You Are The Salt – Lent with
Bonhoeffer Day 16– Purity 988
Purity 988 03/11/2023 Purity 988 Podcast
Purity 988 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a little bit of Caribbean paradise
comes to us from Lisa Sharp who shared this view from her recent vacation to
Secrets, Wild Orchard Resort, in Montego Bay Jamaica on social media earlier
this week.
Well, we have made it to the paradise known as the
weekend and as awesome as this scene of tropical splendor and the idea of experiencing
some “Salt Life” can make us envious of island life, I have to remind us all
that these vacation spots may be a nice place to visit but they obviously don’t
compare to the comfort we find at home.
So I encourage all who read this to plan whatever get a way that may be
on your heart but to also try to be content with what you have here and now.
I hate to burst your bubble but I have been to Jamaica
and yes the weather is awesome and the beaches and Dunn’s River Falls are
beautiful but there is also a great deal of poverty and brokenness there that
isn’t easy on the eyes or heart that reminds you that what our homes may lack
in tropical splendor is more than made up for by the stability and security of
a first world economy.
Similarly, the Christian life with the prohibitions
against sin may not seem as exciting as a licentious lifestyle of reckless abandon
and unadulterated satisfying of the flesh of a secular life, but when we
consider the stability and security that comes from doing the right thing according
to God’s word and having our faith in Christ to give us eternal life, we
realize that we have it much better off right where we are in God’s kingdom
than we could ever be trying to satisfy ourselves with what the world has to offer.
As Christians we have seen the truth and know that
the glitz and glamour of this world can be enjoyed for a time or a season but
we should never forget that we have found that our home is in Christ and
nothing else compares to life with Him.
So, let’s keep walking and talking to God and draw
close to Him in this season of Lent as
we continue with our current series as we walk into Day 16 of the 40 Day
Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
As a reminder, and as we will say each day of this
journey, we take this path to mark the season of Lent and to draw closer to God
in anticipation for the celebration of Easter, knowing that if we take this
journey of repentance seriously, we will not only see the days and seasons
change, the Lord will use it to change us too.
You can sign up to get this devotional yourself by
going to the Biblegateway link on the blog ((https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/40-Day-Journey-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/today)) .
Day 16
Bonhoeffer writes:
“ “You are the salt” not “You should be the salt”!
The disciples are given no choice whether they want to be
salt or not. No appeal is made to them to become the salt of the earth.
Rather they just are salt whether they want to be or not,
by the power of the call which has reached them.
You are the salt not “you have the salt.”
It would diminish the meaning to equate the disciples’
message with salt, as the reformers did.
What is meant is their whole existence, to the extent that
it is newly grounded in Christ’s call to discipleship, that existence of which
the Beatitudes speak.
All those who follow Jesus’ call to discipleship are made
by that call to be the salt of the earth in their whole existence.”
Biblical Wisdom
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste,
how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is
thrown out and trampled under foot.” Matthew 5:13
Questions to Ponder
- What are the qualities of
salt that make it an apt metaphor for Jesus’ disciples?
M.T. Clark: With a little help from a quick Google search of “Salt
purifies”, I was reminded by the folks at www.bibletools.org
that Salt is a symbol of:
-
Preservation
-
Permanence
-
Incorruptibility
-
Durability
-
Purity
-
Covenant (as salt had
a part in many ancient covenantal rites)
Obviously there are entire studies on why Christ would use this
metaphor of salt for His disciples. Our covenant with God, through our faith in
Jesus, not only “preserves” us but it also is meant to “purify” us as our new
life in Christ is to cause us to repent and increasingly grow in our sanctification,
individually. But the Great Commission reminds us that as the “Salt of the
Earth” we are to take the share the gospel and to teach what we have come to
know about living a pure and holy life from God’s word and from the example
that Christ gave us, to all the world.
- If Christ’s call to
discipleship changes our whole existence, in what ways should the
disciple’s life be different from those who have not heard or accepted
the call?
