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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 1
4 June 2006
Ye Are the Salt of the
Earth
(Message delivered by
Pr Hien Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, May 28, 06)
Text:
Matt 5:13
How
do you and I value salt? As salt is very cheap nowadays, many people
take it for granted. Furthermore, those suffering from high blood
pressure are to take very little salt in their diet. Healthy people
usually choose low sodium products to prevent high blood pressure.
However, just a right and balanced amount of salt is good to our body.
We cannot do without salt for many days.
In the old
days when there were no modern manufacturers nor modern transport, salt
was very precious and expensive. I have heard a piece of news on the
radio several years ago telling about a Roman troop were tired and could
not fight due to lack of salt in their diet for many days in battle.
They urgently asked for the supply of salt, and after that they were
fine with their timely salt supply. The English term salary,
which formerly represented a soldier’s money allowance for salt,
was derived from salarium, the Latin term
referring to the salt allotment that was issued to soldiers serving in
the Roman army. In the old days, some ancient countries used salt like
money and others even required their people to pay salt-tax.
People use salt and salty
products like soy sauce and fish sauce to season food, to preserve food
longer. Truly, our Lord Jesus says, “Salt is good” (Lk 14:34).
Christians are the Salt of the Earth
What does Jesus mean when He tells us that we are the
salt of the earth? We know that all men including us are sinners and
have our sinful and corrupt nature. As a result, we can see this sinful
world getting worse and worse morally and spiritually. When we repented
and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, our lives
have been changed and transformed into His image day by day. We are born
again, have become God’s children, and enjoy the work of sanctification
by the Holy Spirit.
Our Saviour wants us to live in this world as His
witnesses: a godly Christian life in this sinful world is like the salt
of the earth and the light of the world. Our Lord Jesus prays to His
Father, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. As thou hast sent me into
the world, even so have I also sent them into the world (John 17:15,
18).
My dear friends, are you and I living witnesses of
our Lord Jesus like the salt of the earth and the light of the world?
We are not to conform to the world, but to influence the world. Some
basic benefits, effective functions and influences of salt are enhancing
flavour, preventing corruption, cleaning and healing, and being faithful
and trustworthy.
Enhancing Flavour
With a right amount of salt in seasoning, it will
enhance the flavour and make the food tasty. Job asked the question,
Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? (Job 6:6). This
speaks of the effective function of salt. In this world of sin and
sorrow, people cannot find true happiness and meaning of life. Just
studying hard or working hard, making money, enjoying life and the
pleasures of the world still leave a big emptiness in their hearts. Can
they see true happiness and meaning of life in you and me? We live here
with a purpose to glorify God, enjoy Him, live for Him and serve Him.
Without this purpose, our lives are meaningless. Everything, even small
things, done for the Lord and His glory, is meaningful and rewarding.
Thanks be to God for His grace and abundant life given to us so that we
may live a meaningful life for Him in this sinful world. My dear
friends, are other people influenced by our lives wherever we are?
Preventing Corruption
Salt is used to preserve food and prevent corruption.
Today people are concerned about the food products containing
preservatives as they are not good for their health. So the products
with the label “No Preservatives” are much preferred. It is true that
artificial preservatives made from chemicals are not good for our
health. However, food that is preserved by natural salt is without harm
at all.
In this wicked world of sins
and corruptions, do you and I have a godly and holy influence among
unbelievers? When we are among a group of people telling lies and dirty
jokes, smoking, drinking, gambling, striving, embracing or exposing
sinful lusts, if they see a godly and holy manner in our lives, they
will be ashamed and fear us even though they
may hate us, despise us and persecute us: we do influence them and
prevent them from severe sins and corruptions. The Bible tells us that
King Herod, a wicked king, feared John the Baptist, knowing that he was
a just man and an holy (Mark 6:20). Our God wants to use our lives here,
a godly and holy life of separation from sin, self, the world and wrong
doctrines, to prevent the corruption of this world. When the Holy Spirit
takes up the Church to meet our Saviour Jesus at His Coming, this world
will be under Satanic influence and be very corrupt and wicked (2 Thess
2:6-12). Until that time, are you and I the salt of the earth, having
godly and holy influence to this sinful world?
Cleaning and Healing
Salty water can be used to wash wounds and prevent
infection of an injury or wound if we do not have antiseptic, and it is
really good despite its sting at first. We are living among people or
brethren, many of whom are broken hearted or heart wounded, hurt or
offended by others or even by their loved ones. As a result, they are
not happy. Every time they remember those who have hurt them, they feel
sad, upset, and annoyed. They lose their peace and joy. Our Lord wants
us to be salt to their wounded hearts or broken hearts, to bring true
comfort and healing to them through our kind concerns, prayers, telling
what the Lord Jesus can help them and do for them, and sharing with them
God’s Word and our testimony. My dear friends, do you and I have a
healing influence among miserable people?
Being Faithful and Trustworthy
God made covenant with His
people and called it a covenant of salt for ever (Num 18:19) to remind
His people of His faithfulness in keeping His covenant. If we are the
salt of the earth we are to be faithful: faithful to the Lord, to His
perfect Word, and in everything we do. We trust in our God for His
faithfulness. Are we trustworthy and reliable in this world? In my
country, I see that although Christians are hated, people still trust in
good Christians and prefer them to work as a treasurer or other jobs
that require high responsibility and
reliability. My dear friends, are you and I trustworthy?
