Christian Distinctives
8
IMPACT
Salt and Light
One of the most important questions facing Christians in every age and every place is this: what values and standards are going to dominate our national culture? Most countries today are increasingly pluralistic in both race and religion. That is to say Christianity, Islam, secularism, materialism, ancient religions and modern cults are all competing for the soul of our country. Which is going to win? For Christians this is primarily an evangelistic question. Will Jesus Christ be given the honor that is due to his name? For God has highly exalted him, in order that every knee should bow to him and every tongue confess him “Lord.”
But it is also a social and cultural question. Will Christians be able to influence their country so that the values and standards of the kingdom of God permeate the whole national culture— its consensus on moral and bioethical issues, its recognition of human rights, its respect for the sanctity of human life (including that of the unborn, the handicapped and the senile), its concern for the homeless, the unemployed and people trapped in the cycle of poverty, its attitude to dissidents, its stewardship of the environment, its treatment of criminals, and the whole way of life of its citizens? All this and more is “the national culture.”
Will Christians be able to influence their country?
There can surely be no doubt that our Lord Jesus Christ wants his values and standards to prevail. For he loves righteousness and hates evil (Psalm 45:7) wherever they are found. So he sends his people out into the world both to preach the gospel and make disciples, and to sweeten the whole community and make it more pleasing to God, more just, more participatory, more free.
These are certainly large claims. Can they be justified? Do they have a biblical basis? I think they do, and that we may find them in Mathew 5:13-16:
You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
We are all familiar with salt and light. They are two of the most common household necessities. They are found in virtually every home in every culture throughout the world. Certainly everybody used them in the Palestine of Jesus’ day. He will have known them from boyhood, and must often have watched his mother use salt in the kitchen. In those days before refrigeration salt was used not so much for flavoring as for preservative and antiseptic purposes. So Mary will have put salt on the fish and have rubbed it into the meat, or left them to soak in salty water. And she will have lit the oil lamps when the sun went down.
Now these are the images or models which Jesus chose to indicate the impact he intended his followers to exert in the world. What did he mean? What is it legitimate for us to deduce from his choice of metaphors? My answer is that by the models of salt and light Jesus was teaching four truths about his church collectively and his followers individually. It is up to my readers to decide whether these deductions are legitimate or not.
THE TRUTHS OF SALT AND LIGHT
First, Christians are radically different from non-Christians, or ought to be. Both images (salt and light) set the two communities in contrast to each other. On the one hand there is the world, which with all its evil and tragedy is like a dark night, whereas on the other hand there is “you” who are to be the dark world’s light. Again, on the one hand there is the world, which is like rotting meat and decaying fish, whereas on the other hand there is “you” who are to be its salt, hindering social decay. We might have said in our idiom that they are as different as oil from water. But Jesus said we are to be as different as light from darkness and salt from decay.
This is a major theme of the whole Bible, namely that God is calling out a people for himself, whom he intends to be different from the prevailing culture. “Be holy,” he says to them “for I am holy.” In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said to his disciples “do not be like them” (Matthew 6:8), and in Romans Paul wrote, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2). It is the call to be radically different.
Jesus said we are to be different.
Second, Christians must permeate non-Christian society. Although spiritually and morally distinct, we are not to be socially segregated. On the contrary, “let your light shine.” That is, let it penetrate the darkness. Don’t light your lamp, Jesus continued, and put it under your bed or in some dark cupboard. Instead, put your lamp on a lamp stand and let its light shine out. In other words, let the good news of Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world, spread throughout society by both your words and your deeds.
Similarly, the salt must penetrate the meat. A lamp does no good if it is stowed in a cupboard, and salt does no good if it stays in a saltcellar. The light must shine into the darkness, and the salt must soak into the meat. Both models illustrate the process of penetration and call us to permeate society. Yet too many of us hide away in our dark little cupboards and stay snug in our elegant little ecclesiastical saltcellars.
Too many of us hide away in our dark little cupboards.
