Today we will be continuing our study on the Mount of Blessings. We have just studied the beatitudes in the previous study. Let’s read our key text for today.

Matthew 5:13
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

What does it mean to be the salt of the earth?

• Well let’s start by looking at what salt is used for. We know it adds flavour, it gives taste to food. In the Bible text it points out salt as savour which is simply taste.

Where else do we see savour used in the Bible?

• Genesis 8:20-21
  20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
  • When Noah came out of the ark after the flood, he offered a sacrifice of all the clean animals that he brought on the ark with him.
  • This was a sweet savour to the Lord. God accepted his offering, his sacrifice.
• Exodus 29:25
  And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
  • Once again we see a sacrifice, a burnt offering. It was an offering of consecration. This was a sweet savour to the Lord as well.
• Ezra 6:10
  That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.
  • King Artaxerxes allowed the children of Israel to go back and rebuild Jerusalem and to set governors over the land. And in doing so he allowed them also to make sacrifices again to God as a sweet savour.
• So we see that sweet savours, savours that are accepted by God, always seem to be connected with sacrifice and offerings.
• Keep this in mind as we keep studying about what it means to be the salt of the earth.

How about salt? How do we see salt used in the Bible?

• Leviticus 2:13
  And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.
• Salt was used also in the offerings. Not only were the sacrifices that were offered to God a sweet savour but salt itself was used in the sacrifices.
• So we see sacrifice again connected very much to salt and savour.

So how is salt and sacrifice relevant to our lives today?

• Romans 12:1
  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
• God calls us to be a living sacrifice.
• What does it meant to be a living sacrifice? It means to be holy and acceptable to God.
• But how can we be holy and acceptable to God?
  • Romans 12:2
    And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
• We must make sure that we are not conformed to this world, that we are not like the world at all.
• In becoming like the world, in fashioning our lives, our tastes, our habits, our desires like the world, we become like salt that has lost its savour. We have the form of salt, the form of a Christian, but we have lost our saltiness. We don’t have any effect on the world in any positive way because we are just like them.
• Salt is supposed to give flavour. And the way a Christian gives good flavour to the world is to be different, not be the same.
• It’s not that we must dress totally different or be so weird in such a way that would raise eyebrows. But there must be a clear distinction between the world and the church, the world and the Christian in our character and in our lives.
• That sounds very much like sanctification. God wants us to be sanctified, to be separated for a holy use, different from the world. Just like how God separated and sanctified the seventh day at the very beginning of creation, He wishes to sanctify us today as well to be different, to be a blessing and salt of the earth.
• But how can we ensure that our lives are different and distinct? Romans 12:2 told us that we must be renewed in our minds.
• The transformation must begin in our hearts and minds first. It is an internal change that must take place.

Ephesians describes this process as well:

• Ephesians 4:22-24
  22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
• To be a new man we must first put off the former conversation, the old life that we had been living before. We must be willing to surrender the old life that we had been living before.
• Then we must be renewed in our minds, and let God create a new man which is after His likeness in righteousness and true holiness.
• How can our minds be renewed? What can affect our minds to change it, to renovate it, to make it different?
  • Psalms 51:10
    Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
  • We must allow God to create in each of us a new heart, a new mind.
• How did God create at the very beginning? He used His word.
• And so if we wish to have a new mind, and as a result have a different life, a life that makes a positive impact in this world, we must have an interaction with God’s word.
• You see, salt that has lost its savour is a Christian that goes to church every week but never has an encounter with Jesus in His word. There are many Christian’s that live like the people in the world to the extent that you would be shocked that they professed to be a Christian!
• What is it that makes you different from the rest of your friends around you in the workplace or in your school? How are you different? Are you different? Or do you curse just like how they curse? Or do you speak lies just like how they speak lies?
• There must be that distinction, that difference. Otherwise we are like salt that has lost its savour.

Corinthians puts it this way.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17
  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
• If Christ is in us, we become a new creature. Old things are all gone and we are a new person in Christ Jesus.
• This sounds like being born again. When a person is born again, we are also a new creature as well, a new person! We get a new start with new thoughts and new desires and new motivation for living.
• But we have to be in Christ. And Christ must be in us! You see, the reason why 2 Corinthians says we must be in Christ is because Christ is always willing and ready to come into our hearts. The problem is our side of the equation, whether we want Him in our lives or not.
• Christ is that living Word.
  • John 1:1
    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
  • That Word would become flesh, Jesus the Son of God.
• Jesus has already come to us, He has already done all that He can to save us. The question that remains is whether we want Him in our lives or not. And the way to answer that is not whether you go to church or not. It’s whether you are spending time in God’s word. Whether you are spending time in prayer.
• Or as the beatitudes say:
  • Whether we realise our need of Him.
  • And whether we are hungering and thirsting after righteousness.
• That transformation must take place, not just for us to be saved, but so that we can be that blessing to the world, the salt of the earth.

