TITLE: PLEASE, PASS THE SALT
SCRIPTURE: ST. MATTHEW 5:13
Michelle and I enjoy entertaining by preparing meals for our friends and guests. The oven is usually going or the smoker is fired up in the backyard. On Saturday mornings I enjoy cooking breakfast for the family and oftentimes have a few friends join us. Because Michelle and I both have suffered with high blood pressure for years, we have stopped cooking with Salt some years ago and replaced it with various salt substitutes.
Truth be told, most people use too much salt which is really not good for your overall health in the long run. Yet, I can assure you at almost every meal we host, someone at the table will eventually say, “PLEASE PASS THE SALT.”
• Sometimes we see those around us put Salt on their food before ever tasting it
• Sometimes we see those around us pour Salt on their food, simply out of habit
• We have a grandchild, no matter what meal is being served this one grandchild is always reaching for the salt shaker
Jesus told His disciples in our text this morning -- "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.” What did Jesus mean by this metaphor? In studying for this message, I found there are many references to Salt in the Scriptures --
• 43 references to Salt in my Bible Concordance
• We know Lot’s wife was turned into a Pillar of Salt – that’s worth preaching all by itself
• David won two battles over the EDOMITES, as did AMAZIAH a little later, in the Valley of Salt, thought to have been a large area of salt marshes in a desert valley in Israel -- II SAMUEL 8:13/I CHRONICLES 18:12
• The Bible also refers to the SALT SEA several times, better known today as the DEAD SEA
• The Dead Sea has the highest concentration of salt of any body of water in the world
• In fact, the concentration of salt in the Dead Sea is ten (10x) times greater than any Sea or Lake on earth
• Every liter of its water contains an average of 30 Grams of Salt and other minerals
In the ancient biblical world, salt was a precious commodity. It gave flavor and zest to Food –
• It served as an important preservative
• Salt also made people thirst for something more
• Jesus wanted his disciples to give flavor and zest to the world through His teaching
• To Preserve the truth as He proclaimed it to the world
• To make the world thirst for more
Jesus takes a simple image – no ambiguity - no hidden meanings - nothing out of the ordinary -- just common, everyday salt. Like the parables, Jesus uses a simple, concrete object to teach the people a profound lesson about the Kingdom of Heaven. Let me footnote here and say, I appreciate the Parables - Thoughts - Metaphors - of Jesus because we are living in a day and age where Christians, Preachers are always trying to say something deep and most of the time it sounds ridiculous! Jesus kept it simple.
In this case, found in our text, the meaning is clear: Just as a pinch of salt unlocks the flavor of, say, a whole Pot of Stew, so can a small band of believers transform the world around them into the Kingdom of God. Jesus could have taken the metaphor in a number of directions. For example –
• Before refrigeration, Salt was used as a Preservative
• It killed the bacteria and kept the food from going bad
• In much the same way, Salt is an Antiseptic
• It is not a pleasant feeling to throw Salt on an open wound, but it kills the Germs
• It’s also a Fertilizer
• Don’t ask me how this works, but, in small quantities, the same chemical that kills bacteria can make things grow
• In ancient days, Salt was used as Currency, a form of Exchange
• It’s the root of our word, “Salary”
• It’s what we mean when we say -- A Man’s Worth his Salt
• Or we say – He is Not Worth His Weight in Salt
Also, the Old Testament refers to God’s Covenant with Israel as a “SALT COVENANT” II CHRONICLES 13:5 – “OUGHT YE NOT TO KNOW THAT THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL GAVE THE KINGDOM OVER ISRAEL TO DAVID FOREVER, EVEN TO HIM AND TO HIS SONS BY A COVENANT OF SALT?” It’s a passage we tend to overlook. Jesus could have used salt in a number of ways, but He didn’t. He stuck with what we all know.
The concern in this text, that "SALT HAS LOST ITS FLAVOR" is difficult for us to understand today, especially because of the Purity of the Salt we use.
