By: Scott Adkins, Sling ‘n Stone Ministry
Carter County Times
Heaven’s roadmap, unfolded by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount, tells us we “are the salt of the earth.” (Matt. 5:13). Today, we think of salt as table salt, or sodium chloride, used to flavor our food. But in Jesus’s day, salt did more than flavor.
In Jesus’s day, salt came from the Dead Sea. Dead Sea salt contains not just sodium chloride, but also potash – an indispensable fertilizer, along with a host of other “salts” that, among other functions, sterilize wherever applied. In Jesus’s day, salt flavored and preserved food from rot and decay; fertilized land; and sterilized against infectious rot. Luke 13:34-35 says so. There, Jesus described salt that had lost its strength as unfit for land and for the dunghill. (Luke 13:35). Hence, the Lord’s referring to the land – for salt’s fertilizing function, and to the dunghill – for salt’s sterilizing function against infectious rot.
What should all that teach us Christians about our function as His “salt of the earth?” Answer: We function (or should function) to preserve the world from rot and decay; promote healthy growth; and sterilize to prevent the spread of infectious iniquity. But have we done so? Tragically, we have not.
Look at America today: Today, America forbids school prayer; one state stands poised to allow Satanists clubs within its schools. How did such iniquitous rot come to so pervade our nation?
Answer: The salt – that’s us – long ago lost its strength, or as Jesus said, its “savor.” (Matthew 5:13); (Luke 13:34). But how does salt lose its strength? Salts present stable chemical compounds. The only way to degrade a stable compound’s strength is to dilute or contaminate that compound.
In Jesus’s day, salt merchants diluted or contaminated their product with sand. Contaminated or diluted salt lost its power and usefulness. We, as Christians, are no different. If we contaminate ourselves with worldly things; fleshly lusts; covetousness; or pride, (I John 2:16), we become useless to the Lord. We lose our strength and rot reigns. We become good for nothing.
We garner sinners’ contempt. That’s why Jesus warned contaminated salt is “good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under men’s feet.” (Matthew 5:13). To remain useful to Him, we must stay pure. (I Timothy 5:22). But we haven’t. Hence, America’s sinful state, and sinners’ contempt for “contemporary Christianity.” An impure church, populated by powerless professors, can never lead sinners to repentance. Mirroring the world to draw them in, we’ve drawn only their scornful contempt.
We must return to fearing God; loving Him; and obeying Him. That requires pastors repent and rail against sin; exalt God’s holiness; and herald His command that all men everywhere repent. Some will stomp out of church. Let them. When Jesus warned: “repent, and do the first works; or else,” (Revelation 2:5), He meant it.