Sermon: Sunday, 26th October, 2025
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Matthew 5:7-8
Are you being discipled in KFC? Let me ask the same question in a different way, are you being encouraged to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and live out his teaching? As we’ve said in recent weeks, this can happen in preaching, at a Bible study or in 1:1 relationships. Discipleship is a hugely important theme as it concerns the way Jesus wants his followers to live. Sometimes, we do not place enough emphasis on the daily task of following Jesus at work, home, the community and in the church. Perhaps that is because Protestants have focused so much on the need to be justified by faith (which is vital) that we have underemphasised our need to ‘walk the walk’ each day. But we are having a season of deliberately focusing on discipleship, on the way Jesus wants us to live. And one of the best places to be is here in Matthew chapters 5-7, which we call the Sermon on the Mount. It is a quite wonderful summary of the ethical teaching of Jesus.
Of course, we are not saved from sin by obeying this teaching. We are saved by Jesus; but having been saved by God’s grace, this is how Jesus expects us all to live. We are his apprentices after all. The same pattern is seen before God gives the Ten Commandments, the great ethical summary in the Old Testament. Back then, his people were not saved by keeping these laws but by faith through God’s grace. But having been saved by God’s grace, God expected them (and us) to keep these rules. So, what is the pattern? We are saved by God’s grace and then called to keep his standards. ‘And God spoke all these words: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’ (Exodus 20:1-3)
As we have seen, Jesus’ ethical teaching begins with a focus on our hearts. Things can seem to be ok on the outside, but what matters to God most is what our hearts are like. So, we have spent four weeks considering how we are to be poor in spirit, mourn our sin and be meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, be merciful, pure and hearts and be a peacemaker. This is what Jesus’ followers are to be like. We need to be praying for God to increase these virtues within us. As we live in this different and countercultural way, we will be persecuted. If these things are not growing in our hearts then we will feel far from God, disconnected from him, and we will lack his joy and peace in our lives.
Now in verse 13, Jesus moves on from our hearts to consider what the relationship is between his followers and the rest of society around us. He assures us that as we live according to the beatitudes, in his strength, we will have a massive impact on the rest of the world. Jesus is telling us that his followers, including us here in this room who follow Jesus, will have a significant influence on those around us. Using such simple language, Jesus summarises this impact by saying we will be salt and light. This morning, I just want us to think about being salt. ‘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 trampled underfoot.’ (Matthew 5:13)
1. Salt stops the process of decay
We thought recently with the children about how salt was used in Jesus’ day. It was used to stop meat and fish from rotting. It had to be well rubbed into the meat or fish, but having done that, this food would last a long time, keeping people going through the winter months. And in the days before fridges, salt was a precious commodity. Something which stops food from rotting is very important indeed.
Perhaps we should be more shocked at Jesus’ claim that we are the salt of the earth. Think back to who he was talking to on the mount. This was a small group of men and women, mostly uneducated, from ordinary families, mostly Galilean peasants and not highly thought of in wider society. They were not rich. They did not command an army. They had not climbed the political ladders. In a way, they were a bunch of nobodies. And yet, Jesus emphatically says, you and you alone are the salt of the earth. This is both an honour and a responsibility for us.
If we fast forward to 2025 and to Fife, again Christians are very small in number here, and yet Jesus says to us, ‘You are the salt of the earth.’ Other people might look at the church and see it as pointless, irrelevant and useless, but Jesus makes this encouraging claim that in reality, we are making a large difference in society, an eternal difference, and by implication, if we were not here, things would be a lot worse.
There is a sad side to this. If Jesus says we are salt, then this means that the world around us is decaying. And if he says we are light then it means that without God the world is in darkness. This does not mean the world is as bad as it could be. There are many good things in our culture to be celebrated. But it means that without God’s church and God’s people, things will slide downhill.
Some might say, ‘That’s an arrogant claim.’ Maybe some concrete examples will help. Let’s start in Outer Mongolia! Many villages there have seen great moral and spiritual darkness and decay. A great deal of the husbands were drinking away their wages, and beating their spouses and children. Missionaries arrived and shared the gospel and God began to work. Some of the husbands became followers of Jesus. The drinking stopped. The change in the family unit was enormous. Other families could see this change and connected it with Jesus. Soon, a small number of Christians were having a very salty influence on the village. Much pain and misery was prevented.
