Why
does the church exist,
why do we or Jesus bother with it? A recent study on the North American church
tells us that about 25% of those who regularly attended church before the
pandemic have no intention of returning. The reasons are varied, but
ultimately, they see little value in the church; they don’t see the “Why”
of the church. They see the church as too political, of little value to
society, and too obsessed with their own agendas which have little to do with
making their communities a better place to live.
The
North American church has forgotten its reason for being because
it’s strayed away from its roots. So why is the church here? One of the first places
to turn to is the story of Abram. Things have not gone well for God’s very good
creation since he created Adam and Eve in his own image. With God’s image comes
his ability to imagine and create, and Adam and Eve’s descendants use this
ability to imagine to control and dominate each other in order to build
themselves up and make others and God small and unimportant. Even after God
does a reset with the flood, humanity keeps seeking after heaven on their own
terms instead of God’s, resulting in God scattering them across the face of the
earth and creating new languages and cultures.
Now
God changes tactics and begins a new chapter in his plan to redeem creation and
restore it to where it’s “very good” again. God
chooses one family to bring knowledge of God into the world again, and to bring
the promised Messiah. God begins a journey with Abram and his family to change
the world, not because Abram is so special, just read his story to realize how
messed up Abram was at times, but God chooses Abram to show it’s God who accomplishes
his plan of bringing a saviour to the world through ordinary people, and
sometimes in spite of the people.
Abram
wouldn’t have really understood this, yet he moves forward in faith with
little knowledge of what exactly God’s doing, but trusting in the path,
opportunities, and situations God places him in to do the best he can with the
knowledge of God he has. God promises Abram a place where his family will grow
into a great nation, a huge promise to a man who is childless, unable to have
any children with his wife Sarai.
God
promises to bless Abram and anyone who blesses him, but the important part of
God’s speech to Abram is not what he will do for Abram, but what he will do
through Abram, “You will be a blessing… and all peoples
on earth will be blessed through you.” God chooses Abram and his
descendants to make a difference, and to be a difference in the world by being
a blessing and revealing who God is through their lives lived out in faith in
God. Being in a different culture and time, being a blessing looked different,
and Abram likely understood this a lot differently than we do today, but we see
examples of great faith and actions mixed in with his mess-ups; his tithing of
his war spoils to King Melchizedek of Salem, his trust in the promise of a son
even though he and his wife were way too old to still have children, his
pleading to save the righteous people living in Sodom and Gomorrah. There’s his
willingness to offer his son as a sacrifice after he had chased his oldest son
and his mother off into the wilderness. Abram shows the people around him the
power of God in his life, but also that God is a God who desires a relationship
with his people. Ultimately, the way Abram’s descendants bless all the nations
and change the world is through the coming of Jesus from his family line.
Jesus
comes and the world has never been the same since. It’s not just Jesus’
sacrifice for our sins on the cross, echoing back to Abram’s willingness to
sacrifice his son Isaac, but it’s also Jesus’ teaching and modelling on what
the kingdom of heaven looks like. Jesus went through the land calling the
people to repent and believe in God for the kingdom of
heaven is near. Jesus calls us salt and light;
this is about who we are and not just about what we do. Salt seasons and brings
taste and flavour to food while preserving it; keeping it good just by being
salt. Light helps you to see what’s going on around you, it lights the way
before you and around you, it offers hope on a dark night when you’re heading
home, it chases away the dark just by being light.
When
Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth, the light
of the world,” he uses the plural you, meaning “you all,” pointing to all his followers, pointing to
us today as the church. Jesus is saying that ‘you all,’
the ones who are going to be insulted and persecuted
because of me, the ones who are the poor in spirit hungering and thirsting for
righteousness, the peacemakers, merciful, pure in spirit and meek are
the ones being called the salt and light of the world. We’re being called to be
the blessing to the nations and to each other by being who we are as the
blessed ones of God. In being these people, we are salt and light, we are being
the church and giving the world a glimpse of what the kingdom of heaven looks
like.
Salt
and light affect their environments. Salt changes the food that it’s in,
making it taste better, making certain ingredients stronger. When you bake
bread and don’t add salt, it tastes bland, but the bread also doesn’t rise as
well because salt also has an impact on the yeast, helping the bread to rise
better and be lighter. Salt is also used to preserve food, helping it stay good
for a much longer time before it starts to rot. Salt doesn’t change so much as
it changes whatever it touches.
Light
also changes its environment. Light chases away darkness, showing us
the things, we can’t see when there is no light. Light helps us see the path or
the road ahead, just try driving at night in the country on a cloudy night with
no headlights. Light serves as a beacon to guide us; it can act as a warning
like a lighthouse warns ships of dangerous waters. Light brings hope. Jesus
adds a snarky comment with both examples, reminding us that unsalty salt is
useless, just like a light hidden under a bowl. The question then becomes, how
are we salt and light where we are, what might that look like? Soren
Kierkegaard, a Christian philosopher writes, “to be a Christian means to be
salt and to be willing to be sacrificed,” referring to how salt was
sprinkled on many of Israel’s sacrifices as a symbol of purity and making the
sacrifice a tasty sacrifice for God. This echoes Paul’s call in Romans 12 to offer our lives to God as a living sacrifice.
Being
salt and light first of all is about who we are as individuals
and as a church; it’s about how we see and understand who we are. In Jesus’
teaching, being salt and light is in the context of being humble, mourning for
the state of the world, meekness, having a hunger and thirst for righteousness
because we see the inequity and injustice all around us, being merciful and
pure in heart, focused on being who Jesus is calling us to be, and being
peacemakers wherever we are. Being salt and light is about the condition of our
heart for others, our community, and the world. This leads us to act because of
who we are: to season our community by standing up for those being oppressed,
those weighed down by the burdens of life, by looking for ways we can be
involved as individuals, as families, or with friends to make our community a
better place to live where everyone feels they have opportunities to grow and
contribute, no matter the colour of their skin, or ethnicity. It means speaking
out about the sins of racism, of being aware of how our systems can keep people
down, it’s about walking along side those wrestling with addictions, especially
at a time like we’re in when opioid deaths are exploding, it means being aware
of the sharp increase of domestic violence and homelessness. We do this to give
people a glimpse of Jesus and his love for them, a glimpse of what his kingdom
looks like, working to bless them with help and safety.
The
church is a place where we learn to serve and be encouraged to serve rather
than a place to be served, where our eyes are opened to who God is and his
heart for the world. We can then become voices for the oppressed, the
vulnerable and begin to change the world together. This doesn’t happen through
church programs, but by each of us becoming involved as families and
individuals in the causes that God opens our eyes and hearts to. This is how we
change the world, by being who God is calling us to be as church together.
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