Selling Salt Series

In his book Led by the Carpenter, D. James Kennedy writes:

A man walked into a little mom-and-pop grocery store and asked, “Do you sell salt?”

“Ha!” said Pop the proprietor. “Do we sell salt! Just look!” And Pop showed the customer one entire wall of shelves stocked with nothing but salt: Morton salt, iodized salt, kosher salt, sea salt, rock salt, garlic salt, seasoning salt, Epsom salts—every kind of salt imaginable.

“Wow!” said the customer.

“You think that's something?” said Pop with a wave of his hand. “That's nothing! Come look.” And Pop led the customer to a back room filled with shelves and bins and cartons and barrels and boxes of salt. “Do we sell salt!” he said.

“Unbelievable!” said the customer.

“You think that's something?” said Pop. “Come! I'll show you salt!” And Pop led the customer down some steps into a huge basement, five times as large as the previous room, filled wall, floor, to ceiling, with every imaginable form and size and shape of salt, even huge ten-pound salt licks for the cow pasture.

“Incredible!” said the customer. “You really do sell salt!”

“No!” said Pop. “That's just the problem! We never sell salt! But that salt salesman—Hoo-boy! Does he sell salt!” (D. James Kennedy, Led by the Carpenter, Thomas Nelson, 1999, p. 46; www.PreachingToday.com).

Jesus calls every believer to be salt in a decaying world (Matthew 5:13). Tell me. How are you doing in selling that salt? How are you doing in getting it off the shelf and into the world? How are you doing in persuading others to “buy” that salt, so to speak?

Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 5, where the Apostle Paul shows us how to sell salt effectively.

2 Corinthians 5:11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others (ESV).

Since Christ will one day evaluate the effectiveness of Paul’s ministry (verse 10), Paul works hard to be effective, to persuade others to receive Christ, to convince people to believe in Christ. And that’s what you must do if you want to serve the Lord effectively.

CONVINCE OTHERS POWERFULLY.

Compellingly persuade people to follow Jesus. Give people a reason to believe in Jesus that they cannot refuse. So, how do you do that? Look again at verse 11.

2 Corinthians 5:11-13 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you (ESV).

If you want to compellingly persuade people to follow Jesus, then, like Paul, live what you preach. Convince people not on the basis of outward appearance, but with the demonstration of a changed life within.

Dear believer, God knows who you are (vs.11). He knows the goodness He has put inside you. Just let others see that goodness. Let people see your changed life. Let who you are on the inside shine on the outside.

Some will think you’re crazy, that you’re beside yourself (verse.13), but others will be convinced by your changed life. It’s the strongest argument you have!

In an article for Leadership journal, Gordon MacDonald shares the story of a time he went to the wrong airport. He thought he was scheduled to fly from Boston's Logan Airport to Chicago, but the boarding-pass attendant told him he was scheduled to fly not out of Boston, but Manchester, New Hampshire. MacDonald asked whether she could solve the problem for him. She could—but for an extra $360.

MacDonald was shocked. “I'm a 100k customer on your airline. I give you guys a lot of my business. Can't you just get me on the flight for free as a courtesy?” But the boarding-pass attendant said her hands were tied. MacDonald would have to pay the $360.

McDonald says, “The ungodly part of me wanted to say something sarcastic (about friendly skies, for example) that would hurt the other person as I felt hurt. But then he remembered the advice from a friend, who had recently resolved a nasty church fight. He said, “Someone has to show a little dignity in this thing. It really should start with you.” MacDonald swallowed his pride and applied the advice to the situation at hand.

He said to the boarding-pass lady, “Before I pay you the $360, let me say one more thing. Six weeks ago, I came here to take a flight to the West Coast and discovered that the airline had cancelled the flight and hadn't told me. They said they were sorry, and I forgave them.