“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." (Matthew 5:13) We've spent a lot of time on the beginning of this verse over the last several posts. We've looked at how we, as salt, can be used to bring out the good flavors in others and in life, can be part of God's preservative plan through disciple-making, and were designed to be used in God's good deeds which makes us valuable commodities on this earth. It's time now, to look at the last two sentences in this verse though. "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." That's the end of Matthew 5:13. Jesus said that. That's never felt good to me. I've never liked that part of the verse. I've barely even understood that part of the verse. I've wanted to answer back "Salt can't lose it's saltiness, Jesus. It's not like salt goes bad or stale or something. Great. I can ignore the end of the verse now. Everyone's happy. What's next?" But, that's a sinful reply. That's a fearful, arrogant reply. Let's do better than that. I need Jesus' help to do better than that though. If you're like me, you may too. I'm going to pause here to pray again about what we're about to get into. I hope you'll do the same.
How could salt lose it's saltiness? Well, I guess we need to look at what salt's saltiness is again to understand. Fortunately, we've spent the last several posts doing exactly that. Salt is a flavor enhancer. Salt is a preservative. Salt is valuable. How could it stop having these salty characteristics? I suppose if salt were mixed with something poisonous or just plain disgusting, then salt wouldn't really be able to be used in these ways anymore. If the salt got mixed with something it was never meant to be mixed with...if it was not stored properly. If it was not set apart. I get it now! In Bible-speak, "set apart" = "holy"!! Could we, as Christians, lose our saltiness by not being set apart, by not being holy? What is holiness really? Well, we know that God is holy. In fact, God is not just holy, He is holy times holy times holy. He is holy to the third power. One of the passages that shows a glimpse of God's holiness is Isaiah 6:1b-4.
I am NOT holy apart from Jesus. You are not holy apart from Jesus. Unbelievably, though He has already set us apart as believers. "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:25b-27) This is how we got our saltiness, through Jesus, through His making us holy. He didn't just make us holy once and for all though, so that we can now check this off our list as accomplished. He has set us apart, and He is still at work in our lives setting us apart, making us holy. We, then, are called to pursue this holiness of His. "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:14-16) These verses can start to send me into a tailspin again. How could I possibly be holy in all I do? What would that even look like!? Jesus is my necessary answer again. Jesus showed us how to be holy in all we do. We need to pursue Him. We need to set aside our sinful desires, step away from the poisons and the disgusting things in this life that we can be so drawn to, and walk in holiness with Jesus. This is what makes us salty.
In case, like me, you're not sure you're ready to accept how intricately holiness is wrapped up in our saltiness as believers, then let's look at our three salty characteristics again in light of holiness. 1) What is it that truly gives us a unique and worthwhile flavor to offer to others, one that helps us to bring out the best flavors in others and in life? It's not our own natures. My natural flavor is pretty self-absorbed actually. It's not our humanity. That's not a unique flavor. The world has plenty of that already. We can only act as true flavor-enhancers when we are living in a unique, set-apart way, when we are loving and humble, seeking to encourage each other on to love and good deeds, suppressing bitter roots in our own lives and instead focusing on purity, on beauty, on truth....on holiness. 2) What is it that gives us the opportunity to act in our preservative role of disciple-making? Again, we have to accept the role of holiness in this. As holiness lights us up in the darkness, we will become beacons of life to those who need it. (Phil. 2:14-16) Once again our holiness provides that salty characteristic of preservation. 3) Finally, let's re-examine our value to the world. What allows us to participate in the good deeds God has prepared for us to do? Is holiness really a necessary part of the good deeds that God has called us to - those that make us valuable to this world?
What do we do with this message? I don't know what you need to do. I don't know what poisons and lies and distasteful flavors you are tempted to partake in. I don't know how you need to focus on being "set apart" right now. I know a step I need to take though. It's going to be a true sacrifice and struggle for me, especially at the beginning, but it's an area where I have again started to become too flavored by patterns of this world. By engaging so much in this area, I am becoming more sensitive to the will of others than to the will of God. I am starting to indulge my own ego at the expense of my soul, so I must walk away for now.
