What Jesus Said About Our Saltiness
Matt. 5:13-16 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Jesus continues His beatitudes in His Sermon on the Mount by using two very precise and powerful metaphors to teach us the importance or our influence in the world in which we live. These analogies clearly and concisely describe the positive as well as the negative possibilities of the Christian’s influence. As a beginning background, we should consider the nature of salt and its function in the culture of first century Palestine as well as in everyday and time.
In the Roman Empire servants were paid with salt. Our word, salary, comes from the Latin word, “salarium. In the days of old, a man could divorce his wife if she failed to place salt in his food. Middle Eastern cultures have historically looked upon salt as a sign of friendship and hospitality. Arabs who have eaten salt together become friends and therefore cannot fight. They say, “There is salt between us.” A bag of salt was just as valuable and precious as life itself. Salt was essential for the preservation of food. Without salt, men would face the awful prospect of hunger and starvation for much of the year. Salt is a universally essential compound.
Salt is a simple combination of the metal sodium and the gas chlorine. Yet, industrial chemists have found more than 15,000 uses for salt in the manufacture of many simple and complex compounds used in making exotic and everyday products. God designed the human body in such a manner that a form of salt is essential for its continuing life and healthy function.
Salt can also cause harm. Expressions such as, “rubbing salt into his wounds,” reflect that obvious fact. The function of salt in adding good taste and flavor to food was perhaps even more important in that day than it is in our culture today. Salt has always played a vital role in creating thirst. Those who have worked in agricultural and other heavy work outdoors in hot climates understand this. Salt consumption is essential in preventing and countering deadly heat stroke. We should also mention the many vital functions of basic salt compounds in the production of other chemical compounds and products that are vital in every day living. I am sure the Creator and Teacher gave us this expansive symbol to help us understand our responsibilities relative to the essential nature of our influence for good or evil.
I believe that the importance of our influence in the world and our responsibility to influence the world for good and the glory of God is obviously the one central lesson of both these analogies. I do not know what particular poet first said, “No man is an island,” but I know Jesus is clearly canvassing the same concept. Paul would later be inspired to say to the church at Rome, “No man lives to himself, and no man dies to himself..” The truth of this is both challenging and sobering to the Christian who wishes to give himself to the service of his Master.
I once read of a most apt illustration of the inevitability of our influence upon the world around us. A parallel was drawn with the involuntary function of our heartbeat and breathing. These two vital functions continue without thought or intent upon our part. If not, we’d have real problems! So it is with our influence. Good or bad, positively or negatively, our influence has its continuing and accumulative effect upon the world around us as long as we live and even beyond our mere mortal moment of earthly existence. John the Revelator said, “Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord ... and their works (influence) do follow them.”
But let us examine more particularly the qualities of lsalt that our Saviour may have been alluding to in His lesson. Let us examine how these may be applied to our daily lives in order to help us ensure the shadow of our influence and of our witness reaches out to the world around us; even to future generations. Let us determine to share the salt of a tasty testimony with a corrupt world permeated by promiscuity and darkened by moral baseness and spiritual blindness.
AS SALT, CHRISTIANS ARE PRICELESS AND PRECIOUS IN THE WORLD IN WHICH THEY LIVE. Throughout history salt has been the most valuable trade commodity. In many cultures it has been used as a stable and valuable medium of exchange within the culture and with other cultures as well. Tribes and cultures with no ready source of supply of salt, have traded their most valued commodities for salt. They were aware that without salt food would not only be tasteless and without flavor, but ultimate they would wither and die as a people.
The value and vitality of Christians as the salt of the earth may be illustrated by this old story: “An ancient king once asked his three daughters how much they loved him. One daughter said she loved him more than all the gold in the world. One said she loved him more than all the silver in the world. The youngest daughter said she loved him more than salt. The king was not pleased with her answer. But the cook overhead the conversation and the next day he prepared a good dinner for the king, but left out the salt. The meal was so bland and tasteless that the king couldn’t eat it. Then he understood what his daughter meant. He understood one of the real values of salt.”
AS SALT, CHRISTIANS PRESERVE THE WORLD. It is made clear in the Word of God that the only thing holding back the flood tide of evil in any generation is the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Our Saviour and the writers of the New Testament make it clear that the world will wax worse and worse until the day of His coming. Jesus speaks of the unbelievable evil of the days of Noah as the standard and gauge by which we may measure the acceleration of evil as we approach the end times. Paul speaks of the great apostasy that will set the stage for the coming of the anti-Christ. Peter echoes the warnings of our Savior and of Paul. It is only for the sake of gospel, God’s elect and their witness to the world, that God withholds His awful judgment” “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:” (II Thess. 2:7-8)
The use of salt as a preservative has been common place throughout man’s history. All sorts of processes and picklings have been and continue to be used to preserve food and make it edible, even in the hottest and most inhospitable climates. Before the luxury of refrigeration was common in the land of my birth, we used salt as a preservative. My father always raised two or three large hogs as a source of meat for our large family. When the first frost and really cold weather came, we would, “kill hogs.” The meat would be prepared and put away for use all through even the summer months of the next year. The process involved laying down successive layers of meat and salt in which the meat would be perfectly preserved until needed. Without the salt, we would have had no meat.
It is clear that without Christians our decadent and decaying world would soon become totally rotten and corrupt. The presence of Christians as the salt of the earth clearly preserves and perpetuates such vital virtues as honesty, integrity, generosity and real love in the world. This saltiness has provided the cultural context in which God’s people have been given the precious freedoms that flavor and preserve the world we know in our Western Democracies today; making it possible to present the gospel of Jesus Christ until He comes again.
