SERMON “YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH”
Salt is very important in our lives because it
has a lot of functions, but how far do we appreciate it? The fact is, after
buying it at the traditional market or at the supermarket, we only put it in
the kitchen for daily need? What did Jesus want related to salt? Matthew 5:13 –
16 wrote,"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. "You are the light of the
world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and
put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to
everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that
they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
It looks like the portion of the explanation
about ‘the light of the world’ is more often heard than ‘the salt of the
earth’, therefore, this time we will focus on "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.
It was really clear that Jesus wanted His disciples as ‘the salt
of the earth’ not to lose its saltiness for there will be no solution anymore to
make the salt salty except it is ready to be thrown out and trampled by men.
There is a little difference between the word ‘earth’ (ge=the
ground, the abode of men and animals, territory, → the place where we are,
land, country) and the ‘world’ ((kosmos=the harmonious arrangement → the order
of this world).
Usually, salt is found in the kitchen and functions to give taste.
Job himself admitted, “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt...?” (Job 6:6) So, from any corner starting from
the palace of a king until the remote hut, there will be salt as food seasoning.
Application:
How beautiful it is if in every house, school, the government on
this earth is completed by the presence of Christians who function as ‘salt’.
Then that place will certainly experience peace & harmony. Could we imagine
if the whole earth occupied by ± 7 billion people who are all equipped as ‘the salt of the earth’?
The world will be far different!
What are the common comments uttered toward all the food we enjoy?
“not enough salt”, “too salty”, or “just right”. All these depend on the
portion of the salt given to that food; it looks so simple but gives
extraordinary impact.
In the Old Testament, salt is used as eternal covenant that must
not be broken. For example:
- When the priests offered meal offering, God commanded that Aaron
and his children give salt that He will be pleased of that offering (Leviticus
2:13; compare Numbers 18:19).
- When the cities of the enemies were torn down, the Israelites gave
salt on that destroyed city with the purpose that the city could not be built
again because no plant would grow on it (Deuteronomy 29:23).
Appreciation toward salt
Acctually salt is really valuable, even in some remote places on
the mountain, the people are willing that some pigs are exchanged with a spoon
of salt. Unfortunately, many Christians forget their position as ‘the salt of
the earth’ whose existence is really needed in the midst of the community.
Technology, science and health find so many usefulness / functions
of salt while the Bible wrote about them thousands of years ago. The question
is, are we needed as ‘salt’ or thrown and trampled? We are encouraged to
appreciate ourselves but to be careful not to over value which will not be in
accordance with the evaluation of the Lord. The result is we are easily
offended because we do not want to be despised.
How do we feel after receiving appreciation from God? We are
supposed to be joyful and not to cease giving thanks because God Himself is the
One who manifests it; it is different from human saying (whoever he is) that
mostly only take purpose to comfort / please heart while Jesus really longs to
save all of us.
Be careful, many children of God are no longer
interested in listening to His words – the Word of God. Actually we should
always be passionate to receive the Word of God that gives certain purpose of
the life we are going through.
Back then, the country that processed salt had to go through the
desert by using about 40 thousand camels that lifted salt to be sold to the
country in need. It is obvious how important salt is. The trading of salt at
that time determined the strength of a city, the purpose and development of a
government.
Introspection: how is our function as ‘the salt of the earth;? Do
people surrounding us need our presence and consider us very important for
them? Aren’t we ‘the salt of the earth’ and they will listen to our opinions?
Have we given good contribution to our country and nation or we, on the
contrary, are making things worse?
The meaning of ‘the salt of the earth’ is very deep and wide, such
as:
· “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned
with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Collosians 4:6)
The Lord wants our utterances to be good, polite, tender even
seasoned with salt, not merely to please others that we speak
beautifully without taking action.
· The experts did not stop to explore the usage of salt only for
seasoning, but the science nowadays has found out as many as 14.000 kinds of
usages. That the usages other than for household, in this case as a seasoning,
also in gardening (compare Luke 14:34-35), industry, medication, national
defence and surely many more will be found. This shows that salt is very
important.
It is neccesary to know that salt consists of two chemical
elements, they are natrium (Na) and chloride (Cl). Man needs salt because
the body contains chemical elements such as: oxygen, iron, phospor, calium,
etc. including natrium and chloride. If the body is lacking of salt,
dehydration happens, the body will be weak, dizzy, stiff, and so on and needs to take
the shot of ‘salt water’.
Do we desire that the churches and Indonesians will be healthy? Be
‘the salt of the earth’ that can influence, not affected by our
surroundings. Everyday man needs ± 20 mg of salt, if we want a healthy
body, we must not be lacking that amount. Therefore the church also needs ‘the
salt of the Word of God’ to be healthy spiritually. There is a disease caused
by ‘too many salt element’, but the Lord also gives us wisdom to keep our body
healthy before we become sick. By having ‘enough salt’ we do not need to
feel dizzy, instead we will have a clear mind to face problems.
• Making meals, the components of the tools and body to be clean, long lasting or not easily broken, also to neutralize poisons.
• Making meals, the components of the tools and body to be clean, long lasting or not easily broken, also to neutralize poisons.
Where there is a Christian, "cleaning" shall happen
of all the sin of corruption, cheating, adultery, etc. It is very unfortunate
if Christians are supporting sins to occur in some countries that legalizes
homosexual or lesbian marriage!
The Bible said that salt is eternal covenant; in other words, once
the Lord spoke about holiness, we must not compromise any filthiness or
wickedness, for the Bible had already explained that the vile person continues
to be vile; let the one who does right continues to do right; and let the holy
person continues to be holy (Revelation 22:11).
Remember, without Jesus men will be ruined. Filthiness and
wickedness can only be prevented by 'the salt of the earth'. It is true that it
will risk highly to declare the prevention of filthiness and wickedness in this
world, but it becomes the task the Lord gives us. What is the use for us to
stay in one place where we do not give an impact of salvation there?
• "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourself and be at peace with each other." (Mark 9:50)
• "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourself and be at peace with each other." (Mark 9:50)
The Lord gives us a chance without time limit wherever we are to
have 'salt' inside ourselves so that all of us will be at peace.
Jesus said, "Let the good influence from each of us be felt
in this world. It is useless for a person to say he is my follower if he does
not give any influence to this world. Your influences are described as salt.
When cooking some meal, people like to mix a little salt into it. Although salt
is similar to sand, yet we do not want to mix sand into our meal! Sand is only
useful to be thrown or trampled."
How wonderful it is when the Lord uses our lives as the salt of
the earth that its usages can be tasted by people around us. Let us not take
for granted this chance that we lose our saltiness and ready to be thrown out
and even trampled because our lives are not giving positive impacts at all to
others! Amen.
Lemah Putro, Sunday Morning, June 14th, 2015
Rev. Paulus Budiono
Transalator: Samuel Sirait
Editor
: Interpreter Team
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