Salt of the Earth - 01/08/23

In this transcription, the speaker discusses the significance of salt in the Bible and how it relates to being a follower of Jesus. They mention that salt is used for flavoring food, preserving food, and healing wounds. They also talk about how salt was used as payment in the Roman Empire and as a symbol of judgment. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being the "salt of the earth" and compares it to being the light of the world. They mention that Jesus talked about salt and light on three separate occasions in the Gospels, which highlights their significance for Christians. The speaker also briefly mentions other parables of Jesus and how they relate to the theme of the new and the old. They conclude by mentioning that they will be discussing the topic of light in the evening service. And Jesus says here, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savor, flavor, savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. You've heard that expression, worth your salt. In Mark's Gospel, chapter 9, verse 50, Jesus, speaking of it again, salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, wherewith will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, heard that Gatorade slogan, is it in you? Have salt in you and have peace, one with another, Luke chapter 14. Chapter 14, verses 34 and 35. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for land nor even for the dunghill. It's not even worth fertilizer. But men will cast it out, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we're coming to you again, I ask that you anoint me to speak, anoint their ears to hear, as the word just says there, hear that hath ears to hear, let them hear. There's three places in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Lord, where salt is mentioned, we're going to look at it this morning, I ask that you bless the message. Your word's already anointed, we'll give you all the glory that you do in this place, amen. You may be seated, thank you for standing, praying. In your hand you've got one of these little salt packets, courtesy of Quick Trip, they didn't charge me a thing for it. Went to Publix, couldn't find them, went to Walmart and couldn't find them, went to Quick Trip, it's like, man, it's free, you just pick it up, take it with you guys. It's a small pack, we'll get back to that in a minute here about it being small, we didn't give, you don't use a pound of salt, you use a pinch of salt, right? I have preached about salt several years ago in 2020 here at the church before, you may remember because I passed out salt shakers, little bitty salt shakers. We looked at the story of Elisha and the properties of salt, salt preserves, salt heals, salt, they were paid in salt in the Roman Empire, it was valuable. They put salt on the ground of the enemies that they defeated, because nothing grew on salt, so it's a judgment as well. We looked at that, then we looked at sprinkling the salt where the source of the water was bitter, that the prophet Elisha did in the Old Testament. I did want to preach that same message today, we're going to do it a little different, because the verses are different too. And again, I know some of you were here last Sunday, but it was New Year's Day, some of you were not, understandably so, and we've of course got visitors with us today, we're glad to have them too. But last Sunday morning, we started looking at the parables of Jesus. One third of the Gospels is on the parables of Jesus, a third, believe that? Out of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, because there's no parables in John, you put all that together, and usually when you read the Gospels, one third of the Gospels is like that final week of Jesus, from the triumphal entry, to her anointing Jesus' feet, to the cross, and the resurrection, and the appearance to his disciples, and all that, that's the latter third of the Gospels. Then of course, about a third of the Gospels can almost be miracles, but not quite. But one third of the Gospels in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is Jesus teaching to his disciples. And I told you last Sunday, I haven't preached on the parables, before we've preached on the miracles, we've preached about Jesus in every book of the Bible, and then this year we felt like we want to dive in to the parables of Jesus, and what other way to do it, but maybe just chronological order. So last week, last Sunday, we looked at two of them, we looked at the parable of the new garments and old garments, and the parable of the new wineskins and old wineskins that Jesus did, and I won't rehearse what was said last Sunday right now for time's sake, but when you look at the next message that Jesus mentions, and some consider this a parable and others don't, but Jesus is, some of the parables are not as long, some of the parables are more like proverbs and riddles, and some of the parables like the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are stories, but then there is one that we're going to get to that Jesus parable is, can a blind lead the blind, and that's it, that's the only parable to it really much, but it is where Jesus is sharing a story here, and uses something in the natural to bring out the supernatural and the spiritual, and here we see it too, but where Jesus mentions it first in context here is on the Sermon on the Mount, and then it's a different location in Luke, and it's a different location in Mark, and so that makes it some importance before we get to this morning's service, and usually I don't always preach on Sunday night, but tonight we will, it was two, teaser, so if you can come back at five o'clock, please do, but in Matthew chapter five, it talks about salt, and then immediately after the Sermon on the Mount, he talks about not only are you the