The Hard Sayings: Saltless Salt is Good for Nothing

Text: Mark 9:49-50

Theme: True Christians have been salted with fire and as such become the salt of the world.

“For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”” (Mark 9:49–50, ESV)

I consulted over a dozen commentaries on this hard saying of Jesus. Nine of the dozen commentaries all opened with a similar statement: “These are strange statements.” Yes, they are.

What does Jesus mean when he says everyone will be salted with fire?

How can salt lose its saltiness?

How do we have salt in ourselves?

As we look at the hard sayings of Jesus this one is hard because it’s confusing. At least to our modern ears it is. So let’s take a few minutes to see if we can glean what Jesus is trying to communicate to his listeners.

Covenant of Salt

Christians becoming Salt

Christians as the salt of the earth

I. COVENANT OF SALT

1. so much of what Jesus preached had its roots in the Old Testament

a. when Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount “Ye are the salt of the earth” the imagery resonates with his listeners because they understand the importance of salt in the sacrificial system of Israel

A. SALT WAS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF LIFE

1. salt was a valuable commodity in the ancient world, and in some place was as valuable as gold

a. some historians contend that civilization could not have arisen if it were not for salt

1) we take the commodity for granted since it’s one of the cheapest condiments we can purchase (a blue container of Morton’s Iodized Salt costing 99¢)

ILLUS. In the U.S. alone 42 million tons of salt are mined each year. The deepest salt mine in America is the Cayuga Salt Mine, in central New York state. At 2,300 feet, the mine is the deepest in North America and stretches more than seven miles underground tapping into a vast salt deposit that stretches from Pennsylvania to Ontario. Some underground salt beds can be a thousand feet thick.

2) I tell you that to illustrate why we take salt for granted

b. the ancient world did not

1) most salt in the Middle East came from the southern region of the Dead Sea which is the saltiest body of water on earth

2) Dead Sea water was diverted into shallow pools where the water was allowed to evaporate and the salt would crystalize and then be scraped up

a) it was hot dirty work (I’m sure Mike Rowe would have included in a Dirty Jobs episode if he’d been around back then)

2. to the ancients procuring sufficient quantities of salt could mean the difference between preserving food for future consumption or starving

B. SALT WAS A SYMBOL OF GOD’S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL

1. three Old Testament passages refer to the Covenant of Salt

“You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” (Leviticus 2:13, ESV)

“All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the LORD I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.”” (Numbers 18:19, ESV)

“Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?” (2 Chronicles 13:5, ESV)

a. we know from the Old Testament accounts that salt was also to be part of the ingredients of the incense used in Temple worship because salt helps to accentuate the smell of the incense

b. so salt is an important ingredient of Jewish sacrifices, but because the phrase covenant of salt appears only three times in the Old Testament, even Jewish scholars debate just exactly what the covenant of salt is

c. most Jewish scholars agree that the nature of salt is the key to understanding

2. in the Old Testament God commanded that salt be included with every sacrifice

“You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.” (Leviticus 2:13, ESV)

a. so significant was the addition of salt to an offering that doing so come to be called The Covenant of Salt

3. the nature of salt was symbolic of God’s relationship to Israel which is why it was included with the sacrifices

a. 1st, because of salt’s preservative nature, it’s use came to represent the perpetual covenant, that is, the eternalness of God’s covenant with Israel

ILLUS. In 2 Chronicles 13:5 King Abijah has drawn up battle lines against King Jeroboam. This is shortly after the nation of Israel split into two rival nations — the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. Before the battle ensues, Abijah steps forward to tells the seceding northern tribes that they ought to remember that God gave Israel — all of it — to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt. His meaning is clear; God’s promise was that the nation should remain one under the perpetual leadership of King David’s descendants.

b. 2nd, because salt represented healing

ILLUS. In 2 Kings there is a story of the prophet Elisha coming to a town where the water is bad. The prophet asks for a bowl with salt in it. He then went to the spring and threw the salt into it saying, “ ... “Thus says the LORD, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”” (2 Kings 2:21, ESV)

ILLUS. In Ezekiel the prophet describes rubbing newborns with salt as part of a baby’s care after delivery. Midwives of that time used salt as a natural loofa for exfoliating a baby's skin after birth, as well as to deter the growth of bacteria, and preventing infection.

c. 3rd, partaking of a pinch of salt was a way of sealing a covenant

ILLUS. When two parties entered into an agreement, they would each swallow a pinch of salt in the presence of witnesses that would serve as a binding contract.

d. 4th, partaking of salt was a sign of friendship, hospitality, and a symbol of community

ILLUS. Even among modern Arabs the Arabic expression, "There is salt between us", or "He has eaten of my salt," means partaking of hospitality and cementing a friendship.

