Lessons From the Salt Shaker!

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It really is amazing how many things that God has placed in our world that seem so simple that seem so much a part of everyday life that are in reality so amazingly complex. One of those things is salt, simple salt, sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is formed when the unstable metal sodium reacts with the chlorine gas. It's the only family of rocks that are regularly eaten by humans.

Some interesting facts about salt. It's essential to human life. We couldn't live without it. Salt actually regulates the water content of our bodies. All of our cells have a certain amount of salt. And this salt content has to be in perfect balance with the liquid surrounding the cell. If the liquid had more salt, then the cell would dehydrate. This is what happens when someone begins to be sick and ultimately to die in dehydration. If the liquid had less salt, if there's not enough salt in the body, then water would flow in rupturing the cell wall, and you can actually die of drinking too much water without enough salt in your body. That delicate balance that God has placed in the human body.

The Romans put a high value on salt. The first great Roman road, the Via Salaria, leads from Rome to the Adriatic sea where they gathered salt. And the Roman army (you know you sometimes heard the Roman soldiers were paid in salt; that isn't really true.) They were paid a "salarium." They were paid what we get the word "salary" from, and it was a word that alludes to salt because they could buy this precious commodity with the money they earned. So, they received a salarium, money by which they could buy salt.

Salad, if you like the stuff, rabbit food, is so named because the Romans used to use salt to season their green vegetables. That's where the name salad comes from. Salt and its powers are woven into our lives. Tonight, in the passage we come to in Mark, Jesus uses simple salt as the center of some very important lessons He wants us to learn. I invite you to turn with me to Mark 9. Mark 9 and look at verse 49.

For everyone will be salted with fire. "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

You can understand after just a cursory reading of those couple of verses why I've entitled tonight's message, "Lessons from the Salt Shaker."

In the fall of the year before our Lord's crucifixion in the spring, Jesus brought His disciples back to Capernaum one last time. And Mark records for us in this chapter one very important evening that occurred there. Apparently, this evening occurred the very night they arrive back in Capernaum from Caesarea Philippi. And that one evening's instruction by our Lord to His disciples private and alone is recorded for us in Mark 9. It begins back in verse 33 and runs all the way down through the end of the chapter, verse 50. That's one night's teaching probably, it's certainly in a house in Capernaum, perhaps Peter's house, and after supper that evening Jesus assumes the role of a rabbi and begins to teach them. The title for our Lord's teaching that night could be this: "Essential Lessons for Every Disciple".

Now in our study of this passage we've obviously worked our way through the entire passage. We discovered three of these essential lessons so far. The first lesson we discovered is that true greatness in Christ's kingdom is defined by humility. You want to be great in Christ's kingdom? Then become a servant of all. Take the role of a servant who serves the least.

The kingdom of God is greater than your experience of it was the second principle we learned. God's purposes in the kingdom is much wider than our little corner of the world, than our little lives. God is at work in the world building a kingdom for His Son. and it's larger than our awareness of it. You remember the disciples wanted to limit that just to themselves.

And the third essential lesson that we learn in this text is that sin is always the disciple's greatest danger. You see that in verses 42 to 48. And we traced our way through this third principle. Sin becomes a danger when we cause others to sin, verse 42, and sin becomes a danger when we tolerate our own personal sin. Because that may well indicate that we are not Jesus' disciples at all. We saw that in verses 43 - 48, those solemn warnings that Jesus gives where He says you better be willing to get radical with your sin. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off. If your right foot causes you to sin, cut it off; cast it from you. Jesus says it's better to be maimed and crippled and enter into eternal life than having all of your limbs to enter hell; to be cast into hell is the language He uses.

That's a sober warning, and it's a reminder that we have been saved from sin. That doesn't mean we're perfect; we're not. But it means we have a different view of sin. It means we're eager to cast that sin from us. We're eager to cut it off. We're even willing to take radical steps to get the sin out of our lives. Not physically maiming ourselves; that won't accomplish anything. Jesus was using a metaphor to say, "You better be willing to take whatever steps you have to take even if it means getting rid of something that's precious to you if that's causing you to sin; serious warnings. Again, remember Jesus is talking to the twelve, and perhaps a few of their family members in a home in Capernaum. This was for us.

