TO BE IN CHRIST – SALT (PART FOUR)
TO BE IN CHRIST – SALT
(PART FOUR)
Salt speaks of
the risen life of Jesus Christ, imparted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
to the redeemed sinner. It is the salt for barrenness! As you have been
reconciled to God by his death, you are constantly to be saved by his life.
It is only the
life of the Lord Jesus, his activity, clothed with you and displayed through
you that ultimately will find the approval of God. As a forgiven sinner, you
are a member of a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:5). It is that Lord Jesus Christ alone who
makes your sacrifices acceptable to God. Only what he does in you and through
you merits his approval and God can and will accept nothing less!
Every oblation of
the meat offering shall though season with salt; neither shall you suffer the
salt of the covenant of the God to be lacking from the meat offering, with all
your offerings you shall offer salt. (Lev 2:13)
Under no
circumstances, God said in his law given to Moses, were any offerings to be
brought to him, or sacrifices made that were not seasoned with salt. Without
the salt they would not be acceptable no matter how lofty the motive, no matter
how great a cast, no matter how noble the ideal. Without the salt they would
not be acceptable.
This was the
practice, as supported in Ezekiel 43:24 “thou shalt offer (these offerings) before
the Lord and the priests shall cast salt upon them and shall offer them up for
a burnt offering unto the Lord”. It was salt that made the offering acceptable.
Now the Lord
Jesus in Luke 14:33 tell us the minimum demands that he makes for true
discipleship. He says “so likewise, whoever of
you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple”. He has got to recognize his bankruptcy so
that his sole wealth is vested. To be vested in the one whom God has credited
to him (in the person) by the presence of his holy spirit. This is the
condition for discipleship.
“Salt”, he goes
on to say is good, but if the salt have lost his savior, what then will it be
seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast
it out. He that hath
cares to hear, let him hear. Luke 14:34-35
There is a
substantiate salt that has lost its savor. In the middle east salt is at a
premium. For some reason salt is scarce. Salt was scarce, so there were
substitutes on the market. It was good to the taste, all right for immediate
consumption, but the moment they tried to preserve their food with these
substitutes to keep it pure and healthy and edible, within a matter of hours (or
at most a matter of days) in that hot sultry climate it went putrid and bad and
stank! It was not even fit for the dunghill!
As in the case of
substitute salt, there is a form of activity that is all right for
immediate-consumption. It impresses everybody. Your stock goes up high but it
will always leave a stink behind it if it stems the flesh and is self-activity!
It will always
produce the kind of fruit that drops; both premature and immature to rot and
never reproduce. This is the work of God that you believe and maintain
unrelentingly. To totally depend upon the one whom God has sent to fill you
with himself. He is the true salt through whom you are made the salt of the
earth.
Here is another fascinating
reference to salt. It is described in Leviticus 2:13. As the “salt for the
covenant” this is the token of God’s unfailing pledge and purpose in the lives
of redeemed sinners. The sinners who are accepted in the beloved: in whom we
have redemption through his blood. The
forgiveness of sins (according to the riches of his grace) in Ephesians 1:-7.
That is the tree for bitterness! In whom you were sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance. Ephesians 1:13-14: This
is the salt of the covenant, the salt for barrenness!
Thanks for reading!
Pastor James P Norman
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