Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount

Out of the Salt Shaker 

Matthew 5:13-16 

 PSBC 2/6/00

In a nutshell: Salt preserves, seasons, changes things, and produces thirst. The world needs all of these things to keep it from slipping into more and more evil. We are exactly what the Coachella valley needs. So we dare not lose our saltiness.

I. Introduction

A. Isaac Watts' "Am I a Soldier of the Cross?"

The hymn we just sang was written almost 300 years ago by Isaac Watts. Whereas a lot of the newer songs and choruses today reflect on our vertical relationship to God. Christian song writers of Watts' generation focused on the horizontal duties and relationships of Christians. Both of these are important truths. And both truths are timeless in their relevance to our relationship with God.

Very relevant to what we're going to be looking at this morning is something we sang about In the third verse of Watts' hymn. He asks a very important question: --Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God?

Think about that question for a moment. What's he talking about? What were you singing about, when you sang that question?

After I chose this hymn on Tuesday morning, I took some time to look up the word vile in my dictionary. Listen to some of the synonyms: abhorrent; abominable; atrocious; bad; beastly; coarse; contemptible; corrupt; crude; damnable; dastardly; debased; degenerate; depraved; despicable; detestable; evil; filthy; foul; ghastly; gross; hateful; heinous; horrible; loathsome; mean; nasty; nauseating; obscene; offensive; outrageous; perverted; repulsive; sickening; sinful; slimy; sordid; vulgar; warped; wicked; and wretched.

Almost 300 years ago, Isaac Watts described his world that way. I wonder how he'd describe ours? You see, if vile described the world of the early 1700's, I don't think its quite adequate to describe the condition of our world in the year 2000.

B. How low we've gone

1. I doubt any of us who were born prior to 1985 would have thought that we would have seen a bulletin insert in our church bulletin like I had put in last week, where we were educating you on a state Proposition that would define marriage as being "only between a man and a woman." Fifteen years ago, most of us would have said, "Well, duh!" But today there are strong lobbying groups that are asking us to redefine marriage as something other than being only between a man and a woman.

2. I doubt that many adults in this room this morning would have thought, just 10 years ago, that the content of prime-time commercial television would have to carry ratings on each program as to it's appropriateness for viewing by children.

3. For those of us who lived through the Watergate era, who would have thought, in our wildest imagination, that a President of the United States could lie again to the American people, attempt another cover-up and have it exposed; have evidence proving perjury presented at a trial; arrogantly argue in a televised deposition over the meaning of "is". On top of that, who could have imagined that the Independent Counsel who prosecuted the President would be the one who got vilified in the press and by popular opinion, and the President gets to stay in office?

4. And who would have thought, even 5 years ago we'd have to install metal detectors on some high school, junior high school and middle school campuses to make sure kids didn't take guns, or knives, or bombs to school... because in several recent instances, students have randomly killed large groups of their classmates because they were laughed at or ridiculed?

That pretty much answers Isaac Watts' question, "Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God?" The answer is, "NO, it's not!" The world of our day is running away from God, not toward Him. Watts recognized that fact almost 300 years ago, and we need to, as well.

C. There is Hope

But there is hope. There is a way to stem the tide of violence, hatred, degenerate actions, corruption, emptiness, war and madness.

And the way to stem the tide of the downward spiral into evil and vileness in society is found in the words of our text for this morning.

Matthew 5:13-16 brings us back to a series I began last year on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. During the two months in which we began this series, we learned about 8 basics that every person who wants to be a follower of Jesus Christ needs to have at the core of his or her being. We refer to these 8 things as The Beatitudes, because each one is introduced with the word "blessed" at it's beginning. These are what God expects a normal Christian life to look like when it is viewed from the outside in:

1. Be Poor In Spirit –Acknowledge that there is nothing in you or about you that can pay the debt of righteousness that a holy and just God demands for a relationship with Him to take place.

2. Mourn –Be aware of your inadequacies and guilt because of sin. Feel helpless to attain forgiveness through anything you could do. Feel unworthy to receive the gift of salvation. Reject self-sufficiency. Take responsibility for your wrong actions, and depend solely on God's grace to forgive your sin.

3. Be Meek –Defend truth. Depend on God's strength to get you through life's difficulties. Be teachable as you understand God's Word. And be kind in dealing with the people you influence with God's Word.

4. Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness –act, re-act and think like God would if He were in your shoes.

5. Be Merciful –See distress in other people's lives; Respond to that distress with a heart of compassion; If you can do something, then do something to relieve the stress.

6. Have a Pure Heart –Watch what goes into your thoughts and imaginations. Work on your relationship with God, and develop values that guide your life based on that relationship.

7. Be a Peacemaker –Develop a character that's consistent with God's character. Don't let minor differences destroy your relationships with other people who are part of God's family.