salt of the earth, but you're the light of the world, so there's that parallel parable almost, Jesus is preaching them back to back in Matthew, he also mentions light and the parable of the candle found in Luke chapter eight, and then he also mentions it in Luke chapter 11, which when I'm looking at these parables of Jesus, and we've got to count up to 47 right now on the parables of Jesus from the different books and commentaries that we've been looking at, the parable about the salt and the parable about the light are the only parables that Jesus mentions on three separate occasions in the Gospels, which will, to us, emphasize the importance of those parables and the principles in those parables, because if Jesus said something once, it's pretty important, if Jesus said something twice, it's doubly important, and if Jesus in the Gospels recorded three times, and it's applying to us as Christians, that we should be salt and we should be light. So, last Sunday, you know, it's hard to talk about wine skins and old wine, but basically, you couldn't put the new wine in old wine skins, it would ruin, the wine would expand, the old wine skin would burst, and then you've got a busted wine skin, and you've got new wine that's been spilt and just ruined. And so, when Jesus talked about you can't put the old with the new, and you can't put the old ways that the Pharisees did with the new way that Jesus did it, and the best way that I could explain that in my way, and Brother Ron told me after church, we will always remember that, is the sermon about Sprite, because I took, there was a Sprite bottle, Mark checked it, it was over a year expired, that was in the back of the refrigerator in the fellowship hall, and then I got a brand new bottle of Sprite from the Dollar General, nobody gets new Coke and puts it in old, flat Coke. That, it just doesn't work. You can't mix the two. And we also talked about the garments, and you know, I used an example, like some jeans, if you patch it, but nobody's going to take a pair of old jeans that are, that have holes in them, that's been ripped, not the kind of designer jeans that you pay for, that looks ripped, but jeans that are ripped, and then get a brand new pair of jeans and cut it off at the knees and sew it, because you'll ruin the old garment, the pair of jeans, and the new pair of jeans. Well, that's what Jesus was saying in that parable. So, for this morning, just as an object lesson, almost, and something for you to take home and remember, I guess, in a way, about salt, and then tonight, we're going to do something with light. Wanted to preach it at night when it's going to be dark outside, so we can cut the lights off and have some flashlights or something about being the light of the world. But, when I've preached about salt before, and I'll just say it again, briefly, I mean, salt seasons food, yeah, you know? You know French fries, or a meal, or vegetables, or whatever, and the recipe calls for salt, or that you're asking for salt, or you ask the waiter and the waitress for some salt. We also know some of the salt properties back in the Old Testament, in Jesus's time, and other places in the world where it's used to purge and preserve food, or it's used to heal wounds, or it's used as they were paid in salt. That's savory salt, that's where we get our word, salary, from in the English. But, noticing about Jesus first here in Matthew chapter 5, and these parables in context again. Last Sunday, we saw where John the Baptist's disciples, and some Pharisees, the religious elite, their disciples, they came to Jesus and his disciples and said, hey, we're all fasting, why aren't you guys fasting? There was no law in the Bible that made, you know, there's no verses in the Bible that fasting is mandatory, but they had added that man-made burden, and Jesus is like, hey, I'm not here to do things the way the Sanhedrin, and the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the religious elite, and legalism ways to do it. I'm not here to abolish the law, I'm here to fulfill it, but I'm not here to be another Pharisee. He turns their whole world upside down, and the new is not compatible with the old. And we looked at when Jesus changes us in the new man, and we looked at those verses in Romans and Galatians, and we looked at those verses in Colossians and Ephesians to talk about the new man and what we put off and what we put on. You can't take your old life and your new life in Christ and mix both of them together. You can't have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. You can't try to act like a Christian on Sunday and then act like everybody else Monday through Friday. You look different in that garment outside, the external, that we look different, we act different. And then the new one, how we're different on the inside. Well, Jesus is again getting to us here as Christians, but when we look at it in context, Jesus is preaching the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount. If we're looking at Jesus being the greatest storyteller and the parables being the greatest stories that Jesus ever told, the greatest stories that were ever told. I mean, the impact 2,000 years later, even people that aren't saved, even people that aren't in church, even people that aren't religious, know those terms, prodigal son, when they refer to their own kids being rebellious or a good Samaritan, some stranger helping them on the side of the road with a flat tire. I mean, it's just become part of our common culture from the impact of Jesus's stories, parables. Here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says a few things. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. And he says, blessed are you as peacemakers when they persecute you for righteousness sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile and persecute you and say all manner of evil against me falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. When you have those attributes of the beatitudes, when you are poor in spirit or when you are mourning or when you are meek or when you hunger and thirst after righteousness or when you're merciful or when you're pure in heart or when you're a peacemaker, it doesn't mean that everything in your life is going to turn out all right. In fact, they may hate you for that. They may persecute you for that. They may not like it. And then Jesus basically says you're in good company. All the heroes of the Old Testament, they hated and persecuted them too. So. Immediately following that, though, he says you are the salt of the earth and Jesus doesn't go over all the positive properties of salt like sometimes we as preachers and teachers will do. You say, well, this salt's like this, salt's like that, salt's like that. We're supposed to be salt. That's all fine and good. I've mentioned it before. But Jesus here in this passage immediately talks about if you're unsalty, if you're not worth your salt, if it loses its properties, there's two ways that salt see it's in a container. It's in a package. It's not opened, it's sealed. Because salt loses its saltiness two ways. If you just open it up, you open it up and you left it out, the humidity will take away the saltiness eventually where the salt is worth nothing. Or if you take salt and you dilute it in water, it loses its saltiness. Now, salt water doesn't taste good, but it loses its saltiness. Two things. You can take it and you can put it in something or you can put something in it. When the humidity gets into the salt, it's no good. Or when the salt gets into the water, it's no good. We get the world in us or we get into the world too much. We can lose our effect. Jesus says here that if salt loses its saltiness, it's good for nothing but to be trodden under the foot of men. That's what they took salt that wasn't worth anything. They took it up on the rooftop or on the streets, just like we put salt on the roads to protect it in the weather. They did the same thing to give the traffic some grip so you didn't slip because that was all it was good for. In fact, we read that in the other passages in Mark and in Luke where Jesus even says in Luke and it's recorded, it's not even good for the dunghill. It's not even good for fertilizer. There's no nutrients in salt. You don't even take it out to your garden. It's not even worth it. And so Jesus's emphasis all three times when he talks to us in the parables about being salt. It's if we're worthless salt. If we're salt that's lost its effect, if we're not being who he's made us to be and called us to be. So you get back to the Sermon on the Mount or you talk about, well, so what does it mean for us to be salty? If we're going to be preserving, if we're going to heal, if we're going to make an impact, if we're going to make life more flavorful, if we're going to be different in this world. Specifically, what does that mean then? I mean, there's just a little bit of salt here. Like I said, we use a pinch of salt, not a pound of salt, right? Everybody's had something that's too salty and it kind of ruined the meal. It's just a little bit that's sprinkled. I mean, there's an impact that Will can make on his work or David can make his work just as one person. There's an impact that Mark and Caleb can make as their school. It's just those two sons. There's an impact that people can make at this church when there's just one or two people added to the church. You might be the only saved person in your family, but you can make an impact in your family about being salt of the earth wherever we go, whether that's work, whether that's church, whether that's home, school, or in our culture. When someone's having a bad day at the waitress at the restaurant or the cashier at the grocery store, someone at the gas station, wherever we're at, when someone's having a bad day or someone's having a bad time and we just make a difference in somebody's life. But specifically, what kind of difference, especially from Mark's gospel, he says, let salt be in you. So again, the garments is something that's external that people can see, but the wine is something internal. Here we see salt is something internal and the very next verses that we'll look at tonight, light is something external. So let's get back to those inward qualities and we'll look at some of the outward stuff tonight and how we're different as light, but how we're also different as salt. And how we're different as salt is these verses on the Sermon on the Mount. You're salt of the earth if you are the type of person that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount. If you have those B attitudes, those are not do attitudes, those are B attitudes, it's not something that you do, it's something that you are. And those B attitudes in the Bible, when you are what Jesus tells us to be and says blessed or happy or lucky in a spiritual way, if you're this way, that's how you make an impact in your family. That's how you make an impact on your job. That's how we make an impact in our culture. That's how we make an impact at home or at school. And the first one that Jesus says is blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What's poor in spirit mean? Spiritually bankrupt in a way. Hopeless. Blessed are you when you don't have anyone to turn to but the Lord. For such to them is the kingdom of heaven. When you don't have anybody to turn to but Jesus and he's all you have, he's all you need too. You'll find that out. People that trust in riches, people that trust in their job, people that trust in their bank account, people that trust in their degree, people that trust in their family or the loved one or their spouse. Put your