The Fabian Society was founded in 1884 by George Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb and others. Its avowed purpose was to make Britain socialist—not by a Bolshevik revolution, nor by political intrigue and conspiracy, but by a policy of infiltration. In particular, they sought to permeate the Conservative and Liberal parties (at that time there was no Labor Party) with Socialist ideas. Later H. G. Wells quarreled with the founding fathers and pronounced their infiltration policy a failure. They had permeated English society, he said, with their reputed socialism about as much (or as little) as a mouse may be said to permeate a cat. In other words they had been swallowed by society instead of permeating it. The same, alas!, could be said of many of us Christians today.
One way to permeate secular culture for Christ is through our daily work. I was brought up as a young man to believe in a pyramid of vocations. At its apex was the crosscultural missionary. He was our hero, she our heroine. If we were not as zealous for Christ as that, we would stay at home and become a pastor. If that were beyond us, we would go for one of the great professions (law, education or medicine), whereas if we went into politics or the media we were surely not far from backsliding.
But I have long since blown up this pyramid. Don’t misunderstand me. It is a wonderful thing to be a missionary or a pastor if God calls one to it. But it is equally wonderful to be a doctor, teacher or lawyer if that is one’s calling. And we urgently need more Christians, if called, to go into politics and the media and live there for Christ.
Third, Christians can influence and change non-Christian society. We may now be entering more controversial territory, but let us continue to consider the implications of the salt and light metaphors.
Salt and light are both effective commodities. They change the environment into which they are introduced. Thus, when salt is introduced into meat or fish, something happens; bacterial decay is hindered. Again, when the light is switched on, something happens; the darkness is dispelled. Further, it may be argued that salt and light have complementary effects. The influence of salt is negative; it hinders bacterial decay. The influence of light is positive; it illumines the darkness. Just so, the influence of Christians on society is intended by Jesus to be both negative (checking the spread of evil) and positive (promoting the spread of truth and goodness, and especially of the gospel).
So why don’t we Christians have a more wholesome effect on society? We look at deteriorating trends around us. We see social injustice, racial conflict, violence in the streets, corruption in high places, sexual promiscuity, and the scourge of HIV/ AIDS. Who is to blame? Our habit is to blame everybody except ourselves. But let me put it in a different way.
If the house is dark at night, there is no sense in blaming the house for its darkness. That is what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is: where is the light?
Again, if the meat goes bad and becomes inedible, there is no sense in blaming the meat for its decay. That is what happens when the bacteria are left free to breed. The question to ask is: where is the salt?
Similarly, if society becomes corrupt (like a dark night or stinking fish), there is no sense in blaming society for its corruption. That is what happens when human evil is unchecked and unrestrained. The question to ask is: where is the church? Where is the salt and light of Jesus?
We must accept the role which Jesus has assigned to us.
It is hypocritical to raise our eyebrows and shrug our shoulders as if it were not our responsibility. Jesus told us to be salt and light to society. If therefore darkness and rottenness abound, it is to a large measure our fault, and we must accept much of the blame.
We must also accept, with fresh determination, the role which Jesus has assigned to us, namely to be salt and light to society. It is not only individuals who can be changed; societies also can be changed. Of course we cannot perfect society, but we can improve it. Christians are not utopians.
Not until Christ comes in glory will there be a perfect society of peace and justice. But meanwhile history is full of examples of social improvements—rising standards of health and hygiene, greater availability of literacy and education, the emancipation of women, better conditions in mines, factories and prisons, and the abolition of slavery and of the slave trade.
We cannot claim that all these improvements are due entirely to Christian influence. But we can claim that (through his followers) Jesus Christ has had an enormous influence for good.
WEAPONS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
Professor Kenneth Scott Latourette of Yale University wrote a seven-volume History of the Expansion of Christianity. Some of his concluding words are as follows:
No life ever lived on this planet has been so influential in the affairs of men [as that of Christ]…. From that brief life and its apparent frustration has flowed a more powerful force for the triumphal waging of man’s long battle than any other ever known by the human race.1
But how does social change take place? I want to suggest that Christians have six weapons in their armory.
