This will be our second post for the category “Discovering Our Witness”. In the first we began discussing Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5 where He said that we are called to be the salt of the earth.
It seems that revival is breaking out around the globe with the exception of America. We hear instances of God moving in the US here and there but nothing like the revivals of the past. I often wonder if this is because of our affluence or the news media which is continuously feeding us death and destruction.
The world is seemingly spinning out of control. It has become a rare week that we do not read of an American police office being shot or killed and the US government has become totally dysfunctional. Our politicians appear to be more interested in causing harm to one another than to work for the people. The ungodly are taking over our society and there are things happening that we never could have imagined even ten years ago.
The Church is having more prayer meetings but seems to have less of an impact on society. We have more people sitting in the pews who carry the title of intercessor but how many are touching heaven the way men and woman like Father Nash did when he interceded for Charles Finney’s revivals?
As I’ve spent time praying over what is happening it has become clearer that the root comes back to Jesus’ statement. The Church is called to be salt but seems to have lost her saltiness. We saw in the last post that the very first thing salt does is to kill things.
And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt. (Judges 9:45)
Abimelech salted the land with salt to ensure nothing would grow there. Salt is a destructive force. We have a tendency to think primarily about being a blessing to people but there will be times that we will have to confront things. There are things in our society that are going to have to be salted by the Church but for that to happen we will have to get out of the salt shaker.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. (Jeremiah 1:10)
God has called us to be a blessing but we need to realize that this will often require that things be “rooted out”, “pulled down”, and “destroyed” before we will be able to “build and plant”. This is similar to the process a farmer will have to do before they will be able to plant. The rocks and impediment will have to be removed before planting or the seed will not be able to mature into a healthy plant.
I believe that there are far too many Christians today that are afraid of offending anyone. We make our services as comfortable as possible to avoid having anyone be uncomfortable and try to make things as nonconfrontational as possible. If we are unwilling to speak the Word of boldness without fear of offending anyone then we are not being salt! Jesus came preaching repentance and His messages were not always easy for the hearer.
Salt will kill things. Ezekiel 16:4 talks about a baby not being “salted at all”. Babies were salted when they were born to kill infections. Salt is a weapon against infection and God has called the Church to be salt and kill the infection of ungodliness around us. This is not something that we are supposed to grow into. We are the salt of the earth.
The first thing we are going to have to do is stand up for what is right and speak the Word of truth. The context of Jesus’ statement about being salt was persecution.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:10-13)
Jesus’ instruction were for us to rejoice when we are persecuted. My point in this post is not to criticize anyone but we need to start being outspoken about the ungodliness surrounding us. We have to be willing to say what is right and wrong. God has chosen to work through His body and if we are not willing to be the salt of the earth, He has not other alternative. There is no plan B! The Church is plan A and the state of society is a direct reflection on us not being salt.
God will not have an angel preach the Gospel. We have been praying for revival hoping that the Spirit of God will just pour out so we can jump in and not have to do the work. This is not the way it works though. God will not just supernaturally turn things around. We can pray that God will put a certain person in office who will change the laws. The politicians in office and the laws being passed are just a reflection of the job that the Church is doing.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people”. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (John Adams)
John Adams said that democracy was only suited for a moral and religious people. Democracy has the ability to adapt to the conditions of the people and I believe that the state of our government is a direct reflection of the fact that the Church is losing the battle for people’s hearts.
We can pray for the laws to change and for God to change out the people who are in power but if we are unwilling to stand for the truth regardless of the persecution that may follow these prayers are not going to change things!
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
One of the signs of the end times is that people will be calling good evil and evil good. This is exactly what we are seeing in our society today. The Church needs to be willing to become salt if things are going to turn around.
It seems that this post is a little more serious than our previous ones but these are things we need to be meditating on. We will continue in the next post for this category and begin digging into the Word with a goal of learning how to become the salt of this earth.
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We recommend Flowing in the Supernatural by Greg Mohr (https://amzn.to/2DNVU8x) as a supplemental resource for this blog series. You do not need to purchase this book in order to “credit” our account. Any purchases that you search or make from anywhere on Amazon, after first clicking on the included link, will credit this blog and support our ministry. We are truly grateful for each of our readers and appreciative of those who will help us. There is no cost to you for using our links and they provide an easy way for you to support us!
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