Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5:13 (KJV)
Crafty businessmen learned to salt the “free” or inexpensive food given out in bars long ago. Why? Salt creates thirst. The more you eat the salty food the more you buy drinks. Have you ever noticed that restaurants put a lot of salt in their food? It not only enhances the flavor of the food but it makes you thirsty. They make a lot of money from their drinks. This illuminates another facet of the point Christ makes when He calls us “the salt of the earth.”
When the world sees a Christian they should envy their peace, joy, and love. Followers of Christ should be the best friends, the best employees, the best spouses that people ever met. Jesus chose you to be the one that would reflect Him to the lost. We are the preacher, we are the teacher, and we are the missionary sent to our community. Our lives should make the world aware of their sins and thirst for a drink from the fountain of life. We are the salt that makes the world long for Jesus.
The world makes fun of and mocks Christians. We are held up to ridicule and scorn. Sometimes we deserve it. Preachers begging for money is not Biblical. My Bible says, “I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or His seed begging for bread.” When we behave contrary to God’s Word we make a mockery of the very thing we are called to be. When we grumble and complain, fighting and arguing over territory and petty differences the world is not drawn to Jesus but repulsed by those that call Him Lord. When we find our joy in riches or fame and not in the presence of God, we open the door to the mockers and make it harder to convince the lost to “taste and see” God’s goodness. We are here on this earth as emissaries of the King! He is beautiful and wondrous. Attracting people to Jesus should be the easiest thing we do, all we need to do is let His peace, His joy, His love, His life shine through us.
Salt not only makes people thirsty it takes bland food and makes it tasty. Does your life in Christ cause others to hunger and thirst after Him?
Showing posts with label salt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salt. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
The Salty Church
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5:13 (KJV)
To understand what Jesus is saying, it is important to grasp the importance of salt in the daily life of those that lived in His day. Salt was used as a preservative in ancient times. There was no refrigeration or ice and meat would spoil quickly in the heat. This made it necessary to salt down or rinse meat in a saline solution to preserve it. In fact it was used for this well into the twentieth century in remote areas, the great missionary David Livingstone died deep in the jungles of Africa, in order to ship his body to England it was packed in salt to preserve it on the journey.
Every person that heard Jesus speak of salt knew exactly what He was talking about. Today we think of salt as a condiment which enhances flavor, perhaps that is the problem. God intended for His Church to be powerful and stand in the gap to stop the decay that is destroying creation not to be flavor enhancement to make life a little better. I read a line today by Keith Green that said,
“The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising.”
This speaks directly to the problem that is overwhelming the Church. We must see sin as rotting decay that is destroying society and the lives of God’s creation. Our mission is to be the salt! We must stand between the living and the dead holding in our hands the precious Word of God and lifting high the cross of Jesus. We must see the importance of living out the Beatitudes in our lives and leading others to Christ. We must rescue the perishing before it is too late. Instead of manning the life boats we are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
In 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul is writing about the Antichrist and his revelation in the last days. He pens an interesting passage beginning if verse 5,
“Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
Something is holding back the events that we call the “End Times”, the revelation of the Antichrist, the setting up of his kingdom, the persecution of Israel, and finally his spectacular destruction by Christ. Who or what is it that holds back the lawless one? It is God’s Church.
In verse 7 Paul says, “but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” Don’t let the use of the male pronoun “he” throw you. The Church can be referred to as “he” because Christ is the head and that metaphor allows the picture of a man. There is coming a day when The Father will say enough, Jesus Christ will rise from His throne, the angel will begin to blow the trumpet and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we which are alive and remain will join them in the air. Jesus will gather His Church unto Him and this world will see the rise of the Man of Sin who will hate God and wage war against Israel. The moral decay will increase rapidly because “the salt” will not be here and in only seven short years mankind will follow The Antichrist to Armageddon.
This glimpse into the things to come teaches us about our purpose here and now. We are the Church of the Living God, called to be salt, warring against the sinful nature and rescuing the perishing. It is time that we began to fight the good fight as if we were surrounded by men and women that were drowning and sinking into the depths of hell. We are.
To understand what Jesus is saying, it is important to grasp the importance of salt in the daily life of those that lived in His day. Salt was used as a preservative in ancient times. There was no refrigeration or ice and meat would spoil quickly in the heat. This made it necessary to salt down or rinse meat in a saline solution to preserve it. In fact it was used for this well into the twentieth century in remote areas, the great missionary David Livingstone died deep in the jungles of Africa, in order to ship his body to England it was packed in salt to preserve it on the journey.
Every person that heard Jesus speak of salt knew exactly what He was talking about. Today we think of salt as a condiment which enhances flavor, perhaps that is the problem. God intended for His Church to be powerful and stand in the gap to stop the decay that is destroying creation not to be flavor enhancement to make life a little better. I read a line today by Keith Green that said,
“The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising.”
