MATT.5:13 "THE SALT OF THE EARTH"
* You have had the experience, I’m sure, your dinner is set before you and you take that first
delicious bite, only to discover that the cook left out the salt.
* Or perhaps you’ve been a patient in the hospital and the Dr. ordered a salt-free diet.
* Or maybe you’ve been in jail and you’ve wondered if they even know what salt is!
A) Salt is such a little thing, such a common thing, that we take it for granted.
* But how big it becomes when it isn’t there!
B) Jesus looked at His disciples one day and said, "Ye are the salt of the earth."
* What did Jesus mean when He made that statement? * Three things:
(1) SALT HOLDS BACK DECAY! * There are two substances mentioned in the Bible that are
small, but are very important! * Salt and yeast or leaven.
* They picture opposite forces in the world. * Salt is an antiseptic; it holds back decay.
* Yeast is actually a mold and in the Bible it represents evil!
A) The O.T. Jews were instructed not to put yeast in their sacrifices because yeast symbolized sin!
* Salt pictured holiness; the power of righteousness to hold back decay!
B) Jesus calls His disciples the "salt of ..." * In other words, Christians are to the world what salt
is to food! * People in Bible times didn’t have refrigeration as we do today,
* So they seasoned their meat with salt to keep it from decaying!
* Jesus sees the world today as a rotting mass of sin and He has put Christians into this world
to help hold back decay.
C) I’d like to suggest today that we are suffering from a case of spiritual AIDS.
* AIDS is a breakdown of the immune system. * It’s where the immune system loses the ability
to fight back. * And so, bacterial viruses in the air that would normally not bother you,
* Or limitedly bother you; giving you a cold here and a sniffle there,
* Now becomes pneumonia, cancer or other disease because the immune system can’t fight back!
D) God has an immune system in society, it’s called the church, the people of God!
* We are the ones who God has placed in history to act as His divine repellent against the effects
of sin and unrighteousness in the world!
* That’s why when the church is raptured, all hell will break loose because there will be no restraint
in society; the people of God will not be present!
E) "Well Preacher, don’t you know the Bible says that men and seducers will wax worse & worse,
* and that this world is gonna explode with a loud noise?" * Right!
* "Then why should we spend our time polishing brass on a sinking ship?"
* The same reason you jog even though you know you’re gonna die!
F) The reality of death should produce better health care and better nutrition!
* You don’t say, "Because I’m gonna die, I wont take medicine or go to the Dr."
* Just because we know one day this world’s gonna die, doesn’t mean we become the passive
people of God and just sit on the sidelines and watch Satan do his thing! * "Ye are the salt ..."
G) Josh. 5 - "Who’s side are you on?" * That’s the agenda of God!
* Christians act as salt in society! * Society is not judged as it would be when their presence is
not being felt! * A good illustration of this is Sodom and Gomorrah.
* In Gen.18, Abraham ....... * 50 - 45 - 40 - 30 - 20 - 10. (Monty Hall - Let’s make a deal)
H) Sodom & Gomorrah wasn’t destroyed just because it was full of immorality & homosexuality!
* It was destroyed because Abraham couldn’t find ten!
* They did have a good man in town named Lot! * Lot was a righteous guy (2 Pt.2:6-8),
* But his righteous soul was vexed with the unrighteousness of Sodom & Gomorrah,
* So much as he didn’t even win his own family! * His two son-n-laws laughed when he told them
to get out of Dodge; * His wife & two daughters left, but on their way out,
* His wife remembered that she left her visa card, belk card, JC Penny card, and looked back and
turned into a pillar of salt. * His two daughters had sex with their father,
* And had Lot won his family - 2 daughters, 2 son-n-laws, his wife & himself, that’d been 6;
* If each one of them won one, that’d been 12, then Abraham would’ve found ten,
* And Sodom and Gomorrah would still be on the map!
I) It was the absence of the people of God that rendered God to say, "I cannot salvage these
two cities!" * Ye are the salt of the earth!
* People say, "Boy, this world would sure be better off if sinners didn’t sin!"
* What do you think they’re supposed to do? * I admit, some can do it better than others!
J) Our problem isn’t that sinners sin! * Our problem is that the saints who’re not supposed to sin,
* are often more sinful than the sinning sinners who sin!
* We’re not living up to our job description!
K) The job of the church is not to impact the church! * Our job is to impact the world!
* Like a huddle in a football game! * 65,000 people don’t pay $25.00 a ticket to see the Panthers
huddle! * What would it be like if you went to a Panthers game & for 2 hours,
* you saw eleven men bending over in a circle? * That’s not what they pay for!
L) 65,000 people pay $25.00 a ticket to see what difference does the huddle make!
* What they want to know is that having called the play in secret, does it work in public?
* Is what you call in your secret meeting that only your team was invited to, work when there
are eleven other men daring you to pull it off on the line of scrimmage!
* Can you move them off the line of scrimmage and score?
