Pass the Salt, Please!!

Matthew 5:13

Intro:  When moving to Chicago from Indiana, I left most of my family, all of my friends and all that was familiar to me.  I was excited to start my first new job after graduating from Technical College.  Yet, I was scared because nothing was familiar.   I became lonely very quickly and for the second time in my life I felt lost.  Even though, over time, I made some new friends, the empty feeling that I had seemed to linger on and on.  Everything I tried did not bring contentment or happiness.

I worked for the telephone company in a building that had over 2000 people.  My department had 17 people, yet there were 5 Christians which was very unusual.  They all were very active in sharing their faith with me.  But since I thought I had tried religion, I wasn’t interested in hearing about their religion.

I told them all to stop preaching to me and to leave me alone.  They did seem to back away a bit, except for one man.  His name is Sergio Skidonenko, a man from the Ukraine who decided my salvation was important enough to keep trying.  He did, however, begin to take a different approach in his sharing.  He would invite me to go eat lunch together and he and his wife would invite me over to their home for dinner almost weekly.  When they would go out shopping or something, they would call me and invite me along.  They allowed me into their lives and in this context they showered me with Christ’s love.  Even though I had requested them to stop sharing with me, they never stopped speaking about their faith.  They continued to do so in a less verbal manner but one that had a huge impact on my life.

One day, Sergio asked me why I believe what I believe and why I believe this.  I didn’t have a clear answer and this made me angry.  So I turned his question on him and in a very angry voice asked him what he believed and why.  Sergio smiled at me, and patiently pulled his Bible from his desk drawer, opened it up and began to share from the Bible about his faith in Jesus and he showed be the Bible verses that supported his belief.

I knew he had the kind of  faith that I wanted.  His love for me softened my hardened heart, their accepting me into their lives gave them natural opportunities to share with me about their faith, not just preaching at me but impacting my life.

Sergio took the chance that I wanted to know the answers to life and faith.  He reached into my life to have an impact, to bring a change in my life and to give my life the flavor I had never known.  Sergio was salt to my life.  Today’s verse is telling this very thing to us.  As Christians we are to have an impact upon those around us, we are salt.  But what kind of salt are we?

READ Matthew 5:13a

I.       The Impact of Salt Upon the Earth -  Mat 5:13

           Salt represents 3 things:  Purity, Flavor, and a Preservative

A.   Purity

i.   Salt represent purity.  I Kings 2:19-22 – Elisha pours salt into contaminated water and God chooses to purify the water.  Salt here represents purity as a symbol of purification.

ii.  I Peter 1:14-16 -  Salt represents purity and our lives must represent  the God we serve who is perfectly Holy – we are to be holy just as He is holy!!

iii.       When I was working as an engineer, friends and I would go together on Saturdays to play football.  I was a bit younger in those days. But one guy would join us periodically.  We called him “Madman Bill”.  He was not a Christian and his life, mouth and overall attitude quickly revealed this.  One Saturday, Madman Bill got angry and began to curse and began to show signs of becoming violent.  I told Madman Bill to go home we didn’t want him there anymore. When I returned home, I felt that I had sinned in how I treated Bill and felt the Lord’s leading to apologize to Bill.  So on Monday when I was going to work, I ran into Bill entering the building.  I really didn’t want to apologize to him even though I felt God wanted me to.  So I didn’t say anything.  As I arrived at my desk, I realized God had answered my prayer by allowing me to meet him that morning.  I again asked God’s forgiveness and to allow me to run into Bill.  Later that morning, I went to the bathroom and who would be in there but Bill.  I usually never see Bill at work in the midst of 2000 people.  But once again, I struggled to do what God wanted me to do.  So I left without saying a word.  As I returned to my desk, I knelt beside my desk to ask God to forgive me again and to give me one more chance to see Bill today.  God again answered my prayer.  As I was leaving to go to lunch, I ran into Bill at the exit door.  This time, I went up to Bill and said, “On Saturday, how I treated you was wrong and I ask you to forgive me for the things I said to you.”  He responded by saying he know that I was religious and appreciated my apology, but that it was he who should apologize to me for his actions.  We talked a bit more and I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel to him.  When I chose to follow God’s ways, to walk in His purity, then I had the opportunity to have an impact upon someone’s life.  Our lives need to represent the purity of God whom we serve.  When we don’t, we often have just the opposite impact.

B.    Flavor

i.    Salt also represents flavor.  We have all eaten food that was bland, no taste and just needed that dash of salt to help bring the flavor out. Job 6:6 says “can anything tasteless be eaten without salt?”   Used in this way, salt brings out the best within the food that we eat.  It makes the food better, more flavorful and much more desirable.

ii.   In the same way, as Christians, our lives should give flavor to life.  It should enhance the lives of others as well.  Others should see in us the joy of our God and then they too would desire what we have.  Their lives would be made more flavorful because of our relationship with them.  The Bible states that when people see our love for one another, they will know we are His disciples.  How are you showing love to one another?  This a love that impacts those around us.

iii. Do you have that sense of hope and purpose in your life that brings flavor to other’s lives? Is your life seasoned with ‘salt’ that reveals the God you serve?

