“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. 

Matthew 5:13 

Mathew 5:13-16; 2 Timothy 3:1-7

Recurrent Thought

Christ devoted-followers by their nature are producers of Good Works. However, due to various reasons many fail to be great witness for their God.

As a Christ devoted-follower you are set to manifest your usefulness to the World.  The moment you are were twice-born, your essence of being a Child of God grants you the capacity to manifest a sense of usefulness that world always misses. The text we use today shows that we are the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World by virtue of being Children of God. Interesting, the text shows that we manifest our usefulness as the Salt and as the Light through our good works (Math. 5: 16).

Before looking at the text let me clarify some aspects about Good Works and how they relate to Salvation and our witness in the world.

The Role of Good Works in Your Walk of Faith

• It is essential to understand what the NT deems as Good Works and their value in the Christ devoted-followers’ life.
• Some consider Good Works strictly as religious duties only, such as performing spiritual disciplines of praying, scripture reading, fasting etc.
• Good Works are actions that reflect a person’s trust in and love for God. They are deeds done in accordance with God’s will and commandments, motivated by gratitude and a desire to honor him.
• Good Works are not a means to gain eternal life with God, but a response to God’s saving grace.
• Good Works do not save us; however, genuine faith, which is trust in the work of Christ, naturally produces good works as its fruit.
• Good Works do not produce eternal life, but they are evidences of a Living Faith in Christ;
• Good are the manifestation of the grace and mercy received through Christ. Eternal life comes by Grace through Faith in Jesus. You don’t need to add Good Works to gain eternal life; Jesus alone is enough.
• Good Works are not a means to earn a higher place in eternal life or God’s favor but a natural expression of faith and salvation secured by God’s grace through Jesus Christ.
• Good Works start from a heart transformed by the gospel and are not performed to earn forgiveness or favor with God but as a natural expression of a living and active faith.
• Good Works are an outflow from your faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8-10) and the product of your love and gratitude to the Master Jesus Christ. They are motivated by Christ’s love and done out of thanks for our free salvation (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
• Good Works are a manifestation of the essence of being a Child of God.  Believers are prepared to do good works (Ephesians 2:10).
• Good Works also provide a Christian witness that God has transformed our hearts and lives (Math. 5:16, 1 Peter 2:12)
• Good Works bring glory to God (Math. 5:16).

Therefore, it is essential to:

Note that the significant and primary way of lighting the World is by preaching the Gospel of the kingdom; however, the basic way of influencing the world is through our Good Works (Life). Every Christ-devoted follower is called to produce Good Works as a means of impacting the World around them and consequently bring glory to God (Math. 5:16). We are called to regularly proclaim that Jesus died for all and he is coming again; at the same we are also called to manifest the good works, which become means to impact our environment.

The text that we use today, Mathew 5: 13 stresses the usefulness of Salt.To be salt of the earth is to be in the highest sense useful to our world

Here are a three elements of about Our Usefulness in the world

1. Recognise that Your Usefulness is a Call and Duty
   • You are the Salt of the Earth. This is what you are and called to be.
   • Just you are the light of the world by calling, you are the Salt of the Earth by Calling
   • As Salt You always come to change situations to the glory of God
   • Salt nourishes food, therefore, you are called to nourish your environment
   • Salt preserves foods and other substances in which it is put. You as a believer is given the capacity by the power of the Spirit to withstand debilitating impact of sin
   • You are called to salt your community; You are called to make a difference
2. The Secret of Your Usefulness is Your Good Works
   • Through Your good works you salt the world
   • Your impact Your surrounding through your good works.
   • Heavens counts on your usefulness in the world.
   • Balance the two mandates well: We have the evangelistic mandate where we preach Jesus but we have a Good Works mandate where we manifest good works.
   • Producing Good Works in honour of your God is the secret of your Usefulness.
   • You have an extraordinary capacity to change situations by the character and power found in your identity and good works
   • Your capacity to be the salt is a powerful antidote against corruption. The Church, when operating in the power of the Spirit, is the only society with the capacity to withstand the corrupting nature of worldly ideologies. History continues to share this truth.
3. It is Possible to Lose Your Usefulness
   • The text reveals something that is weird, salt can cease to produce taste.
   • Historical evidence is there that the salt of Syria, when long exposed to sun and air and rain, became tasteless. Therefore, such a pile of tasteless salt was longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet (Math.5:13)
   • Believers in Yahweh can lose the taste of their goodness (usefulness) when they don’t produce Good Works, which is outflow of their relation with the Lord.
   • Believers in Yahweh lose their usefulness if all they do is to hold on to the form of godliness and yet deny its power (Read 2Tim. 3: 1-5)
   • It is possible by negligence and abuse of Your talents, lose all right sense of spirituality and virtue to the end you become tasteless salt.
   • Civilization have been lost because those with the capacity to remain salty decided otherwise
   • History shows that despite the upward development of any nation or state, it is accompanied by a degeneration in morals of its people. This eventually leads to the ruin and the fall of mighty states. In those times the preserving power of the Salt is eroded.
   • At whatever level of influence, know that you are the salt of the earth and your good works count for something.
   • Tasteless Salt is good for nothing; but I pray you and I shall be counted useful.
   • The unfortunate reality is the evil continues in our society because we have too many tasteless believers
   • How do we impact our cities? We proclaim the Good News and we salty our Communities

Altar Time

• Open my eyes, ears and heart to issues I should manifest my Good Works for!
• Give me Courage to be the Salt that changes environments, situations