OUT OF THE SALT SHAKER:(You are the salt of the earth..Matt 5:13)

07/25/2010

Samandar Singh was arrested and sent to prison in connection with the murder of Sister Rani Maria on 25 February 1995. Sister Mary was a nun in the diocese of Indore India, where she worked. Samandar spent 11 years. During that time, his wife divorced him and his first son died. While he was in prison, Sister Selmi who was the sister of the murdered nun visited, hugged him and called him brother. That embrace of love led Samandar on his journey of repentance. All the Christians in that town went with a petition to the local governor to plead for the release of Samandar. The governor said, “Only you Christians can truly forgive.” You are a great example.” Eventually Samandar was released from the prison. After his release Samandar began to treat Sister Mary’s family as his own. He says, “I want everyone to know that Christians work to make India great. The missionaries give us hope through their service, which is to make us a strong and independent people.”

What made sister Selmi to forgive her sister’s murderer? What changed the stony heart of a hardcore murderer Samandar? Is it the preaching of the Gospel or its presentation through acts of love? How did Christians in India live out their Christianity? Jesus showed his disciples how to live out their Christianity in this corrupt world by these well familiar words “You are the salt of the earth.” Why did he call them “the salt of the earth instead of saying the sugar of the earth? What did he mean by that? Could the salt really loose its saltiness? What happens when salt looses its saltiness? These are some of the questions we will be looking at as we read Matthew 5:13

I. YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH
Salt was greatly valued and commonly used in the time of Christ. It was used for seasoning and preserving food and also as a curative agent. A bag of salt was reckoned as precious as a man’s life. When Jesus called the disciples, the salt of the earth he was referring to a number of things. Firstly, they were precious and valuable. Secondly, they were to do the work of the salt in the society. Thirdly, he was reminding them about the covenant that God made with Abraham and subsequently with the nation of Israel. What is that covenant? What did God use to make covenants with his people?

A covenant is a mutual consent or agreement between two persons. In the OT God used several objects to make covenants with people. For example God used the stars and the sand of the sea with Abraham. After the flood he used “the rainbow” with Noah. In the wilderness God used stone tablets with Moses. With David he used salt. It was called the covenant of Salt.

The covenant of salt appears three times in scriptures signifying its validity and importance. (Numbers 18:19, 2 Chronicles 13:5; Lev 2:13). For this message we will look at 2 Chr 13:5, “Don’t you know that the Lord the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?” The essence of this covenant is that the descendants of David are the true heir of the throne of Israel. And eventually the savior of the world would come through the line of David.” In this covenant God has positioned the nation of Israel in a strategic location with a specific purpose.” What is the purpose of Israel? The purpose of the nation of Israel is to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. The prophet Isaiah affirms this purpose in Isaiah 49:6 “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” Unfortunately Israel has disappointed God through their continuous rebellion. However God’s purpose for Israel still stands the same.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus emphasized the blessings his disciples would receive and also the work that was entrusted to them. The scripture tells us when we accept Christ’s salvation by faith we become the sons of God. Our belonging in Christ enables us to receive Abraham’s blessings as well as the responsibility. (Gal 3:26-29)

How can any one just enjoy the blessings without accepting the responsibility? The Apostle Peter says in I Pet 2:9-10 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” We have been saved not so that we will get to heaven, while that is true we have a job to do on this earth.

II. THE PURPOSE OF THE SALT
To be the salt of the earth means a number of things. Common salt has certain distinct qualities. When we are called to be the salt of the earth it is important for us to understand what salt is? And for what purpose it was made? By definition it is a substance used for seasoning certain kinds of food and for preservation of meat. It was made to season (to make food more palatable) to preserve (to keep the meat from decay) and to cure. In the same way we are called to be a seasoning, a preservative and a cure in a world full of sin and hatred toward and God and the things of God.

III. THE NATURE OF THE SALT

1. SALT CAN’T BE EATEN ALONE
Try putting a spoonful in your mouth. You couldn’t swallow it. Unlike any other substance salt can not be eaten alone. You have to put it on something in order for it to be useful. The common table salt is actually a combination of sodium and chlorine.

Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride it is now useful to preserve meat and bring out its flavor.

Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is irresponsible, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth without love can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. The common criticism from non Christians is that when we speak of God or things of God we don’t have love. They say we are hyper critical of the world we live in, narrow minded or too harsh with our words. Even when we are speaking the truth, without love it can turn people away from the gospel.
When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church however we are able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith. The Bible says in Colossians 4:6 “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

When we are talking with non Christians let us seek not to be critical and negative of everything they do or say. Paul tells us to rebuke others with longsuffering. 2 Tim 4:2, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience. In I Peter 3:15, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. This is what it means to season our words with salt.