• In the time of Jesus, salt was not purified in the way that we know but was collected from deposits left by the Dead Sea as it dried
• This salt was exposed to the elements and could break apart and lose its flavor
• Such salt is a very appropriate metaphor for discipleship, which can and does lose its vigor over time if care is not taken to keep it alive
Let’s begin to unpack this text with a simple truth -- SALT WORKS BEST WHEN IT DISSOLVES INTO THE FOOD. Except for pretzels and popcorn, the point is not to eat the salt, but to eat nourishing food lightly seasoned with salt. What this says to me is we’re not to call attention to ourselves, but to work quietly behind the scenes. As an example of what not to do -
• Jesus told his disciples not to give alms to the poor in such a way that others see you and know what you’re doing and it becomes all about you
• Instead, he said, “DON’T LET YOUR LEFT HAND KNOW WHAT YOUR RIGHT HAND DOES” -- ST. MATTHEW 6:3
• Don’t make a big production out of what you are doing to help others, we should simply blend in to help to make things better
SALT WORKS BEST WHEN IT’S DISSOLVED. You can’t see it, but, as anyone on a bland or salt-free diet will tell you: You know it when it is there.
• We should be Salty Christians
• Salty Christians are those who blend into the fabric of the community and make a difference
• They make the world around them a better place in which to live without calling attention to themselves
• The trick is to blend in without losing your identity as a disciple of Jesus Christ
• Reinhold Niebuhr called this “BEING IN THE WORLD, BUT NOT OF THE WORLD”
If you stand too far apart from the world around you, others are apt to see you as an oddball – pious -- out of touch.
• If you stand too close, you’re apt to be seen as one of the crowd – just another Happy Heathen
Salty Christians are those who are able to enter into the mainstream of culture without being assimilated into it. The term for this is, “SYNCRETISM.”
• It’s what happened to the people of Israel, time after time
• Instead of keeping a respectable distance, they intermarried with other tribes and adopted such practices as erecting Asherah poles and worshiping other gods
• In time, they were no different from all the others
• As Christians we ought to make the world better
• Christians live in the world without becoming of the world
• They’re able to interact with the power brokers of the community, as well as rub shoulders with common folk, without losing their distinctive Christian witness
• It’s not easy
• It’s tempting to go with the flow
• As Christians, we should blend in and add flavor to the World
I believe Jesus was also telling us through this text -- SALT CHANGES THINGS -- a little salt can flavor a big pot of beans. However, salt must be in contact with the food to affect its taste. In the same way salt affects our food, God wants us to influence the whole earth for Him.
• Therefore, we must mingle with people that are lost
• We are not to withdraw from society
• Too many Christians just hang around their own house only leave to go to Church
• We are not of the world, but we live in the world
• Our saltiness can flavor a school, workplace, or a whole community
We affect the lost, not by becoming like them, but by showing the love of Jesus. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, love will flow out of us to others. It is the Holy Spirit, and Him only, that makes us the SALT OF THE EARTH. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.
I believe Jesus is also telling us through this text -- SALT HOLDS BACK DECAY -- In ancient times Salt was important for survival, and one reason was that it was the only way they had to preserve meat in the days before refrigeration.
• Salt was rubbed into meat before it was stored, which hindered the process of decay
• We too function in this world to hold back the decay of sin and evil and to act as a preservative of what is good and wholesome and healthy and righteous
Christians continue to have a positive influence on our world by keeping the corruption of society at bay by their lives and their words and what they stand for. But there’s a tragic new trend today. George Barna’s, the church statistician, says that research shows that –
• The average Christian in the average church is almost indistinguishable from the rest of society
• The fundamental moral and ethical difference that Christ can make in how we live, is missing
• When our teens who claim to be saved, get pregnant and do drugs at the same rate as the general teenage population
• When the marriages of Christians end in divorce at the same rate as the rest of society
• When Christians cheat in business, or lie, steal, and cheat on their spouses at the same statistical level as those who say they are not Christians
• Something is horribly wrong
Somebody – PLEASE PASS THE SALT - If we as Christians lose the qualities of Christ-likeness that make us distinct and become like the society around us, we no longer impact our world around us. We become a hindrance instead of a preservative.
• God help us to be salt in our circle of influence by being a preservative against sin and evil and corruption
• We ought to be a preservative that holds back decay
• As the world around us rushes headlong into sin, our little corner of the world ought to be influenced for righteousness by the kind of life we live
If we Christians lose the qualities of Christlikeness that make us distinct and become like the society around us, we no longer have a positive impact.
• We have lost our saltiness and become worthless to God
• As a result, society just ignores us like the sand under their feet
Therefore, Christians have an influence, for good or for bad. If we're “SALTY” that is full of the Holy Spirit, the way we live and the things we say should season the lives of those in which we are in contact. It always disturbs me to see Christians and no one ever wants to be around them – PLEASE PASS THE SALT. WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT IN US, WE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.
