This morning I have with me a tater. I want you to watch and listen closely for this tater is very important this morning!

I will never forget my last stay in the hospital! There were more things wrong with me physically "than you can shake a stick at." My asthma had flared up. I had to get a body scan. And last but certainly not least my diabetes was out of control. I had five different doctors give me the same advice - get rid of stress in my life, exercise, and go on a diet or die. The stress part didn’t bother me - I know that stress will always be a part of my life. The exercise doesn’t bother me because I know that I will begin to exercise - tomorrow. The part that I initially thought I would have trouble with was the dieting. I promised the doctors that I would start eating properly after I got out of the hospital.

They had another plan - to begin at my very next meal! I will never forget that meal. They brought me a chicken nugget - as in A chicken nugget - as in ONE chicken nugget. They also brought me a cup of watery tomato soup. Don’t they know you are suppose to add one can of milk instead of water? And they brought me one shriveled up baked potato. I will never forget that potato because for me that was the straw that broke the preverbal camel’s back! No butter and no sour cream! I called the nurse and told her they must have my tray mixed up with someone else’s. She kept assuring me that this was in fact my tray! I remember telling her: "I promise I am going to quit eating the way I have been - I promise! But to ask a person to eat a dry potato is taking things a little too far!" I promise you I said that. I also remember making a decision that I was never going to eat a dry potato so I began to look for at least some salt and pepper. You guessed it! No salt either! That poor tater went back the same way it arrived - on my tray wrapped in aluminum foil and cold as ice.

I don’t know about you, but a tater without something added to it is nothing more than something that happened to get dug up in the yard! Have you ever thought long and hard about taters? We have a lot in common with taters. Well the Bible tells us that we both come from the ground, and we both have eyes! I never will forget about the first time I planted taters. I bought me a fifty-pound bag of seed potatoes and cut them up and poured them all into one row. I learned that was not the way to grow taters!

We need to first of all identify to whom Jesus is speaking. In the first two verses of chapter 5 we read: "When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them." (NRSV) He is addressing the disciples. Those who followed Him and believed in Him. Those who had virtually given their lives to Him. The implication is the same for us today. Those of us who love Him. Those of us to believe in Him. Those of us who are members of His Body - this morning Jesus is addressing you and I.

Jesus made two very bold statements in our text this morning. He said that His disciples are to be two things - salt and light. His exact words are:

You are the salt. . .
You are the light. . .

His words are, in fact, a statement of God’s view of who we are to be. Now – in plain English, here’s what Jesus adds to his comments… "If salt isn’t salty, it’s of no use… and … If light doesn’t shine, people can’t see!"

As members of the Body of Christ we are to be "Salty" and "luminous".

I. The Values of Salt:
1. Purification: We bring healing to wounded persons.
2. Preservation: Our values help shape our groups.
3. Flavor: We should be about bringing the spice of hope, love and joy to our world.

II. The Function of light:
1. Vision: To help people see that they are important to God. That they are loved by God.
2. Direction: To offer safe guidance to searching souls tossed about in a sea of misery.
3. Reflection: To let the character of Christ show through us.

Now let me get back to my tater. This tater and I share a lot of commonalties. As I said earlier we both came from the ground and we both have eyes. But it goes deeper than that. This tater is unwashed - it’s dirty. I remember a time when I was dirty. I remember a character out of Charles Shultz’s Peanuts named "Pigpen." I mean dirt clung to that boy! No matter how hard that little guy tried to stay clean it seemed to be an impossibility. Dirt would literally jump onto his body! Sometimes I think it attacks my children. I have never understood how a child can be eating the simplest food and they get it in their ear!

We could take this dirty old tater and stick it under some water and scrub and scrub and scrub. On the outside the tater looks clean - but on the inside this tater is still plain as mud and believe me probably tastes like it. You see, the change that has to take place to male this tater stand out is not an external thing. It’s an internal change.

I remember attending a revival once unlike any I had never attended before. The preacher right before the invitation walked around the sanctuary lightly touching people on the top of their head. With each touch he’d make a pronouncement: "You’re saved. You’re saved. You’re lost. You’re lost." When he finally came to me I grabbed his hand looked him in the eyes and said: "Buddy you’ve just plain lost it!" "What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"

All of us have been to a restaurant where we ordered a baked potato. Tell me how many people have you seen in those restaurants eating baked potatoes like they were apples? No. In order for us to eat a baked potato, in order for that potato to be something more than an ornament on our plate or a paper weight, we have to literally open it up!

See that’s a huge problem a lot of people have - opening ourselves up. When we open ourselves up we become vulnerable. But in order for us to receive that which God wants to give us - we must open our lives to Him. If we will open our lives to Him then He will add all the good stuff!

Before my last trip to the hospital I made many trips to the potato bar. I’d get me some butter, some sour cream, some chives, and some cheese. Listen the whole way from the potato bar to my seat I would admire the marvelous creation I had made. That’s the way it is with God. If you and I are willing to lay our lives open before Him - He will take our lives and make a magnificent creation with them.

Even though I have been to the potato bar, I am not yet finished. Once I have created my masterpiece, I add salt. You see it doesn’t matter how much other stuff is there - a potato without salt is just a potato. The salt - the joy that radiates from our lives as a direct result of the creator’s hand. The salt - that which causes our lives to be different and causes us to make a different in the lives of others,

What about it this morning? Are you and I willing to open our lives before God that He might add all the essentials in order that we might make a difference in the world?

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