Identity Series (10)

Jesus says in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth.” So notice: not “work harder to become the salt of the earth.” He’s saying, “This is your identity. You are the salt of the earth.” But you are the salt of the earth in Him. So in Matthew 5:13, He’s speaking of salt in the context of our identity and mission.

Matthew 5:13 NIV

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

In Mark 9:50, He says, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” In Mark 9:50, He’s speaking in the context of salt as purity, peace, and inner integrity.

Mark 9:50 NIV

50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

And in Luke 14:34–35, Jesus says, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.” And in Luke chapter 14, He’s speaking of salt as usefulness and costly discipleship.

Luke 14:34–35 NIV

34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

So those are the three ways Jesus is using salt to describe our identity and our mission. We’re going to see that it’s also:

Identity.

Functionality.

Influence.

When you understand your identity, then you begin to function like someone who understands who they are and what their mission is. And when you understand who you are and what your mission is, you begin to have influence on everybody and everything around you.

Now, when we hear the word salt, we may think about what we sprinkle on food. But in the first century, salt was more than something sitting on a kitchen table. Salt was valuable. Salt added flavor, but more importantly, salt preserved. They did not have refrigerators and freezers like we have today. If you wanted to preserve meat or fish, salt mattered. Salt slowed down decay. Salt kept things from spoiling. Salt had a function. Salt had an effect. Salt changed what it touched.

So when Jesus calls His followers “the salt of the earth,” He is not just giving us a cute Christian phrase. He is telling us something about our identity, our function, and our influence in the world. He is saying, “Because you belong to Me, your life is supposed to have a preserving effect. You are not called to blend into the decay. You are called to carry My life, My holiness, My truth, My love, and My presence into the world.”

Because the call is not simply to claim the name of Christ, but to live from the identity Christ gives us. We are salt. We preserve. We live holy. We influence. We do not blend into decay; we carry the life and presence of Jesus into it.

The first point is this: Salt begins with identity.

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.” Notice what He does not say. He does not say, “Try to become salt.” He does not say, “Maybe one day, if you are spiritual enough, you might become salt.” He says, “You are the salt of the earth.”

That is identity language.

Jesus is speaking to His disciples in Matthew 5. He has just preached the Beatitudes. He has talked about the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted because of righteousness. After describing the character of kingdom people, Jesus described the impact and influence of kingdom people. The Beatitudes describe our character. Salt declares our identity. And when we understand our identity, we understand our function. And when we function as Jesus intended, we influence the world around us. The Beatitudes tell us what Christlike character looks like. Then He declares, “You are the salt of the earth.” He moves from describing how we live to declaring who we are. Character is what Christ develops in us. Identity is who Christ declares us to be. Function is what we do. When we know who we are, it influences what happens around us when we function according to our identity. When you don’t understand your identity, you’ll struggle with your function; but when you know who Jesus says you are, you begin to understand what Jesus has called you to do. Salt doesn’t have to discover how to be salt; it simply functions according to what it is. Salt preserves; salt flavors. Salt makes a difference wherever it is placed. Jesus establishes their character in the Beatitudes, then declares their identity as salt and light, and then expects them to function according to that identity so they can influence the world. Know your identity, understand your function, exercise your influence.

 “You are the salt of the earth.”

