Preserving the Order of the World

-


Scripture

Luke 14:34   “Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?  35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

Observation

The role of salt has been vital throughout history as it has been used as a preservative for food. It has kept and sustained humankind over prolonged periods. Not only has it been a preservative but it has seasoned food, making it more savory. When it loses its saltiness it has no use. It is believed that salt may have been used for weed killing and also for slowing down the fermentation of dung. In other words it had a use, even beyond what we would see today and yet, without its saltiness it couldn’t even be used those purposes. It was useless and had to be thrown away.

Christians are supposed to be salt,  filled with words of salvation for the world. Origen proposed the idea that the “people of God are truly the salt of the earth. They preserve the order of the world.” That is a lofty statement but his contention was that “society is held together as long as the salt is uncorrupted.” (Origen, Against Celsus 8.70) When the people of God lose their saltiness the result is disastrous and they will be cast away as useless.

Application

We tend to interpret this scripture as God casting away the tasteless and useless Christian. At the same time the world has an expectation of Christians. There is a desire  for Christians to look and act like Jesus and in doing so, that they would hold together the very fiber of the world. It is Christians who should be asking the questions about moral codes and justice and God’s love infusing the world. Christians should question the issues of corruption, evil and abuse of power which so easily permeate the culture. If we don’t do this, we will be cast aside by the world who will consider us unsavory.

The salty Christian is filled with words of salvation because the very actions of their daily lives are Jesus filled. The nature of God is revealed in and through the salt filled Christian. When Christians are not genuinely Christian, even the world will discard us and see us as irrelevant.

Salt must be genuine salt. Christians must be genuine Christians!

Prayer

Lord, lead me today to be your savory presence in the world.  Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a time when we try to carry
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her
Read more

The Advantage of Sanctification

-
Scripture: Rom. 6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Observation: Two sides of life are presented here in great contrast.  One is a life of sin and enslavement to evil.  The other side of life is freedom which provides the advantage of sanctification (or holiness as some translate the word) that leads to eternal life.  The options here are a life of sin, slavery and death; or freedom, holiness and eternal life.  The advantage of holiness or sanctification is the benefit of the life of freedom.  Jesus died so that we might be made holy like him and this is something that is offered as a “fruit” or “advantage” right now.  The end is eternal life — but the living of life is that it can be lived out in holiness.  The next verse is really just an affirmation of the verse 22.  Sin will lead
Read more