Session 5

January 4, 2026

Unit 2: The Teachings of Jesus in Matthew

Being Salt, Being Light, Being Transparent

Our lives must point to Christ.

Session Outcome

To develop a life that is salt and light in our world, which draws attention to God and not ourselves.

Discover:

Illustrated Bible Life discusses the role of secrecy in the Gospels and gives verse-by-verse commentary on the Scripture passage.

Last Week:

We examined Jesus’ invitation to become citizens of God’s kingdom.

This Week:

We will examine how believers in Christ ought to seek God’s honor and approval over the approval and/or praise of others.

Watch:

Dr. Rowell introduces this session on Being Salt, Being Light, Being Transparent.

Listen:

FoundryLeader.com: Why did Jesus urge His disciples and others to secrecy? That’s the question in this week’s Illustrated Bible Life “Article Out Loud.”

Discover:

Jesus encouraged believers to be prepared to share with others the good news of what God is doing. Yet He also urged His followers to secrecy at times. Was this a contradiction? Learn more about this intriguing question in this week’s Illustrated Bible Life article, “Secrets.”

The Word

Matthew 5:13–16; 6:1–4

Engage the Word

SALT AND LIGHT
Matthew 5:13-16

Today’s passage explains who disciples were called to be and what they were to do in this world, living among other people. Jesus defined their new identity and mission on earth as representatives of God on earth with two metaphors: “You are the salt of the earth” (v. 13); “You are the light of the world” (v. 14).

The law is fulfilled (5:17) when it is embodied in lives of love, faithfulness, mercy, justice, and so on. For this reason, Jesus’ identified disciples, who actually live out the law’s intent, as “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.”

In antiquity, salt was sometimes used to disinfect wounds and preserve food, but primarily for seasoning. Only a third of the Dead Sea “salt” used for cooking in ancient Galilee was pure NaCl. In storage, true salt was more easily washed away than the other minerals recovered by evaporating Dead Sea water.

“Salt is not salt for itself; it is seasoning for food. In the same way the disciples are there not for themselves but for the earth.”1 To be truly salty disciples requires us to involve ourselves with life on the earth as it is. We are the essential ingredient for making life on earth palatable. To lose our identity as Jesus-followers would be to make ourselves worthless witnesses for God and of no spiritual value to the world (v. 13).

As “the light of the world” (v. 14), faithful followers of Jesus were called to continue the mission of the Messiah. As “light”—not “lights”—Jesus commissioned His disciples collectively to pursue Israel’s calling to be “a light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6; 9:6; 60:1, 3; Matthew 9:1-2; John 12:36; Ephesians 5:8; Philippians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:5).

Jesus clarified His use of light imagery with two illustrative proverbs. The first refers to a city situated on a hilltop. Clearly visible from all directions, even at a distance, it “cannot be hidden” (v. 14). The second proverb illustrated the absurdity of lighting an oil lamp only to hide it (v. 15). Jesus insisted that, since His followers were “the light of the world,” the reason for their existence was to shine and illuminate: “Allow your light to shine before all people.”?

In verse 16, He explains what He means. As citizens of the kingdom of heaven, the mission of all Jesus’ disciples in the world is simply to live out their new reality. “Good works” refer to the qualities that made them “blessed” (5:3-11). Their “good works” were not “the light,” but only reflections of the light. “You” are the light, as you incarnate kingdom values. This is not for leaders only, but for the entire community.

Jesus’ insistence that good deeds must be publicly conspicuous does not contradict His instructions in 6:1-18. Acts of private devotion to God—like almsgiving, prayer, and fasting—are not to be done publicly for the purpose of winning the admiration of others for the doers. All is to be done for the glory of God alone. Addressing His followers, commissioned to represent God in this world, here, for the first time in Matthew, Jesus called God “your Father in heaven” (v. 16).

AN AUDIENCE OF ONE
Matthew 6:1-4

Jesus’ Jewish contemporaries considered almsgiving (6:1-4), prayer (6:5-15), and fasting (6:16-18) the leading marks of authentic piety. Throughout this section of the “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus took for granted that His disciples would take part in these traditional practices—“when you give” (vv. 2, 3), “when you pray” (vv. 5, 6, 7), and “when you fast” (vv. 16, 17). But, He sternly cautioned them that such private devotional practices were intended for an audience of one—God alone. This is the kind of “righteousness that “surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law” (5:20).

Jesus approved private devotional practices as “righteousness”—doing the right thing in relation to God and others. But He derided as “hypocrites” (vv. 2, 5, 16) those who did them merely “to be honored by others” (v. 2), “to be seen by others” (v. 5), or “to show others” (v 16). He objected to supposed piety that was actually nothing more than ostentatious, pretentious, and self-aggrandizing public performances motivated by a desire to impress other people.

Giving alms—“doing acts of mercy”?—is the most difficult of these three pious practices to do secretly. It inevitably involves at least two people—the giver and the recipient. Of course, the “wiring” of the human nervous-system does not actually allow the left hand to be unaware of what the right is doing (v. 3). Jesus’ ludicrous imagery was intended to urge His disciples to give as anonymously, discretely, and inconspicuously as possible. Avoid publicity and self-congratulation! Give out of pure love for God and the needy God loves!

When we give in this way, we are “perfect . . . as our heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). God’s gifts of sunshine and rain (5:45), like most of His gifts, come to us anonymously. As Christians, we have the advantage of knowing Who to thank.