trust in other things. Put your trust in other people. You will be disappointed every time. Put your trust in Jesus. When you can't depend on anyone else but him, you will never be disappointed. The Bible says it's unfortunate for the rich man sometimes because he trusts in his own riches and it's hard for a rich man to inherit the kingdom of God because he trusts in himself more so than in the Lord. And this verse says blessed are you, happier are you when you don't have anyone to depend on when you're poor in spirit, when you've reached rock bottom and you find out that Jesus is the rock at the bottom. The next verse, blessed are he that mourns for they shall be comforted. That sounds upside down in our world too. Happy and blessed are you when you mourn. Happy are the hurting. What is so good about feeling so bad? When Jesus preached that, it must have just been shocking in that day as it can be when we read Jesus' words for what they really are. Oh, we'll post the beatitude somewhere. We'll have a bookmarker about it. We'll hear a sermon or a Sunday school or a youth camp lesson about it. But Jesus in that verse right there, blessed are you when you mourn, when you're hurting, when you're heartbroken. Why? Because you will be comforted. I've said it before, but you would never know how great of a friend or comforter that Jesus is until you go through that valley and that dark time. And everybody has bad times, but not everybody has Jesus to depend on. Christians get cancer. Sinners get cancer. Christians have a car accident. Sinners have a car accident. People that know Jesus go through hard times. People that don't know Jesus, in this world, you will have trouble. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Blessed are you if you are mourning and if you're broken and if you're hurting because there is a healer and there is a comforter. You wouldn't know what a friend we sang, "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus." Do we really feel that way? "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus." We want to trust in everybody else and everything else and not just depend on Jesus, but just to take Him at His word, just to trust in the words of the Lord, not the balance in our bank account, not the prognosis from the doctor, not the pink slip from the employer, not from the divorce papers from the spouse, not from the report card that we get from our teachers, but to trust in Jesus and His word. But if I was never lonely, I wouldn't have known Jesus was a friend. If I wasn't in need, I wouldn't have realized that He could have been a provider. If I would have never been sick, I wouldn't have realized He was a healer. Had I not been hurt, I had not realized that He was a comforter. Had I not been lost, I didn't realize that He could be a guide. If I wasn't a sinner, I didn't realize how great of a Savior He could be. That everything I need in my life, Jesus is, and it's in those darkest places, it's in one of those lowest places, that we realize who He is. And the verse goes on and says, blessed are the meek or the humble, for they shall inherit the earth. And Jesus talks about the last will be first. And one of the best ways to get ahead in this world, in business world, or on the job, or have the best thing, be a better parent or a better spouse, is when you put others above yourself. And Jesus talks about the last will be first. Blessed are the meek. Those that don't think all that about themselves, for they will inherit the earth. You put, I mean, the principles that Jesus taught are now taught in public colleges and universities about servant leadership. And that's the kind of people they want to find at the job. They want to find a manager and a coach that will put the employees and put the players first. And if you can find a coach like that, that's who they want to coach their ball team. That's the kind of CEO that they want. That's the kind of husband that they want that will put the wife and the kids first, and kind of wife that they have, and mother, that'll put the kid and the husband first. And Jesus is the one that started it all, saying, blessed are you, when you don't think too big of yourself, and that you're meek, and you put everyone first, because you will get everything you ever wanted. If you will be, Jesus says elsewhere, the servant of all, you'll be the greatest of all. We see Jesus washing the disciples feet, including Judas, which is about to betray him. And Jesus is literally the servant of all came to seeking to say, and that the Lord elevates him and promotes him that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he was the servant of all. He literally became the greatest of all. And that's what the Bible talks about here. Bible also says in the next verse, blessed are ye that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, so they shall be filled, not just hey, blessed are the hopeless, or blessed are the hurting, or blessed are the humble. But the Bible also says, blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled. You don't just stumble into a church in your neighborhood on one Sunday when you don't know anybody, unless you're hungry for something, because it's easier to sleep in or keep the house clean or go run errands or work overtime. You have to make an effort to fast or to pray or read your Bible. It doesn't happen by accident. You have to realize this life that I'm living, there's more to it than just this. I want to get beyond myself and my surroundings and my environment. And I want to be a better person. And I want there's something more to this life than just living and dining, getting up and making a paycheck and having a house and retiring and having a 401k and going on vacation and having pleasures of this world. You can I mean, Solomon had all of it in the Bible. The richest