Salt of the Earth

Intro

(Ask them to open up the pew Bibles and follow along if they have not brought their own)

A couple weeks ago in my Young Adult Bible Study we decided that we were going to begin memorizing the sermon on the mount. which consist of Matthew chapter 5 to chapter 7 and we decided to do this because it is such a practical part of scripture that we should all hold close to our heart.

And I have loved to hear the stories from my group of how memorizing this scripture has allowed them to witness to each other and people outside the church. and as they are telling me these stories of how they are witnessing it got me thinking about Matthew 5:13

Matthew 5:13 ESV

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Now when a lot of people read this passage they often skip right over this part and look at the following part about being the light of the world. and we will talk about that but for right now I really want us to understand the significance of this statement here in v. 13.

Jesus says you are the salt of the Earth. Now when you think of salt what comes to mind? (responses welcome) (Season, Preserve, Purify) Salt also can not be destroyed by fire nor will it degrade over time. The properties of salt make it an extremely valuable recourse. So valuable that at times in Egypt it was sold for slaves.

Sharing Salt was also a symbol of friendship and hospitality, and ancient conflicts concluded with a meal consisting of bread and salt as a symbol of friendship. So salt during the time of Jesus was a big deal.

So now when Jesus says you are the salt of the Earth, that’s pretty important. We are to be the Salt of the Earth, he could have compared us to anything but he compared us to something as valuable and essential as salt.

But this analogy still confuses people because how are we supposed to be like Salt I mean practically what does it mean for us to preserve and season?

The world we live in is a fallen one, that’s all there is to it, the world is decaying it’s destined for destruction and it is our job to preserve it.