Introduction:

Obviously you and I should want our words, actions, and very presence automatically to produce positive results.  In no way should believers ever want to have a negative influence.  Even though we live, work, study, and play in this world, we are not supposed to reflect its values and attitudes

I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.   They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17:15-16 NKJV)

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15 NKJV)

Because of who we are we must influence the world toward salvation and God’s standards of righteousness, not toward more selfishness, immorality, and worldliness.  We are to be in the world but not of the world.

Read 2Thess.2:7-8 & Matt.5:13

1.      The Greek pronouns translated “you” are in both verses emphatic and plural.

2.      The emphatic form means that believers are the only person’s in a culture who can truly be salt in it.

3.      The plural indicates that Christ wants His entire body, the church, to be influencing the world.   

I.                  The Salt of the Earth – Matt.5:13

A.     The disciples’ character is like salt.

1.        Salt is distinctive – It is totally different from the food or object upon which it is placed.

a)       Believers are to be different from the world.

(1)        The power of our lives and testimony lies in our being different and distinctive.

(a)         Romans 12:1-2 do not be conformed to this world but be transformed

(b)        2Cor.6:17-18 come out from among them

(c)         1Jn.2:15 do not love the world or the things in the world

2.        Salt penetrates – It changes that upon which it is put.

a)       Believers are to penetrate the world

(1)        2 Corinthians 5:17; Eph.4:24; Colossians 3:10

3.        Salt flavors – It influences the taste of things.

a)       Believers are to flavor & influence the world for Christ.

(1)        Galatians 5:22 cf. 1Jn.1:3

4.        Salt is quiet – It is visible, but it works silently, making no noise during its work

a)       The Hidden Person of the Heart

(1)        1 Peter 3:4

5.        Salt spreads

a)       A sprinkle of salt has a wide spread effect

(1)        Acts 4:20

(2)        1Peter 3:15

(3)        1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

6.        Salt creates thirst – Christians are to create a thirst in others by the lives in which we live.

7.        Salt preserves – It keeps things from going bad and decaying.

a)       It prevents Infections from Setting In – 2Thess.2:6-7 cf. 1 Peter 1:22-25

(1)        Christians are to have an antiseptic effect on the open sores of this world

(a)         Lot was not a dedicated man, but his presence in Sodom held back the wrath of God (Gen.19:12-29).

(b)        loving one another fervently with a pure heart

B.      The Disciples’ Place & Mission of Ministry is the Earth.

1.        The disciples place of ministry—The earth.

a)       Too much salt is being stored and locked up at the church.

(1)        The Result – The world is not being salted and flavored enough.

(a)         Pray the Lord of the Harvest would send out laborers (Luke 10:2)

(a)        John 4:35

(b)        Galatians 6:9

b)      Believers must Spread Out Into the World.

(1)        Many people are spiritually lost due to the sinful preoccupations of this world.

(a)         They can’t find their way to the Fathers house unless believers sweep through the world, searching collectively to rescue them.  

(2)        This is the task of the believer.

(a)         The Father has sent Jesus, now Jesus sends us (John 20:21).

(b)        We are to go into all the world, teaching all nations (Matt.28:19-20; Mark 16:15)

(c)         We are to do this with, not in our own power, but by the power of God (Acts 1:8)

(d)        We are to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, being ready to always have an answer to every man (1 Peter 3:15)

2.        The disciples mission of ministry—To salt the earth.

a)       Believers Must Have Salt in Themselves – Mark 9:50

(1)        This is done by the Word (Col.3:16) & the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23).

(a)         The Word of God & the Spirit of God produces godly character, enabling a person to acts as a preservative in society.

C.     The Danger—Judgment—Fear of Being Useless and Destructive.

Salt does not lose its saltiness and flavor.  However, in the time of Christ the salt of Palestine was gathered in such a manner that dirt and other impurities were often mixed with it.  The salt was thus useless and good for nothing.  In fact, it actually destroyed the fertility of the soil.  Therefore, it was not only useless, but destructive.

1.        The backslider, a believer who loses his flavor and saltiness or testimony.

a)       Definition of Backslider

(1)        To draw back or apostatize in matters of religion (Acts 21:21; 2 Thes. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1).

(a)         may be either partial (Proverbs 14:14)

(b)        or complete (Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:38-39). The apostasy may be both doctrinal and moral.

(2)        Backsliding is Caused By:

(a)         Carnal Commitment (Luke 22:31-38)

(b)        Complacency; Failing to be steadfast (2Pet.1:9)

(c)         Failing to become rooted and grounded (Luke 8:11-15)

(d)        Trials & Temptations (Luke 8:11-15) cf.  Things of the world (Matt.13:7, 22)

(e)         Fear PETER DENIYING CHRIST—FOLLOWING AT A DISTANCE (Luke 22:54-62)

(f)          Looking back – Remember Lot’s wife (Luke 9:61-62)

(g)        Lukewarmness (Rev.3:16-17)

(h)         Overconfidence (Matt.26:33)

(i)          Drifting away (Heb.2:1-4)

b)      Three Things Can be Said About the Backslider

(1)        Becomes Useless

(2)        He is of No Value—May as well be cast out and trodden underfoot (Matthew 25:30)

(3)        Actually Destroys the Fertility of Some—Becomes a Stumbling Block

(a)         1 Corinthians 8:1-13 – abusing one’s liberty in Christ

(b)        1 Peter 2:8 – disobeying the Word of God

(c)         Matthew 23:13 – misleading others

c)       The Warning from Christ of Being a Stumbling Block to Others (Mark 9:42:50)

d)      Three  Way’s to Keep from Being a Stumbling Block (Romans 14:13-15)

(1)        Watch for things our brothers may think are unclean

(2)        Walk in Love toward our brother

(3)        Keep in mind that Christ died for this brother or sister

But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62 NKJV)

Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:38 NKJV)

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. (2 Peter 2:20 NKJV)

Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (Revelation 2:4 NKJV)

2.        If the believer’s salt loses its flavor, the believer will experience the judgment of God

a)       Being Cast Out – Matthew 5:13

b)      Being Disqualified – 1 Corinthians 9:27

c)       Experience loss when he appears before the judgment seat of Christ (2Cor.5:10; 1Cor.3:11-15)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.   "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.   "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. (John 3:16-20 NKJV)

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, (Hebrews 9:27 NKJV)