Pass the Salt, Please

The Sermon on the Mount  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Matthew 5:13 AV
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Introduction:

In the first 12 verses of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ deals with the attitudes and the character of those that are living in the Kingdom.
These are not the goals in which they hope to attain, but how kingdom living looks.
These are the characteristics or attitudes that make up people that are in the kingdom of God.
And Jesus said that if these characteristics are not yours as a pattern of life, then there is a good chance that is because you are not in the kingdom.
Because you need to always remember as we go through this study that Christ is speaking to a group of people that were big on heritage.
The heritage that they felt that they had through Abraham.
In fact, it was John the Baptist that first confronted this belief and vain hope.
Luke 3:8 AV
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
So, John the Baptist confronts the belief of the day that said that we are on good ground with God, because we have Abraham as our Father.
And the point that John the Baptist is trying to make here is that Abraham’s true children are not merely physical descendents, but those who follow his faith.
By believing God’s Word as he did.
Listen, to trust one’s physical ancestry is to shift the focus of faith away from God Himself and that is spiritually fatal.
And the imagery that is used of stones is that God could sovereignly turn a heart of stone into a believing heart.
He can raise up children to Abraham from inanimate objects if he chooses.
Or He could even raise them from stony-hearted Gentiles.
Galatians 3:29 AV
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
And just like John the Baptist, Christ is confronting the vain heritage that these people thought that they had through Abraham.
And what Christ is saying in the first 12 verses is, “no, the children of God are not children because of a physical ancestry, but they are children because, by faith, their life reflects certain characteristics or attitudes.”
And the list of those attitudes or characteristics are in verses 1-12.
Now Christ moves from what are the characteristics of a kingdom citizen to what is the influence of kingdom citizens.
And really, if you could boil down the thought of Christ is the next few verses into one word, it would be the word “influence.”
Because whoever lives according to the Beatitudes is going to function in the world as salt and light.
Listen, your Christian conduct whether it is conscious or unconsciously affects other people for better or worse.
Andrew Murray lived an exceptionally holy life.
Among those who came under his influence on the greatest part were his children and grandchildren.
Five of his six sons became ministers of the Gospel and four of his daughters became minister’s wife.
Ten grandsons became ministers of thirteen grandchildren became missionaries.
Listen, the fact is that no person can come into the world without increasing or decreasing the sum total of human happiness.
Everywhere, your presence or your absence will be felt.
Believers need to understand that everywhere you go, you leave some influence behind when you leave.
At death, that would be called a legacy.
But in life, it is called an influence.
And Christ is speaking here about the influence that his people have on the world for God and for good.
In the high priestly prayer, Christ prayed these words:
John 17:15–16 AV
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:18 AV
As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
The fact is that is was never the intent of Christ to take a Christian out of the world after salvation, but it has always been His intention to leave us in the world for a time to be an influence.
But John also wrote:
1 John 2:15 AV
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Christs’ kingdom citizens are to be people that are not to reflect the world but they are to influence the world; they are to be in the world but not part of it.
When we live the life of the Beatitudes some people will respond favorably and be saved, but others will ridicule and persecute us.
2 Corinthians 2:14–16 AV
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
In either case our lives have profound effects, and even persecution is not to alter our function in the world.
1 Peter 2:9 AV
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Here is a mandate that we need to make sure that we do not miss.
That these verses are a mandate for Christians to influence the world.
The Beatitudes are not to be lived in isolation or only among fellow believers, but everywhere we go.
God’s only witnesses are His children, and the world has no other way of knowing of Him except through the testimony of what we are.
The figure of salt and light emphasize different characteristics of influence, but their basic purpose is the same.
The believer needs to be salt, because the world is corrupt.
The believer needs to be light, because the world lies in darkness.
Because the world is corrupt and decaying, the only thing that it can do it get worse in its decay.
Because, you see, the world had no inherent goodness on which it can build.
It has no inherent spiritual or moral life on which it can grow.
As time goes on, the world sinks deeper and deeper in its corruption and darkness.
Man is infected with the deadly virus of sin which has no cure except from God.
It is what we call the theological terms as “Total Depravity.”
Not that man is as evil as he can be, that is not what Total Depravity teaches.
But is that there not a part of man that has not been affected by sin.
And, yet unlike physical diseases of which man wants a cure, most men do not want their sin cured.
They love the decadence and they hate God’s righteousness.
The Church cannot accept the world’s love of sin.
And one of the ways that the believer does not accept the world’s sin is in they influence the world for Jesus Christ.
One initial grammatical insight that I want to give you.
The pronouns “you” in those verses are emphatic; so just like the Beatitudes themselves are emphatic, Christ is saying “You are the only salt of the earth,” “You are the only light of the world.”
In discussing the fact that believers should be a proper influence (I want you to remember that word, influence), I want to break down verse 13 into four manageable parts.
First, The Purpose of the Believer; Second, The Problem of the Believer; Third, The Predicament of the Believer; Fourth, The Product of the Believer.