Tonight, we come to the end of Jesus' discourse at least as Mark records it. Matthew tells us that it was that same night that Jesus taught His disciples about church discipline. There in Matthew 18; that process is outlined. It was the same night that Jesus taught His disciples that and about the importance of forgiving someone who repented of their sins, who came to you and repented; that you are to accept that forgiveness, and He gave that parable of forgiveness you remember the unforgiving slave. But the last two verses that Mark records are here in verses 49 and 50. One commentator says that these two verses may well be the most difficult two verses in the New Testament to interpret. And I think he may be right.

The difficulty starts even with understanding or determining how many points is Jesus making in these verses. Are verses 49 and 50 making one point? Is Jesus making two points here, or is He really making three separate points? Well, after much reading and much study, much meditation I've landed, and I think you'll see it as we go along with those who identify three separate lessons. There are three distinct sayings in verses 49 and 50 with one thing in common and that is the metaphor of salt. These are Jesus' lessons from the salt shaker.

Now, as we begin, it's important to remember that a metaphor like salt can be used in different ways. For example, if you talk to someone who's kind of a novice in the Scripture, and you say to them, "So what does yeast mean?" They'll say to you well yeast means evil. Well, does it always mean evil? Yes, it always means evil. Any context you go, it always means evil. Well, that's not exactly right. When Jesus uses it positively in Matthew 13 to refer to the silent but powerful intensive spread of the kingdom, they don't know what to do with that. A metaphor can be used different ways in different places in Scripture. So, you have to be careful when you seek to interpret it.

The same is true with the metaphor of salt. When you look for example in Matthew 5 which Justin examined with you just a couple of weeks ago you see the power of a Christian's preserving purifying influence in the world. In Luke 14 you see the permanence of discipleship. We'll come back to that text later tonight.

In Colossians 4:6 you see salt used as a way of expressing that our conversation, our speech ought to be properly seasoned as if with salt. It ought to be appropriate; it ought to be preserving. And so, be careful when you look at the metaphor of salt not to always see it teaching exactly the same thing. Obviously, in these texts it doesn't. So, what is going on in Mark 9 with our Lord's usage of it? In Mark 9:49 to 50 there are three different lessons. But all three of these lessons use the same reference point. They all draw their lesson from one particular use of salt. And as we work our way through these verses that is going to become clear to you.

So, let's look then with that in mind that background laid at the fourth lesson that our Lord taught the disciples that night. The fourth essential lesson for every disciple. A willingness to sacrifice everything for Christ is the heart of every true disciple. A willingness to sacrifice everything for Christ is the heart of every true disciple. Look at verse 49, "For everyone will be salted with fire." Now that is a very difficult and challenging saying. It's the only place in Scripture where anything like that is said. In fact, there's only one other place in all of Scripture where fire and salt occur together. And I think it's the key to unlock our Lord's meaning.

Turn back with me to Leviticus 2, Leviticus 2. Here Moses is laying out the various offerings that were required of God's people in the first seven chapters of Leviticus. There were five different offerings that were required or were allowed. They weren't all required necessarily. But here is the teaching about the grain offering. In the middle of the teaching about the grain offering Moses makes a statement under the inspiration of the Spirit about all of the offerings. Look down in verse 13,

"Every grain offering of yours moreover you shall season with salt so that the salt

of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering. With

all your offerings you shall offer salt.

So, any offering that was made all of that sacrificial system the animals, or in this case, the grain was to be salted. Every aspect was to be salted. And then the appropriate in the case of an animal the animal parts that were designated were to be burned. You see this in other places. For example, in Ezekiel 43 a passage that's dealing with a future millennial period perhaps memorial sacrifices pointing back to the reality of all that God has done. Ezekiel 43:24, "You shall present them before the LORD and the priests shall throw salt on them, and they shall offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD." Salt sealed the covenant. It was emblematic of the permanence of the covenant that was being made. That's why here in Leviticus 2:13 it says, "The salt of the covenant of your God." It was a sign and seal of its permanence. By the way, this is still true. You can see it in other texts as well as in Numbers 18:19. But this is still true among the Arabs. Salt is still used among the Arabs to ratify a covenant as a sign of its permanence. We're going to keep this, and it's not going to go away.

Now, with that in mind, that background in mind, go back to Mark 9. "Everyone will be salted with fire." Now remember our Lord is teaching here about His own. He's saying if you, disciples, are caused to stumble by your hand then cut it off, by your eye then pluck it out, by your foot then cut it off. And then He says, "For everyone ..." that is probably meaning every true disciple "... will be salted with fire." Salt and fire. This is probably a reference to the sacrificial character of true discipleship. We are a sacrifice to God. And as the Old Testament sacrifices were salted and then experienced the fire, even so you and I are characterized here as experiencing both salt and fire as emblems of our being sacrifices to God. We're not dead sacrifices but living ones. Jesus is essentially telling the disciples here the character of true discipleship is sacrificial. The nature of my being a disciple is to become a sacrifice. Our Lord was a sacrifice for us and now we are to be in turn a sacrifice for Him.

