Sermon Tone Analysis

The Believer’s Influence

In the Beatitudes we have seen how the Lord described the character of Christians.

They sense their spiritual depravity.

They have sorrow over their sin.

They are the merciful because they have been shown mercy.

They are pure in heart.

They have a heart that is undivided and unalloyed.

It is a heart that is not corrupted by other materials.

They seek to aid people resolve their conflicts in order to advance God’s kingdom work.

These traits have an influence on their world.

I verses 13-16 we see how this influence is manifested.

The first thing we see is...

I.

The impact of salt.

Vs.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.”

Jesus is speaking to the disciples.

He uses the present tense of the verb which means that this is continual activity.

A. It stems corruption.

Vs.13a “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.

Salt has no beneficial effect upon soil.

If you have seen the Great Salt Lake, there is no vegetation around it.

Jesus is using salt as a metaphor and the earth as referring to people.

In the world of Jesus’ time they didn’t have refrigeration.

Salt was rubbed on meat to keep it from spoiling.

I believe the United States has greatly benefited from the influence of its founders that based most of the founding documents on the Word of God.

It was the source of basic education in the beginning of our country.

Most of the great universities had a religious foundation.

I believe as this influence has faded we have seen the moral decline and increase in many terrible things.

The salting effect has become less and less.

We have removed the Bible from our schools and have replaced it with evolution.

That has diminished the value of human life which open the door for abortion at any point in the pregnancy.

The devaluation of human life has ushered in violence and I believe and mass shooting.

The salting influence has disappeared.

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.

Salt has no beneficial effect upon soil.

If you have seen the Great Salt Lake, there is no vegetation around it.

Jesus is using salt as a metaphor and the earth as referring to people.

In the world of Jesus’ time they didn’t have refrigeration.

Salt was rubbed on meat to keep it from spoiling.

I believe the United States has greatly benefited from the influence of its founders that based most of the founding documents on the Word of God.

It was the source of basic education in the beginning of our country.

Most of the great universities had a religious foundation.

I believe as this influence has faded we have seen the moral decline and increase in many terrible things.

The salting effect has become less and less.

We have removed the Bible from our schools and have replaced it with evolution.

That has diminished the value of human life which open the door for abortion at any point in the pregnancy.

The devaluation of human life has ushered in violence and I believe and mass shooting.

The salting influence has disappeared.

B. It shouts its presence.

We had dinner at a friend’s house and they were making churned ice cream.

We were so looking forward to it, but one bite and it was awful.

The salt that was used to increase the freezing had gotten into the ice cream.

We knew immediately the presence of the salt.

It didn’t belong in the ice cream and it shouted its presence.

But salt adds taste to food and makes it enjoyable.

I like it a lot, but it doesn’t like me.

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.

C. Its significant loss.

Vs. 13b “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.”

Scientifically it is impossible for sodium chloride to loose its taste.

The best way to understand this is that the sodium chloride of those days could be mixed with various of substances making it worthless as a preservative.

“It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

This has nothing to do with eternal security, but only usefulness as God’s purpose influence our world.

(ESV) helps us with understanding this.

“It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile.

It is thrown away.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

II.

The importance of light.

Vs.14-16 “You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Again we have an emphatic You as words are introduced that apply not to people at large but to all who are committed to Jesus.

The light of the world implies that the world is in darkness (despite its continuing claims to enlightenment!

35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile.

It is thrown away.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Salt and Light

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, But in this way they bring the light to the world and the world to the light in a way that would not take place apart from them.

World in this verse, like earth in the previous verse, points to no small and mean task.

The task of the disciples is to bring light to the whole world.

Jesus goes on to point out that, being who and what they are, giving light is inevitable.

It is quite impossible for a city set on a hill to be hidden.