Sunday's Message: Salt of the Earth

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how will it become salty again? It’s good for nothing except to be thrown away and trampled under people’s feet. 

(Matthew 5:13)

This past Sunday, I shared a message inspired by the best sermon I ever heard.  Dr. William C. Turner, Jr. was my preaching professor at Duke, and I vividly remember a sermon he preached in chapel on week.  He related a story from early in his ministry. He was praying at the altar rail after a particularly lively sermon when he developed a massive cramp in his hamstring.  He grabbed his leg, wailed in pain, fell backwards off the rail onto the floor writhing in pain.  He said the congregation went wild, shouting "Amen" and "Praise the Lord"  . . . their young preacher had finally "got the  Spirit!" 

Thankfully, several of his deacons realized what was happening, helped him up and carried him into the back hallway.  There they gave him the common remedy for cramps in those days - salt tabs.  While it may not be current science, they believe salt relieved cramps.

Dr. Turner then turned in that sermon and said if we do not allow the good news of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to relieve the cramps of sin in our own lives, what good are we to a world doubled over with the pain of its own cramps of injustice, prejudice, and brokenness. We have lost our saltiness. 

In my sermon, I wondered if we might not ought to look at they way we Christians are behaving in our current political environment and ask the same question.   I used Galatians 5:16-26 as a plumb line –the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit.  The fruits of the flesh are the cramps that have us doubled over in pain: sexual immorality, moral corruption, hate, fighting, and obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. 

How are you responding to all that is going? Struggling together to figure out the best way to live together a nation is healthy and good.  But the hate, the fighting, the anger, the conflict, the prejudice and stereotypes? When Christians engage one another in this way, we are doubling over with cramps. We have lost our saltiness. 

We identify ourselves as Republicans or Democrats, as conservatives, moderates or progressives ... we identify ourselves based on our race or country of citizenship ... we identity ourselves based on our socio-economic class, education, or the generation to which we belong ... we identify ourselves based on where we live or where "our people are from" ... but when any of those identities come to define us more than our identity as children of God and followers of Jesus Christ, we have forgotten our baptisms. We have lost our saltiness.

Galatians continues: by contrast, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

What if, as Christians here in Ocala, here in this church -- where some are Republicans, some are Democrats, some are conservative, some are progressive, some are moderate (and I imagine some are "none of the above") but where all of us are Christians – became salt for this community by living by the fruit of the spirit.

Love releases the cramp of hate.  Joy releases the cramp of anger.  Kindness and peace releases the cramp of conflict. Generosity releases the cramp of selfishness. 

Those gifts of the Spirit working in our lives are the only way that we have to combat the cramps in our own lives . . . the only way we can work together to relieve the cramps of our community, in our state, in our nation and in our world.  

As John Wesley said, we may not all think alike, but cannot we not all love alike. 

"If we live by the Spirit, let's follow the Spirit. Let's not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other." (Galatians 5:25-26)