Making a Difference:

Christ has just finished laying eight foundations which can be used as great testings of faith.

He has in eight verses laid out principles that are contrary to the world.

The very characters of believers that He praises, the world despises.

The pride, thoughtlessness , high tempers, worldliness, selfishness, formality and unloving-ness that abounds everywhere, the Lord has just condemned in 10 verses.

Christ has just laid out how a true follower of Christ should act and react.

Through out the Gospels God called His children by many names, i.e: sheep, brethren, branches, etc.

All these names are good and explain a lot about our relationship with Christ,

but when we read Matt. 5:13-16 we find two names given to us that really give us no relation to Christ.

Let me explain:

Being called sheep He says He is the Shepard (Comfort),

being called brethren, He says He is our brother (Companion)

being called branches, He says He is the vine. (Cause)

But here He does not include Himself as being the reason for us being called what we are called.

In these four verses we find Christ reminding us that we are not only on this earth to bring glory to Him but we are here for the lost

We are here to have an influence

We are here to make an impact.

If these words mean anything, then these two words, salt and light, teach us that there should be something different, distinct and desirable about our character, if we say we are one of His our lives will resemble Him.

This morning I want to preach the first of two messages centered around making a difference in this world

there is an important and eternal truth we must never forget:

those who love and follow Jesus are the only real salt this world will ever taste and the only authentic light it will ever see!

Jesus’s words in these verses take it as an undeniable truth that we live in a decaying and dark world.

Where there is decay, we need salt.

Where there is darkness, we need light.

Those of us that are saved by the grace of God, are God’s plan to spread the cure to stop death and decay and shine light on the darkness of this world by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We find the climax to this plan in the last verses of the last chapter of Matthew.

It is what we like to call the ‘Great Commission.” Matt. 28:18-20.

To the nations we are to go as salt and light!

Danny Akin, Exalting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2019)

We will look more in depth at being a light next week but to help us with today’s message we first must understand,

Light is an external quality that enables one to see.

Like a lighthouse sit high on a cliff giving light to the shaken and tossed world, Christians are to shine bright for the Lord so the whole world can see Our Father in Us

In other words, you should shine so bright for Jesus that you couldnt hide what you are even if you tried

Your testimony should be so alive in you that it lives on the outside of you!

This morning though, I want to look at the internal part of a believer, by looking at this one word, Salt.

Jesus makes three statements in this one verse that I believe if we listen and apply what He says to our lives we will Make a difference as Salty Christians.

First thing I want to look at this morning is our comparison to salt.

I. The Comparison to Salt

“Ye are the salt of the earth”

[We are compared to salt in Marks gospel record 9:50 and Luke 14:34-35.]

To understand why Christ is comparing us to salt, we have to understand just how important salt is .

People in general do not realize just how important salt is in maintaining the life and health of our bodies.

There is always an exact percentage of sodium in our bloodstream and any great deviation from this amount can result in sickness or even death.

Salt is a sustainer of life.

Just look at the ocean, there are way more organism present then in fresh water.

Salt is also a preservative.

Country ham is a great example.

Salt is also a Condiment

it adds zest and savor to our food.

Throughout Scripture we find the importance of salt:

In Lev.2:13 it is a symbol of a binding covenant

In 2 Kings 2:20-21 it is used as a healing and cleansing aid

In Job 6:6 it is used to stimulate the appetite

in Luke 14:34-35 it prevents decay

In Luke 9:50 it promotes peace

A Salty Christian should be so salty that he or she adds flavor to the environment around him. As salty christians we are to live our lives so that we bring out the best in those around us.

So for us to be called salt is an important because of five things.

Because of...

a. Our Preserving Ability

salt wards off rot and decay by being rubbed into meat

Gen. 19, Sodom and Gomorrah could have been preserved by the influence of just 10 righteous men

Like salt wards off deacy and rot in meat, the presence and prayers of salty Christians have done more to preserve this nation than anything else.

Just possibly America is decaying at such a fast rate because there are less and less salty Christians.\

b. Our Purifying Ability

Salt will purify what ever it touches.

The early church turned the world upside down because it was salty.

thousands were added to the church because the early church was not afraid to rub salt in the wounds of sin.

Has a salty Christian you have the ability to give the gospel to the lost which can lead to God cleansing them.

You wonder why so many get angry when we begin to give the gospel. Try rubbing salt in a cut and tell me if it hurts.

but ding so leads to a cleansing or purifying effect in the wound.

c. Our Pleasing Ability

Im not talking about pleasing as in giving in to others demands, Im talking about making the world around us a better place.

Salt brings the out the best in food.

A Salty Christian should be so salty that he or she adds flavor to the environment around them

As salty christians we are to live our lives so that we bring out the best in those around us.

Jesus did this time and time again and that is what we are to be doing for His glory. Phil. 1:27

Philippians 1:27 KJV 1900

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

d. Our Promoting Ability

Salt promotes thirst for water

As a salty Christian we have the wonderful opportunity to promote a thirst for Jesus in the world around us.

Remember what the Lord told us? He said that out of our bellies would flow rivers of living water—John 7:37–38.

When we live as Christians should live.

