Happy Birthday, New City! Fourteen years ago today we launched as New City Church at Palmer Elementary School. We’ve seen God do incredible things in the lives of so many and each one of us has been and is being transformed by the gospel. As we contemplate the next fourteen years, let us remember something significant: we must be salty!
Social media, for all the good it does—no, really! There’s good that comes from social media! You can keep up with extended family, and you can stay in touch with “friends” you haven’t seen in person in 30 years, and you can find out what that one lady finally decided to do after she got home from the library, you know, whether it was make lunch or fold laundry, and you can learn what that other guy thinks about politics! No, really, it’s great. Social media, for all the good it does, has some significant drawbacks. A significant drawback is the loudness it gives ordinary voices that should not be shouting.
An odd cultural quirk we have is we tend to think volume equals passion. The louder you are, the more you mean what you’re saying. It follows, of course, that the more you mean what you’re saying the more faithful you are to what you believe. This spills over into faithfulness to Jesus. So many think if they just say “faithful things” on social media loudly enough and often enough, it equals standing up for Jesus. If there is something we must do it’s “stand up” for Jesus, right?
What if we’re not called to stand up for Jesus—at least not in the way I just described? This idea of being loud and vocal in the public sphere is often—usually—connected with changing the culture. We have this idea that when Jesus said we are the salt of the earth that we must work to preserve culture. This always means Western culture, however. Many fear the loss of Western culture. There is much hand-wringing over this and the way to fight it is believed to be, you know, standing up for Jesus…and often, voting. What if preserving culture is not our mission as the church? What did Jesus say?
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
Matthew 5:13-16 ESV
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all 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 who is in heaven.”
Here we see the role of the apostles, and by extension, the whole church. Jesus says we are the salt of the earth. He’s not telling the disciples to do something, but that they are something. Salt, of course, has been widely used throughout history to preserve food. Salted fish and salted meat and salted vegetables have a long shelf-life, far longer than other methods available for much of human history. Notice his concern for the salt: “if salt has lost its taste…It is no longer good for anything”.
Jesus doesn’t tell them they are the preservers of culture. Any knowledge of history shows this is the case, for it if weren’t, every single generation of Christians, ever, has failed to preserve culture. Culture changes over time. Sometimes it changes abruptly through war or famine or disease—or social media. If the claim they are the salt of the earth has to do with preserving culture, every generation of Christians has failed. But he doesn’t tell the disciples to defend the traditions of those who came before. His focus is on the salt maintaining its saltiness. The salt being salty is the means for accomplishing what it is that Jesus actually tells them.
Then he switches metaphors. They are the light of the world. Their light must shine before others. That is, the disciples—the whole church—must live in the world. We are part of the world. As Jeremiah instructed the exiles, we must build houses and plant gardens, we must marry and have children, we must go to work and cut the grass when we get home. We must live ordinary lives in faithfulness. In other words, the expectation for God’s people is they live among the world and that they live faithfully. This is what it means to shine their light. Their good lives and good works shine brightly in a dark world.
Nowhere in Scripture are we told to change how others are to live. Jesus’ expressed concern here is the salt itself. The salt must not lose its flavor. A light must not be hidden. Notice he says hidden, for light isn’t heard. Here we come to the real problem with social media: too often Christians are eager to be heard and not at all willing to be seen. What I mean is they want to be heard loudly proclaiming the truth rather than be seen living the truth.
It is true the gospel must be proclaimed with words. The gospel is the proclamation of who Jesus is and what he has done and as Paul says in Romans 10, “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”. You may have heard the old saying, “Always preach the gospel; use words if necessary”. It has been said in response this is like saying, “Give me your phone number; use digits if necessary”. Words are necessary! We must proclaim the gospel. However, we are never called to simply utter words to people.
