Salty Disciples

May 12, 2015

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness… It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.”  (Matthew 5:13 NIV/NLT)

When Jesus told His disciples that they were the salt of the earth there are several ways to interpret and apply this metaphor.  We find a clue to my favorite interpretation when we realize that the word “salary” is made up of two root words: “salt” and “money.”

Twenty centuries ago the Roman Empire wanted to control the population of the world.  They knew that no human being can live without salt. So, they controlled the salt of the world. They actually paid their slaves in cubes of salt.  This is where we get the expression that a person is ‘not worth his or her salt.’

This means Jesus taught that secular people do not have life.  His disciples have life and they are the way the secular people of this world can find that life.

Years ago a missionary statesman said when missionaries live in a compound in a foreign country with a fortress mentality they are like manure: they stink!  It’s only when God spreads them around that they do a little good.  Similarly, when the followers of Jesus meet together they are like salt in a saltshaker.  The only way they can have a salty influence is to come out of the saltshaker.

One way our Lord brings us out of the saltshaker is where we make a living.  Be challenged by the reality that your workplace can be God’s way of placing you next to secular people who need life.  Realize that you are not only there to make a living…

You are there because they need the salty impact of your life.   

Dick Woodward, (21 March 2012)

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Posted by Dick Woodward

Apprenticeship

November 27, 2012

“He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you..”  (Matthew 4:19)

In the seventies I attended a meeting where the business executives of a large city asked the vice president of a large shipyard to explain why his shipyard was continuously given the contracts to build large aircraft carriers.  They had just been awarded a contract to build a large carrier and the next highest bidder was $38 million above them.

He said that he could answer their question with one word: apprenticeship.  He explained that a student in a university absorbs information for many weeks and then is asked to show that they remember and understand that information.  After doing that for four years they are given a degree and we declare them educated.  But unless they specialize in something that equips them for a specific job they are often educated people who can’t do anything.  In the shipyard, however, they put a person in the classroom for two weeks and in the shipyard for two weeks and after doing that for five years they build aircraft carriers.

I believe it is helpful to define what we mean when we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ. A synonym for the word disciple is “apprentice.” A disciple is an apprentice who is learning what they are doing and doing what they are learning.  Apprenticeship and discipleship are essentially the same concept.

To paraphrase and summarize, Jesus offers a covenant contract to those who profess to believe in Him.  That contract has two parts.  He promised, “You follow Me.  That is your part.  I will make you.  That is My part.  You follow Me.  That is your responsibility.  And I will make you.  That is My responsibility.”

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Posted by Dick Woodward