“You have heard it said”. The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5,6, & 7)

Session Four – The Christian in Society – Being Salt and Light

  1. Open
  2. Many people we meet every day may have never read or even own a Bible – we as Christians may be the only ‘Bible’ they ever see
  3. Who do you know that exhibits Christian character – models the Bible – to you and others they meet?
  4. What positive impact on society can these types of individuals have?
  5. Study – Read Matthew 5, 13-16.
  6. In the time of Jesus, salt was related to three qualities in people’s minds:
  7. Preservative – salt was most commonly used to preserve food before the advent of refrigeration; meat would decay without salt, it can do nothing else. The world will decay without Christian ‘salt’, it can do nothing else.
  8. What has been in the news lately that indicates that the world is rotting and decaying? Where is the ‘salt’ to prevent the decay?
  9. Flavor – salt helps eliminate the blandness of food. Oliver Wendall Holmes once said, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergy-men I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.” (Barclay, 1975)
  10. What are some practical ways Christians can function as ‘flavoring’ where they live and work?
  11. Purity - The Romans considered salt the purest of elements as it came from the purest of locations, the sea. Salt – sodium chloride - doesn’t lose saltiness, it becomes corrupted by other elements that dilute its saltiness. Christians should be the person who holds aloft the absolute standard of purity in thought, speech and actions. (Barclay, 1975).
  12. What might cause Christian’s to lose their saltiness?
  13. The Light of the World
  14. A light is to be seen. “There can be no such thing as secret discipleship, for either the secrecy destroys the discipleship, or the discipleship destroys the secrecy.” Our Christianity should be perfectly visible to everyone. (Barclay, 1975)
  15. Why might we as Christians hide our light?
  16. A light is a guide. Just as lights on a river channel guide a boat, and lights on the streets guide our way, so must a Christian make clear the way to others. There are people in this world who do not have the moral strength to take a stand against a wrong, but when they are shown the way by a mature Christian they will follow.
  17. Who do you know has taken a strong stand based on their Christian beliefs?
  18. A light can be a warning. It is sometimes the Christian’s duty to bring to others the necessary warning.
  19. How would it make you feel to have to approach a fellow Christian about a failure on their part?
  1. Reflect
  2. Why did Jesus say it is important for our light to shine before men?
  3. What examples can you think of where the work of a Christian has brought people closer to God?
  4. What relationship do you see between the Beatitudes and the Christian’s role in society?