THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
“You Are the Salt of the Earth”
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, James Gravelle.
“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” (Mt. 5:13). Welcome to THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. In chapter 4 of the gospel account of Matthew, Jesus is led up to the wilderness around the area of Nazareth where He overcomes the three-fold temptation of the devil. Hearing that John the Immerser has been cast into prison, Jesus travels into the area of Galilee. In Matthew 4:17 we read, “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” He then begins to call those who would serve as His apostles. In Matthew 4:23 we read, “Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.” In verse 24, we see more insight into how Jesus was received: “Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.” The result was that Jesus was followed by large numbers of people, from Galilee all the way down to Judea. As chapter 5 opens, we follow Jesus up on a mountain where His disciples joined Him and where He taught them. We know this section of Scripture as the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus began His teaching by presenting the beatitudes, or what we might call “the blessed attitudes.” He then looks at His disciples and calls them “salt.” Have you ever wondered why Jesus would do such a thing? It was not unusual for Jesus to use such examples in His teaching. Notice in the next verse that He calls His disciples light:
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:14-16).
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, via the common, everyday examples that Jesus used. Look at Matthew 5:13, a verse that lends itself quite easily to an outline.
In this passage, we find a description that we should appreciate. We see a danger that we should avoid. And we see a destiny that we should abhor. Let us examine first of all the description that we should appreciate. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” 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 cut all meats out of our diets. We could do OK without sugar, and could even get along without pepper. [And, yes, those of us in southern Oklahoma could even get along without barbecue!] But one thing that we cannot do without is salt. It is as indispensable as the water that we drink or the air that we breathe. 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. We must appreciate salt because it is an absolute necessity. If we were to look at the way in which Jesus’ comment applies to the world, we could see that a lack of Christians in the world equals death. Do you realize that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in our day today do not tell people directly what they must do to be saved? The preaching of the Gospel—what we know as the Great Commission—was not even given to angels. In Matthew 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. From that time forward, Jesus Himself would not tell anyone what they needed to do to be saved. God the Father would no longer appear (as He did in the Old Testament) in dreams or visions to help the patriarchs or under the Law of Moses in order to help people know what they must do to be pleasing to Him. And the Holy Spirit does not prod or push us today in order to tell us what we must do to be saved from our sins. Christians are the ones who have been instructed to go and teach the Gospel.
Another reason to appreciate salt is that salt works at its own expense. In Luke 19:10, we read that Jesus came to “seek and save that which was lost.” He did so at the expense of giving Himself. He did this during His life. And according to John 2:17, “His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’” This was a quotation from Psalm 69:9. As John penned the words of his gospel account, he ascribed that prophecy to Jesus. Jesus also spent Himself in death. In Matthew 26:28, as Jesus spoke concerning the Lord’s Supper, He said, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” As we today, on a weekly basis, gather around the Lord’s Table, and as we partake of the bread that represents Christ’s body, and the fruit of the vine that represents His blood, we do in remembrance of the sacrifice that He made for us. He gave Himself for the world in death.
Paul also was willing to spend himself for others. In 2 Corinthians 12:15 we read, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” As we follow the life of Paul, it is easy to understand that he spoke the truth when he spoke these words. He went through shipwrecks, famines, and all kinds of perils—and would truly be spent for others. He said in Philippians 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. A question that we need to ask here is this: What is Christianity costing you? In your daily life, do you roll out of bed in the morning, have breakfast, go to work, come back home, enjoy a few hours of television, and then go to bed—without ever thinking about God, or without ever getting down on your knees to thank Him for all that we have in this world? What is Christianity costing you? That is a very good question.
Another attribute of salt is that it must come into contact with the substance to be preserved, flavored, or otherwise influenced. Wisdom, tact, diplomacy, and love are all needed in saving souls. But if we place too much emphasis on tact, then there is no contact. As salt works, it retains its saltiness. In seeking to save the world, we must not become like the world.