After our heart is changed, after Jesus has come into our hearts, after we are in Christ, what changes on the outside though? How can we know if we actually have the experience of being the salt of the earth?

• Mark 9:49-50
  49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. 50 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.
• If we are the salt of the earth, the Bible tells us that we will have peace with one another. Just like how the beatitudes call us to be peacemakers.
• It’s not that people won’t hate us. Jesus had the love of heaven in His heart but there were many people that hated Him. However, He Himself did not have anyone. He had peace with everyone.
• This peace was heaven born.
• John 14:27
  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
• God desires to give us that peace. It is seen in how we live our lives. We don’t have to be afraid, we don’t have to run around like we have no hope. No matter the trial that comes upon us, we can know that God is with us.
• Isaiah 26:3
  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
• The fact that we can be kept in perfect peace is so needful in these times. So many things to trouble us on all sides. Whether that’s the loss of a job, loss of a loved one, loss of health. All of us go through trials and tribulations.
• But remember, having salt in ourselves is to have peace with each other.
• Relationships that tend to get fractured by what we say, foolish words spoken at the wrong time or in the wrong way or even the wrong tone. We need the peace of God to forgive and ask for forgiveness.
• Texts like what we find in Romans 12 become so foreign to us.
• Romans 12:18-21
  18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
• How can we overcome evil with good? How can we live peaceably with everyone?
• We need that born again experience, the renewing of the mind by the word of God and also the Holy Spirit.
• It is not the magnitude of the trial that comes upon us that derails us. It is our connection with God and the strength and peace and love that we draw from Him to help us to overcome these trials in our lives.
• There is nothing too big for God that He cannot help us to overcome. He has promised this to us!
• Philippians 4:13
  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
• 1 Corinthians 10:13
  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
• Romans 8:37
  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
• Just look at those promises!
• We can do all things through Christ. We can become more than conquerors. God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able.
• So why does it seem like there are some trials that are too great for any human to carry? It’s because we’ve not gone to the One who can give us the strength to carry it, the wisdom to go through it, and the peace to sustain our own souls.
• No matter the trial, no matter the circumstance, we can still be a blessing, we can still be the salt of the earth if Jesus is right there with us in our hearts.

But look at what else it means to be the salt of the earth.

• Colossians 4:6
  Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
• We can be the salt of the earth by how we speak. How we talk it must always be seasoned with grace!
• What does that mean? It means it should always point to Christ. It should always be a display of the fact that Christ is dwelling in our hearts. That people may know that we are Christian and not of the world.
• Peter, when he denied Christ with cursing was not a salt of the earth.
• Balaam, when he tried to curse the children of Israel was not being a salt of the earth.
• Is our speech really that important? Of course! Just look at what the tongue does.
• James 3:5-6
  5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
• From gossiping to lying, to speaking evil. Our tongue has the ability to set the whole of hell on fire! Of course, that’s just a figure of speech. But wow, the tongue is such a small part of the body but just it has such great influence over who we are and what we can do to others.
• And if Christ is in our hearts, that part of our life will change as well.
• Peter, he went from cursing to being a great preacher to the extent that 3,000 would get baptised in one day because of his amazing sermon through which God worked mightily!
• John and James, the sons of thunder, ready to call fire down on anyone who disrespected their master, would become meek and humble. John would become the beloved disciple of Jesus.
• So we can know if we are the salt of the earth by what we say, by what comes out of our mouth.

This is what it means to be a living sacrifice, to be holy and accepted by God, and how we are not conformed to this world. There has to be that distinction in our lives. Look at Christ, He knew what it meant to be the salt of the earth.

 Ephesians 5:2
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Everything that Christ did was motivated by His love for God and a love for each of us. His life was a life marked with sacrifice. And then at the end He paid that ultimate sacrifice.

If we are to be that salt of the earth, we must learn to love God with all our hearts and also our neighbours as ourselves also. We need His love burning in our hearts. Then sacrifice for others, sacrifice for the cause of God, that will come. Just as love for our spouse or children or parents will motivate us to sacrifice for them, so God is calling us to love Him today and to sacrifice for Him today also.

He’s calling each of us to be the salt of the earth today, to be a Christian in life and in character. To be a Christian through our words and also through our actions also. May the love of Christ dwell in our hearts by faith today. And may we become a savour of life to all around us.