One of our
associate pastors recently spoke on the cost of discipleship from Luke chapter 14. It was an excellent
message. I mention it not so that these thoughts should be construed as an
amendment, correction, or disagreement. What follows are simply thoughts that
sprung forth as I was reflecting further on the topic.
The speaker mentioned
that salt, as we think of it, typically does not lose its saltiness. In ancient
Palestine, it was gathered from marshes and was filled with impurities. Over
time, the impurities overwhelm the salt, and the mixture ceases to have any of
the useful properties of salt. It becomes so polluted that it becomes useless.
Professed followers of Jesus who will not follow Him are deemed, by the Lord
Himself, to be useless to His cause.
No believer should
want to be useless to the efforts of the kingdom. But, if that does not
adequately get one’s attention, perhaps, that metaphorical left jab could be
followed-up with a crushing right hook. Years ago, I preached through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, where another treatment of
this “salt of the earth” metaphor
appears. I suspect it is the more familiar treatment of the two.
“You
are the salt of the earth, but if the 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 … - Matthew 5:13
Luke’s
account says:
… It is of no use either for the soil or for the
manure pile. It is thrown away. – Luke 14:35
The Luke account points out the “uselessness”
of salt without saltiness to both soil and fertilizer. The additional nuance
from Matthew is that it is
destructive, that is, toxic. Technically, this salt did have one singular
use. It was thrown away, but not
willy-nilly. This sludge was thrown away “to
be trampled under people’s feet.” In other words, it was used to treat the
paths that cut through the fields from which pilgrims could legally pick grain
for their own use on their various journeys from here to there. Farmers could
not have people wandering through their fields and off the paths. If I were a
farmer, I would want to keep those pathways well-defined. I would look for a
product that would destroy all life and potential for life, something more than
useless … something toxic. I may run down to my Home Depot and look for something that destroys even the
possibility of life.
“What
can I do for you, sir?” says the man in the vest.
I
answer, “Do you have any of the that toxic sludge that used to be salt?”
Is “useless” versus “toxic” a distinction
worth mentioning? If I was told that I was “useless” to some cause, I might not
like it. It might hurt my feelings. I might even pout. On the other hand, as a
fierce introvert by nature, I might learn to appreciate the incognito status of
being of no value. I might just be satisfied that I still get to hang around
with “Team Redeemed.”
However, if I am
told that I am actually harmful to some cause, I would have to decide, “Do I
want to be an ally in this cause or an enemy?” To simply exist as a useless
appendage in the Body of Christ is not an option because it is not even a
possibility. I will be detrimental to the cause of Christ, not simply
irrelevant. I will be a witness to the Gospel, but a damaging one. My choice is
rather clear. Do I want to be for Christ or against Him? I will need to examine
myself to determine if I am really a man of faith at all.
I have never
believed that an arbitrary line can be drawn between faith in Christ and being
a disciple of Christ. “Why do you call me
“Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46). Our obedience to
Christ in this world is not a matter of little significance. The church falls
into disrepute when adherents to Christianity rebel against the commands of
God. We cannot flirt with how to bend rules without sinning. We must despise every
appearance of evil.
The Body of Christ
cannot infight over petty matters and advance the Gospel. We cannot enjoy
impure entertainments. We cannot harbor rage, bitterness and unforgiveness. We
cannot continue to tell tales and spread gossip. We cannot fly off the handle
as a means of responding to the things that agitate us. We cannot express
ourselves with coarseness and innuendo because we want to be seen as clever, relevant
or because we want the world “to take us or leave us as we are.” (If that’s
really the way you are, you need to look into repentance and transformation.) We
can and should engage in the cultural debates of the age, but with respect – to
one another, to leaders and to sinners. In personal crises, we cannot always
resort to the same selfish short-cuts that the world may view as appropriate.
To be useful at
all to the cause of the Kingdom of Christ, believers must walk as true
disciples. Uselessness is not the only risk. Actual toxicity is another. We are
to expect the Gospel to be scorned by the world, because followers of Christ
who have come out from the world trust in a resurrected Savior and live with an
expectation of eternal life. We should expect to be despised in the world,
because darkness hates light. Somehow, the Gospel will continue to make strides
forward. However, we are not to expect the world to mock the Gospel because its
adherents show it to be irrelevant, powerless and non-binding when the chips
are down. No one is drawn to that.