Romans 12 puts it like this, "Therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice." Not a dead sacrifice but a ".... living sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship." Jesus is again demanding that those who follow Him be willing to sacrifice everything. Christ may not ask you to sacrifice everything, but the heart of a true disciple is the willingness to do that.

Look back in Mark 8. You remember our Lord already made this point to His disciples. Mark 8. Speaking to the crowd He says, this is how you get into the kingdom. You have to have this spirit of self-denial and sacrifice. Verse 34, "… He summoned the crowd with His disciples and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.'" He must be willing to die and follow Me. He's got to be willing to give up his life for verse 35, "… whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever is willing to lose his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it."

Listen this is how you come to Christ. You don't come through the turnstile of the narrow gate with all of your baggage. You come to Christ willing to give up everything for Him. It's like those parables in Matthew 13 where the man particularly who comes across the treasure buried in the field, and that represents Christ and the beauty and the valuable nature of Christ and he stumbles across this treasure, and what does he do? He goes and sells everything he has in order to come and buy that field so he can have that treasure. That's a picture of how we come into the kingdom. We're willing to give up everything to have Christ.

In fact, turn over to Matthew 10 because our Lord makes a similar point there in different language and with different examples. Matthew 10:37. Here are the demands of discipleship. Here's the sacrificial nature of discipleship:

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Jesus is underscoring the sacrificial nature of true discipleship to Jesus Christ. To become a Christian is to be willing to sacrifice everything to gain Christ. Not to gain acceptance with God but rather simply to have Christ. And to follow Him in obedience; really amazing. Every disciple, Jesus says, is like a living sacrifice, that combination of salt and fire. That's how Jesus views you; that's how He views me. Our lives are to be sacrificial. A willingness, as the principle says here, to sacrifice everything for Christ. That is in the heart of every true disciple. What do you do with this? What does this look like in real life? What does this look like with boots on?

Well, first of all, the application is right here in this passage. You have to be willing to amputate sin out of your life whatever sacrifice that may require. That's really the context. Look at the connection word that begins verse 49, "For". This connects it back to the warning He's just given. He's just issued three commands: Amputate everything out of your life that causes you to sin. "For ..." verse 49 because, here's why you ought to be willing to do that. Here's why you ought to be willing to cut whatever it is out of your life that's causing you to sin against Me, Christ said. "For ..." [because every disciple of Mine] … will be salted with fire.

Every real Christian is by definition a living sacrifice to Me. So therefore, the true disciple will be willing to cut out of his life even the most precious things if those things cause him or her to sin against Christ. This is really an argument for what we learned last week. It shouldn't be so hard to give up whatever that thing is in your life that's causing you to sin even if you perceive it as precious and valuable when you understand the overall context of your relationship to Jesus Christ. You are a living sacrifice. So, to give up one thing or several things in order to keep from sinning is a very small thing indeed.

There's a second application that jumps out at me as I look at this passage. And that is a willingness to do anything, to go anywhere for Christ and the gospel. I've challenged you with this before, but my mind comes back to it because this is my prayer for our church. My mind comes (when I think of this) to David Livingston. If you haven't read his biography, you ought to read his biography. You know he was the man who was the missionary who went to Africa who had such a huge impact on the land of Africa. He loved the people and the land, and in fact they buried literally buried his heart in Africa. But David Livingston had this prayer. He prayed all of the continent for the sake of Christ, and he prayed this famous prayer. "Send me anywhere; only go with me. Lay any burden on me; only sustain me. Sever any tie except the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart."

Have you ever prayed a prayer or anything like that to God? Have you really expressed that to Christ? "Lord, send me anywhere; only go with me. Lay any burden on me; only sustain me. Sever any tie except the ties that bind me to Your service and to Your heart." We're a living sacrifice and that's the right expression for a living sacrifice to make. The Lord may have you right where you are doing exactly what you're doing. Or He may send you around the world. But there has to be a willingness to sacrifice everything for Christ and that includes being willing to do whatever it is for Christ and the gospel.

