Sep 22, 1996 9 min read old-sermon

Recovering our Saltiness (Matthew 5:13-16)

executives over at Sears were facing a marketing challenge
plenty of women were shopping at Sears for stuff like hardware and tools and plumbing fixtures, but the women were avoiding the women’s department
Sears executives were convinced that if women only knew about the new line of clothing they had for sale, that they would become customers of that department too
but how could they promote the clothing in such a way that it would connect with these customers?
marketing experts studied the situation, and they hammered out a marketing strategy
they developed an advertising campaign called “Come see the softer side of Sears”
they developed a two page magazine ad
one side of the page showed an automotive battery
the other side showed a woman wearing a very dramatic evening dress
the headline quotes the woman as saying “I came in for a Die Hard, and left with something Drop Dead”
Sears analyzed all the demographic information, placed the ad in particular publications, and then looked at the viewing habits of women in the age they wanted to reach
they decided to place 30 and 60 second TV commercials on the annual Emmy award show, as a very high female viewership
in all, Sears spent $40 million U.S. on this marketing campaign
it’s working
sales of women’s apparel at Sears has gone up
okay, so why am I giving Sears a free 60 second commercial?
this is not part of their $40 marketing plan
the reason I’ve been doing it is of a passage of Scripture
when Jesus walked this earth, he taught that citizenship in God’s kingdom is open to anybody who sincerely seeks it
this was an incredible message to people
what he was saying is the very individuals who thought there was no way they could be good enough to enter into heaven, that they could get in not on the basis of their goodness, but on the basis of his goodness
Jesus wanted that life-changing message to be communicated far beyond the side of that hill by the town of Capernaum 2,000 years ago
he wanted people all over the globe to find out about it
because surely when people find out that God has flung open the doors of his kingdom, they’re going to respond in droves
so he needed, to put it crassly, a marketing strategy
how is he going to have his message communicated?
here are the words Jesus used to describe his strategy in Matthew 5
Mat 5:13 “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 by men.
Mat 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Mat 5:15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
Mat 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
what he was saying to that crowd, and to us today, is you are my marketing plan — you’re it
I’m not going to buy ads in the Toronto Star or Macleans Magazine or on the television or even in the Yellow Pages
because my Plan A is you, and I don’t have a Plan B
the way I want you to market my message to your families and neighborhoods is for you to be salt and light: that’s my strategy
you’re thinking, what is salt and light? that doesn’t sound like a very powerful strategy for reaching the world!
Jesus is using it as a metaphor
one thing both salt and light have is a radical influence, a dramatic influence on whatever they come in contact with
think about salt for a moment
what does salt do?
salt makes people thirsty, it spices things up, it’s a preservative, it enhances flavor
He says, live the kind of life that is going to make people thirst for the truth about God
the kind of life that will spice things up by stimulating people to think about me
the kind of life that will retard the rate of moral decay in society
the kind of life that shows people that following me will enhance their life, not detract from it
and then think about light
it illuminates, it exposes, it draws people towards something, like those search lights that promoters use
Jesus was saying, live the kind of life that will illuminate the truth for people
that will shine the light of my compassion to the dark places where there is despair
and live the kind of life that will attract people to me, because ultimately, he said, I am the light of life
this is an incredible vote of confidence that Jesus gives to me and to you
to say that we are going to be the main purveyors and communicators of God’s message to the entire globe
what an incredible responsibility
so how do we proceed?
what exactly in 20th century terms does it mean to be salt and light?
while Jesus used it as a very positive metaphor, they can also have very negative connotations too
think about it
if you put salt in a wound, it stings
if you put too much salt on food, it makes you want to spit it out
if you get too much salt in your diet you get high blood pressure
salt isn’t altogether good
and the glare of the light that is much too bright and shines right on your eyes makes you recoil
the problem is that some kingdom citizens, even though they might have good intentions, are inadvertently repelling people from Christianity instead of attracting them
listen to what one person wrote
he said “The best argument for Christianity is Christians — their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians, when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”
isn’t that true? I’ve found it to be true
there are things that Christians do that would make anybody want nothing to do with being a Christian
and there are others who do things who have a mysterious way of drawing people to God
if you want some adventure in your Christian life, if you want to make a difference in eternity, there are some things you can do to be salt and light in the community
but Jesus is also clear that there is a real possibility that Christians can lose their saltiness or influence
he says, “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 by men.”
I’ve been thinking of some ways that we lose our influence for God
the church ceases to be a powerful witness for Christ
let me describe some things I’ve been thinking about, and ask yourselves which ones might apply to you or this church
THE FIRST IS A LACK OF A CHRISTLIKE VISION
listen to what one author writes:
