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.
5. Do we hide our lights? We need to let them shine into the darkness!
B. SALT INHANCES FLAVOR
1. Salt dissolves into the food, but keeps its uniqueness (like yeast). Salt permeates the food.
2. So are we to spread abroad the Savor of Christ:
14 “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?” 2 Cor. 2:14-16.
3. A greatly beloved medical missionary was Dr. Fred Douglas Shepherd of Aintab, Asia Minor. Once a poor Arminian came to the missions station; "I have never seen Jesus, but I have seen Dr. Shepherd." That was the next best thing to seeing Jesus.
4. We should be known by our honesty, sexual purity, kindness, generosity.
III. SALT IS POTENT
A. STRONG TASTE PER WEIGHT
1. As far as its chemical composition, salt is NaCl, sodium chloride; either element taken individually would kill you, but together they’re fine to digest.
2. Why so strong tasting? Because it’s potent/ pure/ concentrated. Salt is just salt. It has no additives involved. It’s strong because it's simple and concentrated
3. In considering Purity, we’re not supposed to be like other people, but like Jesus. No compromise.
B. WE NEED TO FOCUS ON THE TOP PRIORITY
1. Phip. 3:13, "but this one thing I do;" Luke 10:42, "only one thing is needful;” Mark 10:21, "one thing is lacking."
(maybe you have too many pursuits: choose one chair.
2. Hebrews 10:25 talks about "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together." Some would say, "You don't have to go to church to be a Christian."
3. Well, technically that's true. But I doubt the Christianity of a person that willfully, deliberately neglects church.
4. Some say, "Well, I get just as much by listening to someone on TV." You may, but you don't just come to church for what you can get; you're supposed to come for what you can give, and I don't mean money.
5. We get encouragement from other believers; we live in dangerous and deceptive times. We need the church.
6. Do you know what you're saying to your neighbors and friends when you come to church services? You're saying: a. “God is important to me.” b. “You, Pastor, are important to me.” c. And to the person next to you, "You are important!"
7. We need to be faithful to the Fellowship!
IV. JUDGMENT WILL EXPOSE OUR USEFULNESS/ SALTINESS
A. EVERYONE WILL GO THROUGH JUDGMENT FIRES
49 “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” Mk. 9:49-50.
B. THOSE “SALTED” W/ GRACE ACCEPTED
“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” Col. 4:6.
C. SALTLESS SALT?
1. “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.
2. Sodium chloride cannot lose its saltiness. So what did
Jesus mean? In His time salt used by the common people was not pure; it was a mixture of minerals taken from the marshes surrounding the Dead Sea.
3. When this mineral mix was exposed to water, the sodium chloride would leach out leaving a white residue that looked like salt but had none of its flavor. That residue was thrown on the path in front of the house to keep down the dust.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: THE OLD HERMIT
1. An old Hermit wanted to teach his apprentice an important factor of living life, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the Hermit instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.
2. "How does it taste?" the Hermit asked."Bitter," spit the apprentice. The Hermit chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. 3. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."
4. As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the Hermit asked, "How does it taste?" "Fresh," remarked the apprentice. "Do you taste the salt?" asked the Hermit. "No," said the young man.
5. At this, the Hermit said, "The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in.
6. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Don't be a glass. Become a lake."
7. This reminds us to enlarge our lives; be a blessing to others and you’ll forget about your own troubles. That’s the secret of a happy life: serve & bless others!
B. THE CALL
1. "Have salt in yourselves" Mark 9:50. We're supposed to have grace in the form of kingdom virtues.
2. PRESERVE! Voice your convictions and hold back the wicked from wrongdoing.
3. INVADE! Be offensive for Jesus; go into your world to change it.
4. Be POTENT! Maintain your purity and full power in Christ.
5. Salt in salt shakers does no good. Let's get out of the "salt warehouse" (the church) and share our new life!
