Spiritual Influence

Spiritual Influence - Matthew 5:13–16 

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (5:13). 

Introduction: 

In the Beatitudes which we have just considered we have eight facets of the Christian character. Then the Master moves on to show that Christian character leads to Christian conduct. What a man is inwardly will be revealed outwardly in terms of influence—“You are the salt of the earth …” (5:13); and radiance—“You are the light of the world …” (5:14—to be considered in our next study). 

The Savior was ever using metaphors to illustrate deep spiritual principles. In the Sermon on the Mount alone He employs no less than forty-eight figures of speech. The one we are considering today is that of salt. 

I. The Figure of the Salt 

“You are the salt of the earth …” (5:13). Throughout Scripture the figure of salt is used to denote: 

1) The Quality of Character.

When God wanted to impress His ancient people with the value and quality of the sacrifices they were offering He said, “… With all your offerings you shall offer salt” (Lev. 2:13). From that time onward salt has been highly valued and associated with the essence of quality. 

The Jews spoke of salt as being “precious,” and the Greeks regarded salt as being “divine”. The Romans had a saying, “There is nothing more useful than sun and salt.” Even to this day when we speak of a person’s solid worth and usefulness we say “That person is worth his salt.” It is an expression used to indicate those fundamentally fine people who add such value to mankind. 

Spiritually speaking, the figure of salt represents a Spirit-filled Christian. Only the Holy Spirit can work in us and through us that quality of life which is salt-like and, therefore, Christ-like. 

2) The Purity of Character.

Speaking on the subject of judgment, the Lord Jesus said, “And if your eye makes you sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—where ‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be seasoned with fire …” (Mark 9:47–49). 

Salt, then, is set in contrast to evil, sin, and corruption. As believers, we are to be known, like our Lord, as “… holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners …” (Heb. 7:26). His life in us is to be a constant judgment on self, sin, and Satan, wherever this trinity of evil emerges. On the other hand, it is important that we be as salt, affecting personal, social, vocational, and national life. 

In personal life we touch people every day. What effect are we having on them? In social life people are watching us, whether or not we are aware of it. Are we a purifying influence or are we turning people off? In vocational life we are to be honest, punctual, and efficient in the office, shop, factory or school. In national life our influence can have nationwide and even worldwide ramifications. 

What action are we taking to better our country and its leaders? 

What an impact could be made if every Christian was a citizen worth his or her salt? 

The Christian is not asked to dispense salt, but rather to be salt. His life in society must act as an antiseptic, a preservative, a sweetener. 

This is the only answer to the defiling, decaying, insipid world in which we live. We need to challenge ourselves as to whether or not we do possess salt in ourselves—the life of Christ made real in us by the Holy Spirit. 

II. The Function of the Salt 

“You are the salt of the earth …” (5:13). The supreme function of salt is to permeate and affect everything that it touches. The influence in the world will be felt through the believer’s: 

1) Silent Life 

“… Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another” (Mark 9:50). One of the obvious and natural characteristics of salt is that it works silently and at close quarters. It must make contact with other objects if it is to fulfill its function. Assuming that salt maintains its savor, it is always effective. 

Similarly, the believer should be always effective in his silent witness. There are many times when the silent witness is to be preferred. Indeed, it is often more costly to be silent than to be vocal. It was during Jesus’ trial before Pilate that He answered “… not one word so that the governor marveled greatly” (Matt. 27:14). Only by the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is the true salt, can we exercise such restraint and control. 

What we are is much more important than what we say. Often what we are shouts so loud that people cannot hear what we say. Therefore, if our lives do not evidence the savor of pure salt then what we say has no value at all. Oh, for salted Christians who make others thirsty for Jesus! 

Not merely by the words you say,

Not only in your deeds confessed,

But in the most unconscious way

Is Christ expressed. 

2) Speech Life 

“Let your speech be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Col. 4:6).  There are times when definite speech is called for. When Pilate asked Jesus “… Are you a king …?” He answered, “… You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth …” (John 18:37). 

When Peter failed his Master on the eve of Calvary it was because he knew nothing of the salt of the Spirit in his life. Instead of speaking out bravely concerning his relationship to Jesus Christ he denied his Lord with cursing and swearing (see Mark 14:71). He knew nothing of the true martyr-spirit, and was therefore not prepared to witness at any cost. 

The greatest need in the church of Jesus Christ at the present time is for every-member evangelism. Without it we shall never evangelize the world in our generation. Large crusades, radio and television programs, and even literature ministries will not accomplish the task. God’s supreme method is that we should be talking Christians—salted witnesses operating as did the early church. 

After the persecution of Stephen the disciples “… went everywhere preaching the word [gossiping the gospel]” (Acts 8:4), and in a little over thirty years the then known world had heard the message of a saving Christ. God give us more Christians whose speech life is “seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:6). 

3) Service Life 

“… every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt” (Mark 9:49). The Christian who knows the salt of the Spirit in his life lives in the constant experience of Romans 12:1–2. His body is wholly yielded and his life is a daily sacrifice—living, holy, and acceptable unto God.  All service done in the spirit of a sacrifice that has been salted with salt costs dearly, but counts for the glory of God. The problem with most Christian service today is that it has no salt in it. 

