Purpose

It’s like a scene from a 90s teen sitcom. It’s your first time eating in your college cafeteria. You have a plate full of food in your left hand and a hard-plastic cafeteria cup in your right hand. A couple of your newfound friends are standing by your side. You’ve got everything you need… except for a spot to sit. As you scan the premises, it’s clear that most of the tables have already been claimed by different cliques or friend groups. There’s a table with upperclassmen, a table with athletes, a table with people you assume trade Pokemon cards, a table with the intellectuals, a table with some faculty members, and a table with an eclectic bunch of other freshmen. Where do you put your plate down? Where do you fit in this new society of sub-par cafeteria dining?

The questions “Who am I?” and “Where do I fit?” are significant questions for human beings, not just during their freshman year of college, but throughout their lives. How we answer those questions determines how we approach and understand life and the world around us. Jesus, a very real human himself, understands our nature and needs. So, as he is laying the groundwork for the coming kingdom of God, he helps his followers develop clear answers to some of life’s most important questions. He powerfully and symbolically asserts their identity and helps them grasp their purpose in the world.

Jesus uses the images of salt, light, and a city built on a hill to describe his followers. While these images are versatile and potentially multi-faceted in their intended application, each of these metaphors is used in the Old Testament to describe God’s people and His covenant with them. So, at the very least, Jesus identifies his followers as the group of people chosen by God to embody His ways and to impact the world for His glory.

Knowing who we are and how we fit into God’s unfolding plan of redemption shapes how we approach and understand life and the world around us. We’ll begin to see the practical outgrowth of this reality in the rest of Jesus’ message to his followers.

Discussion Questions

• Icebreaker: What is the best spice or seasoning? You can skip this question if you don’t have enough thyme.
• Which images that Jesus uses in this passage resonate with you most? Which one is easiest for you to understand?
• In verses 14 & 15 Jesus notes the impossibility of hiding a city on a hill and the impracticality of covering a lamp. How does that impossibility or impracticality connect with the idea of “letting our light shine”?
• What does it look like to let your light shine? How does verse 16 shed light (no pun intended) on that question?
• Later in this sermon, Jesus will say “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.” How can a follower of Jesus live in the tension between those words and what Jesus says in verse 16?