Are You Useful To God? Series

Are you useful to God, or have you made yourself useless? When we come to know Jesus Christ, we are transformed into a holy instrument to be used by the Lord. We all have a purpose, but some of us choose to make ourselves useless by not allowing the Lord to touch us with His hand. To put it plain and simple, we get our fire insurance and then withdraw from the scene.

The Lord does not desire either isolation or insulation from us. Some of us go into isolation. We withdraw from the world and say, “I don’t want anything to do with those sinful, no good, heathens.” We might also withdraw from the church and declare, “I don’t believe those people at church like me, so I just won’t go.” We separate ourselves from those who need Jesus, and we also separate ourselves from those in the body of Christ who will love us and encourage us.

Others, instead of isolating, will insulate themselves. They will form a holy huddle by rejoicing with other Christians in the church and saying, “Praise the Lord that He has saved us,” however, they don’t bother with the salvation of those outside the church walls whose souls are destined to hell. They seek the safety of other believers, and insulate themselves with the comfortable padding of fellowship, not wishing to get hurt on the spiritual battlefield.

This morning we are going to look at what Jesus has to say about our usefulness, or perhaps, uselessness to Him. Hopefully, we will come to understand what Jesus is trying to tell us and begin to act. If we fail to understand what He is saying, then some of us will remain as we are, being disobedient to the will of God. I don’t think any of us desire to disobey our Lord; so, let’s see what Jesus has to say!

What Kind of Salt Are You? (v. 13)

13 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

“You are the salt of the earth.” “Salt has been used in many cultures as a valuable commodity. The word salary comes from an ancient word meaning ‘salt-money,’ referring to a Roman soldier’s allowance for the purchase of salt. Someone who earns his pay is still said to be ‘worth his salt.’ Salt has also been used to express promises and friendship between people . . . Today, in many Arab cultures, if two men partake of salt together, they are sworn to protect one another – even if they had previously been enemies. In some cultures, people throw salt over their shoulders when they make a promise. Who knew that sodium chloride was so important!”(1)

Some uses for salt are the preservation of meat, seasoning food, cracking and melting ice, and killing weeds; and I want us to reflect on each of these uses. First, let us look at the preservative power of salt. A lot of people know about the saltiness of the famous country ham, but why is there salt in it? It is there to preserve the meat from bacteria while it is curing and to keep the flies out. So, how do we serve as the preservative power of salt? Well, we are going to come back to answering this question after we learn about God’s covenant with Israel.

“In the ancient world, ingesting salt was a way to make an agreement legally binding. If two parties entered into an agreement, they would eat salt together in the presence of witnesses, and that act would bind their contract.”(2) In the Old Testament, we read about the “covenant of salt” existing between God and Israel.” 2 Chronicles 13:5 says, “Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?” Salt was commanded to be used in all grain offerings to signify Israel’s covenant with God. We read in Leviticus 2:13, “Every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering.”

When we accepted Jesus Christ, God made a covenant with us. Jesus is from the lineage of David, and when we are covered by His blood and by His salvation, we are made heirs of God’s kingdom; heirs according to the promise. We become children of the God of Israel. And the Lord has given His children dominion over the earth by a covenant of salt, meaning that we are here to preserve the earth, and to practice stewardship of what we have been given. The responsibility that we have been given is to make this world into a better place, to share the message of salvation with the world, and to transform this whole world into a people of God.