EXHORTATION
In the ancient world, salt wasn’t valued so much for seasoning abilities. Salt’s true worth was its preserving qualities. If you have a piece of meat that’s going back, you can prolong it’s life by pressing salt into it. Salt stems decay.
And when Jesus tells Christians to be the salt of the earth, he’s saying that we are to be agents of preservation. When we see an individual who’s self-destructive or hopeless; when we see a family breaking down, when we see a city or a nation corrupting and rotting, instead of running—we go in.
Now, as we all know, volunteering to enter into someone’s mess, into societies mess is costly and it’s always painful. And most people see a mess and the run. They say, “Let me out of here. This is draining.”
But Christians go in. Why? It’s because Jesus Christ looked at the cosmic mess we have made in our sin—and he didn’t think the cost or pain he would endure too great to come and get us.
To be salt means we can’t shrug off the hurts and the sins of this world. We can’t be dismissive of others pain or neglect societal decay. In all these areas, to be faithful to Jesus means we go in—for his sake, with his gospel.
So, let’s ask the Lord to make us salt as we confess our sins together:
CONFESSION
Our Father,
Your word tells us that we are to be the salt of the earth. We know it’s a call to live in a self-sacrificial way for the sake of others.
Father we confess that we have not fully embraced self-sacrifice as a defining virtue of your kingdom.
We confess that we’ve avoided those you’ve asked us to help. We have not sought out the broken and the lost. We have not spent enough time in prayer for the needs of the poor or widows or orphans. And we have not given to their needs freely as you have commanded.
Father, we also confess that we’ve been too cowardly at confronting the wickedness of our own nation. We have not read your Word enough to know the truth. We have not trusted in your power enough to speak the truth. We have not trained our children to know and walk in the truth as we ought.
Father, we know that if our own community will be changed, we must be changed first. We know all of this begins with us as the people who claim your name.
So, help us Father as we confess our individual sins to you in silence.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON – 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.