Shining truth with light

Second, Jesus continued in Matthew 5:15-16 by telling his followers:

You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus’ illustration of light is usually easier for the modern reader to grasp than the salt illustration is. Much like turning on a flashlight in a dark, musty room, Christians are to

Shine God’s truth onto an unknowing world both through their words and actions: In other words, live out their faith so that people see God working in their lives.

Expose the ugliness and decay of the world for what it is: Essentially, call sin as they see it, without excusing it or looking the other way.

Notice that Christ’s word choice is significant. He doesn’t say that believers can aspire to become salt and light after they mature into Super Christians; no, he says that his followers are already salt and light. Therefore, that means that all Christians, no matter how young or old they are in their faith, are called to the same purpose.

Living Out Christ’s Calling in Different Ways

Although Christians throughout the centuries have tried to follow Jesus’ instructions to “live in the world, but not of it” and “be salt and light,” they haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on what those statements mean from a practical standpoint. In fact, when you look at the approaches Christians have taken from the first century up until the current one, you see various perspectives appearing and reappearing even as societies and cultures change and progress. In his classic book Christ and Culture (Harper San Francisco, 1975), H. Richard Niebuhr categorizes these perspectives into five different patterns of thought:

Running from the world

Hugging the world

Working for the greater good

Walking a tightrope

Transforming the world

The first model separates Christians from the world, while the second shows Christians clinging to it; the remaining three offer various responses between those two extremes. Not all these perspectives are necessarily in line with biblical Christianity, most obviously the “Hugging the world” pattern, because it compromises the need for Christ’s salvation as it strives to build a better world. However, concerning the rest of the perspectives, many earnest, biblical Christians have argued that their position most closely resembles the teaching of the New Testament.

As you read through this section, keep in mind that all attempts to lump people together are always imperfect; some people just don’t neatly fit into a box. Nonetheless, in spite of this limitation, Niebuhr’s matrix remains a helpful tool to understand how Christians attempt to live out Christ’s calling in the world around them.

Perhaps you find it strange that Christians have so many contrasting perspectives on living out Christ’s calling. But, as you read through each of these, you begin to understand why some Christians keep to themselves and stay out of the limelight, why others volunteer at soup kitchens and help the homeless, and why still others feel called by God to run for a political office and create a more Christian nation.