C.   A Preservative

i.   Salt represents Purity, Flavor and it also represents a preservative.  A preservative is an additive that keeps food from rotting or decomposing.  Most everything we eat today has some type of preservative in it.  Without this, the food would not last long, but would need to be eaten immediately.

ii. Amish – I grew up in Indiana not far from an area where a group called the “Amish” live.  Amish still do not use any electricity or modern convenience.  They continue to use horse and buggy to travel, candles to light their homes and salt to preserve their meat.  When they slaughter a cow or pig, they spend extensive time using a block of salt and rubbing it into the meat.  Since they don’t use refrigeration, they must use salt to preserve the meat.  If the salt does not saturate the meat completely, then that portion of the meat will eventually rot and become uneatable.

iii.      This is an example of our lives.  As Christians, we are to have an impact on those around us.  If the salt does not come in contact with the meat, then the meat will continue to deteriorate.  If we do not come in contact with the world around us, it too will continue to deteriorate.  If we are salt, then we must make contact with those who need to hear the good news of Christ.

iv.     But there is an UNSALTY Salt.  Look again at Mat 5:13.  Salt in its purest form has all of the qualities that we have mentioned so far.  But the effectiveness of salt is conditional; it must retain its saltiness.  If salt begins to mix with other elements, it slowly loses its saltiness.  At some point, it can become something that has no salt characteristics at all – unsalty salt.  This is what happens to our lives when we allow sin and other things to sneak into our lives.  Slowly we loose our impact on those around us.  Slowly our faith gets weaker and the ways of the world start to dominate our lives.  If we are not careful, we can become unsalty salt, which according to Jesus, is useless for His Kingdom’s Sake.

v.This is one of my greatest fears – that I could become unsalty in my faith.   What are the things that dilute your faith?  If may be things, or it may be attitudes, or it may be a life style that dilutes us.  Where is your passion for Christ?  Is it to see others come to know their Savior?  Is your daily walk filled with the power of God and a true hunger to know Him and to tell others about Him?  Is your walk one of spiritual leading or trivial legalism?  Are the things of Scripture what guides your way, or the ways of the world?  Is the Fruit of the Spirit what flows from you, your mouth and your attitudes?  Or does your life continue to fit nicely into the world around you?  You are the salt of the earth, are you a salty salt or an unsalty salt?  You can be a salty salt if you choose this day to know your God intimately and to choose to walk in His ways.  For effectiveness, the Christian must retain your Christ-likeness just as salt must retain its saltiness to have an impact.  Allow God to clean you up, get rid of the useless things in your life that reduces your impact upon the earth and be the salt of the earth that Jesus says you are and have an impact for Jesus’ sake.

II.     The Impact of Light on the World Mat. 5: 14-16

A. The Purpose of Light

i.    Why is light needed?  Light is needed where darkness exits.  If there were no darkness, light would not be needed.  A person who enters a dark room, what is the first thing they do?  They turn on the light.  If they don’t, then they stumble around the room falling over furniture, cats and dogs and lamps.  This is a perfect picture of our world today.  The world walks in darkness trying desperately to find the way out of the darkness but continues to stumble around falling continuously over the obstacles that are in their way.  They can’t see in the darkness what they are stumbling over.  The world is a slave to sin according to Rom 6:17.  A slave needs help in getting released.  Someone who is a slave to darkness needs light to reveal what is in the darkness.

ii.   Why is it that thieves do their work at night?  Why don’t thieves and robbers run around during the day and steal?  They try to do things in secret so that their deeds are hidden thinking no one will know and that they will not get caught.  Yet getting caught is the least of their worries as the God who knows all already knows their heart.

iii. Rom 3:10-11 tells us that no one does right in the sight of God, no there is not one.  Why, because they cannot see in the midst of darkness.   But we are the Light of the World.  Our lives should help people see through their darkness.  Because when light shines, it reveals what is in the darkness.  And so our lives should shine into others lives.  It begins with how we treat one another.  Jesus says they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another (John 13:35).  Then he extends the idea to not just loving those who love you, but even love your enemies and those who persecute you (Mat 5:44).

iv. But not everyone will like what they see, especially in themselves.  John 3:20 tells us that “everyone who does evil hates the Light, lest their deeds be exposed”.  We must expect that sometimes, as God’s light shines through us some will respond in anger.

v.   At work one day, a group of people were talking about abortion and how convenient it is and that this makes it a right thing.  I listened in shock to hear of such logic that ignores God’s hand in the creating of a child.  At one point I knew God wanted me to speak up but I didn’t want to for I know that the response would not be a good one.  I argued with God quietly in my heart, but I felt like I would burst if I said nothing (see Luke 19:40).  So I finally spoke up trying to gently share that it is God who creates the baby (Ps 119) and that that life is special because it is made in the context of deep mutual love between a man and wife and so we should not so quickly be willing to rid ourselves of this child because of our own inconvenience.  The response was what I feared as two women became almost violent at me for my comments.  After a few minutes, everyone dispersed and I went back to my office wondering why God wanted me to speak up at such a time.  The next day, one of the women came to my office after hours and asked to speak to me.  I thought, oh boy here it goes again.  Rather, she apologized for her outburst and asked if I would pray for her mother since I was a religious person.  I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel of Jesus with her only because God called me to speak up the day before.

vi. That is the purpose of light.  To shine into the darkness and reveal truth, to show what is really there.  It will mean at times persecution and it could even mean our life.  But for eternity’s sake, are we willing?  Luke 9:23-26 tells us that we must be willing to follow Christ.  Where did He go?  To the Cross.  Are we willing to follow?

