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Sermon on the Mount
185
faith rather than dread it.
“You are the salt of the earth.” “Do not withdraw yourselves
from the world in order to escape persecution. You are to live among
people, so that the distinctive quality of divine love may be like
salt to preserve the world from corruption.” If those who serve God
were removed from the earth, this world would be left to destruction.
The wicked owe even the blessings of this life to the presence in
the world of God’s people, whom they despise and oppress. But if
Christians are Christians in name only, they are like salt that has lost
its flavor. By misrepresenting God, they are worse than unbelievers.
“You are the light of the world.” Salvation is like sunshine; it be-
longs to the whole world. We must not keep the religion of the Bible
between the covers of a book nor just within the walls of a church.
It must sanctify the daily life and reveal itself in all our interactions
with people. We must cherish the principles of righteousness in
our hearts. The consistent life, the unswerving integrity, the kindly
spirit, the godly example—these are the mediums through which
God conveys light to the world.
Jesus knew that spies stood ready to grasp every word that they
could twist to serve their purpose. He said nothing to unsettle faith
in the institutions committed to them through Moses. Christ Himself
had given both the moral and the ceremonial law. He did not come to
destroy confidence in His own instruction. While He set aside false
interpretations of the law, He carefully guarded against surrendering
the vital truths God had committed to the Hebrews.
To the Pharisees, the Savior’s words sounded like heresy. As
He swept away the rubbish under which truth had been buried,
they thought He was sweeping away the truth itself. He read their
thoughts and answered them, saying, “Do not think that I came to
destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to
fulfill.” His mission was to vindicate the sacred claims of the law
that they charged Him with breaking. If God could have revoked
or changed His law, then Christ did not need to have suffered the
consequences of our transgressions. He came to explain how the law
related to us and to illustrate its principles by His life of obedience.