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By Mike Oppenheimer
Let Us Reason Ministries
We hear of all different kinds of ingredients in food that we should avoid for our health. Salt is high on the list. Today, salt is used as a flavor enhancer, but in biblical times, it had a more important purpose, it preserved meats. It was the most available way to keep meat from going bad.
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. (Leviticus 2:13)
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. 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. (Romans 12:1-2)
Your body is a living sacrifice to God when you are employed in His service. This is why Paul follows this with not being conformed to the world; if we are conformed to the world, we no longer have salt in our sacrifice.
We can’t tell someone about Jesus without having salt. Especially if that person already has another way he is following. People need light, and they need salt even though salt can sting on an open wound. The Word of God is described as a two-edge sword, a hammer, and WE are described as salt.
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. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (Matthew 5:13-14; emphasis added)
Of course we need to keep in mind that to minister to someone means we need to listen, sometimes more than we speak. There is a right time to answer. Firing answers at a person after each thing you disagree with can extinguish what you want to accomplish. There is a time to be a little salt and a time to be a lot.
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Colossians 4:6)
Also, salt is a seasoning with grace; it is not the main element.
On the other hand, salt left in a salt shaker on the shelf is useless. Are you salt that is being used? Or are you trampled underfoot by your enemies and just sitting on a shelf useless?
We may not be able to preserve the culture from is decline, but we can preserve individuals lives by our being salt.
And yet, how many pastors and leaders are there who have lost their saltiness? There are pastors in the pulpit who avoid mentioning or pointing out what is sin—that is what I call salt-free Christianity. When you have pastors who refuse to repent for teaching wrong doctrine or for their wrongdoing to other people (and they have been confronted and do nothing in response), they have become saltless.
Salt can be removed within the church, no longer preserving biblical doctrine. Losing salt does not come overnight, it takes time. This happens when opportunities to speak out and present the truth are neglected which begins the process. It is when worldly “tolerance” is exercised instead of biblical judgment.
It is the church of Laodicea that does not notice it has become lukewarm and saltless. Members of the Laodicean church show tolerance for any doctrinal aberration, seeking to unite with all under the name of love, peace, and unity. This backslidden church has stood for nothing for so long that it has little effect on society while at the same time, it has allowed many things contrary to Christ’s teachings to come in. Jesus is outside, knocking on the door.
Eventually God removes His lampstand from churches that do not repent.
We are being taught to be tolerant, to discern nothing, to judge nothing- that is salt-free Christianity.
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Luke 14: 34-35)
For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. 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. (Mark 9:49-50)
As believers in Christ, let us not be part of a salt-free Christianity. We are here to preserve—what we need to be is leaven free, not salt free.
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