The importance of salt in your life

 

    Matt 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 underfoot. 

    ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and         glorify your Father in heaven.

 

Salt is one of the most basic elements on earth as well as one of the most stable chemical compounds we have.  It is chemically impossible for salt to loose it’s saltiness, but Jesus, the creator of salt knew that.  The way something becomes less salty is to dilute it, like with water.  Water collects salt molecules and spreads them out to make something taste less salty.  What do the properties of salt have to do with us and why am I taking up your time to talk about it? 

 

Several years ago, Diana and I visited a North-African country that is a 99% Muslim country and I learned something that impacted me greatly.  We visited the burial pyramid of queen Candace and the cities built by an Ethiopian financier described in Acts 8 and his encounter with Phillip had a huge impact on him and the whole region.  The impact of the gospel began to spread as cities were built, until that entire region was known as a Christian region.  For a thousand years, until 1370 AD, Christianity was the predominate faith.  That was until it changed to become a Muslim region.  The change did not happen because of a military war or political persuasion.  The change occurred as a societal shift, gospel values shifted to cultural values.   Christians slowly stopped living their faith and then became open to new and different ideas.  They stopped training their children and passing their faith on to the next generations.  They stopped living what they professed and preached, until they stopped preaching and professing the gospel in order to line their lifestyle up with their culture shifts.  The blessings of a Christian faith became diluted until it was indistinguishable, no different from the culture around them and they threw out their salt that was intended to bring flavor to life.  Salt cannot be anything but salt, light cannot stop being light, unless it is diluted and covered up and then it stops being a blessing to those around it.

 

What you are doing matters greatly.  You are the salt of the earth as you hold out the light of the gospel.  You call your churches to live the gospel so they can share the gospel and offer Jesus to people so they can experience life and all the fullness it brings.  We live in a changing society.  Roe was overturned as I write this.  Race, gender, and sexuality issues surround us.  I don’t need to numerate all the changes for you, but I want to call you to continue to preach the gospel and hold out the light of Christ.  Disciple men and women to live the hope of the light of Christ before a changing world.  We must not live in fear, nor complicity, but live with all the flavor and joy and energy that salt and light bring to our world.