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Salt of the earth or poison in the church?
Good When you think of "good," think of genuine, real, and not fake. Genuine Christ-ians are good in the sense that they are valued and valuable, much like the precious commodity of first century salt. Good Christians are valued. When Paul wrote in Romans that there are no good people, he was speaking of mankind in his natural, lost condition. But when we become born again believers in Jesus Christ, we become very good, very valuable in the sight of God. God's word declares this in many ways: we are the apple of his eye, the sheep of his pasture, the jewels in his crown, and now we get to be the salt on his table. If you are a Christian you may not matter to Hollywood or Wall Street or even the "in" crowd at your school. But you matter to God and that's what matters most. "You are the salt of the earth," Jesus said, and that means you are loved, redeemed, valued. valuable. The grace that makes us valued motivates us to be valuable - valuable, like good salt. Good salt is, first of all, good salt. It is pure. Because it is pure it preserves. And after it has done its work of preservation it becomes the preferred spice of life, it makes things taste better. Genuine Christianity is pure. It is a perfect combination of two distinct elements. Real salt is sodium and chloride. Take one without the other and you have poison. Take them both together and you have salt, a very valuable commodity. Jesus Christ is savior and lord. If you try to take him as savior without obeying him as lord, or if you think by obeying him as lord you will earn him as savior, you are picking your poison. However, if you call upon Jesus as your lord, acknowledging that his saving work on the cross is the only ground of salvation, then you have been purified by faith. Faith is a valuable thing. Genuine Christianity is a preservative. The character and commitment of a person saved by faith results in good works that have a redeeming effect upon society. The pain of food without salt cannot compare with plague of society without Christianity. You can do some good work without being Christian, but you cannot be Christian without doing good works. Works are a valuable thing. Genuine Christianity is a joy. We are not to be like food without salt, bland and boring. We are not to be known for what we "don't" do. Christians are to be joyful, positive, and tasteful, like good salt. A good dose of joy is a valuable thing. Good Christians are valued and valuable. But some who name the name of Christ are not good. They are good for nothing, according to Jesus. Good for Nothing Some would take this text to teach that a genuine Christian can lose his salvation. It is not a verse to be used to staunchly defend the eternal security of a believer, either, although there are plenty of others to fit that theological bill. Remember our context. There were two kinds of salt. They looked basically the same. But one was genuine, the other was not. One was good; the other was good for nothing. Since we have already established what a "good" Christian is, it is not difficult to deduce what marks a "good for nothing" Christian. Such a false professor of Christ is possessed of an impure faith, insignificant works and an invisible joy. They don't have saving faith. They may have made a decision once and been baptized. But they haven't been born again. Their foundation is the sand of self-esteem, not the rock of ages. A close examination reveals no dread of sin, no repentance, no transforming grace. Like tasteless salt, they are good for nothing. They don't have any significant works. Weekly worship and daily Bible study are optionally unimportant. Tithing is for chumps. Witnessing is for the ministers and missionaries of the church. Commitments to be morally honest and sexually pure are as foreign as real sodium and real chloride. Like tasteless salt, they are good for nothing. They don't have any visible joy. They are critical, judgmental, negative and take more delight in telling a lie about a Christian than inviting a lost person to Christ. They are the ones who are giving Jesus and his church a bad name. Like tasteless salt, they are good for nothing. Good, or Good for Nothing Is this church good, or good for nothing? Are you as an individual member good, or good for nothing? One will affect the other and both will affect the world in a way that is good, or good for nothing. We are not called by Christ to be the sugar of the earth. We are called to be the salt. Embrace Christ with a courageous and contagious faith.
Make your life good for something, for some great thing - the glory of God and the good of all people. Then, you will be "the salt of the earth."
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