First, there is prayer. I beg you not to dismiss this as a pious platitude. Christians believe that God hears and answers prayer. So the apostle commands us (as a priority) to pray for national leaders, so that “we may live peaceful and quiet lives” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Yet when I visit some churches there is almost no intercession. I sometimes wonder if the slow progress toward world peace and world evangelization is due to the prayerlessness of the people of God. For example, when President Marcos of the Philippines was toppled in 1986, Filipino Christians attributed it not so much to “people power” as to “prayer power.” We should take the task of public intercession more seriously than we commonly do. If local churches were to bow down before God every Sunday for ten or twenty or even thirty minutes, what might God be free to do?
Second, there is evangelism, which has an indispensable part to play in relation to social change. For Christian social responsibility depends on socially responsible Christians, and socially responsible Christians are the fruit of evangelism. It is when the Holy Spirit changes us that we begin to develop a social conscience and gain the vision and courage to change our society.
Christian social responsibility depends on socially responsible Christians.
When John V. Taylor (late Bishop of Winchester) reviewed Geoffrey Moorhouse’s book Calcutta, he wrote about the apparent hopelessness of that city’s problems:
But invariably what tips the balance of despair to faith is the person who rises above the situation. Moorhouse’s book is full of such persons (William Carey, Mother Teresa and others)…. They are neither trapped in the city, nor escaped from it. They have transcended the situation. Salvation is not the same as solution; it precedes it and makes it a possibility…. Personal salvation—salvation in first gear—is still the way in. It is the key to unlock the door of determinism.2
The third weapon in our armory is example. Human beings are imitative by nature. So there is great power in example. A single Christian who takes an uncompromising stand for righteousness, encourages others to follow. One Christian home can influence a whole neighborhood. A dedicated Christian group (in school or college, hospital, office or factory) can change its atmosphere and its accepted values. And the local church is meant by God to be “a sign of the kingdom,” a model of what human community looks like when it comes under the rule of God, an attractive alternative society.
Our fourth weapon is argument. In the end unjust social structures can be changed only by legislation. Legislation cannot make bad people good, but it can reduce the level of evil in society and so make it more pleasing to God.
Martin Luther King understood this difference. “Morality cannot be legislated,” he wrote, “but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrict the heartless.”3
Again he wrote:
Government action is not the whole answer to the present crisis, but it is an important partial answer…. The law cannot make an employer love me, but it can keep him from refusing to hire me because of the color of my skin.4
In a democracy legislation depends on consent, and consent depends on consensus (that is, public opinion), and consensus depends on argument, indeed on getting into the public debate and winning the argument.
All of us are called to be responsible citizens.
We need to pray that God will raise up more ethical thinkers, who will not just climb Mount Sinai and declaim the Ten Commandments, but will argue that God’s standards are best. Just as we need theological apologists, who will argue the truth of God’s gospel, so we need ethical apologists who will argue the goodness of God’s law.
The fifth weapon in our Christian armory is action, that is, socio-political action. But, it may be responded, should not Christians steer clear of politics? The answer is that it depends what we mean by “politics”? The narrow definition is that politics is the science of government, the framing of laws that embody the beliefs and values of society. The broad definition, however, since polis means the city, is living together in community. In the narrow sense politics is for the politicians. It is their vocation to develop policies and programs for legislative change. In the broad sense, however, politics is meant for everybody, since Jesus sends us all into the world to serve, and all of us are called to be responsible citizens, to exercise our democratic rights, to vote and seek to influence other people’s votes, to speak up and write on current issues, and to engage in public, peaceful protest and witness, and in these ways to be salt and light to society.
The sixth and last weapon in our armory is suffering, that is, a willingness to suffer for what we believe in. Suffering is a test of our authenticity. Both evangelism and social action are costly activities. For both the gospel of Christ and the moral standards of Christ are unpopular. They challenge our selfishness. So those who defend God’s law and God’s gospel are bound to suffer opposition.