8. Expect Persecution –Expect that because these 7 basic values are not at all like the things the world values, you will not be readily accepted by most. Most people are going to suspect your motives. They won't like to be around you when their consciences are telling them that they are living contrary to God's standard.

Using these things to define us as His followers, Jesus now reveals a plan to stem violence, hatred, degenerate actions, corruption, emptiness, war and madness.

The plan is You and ME!

Matthew 5:13-16 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Illustration: President Woodrow Wilson told a story of being in a barbershop one day. "I was sitting in the barber chair when I became aware that a powerful personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as myself, to have his hair cut and sat in the chair next to me. Every word the man uttered, showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with what was being done to me I was aware I had attended an evangelistic service, because Mr. D. L. Moody was in that chair. I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular affect that his visit had brought upon the barber shop. They talked softly. They did not know his name, but they knew something had elevated their thoughts, and I felt that I left that place as I should have left a place of worship."

That's God's plan for keeping a ever worsening vile world, from going out of control. We are the plan–people who are in a relationship with God as savior and leader, and are valuing and applying and owning these 8 things we call The Beatitudes.

Now in this context, Jesus calls us salt and light. Since our purpose statement talks about us being "God's light", and since you are going to hear a lot about being light in the months and years to come, I thought I'd take this opportunity to zero in on the "salt part" of Jesus statement and focus mainly on verse 13 this morning

Matthew 5:13 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

So, if we're the plan, and Jesus calls us salt, then we had better know something about salt.

II. What salt does

A. Preservative

The first thing we should know about salt is that it's a preservative. Obviously, in Jesus' day, they didn't have refrigerators or freezers to preserve food–especially meat that couldn't be eaten right away. So, they'd rub rock salt into their meat. Salting meat kept it from decaying and becoming corrupt.

B. Seasoning

Another thing that salt did in Jesus' day, and still in ours is it seasons things.

Illustration: Have you ever gone to Outback Steakhouse? We really enjoy their food. One of the highlights of the meal for me is their baked potato. They do something to their potato that I've never experienced anywhere before. They roll their potatoes in rock salt before they bake them. That seasoning does something to that potato that makes it extra delicious, and more desirable than just a plain baked potato.

Another Illustration: The story goes that a king in ancient times, asked his three daughters how much they loved him. One said, "Better than gold." Another said, "Better than silver." But the third said, "Better than salt."

Salt has always been valued because it makes so many things taste better.

C. Causes Things to Change

Now, if you've been in the church a lot of years, I'm sure you've heard about these first two things that salt does. But let me tell you of a third one that you should be very familiar with, if you've ever spent much time in snow country. Salt changes things. Salt changes frozen snow into water. With prolonged use, salt changes nice paint jobs on cars and trucks into rusted metal. Salt changed the concrete outside that was poured this week from a smooth surface into a pock-marked surface for better traction. Salt causes things to change.

D. Produces Thirst

And here's a fourth one... salt produces thirst.

Have you ever eaten something salty like a pretzel, or crackers, or peanuts or ham? What do you crave after you've eaten some portions of those things? You crave something to drink. That's because salt causes you to be thirsty.

III. Salt Applied to Christians in the World

Now, let's go back to Jesus plan to give hope to the world, which doesn't have much hope in light of what is happening all around...

Matthew 5:13a 13 "You are the salt of the earth.

A. We ARE the Salt...

Notice, He didn't say, "You will be the salt of the earth." Nor did He say, "You could be the salt of the earth." And He didn't even say, "You have the potential of being the salt of the earth." NO! He said, "You–a person who is following the principles in the Beatitudes–a person who has a personal relationship with me–a person who calls themselves a Christian because you have put your faith in the Christ–ARE (emphatic in the Greek) the salt of the earth. By your very existence, as a member of God's family who is demonstrating those eight values that we call the Beatitudes--you will be salt. That's the plan.

B. How does that flesh out?

First, we preserve. Everyone of us exerts an influence over a circle of people. You've hear me call that your "circle of influence." Some of those people are only in our lives for a brief moment. Others for many years. J. R. Miller said it well: "There have been meetings of only a moment which have left impressions for life, for eternity. No one can understand that mysterious thing we call influence. Yet, everyone of us continually exerts influence, either to heal, to bless, to leave marks of beauty; or to wound, to hurt, to poison, to stain other lives." (J. R. Miller, The Building of Character)

But friends, listen...when that influence is built on a foundation of a relationship with God and a value system built on the things that are important to Him, the effect is one of preservation. We demonstrate that what is normal in the world around us doesn't have to be normal in the life of a follower of Christ. Hopeless people can receive hope. Discouraged people can receive encouragement. Selfish people can choose selflessness. And broken lives can be mended just by us being there. We preserve what God wants to give to His creation–an abundant life, not a deficient, dysfunctional or mediocre life. We preserve what God intended to happen before sin entered into the picture.

