My kids have gotten into a routine of listening to a quiet song on repeat each night as they fall asleep. We’ve gone through a number of favored selections. “Lost Boy,” by Ruth B. “Farther Along,” by Josh Garrels. But the overwhelming choice has usually been a song by Lauren Daigle. Currently it’s Daigle’s version of “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” For a season it had been her song, “Salt and Light.”

I really like that last one, because it captures the heart of Jesus for his church in the world. Jesus is calling his church into a two-dimensional, twin vocation, a calling coined with two sides.

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. “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. 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. (Matthew 5:13-16)

Salt and Light. These are Jesus’ chosen metaphors for his people’s calling in the world.

Salt

Jesus tells his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” “You” here is plural. He isn’t speaking to individuals, but to a collective, a community. A church. He also says, “You are”—this is an identity, present tense. Not “you will be” or “you should be”, but “you are.” Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, where this passage is embedded, we see a vision of Christian identity. Jesus shows who we are as followers of the Son and children of the Father. And this identity constantly calls us to be who we are. Act like who we are—followers of Jesus and children of the Father.

The first dimension of the church vocation is that the church is “the salt of the earth.” Salt in the ancient world was used not so much for seasoning, but for preserving. It kept meat from going rancid and putrefying in a world without deep freezers and refrigerators. We still use salt in this way. When our family used to have a Costco membership, we would buy prepackaged, premarinated tri-tips. Now, you might not know what a tri-tip is, because you’re not from California. Tri-tip is a cut of beef that comes from California but could just as easily have come from heaven. It’s my favorite way to eat beef. For a long time here in South Florida those prepacked, premarinated tri-tips from Costco were the only way we could find a tri-tip. Whenever we would grill one of those tri-tips, I would wake up the day after with my finger stiff and swollen because of all the salt used to preserve the meat.

When we think about being “the salt of the earth”, we see that God is calling the church, his disciples, to be a preserving agent in a decaying world. We are called to be sprinkled throughout society and to slow down the spread of the evil and rot.

If you’ve seen the Salt Bae meme or watched the Food Network, you’ve seen a chef pinching salt from a bowl, holding their hand above the food being seasoned, and then evenly and methodically rubbing their fingers together to sprinkle the salt on the food. I used to think they did it just to look cool, like, “I’m a cool foodie chef, and I sprinkle my salt like a boss.” But that’s not why they do it. Once while watching a cooking show where celebrity chefs competed on teams with their spouses in a cooking contest, I saw one chef say to his wife as she salted some meat, Make sure to sprinkle it from up high, to get an even coating.

Jesus calling us the salt of the earth reminds us that the Father the master chef has decided to sprinkle us like salt from high above to evenly coat his created order. We might call this a salt shaker movement, which means that God intends to spread us, his church, all throughout the places where he has sovereignly called us to be.

Often, though, instead of a salt shaker mindset, we have a salt lick perspective. A salt like is a large, solid chuck of salt used to attract animals for the purpose of watching them (like a nature preserve), farming, or even luring them for hunting (which is illegal in most places). We have a salt lick mentality when we view ourselves as a church with simply a “come and see” mentality. If we view our responsibilities as Salt primarily in this way, we are going to miss major opportunities. The salt lick mentality is a good starting point, but a bad stopping point. We should see ourselves gathered as a salt lick “come and see” and we should see ourselves scattered as salt spread sovereignly by God the Father through his Spirit into various areas of our communities.

God has designed the times and places of our dwelling. Not one of us lives or works where we do arbitrarily. We each have a spiritual stewardship to be salt in those spheres. We are called to be agents of God’s reconciling grace in those places. We are called to preserve the God-designed goodness left in our society and to prevent the spread of sin-rot spoiling his creation.

We are called to stand in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools as a different way to be human, a new and resurrected way. We should be asking, “What would my city, my office, my school look like if God’s kingdom were here as it is in heaven?”

“But if salt has lost its taste….” The literal rendering here is, “if the salt has been made foolish” or “defiled.” You may know this (I didn’t before studying this passage) that it is scientifically impossible for salt to lose its saltiness. But it is possible for the salt become contaminated to the point where it no longer accomplishes its purpose. Then, it’s as good as white dirt. Chuck it out onto the ground.

Light

The second dimension of our Christian vocation, Jesus says: “You are the light of the world.” Again, “you” is plural. “Are” points to identity. And he says, “of the world.” Remember, when Jesus died and rose again, his entire group of followers totaled up to about 120 people. And Jesus tells his people that the whole earth and world will be influenced by their Christian vocation.

The fact that we are the light of the world also highlights that we live in contested space. We live in a world that is opposed to our Messiah and his message. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” In union with him, we are lights of our Messiah in this present dark and evil age. We are Kingdom citizens in a hostile society. We are a city on a hill.

If you’ve ever been out in the wilderness, away from everything, you know that you can often see on the horizon a faint glow from the lights of populated areas. In the ancient world, darkness was a universal experience. A city on a hill would have provided ambient light for areas surrounding it for miles. In deep darkness, a little light goes a long way. Jesus illustrates the same idea with a lamp. The purpose of the lamp is to be lit and put on a lampstand, so that it will give light.

“In the same way, let your light shine.” Christian are light, and Christians have light. Scripture says, “At one time you were darkness, but now you are light. Walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8). Like me you might have sung the song “This Little Light of Mine” when you were a kid.

“I’m gonna let it shine.”

How’s your shining going? How’s your salting going?

When my wife and I lived in Kentucky, our house had a fireplace. It wasn’t a fancy gas fireplace but an old-school woodburning one, which meant we learned how to build a fire, and to keep it going. Sometimes, when it looked like the fire had completely died out, we would crumple up some newspaper, re-fuel the fire, kneel down and blow or bellow a rush of air that would stir up fresh flames from the coals.

Maybe that’s what God wants to do with you and me—to bellow his Breath into our hearts, so that we will act like who we are.

History and our own stories testify to God’s gracious action when his people take this calling as salt and light seriously.

Slaves get set free.
Sinners get saved.
Societies get more just.

Imagine what God might do through me and you, through our churches, in our generation.

Tonight, I might just fall asleep with Lauren Daigle singing, “Salt and Light,” and maybe I will dream about what might be.

And wake up to live it out.