Out of the Salt Shaker
Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”
Intro: Did you know that salt is a miracle? It’s composed of 2 poisons: chlorine and sodium. If you ingest either by itself, you can die. But put them together and you have common, ordinary salt, and that which formerly brought death somehow comes together to bring life, and that’s a miracle! God is into miracles. [Jerry Shirley, SC]
-Those in ancient societies understood the value of salt far better than we do. The Romans believed, for instance, that there was nothing as valuable as salt, except for the sun. Many Roman soldiers received their pay in salt. Some have said that it was from this practice that the phrase "not worth his salt" originated.
-Those listening to Jesus may not have understood all of what He was saying, but they knew that to be called "the salt of the earth" was to be something very special and valuable.
-Jesus has chosen us, as believers, to do His work here on earth. We are of great value to Him. But not only are we of value to the Lord, but we are also of great value to the world we live in, whether others realize it or acknowledge it. [Bill Prater, SC]
-Some have noted several of the unique functions of salt. Salt irritates (in a wound). Salt seasons or flavors food. Salt creates thirst. Salt cleanses and heals. Salt preserves. [Jerry Shirley, SC]
-According to Jesus salt is who we are, not what we act like or try to appear like. You are the salt of the earth. While this is certainly a metaphor, it is also a state of being verb, describing who you are, and what you are like – salty. Notice that salt does not have a particular action attached to it. It is implied that we are to simply be who we are- salt. If we are not salty, then that must change on the inside through repentance and allowing God to change our character. If the preceding beatitudes are true of our lives, then our saltiness will be evident to those around us.
-One early Jewish Rabbi was asked how tasteless salt could become salty again. His reply was that you salt it with the afterbirth of a mule. Well, as you know, mules are sterile and do not give birth [Keener, BBCNT]. You may not be able to make unsalty salt salty again, but by God’s grace, we can change an unsalty heart and lifestyle and become the flavorful people God has called us to be. And that is the main thought I’d like to convey in this message:
Prop: God wants to flavor us with His goodness so we can let others taste and see that He is good.
Interrogative: How does that flavor find expression in our lives?
TS: Let’s look at 3 main thoughts that relate to the value and flavor of salt.
I. Salty Christians Are Authentic (Be Who You Are- the real thing)
-Salt- Pure sodium chloride does not lose it saltiness. There’s no such thing as "unsalty salt." But in Jesus day they got their salt from the Dead Sea which was not pure. It was mixed with other minerals that affected the flavor. In time it could become tasteless. When this happened it was a good for nothing but to be thrown out and walked on.
-What Jesus says in these verses is that if His followers are going to change their world, they have to be the real thing. Our lives can’t be a mixture of all kinds of impurities. We have to be uncompromised, pure, and authentic. "You are the salt of the earth." Jesus is saying "Be authentic. Be genuine. Be the real deal!"
-Joe Aldrich wrote, "Christians are to be good news before they share the good news."
One of the biggest roadblocks to reaching our world is that many who claim to follow Christ are not authentic. Many people come to church on Sunday, but they live with no flavor the rest of the week. Any influence they have fails to draw people to Christ. If anything, an inconsistent lifestyle repels people from the church. Have you ever talked to someone who says they know someone who says they are a Christian, but their life does not line up with their words? This literally destroys the witness of Christ when believers don’t live out their faith. The world is looking for something authentic. People want the real thing, and if Christianity is just a show then they can get make-believe any night of the week on TV. Jesus calls us to live out pure, uncompromised, authentic faith. If we do that, the world will be changed by it.
-So, how authentic is your faith? Are the people around you drawn to faith by your life? If you are a Christian, do the people who cross your path recognize that there is a difference in the way you live? When the Holy Spirit is alive in you, the flavor of your life will be that of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Can the people you work with, your family members, the people you go to school with, can they see the "fruit of the Spirit," growing in your life? Are you the real thing, or is there so much impurity mixed in with your faith that it just isn’t very salty?
-Jesus says that to influence your world toward what is good takes the real thing, authentic faith. The key here is being real, not trying to appear perfect. People can smell a phony a mile away. If you want to make people think you never struggle, and that you never battle with sin, then you aren’t authentic. You are just wearing a mask. [Tim Bond]
-TS: So salty Christians are authentic. They are the real thing. Secondly…
II. Salty Christians Maintain their Flavor (Be worth your salt)
-Again, pure salt does not lose its saltiness. So how might a Christian lose his or her saltiness? By allowing impurities into our lives. Impurities will dilute and pollute the pure salt that we are called to be.
-I think that in one sense Jesus was summing up the 8 beatitudes when He told His followers, “You are the salt of the earth.” You who are humble, broken, gentle, hungry for what is right, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, mistreated for your faith – you are the salt of the earth. So that gives us a clue as to how we might maintain our saltiness in a sometimes tasteless world.
-Stay humble before God and others. Be willing to weep over your own failures and the failures of others. Use your God-given strength gently and carefully and it will increase. Develop a greater appetite for what is right. Have a heart and show mercy to others who are in need of help or forgiveness. Learn to be patient with the weak. Ask God to make you pure in heart and guard your influences to keep your heart clean. Take the peace you have in your heart because of God’s forgiveness and spread it around. Help others find peace with God and teach them to resolve conflict with others.
-Let’s bring it even closer to home. How do you treat your spouse? Do you show him or her the love, honor, and respect God wants you to? How do you treat your kids? As resilient as they are, are you handling their hearts with care? Are you being salt to them so they will know how to be salt to others? How about your parents? Are you honoring, and obeying them? Are you bringing delight to them by your attitude and actions?
