Be the Church

Living as Jesus' kingdom witnesses to our time and town and beyond is how we at Valley talk about our Lord's disciple-making calling on our lives.  Jesus uses two metaphors, salt and light, to teach us how to relationally live as His Kingdom people in the midst of a decaying and dark world.  Jesus commands us, as HIs church in this world to ...

1. Be Salt ... "You are the salt of the earth.  But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out adn trampled by men" (Mt. 5:13).  Jesus starts out by teaching us that 'you, you alone as my disciples, are the salt of the earth.'  As Jesus' disciples our calling as salt is to go into the world, not seek to escape from it.  The salted church is to be three things in this world: a preservative, a spice, and a thirst stimulator.  We are blessed by the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to be a salty blessing in the midst of a bland, empty, flavorless, decaying, sinful world.  This is who we are as Jesus' church in this world.  And if we profess to belong to Jesus but are not living as salt then we are worthless witnesses and of no help to this decaying world.  Jesus casts these kind of churches away - takes away their lampstand - saying that they have forgotten their first love and instead are living for themselves (Rev. 1-3).  This is exactly what happened to Israel: they were not a salty witness to the Lord their King so they were cast aside.  The church does not exist for itself but for the spread of the gospel Kingdom and to be a gospel blessing to the world.
2. Be light ... "You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Mt. 5:14-16).  We are created in Christ Jesus (born-again) to do good works so that our Father in heaven will be praised.  How is the Father glorified by our lives as Jesus' church?  By our lives reflecting Jesus' gospel, Kingdom glory to others.  Light illuminates.  We are saved to illuminate the glory and grace of our Great God and Savior into this world like the moon reflects the light of the sun.  If being salt means going out into the world to preserve, spice up, and stimulate thirst, then being light means welcoming those living in darkness into the light of gospel/kingdom community so that they can 'taste and see' what the Kingdom of Jesus is like.  Jesus says that we as his disciples must go up on the highest hill where the most people can see our lives and hear our message so that they can come to know Jesus as their Savior King.  We welcome people into our lives and into the church community so that they can see the impact of the gospel on our lives as we live out the gospel together as His New Covenant people.  Being light has nothing to do with pride or self-sufficiency or moral superiority or worldly success but about the grace of Jesus Christ alone illustrated for all to experience and know.  Being light is not a ministry that says, 'I've arrived but you need God's grace' but rather it is in the context of our own continuing struggle with sin and in our weakness that the love and power of our Savior King is most clearly seen.  What opportunites will the Lord give you and me this week to go out into the world to be salt and to invite others into our life to experience the Light of Jesus?