"You
are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can
you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as
worthless. -- Matthew 5: 13 (NLT)
The words of Jesus teaching us what our role is supposed to
be on this earth as His followers. Jesus always teaching in word pictures and
colorful metaphors here we see that we are supposed to be the salt of the
earth. When we think about salt, we can usually think of three primary uses we
have for it. For centuries salt has been used as a preservative. The more
popular usage today is of course for flavoring. And the often forgotten role is
that of a deicing agent during the winter. Let us look at our responsibility as
followers of Jesus Christ by examining these three areas in relation to how the
Apostles fared in their day.
Since before written history existed, salt has been used to
preserve food. The reason why it works so well as a preservative is that it is
an antibacterial agent. It prevents the growth of molds, yeasts, and bacteria.
It preserves. When we preserve
something we are seeking to maintain its integrity. We are protective of it. We
prevent anything from distorting it. That is our first role as Christians who
are called to be the salt of the earth. We are to maintain the integrity of the
Gospel to a lost and dying world. We are to be protective of it. Not of a local
church beloved but of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we can fall into
the habit of church worshipping instead of God worshipping. We are to prevent
anything from distorting the Gospel. Paul warned the church at
I am
astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the
grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- which is really no
gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are
trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven
should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally
condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching
to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! --
Galatians 1: 6-9 (NIV)
Let him be eternally condemned! Another version says let him
be accursed! I came across and article yesterday about a movement with the
And the bacterium of compromise is not isolated to
See to
it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which
depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than
on Christ. -- Colossians 2: 8 (NIV)
The world teaches that it is all about us but once we are
saved, it must become all about Him. Not what we think we know about Him, but
rather what God has already given us -- His Gospel. It is His Gospel that breaks
the yokes we find ourselves slaves to. It is His Gospel that sets us free. But
then we get into the absolute truth of His Word and somehow confuse it for our
own words. We can become self-absorbed and confuse His absolute truth as
somehow being our own. The result is a self-righteous spirit that acts the
opposite of salt. It promotes the growth of bacteria within our character and
doctrine. Unchecked, it continues to spread until things begin to rot from the
inside out. Even the disciples themselves were not immune to this.
They
came to
After walking with Jesus and seeing the miracles and
healings firsthand, the disciples still had to deal with the same flesh issues
you and I face every day. Pride and ego are enemies of saltiness. We can become
more concerned about preserving our own reputation and place in the church over
preserving the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But the Lord always teaches us the
opposite of the worldly values. In order to become the greatest, we must become
the least. It cannot be about us beloved. It always has to be about Him!
The second usage for salt is the one we all think of first,
and that is for flavoring. We use salt on our food routinely to enhance the
flavor. Well, as salt of the earth we are supposed to enhance the flavor of
life on this planet. We are to be so flavorful that the unsaved should look at
us and crave what it is that we have. That is how the lost are brought to the
foot of the cross. Preach the Gospel and if necessary
use words! People are far more interested in how we behave than what it is that
we speak. The number one reason given by the un-churched for why they do not go
to church is that they feel Christians are hypocrites. That we say one thing
but act another way. That we are not flavorful at all to them. I think the root
of this un-saltiness is found in our desire to no longer relate to the lost.
The modern church has become quite adept at judging the lost but that is simply
not scriptural:
What
business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge
those inside? God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among
you." -- 1Corinthains 5: 12-13 (NIV)
The truth is that we can sometimes prefer to concentrate on
the lost and their sin so we can look away from our own. Instead of being
flavorful to them we become rotten towards them. Let us take a look at a prime
example from the disciples:
As
Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. "Rabbi,"
his disciples asked him, "why was this man born blind? Was it because of his
own sins or his parents' sins?" -- John 9: 1-2 (NLT)
Reflect on this for a moment and try to picture the scene.
Imagine the pompous sound of the voices of the disciples here. Almost like the
Pharisee in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. They did not walk
away when they discussed the man and he was blind not deaf! They automatically
assume sin as the reason for his sorry lot in life. The man was 38 years old
and had been blind for all 38 years. He ceased to become a person in their
eyes. He is now a point for a religious debate! Now, before we look too harshly
upon the disciples here, how often do we do this as well?
"Look at that one. I struggled in my life but made it. They
must be lazy."
