This sermon was delivered to Holy Trinity in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland on the 5th February 2023; a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries.
Today’s readings: Isaiah 58:1-9a, 1 Corinthians 2:1-12.
Main Reading: Matthew 5:13-20, Titus 2:9-10
Prayer: My I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Amen,
A lesson from salt, an introduction.
Good morning.
I remember many years ago listening to a preacher who took every reading literally for his sermons. If the scripture mentioned the word tent, he would tell you how to erect a tent, and in a very condescending manner, if I may add. If the reading mentioned a building, he would proceed to tell you how it was built, as if he was a builder himself, and in one reading, one Sunday, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life”, and I remember thinking, “Oh God, he is going to tell us how to make bread” … and he did.
And I also remember saying to myself, I will never do that. Well in today’s reading, we have in Matthew 5 verse 13, Jesus saying, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?”
Well, there you go, how do I get out of that one? Salt, eh? … I suppose I could go onto verse 14 which says, “Ye are the light of the world”, however to really gain a real understanding of “being the light of the world”, I believe we really need to understand the concept of being the salt first … because Jesus carefully, made that analogy, … and this may surprise you.
An analogy of my behaviour when I was much younger.
Now to begin, or to set the context, I must tell you that when I was young, (and it may not surprise you), that my behaviour wasn’t exactly good, in fact, it was bad, very bad.
I remember, my father giving me a good dressing down one day, saying “you have good teachers wanting you to do well, you are taught good manners at home, but where do you get your education … from your pals in the playground; your pals who belong in the gutter”. … And do you know something, he was right.
You see, I wasn’t afraid of authority, in fact I loved to challenge and defy authority, because even back then, (in the sixties), I was seeing gaps in the system, where the “more difficult” you became, the more attention you received, (although we didn’t use those terms). Yet looking back, I am ashamed of my behaviour, and I have spent most of my life trying to make amends, and yes, I know some of you will be saying, “keep up the good work Gordon”, meaning, “you are still a work in progress”.
Ok, but in all fairness, I may have had an excuse, you see, in my mind, I was more afraid of my playground friends than I was with those in authority. It was those friends I sat beside at school, it was those friends I ran about with in the evenings and at weekends, and it was those friends I confided in; and they with me. And yes, we were a bad crowd, and it is little wonder we survived.
Was that my fault then, or my friends’ fault? Who exactly was leading who, I don’t know, however, it was more probably “one bad apple leading the other”, but I can say in all honesty as the school teacher I became, (from someone in authority), that the peer pressure cycle is almost impossible to break, without drastic action. It is that powerful.
Now, we also have to ask the question, if those so-called friends of mine back then, were a better influence on me, would I not have gotten into so much trouble. I am not looking for excuses, I am just saying, it is important who we run about with, because whoever we run about with, will influence our decisions, our reactions and our lives.
Therefore, for us Christians, it vital that we become that healthy influence on others; others whom we run with, others with whom we meet, others with whom we live with because our values will rub off on them, remembering of course, their values will rub off on us too. So, it is up to us, and this is important, to set the bar high, and maintain the standards of integrity, fidelity and strength.
Returning to scripture.
Now we will return to scripture to see how this pans out, using the analogy of peer pressure, salt and light to show us how our Christian characters are displayed to the world around us.
1. Salt of the earth.
First of all, Jesus said to His followers, “You are the salt of the earth”, but a most literal translation will say, “You are all the salt of the earth”, meaning, not some of them, but all of them. He was giving these uneducated disciples a compliment, as salt was of great value in those days … and not like it the cheap commodity that we are told to stay away from today. … and to uneducated disciples as well, as we heard in our reading of 1st Corinthians 2 verse 1, of which the apostle Paul was one, but like salt, of immense value, and which we can all agree.
2. Salt is also preservative.
Secondly, we know also that salt in the middle east in those days, in those hot countries, is vital for survival, because it was the only way they had to preserve their food.
They didn’t have the fridges or freezers or the manmade preservatives that we have today, no, they only had salt, as salt was the only thing that stopped, (or slowed down), the decay of food.
So what Jesus was saying here, is that we as Christians, are given the opportunity of slowing down, or stopping the decay of this world, and its declining values and standards. … And we do influence this world, don’t underestimate yourself, because Jesus is very much alive, and he is keeping his kingdom here on this earth alive, and he is using us, as his moral antiseptic.
However, … we do know that our voices are not as strong as they used to be, as our society is becoming more corrupt … and the church itself is not without its problems, as research shows that, the average Christian in the average church at times, blends in unnoticeably with the rest of society … because Christians today need to work, live and conform with their non-Christian peers.
Now, I will give you an example, I remember David Jones, our rector from many years ago saying to me when I was going for a job interview, he said, did you tell them you were a Christian, and you were active in the church. I replied, no, no way, … because I really wanted the job. … You see, by openly stating that you are a Christian today, you can be considered extreme, as Christianity can mean many things to many people, both good and bad, but it not something that is openly proclaimed and welcomed.
