Salt Changing the Earth (Part 6)

God wants us to do the maximum we can as individuals: help in the local church as well as fervently pray for and sacrificially support missions and international evangelism and discipleship. We can give money, prayer, and physical support, but most of all, we need to be available for the Lord to send us wherever He wants. He has called many men and women to do great things, but some sit in comfort, disobedient, simply because their local leaders are not preparing them for the work of the ministry, challenging and sending them. If we equip all members of a local congregation for ministry tasks, then send them, the local church will soon see a big change. Volunteering does not mean everybody planning their own work. Project leaders coordinate the volunteers to meet the project’s needs under guidance of the Holy Spirit.

There must also be urgency about it. Jesus said in John 9:4, 5: “‘As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’” He also said in John 14:12: “‘I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.’”

Because He said we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14), the words in John 9:4, 5 above apply to us as well. The night is coming. We can’t live for ourselves anymore. We need to realize that we don’t need all our things and comfort. If we downscale as Jesus told the rich young ruler in Mark 10, we will see how much time and energy we have to be the salt of the earth.

There is much to fight for, much to teach. For example, the children in many countries are becoming a serious problem to society, schools, and the government because of a lack of discipline. We as Christians have learned from the Bible how to bring up our children. The Lord has also risen up anointed authors on child rearing. If we would get out of our comfort zones and make the world aware of the need to train parents properly in child rearing, respect, and discipline, the world would be a different place in the next generation.

As Peter said, “Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins” (2 Peter 1:4-9). (To be continued)

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Salt Changing the Earth (Part 5)

Next we should act. We should make a noise about the sepsis that is so evident on the earth. For instance, when the homosexuals feel they are being discriminated against, they complain. Even more so, Christians should be in the news all the time for speaking out against wrongs. We could write to the newspapers, file complaints with our congressmen, speak out at parent-teacher meetings, and tack posters on notice boards. We could even arrange peaceful, orderly protests and marches if the Lord directs. There are so many ways in which we could stir the consciences of the world and make them aware of sin and righteousness. If we do this, we give the Holy Spirit the mandate to do what He was sent for. “‘When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).

The Lord has gifted many Christian authors to write books that could help a lot of people find solutions to their problems, to have a bit of light in their darkness of understanding. We should promote such books as well as television and radio programs that have answers to life’s mysteries. The Lord said we are the light of the world because the world is in darkness. They don’t understand life. They don’t have much wisdom because true wisdom comes only from the Lord.

We are the light of the world because we have access to and are filled with the ultimate source of knowledge and wisdom of life: the Holy Spirit. Only God has the answers to life. Only from Him come joy and peace, and we have access to them. We can hear from the Lord and shed light on people’s understanding, or we can refer them to sources of godly light (books and so on). Whatever the case; “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3).

This is where faith comes in. If we are salt and light, we will act accordingly and God can use us as He has used Elijah, Elisha, Moses, Jesus, etc. If we believe the Lord can do it and we are worthy in Christ to do it with Him, we will have the sufficient motivation.

Christians seem to have an attitude of, “We do our thing, the world does their thing, and we do not interfere.” Who is the Lord of heaven and earth? Whose children are we?

In the parable of the servants, who is the household of the Master who went away? Is it only the Church? Why would Jesus then command the same servants to be the salt of the earth? God wants to be glorified; He wants the world to see His power and His glory, because He wants them to come into the Kingdom as well. That is why He did so many mighty deeds in Israel and why Jesus did so many miracles. If we focus only on our little local church and our needs, or even only our town, we make only a slight change over a long period of time. How then will the world be reached, the earth changed?

Imagine that Jesus came to earth and settled in a local church. There He preached every Sunday and did everything routinely as local churches do, only loving the members and meeting their needs. How would that have made a difference to the world and the earth?

Each individual needs a global vision in addition to a local vision. In Acts 1:8, Jesus said to the one hundred and twenty, gathered in the upper room: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

This was the first church representing all the true churches ever to exist until Jesus comes again. He doesn’t tell them to witness first in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth as it is often preached from the pulpit: first your town, then your county, then your country and then the earth. He tells them all to be His witnesses everywhere, at the same time. This is why the Holy Spirit soon scattered them all over the known world and called Paul to evangelize the gentiles. He probably also allowed an attack on Paul and Barnabas’ relationship, causing them to have an argument as recorded in Acts 15:36-41, so they could split up. (To be continued)

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Salt Changing the Earth (Part 4)

Salt also preserves.

Any food treated with salt is protected against decay. Salt was especially used in the days before freezers and modern preservatives.

Christians, who are salt, should preserve values, life, joy, peace, and especially the stronghold that the Kingdom of God has in an area or country. If we apply the principles described above and act as salt that preserves, Christianity will survive in our area. A stronghold is a position of strength. Christianity has the stronghold in countries such as England, the United States, and South Africa, while Islam has the stronghold in countries such as Pakistan and Arabia.

The preserving function of Christians being salt is an active process. Most corruption and decay took place because the church was asleep and passive at the time, or just did not fight hard enough. I’m thinking of things like the legalization of abortion and the removal of the Bible and prayer from the schools. We need to fight. For example, pornography was kept out of the South African family stores because the Christians launched a huge offensive against it when pornography became legal after the 1994 government change.

One of the issues we should preserve is our freedom of individuality and expression. The controversial issue of political correctness is something that we as “salt” Christians should challenge in the spiritual realms. Political correctness is possibly one of the major causes of spiritual apathy among Christians, because it can lead to fear of persecution. Instead of Christians challenging, rebuking, preaching, and training in righteousness, many have become cautious, do-not-disturb Christians. They hear a social gospel in a church that acts as a social club rather than a training center for spiritual soldiers.

Political correctness seems to be a tool designed in the supernatural realm to prevent Christians from evangelizing. From the perspective of political correctness, evangelism imposes religion and therefore offends. Unfortunately, in reality, this only seems to apply to Christianity and allows non-Christian religions to flourish. It is a breeding ground for ungodliness. We should seek the Lord to show us how we could challenge it and persevere in the spiritual battle until we get results.

We want to say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). In the midst of setbacks, trials, temptations, and persecutions, Paul kept the faith that God can make a difference.

We should fight the good fight on God’s behalf to preserve His values on this earth, keeping the faith that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20). Being salt demands that we spend much time with God in prayer and it commands us to take up our authority in faith. How do we then actively preserve what is important for an abundant life? When meat is covered with salt, the salt interferes with the natural process of decay and changes the logical course that the meat would have taken. In the same way, we as Christians should interfere with the process of decay and change the logical course that the earth would take.

We do this in a number of ways. We should pray without ceasing. “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]” (James 5:16b, The Amplified Bible). We should focus our prayer away from ourselves and on that which needs change. We should pray fervently for that which the Lord told us to pray about. (To be continued)

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