Second, you season life with the love of Christ. One of the key truths we must realize is that God is pursuing a love relationship with every man, woman and child, that you know. The Christian faith–your Christian faith lived out in everyday living–reveals that God loves people; that He's personal; that He holds forth future hope to people; that He heals broken hearts and lives; that He is truth in a world of fake; and that God is Abba–daddy–He is the perfect father to His children.

Third, you change things. (Front of bulletin) Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives this example of Christians changing an entire culture, "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 (during that time) were mostly due to the fact that there were such large numbers of individual Christians in the land." (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971)

And Fourth, your life produces a thirst–a thirst for God. When you demonstrate a life of joy, hope, peace, patience, meekness, kindness, and all the other fruits of the Spirit, it is magnetic. Not drawing people to you, but drawing people to the water that Jesus spoke of to the woman at the well in Samaria...

John 4:13-14 13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Demonstrating a relationship with Jesus and valuing the values He taught in the Beatitudes makes us salty. Salty people cause a spiritual thirst. And Jesus provides the living water that quenches the thirst.

But there's a warning... in this statement of Jesus....

Matthew 5:13b 13 "But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

Despite your relationship to Christ, you can become useless to advancing His Kingdom–you can lose your saltiness.

III. Losing saltiness

I didn't do all that well in high school chemistry. So, I'm no expert. But I do remember that sodium chloride, or SALT, is one of the most stable and resilient chemicals known to man. In reality it never becomes "unsalty". But it can become week and diluted.

Illustration: A common finish in desert communities to keep sidewalks and pavement from becoming too slick is a salt finish. That's the kind of finish we have on our concrete around here. What they do, is simply let the poured concrete set up fairly hard, but while it is still a little wet, the workmen throw rock salt on the troweled concrete. Then it is allowed to dry with the rock salt sitting on the top of the drying concrete. Because the salt absorbs the water in the concrete, wherever a piece of rock salt landed, it leaves a small hole in the concrete finish. This makes the surface better for traction and gives it a unique, decorative appearance.

However, when we had this done at our home in Scottsdale, several years ago, I was told that I had to carefully sweep the salt off the sidewalk and patio. Because I didn't want to get the rock salt on the grass or dirt. Because, a high concentration of salt in the ground will kill plants and grass.

But, I was also told that if I did get some of the salt in the ground, within about two years, plants and grass would start to grow back in the ground that was saturated with the salt. Why? The salt hadn't lost it's saltiness.

Well, what happens is that in the course of about two years, enough soil, dirt, sand, and water mixes with the salt, and the salt is diluted from it's original strength.

Friends, Salt only loses it's saltiness when it becomes diluted with things that are not salty. If we aren't careful about what we let into our lives, if we aren't knowledgeable of the differences between what God values and what the world values, if we choose to flirt with the temporal things and neglect the eternal things, we mix our salt with the dirt of the world and we become diluted salt–useless for nothing except for the world to "trampled and walked on" what God values.

IV. Conclusion The long term effect on God's Kingdom, when we are salty was brought home to me when Diane and I went to my 25th Homecoming at Wheaton College two years ago.

Illustration: When I was in college I was very self-centered and self-absorbed. I pursued women, I pursued fun experiences, and I pursued fame. I didn't pursue God. When I achieved what I sought to attain, I found my life still very empty and unfulfilled. That's when one of my coaches talked very straight with me, and I asked the risen Christ to be the forgiver of my sins and the real leader of my life.

My life was instantly changed. Instead of partying, I went to Bible studies. Instead of profanity, I quoted scripture. Instead of ready pornography, I read my Bible. All through this process, one of my suite-mates, Steve, was watching me–skeptical and unbelieving that a change had really taken place in my life. But at the end of that year, Steve came up to me when we were packing our rooms to leave for summer vacation. He said, "Tom, I was watching you. I thought for sure you'd trip up. But I saw a real change in you. That's what I want for my life."

Steve prayed that day to make Jesus the leader of his life.

The result? I saw Steve at Homecoming. Steve is very successful business man. He's also and influential leader in his church. He actually helped start a new church in the Wheaton area a few years ago. Steve led his sister to the Lord, and she's now married to a pastor in a neighboring town. He and his wife have two great kids. One of Steve's children is in college, preparing to go to the mission field.

My saltiness rubbed off on Steve and through that relationship, it has touched hundreds of lives for the Kingdom of God. It's even getting ready to affect a foreign mission field now. Who would have known? God did. That's why He said, "Tom, you're the salt of the earth." You are too. Don't lose your saltiness.

"Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God?" No way! In fact, quite the opposite is true. But when I am salt, when you are salt, we are friends of grace. We are the ones who help the Kingdom of God move into the lives of the people we influence.

Amen.