Continuing, Pastor Obie affirms that God purposely places people in your life so that you can be vessels of God’s love to them. 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Unfortunately, there are cases where some people have had a bad taste in Christians. Remember that Matthew 5:13 tells us, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”
How can salt lose its saltiness? That cannot actually happen because it is Sodium Chloride (a colorless crystalline compound – a rock). The only way that salt can lose its saltiness is if it becomes diluted or polluted with something else. When you mix in impurities into the salt, letting dirt in, it becomes diluted. When you let the sinful things of this God-rejecting world seep into your soul, when you start accepting the godless immorality and adopting the norms of our current lawless secular humanistic culture and let sin into your life, you are becoming diluted salt. You cannot use it to protect, heal, preserve or flavor anything because it is diluted salt, so it just needs to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
So Jesus compares His disciples who do not live out the values of the kingdom of God as unsalty salt; salt that cannot fulfill its purpose. So, Christians, we must be different from the world. Just like a lifeboat is meant to be in the sea saving people who are drowning, if the sea gets into the lifeboat, we have a big problem. You are in the world but not of the world. And just like a lifeboat, we have to be in the sea to save people; not letting the sea of sin get into us. Be pure salt; someone who reflects the image and character of God. The character of God is the Fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23a says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Let those things seep out of you to an example to the world around you.
These are the three attributes that people in Jesus’ day would understand. We need to be that kind of salt. One last effect is that salt changes its environment after making contact with it. Take the entire context of what Jesus was talking about for understanding His message. At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was talking about the kingdom of Heaven. In the “Be Attitudes” in Mathew 5:2-12, He is explaining what “kingdom people” are and look like, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, Blessed are the meek, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed are the pure in heart and Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Amen, we can agree with that. But then, Jesus ends the list of “Be Attitudes with: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth.”
Let me unpack this so that you can understand this. Do you know what was the greatest thing that happened with the church was (besides the Resurrection and the receiving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost)? It was the dispersion of the Jewish people from Israel. Acts 8:1-4 tells us, Saul [who later became the Apostle Paul] approved of his [ Stephen – the first Christian Martyr’s] execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
The persecution against the church cause the believing Jews to scatter and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. Before this persecution, they were stuck in a “holy huddle” in Jerusalem. They needed someone and something to shake them up and shake them out of their “salt shaker”. Where they landed was Samaria, Judea, and the end of the known world, so the Christian church grew because they were the salt of the earth. The effectiveness of salt happens when it comes in contact with something else. The early church, by being salt, there was a reaction that changed the environment, which changed the world.
We you repented of sin, accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and received the indwelling Holy Spirit there was a spiritual reaction that transformingly change you from the inside out for live. You are not the same person that you were before. If Jesus is truly working in your life, you have the holy Spirit working in you and through you, then you are forming a new character that is more like Christ. You are being salt, and when you come into contact with others, Christ’s love in you that is exuded as a spiritual reaction to the other person. You see that other person as Christ sees them. You tell them about the love of Jesus and show them the love of Jesus because you are salt.
Let's conclude this important message by Pastor Obie in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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