Jesus Calls us to be The Salt of the Earth

When you eat at a good restaurant, we enjoy the good food. No one praises the salt, but if the salt is missing, you don’t enjoy the food.

What did Jesus say about salt?

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Mt 5:13 NKJV

Salt enhances the flavour of food, but if the salt is or contaminated, it is no use. If you give food to the needy, you are serving people, but also God, because God cares for people in need. On the other hand, if you give food that is contaminated, stale, sour or tasteless, you are just a hypocrite.

Jesus said we must love our neighbour as we love ourselves. If you give food, it should be food that you would be happy to eat yourself.

There are many ways to be kind and helpful, but your kindness must be motivated by the love and truth of God. If you do good deeds to be noticed and praised, the people you help will not feel good about it.

Properly used, salt does not draw attention to itself but rather draws attention to the flavour of the food.

In the Bible, salt is a sign of a covenant. Helpful deeds and evangelism must be an expression of the love of Jesus, coming from your dedication to God.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 1 Cor 13:2–3 NKJV

The Apostle Paul also spoke about salt.

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Col 4:6 NKJV

Here, salt is associated with grace, unconditional love and kindness, sharing the goodness of God without being judgemental. The way we talk to people must be kind, understanding and respectful.

Salt is good, but too much salt draws attention to itself and spoils the food. This is like harsh legalistic religion and aggressive bible bashing. It can correct sin but the resulting moralistic character can be more harmful than the sins of the flesh.

We must be always be kind, understanding and respectful.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Mt 7:1–2 NIV

Friendly Mission Outreach

Jesus sent out 70 disciples to evangelise from village to village and from house to house.
He gave them a method of evangelism in the form of clear instructions.

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’
“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.
Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ Lk 10:5, 8-9 NIV

Probably you are not an elder and certainly you are not a Jew in New Testament times. So how can we apply the general principles behind this method of evangelism in our culture today?

In his excellent book on Prayer Evangelism, Ed Silvoso summarises the instructions of Jesus in four brief points.

1. Speak peace to them.
2. Fellowship with them.
3. Take care of their needs.
4. Proclaim the good news.

Speak peace. Have fellowship.

Approach neighbours and workmates with an open, friendly attitude. Don’t be religious or preachy.
Paul said he tried to be all things to all men, to meet and accept people as they are.

Tony Campolo is an American preacher who wanted to reach out to teenage prostitutes. He invited a group of them to his room, paid for their time and entertained them with milkshakes and kind conversation, loving them as a father.

Take care of their needs.

If a homeless beggar asks for money, I sometimes buy them some food, and if possible, have a friendly conversation.

My wife had a lot of contact with Muslim immigrants through her work. She often made friends with them and when they told her about their needs, she prayed for them. Sometimes she would see wonderful answers to prayer.

Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.

My wife and I make friends with our neighbours. Often they have serious health problems and we pray for them. In situations like this, I often share my testimony of answered prayers for healing.

I am 76. When I talk to people of my generation, I tell them we are approaching the end of our lives. I tell them I believe in Jesus and I am not afraid of dying, because I will go to heaven with Jesus.

 

Loving all Christians, also in other denominations

 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  1 Jn 4:20 NKJV

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 1 Jn 3:18 NKJV

• “You believe that all believers are your brothers, don’t you?” she asks. “What kind of Christian are you?” she continues.

• “Pentecostal,” you say.

• “You Pentecostals talk about love a lot but what are you DOING to love the Uniting Church people around the corner?”

• “We are very worried about the Uniting Church because they support homosexuality.”

• “When you have prayer meetings in your church, do you pray for the Uniting Church Christians around the corner?”

• “We pray against sin and wrong teaching in the traditional churches and we pray for homosexuals to get saved.”

• “Yes, but do you pray for the Uniting Church people in the church around the corner, and the Baptist people in the church down the road?”

• “Sometimes I pray for other churches.”

• “But in your church prayer meetings, do your leaders pray for the believers in different denominations in your area?”

• “I can’t remember. Maybe sometimes.”

• “Maybe when? Maybe how often?”

• “Our pastor used to be a Catholic. Sometimes he prays for Catholics to get saved.”

• “But has your pastor ever prayed for God to bless the Presbyterian church or the Church of Christ down the road?”

• “Not exactly. A few of our members used to be members of dead churches in our area. We invited them to hear a visiting preacher at our church and they got wonderfully saved.”

• “But do you pray for the churches that they came from?”

• “No. They are pretty dead, you know. I think the people would be better off going somewhere where there is spiritual life.”

• “Do you think the people in the local Anglican church are saved?”

• “How can they be saved if they just repeat words from the prayer book and sing the same old hymns? I have even heard the local Anglican priest favours gay marriage.”

• “Didn’t Jesus command us not to judge?”

• “But the Bible is against homosexuality. We have to stand for the truth.”

