Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Needs More Salt


            When I was praying about this week’s lesson, I got to thinking about my dad’s eating habits. I know it’s kind of strange but hopefully it will start making sense so be patient a little longer. Anyway, aside from my wife, I think my mom is the best cook in the world (my mother-in-law, aka my other mom, is also an amazing cook). However, it went without fail that whenever my mom prepared a meal, which I always thought was perfect (except for Polenta which always made me throw up), my dad would immediately reach for the salt and complain that she never salted the food enough. He would always say, Needs More Salt! Not surprisingly, he also suffered from high blood pressure no doubt exacerbated by his love for salt. Nevertheless, his love for extra salt on food wasn’t without merit. I’m not a master chef by any stretch of the imagination but I know that salt is an essential ingredient and spice that serves to bring out the inherent flavor of foods. Without it, foods lose their distinctive flavor and appeal. I got to thinking about that this week from a theological perspective and how Jesus used the simple idea of salt as a powerful teaching tool.

            I also thought about other aspects of my father’s behavior in respect to this lesson, specifically how his behavior as an abusive alcoholic negated, in my mind, what he said he believed about God. If you’ve spent any amount of time reading my lessons then you are well aware of my disdain for the behavior of people who profess to believe in Jesus Christ yet behave in a way that is completely contradictory to that profession. During this political season, I have gotten a stomach full of this type of profession from all the political candidates. However, during a recent debate between the Vice Presidential candidates, one of the candidates who claimed to be a faithful Catholic said some things that are probably not inconsistent with what other Christians believe but are prominent because of the public nature of his declaration. Specifically, he made it clear on a number of occasions that his Christian faith is very personal and he keeps his personal beliefs separate from his duties as a public servant. In other words, this particular candidate has made a conscious choice to separate the sacred and the secular in his life. I’ll let you think long and hard about what that means and if that is even possible. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ll give you a peak into the window of my life so you can see what that looks like in real life and then I’ll demonstrate what that looks like in the life of this particular public servant.

            When I was growing up, we went to church almost every Sunday morning and almost always on Christmas and Easter. Without fail, we would sit in the front row or near the front of the church every time. And also without fail, my dad would be fall-down drunk by Sunday night and every other night of the week while I spent those times dreading the outbursts of rage that would often accompany his drunkenness. My dad likewise had a personal faith but let me ask you something—What difference did his personal faith make if it didn’t translate to his public behavior? It certainly made no difference to me. It was a useless, tasteless faith like food without salt. So how was the Vice Presidential candidate’s “personal faith” useful? Well he is personally against abortion yet supports it publicly. That makes his personal faith entirely useless to the world around him just like my dad’s personal faith was worthless to those of us who were terrorized by his abusive behavior.

            The truth is, it is not possible to have a “personal faith” that does not inform our public life. Think about this—Our public life reveals our “personal faith.” To most people, what we say we believe is irrelevant. The truth is, our actions, in large part, reveal what we actually believe. That’s a hard truth for all of us including me. So let me ask you this, if God were to inspect your life, what would He say about your faith? I’m pretty sure I know what He would say to me—Needs More Salt!

Subject Text

Matthew 5:13-16

            13“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 underfoot. 14“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither 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. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Context

            These words by Jesus come right on the heels of Jesus’ sermon opening known as the Beatitudes from His Sermon on the Mount. Our Subject Text is part of the introduction that is a compendium of teaching about righteous living. In this case, Jesus is not teaching about appropriate beliefs, Jesus is teaching about appropriate behavior. In the verses and chapters that follow our Subject Text, Jesus insists that the righteousness of His listeners must exceed that of the Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Don’t get this wrong, that doesn’t mean that right belief isn’t important, or even the most important thing, it just means that right belief without right behavior is useless. The rest of chapter 5 through chapter 7 is a lesson in righteous behavior; behavior that will set them apart from those who are not His followers. Everything Jesus taught them was radically, counter-cultural. In fact, you could say that Jesus was the first Revolutionary. He raised the standard of adultery and said that when someone looks at another with lust in their heart, they have already committed adultery in their heart. During a time when a man could divorce his wife for just about any reason, Jesus reset the standard to include very strict and finite standards. Jesus taught about loving enemies in a culture that practiced exacting revenge and hating enemies. Jesus taught about quietly giving to those in need without the need for recognition unlike the religious leaders who craved attention and fanfare to go along with their giving. Jesus taught about simple prayer in a culture where verbose and complex prayer was a sign of religious superiority. Jesus went on to teach about fasting, money, worry, and criticizing others. Finally, Jesus closes His sermon with some very important lessons that are particularly important for the context of our lesson.