How could salt lose it's saltiness? Well, I guess we need to look at what salt's saltiness is again to understand. Fortunately, we've spent the last several posts doing exactly that. Salt is a flavor enhancer. Salt is a preservative. Salt is valuable. How could it stop having these salty characteristics? I suppose if salt were mixed with something poisonous or just plain disgusting, then salt wouldn't really be able to be used in these ways anymore. If the salt got mixed with something it was never meant to be mixed with...if it was not stored properly. If it was not set apart. I get it now! In Bible-speak, "set apart" = "holy"!! Could we, as Christians, lose our saltiness by not being set apart, by not being holy? What is holiness really? Well, we know that God is holy. In fact, God is not just holy, He is holy times holy times holy. He is holy to the third power. One of the passages that shows a glimpse of God's holiness is Isaiah 6:1b-4.
I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:Reading this passage while considering that I might be expected to be holy, wrecks me. It completely wrecks me. As I contemplated this passage and knew that I needed to write about holiness, I found myself responding by kneeling on the floor with my forehead to the ground and sobbing. I just can't do this. I can't write about holiness. I am not that set apart. I can't even fathom being set apart like that. I am not holy enough to even think about this properly. In fact, my natural response to this kind of holiness is much like Isaiah's was. "'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'" (Isaiah 6:5) I am not set apart enough. I don't even know anyone who is remotely set apart enough. How can I even begin to contemplate what it would mean for a human to be holy? Then, I realized that I knew exactly what human has shown this kind of holiness - Jesus. Of course, the answer to my sinfulness is Jesus.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
I am NOT holy apart from Jesus. You are not holy apart from Jesus. Unbelievably, though He has already set us apart as believers. "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:25b-27) This is how we got our saltiness, through Jesus, through His making us holy. He didn't just make us holy once and for all though, so that we can now check this off our list as accomplished. He has set us apart, and He is still at work in our lives setting us apart, making us holy. We, then, are called to pursue this holiness of His. "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" (1 Peter 1:14-16) These verses can start to send me into a tailspin again. How could I possibly be holy in all I do? What would that even look like!? Jesus is my necessary answer again. Jesus showed us how to be holy in all we do. We need to pursue Him. We need to set aside our sinful desires, step away from the poisons and the disgusting things in this life that we can be so drawn to, and walk in holiness with Jesus. This is what makes us salty.
In case, like me, you're not sure you're ready to accept how intricately holiness is wrapped up in our saltiness as believers, then let's look at our three salty characteristics again in light of holiness. 1) What is it that truly gives us a unique and worthwhile flavor to offer to others, one that helps us to bring out the best flavors in others and in life? It's not our own natures. My natural flavor is pretty self-absorbed actually. It's not our humanity. That's not a unique flavor. The world has plenty of that already. We can only act as true flavor-enhancers when we are living in a unique, set-apart way, when we are loving and humble, seeking to encourage each other on to love and good deeds, suppressing bitter roots in our own lives and instead focusing on purity, on beauty, on truth....on holiness. 2) What is it that gives us the opportunity to act in our preservative role of disciple-making? Again, we have to accept the role of holiness in this. As holiness lights us up in the darkness, we will become beacons of life to those who need it. (Phil. 2:14-16) Once again our holiness provides that salty characteristic of preservation. 3) Finally, let's re-examine our value to the world. What allows us to participate in the good deeds God has prepared for us to do? Is holiness really a necessary part of the good deeds that God has called us to - those that make us valuable to this world?
But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives. (1 Peter 2:9-12, MSG)
The world doesn't need more of my humanity. The world has plenty of humanity in it already. We have no value to the world when we are living like we are just as lost as they are, when we are absorbing the poisons and distasteful things of the world like they are. If we "conform to the evil desires [we] had when [we] lived in ignorance," then we have nothing of value to offer to them. We lose our saltiness to them. "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." If we lose our saltiness, our holiness, then we can't be used by God to accomplish all that God has prepared for us to do. We lose our value to the world. Now, Jesus did not say here that God would hate us or reject us then, but He did say that we wouldn't be any good for what God created us to do for Him in this world. He used really bold and strong language to say that too. Holiness really matters.
