BY GLEN SCHULTZ, ED.D.
Who was this group of individuals that Jesus addressed?
Matthew 5:1 identifies them as His disciples. The lost did
not come to Him. Children didn’t come to Him. It even
appears that new believers didn’t come to Jesus. His disci-
ples came to Jesus, and it was to these people He delivered
what is now referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.
Christ’s strong charge to be “the salt of the earth and
light of the world” was given to His disciples. It takes a
disciple of Christ to be salt and light in this dark and lost
world. When we take this charge and apply it to others
who are not yet disciples of Christ, we are taking this
passage of Scripture out of context.
So who would be a disciple of Jesus to whom He would
give this charge? Again, we must look to the Scriptures for
our answer. Here are some things that God’s Word states
are characteristics of a disciple:
• Disciples are Christians who are obeying all that God has
commanded (Matthew 28:20).
• Disciples are people who daily deny themselves, take up
their cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
• True disciples are those who continue in His Word, know
truth, and are set free from the captivity of false philosophies
(John 8:31-32).
• A disciple must be a workman who is able to rightly
divide (handle/interpret) God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15).
• Disciples are ones who can endure hardships like a
soldier and are not entangled in the things of the world (2
Timothy 2:3).
Jesus is our example of this type of person. On several
occasions, He would challenge the teachers of His day. It
usually went something like this: “You have heard it said…
But I want to take it to the next level and give you its full
meaning.” Christ could handle God’s Word accurately. He
recognized false teachings when presented and not only
said He didn’t believe it but was able to rebut it with truth.
This is what a disciple must be able to do if he/she is going
to be salt and light in this world. It will require him/her to
be well trained and equipped for spiritual warfare.
When parents send their children into secular, post-
modern, anti-Christian environments as salt and light,
they are declaring their children are disciples of Jesus who
know truth, can rightly divide/apply God’s Word, have
denied themselves, and can endure the hardships of being
a soldier who avoids the things of the world. This is a pretty
big order for any Christian adult much less for children.
I can remember responding to a pastor of a large evan-
gelical church who had just asked me how do I handle the
salt and light passage when it comes to how we educate
our children. I asked him who came to Jesus in Matthew
5. When he told me it was Jesus’ disciples, I asked him how
many elementary age children in his church were disciples
of Christ. He said none of them had gotten to that point
yet. I then asked him how many high school students in
his church were mature disciples of Jesus. He said there
were probably four to five that came to his mind who might
qualify as a disciple. To those statements, I asked him the
25