Jesus encouraged His disciples to appreciate that God knew their true motives: “Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (v. 4; see vv. 6 and 18). Perhaps, God’s approval was the only heavenly reward they expected. If they gave with the right motives and intention, that would be enough.

1. Ulrich Luz, Matthew 1–7: A Commentary on Matthew 1–7, trans. James E. Crouch; Hermeneia (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007), 206.

2. Alfred Plummer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1910), 91.

Did You Know?

Second-Temple Judaism, contemporary with Jesus, considered God’s gift of the Law to Israel the most distinguishing expression of God’s nature and character in this world. The Law was “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” Jesus disagreed (5:13, 14). But He made clear in 5:17-48 that He had no quarrel with the Law. Thus, for example, far from weakening the Law’s prohibitions against murder (5:21-26) and adultery (5:27-30), Jesus intensified and internalized their intended force. He forbade not only the acts of murder and adultery, but the sinful attitudes, actions, and words that led to them.

Think About It

“There is a veiled irony in the declaration ‘They have received their reward,’ and this adds to its impressive severity. They receive their pay then and there, and they receive it in full . . . .: God owes them nothing. They were not giving, but buying. They wanted the praise of men, they paid for it, and they have got it. The transaction is ended and they can claim nothing more.”2

Reflect

In what ways can you be salt and light in your world this week?

George Lyons

Discussion Guide

Insight

God made us in such a way that we usually have good feelings when we do good things. And there is only the slightest difference between that and the pleasing feeling that comes from our selfish egos when we get public credit for doing acts of kindness. Our Lord’s solution to the problem: do service anonymously. Jesus said that the secrecy is to be so complete that you “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (v. 3). Impossible? Sure. But it is Christ’s dramatic way of telling us not to keep even a private spiritual ledger of our good deeds.

Connect to My Experience

When I was a child, we lived up on a hill, and there were no streetlights. On cloudy nights, walking the three blocks home from my aunt’s house, I learned the definition of my mother’s expression, “it’s pitch black outside.”

Have you ever been in a place with little or no light? If so, describe that place.

How did it make you feel?

How did you feel when you were able to experience light again?

What difference does light make?

Transition:

In today’s session, in Matthew chapter 5, we will further discuss the “Sermon On the Mount”; including Jesus’ statement, “You are the light of the world.”

Connect to the Word

Invite someone to read Matthew 5:13-16, then discuss the following,

During Jesus’ day salt was a valued commodity. Salt was used for seasoning and food preservation.

What are the uses for salt?

Salt must remain “salty” to be of any value.

How do you interpret verse 13?

In what ways can believers embody saltiness?

What are ways that believers can lose their spiritual saltiness?

In what ways (habits, practices, etc.) can we be sure to maintain our saltiness?

Reread verse 14a: “You are the light of the world.” Throughout Jewish Scripture, light has been a resplendent description of God. Jesus personifies this light. He proclaimed, “I am the light of the world (John 8:12b, emphasis added). The prophet Isaiah declared, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). Now, Jesus declares that His disciples are the light of the world.

What does Jesus mean by saying, “You are the light of the world”? (We are God’s light in our world. We are to reflect God’s light.)

In what ways can we be light in the world around us?

Are there times when we might be tempted to hide or dim our light? If so, what are ways we can avoid this temptation and let our light shine brightly?

The purpose of our “light” is to glorify God.

What did Jesus mean by saying, “. . . that they may see your good deeds”? (Our deeds are a reflection of our relationship with God.)

In what ways does the light of our life glorify our Father in heaven?

Invite someone to read Matthew 6:1-4, then discuss the following,

In Mathew 5:16, Jesus tells His disciples to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds.” In these verses, the caution is to “be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.”

How do we understand these seemingly contradictory messages? (There is no contradiction here, for Jesus is dealing with the matter of our motives.)

What does the word “practice” in verse 1 indicate to you? (To put on display.)

The Jews of that day equated almsgiving and righteousness as being the same. Almsgiving was considered the best of all the good works. Therefore, it was inevitable that it would be used by some for show. Jesus warns us of the danger of doing things like this for show.

When it comes to doing “acts of righteousness” we believe God truly wants us to do, what are we not to do? (trumpet our efforts; seek the applause and attention of others; babble on and on; etc.)

When we do our “acts of righteousness,” however, Jesus calls us to do certain things. What are they? (give in secrecy; pray in private; pray with reverence, adoration, petition, and a spirit of forgiveness)

What is the difference between God’s reward and the reward desired by the hypocrites? (God’s reward is eternal; the reward that comes from the applause of others is immediate, but fleeting.)

Why is giving in secret so important to the giver? (It keeps our motives clear.)

Connect to My Life and the World

Today’s passage challenges us to be salt and light in our world.

As you return to your home and jobs this week, how will you be salt and light in the bland and dark places?

Today’s passage challenges us to believe that God provides us with the rewards we most need and want in life.

How can we avoid the temptation, the danger, the subtle sin of doing our deeds for the approval of others, rather than out of love for God and others? (Allow the Holy Spirit to check our motives. Keep an attitude of humility in the things we say and do.)

Today’s passage challenges us to find ways to practice righteousness (i.e., giving to those in need might have a multitude of pathways).

What are some ways that you might practice giving in secret? (Give and serve without drawing attention to yourself. Give and serve without expecting anything in return. Do not become obsessed with material possessions [Matthew 5:40].)

Pray for your group members as they return to their neighborhoods, that their words and deeds would light their homes, community, and workplaces for Jesus Christ.

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