M.T. Clark: The Christian Disciple’s life should be different
from those who have not heard or accepted the call of Christ in the way they worship
the Lord and the way they live their lives. While the world is permissive with its
ethics, religions, and philosophies based on situations, cultures, or current
events, the Christian Disciple would live according to what God’s word says. Perhaps
the biggest distinction that causes the disciples to be different from those
who haven’t received the call is their convictions that the Bible is true,
Jesus is the Savior, and that sin is sin. A disciple not only believes these
things intellectually, they live according to them and are not shy in sharing
the truth that they know.
- Is there any area of a
disciple’s life that is exempt from the call to be the salt of the earth?
Explain.
M.T. Clark: The phrase above that states that “discipleship
changes our whole existence” makes it clear that there are no areas of a
disciple’s life that is exempt from the call to be the salt of the earth. We are to be representative of God’s kingdom
and although we will need to continually grow in our sanctification and
maturity as we make the daily decision to follow Christ, we are not exempt in
any area of our lives to not be conformed to the image of Christ.
Psalm Fragment
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees,
and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:34-37
Journal Reflections
- How does it feel to
understand yourself as the salt of the earth?
M.T. Clark: To understand that I am the “salt of the earth”
gives me an identity with meaning and purpose. It means that I have been chosen
by God to live with Him forever and that I am to repent and to be more like Christ.
It also means that I have the mission to take God’s message of life and hope to
the world.
- How salty are you?
M.T. Clark: While the world defines “salty” as slang for being “angry,
irritable, or hostile, Christ’s idea of “salty” would be pure and perhaps as
being hostile to sin. While I am still a
work in progress, I am a lot purer that I used to be and I would hope that what
I write in this blog demonstrates that I am “hostile” to any ideology that
denies the exclusivity of Jesus Christ to save or that goes against the word of
God. While I try to be balanced in sharing the truth in love, I guess I could
be considered to be pretty “salty”.
- List the ways in which you
are salt in your family, workplace, and community.
M.T. Clark: I am “salty” in all of these areas of my life by the
way I live and by what I stand for. I worship the Lord daily in Bible study and
prayer. I worship the Lord corporately and serve at my local church each Sunday.
The ministry of my daily blog and podcast encourages Christian Discipleship “24/7”
as share an encouraging word 6 days a week and share a Bible study on Sundays. I have publicly prayed for people at my place
of work. I try to represent God’s
kingdom in all that I do, but admittedly could do more. God’s call on my life has
given me freedom and victory and I feel compelled to speak because of His love
for me.
Intercessions
Think of places in
your community where “salt” is needed. Pray for your community of faith that it
may be up to the call to be salt in those places.
M.T. Clark:
Lord God,
I can’t think of anywhere in this world where “salt” is not
needed! I pray for the community of faith to answer the call that you have put
on our lives to be the “salt of the earth” by going into all those places and sharing
the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and encouraging the world to repent.
In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.
Prayer for Today
Lord, in response
to your call, I want to be who you have made me, the salt of the earth.
M.T. Clark: In Jesus Name, I
pray, Amen.
(40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Copyright © 2007 Augsburg
Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.)
***As we are being
provided with Bible verses from the 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we
will are taking a break from sharing a verse of the day from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”. We plan on
resuming that normal installment of the blog following Easter.***
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink’s “The
Sovereignty of God.”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By
ARTHUR W. PINK
CHAPTER NINE
GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND PRAYER continues
In the second place,
prayer is appointed by God for our
spiritual blessing, as a means for our
growth in grace. When seeking to learn the design of prayer, this should ever occupy us before we regard prayer as a means for obtaining the supply of our
need. Prayer is designed by God for our humbling.
Prayer, real prayer, is a coming into the Presence of God, and a sense of His
awful majesty produces a realization of our nothingness and unworthiness.
Again; prayer is designed by God for the
exercise of our faith. Faith is begotten in the Word (Rom. 10:7), but it is
exercised in prayer; hence, we read of “the prayer of faith.” Again; prayer
calls love into action. Concerning
the hypocrite the question is asked, “Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always calls upon God?” (Job 27:10). But they that love the Lord cannot
be long away from Him, for they delight
in unburdening themselves to Him. Not only does prayer call love into action
but through the direct answers vouchsafed to our prayers our love to God is
increased—“I love the Lord, because
He hath heard my voice and my supplications” (Psa. 116:1). Again; prayer is
designed by God to teach us the value
of the blessings we have sought from Him, and it causes us to rejoice the more
when He has bestowed upon us that for
which we supplicate Him.