III. The Failure of the Salt 

“… if the salt loses its flavor … it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot …” (5:13). There are two ways in which salt can lose its flavor. 

1) Isolation 

“Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another” (Mark 9:50). Note those words: “… Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” The opposite of this is isolation. Salt which is isolated over a long period of time is said to lose its strength and sweetness. 

How true this is of Christian experience! The person who isolates himself from church, Christian fellowship, and the means of grace eventually loses his keenness and zeal.

True, God has called us to a life of separation, but certainly not to a life of isolation. This was the mistake of some of the Christian fathers who believed that God could only be worshipped and served in isolationism—or what was known as monasticism. 

The secret of the early church was in the togetherness and fellowship of the church. We read that “… they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). The writer to the Hebrews, at a later date, exhorted his readers not to forsake “… the assembling of [themselves] together, as [was] the manner of some …” (Heb. 10:25). 

2) Infiltration 

“… if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? …” (5:13). The verb “loses” is from the Greek moros which means “dull,” “sluggish,” “stupid,” and “foolish.” If Christians play the “fool” and allow the world, the flesh, and the devil to infiltrate their lives, they become tasteless and insipid. Scholars tell us that Palestinian salt has been known to lose its savor by absorbing chemicals destructive to itself. 

The same thing happens to a Christian when he allows the impurity of the world to infiltrate his spiritual life until he loses his power and zest. Someone has said that “the corruption of the best is ever the worst.” Nothing is more tragic and shameful than for a believer to be disqualified in life and service. Paul carried a wholesome fear to his dying day lest having preached to others he himself “should become disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27). 

Salt that had lost its savor was useless for the land or the dunghill, and so was cast on the roads to be trampled under foot. What a place for the disqualified Christian! Yet this happens again and again. The believer backslides and is scorned and despised by the world.

• Think of Lot’s wife, who having been delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah refused to go all the way with God and turned into a monument of uselessness and shame. 

• Think of Samson, who having compromised with the world lost his strength, his sight and service.

• Think of Ananias and Sapphira, who holding back part of the price lost not only the money they retained, but their lives as well. 

• And we could think of modem-day illustrations of individuals who were once the salt of the earth but have been set aside, having lost their savor and influence. 

The question is often asked as to whether or not it is possible to be restored to the strength and sweetness of pure salt. Thank God, there is hope for the person who repents before it is too late. Dr. William Barclay relates that “In the Synagogue, among the Jews, there was a custom that, if a Jew became an apostate and then returned to the faith, before he was received back into the Synagogue, he must in penitence lie across the door of the Synagogue and invite people to trample upon him as they entered. 

In certain places the Christian Church took over that custom, and a Christian who had been ejected by discipline from the Church, was compelled, before he was received back, to lie at the door of the Church and to invite people as they entered, ‘Trample upon me who am the salt which has lost its savour.’ 

Conclusion 

What a challenge this simple metaphor presents to us! What about your life? Is it characterized by quality and purity? Is the salt of your life influencing others around you or have you lost your savor?. 

Let us not blame the unregenerate world for the increasing wickedness around us while the church is morally paralyzed and fails to react to the situation as salt amid corruption.

God enable us to bear responsibility to be “… the salt of the earth …” (5:13).

… If you were to evaporate a ton of water from the Pacific Ocean, you would get approximately 79 pounds of salt. A ton of Atlantic water would yield 81 pounds. And from the Dead Sea you would get almost 500 pounds of salt. As these statistics demonstrate, the earth’s bodies of water vary greatly in their degree of saltiness. 

So do Christians. Jesus said that we are “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13).… Check your “salt content.” 

• Are you the kind of person others like to be around? 

• Is your conversation pure? 

• Do you keep promises? 

• Are you characterized by goodness? 

An unbelieving world is watching and listening to you. 

… In 1951, the French philosopher and skeptic Albert Camus was asked to address a group of French churchmen on “What the world expects of Christians.” He said in part, “What the world expects of Christians is that they speak up against evil in such a way that not the slightest doubt [about what they mean] can exist in the heart of the simplest man. The world expects Christians to speak out clearly and pay up personally.” How much more does Christ expect of us? 

… Many years ago some ruffians set fire to a church in a leper colony in Korea which soon burned out of control. The lepers were heartbroken. To repair the damage would cost $1,250. The lepers pledged to raise the sum themselves by going without Sunday dinner for two years. Here were individuals who demonstrated loving service by their sacrifice. 

Here are some practical ways to take care of your church: 

• Bring yourself and your spirit of worship. 

• Bring reverence for God and His house. 

• Bring your offering (the tithe plus). 

• Bring a spirit of love and fellowship. 

• Bring a hearty handshake and a smile. 

• Bring a kind word and helpful thoughts. 

• Bring your willingness to help sing, and sing out of your heart. 

• Bring a friend or relative. 

• Bring your best each Sunday to church. 

• Get the church-going habit. 

By CovenantMedia