            In a culture that sought guidance and direction from its religious leaders, Jesus taught that that if they sought God for direction, He would answer them without the need for mediation by religious leaders. Jesus also taught that the way to heaven was going to be hard and that not everyone would be willing make the demanding trek. Finally, Jesus makes probably His most important point of the entire two chapters when He says that His followers would be recognized by the evidence that was revealed by their lives. He made it quite clear that there would be many who would claim to be His followers but that the evidence (“fruit”) of their lives would serve to contradict what they said they believed.

Text Analysis

            13“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 underfoot.

            We, in our modern society, we sort of take salt for granted except when we’re seasoning our food. However, during the time of Jesus, salt was crucial not just as a seasoning for food but also as a preservative and for medicinal purposes. While we might see salt as no big deal, Jesus’ audience would have immediately recognized salt as a necessary staple of everyday life. However, the idea of salt losing its saltiness as described by Jesus is a little problematic as salt is a very stable compound and can’t really lose its saltiness. So let me give you at least one plausible explanation for what Jesus is saying here.

            First, Jesus is not giving a lesson in chemistry so we probably shouldn’t project our understanding of chemical compounds over what Jesus is trying to say. Instead, it is likely that the salt during Jesus’ time was not the same stabilized compound familiar to us today. Most of the salt was mined from the areas surrounding the Dead Sea and may have included other, less stable, compounds. Those compounds made salt useable but impure and when those less stable elements in the salt were exposed to moisture, they would disappear and leave behind a flavorless white powder. In this case what was once salty would lose its saltiness and become useless.

            I believe this is a good explanation for the idea Jesus was trying to convey. Christians are like impure salt. As long as the outward display of their lives reflects what they say they believe then they are like salt that is necessary for everyday life. If, however, the outward reflection of their lives do not reflect what they say they believe then they are like impure salt that is no longer salty and has become useless for its intended purpose.

            “Salt preserves from corruption. In the centuries before modern refrigeration, salt was the method of choice for preventing bacteria from poisoning food. Salt was so vital for this purpose that wars were fought over salt, and entire economies were based on it. Salt could literally make the difference between life and death in a time when fresh food was unavailable.

            “Just as salt prevents or kills bacteria in food, the kingdom servant prevents or confronts corruption in the world. Notice that it is the earth that needs salt, not the kingdom of heaven. If the kingdom servant did not have a function to perform on earth according to God’s plan, he might as well go straight to heaven upon conversion. The reality is that the earth needs the influence of Christ’s church in this age…

            “Salt is to add flavor or interest. Jesus highlighted this purpose when he spoke of the danger of salt losing its saltiness. The kingdom and all associated with it are anything but boring. They are life! However, the kingdom servant is capable of living like a dead person. Part of the church’s task on earth is to live according to its new nature—alive, purposeful, hopeful, joyful! Christians should be living in such a way that others will pause and consider what is different about them. Believers are different and should appear so, because the Father is different.

            “The kingdom servant who does not live according to his nature as salt is useless to the king’s advancement of the kingdom on earth. One might even question the genuineness of a person’s kingdom citizenship.”[1]

14“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither 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. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

            Jesus continues teaching essentially the same thing in vv. 14-16 with respect to light as He did previously with respect to salt. Again, we take light for granted, at least here in America. We walk into a room when it’s dark and just flip on a light switch. When it’s dark and we need to find our way, we have street lights, flashlights, and search lights to help guide us. And when the electricity goes out and we don’t have access to a flashlight or some other source of modern lighting, we inevitably revert to the old reliable candle. Well candlelight or torchlight was the only light available during Jesus’ time so again, this metaphor would have made perfect sense to Jesus’ audience. And really it isn’t that hard for us to understand either. It seems obvious doesn’t it? Who would light a candle to light up a room and then cover it with a bowl? It’s a ridiculous question I know but that’s exactly what so many Christians do with their faith.

            We live in a dark and sin-filled world with countless dangers orchestrated by Satan to lead people further and further away from God. A Christian who proclaims that their faith is a personal faith that they keep separate from their public life is just like the person who lights a candle to light a room and then places it under a bowl. Two things happen when a person puts a bowl over a candle. Do you know what they are? One is obvious, the candle doesn’t light the room which completely defeats the purpose of the candle. The second, however, is not quite as obvious. Once the candle uses up all the oxygen under the bowl, the flame goes out. And that is precisely what happens in the life of a Christian who tries to hide their faith from the public. First, faith that is hidden defeats one of the primary purposes of faith—to point others to the Object of that faith. The other is that faith that isn’t exercised faithfully in all areas of life, including the public square, slowly but surely dies and becomes useless to a lost world stumbling around in the dark.

