Sticks and Stones
Matthew 5:10-12
by Paul
George
In verse 10 Jesus said
the blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness sake. It verse 11 it seems like Jesus’
attention is turned from the multitude to His disciples.
Persecution is the usual experience of God’s people, but
it is the special portion of His servants. This is
confirmed in verse 12, where the maligned ambassadors of
the Lord are told, “For in the same way they persecuted
the prophets who were before you.” The ambassadors of
the Lord are in the same position as the "prophets" of
old, namely those called of God to act as His mouthpiece
and interpret His will. Additional proof is found in
what immediately follows, where after further
designating them the "light of the world" Jesus added,
"A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” a figure
fitly pertinent to the ambassadors of the Lord who are
made a light in the world. What Jesus said in verse 15
plainly pertains to the ambassadors of the Lord rather
than to their hearers, for the candle on a candlestick
again speaks of official office, and the giving "light
to all that are in the house" is plainly the one man
ministering to the many.
In chapter 4 verse 19,
Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to be fishers of men. In
verses 13 and 14 of chapter 5 Jesus tells His disciples
what His plan for them is and what will be expected of
them. It is only in recent generations, when the spirit
of socialism has invaded the religious realm, that this
passage has been applied to Christians. The two symbols
used to describe Jesus’ plan for His ambassadors and
what is expected of them has a definite purpose. He
tells them they are to be like salt. Using the world
salt is to humble them. Salt is cheap, common, and
insignificant. He uses the word “light” to encourage
them. Light is illuminating and conspicuous.
The ambassadors of the
Lord resemblance salt in their labors. They are to
preach and teach the Word, both Law and Gospel, in such
a way as to express the qualities of salt. When salt is
applied to raw flesh it will sting. It is annoying. When
applied meat it makes meat savory to our taste, it
preserves meat from putrefaction by drawing out of it
superfluous moisture. Salt is an indispensable necessity
of life. It is God’s great antiseptic in a sphere of
decay. It is wrought into the very rocks and soil of
earth so that the waters filtering through them become
purified. It is a necessary element of the blood, which
is the life of our bodies. How well suited it is then as
a figure of the truth, by which means the soul is
sanctified, as salt arrests natural corruption, so the
Word of God arrests moral corruption. This figure, then,
furnishes clear direction to every minister of God as to
his manner of preaching. Since the Word alone is the
savory salt whereby souls are seasoned for the Lord,
then it ought to be dispensed purely and sincerely. If
salt is mixed with dust and rubbish it loses its
pungency and efficacy, and if the Word is mingled with
levity or exciting anecdotes its power is nullified.
This figure plainly warns
the minister it is "salt" and not sugar coated candy he
is to use in his preaching and teaching. Something which
the ungodly are more inclined to spit out than swallow
with a smile, something which is calculated to bring
water to the eyes rather than laughter to the lips. The
minister, then, must not expect faithful preaching to be
acceptable and popular. Faithful preaching is contrary
to human nature. Those whose consciences are pricked are
not pleased with those who wound them. The ambassadors
of the Lord must be prepared for to face the displeasure
and opposition of the ungodly. This is a testimony that
their ministry is “salt” that it has bitten into the
depravity of their people. Instead of being discouraged
and dismayed they are to endeavoring to season their
congregation more and more with the pure salt of God’s
Word.
The responsibility of the
hearer is to receive instruction from this figure and
see what he is in himself by nature: depraved and
corrupt, as unsavory flesh and stinking carrion in the
nostrils of God. This should humble us and cause us to
lay aside all pride and self-righteousness. Every one
must learn to suffer the word of reproof, whereby secret
sins are discovered and denounced. When our conscience
is searched we must be willing for salt to be rubbed
into it, for mortification precedes salvation. We must
be willingly seasoned with this heavenly salt so that
the thoughts of our heart, the words of our mouth, and
the actions of our life may be acceptable to God. If we
sit under the ministry of the Word, oral or written, and
is not seasoned by it our actions are doubly evil
(Judges 9:45).
If salt loses its savor
it is good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be
trodden underfoot of men. This was spoken by Jesus to
move His servants to fidelity and diligence in their
ministry by the danger in doing the opposite. Infidelity
in the ministry is like unsavory salt: ineffectual,
worthless, despicable, subject to a fearful curse. This
is the great danger of the pulpit: to become
men-pleasers, to yield unto the demand for smooth
speaking, to tickle the ears of their congregation with
novelties. Such preachers become unsavory salt,
unprofitable in their ministry, failing to season souls
so that they are not acceptable to God. Ministers become
unsavory salt when through lack of prayer and continuous
study they fail to increase in spiritual knowledge, or
when adopting false doctrine they preach error, or when
they cease to denounce sin, or when they fail to
practice what they preach.
The greatness of the
danger attending ministers who become unfaithful and
unprofitable is pointed out by Jesus in His words "how
can it be made salty again?” Those who depart from
fidelity are very seldom, and then only with great
difficulty, recovered and restored. Read what is
recorded of the false prophets in the Old Testament and
the New Testament, where is there an instance that any
repented. How diligently, then, do ministers need to
take to heart that injunction, "Meditate upon these
things; give yourself wholly to them; that your
profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto yourself,
and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing
this you shall both save yourself and them that hear
you" (1st Timothy 4:15-16); and “follow after
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
meekness" (1st Timothy 6:11).