- “I backed the car out of the driveway as I do every morning at 5:45. I switched the radio from a program on ethics to the Tokyo stock closing. While I drove through the neighboring subdivision, I mentally critiqued architectural design. I bought coffee at the twenty-four hour coffee shop and successfully avoided the talkative cashier. As I turned into [work], I formulated a convincing defense for a…plan I hoped the staff would adopt. I climbed to my third-floor office, wondering about the productivity of the nighttime maintenance crew. I shuffled through a mountain of mail on my desk and wished someone else would answer it…”
now listen to this:
- I spun around my chair and looked out the window…In that quiet moment I saw the previous quarter hour for what it had been – an hour tainted by purely human perspective. Not once during that hour had I seen the world through godly eyes. I had been more interested in international finances than in the moral demise of our nation. I had thought more about houses than the people inside them. I had considered the tasks awaiting me more important than the woman who served my coffee. I had been more intent on logically supporting my plans than sincerely seeking God’s. I’d thought more about staff members’ productivity than their walk with the Lord or their family life. I’d viewed correspondence as a drudgery rather than a way to offer encouragement, counsel, or help.
- It was 6:00 a.m. and I needed a renewed heart and mind
have you had this experience?
so often we go through our days seeing the world through human eyes, never thinking of Christ’s perspective
listen to Luke 19:41
(Luke 19:41) As he [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
Jesus was seeing Jerusalem from a divine perspective
in another passage, Jesus cried,
(Matthew 23:37) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”
as we see our cities through God’s eyes, they look very different
but many of us lose our saltiness because we are consumed with a human perspective
how about you?
WHAT ABOUT FEAR?
many Christians are afraid to be bold about their faith, fearing rejection by others
they are so timid that they work alongside people for years without anyone knowing that they are followers of Jesus Christ
and yet Jesus said:
Mat 5:15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
Mat 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
(Mark 8:38) If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Paul said: (Romans 1:16) I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
THERE’S SOMETHING CALLED DECAFFEINATED CHRISTIANITY
Anglican Bishop Michael Marshall suggests that “the problem with contemporary Christianity…is that many people have settled for a facsimile of Christian freedom: running their own lives while at the same time saying they believe in Christ”
he further contends that many so-called believers have suggested a “decaffeinated Christianity – it promises not to keep you awake at night”
friends, a brand of Christianity that does not cost anything and does not prompt the loss of sleep is unlikely to wake up others to their need to be redeemed as Christ
these are the three reasons why many Christians lose their saltiness
a lack of Christlike perspective
fear or timidity
and a costless, decaffeinated Christianity
but I also thought of two reasons why churches lose their saltiness
THERE’S THE HIRED HAND MENTALITY
here is how most churches operate
the congregation’s job is to show up and to give enough money so that the church can hire a pastor
the pastor’s job is to do ministry
it’s like the one pastor who said to his congregation, “I’m paid to be good, but you guys are good for nothing”
whoever thought of this arrangement is dead wrong
because as a result of hiring someone to do the ministry, churches have been crippled
the majority of churches operating under this scheme only have one person in the church engaged in recognized ministry
here’s how it should work biblically
(Ephesians 4:11) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
(Ephesians 4:12) to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
in other words, the pastor’s job is not to do ministry, it is to prepare you to do ministry
how many of you have ministries?
there’s something wrong if you call yourself a Christian and yet you have no recognizable ministry
it’s dead wrong
and churches are losing their saltiness because of it
but there’s one more problem with churches
AND THAT’S THAT CHURCHES HAVE WALLS
if you ask the average person where a church is, they’ll point to a building
casually we might say to someone, “We’re going to church” when we mean we’re going to a particular building
or we might say “Our church is located at 276 Park Lawn Road”
but that introduces a subtle problem
friends, this building is not a church
our church is not located at 276 Park Lawn Road
you are the church
you see, something subtle happened when churches began owning buildings
instead of the church being God’s people sprinkled through a community and acting as God’s ambassadors, church began to take place inside walls
somebody’s called it “the fortress mentality”
it’s saying to people, “we’re not coming to you, so you better come to us”
“you have to penetrate our fortress before you can join the church”
it’s also led to a preoccupation among many with the physical plant
many churches are so consumed with paying for and maintaining their buildings that they forget about the mission, which is to reach lost people for Christ
friends, this building is not the church
you are the church
and the church is most effective not when it’s sitting in the saltshaker or church building, but when it’s sprinkled through the community
as we act as God’s representatives
[CONCLUSION]
we’re losing our saltiness
because of a lack of Christlike perspective
fear or timidity
and a costless, decaffeinated Christianity
because we expect the pastor to do the work
because we let the walls of the church hold us in
but the church can be a powerful force as we act as salt and light
I’m going to lead us in a prayer, that is found in page six of your Adventure Journal:
Christ, I’m discovering how much you care about my community. You see the suffering I overlook. You feel righteous anger when evil prevails. You weep over cities that reject your love. Thank you for visiting where I live. Your vision for my community fills me with hope. May your church use its powerful resources to make this a better place. Amen.

Darryl Dash

I'm a grateful husband, father, oupa, and pastor of Grace Fellowship Church Don Mills. I love learning, writing, and encouraging. I'm on a lifelong quest to become a humble, gracious old man.

Toronto, Canada

Darryl Dash

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