Salty Christians

Matthew 5:13

Salt is a very precious commodity to us in several different ways. For the most part our primary appreciation of it is we use it to season our food. We put it especially on Grits, potatoes, ham, and steak to bring out the best of flavor. But salt is valuable to us also in that our body needs a certain amount of it in order to maintain good health. Too little or too much of it can harm various organs or cause fluid build up. So it must be managed in order to keep the right balance.

To the Jew it was very precious as well. They were a little more dependent upon it than we are in that not only was it used for seasoning, but also for preservation. They didn’t have the means of refrigeration and freezers like we do today. They used it to preserve their food. So regardless of its use, salt was and is still today a valued commodity to any culture.

Jesus takes this natural element to make a spiritual application. He illustrates the purpose of the church in the world by comparing it to salt. What the bread and wine was to His body, salt is to the church. So what is the lesson? Salt does three things.

First, it preserves. Just like salt can keep food from going bad, we as the church are in the world to preserve it and keep it from rotting away. People say the world is a bad place but just imagine how bad it would be if there was no church. But it also teaches us that the world is only going to be as good as the church. That’s why Jesus would warned of the church loosing it saltiness.

Second, it seasons. Salt brings flavor and it brings out the best of flavor. We as the church should give our best everyday in serving the Lord so that He can bring the best out in us and in turn we bring the best out in culture. How we live and present ourselves with the Gospel is very important to how people respond to it. We do not want to be tasteless Christians. We need to be careful not to present a unsavory message.

Third, and most importantly salt creates a thirst. I became a Christian because I saw, in the Christian people I knew, that they had something I not only wanted but needed. The Bible compares the good news to a cold drink of water in a dry and thirsty land. People today are thirsting and they are not thirsty for natural water but the spiritual water that only Christ can give. Our relationship with Jesus Christ should add to that thirsting more so that people in our day will do as the Woman at the well in Jesus’ day said “Sir give me of the water that I may never thirst again!” John 4:15

Let us pray today that God will make us salty Christians so that we can be most effective in our culture today by preserving the purity of the Gospel, presenting it in a tasteful way, and providing a drink of cold water in the name of a disciple so that we can receive a disciples reward! Amen!

Pastor Robby