Salty Mission

The food was salty. If it was salted in an attempt at preservation, it would have had a half-life of a couple decades. If it was for taste, it was simply overpowering.

In reaction, I puckered my face and began to think. The phrase flashed across my mind, “You are the salt of the earth.” Are we meant for preservation or taste? Are these the qualities Jesus meant to describe his followers? His declaration in Matthew 5 means far more than the common interpretation that we as Christians merely season the world with goodness or flavor. The primary purpose of salt wasn’t for taste or preservation, it was for something more.

Jesus says in Luke 14 that “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away.” The soil and manure pile? Not as glamorous as its purpose in adorning my favorite Mexican pork, Puerco Pibil. Jesus was not referring to flavor or preservation, rather he pointed out its purpose in cultivation. On the soil, salt brought fertility, bringing life to an area devoid of it.

Jesus, in praying for us, says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Jesus’ mission was to bring eternal life by revealing the God whom humanity rebelled against. He then took on humanity’s penalty. Now he calls us to participate in making the true God known to a rebellious humanity, going to areas without eternal life and bringing the Gospel. To be salt of the earth. Salting our everyday lives in Gospel truths - in our home, our work, our church, our neighborhoods, and our community. In the depravity of these areas, we know the Gospel intrudes, penetrates, and brings true vitality. The Gospel fertilizes and cultivates the dead areas.

As a church, we take His call seriously. We are salt in an area lush in luxury but bankrupt of the Gospel. We send missionaries to be salt in areas like Bulgaria and Africa. We are sending out the Jones family to be salt in an area filled with religion but empty of the Gospel. We support churches in other cities that are taking the Gospel and bringing life.

In discovering God’s call to my family, we are prayerfully exploring where he might be leading us to salt the dead areas with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the next season, we will be considering Gospel opportunities outside of Grace Community Church as we seek to discover his call. We will continue to pray for the congregation of Grace as it continues to salt the area of Marvin and South Charlotte.

On behalf of my family, I want to thank you for the support and love of Christ that you have demonstrated to me and my wife. We ask for continued prayer as we seek God’s call to our family to live out of our identity in Jesus Christ, as His salt of the earth.

written for this week's gracenotes