11^th March 2009

Matthew 5:13-16

Today I’d like to pick up one aspect of the life of all Christians - the role that influence plays in mission and ministry.

Our reading follows on from the well-known ‘Beatitudes’. The words of Jesus have immediate focus as He spoke to the people on the hillside and said to them, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt loses its saltiness what good is it other than to be trampled underfoot.”

In the desert regions salt was needed in your diet to combat dehydration, and in the times of Jesus Roman soldiers were often given money specifically to buy salt or were paid with salt instead of money. Our word 'salary' comes from the Latin word 'salarium'- taken from the word for salt.  Salt was a basic need and quickly became equated with wages, so a person ‘not worth his salt’ was one who did not give value for money. When Jesus said “You are the salt of the earth”, he was saying to the people that they were valuable, important, and they could bring blessing to others. 

These days we process salt primarily from sea water but in ancient days salt was gathered from dry salt pans or dug up from other salty ground. If the salt content was low quality or it lost its flavour because of pollutants or impurities it would be useless. Because of impurities mixed with these naturally occurring forms of salt it could easily lose its saltiness. That kind of product was good for nothing, except sometimes being used to scatter on paths or roads like we may use gravel.

Our ‘saltiness’ is the presence of God in our lives and if we allow our ‘holy saltiness’ to become polluted then we can lose our value in Kingdom terms. Our influence as God’s people is diminished when we allow the pollution of sin and ungodly living or poor attitudes to spoil us, and thus spoil our effect.Who has been salt in your life?  Who helped bring out your flavours?

Since my childhood in the church over 50 years ago there have been many people who have influenced my life and my faith – people that God seemed to place there for a season.  There were ‘salty’ youth leaders and friends and Ministers and people of faith; no doubt you too have had ‘saltshakers’ in life.

Our Western world today is very ego-centric.  Many people seek titles, and they want personal recognition. We desire to be praised and we are told by psychologists that affirmation builds self-esteem. Even our schools are reshaping the way our children think by removing graded results. The old ‘pass-fail’ system is not used because ‘the experts’ say children can be emotionally damaged if they are identified as ‘failing’.  Jesus, on the other hand, reminds us that the glory in our lives, the recognition of our efforts, should point to the One who has blessed us, called us, and equipped us.

Hear me clearly! Being recognised by those around us is valuable but our self-worth should not be solely determined by the affirmations of others. It helps us feel pleasure and ‘pats on the back’ are healthy.  Even one of the gifts of the Spirit is the gift of encouragement – the God-given person who makes sure you are built up and affirmed. Even so, Jesus pointed out that our influence on others should point beyond ourselves. People should not just be saying, “So-and-so did a good job today.” Rather they should be observing, “I could see the Lord at work through so-and-so today.” 

There are, of course, people who bring negative influences. We all know of people who get into drugs or ungodly lifestyles because of poor examples by parents, or being tempted by unhelpful peer groups.  We know of great school teachers but also those teachers who were less helpful. We know of neighbours and politicians who have not been helpful in shaping community life.  We know of media standards and lifestyles that we have allowed to infiltrate and now ungodliness is seen as normal rather than sinful. Even so, even with so much negative stuff around us, the church is a good influence.

Critics of Christianity will always point to the errors of the church. Often the faults of God’s people - especially sex crimes - are highlighted in the media but the evidence is indisputable.  Despite the errors of judgement… despite the mistakes… despite the periods of ungodly wars and crusades carried out in the name of God… despite the ‘sin in the camp’ that keeps rearing its ugly head… and despite the apathy and empty lives of some folk who claim to believe… despite all that bad stuff and more, the historically proven fact is this – Christianity has done more to shape the world…more to bless the planet… more to transform lives and spread the righteousness…and more to help the downtrodden than any other religion or humanist movement in the history of mankind. There has been no influence for good like our influence.

Christians are and have been an influence in every aspect of life. Christian teaching has shaped nations, helped create the world as we know it, and transformed billions of lives. Missionaries and explorers have opened up continents, and – while many indigenous groups on ours and other continents may still speak of ‘invasions’ – despite errors and misguided passion at times the world we have today owes much to the Church and the desire to bring Jesus to all people groups. 

We may pray, “Come Holy Spirit…come and bless our city”, but the reality is that the Spirit is already present. Jesus is here, with us, now.

• Each one of you is salt of the earth.  
• Each one you is the light of the world.  
• Each one of is an influence… 

God is with us as we speak and act, and because He is with us daily we need to hold fast to this truth;  You and I can be, you and I must be, you and I already are the influence for righteousness this nation needs.  

Amen.

8th Feb ‘09

Rev Rob Tann
Unity Hill Congregation
Port Lincoln Uniting Church SA