You Are the Salt of the Earth (Matthew 5:13)

Today we're going to be in uh Matthew 5:13. And and let me go ahead and read this. And it says uh and this is the sermon on the mount. So this is chapters 5, 6, and 7 in the Gospel of Matthew. And this is Christ's first message. So you I picture there's a hillside. There's thousands of people. Uh and he's starting our Christian walk. And he says, "You referring to everyone he's talking to." So all of us, not just the people on the hillside, it's for us today. 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. And so uh let's talk about what what Christ is doing here. And and this is where he really starts to use these parables, especially in the in the in the sermon on the mount. And so we need to understand where he's going with this. And in fact, the next verse, he talks about the light of the world. And and he uses another analogy with the light and on a lampstand. And he's he's trying to share with people what it means to to to love your neighbor, right? And so that's ultimately what what he's talking about here.

And so so what is salt good for? And salt is is good for uh keeping in in the first century there were no refrigerators, right? We couldn't plug it in and there was no ice maker. And and uh uh I think when I was a kid, we called it the ice box. Uh that didn't exist. And so salt kept things from decaying. And so what it would do is it would keep the things that it it came in contact with from from rotting. And so when Christ says you are the salt of the earth, that means that when when you're in contact with other people, that's what we should be doing.

We should be showing them the love of Christ. It keeps them from rotting and decaying. You're sharing the gospel message with them. You're letting them know the good news. And so that's one of the things that salt is good for. Um salt also brings out uh what's good. uh it it takes something that's that's that's already good and it it makes it taste even better. And so again, but that never happens. Salt is useless. If it's sitting on your counter, it does nothing. It it doesn't keep anything from decaying. It doesn't make anything taste any better.

And so it it needs to come in contact. It needs to have a conversation. That's when salt does its saltiness. That's when it that's when it becomes good and it it does the intended purpose. Um what else does uh salt do? Uh salt makes us thirsty which to me is probably the to me the most one of the most important points in this process is that it makes us thirsty. And so if so if I'm salt I'm salt of the earth and I'm making somebody thirsty. What am I making them thirsty for? For living water. That's what Christ talked about. He is living water.

And if you had that kind of water, then you would never be thirsty. So, that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to go out and be the salt of the earth. We're supposed to keep people from rotting. What does that mean? Keep them from uh keep them from going to hell. Give them an opportunity to hear the message so that they too can be saved. Uh salt. When we come in contact with other people, it makes them better. Right? That's what the that's what this process is. Loving your neighbor and showing them that love exists is what salt does. And and and salt uh makes us uh makes other people want it more.

So the the the little bit you get, they want more and more. Why? Because you you made them thirsty for something better, for a better life. Uh I I don't think it we'd have to convince anybody who's on this call that when you got saved, albeit we're going to go through some trials. James promises that it's in many scriptures, not just James. But our lives are immeasurably better. And so we we continue to hunger for that. We continue to want that. We continue to want to grow in that. And that's what salt does. It it it it allows other people to be salty and they want to hear more and they want to know more.

And so this is the par this is one of the parables that Christ uses for how we're supposed to be. Now, how how does uh the scripture says that that you know uh if it loses its saltiness and then then what's it good for? It's good for nothing. And and if you look at what what the Dead Sea was back then, so this is the sea that's right there uh uh by Israel. Uh the Dead Sea was not pure salt. It was mixed. Pure sodium chloride, which is what salt is, never loses its saltiness. So if you were So Christ would never lose that. would never be an opportunity for Christ to never be salty.

It would never happen. He's pure salt. But the Dead Sea was a mix. It had salt and it had other minerals and things that are in there. And so, so the analogy is is how do you lose your saltiness? Well, you you don't wake up tomorrow and you're not salty. What ends up happening is is you lose it over time. You Well, I got to go to church. I can't make it this Sunday. I'll go next Sunday. And next Sunday comes and something happens. and well, well, yeah, I know I missed last Sunday and but I but I'll come back next month. And then, yeah, I know the men's group is really good and and I know I've missed two already, but but I'll go next week.

