I. Introduction
A. A tough old cowboy once counseled his grandson that if he wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his oatmeal every morning. The grandson did this religiously and he lived to the age of 93. When he died, he left 14 children, 28 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren and a fifteen foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.
B. There is so much in this little parable, but the main thrust is distinctiveness.
1. Salt is distinctively different from the thing upon which it is put
a. By nature and by purpose it is different
(1) Lets turn to 1 Peter 1:23
b. So are believers, us
c. We are distinctively different by nature and by purpose
d. By nature we are a new creation, born of God
1 Peter 1:23 (NKJV)
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
e. By purpose wes are to penetrate and change the very taste of the earth
(1) We are like salt
(2) We shall examine these points all from this one verse, Matthew 5:13
(a) The disciples' character: salt
(b) The disciples' place to salt: the earth
(c) The disciples' mission: to salt the earth
(d) Their danger: becoming useless and destructive
Matthew 5:13 (NKJV)
"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.
II. Body
A. The disciples' character is like salt
1. We are called and designed (made) to be the salt of the earth
2. Several things can be said about salt that point out just what Jesus means
a. Salt is distinctive
(1) It is totally different from the food or object upon which it is put
(a) Turn to James 1:27
(2) The power of salt lies in this difference
(3) We believers, just as salt, are to be different from the world
(4) The power of our lives and our testimony lies in our being different and distinctive
(5) We have seen James 1:27 before
James 1:27 (NKJV)
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
(6) We are to be "unspotted from the world"
3. What is it about salt that makes it such a valuable commodity
a. Salt preserves
(1) It keeps things from going bad and decaying
(2) It cleanses and disinfects
(3) My mother once told me about salt in healing
(a) She had gone to the doctor because of a sore throat and the doctor told her to gargle with warm salt water. Mom asked him what good that would do. So the doctor took a swab of her throat and put it on a microscope slide. After adjusting the microscope he invited my mom to look into the microscope. She saw the creatures and them the doctor put a little salt water on the slide and, mom said the creatures exploded.
(4) We believers, just as salt, are to cleanse and preserve the world
(a) By our testimony we are to cause the infectious influences to exploded, so to speak
i) Lets turn to Romans 12:2
(b) We are to disinfect the world and keep the germs of the world from causing things to go bad
(c) We are, by our testimony, to save the world from corruption.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
4. Salt enhances the flavor of our food
a. This is from a question a woman asked online.
(1) I made a big ol' crockpot of split pea soup today. I put in some onion, carrots, potatoes, and 1/2# of ham. Except for the ham, I added no salt. I reached my lifetime RDA of salt around age 25, so I figured this was a good place to cut some. b-l-a-n-d. A dash of salt and WOW! Peas, carrots, and potatoes are not the most exciting flavors in the world, but add some of that crystalline white stuff and it sets my taste buds dancin'. How does that work? Salt is a flavor, and yet it also brings out flavors. Or does it? What's goin' on here?
(2) There were many attempts to answer the question.
(a) The one that did ring true mentioned the fact that our tongue has taste buds that react to different things and one set of taste buds react to salt
(b) Other answers were not too sure why
b. We Christians are to enhance the flavor of life
(1) We could live our lives like others
(a) But, others very often get so bored, you see so many who can buy anything end their own lives
(b) Switch spouses and mates as often as others change their socks
i) Turn to Galatians 5:22 - 23
(2) We are to flavor and influence the world for Christ
(3) We are to take the bland and the tasteless and salt them and make them relishing within the world.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, {23} gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
5. Salt penetrates
a. It inserts a new quality, substance, and life
b. It changes that upon which it is put
c. We are likewise to penetrate the world and insert a new life into it
6. Salt is quiet
a. Turn to 1 Peter 3:3 - 4
b. It is visible, but it works silently, making no noise whatsoever during its work
c. We are the salt of the earth and are to work quietly and discreetly.
1 Peter 3:3-4 (NKJV)
Do not let your adornment be merely outward; arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel; {4} rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.
7. Salt spreads
a. Its flavor spreads all about
b. A sprinkle of salt has a widespread effect
(1) Just put a little salt on some ice
(2) Soon the ice is just salt water
c. Our salt spreads far and wide
(1) Turn to 1 Peter 3:15
(2) I was saved in a Billy Graham movie presentation, Oil Town, USA
(3) I just had to tell my mom, my brother and sister that night.
