are you salty?

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Are You Salty? Adapted from a Jeffery Anselmi sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp? SermonID=37762

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Are You Salty?

Adapted from a Jeffery Anselmi sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=37762

Matthew 5:13 ESV "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.

Salt, why did Jesus call these disciples the salt of the earth?

First of all, Jesus tells His disciples the way that they should be when He started them out with the beatitudes, then, He tells them of the relationship of the citizens of the kingdom to

the world from God’s point of view.

YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.

The beatitudes have to do with two things:

a. faith—beginning, growing, maturity and testing.

b. character of people who would be disciples of Jesus.

It is important to remember the Beatitudes because they set up a foundation upon which the rest of the Sermon on the Mount is built.

Why did Jesus use the metaphor of salt when He told His disciples what they were to be?

Let us look at some interesting things that salt does.

Why would Jesus tell His disciples that they were the salt of the earth?

If we understand that salt was used as a preservative, then we can see one thing Jesus was telling us about the world that we live in.

Salt Is Used As A Preservative

The reason food needs a preservative is the fact it decays with time, meat will rot and will

have a foul odor if it has no preservative.

Because many germs cannot live in salt, it has been used to preserve food since the earliest

times.

Its use as a food preservative helped large amounts of food to be stored, sent a long way,

and eaten all through the year.

Jesus is telling us the world around us is in a state of decay, and it needs something to keep

it from rotting and stinking.

Can you imagine what the world would be like without Christian influence.

Psalms 14:1 ESVTo the choirmaster. Of David.

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of

man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;

there is none who does good, not even one.

Romans 1:18 ESV For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness

and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For

what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power

and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are

without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to

be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images

resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie

and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women

exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;

27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with

passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in

themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to

do what ought not to be done.

29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,

maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty,

boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless,

ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things

deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Salt cannot make something good, it can only keep it from going bad.

If something is full of decay, then there are diseases that accompany the decay.

The world is bent toward sin.The Christian is to help to be a preservative by

trying to show people they need to follow Jesus, and to stop as much decay as possible.

When God decided to flood the world in the time of Noah, the world was in full decay, and

God decided to cleanse it.

Jesus is telling the disciples they are to slow the decay.

In the Beatitudes the disciples were taught to be different.

The reason salt will preserve is because it is different than that which it is applied to. In order to act as a preservative, we must be

different than the world.We cannot preserve it if we are the same as

the world.We are called to be in the world, not of the

world.

650 feet below the plains of Midwest Kansas, encased in a solid rock salt

cocoon, rests one of the most secure and elusive underground storage facilities in

the world.Our Hutchinson salt mine facility was

established in the unused portions of a working mine, during the height of Cold

War nuclear concerns, as a safe haven for sensitive information and assets.

Think “Fort Knox” Buried 650 ft Underground

Since 1959 Fortune 500 companies and small businesses alike have stored here,

from every industry, around the world.It is the largest single storage facility for movie and television film internationally.Safely tucked away from prying eyes and disaster, more than 1.7 million square feet of space holds untold millions of items in

cool, dry conditions.

That is roughly equivalent to 35 football fields encased in solid stone, more than 45

stories below the ravages of man and nature.

That which you value will be preserved here, perpetually.

It’s called forever storage. It’s arguably the world’s largest time

capsule. (http://www.undergroundvaults.com/about-us/hut

chinson/)

Some years ago when I lived in the area stories were floating around that the IRS

heard of Hollywood’s fault of original films & tried to enter the storage area to audit the

inventory & hence collect taxes.The stories go on to say the IRS was flat out denied & (like Fort Knox?) told under no circumstance would anyone ever be

allowed to enter without permission of the owners of what was stored & preserved.

We are called to bring folks to be forever secure with Jesus.

Just like the preserving salt mine, heaven will not be entered except if Jesus is the owner of

the soul.

In this metaphor Jesus is also saying His disciples are to make the world palatable to

God and to others as well.

The righteous few can make the world better for the rest of the world.

