FROM telling us the character of the Christian, Jesus goes on to speak of how this character is illustrated and worked out in the life of the Christian. This is really what Jesus is doing in all the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. Having said this, it shows that only Christians can in any true way live the sermon on the mount, and this is because the life which Jesus outlines in this sermon is only made possible by the new life which comes from being re-born through faith in Jesus, and which shows the character which Jesus speaks of in the Beatitudes. This shows the fallacy of the teaching that says that we don’t need all the complicated Christian doctrine which is taught in the Bible. We don’t need it because all we have to do is to live the sermon on the mount and then all will be well. The truth is that with out the life of Christ in the soul which comes from believing the doctrine and so knowing Christ, we have no power or inclination to apply the teaching of the sermon on the mount. Indeed we have no real appreciation of the teaching unless we have the new understanding which new life in Christ gives. If people who say that we only need to live the sermon on the mount really understood the teaching of Jesus in the sermon, then they would understand how impossible it is to live according to its teaching without the new life which Christ gives.

In this verse before us Jesus speaks of the Christian as the salt of the earth. By this Jesus is saying that the Christian has a quality of life which the world needs. The world may not want this quality of life, and indeed may resent it, but without it the world will go to pieces. This is illustrated in the history of the UK. There has been worked into the character of British life a quality which has made Great Britain a place people want to come and live in. We perceive this in the large numbers of immigrants that seek asylum in Britain every year. They will pass through many other countries in a desperate attempt to become a citizen of the UK. This is because of our heritage that has been forged by Christian tradition and life. However when these immigrants get here they often find that things are not as they imagines, and the reason is that the nation is becoming less Christian, and so the good life which came with the Christian teaching and tradition is being eroded. In the past Great Britain has been blest by God with revivals of true faith in Christ. Great numbers of people were made alive in Christ, and they became salt in our society, and so Great Britain became great because of the effect of the Christian lives being lived in the country. Now we are seeing a deadness creeping over the churches, and so the action of salt which live Christians bring is not so present.

Salt does two things, and these two things are what Christians, just being and living as Christians, bring to society. Salt preserves from corruption and gives flavour to life. Firstly salt preserves from corruption.

In the human heart and mind is the seed of corruption. This corruption is due to what the Bible calls sin within every human being. Sin must be distinguished from sins. Sins are committed because of the corruption of sin within the human heart and being. Left on its own the human person tends to corruption. If the corruption is not curbed by some preserving influence, then corruption increases. We are seeing this fact in the society of the UK at the present. It has been going on for some time now, and this is reflected in our society. The government is seeking to deal with it, but is manifestly failing. Laws and the police are not getting a stop of it. Our prisons are full to overflowing. What is needed is salt that will preserve our society, and the Christian is that salt. Being salt and so preserving people from the corruption of sin, true flavour is put back into life and living. In corruption people are seeking flavour and not finding it, and because they are not finding it they seek even more corruption which just makes things worse.

These days the Christian Church, through its many bodies and institutions, is seeking to be salt but in the wrong way. There is much condemning, but this is causing an adverse reaction. Salt works in an unseen way. The right way is for Christians to be Christians in society. Every Christian impinges on society through employment, and being involved in society. Just being Christlike and showing Christlike character and love is being salt. When this is done, then people are changed by the attractiveness of the life they see. We stand out for right actions and principles by living them, not be condemning all the time. Let me give one example from my own experience. I gave some computer software to someone. I had no more use for it, so I gave it as a gift to someone who could make use of it. This person made a copy of the software and gave me back the original software. I had to say that I could not be a part with this action of copying the software because it was in reality a form of stealing. I asked this person to destroy the copies, and asked them to accept the original software as a gift. The person was not offended, and began to see something in a new light. In this very small and perhaps insignificant way I was able to be salt. I was able to be salt in this way, and do it without offence because that person knew that I was not judging or condemning because they had come to know me and had been able by God’s grace working in me to see something of the loveliness of Christ in me. This is how it is done.

Christians are scattered over every spectrum of society, from Parliament through business, education, medicine, sport, entertainment etc. Each Christian becomes salt as they live out a Christlike life. This we must do.

If we are to be salt then we must act as salt, that is live Christlike lives. The more Christlike we are, the better salt we are in society. The quality of our saltiness in society will be according to the quality of the Christ likeness that our lives reveal.

We must not lose our saltiness, so we must make it our business to promote it and preserve it by using all the means of grace God has provided, and by dwelling in the presence of Christ and heeding the guiding of the Holy Spirit.