salt and light = radical faith?

[reformedlostboy]

As I have been thinking about radical faith in the face of suffering and persecution I have noticed a pattern in scripture before that I had never before noticed or had called to my attention. I’ll lay my deductions out there and any who read this can decide for themselves whether it is true or not and comment back as the Spirit leads.

Here is what I noticed: In the gospels where Jesus spoke of salt and light or being salty it immediately followed his encouragements and promises for the persecutions of those who follow Him. Is Jesus telling us that we shine brighter for Him and salt the world by standing firm in our faith during trials and persecution? Take this passage in the gospel of Matthew for instance:

Matthew 5:10-16
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Salt and Light

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Those who are persecuted for righteousness are happy because we can look forward to the kingdom of heaven and our reward is great there. We are very familiar with this, but what follows next, and its placement in the Lord’s sermon is something I never noticed or thought about before. There is usually a new paragraph starting here or a heading as you see above (from the ESV)and that tends to cause us to close the last thought and start a new. But should we? Or is Jesus finishing the previous statement about persecution by telling us that if we aren’t living radically for Him, then we are good for nothing? If we get in the habit of not being “salty” (or radically faithful), how can we get back our zeal again. Many should ask if they have ever had the kind of zeal for Christ that comes with a regenerate heart and pray accordingly.



Now, the following passage is not pertaining to persecution or suffering for the cause of Christ which leads me to believe that the saltiness of our lives depends not on suffering or persecution alone (although faith through persecution is a very bright light for unbelievers). Rather this passage immediately follows the passage where Jesus tells us to pluck out our eye and chop off our arm rather than to be cast into hell. So I think that salt in this passage is relating to sacrifice. Some are salted with fire in this age as the Lord disciplines His children. Others are salted in the age to come in a perpetually burning lake of fire. We are to be living sacrifices and according to OT laws, all sacrifices were to be salted. We are living sacrifices that are salted with grace … past grace that brings us to trusting in future grace through the experience of present grace.

Mark 9:49-50
49 For everyone will be salted with fire. [1] [Some manuscripts add and every sacrifice will be salted with salt]




50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

In the gospel of Luke Jesus tells us about useless salt again after telling us to count the cost of following Him. To hate our own life and all the things of the world in order to bear our cross and follow Him is what is required to be His disciple. Then He says that salt that is not salty is no good. He who has ears let him hear.

Luke 14:26-28,33-35
26 “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. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

34 “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

So here is where I am now: I believe that to be salty is to be full of grace and that grace causes us to live for Christ as we know He has purchased for us an inheritance that will not fade or go away. This Christ centered living by faith allows us to live in a way that the world hates and they are either changed or we are persecuted.

…or maybe being salty is to have faith and our faith if it is not bearing fruit is good for nothing. Like James says that faith produces works. We also know that a tree that bears no fruit is good for nothing but to be chopped down and thrown into the fire. Faith comes by grace so they can both be correct, I suppose.

If you read this far and were able to make sence of my feeble attempt to capture my thoughts as they unfolded I hope you were blessed. I started out to share a discovery and as I wrote through it and looked up a few sources to check my accuracy of thought I grew all the more. I wish I could organize all my thoughts and share them. My brain is like the highest Tetris level sometimes. Blocks fall fast and sometimes they fit by other times they just stack up to nothing.

 

[Leslie]

Very thought-provoking, especially as regards ministry to persecuted believers.