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Salt Sermon
A Season of Salt Sermon
Ocean View Methodist
June 28, 2014

Today we are going to talk about salt. Salt often gets a bad rap these days in
the health industry. Who here has been told by a doctor to eat less salt?
Who here has been told by a spouse to eat less salt (I raise my hand!)
Its bad when you put too much on your hot chips, but salt is actually
something that our bodies need to help transmit nerve impulses
Runners know that if you run a long distance and you sweat a lot, you then
have to replace that salt that you have sweat out or your body will get
imbalanced and you will get sick.
Salt has been an important part of all of history, maybe its most know fight
happened in 1930 when Mahatma Ghandi marched 240 miles to protest a
tax put on salt by the British government over the Indian people. He
believed salt was necessary for every person and was something everyone
should have.
Now we dont have to protest for salt, but it is something we use every day
and often dont think about it
But the absence of salt is very noticeable, as Ghandi would still claim.
Jesus would also agree and we are going to talk about salt today, but not
table salt for our hot chips.
Jesus says WE are to be the salt of the earth and I want to explore what that
means.

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You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its
flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled
underfoot as worthless. (Matthew 5:13)
What are the purposes and uses for SALT?
Most people probably think of salt as simply a white granular food
seasoning. But, in fact, only 6% of all salt manufactured goes into food.
We use salt in more than 14,000 different ways from the making of
products as varied as plastic, paper, glass, polyester, rubber and fertilizers to
household bleach, soaps, detergents and dyes.
Salt is EVERYWHERE and yet its something that often is forgotten and
goes unnoticed.
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But when we do have salt in something we taste we KNOW the difference