What happens if salt loses its saltiness and a
believer loses his Christian influence?
The Beatitudes we have learned for a few weeks are
Christian characters or qualities. As we know, there are sea salt and
rock salt. Sea salt is evaporated from the sea and rock salt is mined
from the earth. Our Lord Jesus is telling about rock salt. Along the
South and Southwest of the Dead Sea, there is a long ridge of rock salt.
When it is contaminated with other minerals it may lose its saltiness
and the people only throw it on a path or road, trodden under the feet
of men.
Can you and I lose our saltiness of a godly and holy
life in this world? The answer is “yes” as our Lord uses the possible
condition “if.” However, for those who are truly born again, they will
never lose their salvation as the Lord Jesus has promised (John 10:
28-30). Indeed, when they are backsliding, they cannot be a good
testimony for the Lord in this world. They lose a godly influence, and
they cannot be trusted. However, when they repent, and come back to the
Lord, He is able to make them salty again. For example, He is able to
graft disobedient Israel back again into the olive tree in the future
(Rom 11:23). Christians who are saved by their sincere faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, if they repent early, can be used by God for His glory,
but if they repent late, they have no reward and are saved as by fire (1
Cor 3:15). For professing Christians, once offended, they will give up
their faith and become worse (Matt 13:21; Heb 6:4-6; 2 Peter 2:20-22).
A Good Warning
My dear friends, may God be gracious unto us and help
us to walk humbly with Him and serve Him faithfully unto the end at any
cost. Our Lord tells us that we are the salt of the earth in verse 13
after He teaches the qualities of God’s children or citizens from verse
3 to 12. Let us briefly go through these verses again:
(1) It is always safe to
realise that we are poor in spirit now (v 3): lacking God’s
glory, lacking love for God and for others,
lacking our faith and trust in Him, lacking godliness, holiness,
righteousness, submission and obedience, and other spiritual qualities.
Even the apostle Paul, when near the end of His course, says, “Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1
Tim 1:15). When we think that we are spiritually rich and need nothing,
take heed, we may lose some saltiness in our spiritual life (Rev 3:17).
My dear friends, at the moment, do you and I realise that we are poor in
spirit?
(2) Many people also realise that they are sinners
and lack spiritual qualities but they just ignore it. We are not to
ignore it but to mourn over it (v 4). That is godly sorrow leading to
repentance to salvation in Christ (2 Cor 7:10). God’s children will
repent right away when they make any mistake so that they may keep their
relationship with the Lord in the light (1 John 1:7-9). My dear friends,
at the moment, do you and I have any sin that we have not confessed to
the Lord or abandoned in our lives? We may lose some saltiness if there
is still a known sin in our lives! We are contaminated!
(3) The people of the world may realise that they
have a lot of mistakes and mourn over their sins, but they are not meek
and humble enough to come to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and
accept Him as their Lord and Saviour. They are not meek and humble
enough to believe on the perfect Word of God and submit to His preserved
Word. They think that they can save themselves through their good works
and religious practices. How about you and me? Are you and I meek,
humble, teachable, and receptive (v 5) toward God’s Word and His
salvation in Jesus Christ? If we are proud and criticising God’s Word,
take heed, we may be losing some saltiness in our lives.
(4) The next quality we need to have all the time is
to hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness (v 6) and seek it every day
(Matt 6:33). It means we seek, hunger and thirst for God Himself (Ps
63:1; 145:17), for His Word (Ps 119:103, 148, 160; Rom 7:12; 1 Peter
2:2), for God’s righteousness and a right relationship with God in
Christ (Rom 10:3-10; Phil 3:7-9). Are you and I still thirsty for God,
for His Word and for a right relationship with Him now? Or else, we may
be losing some saltiness already!
(5) God is merciful and we are saved by His grace and
mercies (Eph 2:8; Titus 3:5). God wants to show His mercy to others
through our lives (v 7; Matt 18:33; Lk 6:35-36). Even when we show mercy
unwillingly without cheerfulness, we may be losing some saltiness! (Rom
12:8).
(6) God is holy and He expects us to be holy (v 8; 1
Peter 1:15). It means we are supposed to keep ourselves separate from
sin, self, worldliness and wrong doctrines. We are also to be separate
unto the Lord as a living and holy sacrifice everywhere and all the
time. If we are compromising and contaminated by the world and wrong
doctrines, we may be losing some saltiness in our lives!
(7) Having been saved and
enjoying God’s peace in our hearts, we are
expected to be peacemakers (v 9), living in peace and sharing His peace
and the Gospel of peace with others so that through repentance they may
be reconciled to our living and true God. If we are ashamed of the
Gospel and unwilling to share it with others, we may be losing saltiness
in our lives!
(8) All who want to live a godly life in Christ will
suffer persecution (2 Tim 3:12). If we, being afraid of persecution for
righteousness’ sake and for Jesus’ sake (vv 10-11), compromise our pure
faith, Biblical stand, and godly life, we may be losing some saltiness
and will not be trusted soon!
Conclusion
Our Lord Jesus still expects you and me to be the
salt of the earth today. Do our lives bring meaningful, godly, holy,
healing and faithful influence to other people around us? May God keep
us humble, alert, pure, and separate from anyone, anything, any doctrine
that may make us contaminated and lose the saltiness in our lives. May
our lives be the salt of the earth now and ever. Amen.
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