What do we do with this message? I don't know what you need to do. I don't know what poisons and lies and distasteful flavors you are tempted to partake in. I don't know how you need to focus on being "set apart" right now. I know a step I need to take though. It's going to be a true sacrifice and struggle for me, especially at the beginning, but it's an area where I have again started to become too flavored by patterns of this world. By engaging so much in this area, I am becoming more sensitive to the will of others than to the will of God. I am starting to indulge my own ego at the expense of my soul, so I must walk away for now.
Brothers and sisters, I plead with you to consider if there is an area in your life too that you need to part ways with, that you need to separate yourself from. So many of these things promise rewards. They may even promise to make you more valuable to God and to others. As an example, I have heard of Christians proclaiming that they need to be focusing more on letting loose than on holiness. I believe that many of these people have good intentions. We do need to be sensitive to the lost. We do need to be aware and understanding of where the lost are coming from. We certainly need to release any judgmental attitude or perception we might harbor. We need to appreciate the freedom that Christ has bought for us. However, the belief that we need to become more like those who are lost so that we are more relatable or relevant to them is wrong. It is misguided at best. It is evil at worst. We are not to seek the approval of men alone. If our idea of being relevant to the people of this world is anything outside of being holy, then we are terribly, terribly mistaken. We do not have more value to the people in this world when we act and think like someone who is still stumbling around in the darkness, we have less! Our job is not to be flavored by the world, it's to bring the good flavors of God to the world, to contribute to His preservative acts of disciple-making. We can only do these things by walking in Him, by living for Him, by pursuing holiness.
Oh that we would recognize the gift and responsibility of holiness in our lives again! That we would make a conscious effort, not to fit in, but to be set apart! This has nothing to do with cliques or pretension or a "holier-than-thou" attitude. It has a great deal to do with love and with following the will of God for our lives though. I want God to use me to be a part of bringing out the beauty and the nuances in the people around me. I want them to feel "enhanced" after they spend time with me and start to wonder about the enhancements that spending time with God could offer to their lives! I want to be a part of God's formula for preservation for the lives around me. The best that I have to offer anyone is Jesus Christ, and what a gift it is for me to be able to offer Him to others! To do this, I need to be a light in the darkness, the salt of the earth, holy as He is holy. Remarkably, Jesus gifts us with the opportunity to do this!!
The best response I know to considering the holiness of God is worship, so I end this series of posts with a song and a verse that I hope helps you worship our holy God today. Perhaps, they will lead you to a place of repentance, of turning around, of walking away from something to walk toward holiness with Him. This verse and this song point to why I choose repentance and move toward the gift of holiness in Jesus today. May we join in praise and worship as we consider the gift and responsibility of holiness today! May we be saltier and more valuable than ever as we go forward in Him.
Oh that we would recognize the gift and responsibility of holiness in our lives again! That we would make a conscious effort, not to fit in, but to be set apart! This has nothing to do with cliques or pretension or a "holier-than-thou" attitude. It has a great deal to do with love and with following the will of God for our lives though. I want God to use me to be a part of bringing out the beauty and the nuances in the people around me. I want them to feel "enhanced" after they spend time with me and start to wonder about the enhancements that spending time with God could offer to their lives! I want to be a part of God's formula for preservation for the lives around me. The best that I have to offer anyone is Jesus Christ, and what a gift it is for me to be able to offer Him to others! To do this, I need to be a light in the darkness, the salt of the earth, holy as He is holy. Remarkably, Jesus gifts us with the opportunity to do this!!
The best response I know to considering the holiness of God is worship, so I end this series of posts with a song and a verse that I hope helps you worship our holy God today. Perhaps, they will lead you to a place of repentance, of turning around, of walking away from something to walk toward holiness with Him. This verse and this song point to why I choose repentance and move toward the gift of holiness in Jesus today. May we join in praise and worship as we consider the gift and responsibility of holiness today! May we be saltier and more valuable than ever as we go forward in Him.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform 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." (Romans 12:1-2)
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