This speaks directly to the problem that is overwhelming the Church. We must see sin as rotting decay that is destroying society and the lives of God’s creation. Our mission is to be the salt! We must stand between the living and the dead holding in our hands the precious Word of God and lifting high the cross of Jesus. We must see the importance of living out the Beatitudes in our lives and leading others to Christ. We must rescue the perishing before it is too late. Instead of manning the life boats we are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
In 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul is writing about the Antichrist and his revelation in the last days. He pens an interesting passage beginning if verse 5,
“Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.”
Something is holding back the events that we call the “End Times”, the revelation of the Antichrist, the setting up of his kingdom, the persecution of Israel, and finally his spectacular destruction by Christ. Who or what is it that holds back the lawless one? It is God’s Church.
In verse 7 Paul says, “but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” Don’t let the use of the male pronoun “he” throw you. The Church can be referred to as “he” because Christ is the head and that metaphor allows the picture of a man. There is coming a day when The Father will say enough, Jesus Christ will rise from His throne, the angel will begin to blow the trumpet and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we which are alive and remain will join them in the air. Jesus will gather His Church unto Him and this world will see the rise of the Man of Sin who will hate God and wage war against Israel. The moral decay will increase rapidly because “the salt” will not be here and in only seven short years mankind will follow The Antichrist to Armageddon.
This glimpse into the things to come teaches us about our purpose here and now. We are the Church of the Living God, called to be salt, warring against the sinful nature and rescuing the perishing. It is time that we began to fight the good fight as if we were surrounded by men and women that were drowning and sinking into the depths of hell. We are.
Monday, October 7, 2013
To Preserve or Not To Preserve
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5:13 (KJV)
It is important to place these verses in context. Jesus had just completed listing the eight qualities that must define the Christian life. Some might feel that they could live out these qualities in isolation, away from the world, but as Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount He makes it abundantly clear with His comparison of Christians to salt and light that the beatitudes were designed for great impact on those around us. These two metaphors make it clear how we should live our lives in relation to the world.
You, and you alone are the salt of the earth! Jesus is clear in this statement that there is no other option. God has established His Church as the vehicle He will work through to hold back the forces of evil that would drag men’s souls to eternal damnation. Man when left to his own devices does not evolve as the world teaches but rather falls deeper into sin and like rotting flesh begins to putrefy. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and man cannot climb out of the slimy pit that He is in by himself but instead continues to slip deeper and deeper.
God has always had a people. He found Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David men that would listen to His voice and became those of “like precious faith” to stand against the tide of this world. When Jesus came He had a two-fold purpose. On the cross He would become the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. But His other purpose was to establish His Church. He told Peter in Matthew 16:18, “that upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Church is not a building or denomination. It is you! The believer who has surrendered their life to God and been filled with His Spirit will exhibit the transformation that only Jesus can bring to our lives. We have been changed from death to life and that life is vibrant because it contains the breath of God.
It is God’s breath, His life, in you that makes you salt, holding back the decay and preserving a dying world. Jesus in you is the hope of fallen man and the power of God to Salvation. You have been sent, with a purpose, into a fallen world to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Be the salt.
It is important to place these verses in context. Jesus had just completed listing the eight qualities that must define the Christian life. Some might feel that they could live out these qualities in isolation, away from the world, but as Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount He makes it abundantly clear with His comparison of Christians to salt and light that the beatitudes were designed for great impact on those around us. These two metaphors make it clear how we should live our lives in relation to the world.
You, and you alone are the salt of the earth! Jesus is clear in this statement that there is no other option. God has established His Church as the vehicle He will work through to hold back the forces of evil that would drag men’s souls to eternal damnation. Man when left to his own devices does not evolve as the world teaches but rather falls deeper into sin and like rotting flesh begins to putrefy. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and man cannot climb out of the slimy pit that He is in by himself but instead continues to slip deeper and deeper.
God has always had a people. He found Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David men that would listen to His voice and became those of “like precious faith” to stand against the tide of this world. When Jesus came He had a two-fold purpose. On the cross He would become the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. But His other purpose was to establish His Church. He told Peter in Matthew 16:18, “that upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Church is not a building or denomination. It is you! The believer who has surrendered their life to God and been filled with His Spirit will exhibit the transformation that only Jesus can bring to our lives. We have been changed from death to life and that life is vibrant because it contains the breath of God.
It is God’s breath, His life, in you that makes you salt, holding back the decay and preserving a dying world. Jesus in you is the hope of fallen man and the power of God to Salvation. You have been sent, with a purpose, into a fallen world to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Be the salt.
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