• “But might there not be some sincere older people in that church who love God in spite of what their priest’s opinions might be?”

• “How can they be sincerely converted if they put up with that anti-Christ teaching? If they are sincere, they will leave and go to a church where there is spiritual life.”

• “So you consider the local Anglican church is dead?”

• “Yes. One of our members came from there and he got saved in our church. She told us the Anglicans are dead and she should know. Her father is the priest.”

• “You are Pentecostal, right?”

• “Yes.”

• “You believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life, right?”

• “Yes.”

• “You believe God can save religious Anglicans who are spiritually dead, right?”

• “Of course.”

• “Do you believe Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead?”

• “Yes, in John chapter 11.”

• “If God can give new life to individuals, can’t he also give life to groups or communities of people?”

• “Yes, I suppose so.”

• “Do you believe God has blessed your church?”

• “Yes, very much.”

• “Why has God blessed your church?”

• “Because we stand by the Word of God.”

• “So you believe you have earned God’s favour?”

• “Not really.”

• “But you just said God blesses you because you are true to the Bible teachings.”

• “Yes.”

• “So that means God blesses you for being good Christians.”

• “The Bible does teach that God blesses faith and obedience.”

• “But what about GRACE? Doesn’t that mean the undeserved favour of God.”

• “Yes.”

• “So why don’t you pray for God to give more grace to the Anglicans?”

• “ We do pray for people to get saved by the grace of Jesus. I guess that includes religious Anglicans.”

Be Merciful like Jesus

 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jn 8:12 NIV

Being a Christian means following Jesus. In the NT, Jesus had disciples who literally walked around Israel with him. This is no longer possible, so what does it mean to follow Jesus today?

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jn 8:31–32 NASB95

Jesus is no longer with us as a man of flesh and blood, but he has given us His word, his truth, his teaching and his promises.

You cannot be a Christian unless you seriously try to base your life on the Bible.

But how can we do this? The Bible is a big book with many confusing details. We need guidance and teaching, but the people who persecuted Jesus were the Bible experts of his day.

There are bible experts today who enslave believers with cruel hierarchy and life destroying religion. If we are protestant Christians, we must not deceive ourselves by thinking these bad religious leaders are only Jews or Roman Catholics.

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, we see how Jesus applied the Bible.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jn 1:14 NIV

There are Christians who aggressively preach truth to attack and shame sinners, and preachers who rule churches with fear. Jesus was full of truth, but He always approached people with grace, mercy and love.

Jesus always applied Bible truth with love and mercy, and so must we.

Yesterday, our pastor reminded us that Jesus appointed us to be the light of the world. If we live in the light of Jesus, we will ourselves shine as a light from God for others.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Mt 5:14 NIV

This is true, but we can use the light of God’s truth to bless people or condemn them. If you turn on the light in a dark place, people can see where they are going, but if you shine a laser in someone’s eyes, it can destroy his eyesight.

There are aggressive preachers and culture warriors who do just that. They attack people with Bible truth and drive people away from the love of God. We must never do this.

Faith and Love belong together

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Cor 13:2 NKJV

If we share bible truth, God can use the power of His own words to turn some people from confusion to faith, but that is only the first step. Many believe at first, but they fall away.

People in this broken world are desperate for love. Faith without a deep ongoing experience of love leads many converts down a blind alley.

Either they become fanatically religious without love, or they become disillusioned with false promises of love and walk away from church, or even from God.

Prophetic gifts can be powerful in helping people to believe in God. A Christian may receive a revelation from the Holy Spirit and tell a person something about him or herself which no one else knows.

On the other hand, Christians can prophesy over people to control them and keep them in bondage to manipulative religion. A preacher can tell a person, supposedly from God, that God has planted him or her in this church and he or she should not leave.

Spiritual gifts and bible teaching can help people grow in love, but they must never be a substitute for love and respect for each person.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:7–8 NIV

We must not think we are spiritual because of our bible knowledge or spiritual gifts. The mark of a true Christian is a character motivated by the love of God.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 Jn 4:9–11 NIV

• Love means we must not blame or judge people if they are not healed when we pray for them.

• Love means we must not try to manipulate people to grow our church or our ministry.

• Love means we must respect Christians with different doctrines or in different traditions.

If we genuinely and patiently continue to love people, we will see more people attracted to Jesus and more people continuing in faith after conversion.

In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, he sums up the essence of Christian faith, in which believing is essential, but faith is more than just believing.

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Th 1:3 NIV

In his letter to the Galatians, he also teaches the true nature of faith.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Gal 5:6 NIV

Christian Love for Muslims

In 2001, two planes were hijacked by Islamic terrorists and destroyed the Twin Towers in New York. Since then, the world has not been the same. Islamic extremists have been engaged in Jihad, religious warfare, both with weapons and propaganda.

