Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his flavor, with which shall it be salted? it is thereafter good for nothing… These words must have seemed ridiculously presumptuous when they were first spoken. I. THE HIGH TASK OF CHRIST'S DISCIPLES AS HERE SET FORTH. This metaphor involves two things: a grave judgment as to the actual state of society, and a lofty claim as to what Christ's followers can do for it. It is corrupt; you do not salt a living thing. It is the power and obligation of the good to arrest corruption by their own purity. The example of Christian men is not only repressive, it ought to tempt forth all that is purest in the people with whom they come into contact. Salt does its work by being brought into close contact with the thing which it is to work upon. It does its work silently, inconspicuously, gradually. II. THE GRAVE POSSIBILITY OF THE SALT LOSING ITS SAVOUR. It is evident that there is the obliteration of the distinction between the salt and the mass into which it is inserted. Is there any difference between your ideal of happiness and the irreligious one? III. The solemn question, Is THERE A POSSIBILITY OF RESALTING THE SALTLESS SALT, OF RESTORING THE LOST SAVOUR? These words not to be pushed to the extreme. IV. THE CERTAIN END OF THE SALTLESS SALT. YOU cannot put it upon the soil; there is no fertilizing virtue in it. You cannot even fling it into the rubbish heap; it will do mischief there. Pitch it out into the road; it will stop a cranny somewhere between the stones when once it is well trodden down by men's heels. That is all it is fit for. God has no use for it; man has no use for it. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) I. The world as constituting the particular sphere of the Christian's influence. Moral state of the world at large, and that portion in particular where our influence is most felt. How insensible are we of it, etc. II. Illustrate and apply this interesting and important truth. Explain the metaphor. All true believers in Jesus are denominated the " salt of the earth," because all that is Divine and holy and precious exists in them, and in them only. The moral influence of the Christian, as it is exerted, applies to the Church in its collective capacity. III. The decay of the inner life, as manifested in the impaired vigour of Christian influence, figuratively set forth by the "salt that hath lost its savour," and its consequent unprofitableness. The salt may again be salted — the inner life may be revived. (Dr. O. Winslow.) Parallel Verses KJV: Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. |
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