Salt of the Earth

Salt of the Earth is our first study from
Names of the Believers © 1997 by John M. Koessler

My father was a great fan of Dixieland jazz. Over the years he amassed a sizable collection of records and tapes featuring some of the greatest artists of the '20s and '30s. I never acquired a taste for his style of music, and one day when I complained about the "noise," he replied with a favorite Latin phrase of his: "Degustibus non disputandem est."

When I asked him what it meant, he explained: "It means, 'There is no point in arguing about taste.'"

Jesus comments about what might be described as "tasteful Christianity" in Matt 5:13. Here, however, He is not speaking of aesthetic differences but about the critical role the church plays in society. In referring to His disciples as "the salt of the earth," Jesus is saying that Christians make the world a habitable place. In other words, the only reason the present world is livable is because the church is still in it.

Today, when we refer to someone as "the salt of the earth," we usually mean that he or she is a likable person. But when Jesus used the phrase, He was not talking about personality but moral character.

This comparison would not have seemed strange to Jesus' listeners because salt was an important part of their daily existence. Like us, the people of Jesus' day used salt as a seasoning to make food taste better. But during this time, salt's most important function was to preserve food. In New Testament times there was no plastic wrap or refrigerators to keep things fresh. If meat was to be kept from spoiling before it was cooked, it had to be cured with salt. When Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, it is a reminder that we are as important to the society in which we live as salt was to the homemaker in New Testament times.

Jesus' reference to salt would also have been familiar to the disciples because it was used by the rabbis, who compared the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, to salt, and said, "the world cannot survive without salt." By calling His disciples the salt of the earth, Jesus was saying, in effect, "You are the 'living Torah' to those around you."

It is no coincidence that this analogy appears in a context that deals with persecution. It anticipates that persecuted believers might be tempted to ask: "If the world doesn't want us, why doesn't God just take us home?" Jesus' answer is that the world, while it may not want the church, desperately needs its presence.

We should also note that Jesus includes a warning when He refers to His disciples as "salt." He is saying that there is a certain quality that is essential to the church, and without that quality, we become useless. The salt that was used by Jesus' contemporaries was not pure but a mixture of salt and other minerals. When it was exposed to air, it tended to lose its flavor and could no longer serve its original purpose. When this happened, the salt was sprinkled on walkways to prevent slipping, in much the same way we use rock salt today.

How does the church lose its saltiness? By conforming to the world around it. The church cannot function as salt when it conforms to the world it was meant to season.

There are times when it is good to conform. For example, when I am driving on the expressway, I don't want someone going south in my lane when I am traveling north. It is good to conform to the right things. Rom 8:29 promises that believers will be conformed to the image of Christ: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." God uses my circumstances as I offer myself to the Holy Spirit to make me more like Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, the conforming process can work in the other direction as well. Paul warns: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Rom 12:2).

Who will shape us? Will it be God's Spirit, working through God's Word and our daily circumstances to transform us into the image of Christ? Or will it be the world, which presses us into its own mold? If we allow the world to shape us, we will become like flavorless salt, useless to God and man alike.

Being the salt of the world isn't always comfortable. Roger discovered just how hard it can be when he moved into a flat in a rundown section of Detroit. His upstairs neighbor was an unfortunate woman who suffered from a mental disorder. Her doctors had prescribed medication, but she usually forgot to take it. Roger would often hear her screaming at her husband all night long. Sometimes when she was finished with her husband, she would come downstairs and pound on Roger's door and scream at him.

During one of his neighbors' all-night family fights, Roger heard the woman complain that she didn't have enough money to buy food for the family. So the next day he went out and bought several bags of groceries and left them at their door. The woman took the groceries, but instead of thanking Roger, she cursed him!

Perhaps you work with people whose values are radically different from your own. Like Roger, you may have an unfriendly neighbor. Or it may be the members of your own family who have caused you to plead with God that He change your circumstances. But instead of the changes you asked for, things seem to remain the same. Now you begin to wonder: "If God really loves me, why has He placed me in such a situation?" Jesus' words provide the answer: If the function of salt is to preserve that which is decaying, where will it be needed most?

Lord Jesus, make me more like You so that my influence in the world will leave behind the lingering savor of Your presence. Amen.

(from Names of the Believers © 1997 by John M. Koessler. All rights reserved.)_

Thanks to John Koessler for allowing us to publish his material.www.johnkosessler.com

John Koessler serves as chair and professor of pastoral studies at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He is married to Jane and has two sons, Drew and Jarred. John is the author of ten books and numerous articles. He also serves as a contributing editor for the Moody Bible Institute publication Today in the Word, where you can read his monthly “Theology Matters” column. You can contact John via email at John.Koessler@moody.edu or by phone at (312) 329-4077.