man, the most famous man had over a thousand women in his life was was the smartest man around and then still said the whole meaning of life is knowing the Lord and knowing his word. But Jesus says, blessed are they that are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, for they shall be filled. He says, I'm a rewarder of them that diligently seek me. You will seek me when you find me with your whole heart. Jesus does not play hide and seek with us. We do it with him like Adam and Eve in the garden. We're running away from him and he has to find us. Saul on the road to Damascus, Jonah running in the opposite direction of where Jesus and he always finds Jonah and the bottom of a ship or in the bottom of a whale in the bottom of an ocean or he'll find Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes or he'll find Jacob when he's ready to wrestle with him or not at night or he'll find Abraham when he's about to take the knife or he's going to find Saul on the road to Damascus. But he always comes to us even when we're hiding from him. But he never hides from us. We've got little kids here and we play hide and seek. And it's fun. But that's not the way the Lord works with us. We've been hiding from him since the beginning when he comes to us. Because we're ashamed, like when kids have done wrong, they don't want to come out. But Jesus here says, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after me for they shall be filled. Blessed are you if you find me because you'll find just what you're looking for. Open up the word of God. Pray when you don't know how to pray, when you don't know what to pray, when you don't know what to say because he's always listening. Sometimes people call me on my phone, friends, family, church folks, employees that work for me, clients. I can't always get to the phone. Never had Jesus put me on hold. Never gotten heaven's voicemail. I've never prayed and him not listened. I've never prayed and him not answered. Where Jesus is saying, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. And then the Bible says, Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. You're going to get exactly what you give. And blessed are those that are helpful, that are merciful. I was running late to meet Laura and Mark to make it to Kayla's basketball game in Cumming. And when you live in Villa Rica on a Friday and you've got to be all the way on the other side of Atlanta by 4 o'clock for a ball game. And my meeting was getting over between 2 and 2.30 and I was driving too fast. And he got me going 63 in a 45. And I wanted mercy and I got none. I got a ticket. Who laughed that loud? It wasn't that funny. Come on now. I'm being transparent up here. It's on camera and everything. Now I've gotten pulled over before and they had mercy on me. I've gotten pulled over before when I really deserved it because there wasn't a reason that I was speeding except I like to drive fast. But this time, that police officer, and I knew I was in trouble because he had that SWAT vest when he came up. He was on a motorcycle. I was like, man, this guy don't mess around. I know. Well, where you going so fast, sir? And I just told him. I was like, look, my son's got a basketball game at 4 o'clock in Cumming. I'm running late from my work meeting and I'm meeting my wife. You need to slow down. He wasn't even in a hurry to bring back the ticket. I was there for like 15 minutes. It was just, oh, it was painful. We all know what it's like to not get what we deserve. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. It's not always easy, it's easy for us, it's natural for us to not give our spouse or our kids or our co-worker another chance when we know it's their fault and we know it's not our fault. To not give our spouse or our kids or our co-worker another chance when we know it's their fault and we give them mercy and grace anyway and we still forgive them. Now, justice is getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we don't deserve, but mercy is not getting what we do deserve. There's a whole difference between grace and mercy and justice. Again, justice is you get what you deserve. That's what I got yesterday, the day before yesterday, I got justice. Grace would have been the cop paying my ticket for me and tell me, don't worry about it, I'm going to get it on my record, not your record, because that's what Jesus did. He didn't do that either. And then mercy is, well, I'll give you a warning. You deserve a ticket, but I'm going to let you go this time. I understand, sir, that of course I didn't get that the other day. But we know what that's like when we get it in our life. And Jesus is blessed are you when you do it in somebody else's life. Because they know they deserve to not be trusted or that they deserve to be grounded or they deserve to be fired or they deserve to be left. And when we are people like Jesus that will just give people another chance, then we get the Lord to give us another chance. We'll look at that in a parable about how we're supposed to forgive people as he's forgiven us elsewhere. But that's what Jesus is talking about here. Not just the helpful, but the holy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. You want to get to heaven? You don't want to go to hell? You want to live forever? Happily ever after, eternally? One way to get there, be holy, be pure, be sinless. Blessed are the pure in heart, what nobody can see, at your very core. Not what you say sometimes and don't say sometimes, not what you do, not what you dress, not what you look like, beyond all that. When God told Samuel, man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. And we just say, well it doesn't matter what you look like, it matters what's on the inside. No, what that means is you can look the part on the outside and still fool everybody