You are the Salt of the Earth

Luke 14:25-35 – Specifically v. 33-35

1) Outward disciplines involve prayer; worship; reading of scripture; service with a right attitude through having our “senses trained” to act rightly, i.e. to imitate Jesus.

2) Inward disciplines involve the motivations and chosen actions of our hearts – do they reflect Jesus and please our Father, or do they reflect our self and please ourselves?

What does ‘Salt’ refer to in these passage in Luke?

• Salt – in Greek (ayas) alludes to living with wisdom and prudence in word and deed.

o Col. 4:5-6 – Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

o Salt here (halas) symbolizes the combination of grace and prudence evident in our behavior and words.

o Prudence is using wisdom discretely, paying attention to discernment and God’s truth.

• Loss of Flavor implies losing one’s interest in the things of God; failing to make am impact through watering down the Good News; becoming foolish through lack of conviction.

• How shall it be seasoned? – asks the question: How have you been prepared for what God intends for you? Have you yielded yourself to Him?

o Lk. 14:25-35 specifies this preparedness as:

 V. 25 - hating your natural life/propensities as well as pleasing others.

 V. 27 – bearing your own cross – lifting & sustaining it when it becomes heavy.

 V. 28 – taking time to count the cost required of you

 V. 29-32 – able to overcome obstacles that seem impossible because of trusting God to help you. Making peace with the invading world around you deletes God’s overcoming power.

 Having a good foundation but not building on it to maturity.

• It is not fit for land or dunghill – a person that is not set properly in his place as God’s authentic representative of Christ Jesus to the world around you.

To stay “salty” – meaning to walk with grace and wisdom we must pay attention to:

1) Mark 9:49 – For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.

• In v. 42-47 – we are encouraged to cut off, move away from, those sins that we find enticing, be they of the hand (actions), foot (where you go, who you walk with), or eye (what you view).

• V. 50b – Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another. – Salt, godly wisdom and prudence, brings our lives into peace with each other.

• Fire burns away that which is unpleasing to God.

• Ro. 12:1-2 – we present ourselves as a sacrifice to God, we submit to His fire that burns away the old to renew the mind so we can prove what is pleasing to the Father. NOT conformed to the world, but TRANSFORMED to God.

• Heb. 12:1 – this sacrifice put to the fire of God intentionally and willingly lay(s) aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, by looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

2) We stay grounded and built in His love –

• Mt. 23:23 – Woe to you, scribes, and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

o Jesus pointed out the difference between ‘religion outwardly’ and ‘inward motivation’ of a true disciple of His.

o Justice, mercy, and faith must be balanced!

• The command to ‘love one another’ is mentioned 19 times in the NT

o Jn. 13:34 – A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

o Heb. 13: - v. 1 – Let brotherly love continue – EVIDENCED BY:

 V. 2 – taking in strangers (sometimes angels sent from God)

 V. 3 – remembering prisoners, those mistreated – as if it were yourself.

 V. 4 – being faithful to your spouse.

 V. 5 – being unselfish in desire and content with what you have.

 V. 7 – boldly trusting God to the point of overcoming fear.

 V. 8 – giving respect, honor, and praying for our leaders, considering the outcome of their conduct.

 V. 17 – obey your leaders with submission and joy, not with grief.

 V. 10 -14– have our hearts established by grace in sound doctrine, rejecting false teachings, even if it causes us to be reproached, estranged from those who believe those false teachings, just as Jesus did.

 V. 15 – Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

 V. 16 – Don’t forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased!

The discipline of love promotes:

• Kind affection that honors others and prefers them over oneself (Ro. 12:10).

• Fulfills the law (Ro. 13:8)!!!

• Brings us into a freedom to serve one another freely and willingly. (Gal. 5:13)

• Enables us to forbear one another (Eph. 4:2)

• As we love, that love increases to abundance (I Thess. 3:12)

• God teaches us how to love one another (I Thess. 4:9)

• Enables us to provoke/encourage each other to love and good works (Heb. 10:24)

• Purifies our soul in obeying the truth through the Spirit to love from a pure, sincere heart with fervency (I Pet. 1:22)

• Enables us to be compassionate, sympathetic/tender-hearted, and courteous to others (I Pet. 3:8)

• Identifies us as followers of Christ, knowing God who brings us to completion in Him. (Jn. 13:35; I Jn. 4:7, 12)