Many of us Christians have not known how to respond. I know an ex Muslim from Saudi Arabia to fearlessly shares the Christian gospel with every Muslim he sees.

God sent him to a secular university, where he completed his doctorate. There were many Muslims at that university and every one of them heard the message of Jesus.

One Muslim tried to kill him with poisoned food. A week later he met him and was astonished to find him alive. He had put enough poison in the food to kill a camel.

My Christian friend calmly answered with a promise from the Bible.

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Mk 16:17–18 NIV

The Muslim assassin was convinced by the power of God and became a Christian himself.

A Christian girl from England went to a holiday island in Thailand to reach out to people for Jesus. Many Muslims came to faith in Jesus, so other Muslims were determined to kill her.

When she was caught in an ambush, God made her invisible and she quietly walked away.

We must not be intimidated by Muslims. I have met a number of ex Muslims who no longer believe in Islam. Some have become Christians but others are in no-mans-land. They no longer believe in Islam but they are not converted to Christianity.

Some still believe in God and are appreciative if Christians pray for them.

I knew a young Muslim woman who wanted to know more about Christianity. She said her next door neighbour was a Christian who cared for her as if she was her own sister. They were both refugees and spoke the same language.

This woman asked me to help her learn more about Christianity, so I went to a Christian bookshop and bought a cassette tape with a reading of Mark’s Gospel in Persian.

If you are friendly with Muslims, you may be surprised to find how many are open to Christian love and truth.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Mt 28:19 NIV

Millions of Muslims are becoming Christians today. How is this happening?

Christian TV, friendship and love from Christians, miracle healings, supernatural dreams in which they encounter Jesus.

Pray for Muslims and don’t be afraid.

The Answer is the Love of God

 There are so many people who are not satisfied with money, things, sex and empty entertainment. They are hungry for something more, something spiritual. Many turn to New Age meditation, or even witchcraft, but they don’t find real contentment there.

There is a God, a loving heavenly father. He wants to reach the lost souls who stumble from one thing to another.

As Christians, many of us are partly to blame for the confusion around us.

Many Christians read the bible and believe in a supernatural God, but they don’t let God step into their own lives with miraculous answered prayers, even though they have serious needs that they try to deal with in their own human ways.

I have experienced many miracles, but I still often fail to trust God.

There are other Christians who are so upset about divorce, homosexuality and abortion, that they become self-righteous culture warriors and forget to love the people around them.
God is holy, but we must never forget that God is love.

There are also Christians who believe for miracles, but then get trapped in pornography or some other vice.

Many children believe in God, but then turn away because of the failures of Christians.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! Mt 18:6–7 NIV

As a Christian, I was always zealous for truth, but I have had to learn to be gentle and understanding with my own family and others around me.

We must learn to be kind and loving, as well as strong in our spiritual and moral beliefs.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Cor 13:2 NIV

If I am constantly open to receiving the love of God and sharing that love with others, I will not be a spiritual policeman who offends people who need love.

People need Jesus, but they will not recognise Jesus in us unless we love like Jesus loves.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jn 3:16–17 NIV

If you are not yet committed to believing in Jesus, I pray you will meet Christians who love with the love of Jesus.

If you have not yet found the reality you long for in Christianity, talk to God about it. Ask God to show you more of His love and truth.

Theology without Love is Nothing

 The fact is, many of us have become too theologically wise to love our enemies, care for the poor, stand up for the disadvantaged and alongside the sick, and help people pick up the pieces of their broken lives.
We perfect the creeds and reject the needs. Beth Moore.

It's good to understand God better, but if our knowledge of God is mostly theoretical, we can only be religious without following Jesus.

When did Jesus send his disciples out to heal the sick? After they had completed their theological training? Not at all.

For Jesus, compassion and practical faith were more important than flawless theology.

God has raised up many heroes of faith in church history, men and women who have passed on God's saving grace in many countries. But were they all theologically flawless?

Martin Luther, John Wesley and Dietrich Bonhoeffer baptised babies. The Baptists only baptise believers.
Luther, John Knox and Charles Spurgeon believed that salvation can never be reversed.

John Wesley believed that a truly converted Christian still has the free choice to turn away from God and end up in hell.

God used disciples with different beliefs, They could not all be right, but God used them anyway.

Unfortunately, there are so many Christians who strive intensely to understand everything and always be right that they become arrogant and ineffectual religious experts.

When you learn about God, you must put this new insight into practice in order to pray better and help other people better. Otherwise you will remain stuck in a dead religion.

Jesus criticised the scribes because they were full of biblical knowledge but would not acknowledge Jesus.

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,
yet you refuse to come to me to have life. Jn 5:39–40 NIV

But what is that to us? We believe in Jesus, don't we?

But our faith is useless if we think it's enough to think right and preach right.

Jesus didn't say learn to think without error. He said: ‘Follow me!’

