Logos: Salt of the Earth

Kenny
Mission Trip to Pengkalan Hulu by GLO Cell Group (Now called Sungai Nibong Cell)
The message were for Christians here, to challenge them to make a difference in their community. It was translated into Bahasa Malaysia by Pastor Loh.

Matthew 5:13-16

"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. "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Jesus uses these different words to help us understand His teaching. We can better understand the deeper meaning of what we are supposed to do, and what we are supposed to be, through common, everyday examples that Jesus used.

The focus of God’s action is the world - not just the Church or Christians. ‘Let your light shine before people that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.’ It is about what we say, what we do, in our everyday life.

Christians are not to spend time thinking of how to escape from the world. Nor are we to be only concern with church matters. The Church is not the kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is about this world, and about our life and witness in the world. Jesus said: You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.

What is salt?
In the ancient world, salt was highly valued. The Greeks called salt divine. It was invaluable. We can get along in this world without a lot of things. We could get along better, perhaps, without chocolate or ice cream. And, we probably could become vegetarian and not eat meat. We could do OK without sugar or pepper. But one thing that we cannot do without is salt.

When Napoleon was at war with Russia, thousands of his soldiers died in a retreat from Moscow. Historians reported how those soldiers died from wounds that would not heal because the soldiers’ bodies had been deprived of salt.

1. Salt is an absolute necessity

If we were to look at the world today, and removed ALL Christians, the world as we know it would be plunged into spiritual darkness. The preaching of the Gospel, the Great Commission, was entrusted to you and I. In Matt 28:18-19, Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus was talking to His disciples—the men and women who would carry the Gospel plan of salvation to others. Christians, the ones who have been instructed to go and preach the Gospel. We are necessary to bring the good news to this world.

2. Salt works at its own expense

When you put in salt, it dissolves to work. It dissappears.

In Luke 19:10, we read that Jesus came to “seek and save that which was lost.” How did Jesus save those that are lost? He did so by giving His life. He did this through His death on the cross. As we follow the life of Paul, it is easy to how he gave of himself. He went through shipwrecks, famines, and all kinds of dangers. He said in Phil 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Everything that Paul did during his life as a Christian was for the glory of God and Jesus Christ. He too gave of himself.

3. Salt must come into contact with the substance to be preserved or flavored

We need to have contact with the world in order to share Jesus. Our unsaved families, our friends, our neighbour, our colleagues. We cannot do it if our christian walk is church-centered. As salt works, it retains its saltiness. Why did Jesus said "Go into the world..." when we are already in the world? Phil 2:15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." In seeking to save the world, we must not become like the world.

4. Salt preserves and prevent decay

Compare fish and salted fish. Meats are salted to preserve them.

Christians, like meats that are salted and preserved, are to preserve the Earth. The end will not come until the gospel is preached in every nation. Christians are to take the Gospel into the world, while it is still day. Without Christians to share the Gospel, the lost in the world would have no hope of Heaven. We are preserving the world from God's final judgement, which will eventually come.

5. Salt purifies

Salt promotes healing, is a natural antiseptic and removes impurities. Before modern medicine, when someone had a cut or a scratch, it was washed with salt. Sore throat and ulcers are examples. Of course, that burned badly. But it did promote healing. Some people with skin disease bath in salt lakes for healing? Salt also is used in some water-purification systems? Salt can remove impurities in water.

Just as salt purifies, have you ever noticed what happens when a Christian walks up to a group of ungodly people, or when immoral people learn that they are speaking with a Christian? When I was a young christian in school and I walk up to my friends who were cracking dirty jokes, they'll suddenly keep quiet and say change of topic, the preacher is here! The presence of a Christian makes a difference.

6. Salt can be destructive

Salt is often used in the winter to melt ice on the roads. It changes the freezing point of water. Pouring salt on grass causes the grass to die. Reclaimed sea to land cannot plant trees because of salt.

As God’s people, we are to be a disruptive force at times. Jeremiah was given instructions by God in Jer 1:9-10. “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.’” Notice that in the six items that Jeremiah was to do, four were negative: root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down. To build and to plant were also parts of his responsibility, of course. In 2 Tim 4:2 where Paul said, “Preach the word. Be ready, in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” KJV says that he was to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort.” Two-thirds of those are negative, and one-third is the building up. We as Christians sometimes need to be destructive. Paul explained it this way in Eph 5:11, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” At times, God’s Word expose and destroy before the building or healing takes place.

7. Salt creates thirst

We have a need to create a spiritual thirst in others. In Matt 5:6, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Salt creates a thirst. We, as Christians, ought to create a spiritual thirst among those who are in the world, causing them to want that which we have. As Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well, He told her of a living water of which she could drink, and never thirst again. Jesus created in her a spiritual thirst —a desire to have that which He was offering. Do you remember what the woman said in response? In John 4:15, she said, “Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst or come here to draw.” She did not understand what Jesus was saying at that point but she eventually would come to know what she had to do to be saved.

8. Salt speaks for itself

As you taste salt, you do not have to wonder what it is. Salt speaks for itself.

We as Christians ought not to have to wear a cross that says “CHRISTIAN”. By our words and by our deeds we should be known to others as Christians. In Acts 4:13 “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” By the words that Peter and John spoke, and by the actions they carried out, the people knew that these two men had “been with Jesus".

The illustration of comparing believers to salt is made clearer by the Lord's using the comparison also of believers being like light. But for today, we will stop at what marvelous lessons Jesus is teaching us when he called us to be the salt of the earth.

Are you the "salt of the earth?" Do the people around you see Jesus in you. Do the things you say and do reflect the changed life that God has given you?

We were greeted as we arrived at the church.

Was surprised that there were many young ones and those in their teens.

Makan time before service starts. We were served pretty good food.

Getting ready for service. Many of them had ambition to be teachers, nurses and policemen. Very different from the ambitions of school children in the cities. These are ambitions to serve the people.