Everyone uses salt, directly or indirectly, and we see it throughout history.
The Greeks called salt divine and thought there was nothing more useful
than SUN and SALT.
In the Old Testament, we see references to salt throughout the text. It was
a necessity of everyday life in ancient times. At that time, it was a highly
valued trade item.
When its spoken about in stories, salt was often used as a metaphor to
signify permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and
purification
Salt was widely as a sacred sign in ancient Palestine. It was seen as
something to sacrifice and offer to God in worship because it was prized
Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5 illustrate salt as a covenant of
friendship. In cultures throughout the region, the eating of salt is a sign of
friendship.
Newborn babies were rubbed with salt in the Biblical times. This signified a
dedication of the baby that is would be raised with integrity and always be
truthful
But when Jesus uses salt to describe his followers, he is wanting more than a
symbol of friendship or dedication.
He wanted Christians to be the kind of salt that changed everything. He
wanted Christians to be the kind of salt that everyone noticed. He wanted
Christians to be the kind of salt that people couldnt live without.
Today I want to talk about four traits of salt and how these characteristics
need to be the mark of us as Christians
This communities, our families, our neighbors NEED us to be as salty as
possible. We have the potential to change the world and instead we are
complacent and happy to let the days go by without salting anything.
But our communities need our salt. This world needs to be salted and
changed.
That great British Evangelical leader John Stott reminds us, Whenever
Gods people have been effective as salt and light in the community,
there has been less social decay and more social uplift.
We have to stop waiting for everyone else to change the world. We need to
BE the change we want to see in the world, as Gandhi says
We are not meant to be bystanders in this world, just watching as victims as
everything happens TO us. We are meant to change this world, to season it
so it is never the same
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I want to start a Season of SALT in our church working off these four
characteristics of salt
1. WERE TO FLAVOR
Salt has the amazing ability to flavor everything it touches, even the most
bitter or boring of things
Added salt enhances the positive sensory attributes of foods, even some
otherwise unpalatable foods; it makes them taste better
Its soup season and what happens to soup if you dont have salt? Its
BORING. But if you add salt all of a sudden you can taste the broth and
the vegetables and the beans and it is fantastic.
Salt helps bring out the flavor in things
Christianity is to life what SALT is to FOOD.
Matthew 5.13 from the Message, Let me tell you why you are here.
Youre here to be the salt seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of
this earth.
We should be adding flavor. However, most of the time people look at us
and see the opposite. This shouldnt be the case. Christianity is not boring!
EXAMPLE of Joans granny competition! That is amazing!
In a worried world, the Christians should be the man or woman who
remains at peace
In a depressed world, the Christian should be the man or woman who
remains full of the Joy of the Lord
We have what no one else has and that is the freedom and JOY through
Jesus Christ our Savior
In our community, the ones who look like they are having the most fun are
the non-Christians! They are the ones making a noise, having parties, and
laughing through the streets! We should be the ones having the most fun
and everyone should want to be a part of our world.
Throughout the Gospels we hear of stories of people following Jesus
everywhere he went. He taught them, he healed them, he ate with them, he
was just WITH them. And everyone wanted to be around them. Jesus
brought something different into the world. He brought flavor.
One Gospel story that really highlights Jesus desire to bring flavor and our
hearts that often want to go home is found in Matthew 14. Its a time
where Jesus had tried to get away but people learned where he was and
followed him. They wanted whatever he had. And after they had been
taught and healed and set free, they just sat. They didnt want to end. It
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was like they were chanting an encore at a rock concert. They wanted more.
The disciples were OVER IT. They were tired and hungry and annoyed
and asked Jesus to send them away so they could figure out their own food
and life. But Jesus said do not send them away, and used their spiritual and
literal hunger as an opportunity. He got a measly donation of fish and
bread and fed five thousand from it.
Jesus always wanted to bring something to people. He gave the little he had
and God made a miracle out of it.
What you have might not be much, but people are hungry spiritually for
God. When we give God our meager selves he does a miracle and flavors
the world. The world is HUNGRY for God.
2. WE ARE TO HELP HEAL
Salt has many healing properties that people dont usually know about. If
your skin has a rash or is inflamed, salt in a bath can actually help to heal it.
It can also help dry it out skin and can help soothe muscles when in a bath.
Jesus wants us to be healing Christians just like salt can heal our world.
People need healing physically but also healing emotionally. Those
things are not connected all the time, but often people suffer with
both.
In Mark 2:1-12 the friends of the paralyzed man lets him down into the
house where Jesus is. They do anything to get their friend to Jesus.
In Matthew 8 a man comes to Jesus to ask him to heal his servant who is
suffering badly. Jesus asks him if he should go with him to his home and
the servant says no. Strange but true. But he says that he isnt worthy to
have him at his home, but that everything is under the authority of Jesus
and so all he has to do is say he is healed and he will be. Jesus is stunned by
his faith and heals the man.
We arent healing people on our own merit or power. We are offering the
healing of Jesus Christ and it has nothing to do with us. Everything in this
world is under the authority of Christ. Everything in Ocean View is under
the authority of Christ. Everything in your home is under the authority of
Christ.
This world needs healing and we need to offer it to people. Not because we
can heal them but because Jesus can. We need to be offering the healing of
Jesus Christ to this world because people are dying because anger and
broken hearts. People are dying because of diabetes and cancer. Jesus can
heal and we need to offer this healing to the world.
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What this entire world needs is HEALED HEARTS. Jesus can do that.
Lets begin offering it.
3. WE ARE TO PRESERVE
Salt was used in olden times to preserve food from corruption. To
preserve food, salt must come in contact with food.
The definition of preserve is (1) treat (food) to prevent its decomposition.
(2) keep safe from harm or injury.
If we are going to save this world from corruption and destruction, we must
come into close contact with people so that we can preserve them.
But if we are simply in physical contact with the world, we wont preserve it.
We need to treat the world, and do something to prevent corruption from
taking place.
That means we need to ENTER the world and stop it from dying. We sit
behind closed doors and judge the outside world for their sins, all while WE
are called to be the salt of this world and to stop it from dying
In our presence other should be drawn out of the darkness and have a
desire to move into the light.
Zaccheus the tax collector story Luke 19:1-10 the people were disgusted
that Jesus spent time with him, but that time changed Zaccheus and he
turned his life around. While people were muttering and judging Jesus for
being with a sinner, Jesus was loving him with the love of God and
Zaccheus was changed. Jesus says, The Son of Man came to SEEK and
SAVE the lost.
Are we doing the work now of Jesus? Are we seeking out the lost or just
peering at them from behind our curtains in judgment?
Its time to go into the streets and start loving those who are far from Jesus.
People are dying from contact with a world that will only drag them down.
We have the answers but we have to get in contact with them and stop
them from dying.
4. We are symbols of WORSHIP
Salt has been and is often used in religious rituals.
Salt is a symbol of covenant, symbol of purity, and a symbol of something
that is to last forever
Salt was also seen as something pure. It was seen as pristine and an offering
given to the God because it was perfect.
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Jesus is saying that WE must be pristine and we must be an offering of
worship.
We must live as examples of purity.
We must live our lives in worship.
Colossians 3:17, And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through him.
This doesnt mean that Jesus is saying we have to be perfect or we cant be
used, but he is using us, as broken vessels, and he is going to use us to shine
His great light and show His great love.
In John 12 we see an extraordinary example of this. They are at a special
dinner, friends around a table, and suddenly Mary starts to anoint Jesus with
special perfume that would have been a years worth of wages. Judas scolds
her saying its a waste, but Jesus knows that worship is NEVER a waste.
A worshipping life is NEVER a waste.
Jesus longs for us to live lives that worship him. He wants us to be praising
His name. Our stories of his glory should be fresh on our lips. We should
be thanking Him for what He has done and praying fervently and
expectantly for what He is going to do.
Our lives need to be WORSHIP to him, they need to be an offering to him
that make people stop and question and stop and stare.

So Jesus says to us today, that it is time for a SEASON of SALT.
Where are you missing your seasoning? When you look at your own life,
where are you missing some salt?
Matthew 5:13 in the AMPLIFIED BIBLE says it like this: You are the
salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality),
how can its saltness be restored? It is not good for anything any
longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
There is a point where you lose your saltiness. You lose your power. You
lose your influence. It is always there, but what this verse was saying was
that you will miss seeing the glory of God if you dont use the power of
your salt.
As salt we are called to 1) FLAVOR, 2) HEAL, 3) PRESERVE and 4) BE
SYMBOLS OF WORSHIP
How can you enter a season of salt?