Lesson#08

THE PARABLES OF JESUS CHRIST
LESSON #08
THE PARABLE OF SALT AND ITS SAVOR (MAT 5:13)
THE PARABLE OF LIGHT AND A CITY (MAT 5:14-16 MAR 4:21-23)

• MEMORY VERSE: 1JOHN 1:7

• CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND FOR THESE TWO PARABLES:
• READ MAT 5:1-16
• READ MAR 9:49-50
• READ LUK 14:34-35
• TO WHOM ARE THESE TWO PARABLE SPOKEN?
• THEY ARE SPOKEN TO BELIEVING DISCIPLES.

• THE PARABLE OF SALT AND ITS SAVOR (MAT 5:13)
• WHAT IS THE CENTRAL TRUTH OF THIS PARABLE?
• A BELIEVER’S LIFE FULLY COMMITTED TO THE LORD IS OF GREAT WORTH TO GOD AND WORTHY OF REWARD. A BELIEVER’S LIFE NOT FULLY COMMITTED TO GOD IS OF NO VALUE AND NO INFLUENCE AND IS OVERCOME BY THE WORLD SYSTEM.
• WHAT IS MEANT BY SALT?
• SALT IS A CHEMICAL COMBINATION OF CHLORINE GAS FROM THE AIR ABOVE AND SODIUM, A METAL FROM THE EARTH. COMBINED, THEY MAKE A NEW SUBSTANCE NOW WHITE IN COLOR.
• THE BELIEVER’S LIFE IS A COMBINATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM ABOVE AND OUR OWN HUMANITY, DUST FROM THE EARTH. COMBINED, WE ARE A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST MADE PURE WHITE WITH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.
• HOW CAN SALT LOSE ITS SALTINESS?
• CHEMICALLY IT CANNOT LOSE ITS SALTINESS. HOWEVER, IF SALT IS NOT WELL REFINED, IT CONTAINS FILLERS AND IT’S SALTINESS IS DILUTED.
• A BELIEVER COMPROMISES HIS WITNESS WHEN HIS LIFE IS POLLUTED AND DILUTED BY SIN.
• THE JEWS OBTAINED THEIR SALT FROM THE SHORES OF THE DEAD SEA. THIS SALT WAS OF THE ROCK OR FOSSIL KIND. THE OUTER LAYERS CONTAINED IMPURITIES THAT WERE USELESS AND DID NOT HAVE THE ACCPEPTABLE LEVEL OF FLAVOR. THE PEOPLE WOULD STRIP OFF THE USELESS OUTER LAYERS TO OBTAIN THE VALUABLE FLAVORFUL SALT.
• WHAT IS MEANT BY THIS ILLUSION TO SALT THAT HAS LOST IS SAVOR?
• A CARNAL CHRISTIAN IS ONE WHO IS SALT WITHOUT SAVOR.
• READ COL 4:6
• DISCUSSION: HOW DO YOU THINK THIS VERSE RELATES TO THE PARABLE?

• WHAT ARE SOME GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS AND USES OF SALT?
• =1= SALT IS USED FOR FLAVORING.
• THE MORE YOU GET USED TO TASTING SALT, THE MORE YOU MISS IT WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE IT.
• =2= SALT IS USED FOR PRESERVATIVES.
• SALT PRESERVES FOOD BY PENETRATING IN A SUBTLE WAY.
• =3= SALT IS USED FOR CLEANSING.
• SALT IS NOT ANTISEPTIC WHICH MEANS IT DOES NOT KILL POISON.
• =4= SALT IS USED FOR MEDICINAL HEALING.
• SALT IS ASCEPTIC WHICH MEANS IT PREVENTS THE SPREAD OF CORRUPTION.
• DISCUSSION: HOW DO THESE FOUR USES APPLY TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE?

• WHAT DOES MAT 5:13 MEAN WHEN IT SAYS THAT WORTHLESS SALT IS GOOD FOR NOTHING, IS CAST OUT, AND TRODDEN UNDER FOOT?
• “GOOD FOR NOTHING”
• THE CARNAL CHRISTIAN DOES NOT HOLD BACK EVIL. INSTEAD HE EITHER PARTICIPATES IN EVIL OR PROMOTES IT.
• “CAST OUT”
• THE CARNAL CHRISTIAN HAS DONE NOTHING THAT IS WORTHY OF ANY HEAVENLY REWARDS AT THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST.
• “TRODDEN UNDER FOOT”
• THE CARNAL CHRISTIAN EXEMPLIFIES A LIFE THAT DOESN’T APPEAR ANY DIFFERENT THAN ANY NON-CHRISTIAN. HIS WITNESS FOR JESUS CHRIST IS TRAMPLED BY WORLDLINESS.
• THE BIBLICAL EXAMPLE IS LOT’S WIFE.
• READ GEN 19:24-26