Consider Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 5: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” He doesn’t mention telling them they’re wrong. In Mark 12 he was asked which commandment was the most important of all. Jesus famously replied that one must love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, but then quickly added a second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. In Colossians 4 Paul said, “Let your speech”—that’s words!—”always be seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person”. Notice Paul’s assumption there will be questions! Just as Jesus said the disciples’ light should shine before others, so that others may see their good works, so Paul indicates one’s life ought to elicit a response from others. Peter makes this more explicit.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV
Here Peter is concerned about salt losing its flavor, so he urges the believers to remain holy, to keep their conduct among the nations—unbelievers—honorable, so that even if the unbelievers hate the Christians, they still recognize their actions, not their words. Their lives are beacons of the gospel lived out and so even those who reject the gospel will see their transformed behavior. Those speaking here are the unbelievers. Surely Peter understood preaching the gospel was necessary, yet here he exhorts the believers first to live faithfully. Then in chapter 3 he says this:
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
1 Peter 3:13-17 ESV
As did Paul, here Peter assumes there will be questions. What is notable, however, is the impetus for the questions from unbelievers is not what Christians say, but what they do. Peter isn’t saying to be prepared for those who ask for a reason for the hope that you speak about, but those who ask for a reason for the hope evident in your life. Unbelievers will see your way of life is different, that it is filled with hope, and they will question you about this hope.
You and I must be prepared to give an answer, Peter says, and we must answer with gentleness and respect so that when you are slandered—again notice Peter’s words—those who revile you for your good behavior—not your good words! He says it is better to suffer for doing good. He doesn’t say it is better to suffer for saying good things. In other words, the salt must remain salty, for when others taste the saltiness of the salt they will recognize God’s will being performed in you.
The truth is it is much easier to proclaim truth. It is much easier to tell others where they’re wrong and simply tell them they need to repent and believe. It is much harder—and more faithful to the actual teaching of Jesus—to show them the truth of the gospel as it is lived out by you. No one is expecting you or me to be perfect, but they expect to see the truth of the gospel lived out. No one likes a hypocrite.
This is the reason we emphasize the call to live in deep Christian community with one another, with all the “one another” commands in the New Testament. Paul writes about the church being the church far more than he writes about preaching the gospel to unbelievers. This is because he and Peter understood that Jesus’ emphasis on his followers’ saltiness was the means by which the gospel would be proclaimed. Yes, we must proclaim the truth of God in Christ, but if we want that gospel message to be heard, it must first be seen in us. The emphasis on the “one another” commands in the New Testament is not in addition to the mission of the church; the “one another” commands are the mission of the church! There can be no gospel proclamation apart from “teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded”.
The mission of Jesus is to make disciples of all nations, men and women who worship him in spirit and in truth and who observe all that Jesus commanded. These commands include the proclamation of the gospel. What is emphasized even more in the New Testament is the necessity for salt to remain salty. In Matthew 5 Jesus is calling his people to remain distinctive in the midst of a culture that is hostile to him, wherever and whenever that culture exists. By saying we are the salt of the earth he is not aiming at cultural preservation but faithful witness.
At its core, a faithful witness is seen, not heard—or at the very least, a faithful witness is seen before it can be heard. Jesus isn’t all that concerned about the decay of culture, but about the decay of discipleship. If salt loses its saltiness, he didn’t say the meat would rot. If salt loses its saltiness, the salt is worthless. As we’ve been seeing in the book of Judges, rather than the land of Canaan being Israelized, the Israelites were Canaanized. The danger we face isn’t that the world becomes less like us, but that we become more like the world. The danger, according to Jesus, is the salt losing its saltiness!
When the church is being the church, the church will proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the world. Even more, when the church is being the church, the church will show the gospel of Jesus to the world, for the good news of Jesus includes the transforming power of God in his people.
The problem with social media is it’s really hard to shine as lights in the world when we’re constantly criticizing culture, often with the claim we’re being prophetic, rather than judgmental. The problem with social media is it presents a very one-sided proclamation, with far too many desiring to be heard rather than be seen living faithfully. The problem with social media is it offers us a substitute for faithful living, with a dopamine rush provided by likes and re-posts and such.
Unless and until those you interact with on social media—or at the watercooler in the office breakroom or at the family reunion or at the grocery store—unless they see your good works, they almost certainly don’t care to hear the gospel from you. Social media has greatly reinforced our culture’s desire for immediate results. Posting something about the gospel feels very immediate and even profound while the ordinary, routine faithfulness feels, well, slow. Uninteresting. Unlikely to evoke a response. Our cultural moment has instilled in us that desire for our fifteen minutes of fame and so we seek a shortcut to faithfulness, substituting good words for good works. That part of our culture needs to die. It needs to rot away. It does not need to be preserved.
What the world needs from us is not our hot take on some current event or the state of our culture. What the world needs from us is Jesus. The only way for salt to work is for salt to remain what it is. We have what the world needs, church, and it isn’t us. It’s Jesus. For the world to hear Jesus we must shine as lights in the world. Stay salty, my friends.