HOW DO WE MAINTAIN OUR SALTINESS?
Matthew 5:13-16

In our last study we stated that one of the functions of salt was that of a preservative.  It is through the lives of His Church that God communicates His desires for mankind.  But, salt can also be used as a flavoring.  I cannot eat sweet corn without adding some salt and butter.  And, popcorn has to have salt.  And, for that matter, so do French fries.  Things just taste better with a little salt.

As believers, we are God’s flavoring in the world.  We are to demonstrate the joy that God has given to us.  How sad that for many believers their “joy quotient” is not very high.  One of the great Supreme Court Chief Justices of all time, Oliver Wendell Holmes, said, I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.  And Robert Louis Stevenson once remarked, with a rather surprised expression, I have been to church today, and am not depressed.  It is time that we examine how well we communicate the joy given to us by God.

How can a believer maintain his or her saltiness?  It is important that we understand this because Jesus states, But if 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  (Matthew 5:13).  The picture here is of salt that had become contaminated and was no longer valued.  The people would take it outside and throw it into the roadway.  In order to be kept from being worthless, we must do two things.  First, we need to be careful of the subtle means Satan uses to infect our lives.  The erosion of our nation’s values has been a gradual one.  We have been like the frog who was placed into a kettle of water and then the heat was turned up.  The frog just kept on swimming like nothing was wrong, until it was too late.  It is time to be aware of the methodology of our enemy, to be alert to his attacks.

Second, we can retain our saltiness by living the principles which Jesus has described for us in the Beatitudes.  By being broken in spirit.  By being merciful.  By being meek and hungering and thirsting after righteousness.  By acting as peacemakers and being willing to suffer persecution.  In other words, we can retain our ability to impact this old world as a preservative and a flavoring by being different from the world. 
We will not be effective in our witness for Christ by adopting the standards of the world.  It is time to rise up and be different. 

Father, We have failed, as Your Church, to impact our world as salt.  Forgive us for those people who have been offended because of our lack of joy, and so have failed to come to Christ – the joy giver.  Forgive us for not recognizing the attacks of our enemy and sounding the alarm warning others of his mischief and destruction.  Lord, cause us to retain our saltiness so that You might use us to bring others to Yourself.  We pray this in Christ’s name.  Amen. 

 

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