So, it is imperative therefore that we Christians, somehow promote those true Christian qualities, that Jesus has carefully developed within us over the years; qualities normally developed through suffering, qualities that make us distinct from the society around us; qualities that may appear weak, but are really qualities of strength and worth, that set the standards for others.
So, take comfort in that we Christians are like the salt of preservation, … whether we believe it or not … we just preserve by being amongst it all, “without eloquence or human wisdom”, as Paul prescribed in today’s reading.
3. Christians Like Salt Are to Promote Thirst.
Next, and to move on, we all know that eating too much salt makes us thirsty. Why is this important, well we Christians are encouraged to make Christ attractive, and more importantly, desirable.
In Titus 2:10, Pauls says, “… display all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, in all things”.
Clearly Paul is telling us to be Christlike, but it is through our "Christ-like" behaviour, we have the power to beautify our faith, and make Christianity more desirable. It is hard to believe that we do have that power … whether at home, work or play … to display or adorn to our non-Christian peers, with something within us, that is desirable, something that can make them say, “I want some of that”. … Unfortunately, when that does happen, we may never know it, but it does happen, and normally after a challenging episode, where God restores our faith in him, and life in general.
The unbelievers and sceptics are all around us, and are aware of our faith, our values and how we approach life from a different perspective, and they are watching our results, because our “lights … are not hidden behind a bushel”, … they do shine, the Lord makes them shine. …
Christians therefore are like salt, they do promote that thirst for Jesus, in one way or another, it just radiates from them, “with a demonstration of the Holy Spirits power” which we also read this morning.
4. Salt can lose its saltiness.
Next, and my fourth point, Jesus says in Matthew 5:13 “… but if the salt has lost his savour, where with shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men”.
I always puzzled over this because technically speaking, how does salt lose its saltiness? … Well, I found out that in Israel in those days, salt was collected from around the Dead Sea area, where the crystals were often contaminated with other minerals, and since the actual salt was more soluble than the impurities, the rain could actually wash out the salt; which made what was left, of little value. When this happened, the salt was thrown out. What was left looked like salt, but it had lost its taste, and was useless.
Why is this relevant, well when Christians allows their peers to influence them, (just like me when I was younger), and let them take over their lives, and let the worlds flow through them, then that salt has lost its saltiness.
And when that saltiness goes, we are no different from those peers with whom we run; and those Christlike qualities that have taken years to develop, are lost. … Mind you, they are only lost for now, lost for a while, but not lost forever, as the Lord has his ways of returning us to the fold, but in ways that are not always pleasant, as we know.
As we live, we live either for the Lord and his ways, or for the enemy. We either give and embrace life where ever we go, or we take, and destroy. There is no middle ground.
5. Christians Like Salt Must be used.
Next, and my last point is that salt as a preserver, needs to be used; it needs to be rubbed in somewhere and used, and not stored away in a jar or something. … To make a difference in this world, we must allow God to use us wherever he puts us. I am not talking about our lives in church, I am talking about in our lives away from church, because it is there that we truly influence others.
If you think your effectiveness as a Christian is just a measure of what you do in church, you have missed the whole point of this reding, because salt must make contact to have an effect.
Yes, we come together at church where we praise and worship the lord, but our ministries are really with those who we meet and interact outside of church; both those whom we like, and those who we do not … those whom we know and those we know not. Basically, everyone with whom we connect, because like salt, we need to be used, our Christianity needs to rub off on others.
Our New Testament reading this morning, 1st Corinthians 2 verse 6 put it this way, “ … but we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”. Meaning that we know of Gods wisdom, and by our actions, we are promoting his gospel.
Conclusion.
Finally, to wrap this up, we as Christians know that we are here to make an impact on this world, and we do, do our best. However, deep down, in the quiet of our minds, most of us feel that we don’t do enough, we don’t do as much as we would like. In fact, it bothers us, in feeling so ineffective.
So, take comfort in today’s reading, because Jesus did not say,” some of you are the salt of the earth”, he says all of you are the salt of the earth … and he did not say, you can or you should try being the salt of the earth, no he says you already are the salt of the earth.
Jesus had his father’s beliefs and values, and his disciples whom he spoke, did their best to emulate with him; them being the salt of the earth, and we know their “light shone”, they grew and developed into great men of faith, who made a great impact on this earth even unto today.
What about us, we too are committed to Jesus, we too are committed to his ways, his values and his teaching, we too are the salt of the earth making an impact, as our lights are shining least we know. …We do not need to do much to be effective, but we do need to live and be out there somewhere, interacting with others, and by doing so, we are communicating his kingdom here on this earth, and we need to hear or know this.
We don’t have to be outstanding or brilliant at something, we just need to be aware that his beliefs and values as constantly radiating from us, in a variety of ways, whenever and wherever we go and act. Please don’t ever, underestimate the Lord working through you for his glory.
Amen.