M) The challenge for the church is not only what we do when we call our Sun. morning huddle!
* But what we do when we break huddle into our Mon. morning assignments,
* So that when Satan meets us at work, neighborhood, or wherever, that we’re able to move him
off the line of scrimmage and score a T.D. for the kingdom of God!
* That is what God wants to know and that is the challenge for the church!
N) Some people say, "Well why don’t God just stop all this stuff?"
* That’s like a football team saying, "Why don’t that other team go into the locker room?"
* Suppose Michael Jordon went over to his coach & said, "Coach, please do me a favor & go over
to the other coach & tell him to tell his players to leave me alone."
* "Every time I go down the floor, they keep trying to steal the ball from me."
* "They keep getting in front of me so I can’t go straight down the floor!"
* "And whenever I go up to shoot, they keep putting their hands in front of my face & block ..."
* "Please tell them to leave me alone so I can score more points!"
O) The coach would explain, "Mike, we don’t pay you $5 million a year for the other team to leave
you alone; in fact, we pay you so they can bother you!"
* "So you can demonstrate what it looks like when a superstar goes down the court with the
opposition trying to steal the ball; you take it under your legs, around your back,
* Over your shoulders, you dribble it down & when they try & stop you, you maneuver around them
and when you go up & they put their hands in front of your face, you go up, around & through,
* and dunk it in spite of their presence! * That’s what God has called on us to do!
P) The reason He doesn’t stop Satan from bothering us is so we can dribble the kingdom ball down
court & demonstrate what it looks like when the people of God "jam" one in the face of hell!
* That is what God is calling us to & that’s the challenge for the church!
Q) This is why Jesus left us in the world! * John 17:15 "I pray not that thou ......."
* Jesus actually prayed that we should stay in the world & have an influence for good!
* Something else about salt: when applied it often stings!
* Those around us don’t always appreciate the presence of salt, they feel more at home with yeast!
* So if others seem to shun you or resent you, don’t be discouraged!
* This may mean that the salt is having its proper affect! (Good for nothing - gypsum)
(2) SALT GIVES FLAVOR TO LIFE! * It seasons & makes food more enjoyable!
* That’s an exciting thought! * We Christians are God’s seasoning in the world!
* We are here to make life more enjoyable for others!
A) The Apostle Paul on the ship to Rome. * He encouraged when the nights were the darkest!
* He was God’s salt on that ship! * Some are like poison - always negative!
B) I think of Joseph serving in the land of Egypt! * Even when he was in prison, he still flavored
that prison and brought encouragement and help! * He was God’s salt in that prison!
C) What a wonderful way to live! * Being God’s salt to season life and help!
* There are some experiences of life that really don’t taste good!
* But the addition of a little salt; some Christian kindness can make such a difference!
(3) SALT MAKES PEOPLE THIRSTY! * Peanuts & pretzels at the bar!
* Our job is to create thirst in an unrighteous world, so that we can turn around and offer them
the living water that will quench their thirst!
* Our job is to create thirst so that the lost world will want what we got cause what we got works!
A) We’re suppose to make God look good! * Paul’s experience with the Philippian jailer.
* Did you ever ask yourself what it was that made him want to be saved?
* It wasn’t just the earthquake that almost drove him to suicide! * It was Paul’s attitude that
touched the man! * "Do thyself no harm ......." Paul shouted!
B) After the way Paul had been treated by the jailer, you would think he would want to see the
man punished! * NO! Paul practiced being salt!
* And when Paul returned love for hatred, he saw the man come to Christ!
CLOSE
A) My favorite TV show was Superman. * Clark Kent was a bumbling idiot.
* Lois Lane - Jimmy Olsen - always messed stories up - he was intimidated.
* But don’t let him get near a phone booth! * Criminals in Metropolis .......
B) people would holler, "Where’s Superman?" * Clark Kent would loosen his tie;
* Take off his glasses and come out with a red & blue jump suit on, & I’d say, "dah he is!"
C) Now the descriptions have changed, he was no longer Clark Kent!
* He was faster than ... more powerful ... able to leap tall ... It’s a bird ... It’s Superman!
D) All of a sudden, my man from Krypton had revealed himself! * The criminals were in trouble!
* He’d grab ’em & toss ’em around; take knives and bend ’em with his bare hands.
* Bullets would bounce off his chest or he’d catch ’em in his hands, & sometimes in his teeth.
* All because the man of steal had revealed himself; revealed who he really was!
E) The church today needs to take off their old clothes of secular thinking & acting;
* and take a trip to God’s telephone booth of grace & come out with a big "S" on their chest!
* So that we’re faster than speeding sin; more powerful than public unrighteousness;
* and able to leap evil in a single bound;
* So that when they see the church coming, they’ll say, "It’s a bird, plane, NO! It’s God’s
Super-Saints come to take back over!"
F) Are you doing all you can to: * Hold back decay? * Give flavor to life?
* Make people thirsty? * Jesus says of you & me, "Ye are the salt of the earth!"
