03.01.10 - Always Salty

When Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth” He paid you a huge compliment. Are you pretty chuffed that you are the salt of the earth?

We say that a kind, reliable, honest person–especially a person of humble origins – is the salt of the earth but is that what Jesus meant? Actually, what did Jesus mean?

Let me give you a few facts about salt.

The word “salary” is derived from the word “salt”? Roman soldiers were paid a salarium. No one is quite sure whether they were paid in salt or they were paid an allowance so that they could buy salt or they were paid for their part in protecting salt supplies but whichever, it helps us realise perhaps something of the value of salt in the ancient world.

We can go to the supermarket and buy salt relatively cheaply but wars have been fought over salt. I read that more wars have been fought over salt than over gold.

Slaves were bought using salt. If a slave didn’t prove valuable he was said to be not worth his salt.

Salt is essential to our health but, at the same time, too much salt is linked with hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure and cardiovascular illness. The recommended daily intake is between half a gram and about 2.3 grams. That is a tiny amount but we will die without it.

Salt kills germs. It has been called “the first antibiotic.” Apparently, many of Napoleon’s soldiers died on their retreat from Moscow because their wounds would not heal as a result of lack of salt.

You’ve heard sermons on this topic before. You can probably predict that I am going to say that salt preserves, so Christians are to preserve a decaying world; salt adds flavour, so we are to add flavour to people’s lives; salt produces thirst so we should make people thirsty for the God they see in us.

Actually, I am not sure I am going to say any of those things! I am not sure that that is what Jesus was saying. Drawing parallels leads to some silly thoughts. What does it actually mean to add flavour to people’s lives. Surely any interesting person can do that. And if we think of the Biblical images of salt they include Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt and salt being associated with barren, infertile land. Are we to think that Jesus was calling us to be disobedient (like Lot’s wife) and to make the world infertile? Are we to conclude that too many Christians (like too much salt) would make the world sick?

Let’s look at the words. In Matthew 5, Jesus said to His disciples:
Matt 5:13 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 underfoot.

Was He saying that we, like salt, are highly valued? Maybe. Was He saying that we are essential? Maybe.

What makes salt so valuable? It is so useful. I mentioned that it is essential for our health and for life. Salt maintains the electrolyte balance inside and outside of cells. The body’s salt-to-water ratio is critical to metabolism. In cases of severe dehydration the treatment is Oral Rehydration Therapy, which simply means giving a mixture of sugar, salt and water. The British Medical Journal called that “the most important medical advance of the (20th) century”. That is a huge claim. It kills bacteria. We don’t value salt for itself. It is awful to eat. You can’t drink salt water. We value it for what it does. It does so much. It gives the Dead Sea amazing buoyancy but it is also the reason it is dead. Salt is powerfully influential. You notice it when it is present and you notice it when it is missing.

When we were newly married we cooked eggs one night and as one of us sprinkled salt on the egg, the top of the saltshaker fell off and we got far more salt when we have bargained on. We scooped off the salt as well as we could but we could not get rid of the taste. That egg was inedible. I remember, when I was quite young making a cup of tea for my mother and thinking it was funny to put salt in instead of sugar. It didn’t fool her for a minute and she didn’t think it was nearly as funny.

Salt is very influential. It lowers the freezing temperature of water, so we spread it on our roads to stop them icing.

I think Jesus was talking about influence. In fact, we see that in the verse itself because salt that has lost its saltiness “is no longer good for anything.” Saltiness is about its usefulness and influence. Its value is not in itself. Its value is in what it does.

That is why you should be chuffed that Jesus calls you the salt of the earth. You are an influential person. You can make a powerful difference. Non-Christians wouldn’t necessarily see this. Most Christians don’t look particularly influential but Jesus says that Christians are the people who make a real difference. The influence might be largely invisible just as salt does its work invisibly but who can measure the influence of a single prayer or of a Christian befriending another person or of sharing the gospel? In the way God measures things, it is those things rather than winning military victories that are truly significant.

Bill Hybels says “The local church is the hope of the world.” That is the same message. You and I, working together, are the hope of the world. It is you and I who can make a difference to this world.

You can’t say, “Well in that case, it doesn’t apply to me. I am not very influential. I am not salt.” Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” You are designed to make a difference. You can feel chuffed.

But interestingly, Jesus spends most of the verse talking about salt not doing what it should. Salt that has lost its saltiness. It is great that we are the salt of the earth but there is also the possibility that we are not having the influence that we ought to have – that we are not salty. 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 underfoot.

That is a severe warning. Unsalty salt is useless. There is nothing for it but to throw it out. We wouldn’t want to be the people Jesus is talking about there – but maybe we are. Are you influential? Or have you been cast aside by God? Is God using you? Or is God not using you?

In John 15 Jesus used a different image; the image of branches in the vine but He said the same thing: I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit... If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (vv.1, 2, 6)

The branch that bears no fruit – the branch that is not achieving anything –is thrown away as useless.