Third, prayer is
appointed by God for our seeking from Him the things which we are in need of.
But here a difficulty may present itself to those who have read carefully the
previous chapters of this book. If God has foreordained, before the foundation
of the world, everything which happens in time, what is the use of prayer? If
it is true that “of Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11:30), then why pray? Ere replying directly to
these queries it should be pointed out how that there is just as much reason to
ask, What is the use of me coming to God and telling Him what He already knows?
Wherein is the use of me spreading before Him my need, seeing He is already
acquainted with it? as there is to object, What is the use of praying for
anything when everything has been ordained beforehand by God? Prayer is not for
the purpose of informing God, as if He were ignorant (the Saviour expressly
declared “for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask
Him”—Matt. 6:8), but it is to acknowledge He does know what we are in need of. Prayer is not appointed for the
furnishing of God with the knowledge of what we need, but is designed as a
confession to Him of our sense of
need. In this, as in everything, God’s thoughts are not as ours. God requires
that His gifts should be sought for. He designs to be honored by our asking, just as He is to be thanked by us after He has bestowed His blessing.
However, the question
still returns on us, If God be the Predestinator of everything that comes to
pass, and the Regulator of all events, then is not prayer a profitless
exercise? A sufficient answer to these questions is that God bids us to pray, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). And again, “men ought always to pray” (Luke 18:1). And
further: Scripture declares that “the prayer of faith shall save the sick,” and
“the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (Jas. 5:15,
16); while the Lord Jesus Christ, our perfect Example in all things, was
preeminently a Man of Prayer. Thus, it is evident, that prayer is neither
meaningless nor valueless. But still this does not remove the difficulty nor answer
the question with which we started out. What then is the relationship between
God’s sovereignty and Christian prayer?
First of all, we
would say with emphasis, that prayer is not
intended to change God’s purpose,
nor is it to move Him to form fresh purposes. God has decreed that certain
events shall come to pass through the
means He has appointed for their accomplishment. God has elected certain ones
to be saved, but He has also decreed that these shall be saved through the preaching the Gospel. The
Gospel, then, is one of the appointed means for the working out of the eternal
counsel of the Lord; and prayer is another. God has decreed the means as well
as the end, and among the means is prayer. Even the prayers of His people are
included in His eternal decrees. Therefore, instead of prayers being in vain
they are among the means through which God exercises His decrees. “If indeed
all things happen by a blind chance, or a fatal necessity prayers in that case
could be of no moral efficacy, and of no use; but since they are regulated by
the direction of Divine wisdom, prayers have a place in the order of events”
(Haldane).
That prayers for the
execution of the very things decreed
by God are not meaningless is clearly
taught in the Scriptures. Elijah knew
that God was about to give rain, but
that did not prevent him from at once betaking himself to prayer (Jas 5:17,
18). Daniel “understood” by the writings of the prophets that the captivity was
to last but seventy years, yet when these seventy years were almost ended we
are told that he “set his face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and
ashes” (Dan. 9:2, 3). God told the prophet Jeremiah “For I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give you an expected end”; but instead of adding, there is, therefore, no need
for you to supplicate Me for these things, He said, “Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I
will hearken unto you” (Jer. 29:12).
Here then is the design of prayer: not that God’s will may be altered, but that it
may be accomplished in His own good
time and way. It is because God has
promised certain things that we can ask for them with the full assurance of
faith. It is God’s purpose that His will shall be brought about by His own appointed means, and that He may
do His people good upon His own
terms, and that is, by the ‘means’ and ‘terms’ of entreaty and supplication.
Did not the Son of God know for certain
that after His death and resurrection He would
be exalted by the Father. Assuredly He did. Yet we find Him asking for this very thing: “O Father,
glorify Thou Me with Thine Own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before
the world was” (John 17:5)! Did not He know that none of His people could
perish? yet He besought the Father to “keep” them (John 17:11)![1]
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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
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