ILLUS. The Jewish people have not forgotten their salt covenants with God. To this day, every Friday at sunset, many practicing Jews still dip their bread into salt to keep their agreement with God.

5. thus, when the priests added salt to the sacrifice it symbolized all these things

a. it reminded Israel that God’s promises to Israel were perpetual, incorruptible, and indissoluble

b. negatively, salt can also indicate irrevocability in punishment

ILLUS. Recall how Abimelech sowed the city of the Shechemites with salt that it might be eternally worthless (Judg. 9:45).

6. in Jewish tradition, therefore, any perpetual covenant came to be called a covenant of salt and incorporated all of the symbolic meaning I just referred to

II. CHRISTIANS BECOMING SALT

““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.” (Matthew 5:13, ESV)

“For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”” (Mark 9:49–50, ESV)

1. any Christian who has been a believer for any length of time has read Matthew 5:13 and probably heard a sermon on it

a. less so from Mark 9:49-50

2. the context of a Scripture passage usually helps understand the meaning of a verse

a. in Mark, the contest of vs. 49-50 are found within the context of graphic terminology, dramatic acts, severe warnings, and shocking threats

““Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” (Mark 9:42–48, ESV)

b. these words are as stark, and radical, and as forceful as anything Jesus ever said

c. Jesus is referring to radical love, radical purity, radical sacrifice, and radical obedience

1) I’m only going to speak to the last two since their the focus of vs. 49-50

A. THE RADICAL SACRIFICE — Salted with Fire

1. the meaning of this cryptic and difficult saying is best understood when we remember that both salt and fire are connected with Old Testament sacrifices

a. as I’ve already mentioned, salt was added to the sacrifices when they were burned as a symbol of God’s enduring covenant

b. while Leviticus 2:13 tells us that salt was to be added to all offerings it specifically mentions the grain offering which was an offering of consecration symbolizing total devotion to the Lord

2. just as salt symbolized God’s perpetual, incorruptible, and indissoluble covenant with Israel, when a believer is salted with fire it is a reference to our redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ the is a perpetual, incorruptible, and indissoluble covenant of grace

a. our lives are to be a long-term, enduring, permanent sacrifice to God

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1, ESV)

3. this salting with fire take place when the Holy Spirit comes flooding into our lives when he regenerates our soul and takes up residence in us

a. fire and flame have always been associated with the work of the Holy Spirit

1) Hebrews 12:29 describes God as a consuming fire

2) God appeared to Moses as fire within a bush

3) the fire on the altar of burnt offering was a divine gift, having been lit originally by God Himself

4) John the Baptist told his listeners that when Messiah appeared he would baptize his followers with fire

5) in the Book of Acts the nascent Church was baptized with the Holy Spirit and tongues of fire appeared above them

b. the Spirit is like a fire in at least three ways: He brings God’s presence, God’s passion, and God’s purity

4. but, because of its context, I believe the phrase For everyone will be salted with fire has a duel meaning here

a. everyone will be salted with fire ... the question is which fire will a person be salted with?

1) will it be the fire of the Holy Spirit that brings justification?

2) will it be the fire of eternal condemnation that brings judgment?

5. the death of Christ on the cross was a radical obedience to the Father, that all those who come to faith in Christ will give a similar radical obedience to the Father

a. are we willing to be a radical living sacrifice?

B. A RADICAL OBEDIENCE

1. in the days before refrigeration, salt was good because it was the most widely used preservative for food

a. chemically, salt is very stable and does not easily degrade — sodium chloride is sodium chloride is sodium chloride

b. but salt in the ancient world — especially that mined at the Dead Sea — was frequently contaminated with gypsum

ILLUS. Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral that has a similar crystalline appearance as salt and is often mixed in with salt. It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main ingredient in many forms of plaster, blackboard chalk, and drywall.

