Being a Grain of Salt

In my talk yesterday, I emphasized the importance of being a realist, particularly in moral and spiritual issues. Every patriot needs to be a realist. I quoted Proverbs 14 verse 34:

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

That simply is a fact that is true whether we believe it, whether we wish it or not. If we are to be true patriots in our nation, we have to live in the light of that fact—that righteousness prospers a nation, sin is a disgrace, degrades and brings a nation down.

Today I am going to apply this general principal about righteousness and sin, in a very practical way, to the kind of life each one of us needs to live. I have titled my talk for today: “Being a Grain of Salt.” I want to turn, first of all, to the words of Jesus to His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 verse 13:  

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and be trampled by men.”  

So there Jesus is speaking to Christians, as His disciples and He shows that we have a very special role in the earth. “You are the salt of the earth.” The language indicates we are the only salt, there isn’t any other, without us the earth would have no salt. We are the salt, not some of the salt, but the salt. We have a unique function to fulfill.

What does it mean to be the salt of the earth? Let me suggest to you three significant functions of salt. This is by no means complete; it just gives us some idea of what is involved. The three functions I would suggest are:

1. First, a disinfectant.
2. Second, to hold back corruption.
3. And third, to give flavor, to make tasty.

Let’s look at the implications of those three functions of salt. Let’s speak, first of all, about salt as a disinfectant. As a speaker and a preacher, I have to take care of my voice. I went to an ear, nose and throat specialist some years back and I asked him what is the best thing I could do to keep my voice in good condition. He said, “There is nothing better that you could do than gargle regularly.” I said, “What with?” and he said, “Just salt and warm water.” That is so simple, doesn’t cost a lot, but it really has helped me tremendously. Why? Because salt is a disinfectant, it tends to keep disease away, it tends to prevent germs from settling in the throat and creating infection and inflammation.

So that’s what we are supposed to be. Wherever we are in the world, we are supposed to disinfect the atmosphere—to disinfect the society in which we move, the relationships of people with us and with others. We are supposed to keep away germs and infection. Not of course, primarily physically, but spiritually and morally. In other words, our presence should make a difference, wherever we are in society.

I would like to illustrate this from a rather vivid experience of mine as a soldier in the British Army in World War II. I came to know the Lord in the army. And I had a very dramatic and powerful and total conversion from sin to righteousness. And as I’ve told people many times, God didn’t then take me out of the army and say, “This is too brutal and impure an atmosphere for you to live in as a Christian. I will give you a nice different kind of uniform and put you in a college, and you could be trained to be a preacher.” God said to me, in effect, “In the same place where you have done all the sinning, I want you now to lead a righteous life. I want the same people who saw you sin, see you become righteous.” And that was quite an assignment. By the grace of God, I have to say, that for four-and-a-half years, I achieved that.

And I remember I was in the reception office of a hospital where I was working, actually it happened to be on the Mount of Olives, in Israel, and there was a new junior clerk that had come in that was working under me. And he had only been there a couple of weeks, and I hadn’t said anything to him about being a Christian, I hadn’t preached at him, I hadn’t brandished my Bible in his face, or anything. And one day while I was present, he was talking to somebody else in the office and he used a swear word. I didn’t react in any way, but he suddenly stopped, looked at me and blushed, and he said, “I’m sorry, Corporal Prince. I didn’t realize you were here.” And he adjusted his behavior out of respect for me. Well, I think that’s a little example of what it is to be a grain of salt. It affects the atmosphere. It affects the way people behave around us. We hold back those germs, those diseases which are so prevalent in contemporary society.

The second function of salt is very similar, perhaps you could even put it under the same heading, I do not know. But I have said that a function of salt is to hold back corruption. In the days before refrigeration it was a familiar procedure: when sailors went on a long journey by sea and they wanted to preserve their meat, how did they do it? We all know they salted it. And that salt in the meat had the affect of slowing up or arresting the corruption of the meat. The corruption was already there, it couldn’t basically change that, but it could arrest it and hold it in check. And that’s true again of us, our society is corrupt. The force of sin is at work all around us. That is something basic we cannot change, but we can hold it in check. As long as we are there, the meat should not decay. And so that again is a function we have. See, we cannot afford as Christians to retire from society and say, “It’s so evil. There is nothing we can do about it, and let the wicked go to hell. God is going to come and take me out of this wicked world.” That is not really a positive attitude. A positive attitude is God has placed me here in this office, in this factory, wherever it may be—I am to be a grain of salt. And while I am here, corruption is not going to have free rein. I am going to hold it in check by my presence. By the power of the Holy Spirit within me, those evil demonic forces are going to held in check.

The third function of salt which I have mentioned is to give flavor. Salt makes something that would otherwise be tasteless and unappetizing, tasteful and appetizing. For instance, where there is no taste in the white of an egg, but when we put a little salt with the egg it becomes tasty. And that is another of our functions as salt. We have to give flavor to the place where we are, the town we live in, the community we belong to. This flavor is for God’s sake. God has a different attitude toward the community where you and I live because of our presence. If we are doing our job, we should be the salt that makes that place flavorful and acceptable to God. God will deal with it differently because of our presence than he would if we were not there.

A very clear example of this is the discussion between the Lord and Abraham about the fate of Sodom. The Lord had visited Abraham and He told him He was on his way to see if Sodom was really as wicked as it was reported, and if so He was going to destroy the place.

And Abraham started to, as it were, bargain with God, and He said, “God, suppose there were fifty righteous in the city, would you spare it?” And the Lord said, “Yes, if there are fifty righteous I will spare it.” And Abraham went on bargaining with God until he brought him down to ten. And he said, “God, if there were only ten righteous in the city, would you spare the city?” And God said, “If I find ten righteous in the city I will spare the entire city for their sake.”

What were those ten righteous persons? They were the grains of salt that would have made Sodom acceptable, that would have withheld the final judgment of God upon Sodom. Alas, there were not ten righteous persons. But the principle is there: ten righteous persons can cause God to withhold judgment from a great city.

I have made some investigations; I believe there were at least ten thousand persons in Sodom. So it was a proportion of one to a thousand. Suppose we apply that, just in closing, to the United States. There are just a little under 250 million people in the United States. If that proportion holds, then it takes 250 thousand, a quarter of a million righteous persons in this nation to withhold the final judgment of God on our wickedness. Do you think there are that number of persons? More important still, are you one of them? Are you functioning as a grain of salt where God has placed you?

Well, with that question, I’ve got to close. Our time is up for today but before I close, I want to make a special request of you. This week we are asking our listeners across the nation to express their appreciation of this radio ministry by sending us a special Thanksgiving offering. I am sure you understand that this ministry is kept on the air by the offerings of people just like yourself, people who have been helped and blessed by its message. By sending us your offering at this time you will do three important things.

1. First, you will be expressing your appreciation for help that you yourself have received through this ministry.
2. Second, you will enable us to bring the same kind of help to someone else who needs it as much as you do, that may not be in a position to support us financially.
3. Third, you will encourage and strengthen me, personally.

So, please take time to say, “Thank you” at Thanksgiving.