I remember my own circumstances when I prayed that prayer in essence to Christ. I was a junior in college. For me it meant changing majors. For me it meant leaving my desire, my long-time desire to be an attorney and pursuing the pastorate. For me in another stage in life, it meant leaving the comforts of the south and where I grew up and moving across the country with nothing but our little '77 Corolla to Los Angeles. To see what the church looked like so I could hopefully eventually model that. For me, this prayer meant being willing to serve the Lord where there's no family. I don't know what it might mean for you, but it's right to have that spirit, that attitude toward the Lord. Again, it might mean right where you are doing right what you're doing. It's the heart, it's the willingness that matters.

A third application of this fourth principle here is reminding ourselves daily that our lives are not our own. Your life does not belong to you. Boy that is so hard for us to get through our heads, isn't it? Let me show you several texts. I want you to see this with your own eyes. Turn with me to Romans 14. This is in the context of the principles of conscience that Paul is sharing. And he's just reminding us that we don't even get to choose what we're going to do and not do when it comes to issues of conscience; when it affects others because the Lord matters. Romans 14:7,

For not one of us lives for himself and not one dies for himself. For if we live, we live for the Lord. Or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.

Think about that for a moment. You belong completely fully to Jesus Christ if you're His. And if you live, you ought to be living for Him. That is for His glory to advance His causes, to do the things that matter to Him. And even if He were to bring you to death, that's His purpose too and you embrace that. Look at 1 Corinthians 6. This is a text you're familiar with, but this principle is here as well. First Corinthians 6:19. Paul's just been talking about the fact that the body belongs to Christ. And therefore we ought to flee, verse 18, "... immorality." And he makes this point in verse 19, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" Underline that. You are not your own. You don't own you. You don't own the rights to say what happens to you…. You are owned by God. You are owned by Christ.

Verse 20, "For you have been bought with a price…." You are like a slave who has been bought out of the market by Christ. Is that how you think of yourself and your relationship to Jesus Christ? Look over at 2 Corinthians 5. You see the same point. Second Corinthians 5:14. Paul says, "For the love of Christ controls us…." That is the knowledge of Christ's love for me. That's what he's saying. The knowledge of Christ's love for me controls me "... having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all ..." watch this, I love this. You hear me even pray this often, ".... so that they who live..." [He died for us we now live] "... they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."

We're not supposed to live for ourselves anymore. We're not supposed to live for what we want out of life. We're supposed to live for Christ. What would bring Him the greatest honor? What would be the greatest way I could help use my gifts to advance His kingdom? Where could my family move where we could most advance the cause of Christ? What business could I be involved in that would most advance the cause of Christ? What school could my kids belong to that would most advance the cause of Christ. And on and on it goes.

One last text. Look at Philippians. Philippians 1:20. Paul says, "[It's] … my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but … with all boldness, Christ even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." [Paul says,] "For to me, to live … Christ … to die … gain."

To live, Christ. Is that how your life can be described if you're a Christian; if you're a follower of Christ. For you to live is Christ. You and I need to remind ourselves daily that our lives are not our own, and we need to figure out what that means tomorrow. And this week.

There's a fifth lesson in this text. And that is becoming Christ's disciple is a permanent commitment. Becoming Christ's disciple is a permanent commitment. We see this in the next way Jesus uses the metaphor of salt beginning in verse 50. "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again?" Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty with what will you make it salty again?" Salt is good. That is, it's beneficial, it's useful.

In the ancient world salt served a variety of purposes. It was a seasoning for man's food. I love this, Job 6:6, "Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?" Amen and amen.

It was used to season animal's food. In Isaiah 30 we read about the animals eating salted fodder.

It was used as well as a preservative. You see that in several different texts.

In addition to that, and that one is not a surprise for us, another one though is regarding a cleanser or purifier. In fact, newborns were typically bathed in a salt briny mixture and salt was rubbed into their skin to cleanse them. For example, in a powerful passage that someday we'll look at, Ezekiel 16 where the Lord describes how He found Israel and made Israel His own He says, "As for your birth, on the day you were born your naval cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; You were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths."

It was an astringent and a purifier, a cleanser. Those uses made salt in the ancient world a valuable commodity.

It was sometimes even included with wine and oil as one of the staples of life. But one of the qualities of true salt is permanence. Have you ever thought about this? Salt is a permanent commodity. You can't destroy salt by burning it. In fact, if you put enough salt on the fire it puts the fire out. If you dissolve salt in water, you're not really getting rid of the salt. It's just that, (and I'm about to tell you again more than I understand), but it's just that the sodium and chloride ions separate in the water. They're still there. You boil the water out, you get rid of the H2O, and there's your salt. Still there. That's why salt was used to ratify a covenant since salt itself is permanent it can picture a permanent commitment.

