‘miracle Grow’ For The World

Matthew 5:13-20

Unlike some scripture that strikes fear in preachers' hearts, this scripture has way too many topics that someone could use. But I want to strike at the core of what Jesus tells us who we are.

But first, I must ask you a question:

Has anyone ever told you that you are a pile of manure?

Did it ever occur to you that, according to Jesus, they might be right? [1]

Jesus said,

You are the light of the WORLD (Matthew 5:14) -

something we should be flattered at because Jesus also refers to himself as the ‘Light of the World.’

But what about Jesus calling us the salt of the EARTH – not the salt of the world, but

You are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)

Jesus isn’t saying,

“You should be the salt of the earth and light of the world.”

Or,

“You have to be….”

Let alone “You better be….”

Instead, he is saying we are

the salt of the earth. . .

As in already are. Even if we don’t know it; Even if we once knew it and forgot it; Even if we have a hard time believing it.

Too often, we take Jesus’ words as commands instead of descriptions. We start beating up on ourselves because we are not salty enough or not shining our light. We make it all about ourselves instead of about Jesus. Jesus promised his disciples their very being; he is not commanding or threatening them about what they should be doing; he is promising what they will be in the future. In this scripture, Jesus is making promises and giving out these gifts:

We are the salt of the earth.

We are the light of the world.

Take a few minutes to consider your life over the last couple of weeks and think about how God has used you to be salt and light.

• Your words of encouragement to others

• Your faithful work at your job

• The volunteering you have done

• The prayers offered for people you don’t even know

• The promises you have made and kept.

The salt translation in this scripture is from the Greek words tes ges, meaning ‘of the earth,’ meaning soil. Jesus says we are ‘salt for the soil.’

What if what Jesus really meant was,

We are the ‘Miracle Grow’ for the earth.

But Miracle Grow has never improved the quality of a single ounce of soil without someone first opening the bag. The church is where ordinary fertilizer becomes Miracle Grow and where we go forth to love and serve the Lord by sharing our saltiness with others. The church just might be where the bag must get opened.

Does the rest of Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God sound like a warning for us to go out and become the Sodium Benzoate of the earth? The Kingdom of God is most often described by metaphors of seeds sprouting, fig trees blooming, and leaven rising. Do we really feel called out into the world to help keep things as they are?

We need to go into this rising, sprouting, blossoming the Kingdom of God, feed and nurture God’s people until they grow tall, bloom, and flourish, right where they stand. We can do that by sprinkling a little bit of the salt of the earth, simple gestures of love that help others believe in their worth and worthiness.

Being salt and fertilizing the modern cultural barrenness means getting deep beneath the hard-baked surface and causing significant movement. We have to go out into the world and start fertilizing!

In Jesus’ day, salt was often connected with purity. The Romans believed that salt was the purest of all things. As followers of Jesus, we are committed to preserving Christian principles that keep ourselves and others from ‘going bad.’ As the salt of the earth, we can help prevent spoiling and corruption wherever we find it.

Do you feel called to go into the world and preserve things, or keep them as they are, and maintain the status quo? Jesus didn’t say we are the salt of the meatloaf; he said we are

the salt of the earth.

We are in good company. Being Miracle Grow for the Kingdom of God goes back a long way. In the Book of Genesis, we are told that God toiled in the soil to fashion us.

But are we ready to turn in our stained-glass image of the church for one that is more earthy? Are we prepared to consider that the church has been called to be on top of the compost pile?

Some years back, there was a sign that used to hang in a locker room that read,

Cause Something to Happen.

It even has its website, causesomethingtohappen.com. My prayer for each person is that they might have the courage to become