And then before you know it, little by little by little, you start to lose your saltiness. And so, that's the analogy of the Dead Sea is because it's not a perfect salt. And we never we don't we don't I I don't know of a single Christian that just was all in, sold for Christ, bought in, and then they heard something and it was like flipping the light switch and they were gone. That doesn't it doesn't work. That's not how the enemy works. The enemy is this little small voice in your ear and all of a sudden over a period of time you start to lose that saltiness.

And so this is the analogy that Christ gives us. So we are the salt of the world. We, no one else, us. We are that group of people that are to go out and to make disciples of all nations. So, all right. Any thoughts, comments, uh, questions? Unmute yourselves. I got a really good verse that goes with everything you're talking about. Uh, Proverbs 11:30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives. Amen. Awesome. Yep. Yep. And you're going to find all throughout scripture exam and I and you know and it's awesome.

So we we you know we read this book and and there are so many areas in here where it just gives us practical processes that are in nature that that mimic um what our Christian walk is like and what our relationship with our father is like. Anybody else? This is going down a little bit of a crazy rabbit hole, but it it it's what popped in my head as you were speaking about salt and how the enemy sneaks in a little at a time. And um uh you know there was the big push back in whatever the 70s I guess it was maybe it was the 80s about oh salt's bad for you and um you know it raises your blood pressure and it does all these horrible things to your body and everybody needs to do low sodium.

And it turns out apparently that the sugar industry approached the FDA or some organization and said, "Here, here's all this bad stuff on on salt." And it was actually sugar causing that through the metabolic chain rather than salt. Amen. Yeah. So, it's very important for us to have salt. In fact, when you when you're going to do a three-day or a fiveday fast, right? It's very important for you to be able to drink water with salt, right? That's that's that's the staple of life. Yeah. Water and salt, right? There you go. Amen. That's a great analogy.

Anybody else? All right. So, we're all going to get salty. We're all going to be salty people. We're going to go out and we're going to share our saltiness. We're going to touch people not with pepper or with cayenne. We're gonna we're going to kill them with salt. That's what we're doing. We're We're the Even if you're from New Orleans. Say that again. If you're from New Orleans, even if you're from New Orleans. Yeah. Or if you're from Maryland, you're going to do away with what's what they use up there. They use O. Yeah. We're we're going salty.

And here, listen. And I I want to share this with you. And maybe it's by maybe maybe it's by by by u by divine appointment. The initials for my four daughters names spell salt. Oh, wow. Isn't that cool? Yeah, that's so cool. Yes. Yes. And when I add my wife in, it's salts. So, I got them all. We We're a salty family. There you go. All right. Well, let's uh let's bow our head and pray out. And uh and today is Thursday. So, if you are new, we won't be here tomorrow. We'll see you again back on Monday. Let's bow our heads. Father, thank you so much for today.

Thank you for your word. Thank you for for Christ on this on this hillside giving us analogies that are in nature uh uh to try and make this not complicated but to make it simple to give us some analogies that that work for us that workflow that that we can we can identify with because it's already a part of our lives and who we are and what we're doing. And and Father, I just pray that we would go out there today and we would remember that that would be salty every time we're sitting down to a meal and every time we're out at a restaurant and and we would reach for that jar of salt that that that we would remember this verse that this this this uh this condiment, I guess is what you'd call salt, is is is the it can be a core of who we are.

And father, so I I just pray that every time we would grab the salt, we would be reminded of the sermon on the mount and Christ explaining that this is who we are to be to the world. And so, Father, walk with us this day. Guide us. Allow us to be salty in who we come in contact with. Watch over us this weekend. Get us to church on Sunday. Get us in a group. Get us in our word. Um allow us just to become closer to you. Father, we love you. We praise you. We thank you. And in your son, Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. I will see you guys uh Monday.

Some of you Sunday. Amen. Have a great weekend. Thanks, Dwayne. Thanks, Dwayne.

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly edited for readability.