"PASS THE SALT!"
Written and preached by David P. Nolte
MATTHEW 5:13
For several years there has been much to-do about our sodium intake.
We hear warnings about hardening of the arteries, hypertension, kidney
failure, and heart disease attributed to an excess of sodium, or just plain
old table salt. But a totally salt-free diet would be inadvisable. You
may not add salt, but apart from the natural salt in our food, our bodies
could not survive. Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the
salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good
for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by
men." Matthew 5:13.
In Mark's gospel, we read, "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty,
with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be
at peace with one another." Mark
9:50. As many
people strive to be salt-free in their diet, the world would love to be
salt-free in reference to the church and the Word. The world would like
to remain uninfluenced, unhampered, uninvolved, untampered with by the
church. But Jesus said we must be salty salt. He wants us to act like salt
in the world. As salt has an effect wherever it is applied, so must the
church of Christ. We must act in our circles of involvement in a saltlike
manner. But what does salt do? And how can we be like that?
SALT IS A SEASONING:
I truly enjoy the taste of salt. Many times I prefer something salty to
something sweet. It used to be that I'd add salt to food without even tasting
it. I don't do that anymore, but I still assert that salt adds flavor.
We read in Job 6:6 (NIV)
"Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white
of an egg?"
I remember when my eldest granddaughter was about 4 years old. I watched
her one day licking potato chips and giving them to her little brother
Travis. I said, "Alisha! What are you doing?" She said, "I'm just licking
the salt off." She thought it tasted good.
One little boy was asked to define salt on a test at school. He wrote,
"Salt is the thing which if you don't put it in 'taters, they ain't good."
So, what has that to do with the church? How does that come out equal to
us being salt of the earth? Paul wrote in Colossians
4:5, 6 (NIV) "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make
the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of
grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."
Disciples must know how to act and speak in such a way as to add flavor
or seasoning to the lives we touch:
We should speak words of calm and assurance to those who are worried, anxious
and fretful. The salt of the Word can flavor their lives.
We should speak words of joy, hope and encouragement to those who are in
despair, who are discouraged, and who are down and out. The salt we bring
can enhance their lives.
To those in grief and sorrow and who have been wounded by life we must
apply the salt of comfort, mercy and love.
The salt of friendship, welcome and hospitality can flavor the lives of
those who are lonely, isolated, cut off and forsaken.
A man once wanted to hear how much his daughters loved him. He asked them,
"How much to you love me?" The eldest said, "Oh, Daddy, I love you more
than gold!" He beamed. Gold! That would be a lot of love.
The second daughter said, "I love you more than all the
whole, wide
world!" He beamed again. That, too, would be a wealth of love.
The youngest, a girl of about 7, said, "Daddy, I love you more than ....
more than salt!" He was taken back. Salt? What did that mean?
How much did she love him? He really wondered. His wife, wise woman that
she was caught on. The next meal she cooked was absolutely salt free. Bland.
Flat. Unappetizing. the meal was so insipid that the man didn't enjoy it
at all. Then he realized the full force of his daughter's remark. She loved
him so much that nothing was good without him! With a smile he said, "I
understand now, Mary. Your love is the greatest of all! You love me more
than salt!" Salt adds flavor and zest. Pass the salt.
SALT IS AN ANTISEPTIC:
Through the years salt has been used to combat germs of various kinds.
Jewish babies were rubbed with salt at birth as a disinfectant.
For years people "cured" pork or fish or other meats in salt to preserve
them against bacterial decay.
Probably at one time or another you have gargled with a salt water solution
as an antibiotic.
Perhaps you have cut yourself and have somehow gotten salt into the wound.
It hurts like crazy and you run around hollering like a madman, but it
does help prevent infection.
During WWII Carrel-Dakin company made a strong antiseptic with the chlorine
derived from salt.
Our current culture, our present society considers itself sophisticated,
broad-minded, tolerant and healthy. God has a different diagnosis. God's
opinion is different:
Jeremiah 17:9 (NASB)
"The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who
can understand it?"
Genesis 6:5 (NASB)
"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and
that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Jesus says, "Pass the salt!" The church, teaching and living by the Word,
must be antiseptic to a sin sick society.
Exert moral influence; Speak out for Christ; Help others find His way.
Pass the salt.
