Be Salt, Not Salty

We have been going through the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday nights though we haven't met lately due to business meetings and weather. However, we did get to finally have a Sunday evening service yesterday. I love those times when we can talk through scripture in a group setting and get feedback and perspective we might not see on our own. That is exactly what happened to me last night.

We were at the verse many who have grown up in church have heard countless times. Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet." That is some good stuff right there. The reason it is such an amazing verse, is that in a nutshell, this verse sums up what our life as Christians should look like. We can get so much direction for such a short passage, if we will look for it and apply it to our lives. Ready?

Mark reminded us last night that salt serves two basic functions - to preserve, and to add flavor. These are both characteristics we are to possess as Christians. Mark gave a very good illustration regarding preserving meat. :) To preserve meat, you aren't going to put more meat on the meat you already have right? Right...you are going to use a preservative, like salt, something that is different. This is the real obvious connection we have to this passage. As believers, we are to be different from the world. We can't preserve anything if we are the same as everyone else around us. In order to impact the world for Christ, we are to be like Christ, not like the world.

This verse says You are the salt of the earth. There is no other group of people who can preserve the world. No political party or religious sect can do what Jesus is calling us to do in this verse. Only us, and frankly, we have done a really poor job at it. We can honestly blame the rot of this world on our lack of preserving. Think about that. I know it might sound harsh, but if we had been behaving like Christians and less like the world, I think the level of rot we see today would be much less. Much less.

When we live our lives just like the rest of the people around us and do not seek after the things of the Lord, we lose that ability to preserve and add flavor to this world. When we respond with hate or behave in such a way that others want no part of us (salty attitudes)then we become worthless, like salt to be trampled on. We have become so focused on what we "hate" or disapprove of that we have lost what we should be doing in the first place and that is telling others about Jesus. About hope. About redemption. Yes, we should hate sin and flee from it. The bible is clear on that. However, while we do that we need to be sharing with others the Gospel. The only way to true peace, hope, salvation, and eternal life.

We have an awesome opportunity during our years on this earth to preserve the goodness of the Gospel of Jesus and to add flavor to the lives God has so graciously put in our path. I think about Billy Graham and the thousands he influenced during his 99 years for God's glory and not his own. How he strove to be the salt of the earth. How he made the message of Jesus his focus and his desire was for others to hear it and to respond. He loved as God had loved him.

We need to stop being salty in our attitudes and responses to this world and rather be the salt that preserves this world and flavors it with the exquisite word of God. One day we will all stand before the Lord and give an account for our lives and how we lived them. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. As believers, we know the end of the story. We know we have won and God is victorious and Satan is defeated. We know this. We understand this. The world doesn't. The lost in this world is headed straight to eternal damnation. We have the answer. We know exactly what they need to be saved. Let's stop yelling at them and telling them all they are doing wrong and instead show them hope. Show them salvation. Show them Jesus. In word and deed. Let's live like Jesus and be the salt of the earth. I love you all. Till next time.