1) if not properly processed salt, contaminated with gypsum, will taste salty for a while, but will eventually become unsalty and tasteless

a) but it will still look like salt because gypsum is also a crystal

2) in Mark’s gospel Jesus says that it’s impossible to make the gypsum salty again

3) such “salt” become useless, and according to Matthew 5:13 no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet

c. this should be a warning to those who are only professors and not possessors of faith who can come to despise the faith and trample on the blood of the covenant

2. when Jesus says, Have salt in yourselves, it is a call to radical obedience — to a holy life preserved by righteousness

a. when we engage in radical obedience we will become radical witnesses

III. CHRISTIANS AS THE SALT OF THE EARTH

1. God desires for us to be salt and light in the culture in which we live

a. He wants us to impact our society for His Kingdom

2. but first, our lives need seasoning

a. in vs. 49, Jesus speaks about being salted with fire

b. in vs. 50, He speaks about salt and its value

1)what is He saying to us?

A. IT MEANS WE ARE CHANGE AGENTS IN THE WORLD

1. we are agents of preserving

ILLUS. The place where Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount, overlooks the Sea of Galilee and Magdala, a town famed for the curing of fish. When Jesus mentions salt, everyone knew its primary role as a preservative.

a. God has placed us in this culture, in this time, in this moment, in this slice of history, to preserve the ways, the teachings, the life, the power, the presence of Christ

2. as Christians we believe that for a human being to flourish in this life and the next they need to have a new birth experience

a. it doesn’t mean that the lost person or a person of another faith tradition cannot live happy and productive lives

b. but we maintain that no man will ever flourish as fully and completely as God desires unless and until they are born again

c. we want them to have life eternal but we also want them to have life abundant

3. consequently, we believe that the only way for a society to flourish is for the majority of a nation’s citizens to come to a saving faith

a. this is one of the driving forces in our evangelism

1) winning people to the faith changes their eternal destiny and expands the size of the Kingdom in eternity

2) winning people to the faith changers their world view and expands the influence of the Kingdom in the world

ILLUS. All too frequently we believe we can expand the influence of the Kingdom by merely electing the “right” politicians. Elect enough of the “right” politicians and we can begin to change public policy toward a biblical morality. And sometimes it works. Jerry Falwell enlisted millions in his “Moral Majority” to expand a conservative and religious agenda. It got Ronald Reagan elected.

But there are two problems: 1st, an enforcement of moral standards by law — no matter how biblical they might be — lasts only as long as the “right” politicians are in office. When they are not, laws get changed real fast. In an era when a lot of public policy is controlled by Executive Order instead of congressional legislation we will constantly see a back and forth. Take abortion. Yes, we want to see abortion made illegal, but more than that, we want to make it unthinkable. Changing laws will do the first; changing hearts will accomplish the second. 2nd, even the “right” politicians will disappoint us. They always do. I hope and pray that the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health case , heard by the Supreme Court last week, might be the case that overturns abortion on demand, but honestly? I’m not holding my breath.

4. as change agents we change the culture by living righteously — which like salt can sting the culture in which we live

5. as change agents we change the culture by calling others to live righteously

B. IT MEANS WE AD SAVOR TO THE WORLD

1. salt does more than preserve; it also seasons, unlocking delicious flavor

a. while too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, the right amount of salt will create unforgettable dishes

2. as the salt of the earth, we are agents of flavoring

a. our purpose is to bring the taste of Heaven to earth wherever we go

b. salt improves flavors as it seasons

c. in low concentrations, salt suppresses bitterness and enhances sweetness; in higher concentrations, salt reduces sweetness but enhances savory flavors

3. one of the important lessons in Christian living is when to more salty or less salty in language and attitude

a. just as salt brings out the best in food, so too, Christ brings out the best in us as others experience the flavor of Christ through us

C. IT MEANS WE LIVE PURE LIVES

1. in being conformed to the image of Christ, we will face the purification of fire and salt — from others in persecution, from ourselves in mortification as we put to death our fleshly desires.

2. the Bible teaches that there a number of means God uses to purify our lives

a. the Holy Spirit purifies us by conforming us into the image of Christ

1) the more we cooperate with the Spirit by yielding to Him the more spiritual purity we will experience

b. the Word engrafted into our minds purifies us

1) the more we ingest the Scriptures, applying them to our thinking, our attitudes, and our behavior, the more spiritual purity we will experience

c. persecution purifies us

1) the more we respond to the enemies of the Gospel in love the more spiritual purity we will experience

Are you a perpetual, incorruptible, and indissoluble living sacrifice for Christ?