Salt to a dying world...the Sermon on the Mount Continues...

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"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)

We continue in the Sermon on the Mount with the words of Jesus teaching us what our role is supposed to be on this earth as His followers. Jesus was always teaching in word pictures and colorful metaphors and 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 Galatia when they were struggling with this:

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 a couple of years ago about a movement with the United Kingdom to rewrite the Ten Commandments! To make them somehow more culturally relevant. Not coveting your neighbor's house or wife has been rewritten as "seek contentment." Honor your mother and father is now "keep peace with your parents." You may say this all sounds silly but realize that 600 churches in England are already using these. Recently here in America we saw Perry Noble do the exact same thing; butchering the Ten Commandments to make them more palatable to people. The United States has been long known for one distortion after another when it comes to the Bible. Whether it is the insidious evils of prosperity doctrine which turns Christ into an ATM for our whims or the softer seeker-friendly heresies that removes the sufficiency of Christ; America continues to lead the Christian world in not preserving the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The most often heard refrain from prosperity supporters is that God wants everyone to prosper. There are two big problems with that. First it is inaccurate. There are plenty of examples of people in the Bible who did not "prosper" according to the materialistic views of prosperity doctrine. Secondly, it distorts what true prosperity is. Prosperity is when you are saved and have eternal life. Prosperity is when you have good health and a job and know where your kids are at night. Jesus Christ died on an old wooden cross so that we can be reconciled to God, not so we can drive a Ferrari. The common refrain from supporters of the seeker friendly model is that we need to somehow meet people within their frame of reference, as opposed to present the Gospel to them. That somehow the Gospel itself is no longer culturally relevant to this generation. That now you have to essentially trick them into salvation. This is of course in contradiction to what the Bible teaches us:

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 Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. -- Mark 9: 33-34 (NIV)

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 with our lives and our words! How we behave must line up with 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. Realize too that 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."

"Those protestors should get a job!"

Look at that Muslim! Look at that abomination! Look at that sinner! Don't look at me! I'm covered by the blood! But just look at them! And God does look at them. And He only sees one thing. It is the same thing He used to see when He first looked at us-- compassion:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. -- 1Peter 3: 9 (NIV)

Even that Muslim. Even that sinner. Even that person that for some reason we disqualify in our hearts -- God wants them brought to the foot of the cross also. We are not meant to be selective salt. Flavorful for some people but not for all. People are not meant to be the subject of a religious debate. Or the brunt of jokes. Or the outlet for our anger and derision. Thank God He did not have qualifications I had to meet in order to be granted the eternal life I now enjoy. God forbid I ever try to place any on anyone else. Salt is meant to be flavorful to a lost and dying world. And realize this today -- we can lose that flavor. The key verse says exactly that. God forbid that we lose our saltiness and become worthless to the God who saved us.

Perhaps the most interesting usage for salt is that of a deicing agent. Those of us who live where there still is a real winter can attest to the necessity of salt when the roads become iced over. How does that work exactly? Salt actually lowers the freezing point of water. Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Mixing in just a 10 percent salt solution can lower the freezing point of water all the way to 20 degrees. There is a lost and dying world beloved that are becoming more and more hardened to the prospects of salvation every day. The world is becoming a colder place every single day. There is dwindling empathy, eroding compassion, and disappearing love on a minute by minute basis. Jesus taught us how these days were going to be:

Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. -- Matthew 24: 12 (NLT)

Cold enough to the point that their hearts will freeze over at the notion of a God that loves them and wants to save them. But as the salt of the earth we can lower that freezing point. We can be the hands and feet of Christ delivering the grace and mercy God has lavished upon us already to them. But it has to start with compassion. In our last look at how the disciples fared, we see this story:

As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, "Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them. So they went on to another village. -- Luke 9: 51-56 (NLT)

Isn't that sometimes like our own compassion for some of the people in this world? Like James and John we want God to rain fire down upon them. The Samaritans were despised by the Jews in Jesus' day. They were considered half-breeds. It seems sometimes the church has created their own Samaritans these days. Maybe it is based on religious fear mongering with the Muslims. Maybe it is based upon creating super-sins so we can feel superior. Whoever the group and whatever the reason we must always remember how far down God had to go to save us.

We have a responsibility as Christians to be about our Father's business. That does not necessarily mean church business. It means Kingdom business. It means that there is a heaven and there is a hell and we need to be salt to a dying world. We need to be about preserving the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to be flavorful to a world that is searching for a reason to believe. We must be God's deicing agent here on earth, showing the compassion the world so desperately needs in these the end days. Let us never to be found worthless to our King.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- March 14, 2015

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.