I. The Purpose of the Believer (vs. 13a)

Matthew 5:13 ESV
“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.
Again, I want you to remember “influence.”
Your character is verses 1-12, then we come to your influence in verses 13-16.
And the first description of the influence of the believer is that they are salt.
Salt, in the ancient world was very valuable.
In fact, during a period of ancient Greek history salt was called, “theon” which means “divine.”
The Romans held that, except for the sun, nothing was more valuable than salt.
Often Roman soldiers were paid in salt.
In many ancient societies salt was a mark of friendship.
For two persons to share salt indicated a mutual responsibility to look after one another’s welfare.
In the ancient world, even if a worst enemy ate salt with you, you were obligated to treat him as a friend.
Again, in the ancient world, salt was frequently used to bind a contract, somewhat in the special way an agreement or contract is notarized in our day.
When the parties to a covenant ate salt together before witnesses, the covenant was given special authentication.
Although the particulars are not given, God made such a “covenant of salt” with David in 2 Chronicles 13:5.
God prescribed that all sacrificial offerings in Israel were to be offered with salt.
Leviticus 2:13 AV
And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.
So, no matter where Jesus’ hearers were from; Greek, Roman, or Jewish, they would have understood very well “salt of earth” to represent a valuable commodity.
Though most of them could not understand His full meaning, they knew that He was saying that His followers were to have an extremely important function in the world.
Whatever else it meant, in their mind, salt stood for that which was of high value and importance.
Now, salt has several different functions and some of these functions people have tried to apply to believers.
Some have suggested that since salt is white, then that illustrates that fact the Christians should be pure.
You know, goes back to the Beatitude of being pure in heart.
Some have suggested that since salt adds flavor then the believer needs to add attractiveness to the gospel.
Some have suggested that since salt in a wound stings, that Christians should be people that sting the sin of the world, prick the conscience, make it uncomfortable.
Still, others have suggested that since salt creates thirst, that Christians need to be people that by our lifestyle, we create a thirst for the things of God in this world.
And while I believe that all of those analogies have some merit and all have some measure of truth, I do not believe that is the primary character that Christ is emphasizing here.
I believe the the primary character and purpose of the believer is that of preservation.
Believers are to be a preserving influence on the world.
They should hold back the moral and spiritual spoilage of the world.
Just think with me about prophecy and all that will be unleashed a that time.
When Believers are taken out of the world at the rapture, Satan’s perverse and wicked power will be unleashed in an unprecedented way.
Evil will go wild and demons will be almost unbridled.
Once God’s people are removed it will take only seven years for the world to descend to the very put of hellishness.
Believers need to understand that until the day when we are removed from the earth, we have a very powerful influence on the welfare of world.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said:

“Most competent historians are agreed in saying that what undoubtedly saved [England] from a revolution such as that experienced in France at the end of the eighteenth century was nothing but the Evangelical Revival. This was not because anything was done directly, but because masses of individuals had become Christians and were living this better life and had this higher outlook. The whole political situation was affected, and the great Acts of Parliament which were passed in the last century were mostly due to the fact that there were such large numbers of individual Christians found in the land”

We represent God’s presence of earth.
We are the salt that prevents the entire earth from degenerating even faster that it is.
So, salt combats deterioration.
And in the same way Christians, by showing themselves to be Christians indeed, are constantly combating moral and spiritual decay.
Even though the world is very wicked, only the Lord knows how far more corrupt it would be without the restraining example, life, and prayers of Christians.
Listen, you cannot actually watch salt perform its task, but you see the end result, so you know that it worked.
John Calvin said:
Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 5:13–16; Mark 9:49–50, 4:21; Luke 14:34–35, 8:16, 11:33

men have nothing in them but what is tasteless, till they have been seasoned with the salt of heavenly doctrine.

You may not see that anything that you are doing as having any real effect, but just as you cannot see the working of salt but only the result, you may not see your effect, but only the result.
If you are in the kingdom; performing kingdom living, you are salt, you are a preserver.
Warding off the decay of the our world.
But then Jesus also focuses on the negative.

