Salt and Light


Session Aims:
1.      Learn what Jesus says about living out our faith in the world
2.      Be motivated to live our faith in the world
3.      Repent of one thing in your life that keeps you from being Christ’s salt and light


Key verse: Matthew 5:13-14
You are the salt and light 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 underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Are you proud to be a Christian?
What makes you a Christian?

James 2:14-17
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

1.      How are we supposed to ‘shine’? Examples?
·         By living among people and letting others see Jesus in us.
·         You may give the analogy of us being ambassadors. When an foreign ambassador comes to your country, is he part of your country? No. His citizenship is still in his home country. Likewise, we are made for eternity and our citizenship is in heaven. What does this foreign ambassador do in your country? He bridges the gap between his home country and this country, and fosters a relationship. That is also our role here on earth: to be a living testimony for what you believe in, to bridge the gap; to befriend but not become a part of this world.

2.      Is it easy to always be a ‘proper Christian’? What can we do when it isn’t easy?
·         Pray and seek God. We aren’t showing OUR light or OUR goodness. It is God’s goodness that we want to show through us, so how else do we get it except by asking and knowing the source of it?
·         Do you truly believe that prayer works? Do we seek Him enough? Maybe we can ponder on this and seek Him with honesty. It is an inward change that we seek, not proving that we can be good.
3.      Who is the salt that loses its saltiness?
·         People who say they believe but do not live for Him.
4.      What happens when we cover up a light?
·         It becomes ineffective.
Philippians 2:12-15
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky



Do our deeds make us who we are? Are we Christian because we ‘act like it’?
No. We are saved by Grace.  It is not earned, neither can it be. No matter how much kinder we are to the people around us, we cannot earn any more grace than we already are given. In fact, our ability to show grace is by God and from God alone.

Isa 64:6
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

Psalm 16:2
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.”

God’s love is limitless; He cannot love us any more or less no matter what we do. He is constant. And this love compels us to act in a way that is a suitable response to this overwhelming gift. So, what does it mean to live for Christ?

To be salt and light, out of gratitude and love, for God loved us first.

Done by Gaily & Zhan Feng

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