salty christians worthless salt! sometimes … · they enjoy experiences that the bible says will...
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March 4, 2018 page 1page 4
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Matthew 5:13
SALTY CHRISTIANS Salt not only flavors food, but it also preserves food as well. Salt also creates thirst which causes people and animals to drink liquids that produce life-sustaining electrolytes. Salt, therefore, is essential in supplying nutrients that cannot be obtained from any other source. As salt satisfies special needs that cannot be met by any other means, Christians meet spiritual needs that cannot be obtained from other sources.
1. In what ways would your community change if there were no Christians in it?
2. How do Christians enhance the quality of life for those around them?
3. What would a child of God have to do to destroy his usefulness as a Christian in your eyes?
Read 1 Corinthians 9:27. What was Paul’s great fear?
WORTHLESS SALT! Sometimes salt loses its quality of saltiness and becomes tasteless and useless for most of its intended purposes. When this occurs, it has no purpose other than to be thrown away, to be used as a base for roads or to kill vegetation.
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR SALTINESS? List three indications that you have stopped being a taste-enhancer and are be coming nothing but a weed-killer.
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Volume 21, No. 2, Spring Quarter, 2018 Writer: Weeks DuBoseEditor in Chief: Kyle Elkins, [email protected]
Business Manager: Wayne Sewell, [email protected]© 2018, Bogard Press, 4605 N. State Line Ave. Texarkana, TX 75503-2928
www.bogardpress.org; 1-800-264-2482
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HE’S THE SALT OF THE
EARTH.
HE’S NOT WORTH HIS
SALT!
You probably have heard both statements. Where did the first statement originate? What do you think the second one means?
TO WHOM WAS JESUS SPEAKING? Matthew 5—7 records one of the most recognized sermons Jesus ever delivered—the Sermon on the Mount. To whom did Jesus address this famous message? (Check one.) __ The Pharisees __ His church __ The multitude in general
Sodium+ Chloride=
Salt
Sodium and chloride are two substances that by themselves are deadly, but, when combined in the right proportion, they produce a new substance––salt––that is nonpoisonous and necessary to maintain life. God has the marvelous ability to change the nature of anything in His creation. Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 and relate what change occurs when God’s grace and mercy are applied to a repentant sinner.
UGGGH!IT NEEDS SALT
Have you ever tasted a bite of scrumptious looking food and said, “Ugggh, this needs more salt”? It is amazing how a small amount of salt can change the taste of food. Some people, because of health reasons, are required to use salt substitutes that are supposed to make their tastebuds think they are using real salt. Some of these products are good, but for people who have discerning taste, the substitutes do not even come close to the flavor of the real thing. Regardless of whether it tastes good or bad, fake salt does not have the qualities of real salt. The Bible reminds us that some people who claim to be Christians are “Christianized” just enough to pass for the real thing. Like fake salt, they lack the essential qualities of true Christianity. Real Christians add flavor to an otherwise bland and meaningless life. Fake Christians are content to be no different from the world. They enjoy experiences that the Bible says will not last (Heb. 11:25; 1 John 2:17). Fake salt does not enhance the flavor of food the same way real salt does, neither can it prevent decay like real salt. Fake salt cannot perform the same functions as real salt. The same is true with fake Christians. They do not add real zest to life, nor will their influence retard the progress of sin’s decay. For these reasons Jesus said, “If the salt have lost his savour, . . . it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Matt. 5:13). Fake Christians are of as little value in the Lord’s work as contaminated salt is in the material world.
In your opinion, what is the saddest thing about a fake Christian?
Why?
DID YOU KNOW THAT
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