I believe the text is also telling us - SALT HAS HEALING PROPERTIES. You do know Salt Water will –
• Draw out infection
• Cleanse the wound, and help it heal
• Some of us gargle with salt water when our throat is sore
• Some sit in a hot bath sprinkled with Epsom Salts for relief of aches and pains
On the other hand, salt can sting. However, pain is often part of the healing process.
• In order to be healed, a sin-sick person must experience the sting of truth
• Someone once said, "The truth will set you free—but first, it will make you miserable!"
• I'm sure we can all testify to the pain of realizing our own sins
• Sometimes we feel worse before we feel better
• But we will be healed, as we walk in repentance and obedience to God
One final thing I believe the text speaks to us -- SALT CREATES THIRST -- In 1965 the soft drink company PEPSI COLA PURCHASED A POTATO CHIP COMPANY CALLED FRITO-LAY. Why would a soft drink company buy a potato chip company? Potato chips make you thirsty! Why do those potato chips like Frito’s and Dorito’s and others make you thirsty? They are SALTY! Salt makes you thirsty.
salt creates thirst. If we are living Christ-like lives, we’ll make others thirst for Jesus—the Living Water. This is what happened to the -
• Philippian Jailer – “What Must I Do to be Saved?” - He and his whole house Saved
• Samaritan Woman at the Well – “Give Me This Water That I Will Thirst No More”
• Peter preached in ACTS 2 – “Sirs, What Must We Do?” -- 3,000 Saved
• Phillip Preached in ACTS 8 – Ethiopian Eunuch – “There is Body of Water, What Prevents Me to Be Baptized?”
• ACTS 9 – Road to Damascus – Paul encountered Jesus – Cried out “Who Art Thou Lord?”
In this text, JESUS TALKS NOT ABOUT THE PRESERVING NATURE OF SALT, but speaks of the flavor of salt. He is talking about salt in the context of it being a food additive that causes something to taste better. If we allow God to break us from worldly character qualities and the natural man’s way of thinking in life, and replace it with the character and nature of Jesus then we will be like Salt and make those around us thirsty for what we have to offer.
• I believe this is the primary reason that people still love Jesus but really want nothing to do with the Church
• We as Christians, who in essence are the Church, are not behaving like those that have been Salted by the Word
Think about the crowd to whom Jesus was encouraging.
• It wasn't a gathering of the United Nations
• It wasn't the Congress
• It wasn’t the Parliament
• It wasn’t even an assembly at City Hall
• It was a crowd on a hillside in a tiny spot of land called Palestine
• It was a group of common people living common ordinary lives
• They were under Occupation
• They couldn't make their own Laws
• They couldn't plan their own Futures
• They couldn't determine their own Destinies
• Yet Jesus said to them -- "YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH”
As I try to close this morning --
--I heard about a man that was walking through a county fair when he met a tiny little girl who was carrying a gigantic fluff of cotton candy on a stick, which was almost as big as she was
--He said to her, "How can a little girl like you eat all of that cotton candy?"
--She looked up at him and said, "Well, I'm really much bigger on the inside than I am on the outside"
--That is true of all of us who are Christians
--We are the Salt of the World
--And we need to get OUT OF THE SHALT SHAKER
--Our world is Decaying
--Our world is Rotting
--It is our job as salt to preserve the Holiness of God, and the Goodness of Jesus as much as we can
--As bad as things are, can you imagine how bad things would be if there were no Churches?
--How bad would things be if there were no Christians?
--How bad would things be if there were no Bibles?
--How bad would things be if there were no Preachers of the Gospel?
--Yes, we need to be salt, but there's a danger
--Jesus goes on to say, "BUT IF THE SALT LOSES ITS FLAVOR, HOW SHALL IT BE SEASONED?"
--Salt is worthless if it never comes in contact with food
--It may look nice in the shaker, but if it stays in the shaker it is worthless
--You see, the Church is the Salt Shaker and the Earth is the –
--School
--The Business
--The Neighborhood
--We need to get the salt out of the shaker on to the earth where it can do some good
--I stopped by to tell you – PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--Dying world needs the Church - PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--Hard time Loving in the Church – PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--Lost your Joy – PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--Church not growing – PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--Have not led anyone to the Lord – PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--Church has lost its influence – PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--World talks bad about the Church, We are the Church – PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--Unsaved all around us - PLEASE PASS THE SALT
--We are the Salt of the World
