Salt and Light (Matthew 5:13-16)

Sunday 04/10/2020

There is a word which strikes fear in many an Aussie, especially when there’s a recession: It’s ‘redundancy’.

I’ve been unemployed, but never made redundant. But it happens. Companies restructure, processes are automated, and jobs go overseas. And the job that used to be there is gone.

Do you feel like a redundant Christian? You know the Great Commission Jesus gave to His Church, to go and make disciples, baptising them and teaching everything that He commanded us (Matthew 28:19-20). But there are people who do that for a job. And we don’t feel like we have the skills for it anyway. So, aren’t we redundant?

Jesus answers this question in the Sermon on the Mount. He began by describing Christians, as mourning, dependent, self-sacrificing, and persecuted (5:1-12). Now He turns our attention to what Christians must do. Jesus is adamant: There are no redundant Christians. Although we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, there are good works for us to do.

If you are one of Jesus’ followers, you must do good works to oppose and expose sin so that others glorify God.