else, but you can't fool God. I can look like a preacher this morning standing beside this pulpit talking about salt. But he knows what's really deep down inside of my heart. He knows what I think, he knows what I text, he knows what my browser history is, he knows what I'm doing when nobody's watching, he knows what I'm singing, he knows what I'm listening to, he knows what I'm thinking about, he knows everything about me. And blessed are me when God can look at me and say, Micah at the core is pure in his heart because he gets an entrance into heaven. And that's what the Bible says there. And blessed are the peacemakers, the harmonious, the ones that want harmony and peace. Not the peace lovers because everybody loves peace, but blessed are those that make peace. That reconcile people. That bring the parents and the kids back together, and the husband and the wife back together, and the employer and the employer back together, and the friends back together. And that's not easy. I don't like conflict resolution. I don't like that. I don't like in church when one member's mad at another member, when one family member's mad at another family member, when one son is mad at another son, when a spouse is mad at another spouse, when you're mad at another spouse, and you have to get into the middle of all that? That takes skill, that takes patience, that takes love, and a bunch of other stuff, not to make the matter worse, but to make the matter better. But Jesus says, blessed are those that are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. When we want everybody to be one big happy family and just get along, we want to go to work and no drama today. I don't want no drama at work. I don't want no drama at school. When I come home, I don't want any drama at home. When I go to a family reunion over Christmas time, it was Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Year's Eve or whatever, you don't want any drama there. You want everybody to just get along. We can just go through the day with nobody fussing and nobody fighting. It's going to be great. There's no five alarm fires, you know, all that other stuff that we call it. We want everybody, blessed are the peacemakers, that make everybody get along because we're just all one big happy family and the children of God, sons and daughters of God, here's what he's telling us. Those are the kind of people that are the salt of the earth. Those are the kind of people that make a difference in everybody's lives. Those are the kind of people that make a difference on the job, at home, at work, at school, at Cracker Barrel, or the post office, or the bank, or the gas station, or standing in line at Walmart, because it just takes a little bit and it'll make a big impact. When we are poor in spirit and realize that the only thing that matters in life is Jesus, when you have that at work, when you have that at school, when someone in marriage, when somebody's always putting Jesus first above everyone else and their peers, their family members, their friends, their co-workers, their classmates, see that type of person that puts Jesus first above everything. I'm not going to cheat on overtime, I'm not going to cheat on my taxes, I'm not going to cheat on my quota, I'm not going to cheat on my science grade, I'm not going to go out and do that, I'm not going to shoplift, I'm not going to watch that, I'm not going to go there, I'm not going to drink that, I'm not going to say that, because Jesus is first in my life, you're being salt of the earth. You are changing, there's something in you, like Mark says, let salt be in you, there's something in you that's changing the environment. When you mourn, when you mourn over someone's sins, when you mourn over a situation, when you are tender-hearted to what's going on in the world, when what happens with Ukraine matters to you, when what happens in an abortion clinic matters to you, when what happens to our nation matters to you, when a football player falls with a heart problem on a Monday night game, and that matters to you, blessed are you that mourn and have concern about yourself and about others, for you will be comforted. There are cold, callous people in this world that don't care about anything else and anyone else except their selves. And when you are tender-hearted and easily affected and when other people's problems are your problems and you care about other people more than you care about yourself, and when you see the hurting and the hopeless and it moves you like Jesus was moved to compassion, you are being the salt of the earth, because there's something in you that cares about foster kids, that wants to make a difference, that moves you to compassion, that wounds you, that bruises you when you see other people that are helpless and hurting. And blessed are you when you're meek, when you're humble, in that environment when people don't care about themselves and they put others first, or that when you're hungry and thirsty after righteousness, you know, the spiritual things are your priority, the merciful, the pure in heart, that when someone asks you, well, why are you doing this for me? Well, what's in this for you? Nothing. Just here to help. Don't want anything in return. Just stop by to change your tire, check you on, fill up your gas tank. I mean, that's why sometimes people come to churches to get help, because they know that some church folks should help them without wanting anything in return. But when we are not like this, and Jesus emphasized in all three of those verses, if you're not any different than the lost and the sinner and the hypocrite and you're like everybody else at work and you're like everybody else in your family and you're like everybody else at school and you're like everybody else in our culture, as Christians, we're good for nothing according