Salt Is Used To Season Food

Abraham and God over Sodom.Genesis 18:20 ESV Then the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and

Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that

has come to me. And if not, I will know." 22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the

LORD.

23 Then Abraham drew near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous

who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the

wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the

Judge of all the earth do what is just?"

26 And the LORD said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole

place for their sake." 27 Abraham answered and said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking.

Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-

five there." 29 Again he spoke to him and said, "Suppose forty are found there."

He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." 30 Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be

angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." 31 He said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose

twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." 32 Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of

ten I will not destroy it."

33 And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham

returned to his place.

I don’t mean any disrespect, but do you reckon Abraham’s pleading with the Lord is the source

of the phrase, “Jew’em down?”

Salt can give flavor to that which is bland. We do not want to present the gospel as a bland

boring message.The message of salvation is exciting.

If we cannot get excited about God, then we are missing the boat!

Salt by itself is not very good, but when used in the correct proportions it can make things taste

very good.

We need to make sure when we tell people they are lost we balance that with God’s love

for them and the fact He desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

We must season our message with love and the realities of judgment.

We do not gargle salt-water to stay healthy!We do it for relief and to kill germs.

We are to keep sin out of our lives as much as possible by living faithfully to God.

The world will see what a positive effect living a faithful life to God will do for them and they

will want to be a part of that also.

Salt Is Used As An Antiseptic

Ephesians 5:1 ESV Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But

sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking,

which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

1 John 2:15 ESV 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. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh

and the desires of the eyes and pride of possessions is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the

will of God abides forever.

When people see your life it can help stop the trend of living in sin in their lives also when

they decide to follow Christ!We are to take the message of the gospel to

people to help heal the sickness of sin in their lives.

Jesus said He came for sinners, not the righteous.

Matthew 9:12 ESV But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a

physician, but those who are sick.

Salt cannot lose its saltiness, sodium chloride is a stable compound.

What would happen to the salt is it would become so contaminated with impurities that it

no longer tasted salty.Salt seems to disappear when stirred into

water in a glass and diluting it until there is no trace of salt left.

Is the salt gone? So it seems, but looks can be deceiving! Take a big drink & prove to yourself

it has lost its saltiness.

Salt Is Useless When ItLoses Its Saltiness

The word that is translated “lost its taste” is also translated “Fools” and “Foolish”G3471 μωραινω moraino mo-rah'ee-no

From G3474; to become insipid; figuratively to make (passively act) as a simpleton: - become fool, make foolish,

lose savour. (Strongs)Romans 1:22 ESV Claiming to be wise, they

became fools,1 Corinthians 1:20 ESV Where is the one who

is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish

the wisdom of the world?

Disciples who lose their “saltiness” are making fools of themselves according to this passage.

Jesus says when a disciple loses their saltiness, they are good for nothing.

When a thing loses its essential quality and fails to perform its essential duty, it is fit for

nothing but to be thrown away!

In the Eastern countries the salt that had become so impure that it could not do what it

was supposed to do was used on the roads for people to trample on.

As Christian’s we lose our saltiness when we become too much like the world.

James 1:27 ESV Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit

orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Salt lowers the freezing level so what is frozen is returned to its former soft liquid state.

In the same way when we live for Jesus it can soften the cold, calloused heart.

Salt will melt ice

Why did Jesus say that you are the salt of the earth?

If we understand the uses of salt, we can understand that Jesus expects Christians,

those who lay claim to being in the family of God to:

Conclusion

1. Help keep the world from going into total decay by being an influence in the world.2. We are to season the world, make it more palatable to man and God by being involved in all areas of life.3. We are to take the cleansing message of the gospel to the world.4. We are to always be salty. This can only happen when we do not allow ourselves to be the same as the world, we must be unstained by the world.

If you look at this salt shaker, you will notice that it does not do what it is supposed to do

unless you pour it out.

Jesus said that you are the salt of the world, He also said, you are the light of the world.

Next week we will look at what it means to get out of the salt shaker and be a light!