We have considered six weapons in our Christian arsenal. Each is powerful on its own; together they are truly formidable. They indicate that the church should make a strong impact on society. Robert N. Bellah, retired sociology professor at the University of California at Berkeley, made this remarkable statement:
I think we should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a new vision of a just and gentle world…. The quality of a culture may be changed when 2% of its people have a new vision.5
CHRISTIAN DISTINCTIVES
Reverting to the significance of salt and light, we affirm fourth that Christians must retain their Christian distinctness. Salt must retain its saltiness. Otherwise it becomes useless; you cannot even throw it on the compost heap. In the same way, light must retain its brightness. Otherwise it will never dispel the darkness. Just so, we Christians, if we are to influence society, must not only permeate it but also refuse to conform to it. We must retain our Christian convictions, and especially the values, standards and lifestyle of the kingdom of God. Otherwise we will have no effect and make no impact.
What, then, are our Christian distinctives? What is the salt and the light which we are told to be? The rest of the Sermon on the Mount tells us. For in it Jesus describes the citizens of the kingdom, the members of his new community.
First, Christ calls us to a greater righteousness. “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). The disciples must have been dumbfounded when they heard these words, for the scribes and Pharisees were the most righteous people on earth. They calculated that the law contained 248 commands and 365 prohibitions, making 613 regulations altogether, and they claimed to have kept the lot! Now Jesus says that unless his disciples are more righteous than the most righteous people, they will never even enter the kingdom! Has the Master lost his reason? No, Christian righteousness is greater than Pharisaic righteousness because it is deeper. It is a righteousness of the heart. It therefore necessitates a new heart by a new birth.
Second, Christ calls us to a wider love. Here is the last of the six antitheses which he expressed: “You have heard that it was said ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ ” (Matthew 5:43-44). “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy” is a scandalous misquotation of the Old Testament. The law said “Love your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:18). It was the Pharisees who indulged in a culpable casuistry, saying to themselves, “My neighbor is my coreligionist. If, therefore, it is only my neighbor that I am to love, the law itself gives me permission to hate my enemy.”
Christ calls us to a wider love.
Jesus responded by insisting that, in the vocabulary of God, our neighbor includes our enemy. If, then, we love our enemy, we will be authentic children of our Heavenly Father. For he gives sunshine and rain to all people indiscriminately. His love is all-embracing; ours must be too.
Third, Christ calls us to a nobler ambition. All human beings are ambitious. Ambition is the desire to succeed. In the words of Jesus ambition is what we “seek,” what we set our hearts on as the supreme good to which we devote out lives. In the end, Jesus teaches, there are only two options. It is either ourselves and our own material comfort or we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:31-34). To become absorbed with ourselves and our bodies (food, drink and clothing) is a hopelessly inadequate pre-occupation for the children of God. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus has already established what our priorities should be, namely God’s name, kingdom and will.
Here then is the call of Christ—to a greater righteousness (a righteousness of the heart), to a wider love (a love of the enemy), and to a nobler ambition (God’s rule and God’s righteousness). Only then will our salt retain its saltiness, and our light its brightness, so that we will be salt and light to the world.
We need in particular to repent of our pessimism. Christians have no business to be pessimists. Faith and pessimism are incompatible. To be sure, we are not starry-eyed idealists; we are down-to-earth realists. We know well that sin is ingrained in human nature and in human society. We are not expecting to build a utopia. But we also know that the gospel has transforming power, and that Christ has commissioned us to be effective salt and light in the world.
So let us offer ourselves to God as agents of change. Let’s not excuse ourselves by developing a minority complex!
Christ calls us to a nobler ambition.
This is the optimism of Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909), an American Unitarian minister and writer, who lived and worked in Boston, Massachusetts, and inspired many by his story Ten Times One Is Ten:
but I am one.
I can’t do everything,
but I can do something.
What I can do,
I ought to do.
And what I ought to do,
by the grace of God
I will do.6
And if that is true of an individual Christian, how much greater an impact should the church be able to make!