This is one primary reason Christians should be concerned about the state of the world in which they live. It is not enough to merely say that our only concern is preaching the Word, witnessing to the lost and edifying each other in the local body, until Jesus comes again. We clearly have a greater responsibility. I truly believe that we are called to be active and militant in the world in which we live. I believe this teaching of our Saviour about the importance of our influence in preserving the world, can correctly be understood to not only give justification, but also motivation and impetus to stand strongly and vocally against evil and for righteousness in the social and political arenas of our world.
What did Jesus really mean when He said that we should render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar? What did Paul and Peter mean when they asserted we should recognize the role of government and be submissive to the laws of the land? It would be difficult to read such verses in their context and cultural setting without conceding that Christians do have a responsibility relative to supporting and praying for good government. But what about Christians and contemporary politics as practiced in the real democratic nations of our world today? Do we have a responsibility to work within the framework of democratic processes to achieve and support good government? But this raises an interesting and vital question, “Should Christians be involved in politics?” This is an often asked and emotive question, obviously designed to illicit a strong response. Do we as Christians have the right and even the duty to be involved in such mundane and worldly matters?
The world and many sincere Christians seem to feel we do not. But this is the wrong question. The real question should be phrased something like this, “Can a Christian refuse to become involved in the battle for good government and the establishment of righteousness in the land?” I once read of a monastery on a mountain top where monks lived. They were forbidden any contact with the outside world and had taken a vow of silence. It is said they sincerely thought their self-imposed isolation and silence glorified God. In contrast, real Christians are called to go out into the highways and byways of the world. The only way a Christian can be a real blessing to the world is to have contact with those who need him and his Savior. He must walk the walk and talk the talk where he lives and works.
Each one of us has his or her own special sphere of influence and responsibility. No one else can do our living and witnessing for us. Not even pastors or other spiritual leaders. They have their own special fields of personal living and witnessing as well. We cannot hire a surrogate or employ a substitute. Has God called us to merely gather in holy huddles and sit around introspectively, as navel inspectors, venturing forth only to occasionally proclaim the gospel? Surely Christ had more than this in mind when He said we are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
We must remember that salt preserves and flavors only when placed into contact with that which needs preserving. The only way Christians can be used effectively to flavor and preserve the world in which we live is to get involved. We must become active in the war that rages around us. Are we truly our neighbors keepers. Do we truly love our neighbors if we will not stand up and be counted in open opposition to evil and in support of righteousness in the land?
Just the week I read an article about a pastor in Germany before and during World War Two. It seems that the leaders of organized Christian religion felt they could compromise and accommodate the Nazis. They either vocally supported them or tried to maintain their silence and neutrality. It didn’t work. Many of them ended up in concentrations camps and ultimately died. This particular young pastor was vocally opposed to the evil from the beginning. Of course, he was martyred rather early on. But he did not die on his knees before a tyrant.
The words of Horace Mann ring particularly true here, “No man escapes when freedom fails, the best rot in filthy jails, and those who cried, appease, appease, are killed by those they tried to please.” A great epic struggle is still raging in the battlements of God’s spirit universe. Great epics of literature have been written about it. Moses recognized this struggle when he drew a line in the sin cursed earth and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side, let him come unto me.” Elijah referenced it when he cried atop Mt. Carmel, “How long halt ye between two opinions, if God be God, serve Him, If Baal be god, serve him.” Our Saviour called us to battle with these immortal words, “No man can serve two masters, he will love the one and hate the other, no man can serve God and mammon.” Poets have noted this struggle as well. Someone has said, “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, in the strife “twixt truth and falsehood, for the good or evil side.” Someone else said, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph, is that good men do nothing.” I think it was Milton who said, “The hottest fires of hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis try to maintain their neutrality.”
God inspired His writers to leave no doubt about the matter: “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3) “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Prov. 14:34) “Godless men should not rule, nor be snares of the people.” (Job 34:30) “When the righteous become great, the people rejoice, when wicked men rule, people groan.” (Prov. 29:2) We only need to make a cursory survey of the Bible to discover those such as Daniel, Joseph and Esther. They served God with their whole hearts and beings, never compromising their faith or changing their convictions. But where did they serve Him? In the corridors of power and the cabinet rooms of the most powerful pagan governments of their day. Through them God blessed His people and the nations in which they dwelt. These were truly the salt of the earth. They truly cast the light of right into every nook and cranny of their contemporary culture.
We are called to do the same today if we are to preserve our freedom to worship God and preach His Word in our world today. The analogy of salt informs us we must exercise caution just here. If the salt loses its flavor it becomes worthless and useless. How does salt lose it flavor? By becoming contaminated with pollutants. Christians are to be in the world, but not of the world. Separation is required if purity is to be maintained. When a Christian compromises with the world, he soon loses his influence and usefulness in God’s service.
I read of a merchant who through a kind heart purchased enough salt to supply his medieval village for his lifetime. He just made one mistake. When constructing storage buildings, he failed to place a floor in them. In a short time the salt in contact with the earth was spoiled and polluted and had to be thrown out. When Christians become too earthy they are also only fit to be thrown out.
Salt deposits are common and permeate the world in which we live. Throughout the centuries men have sought the best salt deposits and travelled to them. In doing so, they developed highways and built villages and cities along the way. Salt has been important to the development and progress of civilization. The same could be said of Christians who have carried the gospel around the world. Their message has changed the hearts of men and thus changed the lives of individuals and nations. History confirms that as the gospel has permeated the world not only have souls been saved eternally, but churches, schools and hospitals have been built and living conditions improved.
As salt, our primary function today should be to continue to permeate the world around with the testimony of the gospel of Christ. So we should be found in every place adding a spiritual flavor and dimension to our homes, communities and nation. The Christian’s testimony is like seasoning in the food of the world. “Let your speech [be] alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Col. 4:6) If we neglect to tell others of our love for Christ and His love for their soul, we are like food with the salt left out.