Closer to home, in Britain following the revivals in the 18th century, the Evangelical Revival and the Second Great Awakening, the impact of the church on society was clear and significant and very salty. It fed into the abolition of the slave trade, the end of child labour, the rise of the nursing movement, prison reform, the building of hospitals and schools and formation of labour unions. When a church is strong in a country, it prevents decay and when weak, the decay happens more quickly.
For us today, this should be both an encouragement and a challenge. Jesus is saying to us today, ‘You are the salt of the earth.’ You have a vital role to play in Fife. You mustn’t think you are unimportant – quite the reverse is true. Christians are not the only influence restraining evil in society; good government can help to do this, as can the family unit. So can a workforce of carers in the NHS, the police and fire brigade and so on.
In a world where moral standards can be low, constantly changing, or non-existent the steady, Biblical, moral back-bone of God’s people can have a profound impact. This can be seen in the workplace, where the presence of a Christian ought to shift the workplace in a more positive moral direction. Often colleagues swear less, knowing we find it offensive. If we don’t join in the gossip or complaining, then this too will have an effect, as will hard work, helping others (being a good employee), and just living a kind and humble life before the face of others. If we are known as those who do what they say, reliable and trustworthy, then that is a precious thing indeed.
2. Be involved in ordinary society
The point is often made than salt is no good in the salt cellar, but must come out of its container and be rubbed into the meat. This is true. Christians will have zero impact living in a ‘holy huddle’. We must be involved in the lives of our neighbours, colleagues and friends who do not know God. We must be ‘well rubbed in’. We need close contact. Again and again, we repeat, you can’t talk to people about Jesus if you don’t talk to people. Are you the kind of person who keeps yourself to yourself, or do you try and make a positive impact on those around you? We only spend an hour or two in church each week, but we spend a huge amount of time at work, at school or university, at the shops, playing sport, in the office and with friends. As we spend this time, we have a job to do, and that is to be as salty as possible.
What does it mean to be as salty as possible? It means to be involved in ordinary things around us but without compromising on the teaching of Jesus. We can be involved in clubs and schools and community groups and community events and choirs and toddler groups and allotments and litter picking and food banks and local shops. ‘Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.’ (Jeremiah 29:7)
What happens if we are involved in these things but are not living out Jesus’ teachings there? What if we compromise and are like chameleons and just fit in with everyone else? Jesus tells us. We lose our saltiness. And we become useless in these places. We are only useful in these places as we live out the beatitudes and the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. It’s hard! It is so easy to compromise so we don’t stand out. It is also easy just to withdraw from society and exist in Christian bubbles. Naturally, if we are in bubbles, we will not be acting as salt. What wisdom it takes to be in the world but not of the world. How we need to pray for this wisdom.
So, what are we saying? Christians must not give up on the world or run away from the world. Rather, we must permeate the communities in which the Lord has placed us, but without compromising and becoming useless.
3. Salt stings
Salt preserves but what else does it do? In Jesus’ day it was used medicinally and placed on a wound would sting. Perhaps this view is also in Jesus’ mind here – I am not sure. Sometimes it hurts to have other Christians around. A Christian drinking in moderation can irritate others who are drinking in order to get drunk. A Christian speaking the truth into a moral situation will sting. Of course, we are called to speak truth only in love. John the Baptist spoke to the King in a salty way by informing him that he should not have taken his brother’s wife for himself. It stung them. John acted as salt and as a result he was beheaded.
4. Salt also brings out the flavour of things
I love porridge if there’s a bit of salt added. The same goes for other foods, from fish to avocados. This is really positive stuff. If we, as Jesus’ apprentices, live lives of love, we will bring out good flavour where we go. When you go tomorrow to your places of work, or study, or to your families and communities, if you go with love, following Jesus’ example of love, very often you will bring out and unlock and unleash much good in other people. How are we to love one another in the church and in the world? ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
Friends, go into the normal places this week and live like that. Live out the beatitudes. Live out the Sermon on the Mount, and you will have an influence beyond anything you might realise. A little salt in our food makes a huge difference in taste and prevents decay. Even this small group of Christians here, as we follow Jesus’ example, will make a significant difference. If we don’t live lives of love, we’ll become useless, fit only to be trampled on. That’s what happened to salt which had been corrupted in Jesus’ day – it was thrown onto the roads to level them, to be trampled underfoot.
Do you want to make a real difference? Do you want to stop decay? Do you want to bring out the good? Then make it your passion to live out Jesus’ teachings. Be a salty Christian.