The Salt Life

Greeting

Isaiah 2:3 ESV

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

Grabber

The ancient Sumerians were the first to document the use of salt to cure and preserve meat. Around 3000 BC, they were layering salt and sesame seed oil on fish and meats to preserve them for times of food scarcity. When salt is added to the surface of meats, osmosis begins and draws water out of the cells of the meat. It also draws water out of the cells of microbes, fungi, bacteria, and parasites, killing the dangerous organisms which spoil the meat. The Egyptians also used salt to cure meats. The Romans mined salt and dedicated great rooms and storehouses to salt drying and curing. By the middle ages, recipes were developed to highlight salt cured meats and fish in the culinary arts. Today, salt cured meats such as prosciutto and bacon are considered delicacies and used in fine dining restaurants.

During the first century, salt was considered as vital as water to life itself. That is the backdrop for Jesus’ next statement from the Sermon on the Mount.

Introduction

After his sermon introduction on the beatitudes, Jesus begins examining their application in daily life. He begins in earnest painting a vivid picture of Kingdom Living. What does life look like if we hunger for righteousness? What does purity of heart look like in action? Or peacemaking?

The transition from the Christian traits to the application comes rather naturally. He begins with a warning about persecution, Matthew 5:11–12 ““Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” He tells them living like him will make you stick out from world. People will notice you and revile you.

But here is the blessing. Not all people will persecute you. Some people will notice your different style of living and seek to know why. That is where the salt life comes in. Not the brand of apparel and beach equipment, but the life Jesus calls his disciples to, Matthew 5:13 ““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.”

Discussion

Uses of Salt

Usually, people talk about salt for flavor. It enhances the food that it is added to. When you cook pasta, you salt it like the ocean.

Salt is used to ruin soil. If you don’t want grass or weeds to grow in a certain area, you can salt the soil to make it infertile.

Salt is used as a preservative for meats and other foods. It prolongs the lifespan of food before it spoils. That’s an interesting comparison, it can be used to prevent spoilage or to cause spoilage.

Salt is used for cleansing and purifying. A common method of cleaning cast iron pans is to sprinkle them with salt and scrub them until smooth, then rinsing the salt away. By salting meat and allowing time for the bacteria to die, the surface of the meat can be wiped and “purified.” Salt was also used as a body scrub as far back as 2700 BC.

It can be used to salt a slug, clean silk flowers, distract an enemy during a fight, or reduce the bitterness of coffee.

Jesus’ Use of Salt

When it comes to Matt 5:13, what did Jesus mean? Are we flavorful? Destroyer? Preservative? Purifier?

The ESV says, “but if salt has lost its taste,” which suggests Christians are to be an enhancer for the life of the community (the earth). In some ways, we can enhance life by obeying the laws, encouraging the downtrodden, and generally being good citizens by helping others. However, notice the ESV has those words in italics, meaning they are supplied to translators to help give the meaning. The NASB uses the word “tasteless.” ASV “savor.” NIV “saltiness.” CSB “taste.” The word translated “taste” here is used 22x in the NT, in all but here and the parallel in Luke, it is translated foolishness. There is a different word for “taste, savor, flavor.” But how does salt become “foolish”? It stops being useful, like a fool. As we have seen there are several uses for salt, and perhaps flavor isn’t the one Jesus it using.

If salt preserves, maybe Jesus means Christians are a preserving factor in our communities. This is probably closer to Jesus’ meaning. Certainly, as Christians go into the world, we take the word of God on our lips and in our lives. Those words are powerful.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

James 1:21 “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

Ephesians 1:13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

Another possibility is that Jesus is talking about purification. Like salt scrubbing the pan, or killing dangerous microbes to purify the meat, Christians can be a purifying force in the world. It is basically the same as preservation, except preservation preserves the world, and purification also brings cleansing into the world.

Our lives ought to challenge those around us with the goodness of the gospel, the example of Christ, and the grace of God. As the Spirit of God works through our hands the world is changed by the word of God, preserved, and purified by the blood of the Lamb.

This idea fits well with Kingdom Living. It says, living the beatitudes evangelizes the world.

Application

People are lost. One of the greatest things we can do is be disciples every day. Live poverty of spirit. Live mournfully over our sins. Live meekly in the face of conflict. Live hungry for righteousness. Live mercifully, purely, peacefully with others. This is the real salt life—no beach required. That’s walking with the King!

Conflict at work? School? Home? Do you retaliate, fight back, plan revenge? Or, do you beatitude? Tempted to join others in sin and debauchery? Do you go with the flow? Or, do you beatitude? Greedy to withhold what you should share? Do you get rich? Or, do you beatitude?

It is possible to lose our saltiness/usefulness. To become useless, salt doesn’t stop being salt, it gets mixed with impurities: sand, moisture, dust, etc. When we become useless, we get cast aside.

How’s your saltiness? As a disciple of Jesus, are you making the choice to keep pure and undefiled by carnality so your life helps scrub sin from the earth? Or has your life been contaminated with apathy, anger, and selfishness so that you destroy the soil instead of the sin?

So, What?

You are the salt of the earth stay salty.