Another reason that we should appreciate salt is that salt preserves and saves. Meats are salted to preserve them. Christians, like meats that are salted and preserved, are to preserve the Earth. The strength of any nation is its Christian influence. Christians are to take the Gospel into the world, exerting a preserving and saving influence. Without Christians to carry the Gospel, the lost in the world would have no hope of Heaven. We need only look throughout history at nation after nation that has fallen because of its ungodly or immoral culture. Even the United States could someday be brought down if it reached the point where sin was so great that the United States no longer needed to exist.
Another reason to appreciate salt is that salt purifies. Salt promotes healing and removes impurities. It was not too many years ago—before modern medicine—that when someone had a cut or a scratch, it was washed with salt. Of course, that procedure burned badly. But it did promote healing. I have already mentioned Napoleon’s wounded soldiers who died because of a lack of salt. This was due to a lack of salt that they could consume, which caused their bodies’ chemistry to get so messed up that their wounds simply would not heal. Did you know that 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? Many times, when I, as a Gospel preacher, walk into a group of people, or if I am introduced to a group of people as a minister, the conversation quickly changes. And, I even have had people apologize to me for what they had said when they did not know who I was. The conversation often changes from the obscene to the pure upon the appearance of a Christian. The appearance of a Christian makes a difference.
Another attribute of salt that needs to be appreciated is that, at times, salt can be destructive. My family and I once lived in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia for a number of years. One of the things that we experienced there were winters that were long, cold, and snowy. We used a great deal of salt to help us remove ice and snow from walkways and porches. Something else that we learned is that pouring salt on grass causes the grass to die. Too much salt in our own systems is bad, too. It affects our blood pressure. But we, as God’s people, are to be a disruptive force at times. Jeremiah (known as “the weeping prophet”) was given specific instructions by God in Jeremiah 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, too, of course. Timothy was given surprisingly similar instructions in 2 Timothy 4:2 where Paul said, “Preach the word. Be ready, in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” The King James Version 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 Ephesians 5:11, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” At times, God’s Word is destructive.
Perish the thought, but suppose for a moment that you have gone to the doctor, who has come into the room with a grim face and says, “It’s cancer. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it is located in a body where it is encapsulated. We therefore can go in and remove it. We’ll have to give you some chemotherapy, but you will be fine if you will have the surgery.” The Word of God can be likened to a surgeon’s scalpel. To be able to get to the cancer, there must be some destruction. The scalpel cuts through good skin, muscle, and other portions of the body in order to get to that which is cancerous. Then, it cuts that cancerous tissue out of the body. The body then is closed, but the trauma remains. There is a wound present that can take days or weeks to heal. Salt, like a surgeon’s scalpel, can, at times, be very destructive. But, it is destructive in a way that promotes healing or that promotes betterment of the individual.
Another attribute of salt is that it creates thirst. We have a need to create a spiritual thirst in others. In Matthew 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 possess. As Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s 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.” It is obvious that 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.
Another attribute of salt is that salt blends. When salt is placed into a food in the proper amount, it does not dominate the food. Rather, it blends with the food and brings out the best of the other ingredients. Christians are to contribute their part to the overall good of the world as well. Hebrews 10:24 says, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” This can be done in the assembly. But it also can be done on an individual basis, a small-group basis, or wherever we go. As we come together to worship God, the command is for us to stir up love and good works in others. This is to be done by exhorting, by commending, by encouraging, and by expressing confidence in others. We are not to criticize or depreciate others.