(4) I can’t tell you that my little testimony had any affect but we were all baptized on the same Sunday morning
(5) While in Hawaii one of the guys that worked for me asked me to go for a walk with him. He told me about his salvation the previous Sunday in church and just had to share his Lord with me. That is the presence of salt
1 Peter 3:15 (NKJV)
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
8. Salt is irrepressible
a. Turn to Isaiah 55:11
b. Once applied, it cannot be stopped
c. Our salt, our testimony, is irrepressible; it cannot be stopped
Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it
B. The disciples' place to salt: the earth
1. The world is the place where we are to move about and salt
a. That is to live and minister
b. Why? Because the world is
(1) Bland and tasteless
(2) Decaying and rotting
(3) Corrupting and foul
2. Too many believers live as though they are already in heaven: safe and secure from all harm
a. They do not pay enough attention to this earth: its needs, its turning bad, its decay, its corruption
b. While on this earth, we are called to salt and flavor the earth, not heaven
3. There is a sense in which the church is the salt factory and the world is the marketplace for the salt
a. Turn to John 4:35 and Luke 10:2
b. Too much salt is being stored and locked up at the church
c. There is not enough salt being sent out into the marketplace
d. The result? The world is not being salted and flavored enough
John 4:35 (NKJV)
"Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
Luke 10:2 (NKJV)
Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest
(1) Guess what, as you pray, God may just send you into the harvest field
C. The disciples' mission: to salt the earth
1. Listen, we are the salt of the earth, not of heaven
a. We can do nothing to salt heaven
b. We cannot penetrate, flavor, or preserve heaven
c. Any relationship whatsoever we have with heaven is a gift from heaven
d. However, we are the salt of the earth
(1) Turn to Mark 9:50
(2) We can penetrate, flavor, and preserve the earth
(3) But two things are necessary before we can salt the earth
(a) Believers, we, must have salt in ourselves
Mark 9:50 (NKJV)
"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."
(b) Believers must spread out into the world
i) Turn to Colossians 4:6
(c) But one thing must be known when we scatters into the world: our salt is necessary and useful
(d) There is no salt other than the believer's salt, our salt
(e) There is nothing else that can salt the earth, nothing whatsoever
(f) The task is ours and ours alone
(g) The success of the mission rests upon us and us alone
Colossians 4:6 (NKJV)
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
(h) Our mission is called the great commission and that commission may be found through out the Bible, Mark 16:15 and John 20:21
Mark 16:15 (NKJV)
And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
John 20:21 (NKJV)
So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
D. Their danger: becoming useless and destructive
1. There is a danger to those who would not be salt
a. That of being cast out, of being useless and destructive
b. Salt does not lose its saltiness and flavor
(1) However, in the time of Christ the salt of Palestine was gathered in such a manner that dirt and other impurities were often mixed with it
(2) The salt was thus useless and good for nothing. In fact, it actually destroyed the fertility of the soil
(a) The very fertile Imperial Valley of California get their water from the Colorado River. Over the years to salts from the river began to adversely affect the soil of the Imperial Valley. Production kept decreasing, down and down.
(b) A new way of doing things had to be invented. Finally, they built an underground drainage system that took the salty water to the sea.
(3) The salt was not only useless, but destructive
(a) We have here a picture of the backslider, of a believer who loses his flavor and saltiness or testimony
i) Three things can be said about the backslider
a) He becomes useless just as salt does
b) He is of no value. He may as well be cast out and trodden underfoot and generally is
c) Turn to Luke 9:62
d) He actually destroys the fertility of some out in the world by becoming a stumbling block and by not being able to salt them
Luke 9:62 (NKJV)
But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
2. If the believer's salt loses its flavor, the believer will experience the judgment of God
a. He will be cast out
(1) Turn to 2 Corinthians 5:10
(2) Now this does not mean we will loose our salvation, but like some we could be set aside and not used by the Lord
(a) Remember Jimmy Baker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Ted Haggard
b. He will be a castaway
(1) Baker was imprisoned
(2) Swaggart was banned from the pulpit for a year by his denomination
(3) Ted Haggart resigned his pastorate
c. He will experience loss when he appears before the judgment seat of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:10 (NKJV)
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
3. If salt loses its flavor, what is going to restore to flavor?
a. There is nothing
b. Once the saltiness is gone from salt, it is gone
c. It can no longer salt the earth
4. There is no one other than Christ who can salt and save a person from decay
a. A person who professes to have salt and remains bland, tasteless, and corruptible has no hope of ever being salted
b. No one else can salt him
c. He either lets Christ salt him or else he is never salted
5. A person who has not been salted and saved from decay is doomed to ruin
a. He is good for nothing, but to be cast out
(1) Where do we stand?
E. One last thing
1. Salt, common table salt is an absolute necessity for all organic life
a. As the salt of the earth, we are an absolute necessity for all spiritual life
b. Are we salting the earth?