The unprofitableness of
unfaithful ministers is expressed in the words "it is no
longer good for anything” just as unsavory salt is
worthless to season meat, so unfaithful ministers are
valueless to God and man. The curse resting upon such
is, "it is cast out and trodden under foot of men," that
is, such preachers are condemned both by the Lord and by
their fellow men. "Therefore have I also made you
contemptible and base before all the people, according
as you have not kept My ways, but have been partial in
the law" (Malachi 2:9), such was the fate pronounced
upon the renegade priests of old. No doubt Jesus was
making an indirect reference to the scribes and
Pharisees of His day, affirming their unprofitableness.
Using the term “You are the light of the world" Jesus
likens His disciples to "light," and that with the
object of stirring them up to preach the will of God. It
was as though He said, your position and condition is
such that your sayings and doings are open to the ear of
man, therefore be careful to please God. Spiritually the
world is in darkness (2 Peter 1:19) and sits in the
shadow of death (Matthew 4:16), because in Adam it
turned away from Him who is Light. But ministers of the
Word carry with them a Lamp of Truth, and by the
illumination of their ministry they are to shine upon
the darkened souls of men. By their preaching ignorance
is to be exposed, that their hearers may be "turned from
darkness to light" (Acts 26:18).
By this symbol Jesus
shows how the Word is to be handled. It is to be so
applied to the minds and consciences of men that they
may see their sins and their woeful wretchedness and
bring to the remedy for their misery, which is the
person and work of the Lord Jesus; and then to make
plain the path of obedience in all good duties to God
and men which He requires in the life of a Christian.
Preachers may display great homiletically skill and
deliver flowery discourses, but may not be true
preaching which conveys the light of spiritual knowledge
to the heart and leads souls to God.
Since ministers are the
light of the world it is incumbent upon all who hear
them to raise the blinds of carnal prejudice and open
the windows of their souls so that the illuminating
message may receive due entrance into their heart.
Jesus said, "A city that
is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a
candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick;
and it gives light to all that are in the house" (vv.
14, 15). Such is the case with God’s ministers by virtue
of their calling. Jesus has identified His servants as
"the light of the world," and they may be inclined to
regard themselves as men of some renown, therefore He
informs them what His intent is. It was not to give them
titles of praise, to puff them up, but to acquaint them
with the demands of their office: by reason of their
high calling they would be public spectacles, heard and
scrutinized by men, therefore it doubly behooves them to
see to it that their message was acceptable to God and
their walk blameless before men, for if by their
fidelity they might "turn many to righteousness,"
infidelity would send souls into eternal destruction.
The Lord’s ambassadors
must not think it strange if they are more open to
manifold reproaches and abuses of the world than do the
rank and file of God’s people, and the more godly their
conduct be the more distasteful to the unregenerate.
Therefore, it follows that the ambassadors of the Lord
cannot without great sin hide the gifts and talents
which He has bestowed upon them, for they are as lighted
candles which must not be put under a bushel, that may
be done in various ways. The refusing to humble
themselves and speak in terms suited to the capacity of
the most simple, by refusing to give out the Truth of
God, by toning it down through the fear of man, by
flirting with the world and adopting its ways.
The ambassadors of the
Lord are to let their shine before men, that they may
see their good works, and glorify their Father which is
in heaven (v. 16). Let your light shine refers to
ministerial teaching, whereby God’s will and grace are
made known to His people, backed up by a godly example.
The ambassadors of the Lord by their calling are to be
conspicuous in the world that God’s people and the
ungodly may not only hear their doctrine but also see
their good works, and be moved to follow the same, and
bring honor and praise to the Lord. These two things
must never be separated: sound doctrine and holy
deportment are to be conjoined in a minister. God will
have men learn His will in two ways: by hearing and
seeing.
This double charge which
lies on every minister, his hearers or readers must, for
their part, remember in their prayers to crave of God
that their pastors may be divinely enabled to preach to
them by lip and life. It is striking to note how often
Paul requested the churches to pray for him. If the
chief of the apostles needed to be prayed for, how much
more do the ordinary minister of God! A reason for
praying for ministers is found in Zachariah 3:1. Satan
stood at the right hand of Israel’s high priest to
condemn him before God. Though he opposes every
Christian, yet he aims especially at the minister to
cause him to fail, if not in his teaching, then in his
conduct.
"That they may see your
good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven"
is the chief though not the whole end of good works,
subordinately they enrich ourselves and benefit them.
They serve as means of giving evidence of humbleness by
obeying the commands of the Lord. They serve as tokens
of gratitude for all His mercies, both spiritual and
temporal, for thankfulness is to be expressed by life as
well as lip. They serve to make us followers of God, who
has commanded us to be holy as He is holy (1st Peter
1:16) and put into practice the duties of love to our
neighbor. This must be the main aim of the ambassadors
of the Lord. Though the unregenerate are quite capable
of perceiving the minister’s failures, it is only real
Christians who can discern his spiritual graces and the
fruit thereof, as it is they alone who will glorify the
Father because of the same. Probably the Day to come
will reveal that few things have evoked so much genuine
praise to God as His people’s returning thanks for the
piety, integrity, and helpfulness of His servants, who
untiringly sought their good.
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