-If so, you’ve got salt! You are salt- tasty, tangy zingy salt! But if the salt has lost its flavor or its zing, it has lost its purpose and benefits nobody. Let’s keep our flavor and ask God to help us stay pure and salty. Finally…
III. Salty Christians Aren’t Afraid of Change (Be Willing to Change)
A. In themselves (If I’m losing my saltiness, I must change!)
-God wants to change us, but not superficially. God doesn’t necessarily want to change our appearance. He wants to change who we are. He wants to clean us up from the very core of our being. When we try to put on a mask we short-circuit His work because we try to appear changed. But it’s not real. Jesus calls us to influence people toward what is good and right. To do it we have to be authentic, have faith in Him that changes us from the inside out. Anything less is useless to Him. [Tim Bond, SC]
-Centuries ago the Romans contended that salt was the purest of all things because it came from the purest of all elements: The Sun & the Sea.
-So if Christians are to be salt of the earth they must be an example of Purity
-Christians must stay salty and hold high standards of purity in speech, conduct, thought and action [Rodney Fry, SC].
-The real question is not, “Do I need to change.” The real question is, “Am I willing to change?” If my life is not pure, am I willing to do whatever is necessary to bring it into alignment with God’s plan for me?
-What does this mean when we bring it into our daily lives? One place to start might be to ask God to help me change the way I think. If my thoughts were to be posted on the bulletin board at the Post Office, what would people see? Would they see thoughts of mercy and kindness towards others, or would they see criticism, anger, and jealousy? Would they see someone who genuinely wishes good on others, or someone who is blinded to the needs of others because of my own desires? If people could read my thoughts, what kind of reading would it be?
-Another way to bring this into our daily lives is to ask God to help us change the things we do. What do our actions tell people about Jesus? Actions are usually the expressions of our thoughts, which is why we need to start with our thoughts. But Jesus stressed the importance of both. Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
-What do I spend my waking hours doing? If my actions are not in alignment with the Father’s plan, then I am not being very salty, and as this verse indicates, only those who do God’s will can enter heaven.
-If I am indulging in a lifestyle of sin, I must repent and ask God to forgive me and change me. If I am mistreating someone, gossiping about someone, looking at pornography, getting involved sexually with someone I’m not married to, telling lies, taking things that do not belong to me, being dishonest with my taxes or any other areas – these are things that need to change. No surprise there. Maybe you’ve even tried to change, but you just can’t seem to break free. What will it take? Along with time and trust and a huge dose of God’s grace, it will take a willingness to change. Not a passive, half-hearted wish that things could be different, but an intense desire to please God and to be useful to Him. Are you okay with personal change? I hope so because that is what God requires of us.
B. In God’s church (Message is sacred, not the methods)
-Sometimes we can put methods, traditions, and preferences on an equal level to the message. And if some of the methods and preferences of worship or ministry we’ve enjoyed so much in the past begin to change, we might have a real problem with that. However, sometimes the personal preferences of church culture can be very tasteless or foreign to people in our communities we are trying to reach. So we need to be willing to do what the apostle Paul did and determine what is really important. He writes, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” 1 Corinthians 9:22-23. That leads us to the change we want to see in others.
C. In Others (God wants to use you to bring life change to others- don’t fight it!)
-There was a business owner who became interested in Christianity, but he maintained a distance and just observed for a while. He employed many Christians in his company and he watched them like a hawk. He said, "You know, I was naturally drawn to God by observing Christian workers who were conscientious and kind and thorough and aggressive on the job. But I’ll tell you what really impressed me. One day a guy who I knew to be a fresh convert asked if he could see me after work. I agreed to meet with him, but later in the day I started to worry that this young religious zealot might be coming to try to convert me, too."
-"I was surprised when he came in my office with his head hanging low and said to me, ’Sir, I’ll only take a few minutes, but I’m here to ask your forgiveness. Over the years I’ve worked for you I’ve done what a lot of other employees do, like borrowing a few company products here and there. And I’ve taken some extra supplies; I’ve abused telephone privileges; and I’ve cheated the time clock now and then."
-He went on, "But I became a Christian a few months ago and it’s real-not the smoke and mirror stuff. In gratitude for what Christ has done for me and in obedience to Him, I want to make amends to you and the company for the wrongs I’ve done. So could we figure out a way to do that? If you have to fire me for what I’ve done, I’ll understand. I deserve it. Or, if you want to dock my pay, dock it whatever figure you think is appropriate. If you want to give me some extra work to do on my own time, that will be okay too. I just want to make things right with God and between us.’" In the end they worked it out. That business owner said that one conversation made a deeper spiritual impact on him than anything else ever had. ("Developing Contagious Christian Character," by Steven Chapman, SermonCentral.com)
-That employee didn’t influence his boss because he had some clever presentation of the gospel. He did it because he was living out a faith that was both authentic and available. We can do that too. Jesus said we could. But to do it, we have to be willing to be the good news before we tell the good news. [Tim Bond, SC]
-One important truth to remember is that for salt to have its desired influence, it must come into contact with whatever needs to be flavored. As someone said, “No contact, no impact!” We cannot stay in the saltshaker and provide the flavor that is needed. We will need to allow ourselves to be poured out, touching the lives of others so that God’s grace can give them the flavor they are longing for but aren’t sure where to find it.
Conclusion: As we close, how salty are you? Are you authentic, pure tangy salt? Are you maintaining your flavor so others can get a taste of God’s goodness? Are you willing to make any changes God might ask you to make with His help? If so, just take a few minutes to ask God, “Lord, what is one thing you want me to change?” I believe He will speak to you and bring something to your mind. Then if you’re serious about being willing to change, tell the Lord that, and ask Him to show you how to do it. “Lord, change my heart. Then help me to change my actions.” If we will do this on a regular basis, we will find that our saltiness is the real thing. When our lives are flavored by the grace of God, we will have a positive effect on those around us, helping them see their way clear to God.