B.  The Placement of Light

i.    It is also important where the light is placed.  If only the light could be turned on for them.  The light can reveal not only the things they stumble over, but more importantly to show them the way out of the darkness.  It is like a lighthouse that warns incoming ships that dangers are ahead and to avoid the rocky areas they are approaching.  This is not only a message of warning, but of hope that there is a safe passageway.

ii.   Mat 5:14 tells us that we are the light of the world, a city set on a hill and a candle placed on a lamp stand that gives light to all of those around.  We live in a society that has much light that even at night, there is a glow.  But if we lived far away from the city where there were few city street lights and at night the sky was lit not with reflections of business lights but with stars, we would understand this metaphor more clearly.  If it was that dark that the sky was full of stars for our eyes to be able to see and we went for a ride and came around a hill and off in the distance there was a city like Fukuoka, resting on top of a hill all lit up, that scene would grip our attention.  The bright lights off in the distance in contrast to the darkness that we had just come out of would almost be shocking.  We could do nothing but notice this city and its lights.  This is not like a city that rests down in a valley that you may never see, no it is a city on a hill.

iii. Our lives as Christians are like this city.  When we live a Christ-like life, people will notice because it is a like a city on a hill.  The light shining into the darkness grabs their attention.  We can choose to be a city in a valley where no one may notice, but God desires us to be a city set on a hill desiring people to see His people living a life that shines His light into their lives.

iv. In Mat 5:15 Jesus also says that we are a lamp put high on a lamp stand to give light to all in the house.  You don’t light a lamp in a dark house and then hide that lamp; rather you put it in a place where the light has the most effect in providing light to all who need it.  That is what God desires for you.  As a person who know the Almighty God, as one who has the answers to the needs of those around you and as one whom God has given His light to, He has placed you in a place where His light can shine through you to all around.  We must remember that it is not our light that shines but it is Jesus’ light (John 8:12). 

v.  Do you realize, if you are a Christian, that you are called the light of the world?  Do you desire to follow God’s ways and allow Him to use you by being that light?  Are you willing to stand up for God, take up your cross and follow Him no matter the costs?  Or do you hide your faith, afraid that people will make fun of you or reject you?  Are you choosing to hide the light or are you willing to take the stand for God.  God desires for you to be a city set of a hill, to be that lamp on a lamp stand to give light to all He has put around you and He promises that this light will have an impact on the world.

C. The Results

i.    Mat 5:16 tells us of the results if we allow His light to shine.  We are really a reflection of Jesus.  For people, the only Jesus they may ever see is our lives.  We are a mirror, like the moon reflects the suns light, so we reflect Jesus light.  But we have been created for this very purpose.  Eph 3:10 says that “we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared before hand, that we should walk in them.”  And if we do, then people will be drawn to glorify our Father who is in Heaven.  The results are up to God, but He calls us to live in a way that draws people to Him.  People want to know there is someone bigger than they are.  They want to realize that they are not on this earth alone.  That is why there is so much searching for answers.  That is why there is such an emphasis on how we look, of trying to look young and stay young.  That is why there is such an emphasis on having the latest thing, because it is all an effort to fill the gap that exists without a relationship with God.

Conclusion

What does it mean that you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world?  It means you have a relationship with a loving God who desires none to parish and He has chosen you as His instrument to communicate this amazing love and to show a dying world that there is hope, purpose and abundant life to be lived now and into eternity.

What does you life communicate?  Is it one of salt that impacts the ones closest to you?  Or is your life just like the neighbor next door.  A nice home, car and stereo and you do your obligations.  Or is it one of power of God, that shows His love even when it is inconvenient.  You are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world.  What do people see when they see your life.  Is it one of light that shines a great love into their lives and impacts them to the degree that they are drawn to Him?  Or is it a life that hides down in the valley or hides the light because you are embarrassed about your faith?

Being salt and light means there is a cost:  a cost of time and energy, a cost of self that may receive rejection and often a cost of what we want.  But it is a cost that allows God to work in you and through you to draw others to Him.  The may be great, but the rewards are eternal.

But how can we be salt, if we never get out of the salt shaker? (Pippert).

Do you have a neighbor who God desires for you to show a new kind of love to?

Is there someone at work that needs the gentle hand of God’s love and He desires you to be that hand?

Is there someone at school that feels worthless and you can help them know of their worth in being created by god Himself?

You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.  Will you hold your light high?

Pray