"When churches succumb to the temptation to join an established order and share in temporal power, they soon become part of the world and cease to be relevant to the kingdom. What Christian revivals do is shake up the system and pluralize power. They create communities of counter power and religious choice."— Global Awakening, page 212
<idle musing>
Jesus said something about salt losing its savor, didn't he? Revival shakes up the salt and makes it savory again. May God have mercy on his church and send it frequently!
</idle musing>
Idle musings by a once again bookseller, always bibliophile, current copyeditor and proofreader. Complete with ramblings about biblical studies, the ancient Near East, bicycling, gardening, or anything else I am reading (or experiencing). All more or less live from Red Wing, MN
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- jps
- Red Wing, Minnesota, United States
- I'm a freelance editor/proofreader in Red Wing, MN along the Mississippi River.
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3 comments:
That whole salt "losing it's savor" has deeply troubled me. Salt cannot lose it's savor. No matter what is done to it salt is salt. it is not organic, but rather a mineral, it has no shelf life, and nothing to lose; it is what it is.
I started studying the matter and learned that the salt Jesus is speaking of came from the Dead Sea. Folks harvested the salt from the shore line. One might get a little salt and a lot of sand, or one might get a lot of salt with just a little sand. When the batch of salt became mostly sand it was only fit to be thrown out.
So when Jesus speaks of salt losing it's savor He is talking about the Church being full of the world.
But there is also being too salty. You've no doubt heard sermons on this particular part of Jesus teaching. Jesus speaks very specifically about the savor of salt, but most of the sermons we hear these days focus on salt as a preservative. What Jesus teaches, and what many modern sermons teach are actually at odds. Jesus never teaches that His disciples are to be preservatives. He tells the Church that we are the savor: "Unique flavor" of salt. The levels of salt needed to preserve meat from decay could be lethal to us if we ate too much, but of course with that much salt most of us wouldn't eat but a bite anyway. The point of salt as a preservative is to keep life OUT. Before eating salt cured meats much of the salt must be removed from the meat by soaking it in water, to leech out the salt.
There is actually place in Scripture where Jesus addresses this kind of thing, Matthew 23:15. Jesus tells the Pharisees that when they've made a convert that convert is twice the son of hell they themselves are. So full of religious "salt" are these converts that they are too toxic for even the Holy Spirit to live in them. (Though Jesus does not make any connection with salt and the hyper religiosity of the Pharisees much of what the Pharisees did try to use religion as a preservative.)
Jesus tells us to be salt, but never to in-salt, or a-salt people. I mean really how wonderful do you think a good salt soak would feel to a person burnt and wounded by their sin and the worlds? Ever get salt in a cut? Burns like fire.
Visit a burn victim in the hospital, salt his bland hospital food a bit, get that bit of food past his burns and he'll bless you! Get one grain of that salt into his burns and you'll be cursed for it. I'm not saying we should soft peddle the gospel, but let's get the salt in the right place for the right reason, just as Jesus taught.
Lonnie
Lonnie,
Agreed. My point was that we need to allow God to purge us (through revival, in this case) so that we don't become ingrown—too salty I guess in the way you put it—and no longer of any use for the purposes he created/redeemed us.
James
Yes, of course you are right. This is just a matter, where plainly, I feel a great deal of passion. I've seen Christians (myself included at times) looking for sensible ways around what Jesus actually teaches. When we go around what Jesus plainly and simply teaches then we misrepresent Christ.
I simply cannot live long with misrepresenting Christ. The Holy Spirit simply will not allow me to live with my foolish and wicked self-delusions. For this I am and shall be eternally grateful.
How long will it be before we (The Church) give up the "Ghost"? More importantly, how long before He gives us up to lies we desire more than Christ?
Lonnie
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