Bible Text: Matthew 5:13 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living |
“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 by men” (Matthew 5:13).
Ruth Graham wrote, “It happened in one of those countries whose leaders deny the existence of God, but allow the church to exist under a secretary for church affairs. In this case, the secretary was not only a brilliant pastor, he was a medical doctor as well. One day he was called on the carpet by the authorities. Knowing there would be a new crackdown on the Christians, he started right in: ‘I know you gentlemen wish to interrogate me,’ he began, ‘but first, may I say something?’ Permission was granted and he continued. ‘You know I am a medical doctor. As a doctor I know the importance of salt in the human body: it should be maintained at about 2 percent. If it is less, a person gets sick. If it is eliminated altogether, he will die. Now Jesus has said that Christians are the salt of the earth.’ Then he paused. ‘That is all. And now, gentlemen, what is it that you wish to say to me?’ ‘Oh, nothing, nothing…’ they agreed. And he was dismissed.”
May I repeat Jesus’ words, “You are the salt of the earth…” You know what He said, but what did He mean? While there are more than 14,000 uses of salt, the two primary uses are as a preservative and as a seasoning. The book of Job in the Bible records some of the oldest records in existence of human behavior; and it asks the question, “Is tasteless food eaten without salt?” (Job 6:6).
More than thirty times the Bible mentions the importance of salt. It was a custom in ancient days to rub newborn babies with salt to insure their health. Among the Arabs there is a saying, “There is salt between us,” meaning, “we have eaten together and we are friends.” In ancient days salt was extremely scarce, which meant that soldiers and workers in the Roman empire were paid part of their wages in salt, which resulted in the saying that a person wasn’t worth his salt.
If the two primary uses of salt are: 1) preservation and 2) seasoning, or making foods palatable, and since a Christian is the salt of the earth, his very presence should accomplish two things: 1) He should preserve the right, and his very presence should be a deterrent to moral darkness; and 2) he should, by his life and outlook, make life more bearable to those around him.
If a human body must have a 2% sodium chloride intake to survive, surely society must have no less than that. The difference between a repressive society, where there is no personal liberty and expression, and the free world is the attitude of men towards Jesus Christ and our heavenly Father. In recent days I have been thinking a lot about the function of salt as a preservative. In an open wound salt stings like fury, which helps me understand the opposition I feel when I speak out on moral issues. Nevertheless, our failure to be salt results in the eventual loss of our very right to speak out; hence, we are swept away and lose our freedom to speak out.
A closing thought: Immediately after Jesus referred to Christians as the salt of the earth, He spoke of believers as being a light in a dark world, and reminded us that men do not light candles or torches and put them under baskets. While salt may be lowly, it is absolutely vital to survival. To be the salt of the earth in preserving what God has given to us, and in seasoning the world about us, is not only our privilege but our obligation. It is something to think about.
Resource reading: Matthew 5