II. The Problem of the Believer (vs. 13b)

Matthew 5:13 AV
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Again, those listening to Christ would have well understood what Christ meant by the salt losing its, literally, saltiness.
Much of the salt in Palestine, such as that found in the Dead Sea, is contaminated by gypsum and other materials that make it taste flat and even repulsive.
If you are not familiar with the material “gypsum” it is an material that on the periodic table is 1 part calcium and 4 parts sulfate and was used as a dye and paint.
The people to whom Christ was speaking knew full well what it was like to have tasteless salt, or salt that had been mixed with other impurities that gave it a horrible taste.
Listen, if the only difference between us and unbelievers is that we go to Church and they do not, then the salt has lost its preserving effect.
If that is the only difference, why would anyone take our witness seriously and want anything to do with what we claim.
If those that are suppose to be the preserving agent for the world to stop the decay are doing to same things, then really there is no difference between the salt and the world.
The more that we allow secular society to affect us, morally and spiritually, the more we lose out saltiness.
And the problem with no many professing believers is that the difference between them and the decaying world is that they go to Church, give money or other acts of “spirituality.”
Although those things are good and commanded, but they are not preserving acts.
You say, “what are the preserving acts?”
Verses 1-12, right?
We need to always be aware that we do not reach a time in our lives when we are so like the world that we lose the ability to preserve the world.
A believer that is like the world does the world no favors, just gives the world one more excuse to not take our message seriously.

III. The Predicament of the Believer (vs. 13c)

Matthew 5:13 AV
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
There is a sense in which salt cannot really become unsalty.
However, contamination's can cause it to lose its value as salt.
The issue is that it no longer functions as salt.
Now, Jesus is not speaking about losing salvation, for that is impossible.
John 10:27 AV
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Christians cannot lose their salvation, just like salt cannot lose its inherent saltiness.
But Christians can lose their value and effectiveness in the kingdom when sin and worldliness contaminate their lives, just as salt can become tasteless when contaminated by other minerals.
It is a common NT truth that although true believers are identified as righteous, godly, and salty, there are times when they fail to be what they are (cf. Romans 7:15-25).
Now Peter says that those things may lead to a loss of assurance of salvation.
2 Peter 1:9–10 AV
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Loss of assurance, perhaps; but never a loss of salvation.
And this happens when the believer get himself/herself in a predicament and through a lifestyle of worldliness looses his saltiness, value, and effectiveness.
We cannot be an influence for purity in the world if we have compromised our own purity.
We cannot sting the world’s conscience if we continually against our own.
We cannot stimulate thirst for righteousness of we have lost our own.
We cannot be used of God to ward off the corruption of sin in the world if our own lives become corrupted by sin.
To lose our saltiness is not lose our salvation, but it is to lose our effectiveness.
Again, salt does not lose its saltiness, but it loses that which makes it effective.
In fact, the phrase “wherewith shall it be salted,” literally means, “can it be made salty again?”
That is how dangerous it is when the believer loses its effectiveness as salt.
Jesus even asked the question, “will be made salty again?”
Will the salt that has lost it effectiveness, ever be salty again.
Now, understand, that the Grace of God can do anything.
But the point is that that is how important it is that the believer maintain verses 1-12, because when they are lacking, so is the effectiveness and in many cases, assurances of salvation.
That is how vital it is and what a bad predicament that it can cause in the life of the believer.

IV. The Product of the Believer (vs. 13d)

Matthew 5:13 AV
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
The contaminated salt from the Dead Sea, when it made its way into a household, in the Middle East there was only thing that they did to it.
They would literally throw it out of the window and as men walked on the ineffective salt, it would go back in the earth and disappear.
The implication is clear.
Just as salt having lost its flavor cannot, except by the Grace of God, be restored; so also those who were trained in the knowledge of the truth but who then resolutely set themselves against the exhortation of the Holy Spirit.
They fall into a state of ineffectiveness and they lose the value as a believer in their influence in the world.
When believers live in such a way that they are not the proper influence, their effectiveness is shot and, at least for the kingdom, they are no better than tasteless salt that it thrown out and trampled until it goes back in the ground.

Conclusion:

Out influence in this world is a very serious thing that the believer needs to take equally as serious.
And when the believer comes to the point in the spiritual walk when then are not the proper influence in the world.
They have lost their reason for existing as a believer and are as ineffective as tasteless, contaminated, salt that people just throw away.
Luke 14:34–35 AV
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Christ is very serious about the influence that we have in this world.
What is your influence.
We see the characteristics of kingdom living.
What is your influence like in this world?
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