to Jesus. That's the punch to this parable. One of the books I've been reading about the parable says Jesus's parables just aren't little stories on flannel graph or little Sunday school messages or whatever. They're like hand grenades that Jesus pulls the pin because that word parable means to para, like a paralegal or parallel, something alongside of. And then bowl is where we get that balio word for ball to throw something. And they're like Jesus just picks up this parable and picks up the pin like a grenade and just throws it and just watches it explode. Every one of those parables. You think we should fast like y'all? No, we're not going to fast. I'm here not to do anything like you guys are broken and ruined like an old wineskin, like an old piece of garment. Your legalistic pharisaical way of doing stuff is worthless and I'm not here to fix y'all's broken religious system. I'm here to break it. The new has come. The old has gone. And that was revolutionary when Jesus says we're not going to do it like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Sahadrin and the religious elite. I'm not coming for y'all. I'm a Samaritan woman and I'm writing in the sand for the adulterous women to find forgiveness of sin and Jesus turned his religious culture upside down. That parable that Jesus spoke no I'm not fasting and by the way I'm not doing anything that y'all do that's not biblical because I'm not here to put more burdens on people. I'm here to loosen the burdens. That was radical when Jesus said it. And when Jesus is preaching a sermon on the mountain and tells folks to be meek and merciful and pure in heart and peacemakers and missionary stuff you want to follow me you want to change the world this is what I want you to be poor in spirit and broken and merciful and meek and pure in heart and a peacemaker and a hungry and thirsty after righteousness that's the kind of people that I'm looking for because that's the kind of people that have changed their world but if that's not who you're going to be you're not worthy to be my disciple. Jesus is talking about salt where people are saying I want to follow you Jesus but I got this reason I want to follow you Jesus but I got this excuse I want to follow you but not now and Jesus says you're not worth your salt you're not good nothing but be trodden underfoot of men should just get walked on you're not even fit for fertilizer you're good for nothing and some of us can remember meeting and being around some Christian that was a good for nothing Christian that made us look made Christianity look bad than made Christianity look good that those self-righteous people are doing it for the wrong reasons or doing it for themselves or doing it for their own fame or preachers that are preaching for money or people that are talking about prosperity gospel and everybody else that preaches other things that aren't in the Bible or lives and wants to sings in the choir teaches Sunday school but you know how they lived at work and the person that you saw in church was not the same person in school or work that's when Jesus is saying you're not a good Christian and you're not good for anything because you're not really a Christian and all three times the emphasis isn't on what salt is the emphasis on when you're not salt and when you've lost your saltiness and that's what I don't want to be this year there's a lot of people who know me from my clients to my co-workers to folks at church to my neighbors to people at my kids' school to friends and folks I know on social media and I want to be the same everywhere I go 24-7 365 and it's not about what vacations I took or what sermons I preach or what car I drive or what clothes I wear or where I went for my kids or what kind of house I have or all those other things I want them to say well that's someone who is meek and that's someone who's merciful and that's someone who's a peacemaker and that's someone who puts Jesus first and that's someone who hungers and thirsts after righteousness because those are the people that make a difference and I need to be better than who I am and the only way I can be is to have less of me and more of Jesus he's the perfect pattern in here so blessed am I I don't have anybody else to turn to but Jesus and blessed am I when I'm mourning for Jesus will comfort me and blessed am I when I'm meek for then I'll inherit the earth best way to get a promotion best way to have a happy marriage is to put other people first put my kids first put my wife first put my congregation first put my clients first when Jesus says seek me first and all these things will be added to thee best believe that hunger and thirst not a bonus not a quota not a hundred people in a congregation not a parking lot full of members and visitors but hungry and thirsty for what Jesus says in one third of the gospels let my focus be on what Jesus taught and said and the greatest stories ever told by the greatest storyteller to ever be and let that be our focus and wherever the congregation ends at the end of the year and wherever the bank account ends at the end of the year let the Lord handle all that let's just focus on Jesus as a church and as a congregation and if on a random Sunday nobody that I text nobody that I called is here but there's a young couple that I've never met before that just drops in that's what he'll do when I'm trying to figure out well who will be here or won't be here for a message on my hour and fifteen minute drive here and then all of a sudden you meet people that you've never met for the very first time when you just let the Lord be in charge of things to be merciful or to be pure in heart and I think I've made the point so let's just take the point to prayer okay Laura if you can turn that off for Facebook live on the church page and come to the piano just a little bit