But what happens if salt isn't permanent, and it loses its saltiness? Look at verse 50 again, "Salt is good but if the salt becomes unsalty with what will you make it salty again?" You say, wait a minute. I thought you just said that salt is permanent. How can it become unsalty? Well, pure salt can't. But in the first century there were a couple of problems.

One of those problems was that at least one of the sources of salt that they used in Jesus' day came from the Dead Sea. It was often very salty, but it was bad salt. Here you get a little feel for what the bottom end of the Dead Sea looks like. Clearly, a lot of minerals as well as salt. Clear and obvious on the surface of the water on the rocks nearby. But the salt around the Dead Sea is also mixed with a heavy concentration of other minerals including gypsum. So, in the process of either mining the salt deposits or evaporating the water from the Dead Sea in salt pans the salt could leech out. And you were left with a mixture that just had way too much gypsum in it and had lost the distinctive flavor of salt. That was one problem.

The other problem was that because salt was so valuable, unscrupulous merchants would often mix in some of these worthless ingredients, at least worthless at the time, to extend the salt. To get more for their money. And so, you might go to the market, and an unscrupulous merchant sells you this poor blend of really bad salt. It looks like salt. Perhaps he gives you a taste of some good quality salt, and you buy it, and when he's done packaging it for you, you go home with bad salt. That has lost its distinctive flavor. So, if the salt you bought somehow becomes unsalty Jesus asks, "With what will you make it salty again?"

Literally, He says how will you restore its flavor? Now, what is Jesus talking about here? Jesus is still talking about the believer as a living sacrifice; a permanent sacrifice. Remember that permanence idea? The salt was a communicator of permanence. The salt of the covenant. But what happens if one of those disciples who's supposed to be a permanent sacrifice for Jesus, a permanent disciple, stops being a disciple? What happens then?

Now, in case you're sort of looking at me with a bit of a question mark wondering if I'm on stretch here, I want you to turn to Luke 14 because this is exactly the way Jesus uses salt clearly in Luke 14. This is not the same setting. This is a different event in Jesus' life, a different time. But He's talking about discipleship. Luke 14:25. Large crowds were following Jesus, and (as they often did) He turned and said to them, (ok you want to be My disciple? Here are the demands. Here's what it's going to cost you.) "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters yes and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."

Now you remember we saw in the Matthew passage that he was he was talking about loving these people more than Jesus. It's a point of comparison here. He's not saying you must hate your father and mother. We're commanded to love those around us. He's saying your love for Me, though, compared to your love for these people in your life ought to make your love for them look like hate, by point of comparison. That's what it's going to cost you to be My disciple. Verse 27, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

And then He gives a couple of illustrations of why it's important to count the cost. You remember these illustrations. A man who wants to build a tower and doesn't first calculate what it's going to cost him. Another who is going to go to war and does not calculate whether or not he's got enough men to win. In both cases Jesus is saying this: Look, before you consider becoming My disciple you better count what it's going to cost you. It's going to cost you everything. Now, that's the context of verse 34.

"Therefore ..." (in light of what I've just said about the cost of discipleship) "... salt is good, but even if salt has become tasteless with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear let him hear."

Jesus is clearly here in this context saying two things. He's saying on the one hand you better count the cost before you become a disciple, and you better realize it is permanent. And it's a serious thing for you as it were to become a sacrifice; to be a salted sacrifice and then to take yourself off the altar and say, no I'm not going to do that anymore. It's not just useless. Jesus says it's useless for the soil or the manure pile. You know many foods that spoil can be recycled. They can be recycled in the garden; they can be recycled in the compost bin.

But salt can't be put into the garden, or it will kill all the plants. And it can't be put into the compost heap because it will kill some of the bacteria that's making that process happen in the compost bin. So, what do you do with worthless salt? Well, in a different sermon making a different point, Jesus says there's only one thing to do and that's throw it under feet. In other words, put it in the paths where you walk on it and where it serves a useful purpose of killing weeds in the path. That's its only use. It's no longer useful for its main purpose.

Now, go back to Mark 9. What point is Jesus making here? He's making the same point he was making in Luke 14, and it's this: Everyone who professes Christ, who becomes salt, who becomes the salted sacrifice but walks away from that permanent sacrificial commitment has become worthless to Christ. And that person will be cast away, frankly, because he never was truly a disciple at all.

