Do You Have Salt?

DO YOU HAVE SALT?

Matt. 5:13

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: GRANDMA’S NICK-NAME

1. We all leave a legacy behind us – a reputation. One girl identified her grandmother's reputation.

2. While eating dessert, nine year old Karen claimed, "Grandma makes the best apple pie in the whole world."

3. She then realized her comment might have hurt her mother's feelings so she quickly added, "And mommy makes really good pies too."

4. Karen's dad chimed in, "Of course she does, because she's a chip off the old block." Karen then leaned over to her grandmother and whispered, "Grandma, you're the old block!"

B. TEXT

“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.” Mt. 5:13.

“And 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. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” Lev. 2:13.

C. VALUE OF SALT

1. How valuable is salt? 40 million tons are required each year to fill our needs. Homer called it divine. Plato called it a "substance dear to the gods." Shakespeare mentioned salt 17 times in his plays.

2. When painting "The last Supper," Leonard da Vinci wanted to highlight the loss of Judas’ purity in betraying Christ. How did he do it? He painted an overturned salt container in front of Judas.

3. More wars have been fought over salt than over gold!

4. Thousands of Napoleon’s troops died during his retreat from Moscow because their wounds would not heal--their bodies lacked salt.

5. The human body contains about 4oz. of salt. Without enough of it, muscles won’t contract, blood won’t circulate,

food won’t digest and the heart won’t beat a beat.

6. Without a doubt, salt is the essence of life. And Jesus said, "Ye are the salt of the earth."

D. THESIS

1. The world poses a threat to our spiritual well-being. Anti-Christian elements don't understand us. The media often stereotypes us as ignorant or hypocritical.

2. Our response? Often, it is to withdrawal from the world into our Christian subculture: Christian radio, colleges, books, TV, church, support groups, etc.

3. But Jesus shows us our place in the world and chose as His example to describe us: "salt."

4. Salt had many uses in Bible times, but what did the Lord mean when He said, "You are the Salt of the earth?" We’ll look at four applications of ‘salt’ to the Church.

5. The title of tonight's message is "Do You Have Salt?"

I. SALT PRESERVES

A. DAYS BEFORE REFRIGERATION

1. Salt was the only way to preserve foods. Salted food didn’t rot or decay.

2. Jesus’ followers are to preserve the world from the rot of sin. We work to reverse moral deterioration. Who will, if not us?

3. Salt blocks the growth of bacteria, and keeps away corruption.

B. COVENANT OF SALT

1. Covenanting parties were accustomed to partake of salt, to make the covenant a "covenant of salt" (Num. 18:19; 2 Chron. 13:5), i.e., one that was inviolably sure.

2. The meaning appears to have been that the salt, with its power to strengthen food and keep it from decay, symbolized unbending truthfulness without hypocrisy.

3. So a "covenant of salt" is a covenant that is faithfully adhered to, everlasting, forever.

C. PRESERVES THE WORLD FROM JUDGMENT

1. Abraham helped preserve Lot (Gen. 18). "If I only find ten righteous, I will not destroy it."

2. In 2 Thess., Paul discusses what hinders the Antichrist from being revealed and the total takeover of the world by evil: it is the Holy Spirit in the Church. The church is a preserving force in the world.

II. SALT INVADES/ IS OFFENSIVE

A. SALT IN SALTSHAKER -- USELESS

1. Salt is only useful when it is used. With "salted pork," you can taste the salt throughout the meat.

2. The context of Matthew 5:13 is that we are to reach out; "invade your world with My Nature;" "Show them what Jesus is like."

3. HUMOR.

a. A little boy was in a heated argument with his sister about who was going to get the last brownie. His mother overheard the loud discussion in the kitchen and came in to resolve the conflict.

b. Her two children were obviously very distraught about getting that final treat. Sensing the need to teach a deeper truth, the mom asked her children that ever-relevant question: "What would Jesus do?"

c. The older sibling immediately answered, "That's easy. Jesus would just pray over the brownie and make 5000 more!"

4. The Gospel should penetrate into every area of our lives, consuming every part. There should be no secret compartments.