“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." (NASB)
He talking about all the properties of salt and why Jesus would use it to describe what His people should be like. He talked about salt having a distinct flavor, that it created a thirst in people, it prevented the spread of corruption, and that it was also used as a fertilizer to promote growth. As I listened, a thought occurred to me about salt: It doesn't do a thing if it stays in the shaker!
For salt to do any of these things it has to leave the shelter of the shaker and go down into the thing it's effecting. It must come into contact with food to flavor it. It must come into contact with the meat if it is to preserve it and prevent it from rotting. It must be worked down into the soil for it to help promote growth. It cannot stay in the shaker if it is to be of any use at all.
Imagine someone asking you to pass the salt at the dinner table. You reach over and pass it to them. They take it and set the shaker down next to their plate. "No, no," you tell them. "You have to put it on your food." They pick up the shaker and set it on the food. "No, you have to actually turn it upside down and shake it until the salt comes out!"
Sounds silly but we do it all the time. Jesus called His followers "the salt of the earth," the flavor-enhancing, thirst-creating, corruption-preventing, growth-promoting agents of this world. How often do we mistake the presence of the shaker for the participation of the salt? If the shaker is the church building where we gather and become salty, then we will never be what God intends us to be unless we allow Him to turn our churches upside down and shake them until we are willing to go out into the world and actually be the salt of the earth.
Can you imagine salt refusing to come out of the shaker, no matter how you shake it? What would you do with that salt? Jesus said, "It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." (Matt. 5:13b, NASB) What is God doing to turn us upside down? What has He dome to shake us out? Is there some area of your life that He is challenging you to let go of? Is there some program or tradition or way of doing things that we are reluctant to change because that's how it's always been dome? Is there a need in your community that God has revealed to you, but it's outside of your comfort zone?
One word of warning about coming out of the shaker: You will not always be welcomed warmly. Another property of salt is that it stings and irritates when it comes into contact with a wound. Like the old song says:
"We sting like salt in the wounds of a wounded world." (Wounded World, Jacob's Trouble)
Sometimes our saltiness will irritate and anger the wounded areas of a fallen world. We will inevitable be called upon to stop the spread of corruption in areas where sin and wickedness have become so accepted and even embraced that our presence will not be welcomed. We will be opposed. That's where one last important thought about salt comes into play.
Salt always works in group. When you apply salt do you ever use a single grain alone? Now, make no mistake, a single grain of salt possesses all the flavor and properties customary to salt. But it was not intended to work alone. Similarly, the New Testament knows nothing of a Christianity lived out in a vacuum. Jesus followers were created to live, work, play, and worship in communities. Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NASB) It's hard to love one another if you are all by yourself.
father, shake me. Turn my world upside down. Show me where I am needed. Use my life, my marriage, my family, my church to create in others a thirst for Jesus. use us to take a stand against the spread of corruption, even if it stings and irritates. Leverage us to help people come to know you more and grow more deeply in their relationship with You! In the precious and powerful name of Jesus, Amen!
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