When we were kids, my brother and I had a regular menagerie of pets over the years. I had gerbils, and he had teddy bear hamsters. When they reproduced, their babies resembled kidney beans – no hair, just red bean-shaped things. We had a fish-tank full of tropical fish. We had an English bulldog named Frosty. But the creepiest pet of all was my brother’s chameleon lizard. That thing was just hideous. It had this icky skin, and big eyes. And whenever it got out of its tank – which was at least once a week – it was almost impossible to find, because, guess what, it blended in with whatever it was sitting on. That’s what chameleon lizards do – they change colors and even designs in order to look like their environment. It’s how they protect themselves from predators, and is really quite the adaptation, but it’s really inconvenient when you’re trying to recapture an escaped lizard. Especially since my mother absolutely hated the thing to begin with. And having it turn up in her laundry or on the coffee table on her magazine was really too much for her!
This scripture passage from Matthew is a snippet from the Sermon on the Mount, which was an extended bit of teaching by Jesus. There was a crowd of people surrounding him, and he set forth some of the basic ideas of his gospel message. And one of those ideas was that there’s no such thing as a chameleon Christian. Because, unlike the lizard, Christians are NOT supposed to blend into their surroundings; to the contrary, we should be noticeable and distinct apart from our surroundings. And that has never been more important – even necessary to the survival of the church – than it is now.
Christine Chakoiam, a Presbyterian pastor in Illinois, writes,
Year after year, for close to half a century, the church in America and Europe has been in decline. Not that long ago, the church was at the center of society. Its leaders enjoyed public admiration. Its opinions were valued at the civic table. Its ethics were lifted up as a guide to appropriate behavior. Its services were sought after for the edification of young people. All that has changed. Now the church is rarely mentioned in the news, except when it is shamed by its leaders’ malfeasance. Its voice is silenced, except when extremists are lifted up as examples and caricatures. Its values and services are considered ancillary, rather than essential to the formation of young adults. One would hardly describe the church as indispensable – especially as indispensable as salt or light.
Salt and light are indispensable to life. Both are elements necessary for the sustenance of living beings. And perhaps the reason the church is no longer indispensable is because it has lost its essence as salt and light in the world, being something noticeably different in the world.
In the ancient world, salt was highly valued. It was connected with purity because of its glistening whiteness. In fact, it was the most primitive offering to the gods, and Jewish sacrifices were always offered with salt. One of the characteristics of the world in which we live is certainly, as pointed out by William Barclay, a lowering of standards. We are not all that concerned with purity anymore. I don’t know about you, but I was appalled by the half-time show during the Super Bowl last Sunday. It was bad enough to see those two women parading around in such revealing outfits, but when one of them began to perform a pole dance, I was just disgusted. After all, there were probably children watching this. And yet, somehow in our American culture, this was considered appropriate dress and behavior. It seems to me that the church has a role to play in calling our country to be held accountable to some kind of moral standards, or purity.
Salt was also used in the ancient world to keep things from going bad. In the same way, Christians are supposed to be keeping the world from going bad. If that is our role, then we haven’t been doing a very good job lately. I think about the church in the 19th and 20th centuries – at the forefront of so many of the successful battles for social justice – limiting the hours for people to work, restricting child labor, working towards equal rights for people of all races and colors. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, I have been discouraged to see the church playing catch-up to much of the time, particularly when it comes to equal rights for our gay and lesbian citizens. Our own denomination is still not of one mind on this issue and will probably split over it. Where is the united voice of Christians over acceptance of all our gay and lesbian citizens as equal under the law? Where is the voice of the church on common-sense gun legislation? Or protracted warfare in foreign countries? We are not doing such a good job of keeping the world from going bad.
The most common use for salt then and now is in giving flavor to food. In the same way, Christianity should give flavor to life. But too often that is not the case. In fact, too many people perceive the church as boring or in negative terms. Oliver Wendell Holmes once remarked,
I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.
Too many Christians come to church looking like they sucked lemons for a week just to get their facial expressions ready for worship. It shouldn’t be like that! We should be joyful, happy, excited, enthused, and smiling when we come to praise God. William Barclay wrote,
We need to discover the lost radiance of the Christian faith … There should be a sheer sparkle about Christians … wherever they are, if they are to be the salt of the earth, Christians must be diffusers of joy.
As for me, the best times in my life were good times had at church. I remember Vacation Bible School, ice cream socials, talent shows, youth group square dances, singing in the choir, ringing handbells, enjoying potluck dinners, and so many other fellowship times. I have fun at church. Do you?
Christians – and the church – are to be the light of the world. A light is, perhaps obviously, meant to be seen. You don’t light a lamp and then hide it under a bucket. It doesn’t help you under there. You light a lamp and put it on a stand so that it can light up the whole room. Christianity is meant to be seen. There are no secret Christians; there is no such thing as secret discipleship. If people can’t look at your life and tell that you are a Christian, perhaps you need to think about how serious of a commitment you have made to Jesus Christ. Barclay wrote,
Our Christianity should be visible in the way we treat a shop assistant across the counter, in the way we order a meal in a restaurant, in the way we treat our employees or serve our employer, in the way we play a game or drive a car, in the daily language we use, in the daily literature we read. As Christians, we should be just as much a Christian in the factory, the workshop, the shipyard, … the schoolroom, … the kitchen, the golf course, and the playing field as we are in church. Jesus did not say: ‘You are the light of the Church’; he said: ‘You are the light of the world’…
That is so important to understand. Christians are not meant to just be Christians in church; we are even more to be Christians in the world, so that our light will shine out in the darkness. The light is needed to shine because there is darkness in life. Charles James Cook, Professor Emeritus at the Seminary of the Southwest, writes,
Jesus encourages his followers to bring light to a dark and broken world. The light is the light of the gospel, and it draws all people to its warmth and radiance. This mission has been primary, from the very beginning … Archbishop William Temple is often quoted as saying, ‘The church is the only organization on earth that exists for those who are not its members.’ In order for the light to be seen, we must be willing to go where the darkness exists, to engage and walk through it, so that, in time, the light can overcome it … We must go into those dark places, bearing the light of Christ.
Finally, we are to salt and light in the world in order to let our good deeds might shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise God. Our good deeds are not supposed to draw attention to us, but to God; it is not about what we do, but what God enables us to do. Christine Chakoiam writes,
We tend to measure a church’s success by the prominence of the congregation, and while it is altogether likely that faithful disciples are to be found in tall-steepled churches in the center of town, they are just as likely to be found in tiny emerging communities in the city … We tend to measure a congregation’s value by numbers at worship, and while it is quite likely that faithful disciples are attending a megachurch in the suburbs, it is just as likely that they are attending a tiny rural congregation that makes sure its elderly neighbors are regularly visited … Our effectiveness as disciples does not depend on our success according to the world’s standards. Moreover, if we are working only to have the most prominent, well-attended, powerful congregation, then we are working toward the wrong goal. The point is not to give glory to ourselves, but to give glory to God. Doing that requires nothing more than the humility of being who we really are: salt and light.
There is no such thing as a chameleon Christian; we are not supposed to blend into our surroundings, being indistinguishable from the world and its values and behaviors. Instead, we are supposed to be as noticeable as salt in food and light on a hill. We are supposed to be seen for what we are: disciples, followers of Jesus Christ. So, let’s be salt and light. Let’s be different. Let’s be seen.
