Mark 9.49,50 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
Old Testament offerings involved salt as a sign of covenant faithfulness. In those days, salt was used to preserve food, and also as an antiseptic. We also know that salt in the ancient world was a mixture of minerals, and the sodium chloride could leach away by moisture, leaving behind useless minerals. Thus, the teaching of Jesus is very clear. The Christian man, woman or church is called to have a redemptive influence in the world. The church is called to impact the world for Christ, not the other way around.
I fear that the world is influencing the church more than the church is influencing the world. We hear a lot these days about the need for the church to adapt to the culture. Yes, we need to meet people right where they are at, like Jesus did. But nobody who met Jesus could ever stay the same. The salt of Christ’s life and message demanded a change. No compromise. No philosophical appeals to “soften the blow” of our sin.
Modern day evangelism rarely quotes these words of Jesus when preaching the gospel. “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
These were the words of Grace Incarnate. These are still the conditions needed to be “the salt of the earth” in a fallen world. The world is constantly pressuring Christ’s disciples to compromise. The world hates salt. The flesh hates salt. The natural man despises being crucified. Dear ones, to be a salty Christian we must reject the world and put all our hope in Christ.
The only soul that can make an impact in this life for Jesus Christ is a salty one. When the church loses its salt; it loses its significance. It is good for nothing. Being salt is not a loveless, cold hearted, in-your-face life. It is a no-nonsense, no compromise, unashamed love for Jesus that follows Him and His kingdom, not the culture and its broken values. You cannot follow Jesus and the world, because no man can have two masters. Be salty, beloved.