Let me give you an example: When I was just out of high school, I went
to Las Cruces, New Mexico to attend New Mexico State University. I lived
alternately with my married brothers Howard and Herb. Herb was quite a
party guy. I admired him and thought I'd be just like him. At one of his
parties, I decided to try every drink available. Herb took me aside and,
putting his hand on my shoulder, said, "If you don't start, you won't have
to worry about stopping!" I never took another drop of alcohol after that.
His words were an antiseptic to the so called disease of alcoholism. By
the way, he died an abstaining Christian.
Salt is an antiseptic. In the Old Testament we read about a situation where
the water was not potable. It may have been poisonous, it may have been
diseased, it may have been alkaline. But the citizens came to Elisha. 2
Kings 2:19-22 (NASB)
"Then the men of the city said to Elisha, 'Behold now, the situation of
this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the land
is unfruitful.' And he said, 'Bring me a new jar, and put salt in it.'
So they brought it to him. And he went out to the spring of water, and
threw salt in it and said, 'Thus says the LORD, "I have purified these
waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer."'
So the waters have been purified to this day, according to the word of
Elisha which he spoke." Salt is an antiseptic. Pass the salt.
SALT IS A PENETRATOR:
Salt quickly spreads. Add a little salt to a glass of water and the entire
glass is affected.
Like salt, Jesus wants us to penetrate society:
Matthew 28:18-20 (NASB)
"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, '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 the Son and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.'"
Go, not sit and wait for them to come to you. Go, Jesus commands it!
We are not called to me monastics; we are not to be reservoirs of the Gospel.
We are to go: to penetrate the lives of individuals with whom we come into
contact; to penetrate our homes, schools, workplaces, and recreational
activities; to penetrate our clubs and social organizations for Him.
You have perhaps turned homemade ice cream. You know how it is. You get
your mouth all set for it. You can almost taste those chocolate chips,
frozen, crunchy, blending in with that vanilla ice cream. Once I was careless
in handling the cannister. Somehow it opened just a little and some of
the brine got into the ice cream. It permeated the whole batch. The salt
quickly spread as the freezing mass churned. The entire batch was inedible
because of a little salt. Disappointment all over the place! Salt penetrates.
Pass the salt.
SALT IS AN ESSENTIAL TO LIFE:
While an excess of salt can be deadly, an absolute absence of salt is equally
terminal. Your entire system could shut down without a proper amount of
sodium. I read that the average person uses about a quarter bushel each
year. Someone discovered that
Pigeons will die in about 3 months and dogs will die within about 6 months
if totally deprived of salt.
Salt balances the density of fluids in our body and keeps the blood the
right consistency.
Salt is used in the body's manufacture of hydrochloric acid an essential
digestive chemical.
Jesus Christ came that we might have life: abundant and eternal; full,
rich and free; meaningful and satisfying life.
But we are not only to receive and enjoy that life, we are to pass it on.
Jesus Christ is essential to real life. Pass the salt.
A young sculptor painstakingly chipped, shaped and polished his stone into
the shape of a beautiful girl. He asked the famous Michelangelo for an
opinion. Michelangelo considered the work minutely. Then he said, "It lacks
only one thing." Then he had to leave. The young sculptor brooded over
that. He had done his best. What had the master meant by, "It lacks only
one thing!"? In a day or so, he spoke to Michelangelo. "Sir, you said my
statue lacked only one thing. Would you tell me what that thing is?" Michelangelo,
smiling, said, "Your statue is marvelous. It lacks only one thing: it lacks
only actual life." Many lack one thing: Life. Salt is essential to life.
Pass the salt.
The world has its pleasures, its possessions, its power, its pomp and its
pride. But apart from Jesus Christ, the world does not have life. The world
has its brief temporal existence. But apart from Jesus Christ the world
does not have lasting life. We are to humbly, gently, persistently carry
the life of Jesus to a sick, dying world. Jesus says "Pass the salt!" You
can do that at home, in your neighborhood, at school, at work, in the club,
while you are eating out -- whenever you can, wherever you can -- pass
the salt. Will you commit your life to Jesus today? Will you be salt for
Him? Will you get out of the shaker? Our song provides the words: "I'll
go where You want me to go!" Can you not only sing, but live that? You
are the salt of the earth. Don't lose your saltiness. Season the world,
be an antiseptic, penetrate, and take the life of Christ into yourselves,
and then to others.