• THE PARABLE OF LIGHT AND A CITY (MAT 5:14-16)
• WHAT IS THE CENTRAL TRUTH OF THIS PARABLE?
• THE BELIEVER IN JESUS CHRIST, FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, IS A BOLD, PENETRATING WITNESS AGAINST THE DARKNESS OF THE EVIL WORLD SYSTEM AND GLORIFIES GOD.
• WHAT IS MEANT BY LIGHT?
• REMEMBER THAT IN JESUS’ TIME, LIGHT WAS NOT ELECTRICAL, BUT IT WAS MADE BY BURNING OIL.
• OIL IN SCRIPTURE IS ONE OF THE SYMBOLS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
• READ JOH 16:14
• ONE OF THE ACTIONS THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT PERFORMS IS TO LIFT UP AND MAGNIFY JESUS CHRIST.
• ASPECTS OF LIGHT IN SCRIPTURE:
• JESUS CHRIST SAID THAT HE WAS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD IN JOH 8:12.
• THE WORD OF GOD IS CALLED THE LIGHT IN 2COR 4:4,6.
• IN THIS PARABLE, BELIEVERS ARE CALLED THE LIGHT.
• READ PHI 2:15
• THE GREEK WORD FOR LIGHT HERE IS “ILLUMINARIES”.
• THEREFORE, AS WE LIVE ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF GOD WITH THE BURNING OIL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN US, WE REFLECT AND THEREFORE MAGNIFY JESUS CHRIST.
• WHAT DOES THE CITY ON A HILL REPRESENT?
• A CITY AT NIGHT IS A CLUSTER OF INDIVIDUAL LIGHTS.
• IN OTHER WORDS, THE CHURCH OF BELIEVERS IN JESUS CHRIST, FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, PRESENTS A BRIGHT WITNESS TO THE WORLD.
• READ 1JOH 1:5-7
• READ 1JOH 2:8-11
• JOHN COMBINES LIGHT WITH LOVE IN THESE PASSAGES.
• WHAT DOES THE BUSHEL BASKET REPRESENT?
• THE LIGHT OF A CANDLE PUT UNDER A BASKET WOULD BE QUENCHED DUE TO A LACK OF AIR.
• A CHRISTIAN WHO HIDES HIS WITNESS QUENCHES THE HOLY SPIRIT.
• 1THE 5:19 TELLS US NOT TO QUENCH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
• A CARNAL CHRISTIAN, WHOSE LIFE APPEARS NO DIFFERENT THAN A NON-BELIEVERS, HAS QUENCHED THE HOLY SPIRIT.
• THE BUSHEL BASKET REPRESENTS COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY.
• THE CHRISTIAN IS NOT TO LET HIS COMMERICAL OR ECONOMIC PRIORITIES OVERSHADOW HIS CHRISTIAN WITNESS.
• THE GOSPEL OF MARK PRESENTS A SLIGHT VARIATION OF THIS PARABLE:
• READ MAR 4:21-23
• WHAT DOES THE BED REPRESENT?
• IT REPRESENTS FAMILY AND DOMESTIC ACTIVITY.
• THE CHRISTIAN IS NOT TO LET HIS FAMILY AND DOMESTIC PRIORITIES OVERSHADOW HIS CHRISTIAN WITNESS.
• WHAT DOES THE LAMPSTAND REPRESENT?
• THE LAMPSTAND IN SCRIPTURE:
• IN EXO 25:31-40, THE LAMPSTAND IN THE TABERNACLE REPRESENTED JESUS CHRIST.
• IN REV 1:20, THE LAMPSTAND REPRESENTS THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH.
• THEREFORE, THE OIL OF THE LAMPSTAND REPRESENTS THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT PRODUCES THE LIGHT OF CHRIST IN THE BELIEVER.
• WHAT ARE SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT?
• =1= LIGHT PENETRATES DARKNESS.
• =2= LIGHT CANNOT COEXIST WITH DARKNESS.
• =3= LIGHT CAN BE EITHER DIM OR BRIGHT.
• =4= LIGHT IS EITHER NATURAL, ARTIFICIAL, OR REFLECTED.
• DISCUSSION: HOW DO THESE FOUR CHARACTERISTICS RELATE TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE?

• SUMMARY AND APPLICATION:
• BOTH PARABLES SPEAK OF A VIBRANT WITNESS FOR CHRIST BY THE CHRISTIAN FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
• SALT, WORKING INTERNALLY IN THE BELIEVER’S LIFE, PRESERVES GOOD BY HOLDING BACK EVIL AND BRINGING HEALING TO A HURTING WORLD.
• LIGHT, WORKING EXTERNALLY AND BOLDLY THROUGH THE CHRISTIAN’S WITNESS, POINTS THE WAY TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.

HOMEWORK
THE PARABLE OF MOTHS AND THIEVES (MAT 6:19-20)
THIS IS A SELF-STUDY. PLEASE DO NOT SEND HOMEWORK ANSWERS TO THE TEACHER FORCORRECTION.

• APPLICATION OF THE PARABLE OF SALT AND ITS SAVOR (MAT 5:13) AND THE PARABLE OF LIGHT AND A CITY (MAT 5:14-16 MAR 4:21-23)
• CONSIDER YOUR OWN WITNESS FOR THE LORD. HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR SAVOR ON A SCALE OF 1-10 (10 BEING BEST)?

• HOW CAN YOU INCREASE YOUR SALTINESS BY DIGGING DEEPER (BEING MORE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD)?

• HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE BRIGHTNESS OF YOUR LIGHT ON A SCALE OF 1-10 (10 BEING BRIGHTEST)?

• HOW CAN YOU INCREASE YOUR BRIGHTNESS FOR THE LORD?

• PREPARATION FOR THE PARABLE OF MOTHS AND THIEVES (MAT 6:19-20)
• READ MAT 6:1-21 FOR BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT.
• WHAT IS THE CENTRAL TRUTH OF THE PARABLE?

• WHAT DO THE TREASURES REPRESENT?

• WHAT IS MEANT BY THE CORRUPTION OF MOTH AND RUST?

• WHAT DO THE THIEVES REPRESENT?

• WHAT IS MEANT BY STEALING?

• MEMORY VERSE: MAT 6:21