Another attribute of salt is that it is penetrating. If you place a little bit of salt into some food, it will penetrate the whole. Salt is aggressive. I think that Jesus intended for us to be aggressive, since He told the disciples, “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” (Mt. 28:19). In Acts 8:1, after Steven’s death, the Christians in Jerusalem suffered a terrible persecution. The church experienced a significant amount of opposition. Saul (who later would become Paul) even went about casting into prison those who claimed to be Christians. Because of this persecution, they were all scattered from Jerusalem throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria (except the apostles). Notice Acts 8:4—“Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” They did not run and hide. Nor did they abandon their Christianity. Instead, they carried out the Great Commission by going everywhere to tell others about the salvation that enjoyed in Jesus Christ. It would not be long, then, before Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus. After three days of blindness on Saul’s part, the prophet Ananias came to him and asked, “Why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). In Acts 9:18, we read, “And he arose and was baptized.” In verse 20 we learn that “immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.” There we can truly see the penetrating ability of the Gospel. It took Saul—who, just days previously was seeking Christians for the purpose of persecuting them, casting them into prison, and even putting them to death—and changed him after he came to understand that he had been persecuting the Son of God. What a tremendous change we see in Saul! In verse 21 we read that “all who heard were amazed.” That truly is penetrating power on the part of the Gospel and Christianity. Paul would eventually go on three missionary journeys, and then a journey to Rome, covering some 13,000 miles. This took over thirty years, but when Paul wrote the Book of Romans, he said in Romans 10:18, “Have they not heard? Yes indeed: Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Thirty years from the cross, Paul would pen words saying that everyone in the then-known world had had the ability to hear the Gospel of Christ. The question is: How far have you gone? Have you told others about what Jesus would have them to do to become Christians and be saved?
Another attribute of salt is that 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 name tag that says “CHRISTIAN”—as if others would not be able to see that we are Christians. By our words and by our deeds we should be known to others as Christians. In Acts 4:13, this was true of Peter and company when it was said of them, “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.”
Another attribute of salt is that its presence makes a difference. The presence or absence of salt can determine the difference between palatable food and tasteless food. The presence of Jesus always made a difference. He could not be ignored. Does your presence make a difference?
The second part of the outline of Matthew 5:13 concerns “a danger to avoid.” The text says, “But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” We see from numerous teachings of the New Testament that a Christian can apostatize or fall from grace. A Christian can be lost. Notice these three examples. A branch may become fruitless (Jn. 15:1-7). A sheep may stray (Lk. 15:1-7). A son may depart (Lk. 15:11-32). From each one of these references (and there are many others that I do not have time to mention here) we learn that a Christian can be lost. Salt, too, can lose its savor. How can a Christian—as the salt of the Earth—lose his or her flavor? The text of 1 John 2:15-17 helps us understand.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
In James 4:4 we find these words: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” These are ways by which we, as Christians, can lose our flavor. In Romans 12:2 Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Third, we find in Matthew 5:13 “a destiny to abhor”—“It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” We certainly do not want to follow this example as we live the Christian life. We do not want Jesus to throw us out. Instead, we want to do all we can to live for Him in this world. Won’t you join us next time we continue examining the Gospel of Christ?
Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
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1. According to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:13, to what did He compare Christians?
2. What message does Matthew 4:17 tell us that Jesus preached after His temptation by Satan in the wilderness?
3. What message does Matthew 4:23 tell us that Jesus preached in the Jewish synagogues?
4. What “special presentation” did Jesus make as recorded in Matthew 5-7?
5. To what three things did Jesus compare Christians in Matthew 5:14-16?
6. To what one thing did Jesus compare Christians in Matthew 5:13?
7. According to Matthew 28:18, how much authority does Jesus Christ possess?
8. In Matthew 28:19, what did Jesus command His disciples to do?
9. According to Matthew 26:28, what did Jesus do for humanity?
10. According to Matthew 26:28, why did Jesus do what he did for humanity?
11. In 2 Corinthians 12:15, what did Paul say that he was willing to do for Christians?
12. What point was God making to Jeremiah when He said, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth” (Jeremiah 1:9)?
13. In 2 Timothy 4:2, what did Paul tell the young evangelist Timothy to do?
14. In Ephesians 5:11, Paul said that Christians were to have no fellowship with something. What was it?
15. In Matthew 5:6, who did Jesus say would be “blessed”?
16. In John 4:14, what did Jesus offer to the Samaritan woman whom He had met at Jacob’s well?
17. According to Acts 8:1, what happened to early Christians?
18.vAccording to Acts 8:4, what did the early Christians do?
19. In Acts 4:13 we are told that the Jewish leaders realized something special about Peter and John merely because of their actions. What was it that they realized?
20. What does 1 John 2:15-17 admonish faithful Christians not to do?
21. What is the important message found in James 4:4?
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, 607 McLish Ave., Ardmore, OK 73401; (580) 223-3289; www.thegospelofchrist.com