Now what's the application of this principle? Becoming Christ's disciple is a permanent commitment. The first point of application is that means you better count the cost before you become a disciple of Christ because you are signing on permanently. If you are not a follower of Christ, don't you for a moment think that Christ is like fire insurance. It's just an easy way to get out of hell. Jesus says you better count the cost. You better consider what it's really going to cost you to be My disciple.

Secondly, this underscores the importance of the perseverance of the saints. Real salt keeps its saltiness. A true sacrifice, a living sacrifice to Christ stays on the altar.

And thirdly, I just threw this one in because I think this is such a challenge today there's no retiring from being Jesus' disciple. Listen, you can retire from your job, but you can't retire from being a disciple of Jesus Christ. It's a permanent commitment, and it is a sacrifice. It is a life of living sacrifice to Jesus Christ. That's what you signed on for if you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

There's one last principle in this text, one last lesson from Christ for us.

Number six, and again He uses the image of salt. A sacrificial heart toward Christ will bear fruit in our relationships with other Christians. A sacrificial heart toward Christ will bear fruit in our relationships with other Christians. Look at the second half of verse 50, "Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." Until this point Jesus has been making statements. But here He gives a command. He gives two commands actually. And both of these imperatives are in the present tense. So, we could translate it like this: Keep on having salt in yourselves, and keep on being at peace with one another. Now notice in this whole salt illustration thing there's a change that's taken place.

In verse 49 the Christian has salt put on him. He is salted. In the first part of verse 50, the Christian is salt. And in the second half of verse 50, the Christian has salt within. Now when Jesus says keep on having salt within, He probably means, (and we can't be absolutely sure of this, but in the context, this seems to be the best interpretation.) He probably means keep on letting the spirit of sacrifice to Me be present within you. You've been salted like a sacrifice. You're a living sacrifice to Me. Keep that mindset. Keep that attitude. And when that happens it will affect how you interact with other Christians.

Look again at verse 50, "Keep on having salt in yourselves and keep on being at peace with one another." The true Christian will be so affected by the spirit of sacrifice for Christ that it will erase any selfish agendas. And it will create peace with one another. Now, this makes sense. You remember how this sermon started? Jesus, the disciples on their way back from Caesarea Philippi and there's an argument that breaks out among the disciples. You remember what it was? Who is the greatest? Who's the greatest? That's how it started. They had forgotten that they are to be living sacrifices for Christ, and they had picked back up their personal agendas. Who's the greatest? So, Jesus says, keep alive that spirit of sacrifice in yourself, and then you'll be able to be at peace with one another.

Now, again what is the practical application in this for us? I think it's so important for us to understand that Jesus puts a huge priority on living at peace with others; particularly other brothers. This starts back even in the Old Testament Psalm 133:1, ???"Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell … in unity" and then He gives a couple of illustrations from the land of Israel that make that clear. What about Romans 12:18? "If possible, so far as it depends on you..." [as much as you are able] "... be at peace with all men." Second Corinthians 13:11, "Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace…."

Let me ask you. As much as lies within you are you at peace with all of your brothers and sisters in Christ? Or is there anger and bitterness and resentment and conflict and turmoil and fighting? Listen, this isn't little to Jesus.

A second application of this section is that if you want to live at peace with the Christians around you and the Lord commands us to do that, then just remember that you are a living sacrifice. Your agenda doesn't matter; your reputation doesn't matter; your life doesn't matter. Jesus Christ is all that matters. W don't forget Jesus' lessons from the salt-shaker. A willingness to sacrifice everything for Christ is the heart of every true disciple. Becoming Christ's disciple is a permanent abiding commitment, and a sacrificial heart toward Christ will bear fruit in our relationships with other Christians. Is that how you see your relationship to Jesus Christ?

Let's pray together.

Our Father, we thank You for these words of our Lord. Hard words, hard to understand, hard to interpret but so much harder to practice.

Father, we are by nature selfish and self-centered. But Father, remind us that it was that willingness to give up everything. That was the spirit with which we came into the kingdom. Remind us that's how we're to live every day in it.

Lord, I pray that you would teach us these lessons that our Lord taught His disciples in that house in Capernaum on that evening so many years ago. May we think about these things, may we meditate on it.

And Lord, thank You for using the image of salt so now every time we see salt one or more of these principles will come back to our minds and hearts. Seal it to us, oh God, the lessons we've learned here.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.