What are you doing to help suffering people? Do you look at prostitutes, drug addicts or homosexuals with a critical attitude or with deep compassion?

Do you love Christians of other denominations as your brothers and sisters? Do you really love them?

We are saved by faith in action, not by theology.

Jesus, our Compassionate Friend

 I know some Christian women who regularly visit brothels, not to preach, but to offer friendship and help to the prostitutes. They have rescued some from human trafficking and others have come to faith in Jesus.

Some Christians disapprove of visiting sinful places, but Jesus himself mixed with the outcasts of society

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’;

the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” Mt 11:18–19 NRSV

Some Christians look at the lives of unbelievers, and focus on their sins. Jesus wanted to save sinners from their sins, but he did not just look upon them as sinners, but as people who were struggling with the challenges and disappointments of life.

Jesus really was a friend to sinners. What does true friendship mean? A true friend empathises and tries to understand how you feel.

When Jesus saw severely sick people, he was moved with compassion and healed them.

But he did not only feel compassion for physical suffering, but also the mental and emotional suffering of people living in darkness.

Life is full of struggles and disappointments, for Christians as well as unbelievers. If you put your trust in Jesus, you have eternal life, but that does not make you immune to grief and heartache.

Jesus himself knew what sorrow and grief meant.

He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. Is 53:3–4 NRSV

This translation correctly shows how Jesus, as our healer, bore our physical pains and sicknesses on the cross.

Some other translations emphasise the mental grief and sorrow, that Jesus endured, and how he identified himself with our emotional struggles.

Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. Is 53:4 NKJV

God looks at your sins, and he wants to forgive you, but he does not just look upon you as a judge, but as one who loves you and identifies with your emotional struggles.

After Jesus returned to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter. The Holy Spirit in NT Greek is the PARAKLETOS. One who is called alongside.

God is closer than breathing. He feels your heartaches, and he wants to touch you with his compassionate love.

Love Growing Cold

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. Mt 24:12 CSB

Gang violence, terrorism, domestic violence, corruption in politics and business, brutal racism, gender confusion, chaotic sexual promiscuity, sadistic pornography, human trafficking, brutal dictatorships, aggressive military powers, wars and fear of war, live birth abortions.

Lawlessness is multiplying.

Mass media and the internet are making us more aware than ever of the horrors in the world.

It is so overwhelming, that we often shut off our emotions or seek escape in entertainment. 

On the other hand, we can get emotionally involved in this or that issue and we get tunnel vision. We cannot bare to face more than a narrow range of issues.

What is the result? Some people are enraged about abortion, but they don’t look at some of the problems that often lead to abortion.

Low wages, poverty, domestic violence, real estate speculation, unaffordable housing, homelessness and prostitution all produce unwanted pregnancies and women who can’t cope with more children.

When we are overwhelmed by the horrors in a world out of control, our emotions become numb or unbalanced and our love grows cold. If we care for unborn babies, but don’t care for the suffering of many pregnant women, it shows our love has grown cold.

If we are upset about corrupt trade unions, but ignore corruption in business boardrooms, it shows we have lost our ability to judge justly. When our love grows cold, our wisdom is corrupted. 

We may be aware of the Bible text about the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Ga 5:22–23 CSB

When we become emotionally involved in the culture wars raging around us, it can lead to a loss of tender feelings, the feelings that are the fruit of the Spirit.

Instead, we see the works of the flesh, manifestations of the sinful nature, even in zealous Christians.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity,
idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, … Ga 5:19–20 CSB

We are seeing Christian leaders involved in culture wars but being exposed for secret sexual sins. 

We see zealous Christians engaging in moral self-righteousness, hating cultural, political or theological opponents, Christian factions furiously denouncing each other.

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. Mt 24:12 CSB

Some American preachers are trying to redirect people to the Sermon on the Mount, to humility, empathy, love of enemies, but they are fighting a losing battle. So many Christians are absorbing culture wars every day on the internet.

When the pastor preaches humility and gentleness, he sometimes gets a hostile response from the culture warriors in his congregation.

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. Mt 24:12 CSB

Cry for Justice is Biblical

If we are concerned about unrighteousness in personal moral affairs but not concerned about brutal injustice in the public arena, are we really representing God's moral character as Christians? 
Read Micah Ch 2 

1 Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds!
At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.
2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them.
They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance. Micah 2:1-2

Even in our lifetime, so many black people in the USA have been murdered by the police.
In our lifetimes, so many black people in Australia have been legally kidnapped.

Do I condone violent black revenge? No. 

But to call police murder “sad” but black revenge “terrorism” is not fair.

“For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. Isa 61:8

Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (HCSB)

No, he has told you what he wants, and this is all it is: to be fair, just, merciful, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (TLB) 


The blood of Abel still cries out. Are we our black brothers' keepers? Yes, we are.