Pass The Salt, Please!

Sermon Text:

Matt 5:13 (Believers Are Salt and Light) "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.

Plot Outline: This film contains not only some incredible surf photography, but also some very powerful testimony from a group of friends whose lives were forever changed by God.

Noah’s Arc offers a powerful look into the life of Noah Snyder, charting his unique journey from childhood on the Outer Banks of North Carolina to becoming a world-renowned professional surfer. The real story, however, involves the true power behind Noah’s character, and the many lives that have been affected by it.

Transition: Christians are to be salt and light in the world today but we are living in the zoo (church). Our influence in the world is contained or limited to the wall of this building and not being used to impact the world around us.

Christians Should:

1. Preserve

Col 4:6 Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.

A. Uselessness of Salt that has lost its savor

- Matthew\Chapter 5\5:13\Salt without savour

Salt without savour: -- These words must have seemed ridiculously presumptuous when they were first spoken.

I. THE HIGH TASK OF CHRIST’S DISCIPLES AS HERE SET FORTH.

This metaphor involves two things: a grave judgment as to the actual state of society, and a lofty claim as to what Christ’s followers can do for it. It is corrupt; you do not salt a living thing. It is the power and obligation of the good to arrest corruption by their own purity. The example of Christian men is not only repressive, it ought to tempt forth all that is purest in the people with whom they come into contact. Salt does its work by being brought into close contact with the thing which it is to work upon. It does its work silently, inconspicuously, gradually.

II. THE GRAVE POSSIBILITY OF THE SALT LOSING ITS SAVOUR.

It is evident that there is the obliteration of the distinction between the salt and the mass into which it is inserted. Is there any difference between your ideal of happiness and the irreligious one?

III. The solemn question,

Is THERE A POSSIBILITY OF RESALTING THE SALTLESS SALT, OF RESTORING THE LOST SAVOUR? These words not to be pushed to the extreme.

IV. THE CERTAIN END OF THE SALTLESS SALT.

YOU cannot put it upon the soil; there is no fertilizing virtue in it. You cannot even fling it into the rubbish heap; it will do mischief there. Pitch it out into the road; it will stop a cranny somewhere between the stones when once it is well trodden down by men’s heels. That is all it is fit for. God has no use for it; man has no use for it.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.) (from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright (c) 2002 AGES and Biblesoft, Inc.)

B. Christians called salt: -- The ideal of an active and efficient Christian character. It is like salt. How?

I. In its CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS.

As salt is made up of chlorine and sodium chemically united, so a Christian character is composed of faith and works in union.

(a) As chlorine gas is a deadly poison by itself, so faith without works kills.

James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works ? Can his faith save him?

(b) As the metal sodium is destitute alone of the saving quality of salt, so works without faith are destitute of merit to save the soul.

(c) As the chemical union of the two elements forms a third substance, with a new and useful quality, so faith and works, when united, give life and efficiency to Christian character.

James 2:18-21 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works ." Show me your faith without works , and I will show you faith from my works . 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe — and they shudder.

20 Foolish man! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?

II. In its EFFECTS

Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

(a) As salt prevents corruption and decay in animal and vegetable matter, so Christian character is the antidote of vice in the individual and in society.