the salt of the earth

i'm going to be preaching at my church tomorrow and in my preparations i came across a marvelous quote. i'm speaking from matthew 5:13-16, in which Jesus tells His disciples (for all time, not just the folks gathered on the mountain) that they are 'the salt of the earth' and 'the light of the world.'

dr. martyn lloyd-jones had this to say regarding the passage:

The primary task of the church is evangelize and to preach the gospel. Look at it like this. If the Christian Church today spends most of her time in denouncing communism, it seems to me that the main result will be that communists will not be likely to listen to the preaching of the gospel. If the Church is always denouncing one particular section of society, she is shutting the evangelistic door upon that section. If we take the New Testament view of these matters we must believe that the communist has a soul to be saved in exactly the same way as everybody else. It is my business as a preacher of the gospel, and a representative of the Church, to evangelize all kinds and conditions and classes of men and women. The moment the Church begins to intervene in the political, social, and economic matters, therefore, she is hampering and hindering herself in her God-appointed task of evangelism. She can no longer say that she 'knows no man after the flesh', and thereby she is sinning. Let the individual play his part as a citizen, and belong to any political party that he may choose. That is something for the individual to decide. The Church is not concerned as a Church about these things. Our business is to preach the gospel and to bring this message of salvation to all. And, thank God, communists can be converted and can be saved. The Church is to be concerned about sin in all its manifestations, and sin can be as terrible in a capitalist as in a communist; it can be as terrible in a rich man as in a poor man; it can manifest itself in all classes and in all types and in all groups. (from Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. pg. 135)