When we take the call of Jesus seriously and live right, look right, act right, talk right, worship right, dress right, etc.

Then we have the ability to create a thirst for Jesus in the hearts of those around us.

When that happens, we can point men to Jesus and share with them the water of life.

Sadly, most Christians do not promote thirst, but ridicule instead.

Too often, we live substandard immoral lives and the world sees it and says, “Why should I receive Jesus? I live just as good as that crowd down at the church!”

Fact is, they are often right!

Let’s so live that we ever prove them wrong.

Our lives must be salty if we are to create a thirst for God in the world around us!

(Ill. We must never give anyone cause to say, “If that is a Christian, then I never want to be one.” Instead, our lives ought to motivate people to say, “That is what I want my life to be.”)Alan Carr, The Sermon Notebook: New Testament, 2015, 43.

e. Our Poisoning Ability

Salt can kill!

To much in your body can do all kind of damage that is why God gave us great indicators in our bodies to know when this happens.

Ever poured slat on a slug?

Salt on a lawn will kill the grass. Ill. Judges 9:45, Abimelech sowed a city with salt to prevent the ground from bearing fruit.

When a true Christian becomes salty, their lives, homes, and enviroment will be changed.

Like a slug, when you are salty with Christ, sin in your life will die. Im not saying you will be sinless.

When you put salt on one slug does that kill all the slugs? No, every slug you see you would have to put salt on it. Same goes for sin, everytime sin becomes visible inyour life, put some salt on it!!

When you get filled with the salt of Jesus Christ, you will be different. 2Cor. 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV 1900

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Next we want to see...

The Crisis to Avoid

“but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted”

a. Avoid Being Tainted

It was possible for Salt in that day to lose its flavor.

The salt used then was far different from that which we see today.

Our salt is a chemical compound called chloride of sodium or sodium chloride.

The salt used in the ancient world was either mined from the salt cliffs along the Dead Sea, which were 7 miles long and several hundred feet high, or it was evaporated from the waters of the Dead Sea.

Either way, it was always mixed with mineral or vegetable matter.

Salty Christians need to avoid being tainted by their enviroment.

When you begin mingling in the world, it wont take long for you to become tainted.

Love not the world neither the things in the world

b. Avoid Being Tasteless

When salt was exposed to the elements or when it touched the earth, the salt lost its salty taste.

Even the surface salt that was dug from the cliffs was discarded because exposure to the light rendered it tasteless.

This tasteless salt also lost all the qualities that made it so valuable and sought after to begin with.

When you become tainted by the world you loose your qualities that makes Christianity different from all other world religions.

A salty Christian makes Christianity taste like it should.

A salty Christian does not say one thing and do the something different.

The Condition to Despise

“it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men”

a. Despise a Worthless Condition

“It is thenceforth good for nothing”

Salt was a very valuable commodity in the ancient world.

So valuable that Roman soldiers were often paid with it.

This payment was called “salarium” (Salary)

This is also where we get the phrase ‘Not worth his salt’

When we become tainted and tasteless, we are worthless to the cause of Christ.

Not to Christ but to His work

b. Despise a Useless Condition

“..cast out and trodden under foot..”

In ancient times when salt lost its savor, was taken out and cast into the foot paths.

It was used like gravel is in our day.

It kept the people from walking in the mud

Literally it was to be trodden under foot of man

Every Christian in this room needs to understand

when we lose our saltiness and we cease to function as the salt that Jesus intended us to be in this world,

then we to become wothless for His work

and We become useless for the mission of the Church

Now while we cant lose our salvation, we can most certainly lose our usefulness.

When this happens, we have become something to be trodden upon and treated with contempt!

When we are living for the Lord, men may not like us, but there is often a certain respect for the stand we take and for the testimony that we possess.

When we allow our testimony to become tainted by sin and the world, then men will walk upon our testimony and we become absolutely useless to the Lord as a vessel of witness.

I do not know about you, but I do not want to wind up being cast out and trodden under foot of man.

I would like for my life to be a strong testimony for Him.

I would like for Him to be able to use my life to bring others to Himself.

I believe that every child of God in this auditorium wants to be a salty Christian for the glory of God.

Paul knew that the potential always existed for him to be a castaway—1 Cor. 9:27

1 Corinthians 9:27 KJV 1900

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

I see that potential in my life as well, and I do not want that.

How about you, Do you want to be a Salty Christian?or do you want to be a castaway?

Conclusion

As you consider your Christian testimony this morning, can you honestly say that it is like salt in the world?

There is a tremendous need for every Child of God to be all that God wants them to be in these days.

We have seen enough falsehood, hypocrisy and weak living to last us, and the world, a lifetime.

We need to be about the business of purifying, preserving, pleasing and promoting and poisoning the sin that is in us, so that the Lord can use our lives and our testimonies for His glory.

God help us to be salty Christians.

Maybe you are here this morning and the Holy Spirit has revealed to you that there is no saltiness in you because you have never came to the foot of the Cross in need of salvation?

Can I tell you, dont wait. you may never get another chance.

There is none righteous…

Confess with thy mouth….

Believe in thy heart ….thou shalt be saved….

for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For whoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.

Wont you come this morning