            Conversely, faith that reveals itself in a righteous life brings glory and honor to God who calls His followers to be righteous and perfect in the same way the He is righteous and perfect.

            “Light symbolized the new hope which arose through Jesus’ preaching of the coming of God’s reign. Where there is light people can find their way and everything is clear; where there is darkness they stumble and are lost…Here the light which Jesus brings is also provided by the disciples…The world needs that light, and it is through the disciples that it must be made visible…

            “The context indicates that it is about the effect which the life of disciples must have on those around them. It thus takes for granted that the ‘job description’ of the disciple is not fulfilled by private personal holiness, but includes the witness of public exposure…The phrase ‘good deeds’ conveys the qualities set out in the Beatitudes, and especially the ‘righteousness’ of life which is to be characteristic of disciples… It is only as this distinctive lifestyle is visible to others that it can have its desired effect. But that effect is also now spelled out not as the improvement and enlightenment of society as such, but rather as the glorifying of God by those outside the disciple community. The subject of this discourse, and the aim of the discipleship which it promotes, is not so much the betterment of life on earth as the implementation of the reign of God. The goal of disciples’ witness is not that others emulate their way of life, or applaud their probity, but that they recognize the source of their distinctive lifestyle in ‘your Father in heaven.’ The phrase, which is distinctive of Matthew’s gospel and will be repeated throughout the discourse, reflects not a universal concept of the fatherhood of God toward all his human creatures but the distinctive relationship which exists between God and those who, through their response to Jesus’ message, have become subjects of his kingdom…

            “[However,] religious observance should not be undertaken ‘in front of other people so that they will notice.’…The ostentatious performance of religious acts in order to win approbation is not at all the same thing as a life of conspicuous goodness lived in the public arena so that people cannot help being impressed. The effect (and the intention) of the former is a reputation for piety; the result of the latter is the glory of God.”[2]

Application

            At the end of Matthew’s gospel Jesus commissions the disciples to go and make disciples of the nations. The Great Commission places an obligation on all Christians to share the gospel with the world around us. However, the gospel message is more than just a story about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The gospel message also includes the story of our lives that have been transformed by the message of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. There are those who completely dismiss this aspect of conveying the gospel message claiming that the lives of sinful humanity can only detract from the beautiful message of redemption. It is true that the behavior of Christians is far from perfect, and if you’re like me, you’re a long way from perfect. Even though you and I may recognize just how far our behavior falls short of God’s ideal, the ideal is still the goal—not for our benefit or for the purpose of personal recognition but as another medium to proclaim the gospel.

            As much as we want people to believe who we are based on what we tell them, the old idiom holds true in this case that our actions speak louder than our words. In the case of the Vice Presidential candidate I told you about at the beginning, he told us that as a Christian he is personally against abortion. However, those words are irrelevant and contradict his Christian claims because he supports the practice as a matter of public policy. When a man claims to be a Christian husband yet neglects and abuses his wife, his actions invalidate his claim if he never amends his actions. If a student claims to be a Christian yet cheats on her school assignments, her actions compromise her Christian profession if her behavior isn’t corrected. An employee who claims to be a Christian while neglecting their responsibility to their employer, tarnishes what they say they believe about God with their actions.

            Toward the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He made it clear that the road that leads to eternal life is treacherous and the gate we must pass through in the end is narrow. Jesus knew that in our sinful state, it would be hard for our words proclaiming that we are followers of Jesus Christ to always correspond to our actions. Nevertheless, Jesus calls us to always examine our lives for the areas where our words and our actions conflict and at that place confess our shortfall, repent and move forward proclaiming the Gospel message with our words and with our lives. I want to leave you with a word of encouragement, when you confess your sins and repent, your sins and your failures don’t disqualify you from proclaiming the Gospel and bringing glory to God with your life, it just means that your life Needs More Salt.



[1] Stuart K. Weber, Matthew—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2000), 61-62.
[2] R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew—The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007), 175-177.







(Audio version; Music: "Salt and Light" by: Lauren Daigle and "I Want To Be Just Like You" by: Phillips, Craig & Dean)




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