Ethics of Discipleship, Part 2: Be Salty - Mark 9:49-50

Salt is good.

That’s not just me saying that, I am a fan of salty food in general. Many people like the sweet, I like the salty.

Salt has many benefits that have been known to man for literally thousands of years, and we know even more today about the benefits of salt.

Historically, the ancients understood the value of salt not only as a flavoring agent, but also as a preservative. Since bacteria cannot survive in a high concentration of salt

Ethical Discipleship Is Salty

Mark 9:49–50 ESV

49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

We are to be salty, but in the good way. This is not about being grumpy with people.

Jesus here gives us three statements about salt. As I read this text, I see three distinct teachings that all have salt in common, but what is being communicated is different for each one.

It is possible that this was not one extended teaching of Jesus, but rather the collected sayings of Christ and these are grouped by the common use of salt.

a. We are refined through hardship

First, everyone will be salted with fire. I think this is the hardest of the saying to understand. He begins with a causal “for” which provides grounds for the previous statement. It’s better to maim yourself than to go to hell, because everyone will be salted by fire. What does that mean?

In the old testament, sacrifices were salted with salt before being offered on the alter as a sacrifice. So we have Leviticus 2:13 “13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.”

If that is the context of this saying, Jesus is then likening our lives as a sacrifice before the Lord.

This correlates well with passages like Rom 12:1 “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship”

Some commentators take this text to mean that when we endure persecution for Christ, it has a purifying effect for us. Truthfully, I’m not sure I can get to persecution from this context. But there is a refining aspect that hardship does produce within us.

The previous context is about doing whatever it takes to kill sin, including being willing to radically inconvenience ourselves. Jesus has said in chapter eight that anyone who wishes to come after him must deny himself. Self-denial and hardship are to be expected for the believer. But it is through that process that God purifies and preserves us. Yes, we go through hard things. It might be persecution. It might be the hardship that comes from self denial and radical steps to kill sin. But we are refined through that.

b. We must retain our Christian distinctiveness

Second, Jesus says salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalty what good is it?

I think of the sermon on the mount where Jesus says “you are the salt of the world” and there also makes reference to unsalty salt.

Salt acts as a preservative and purifying agent. Christians are to help purify and thus preserve those who are in the world. But if we lose our saltiness, which is to say, if we lose our Christian distinctiveness, how are we to accomplish that purpose?

There are many Christians these days who are doing everything they can to blend in with the world. They have adopted the world’s sexual ethic, the world’s system of understanding power, or the world’s way of manipulating and controlling individuals. That’s not who we are supposed to be. If we look like the world, how can we be expected to lead anyone to Christ?

We must retain our Christian distinctiveness if we are to have the salty effect on the world we are intended to have.

Finally,

c. We must remain in fellowship

Have salt in yourselves. This could also be translated “among yourselves” or more pariphrastically “share salt with each other”

This could refer to the idea of sharing meals with one another. Again, salt is a preserving and purifying agent. When we share salt through fellowship, it should have a purifying and preserving effect on our lives. Some of you can bear witness to this. When you are in fellowship with other believers, you are sharpened and strengthen in your faith and in holiness. When you distance yourself from fellowship that purifying and preserving work begins to fade.

We must remain in fellowship with one another. Sometimes that is going to be a challenge. The disciples were just arguing about who was the greatest. Jesus says “yes, be salty (in a good way), but do so peaceably”

Rather than arguing about who is the greatest, consider how you can stir one another up to love and good deeds like Hebrews 10:24–25 “24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

We need not be contentious. But we need to help purify one another. Discipleship is about following Jesus and helping other follow Jesus.

There is a lot in this text. With hindsight, I wish I broke this section down into two or three sermons. But this is what an ethical life of discipleship looks like. We encourage and serve other disciples. We take sin seriously. And we are satly. In the good way. We preserve and purify one another through fellowship