Maybe we might think of

Rev 3:15-16 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Again, it is about deeds. Those who are lukewarm, showing little passion and achieving very little are spat out.

In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the one who did nothing with what he had been given; the one who achieved nothing, who was described as being a worthless servant, was thrown outside, into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

He wasn’t salty; he wasn’t influential; he wasn’t doing what salt is meant to do. Salt is meant to make a difference, but he didn’t. He did nothing. He was discarded.

You know it is impossible for salt to lose its saltiness. Salt is sodium chloride, NaCl. It can never be sodium chloride and not be salty. Salt is by definition salty. So what is Jesus talking about when He says about losing its saltiness?

In Jesus’ time, salt was either rock salt quarried out of the ground or the salt left behind after salt water had evaporated. Either way, it had a lot of impurities in it – lots of bits of crushed rock or sand. It might have looked like salt but it was a mixture of salt and rock particles. What if all the salt was dissolved out of the mixture? You would have only the sand or other impurities left. Your salt would have lost its saltiness. It would simply be sand!

We are a bit of a mixture too. What makes us salty? What makes us influential? What enables us to make a difference or bear fruit? Isn’t it the presence of Jesus in our lives; the presence of the Holy Spirit? In that John 15 passage about the vine and the branches, Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.” It is only the presence of Jesus that enables us to achieve anything for God. It is only the presence of Jesus that makes us salty.

So, can you see what Jesus might have meant when he talked about the salt losing its saltiness? What if Jesus has been leached out of our lives? We are left with only us, like the rock particles, good for nothing but to be thrown out. Some Christians lose their saltiness. We have less and less of Jesus in our lives and we become less and less useful.

So the real question that arises out of this is: how can we avoid losing our saltiness?

When I was at university, I flatted with a very good friend who was a great influence on me. He challenged and inspired me. He took me to a good church. He demonstrated commitment to Jesus. He was our best man at our wedding. A few years later, he told us that God was calling him into the ministry. I didn’t think that God was calling me but, soon after that, He did so we trained together and this friend continued to be an inspiration to me.

But after a few years of ministry, he suddenly quit. Some time after that, I discovered that he wasn’t going to church at all. Then he walked out on his marriage. I don’t know all of the circumstances and I have lost contact with him but something went wrong. It seems he lost his saltiness and God cannot now use him.

But maybe there are people still coming to church but not salty – not doing anything for God. How can we continue to be salty?

If I suggest some things that might leach Jesus out of our lives that might help us see the opposite.

The first thing that will leach Jesus out of our lives is the belief that we don’t really need Him. In other words, it is the pride that says, “I can do it on my own. Hard work is all that is required.” The other side of that coin is, of course, humility. Please don’t think you can be salty without Jesus. Take His word for it when He says we can lose our saltiness; we can be “good for nothing”. In fact, we inevitably will be if we think we can do it without Him. Fear lacking saltiness. Fear being discarded as useless. Know that your saltiness comes only from Jesus and, in humility, ask the Holy Spirit to fill your life. In humility, submit to His leading and His direction and to doing what He wants.

A second thing that will leach Jesus out of our lives, is neglect of time with Him. I know this is an old chestnut but it is true. We must prioritise time with Jesus if we are to know His presence and His power in our lives. That means studying the Bible, meditating, praying, journaling. Being saltier means deepening our devotional life. My guess is that 95% of Christians will say “Amen” to that and do nothing. 5% will say, “I am going to do something about it.” There is no lack of resources for deepening our devotional life. We have the vision or the desire and we have the means but only some of us have the intention. Some of us will spend enough time with Jesus this year.

A third thing that will leach Jesus out of our lives is compromise. Many people are too much in love with the world and compromise with the world’s values. Material possessions are attractive. Popularity is a high value. If compromise is the negative action, what is the corresponding positive action? Commitment; passionate love for Jesus and a single-minded focus. Will you recommit yourself to Jesus and to being obedient to Jesus this year? It is as we obey that we discover Jesus with us. In John 15:10, Jesus said, If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love.

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples... and I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” It is as we do the work of the Kingdom that we discover Jesus with us.

I am sure there is more but those three will get us started.

When Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth”, He was saying that you are potentially an incredibly influential person. Your name might never appear in the history books but you can be a history-maker. Your prayers, your influence on some people can make a huge difference in the world and a difference for eternity. You are the salt.

But He also warned that we might not realise our potential. We are salt but we might lose our saltiness. If we lose our saltiness, we won’t change history. Which do you want to be – salty or... useless?

For you to be salty, Jesus must be the centre of your life. Is that what you want? Is there some resolution you can make at the beginning of this year to give Jesus a more central place in your life? Take time to think about how you are going to make Jesus more central.

If you are not yet a Christian, you too might want to ponder Jesus’ words. Those who are on Jesus’ team have the potential to make a real difference. We all have to choose. We can be not on Jesus’ team and our lives not really count for anything. Or, we can choose to follow Jesus and be the salt of the earth.