SALT BEGINS WITH IDENTITY

In other words, Jesus is saying, “This is who My people are in the world.” Notice that Jesus didn’t tell them, “You are the salt of the shaker.” Since it’s under the curse of sin, the earth is like a decaying piece of meat. And salt can’t preserve meat if it stays in the shaker. We can’t influence the world by staying in the church. That’s the number one use of salt in the first century: it was a preservative. They didn’t have refrigerators, so they had to preserve their meat somehow. So they would pack it into bland food to keep it from decaying. It was to keep things from dying. It was to keep things from being rotten. It was to keep things from decaying. So the number one use for salt in the first century was to keep things from decaying. If we didn’t want something to die, we packed it with salt. If we didn’t want something to rot, we would pack it with salt. The fact that Jesus would say to them and to us, “You are the salt of the earth,” is a presupposition. He’s telling you that the world you’re living in—the earth—is decaying. Society is decaying. Morals are decaying. Marriages decay. Churches are decaying. Values are decaying. Morality is decaying. Goodness is decaying. Honor is decaying. Doing right is decaying. And what Jesus is saying to His children is, “I’m trying to pack you into the earth like salt.” And what I expect My followers to do is to keep back the decay. Don’t let the family decay. Don’t let marriages, or the definition of marriage, decay. Don’t let how we feel about children in the womb decay. Don’t let our freedom to praise Jesus openly decay. Don’t let godly values, standards, and godly priorities decay. Don’t let the things of God decay. Wherever I pack you—into the state, city, or nation—keep back the decay. When He says, “You are the salt of the earth,” in the Greek, that is known as an emphatic pronoun. That means you only! Only children of God understanding their identity are able to function as Christians which then has a influence and that influence is the fruit of us being the salt of the earth. So not the government; it can’t keep back decay. Social services can’t keep back decay. He’s saying, “I’m talking to you, My children. You, and you only, are the salt of the earth. I’m trying to pack y’all, all of you, into society to keep it from decaying.” So Jesus, looking out on the crowd, sees the brokenness of humanity. And His answer is not just to pray for them. His answer is, “I’m going to season y’all with My children.” So when I hear people gossiping in the church, I keep back the decay by saying, “Let’s not gossip; let’s pray for this brother or sister.” When I see people trying to slander in the church, I keep back decay by saying, “Let’s not slander; let’s pray.” Whenever I can enforce Christian values, I’m being salt by keeping back that decay. When I find out someone’s marriage is in trouble, I don’t go telling everybody about it, I intercede for them in prayer to keep that marriage from decaying. One of our biggest problems is we’ll attach all these other things and identify with them. We’ll identify as Republican before Christian. We’ll identify with whatever our job title is and put our work first. We’ll identify with all of these other things that don’t mean anything. And so when we walk into a room, we don’t even understand that we’re supposed to be salt. We just understand that we went to church this week. So when we walk into a room, we’re not pushing back decay. We’re not even noticing it because our life—number one, our identity—is not in Christ it’s in all of these other things. See, we forget that God is packing us into every sphere of influence to keep back the decay. We’ve got to have Jesus in our homes to keep back the decay. We’ve seen decay in our men standing up and being men. We’re seeing decay in the very basic fabrics of society and humanity: what a boy is, what a girl is. And the only way a woman can be beautiful is that she’s half-naked on social media. We’ve seen leadership in the church decaying; pastors preaching heresy and congregations wanting prosperity. But I’ve never seen a person open the salt shaker, take one grain of salt out, and throw it on a piece of steak. I’ve never seen anyone do that in my life. Back to that Greek word, that emphatic pronoun: it’s plural. In the Greek, the word “you” in this text is plural. Y’all are the salt of the earth. It takes more than one grain to season a steak. It takes more than Jonathan Glover. It takes a church and a city that’s serious about the spread of the gospel and the multiplying of disciples to keep back the decay. You  never see anybody throw a grain of salt on a steak, but what do we do? We hold it upside down, and we pack that salt into the steak. And we pack it in with brothers and sisters saying, “Y’all are ineffective to keep back the decay by yourselves.” But a group of us—can keep back the decay. A group can keep back the decay in a gym. All of us can keep back the decay when we’re on a walk and we see people about to fight. A church can keep back decay in the city. Churches can keep back the decay in a nation. The body can keep back the decay on the earth. So I’m just saying this is part of our identity. Wherever you walk into, part of your identity is keeping back that decay. Our identity is that influence. So we can’t be quiet when society tries to redefine what marriage is. We can’t keep quiet when society tries to redefine what a man and a woman are. We cannot keep quiet. We like posts and we’re being entertained by things that are glorifying decay. And the main reason we do that is because we don’t understand our identity.