2. SALT ADDS FLAVOR
Food cooked without salt tastes bland, but when you add the right amount of salt it tastes a lot better, isn’t it? In the same way let our words be seasoned with love and grace.
Excessive use of salt is not good in the same way we must choose our words carefully and use moderation in our speech. It’s not enough to tell people they need to get saved but we should tell them how to get saved. Remember the story where Jesus talked to the Samaritan women at the well? He did not right away condemn her saying “You sinful woman get your act together or you will go to hell” No! Instead he graciously and gently steered the conversation in such away that in the end not only the woman but the entire village got saved. Jesus showed us how to love sinners. We too are called to love people regardless of their sin and background.

3. SALT IS USED FOR CURING:

Salting with dry salt was the only widely available method of preserving food until the 19th century. Salt inhibits the growth of microorganisms. Concentrations of salt up to 20% are required to draw up water and kill most species of unwanted bacteria. The Dead Sea waters in Israel are famous world wide for its curative nature because of its high levels of salt content.

There was a biblical precedence where salt was used to cure bitter waters. The men of a particular city came to the prophet Elisha and complained about the bad water source. Elisha ordered a new bowl and he filled it with salt and he went right to the source of the spring and threw the salt into it saying 2 Kings 2:20-21 "This is what the LORD says: I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.” We as the salt of the earth need to speak God’s word into this morally decaying society. However we are to speak God’s word seasoned with grace and love. When we do that God can heal broken relationships, strained marriages, give hope to the hopeless, and bring encouragement to the discouraged.

4. SALT IS USED TO MELT THE ICE
We know how harsh winters can be in New England. Especially when it snows, and freezes at night. For the first time in 2005 I learned the power of salt to melt snow and ice. In the same way we are called to use God’s Word to soften stony and icy hearts of New England skeptics. A couple of scriptures to help us see how powerful God’s word is.
Psalm 147: 16-18, “He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them, he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.” There is no powerful argument that can stand against God’s word. We are to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God in our battle against Satan and his forces. God has given us his word as a powerful weapon to demolish every argument and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”(2 Cor 10: 5)

These are some of the ways we Christians are to be like salt in our communities. We are to add seasoning to the society and preserve it from its moral decay. We are to help people change their lives by leading them to Christ. We are to cure the backsliding of people including church goers by speaking words of truth and hope. We are to destroy every argument by speaking the powerful word of God uncompromisingly. If and when every Christian seeks to be the salt in the community this world would have changed a long time back. But we know that is not the case. Then what is hindering us from being the salt? How can a Christian loose his witness (the saltiness)?

In ancient times salt was stored in barns on mud floors. As they heaped more salt, the bottom layer of salt would never get used. When it is kept in that state for a long time it looses its saltiness and becomes hard like a rock. That was used as gravel to fill up potholes on the roads.

IV. OUT OF THE SALT SHAKER

Have you ever enjoyed eating a salt less food by keeping a salt shaker near you? Will a salt shaker change the taste? How about if you admire and boast about the quality and the cost of the salt shaker, will that be useful? No, unless you take the salt shaker and shake it over your food nothing changes. The Bible says that salt is good, similarly Christians are good because they have Christ in them. Then what is the problem? The problem is that they are like the salt in the salt shaker. The church building represents the salt shaker. If all we do is come to church every Sunday, sing a few songs, listen to a sermon, and enjoy being comfortably around other Christians we are like the salt in the salt shaker, good for nothing!

If a Christian loses his zeal for the things of God, becomes backslidden and is full of sin then he is not useful to God. He can not reach the lost because he has lost his saltines. A ruined testimony is only good for one thing, to be trodden under the foot of lost man, like the salt which has lost its saltiness is trampled by men. Remember the scandals of Jimmy Swagart and Jim Baker and recently Ted Haggard, these are only a few well known examples but there are many more Christians who have fallen to the world and lost their testimonies.

We need to remember whom we are representing in the world. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. Himself. We should bring honor to his name not shame through our sinful and shameful life style. Jesus said we are the salt of the earth, but how far are we letting our saltiness be felt in the community or are we like the salt in the saltshaker or even worse have we lost of saltiness? My prayer is that God would restore our Christian flavor back to us and shake us so that we might be finally out of the salt shaker and get involved in transforming lives all around us by the power of the Gospel.