The Disciple’s Work is “Now”

Christians are all for hope. The Bible is full of hope, so so are we. So here is my latest wondering. Can saltiness be restored? If you're like me, your immediate answer is "yes." But I'm wondering.

This last week I was going over and over and over (something you do when you hit 55) the first verses of the sermon on the mount in Matthew and Luke. Jesus is orienting his disciples, not just the 12 but the entire herd. His words at the end seem pretty hard.

13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.

I know in Galatians and Hebrews there is a warning that if you add "works" to Jesus, and get your understanding of Him so completely twisted and interwoven with performance and merit and religion, you lose the freedom Christ meant to give you. Grace gets perverted into a force for rigid adherence to rules. The question then, is what will re-free your heart once this happens? Can Christ be crucified for you again? No.

What happens when a disciple (believer) loses their saltiness? Can it be restored? Jesus is describing a serious problem, so it probably isn't a good thing to just say, "null problem." It might ruin a person for the rest of this life.

 

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 21 "Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. : "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. "Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

This is the heart of a disciple, expressed in Luke's "now." It is a choice to hunger "now," to weep "now." We choose for the sake of Christ and this earthly disaster to be poor in spirit "now" and to be in the contention for souls "now" and to be uncomfortable in heart "now." Why? Because we are shocked at our salvation, that we were so lost, so blind, and that this blindness is happening to everyone now. Because we are so amazed at God jolting us and showing us what would have happened, but now we are saved.

If we lose the joy and wonder of our salvation, if we lose the immediacy of giving our help to those dying, I wonder if we can regain the wonder. If we allow comfort and the sub-culture to put us to sleep in the light, what can wake us up? If "church and Jesus and all that stuff" has been used to put us to sleep and we've grown deaf to the cry of the lost, what can restore our saltiness?

We choose now for our spirit and life on earth to be caught in His love, caught in His passion and caught in His commission. And it moves us to action. We choose for His sake and for the sake of the lost to suffer now.

22 "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets."

So my question here is if all Christians will get this reward. What about believers who live so incognito that they offend no one? Are heaven's rewards and Christ's promise so trivial that we can look at this and say, "who cares, at least I'll be in Heaven?"

24 "But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 "Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. "Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 "Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets."

The trappings of this life can fool His disciples into thinking they can have two or more masters. Living the life of comfort, calling His name in church, dancing to the pretty music. This seems to me to be a choice and a major temptation each day and the neutralizing of Christ's disciples. They attach to the world for their life and the blood of Christ drains out of them and is replaced by formaldehyde. They look nice, but the fire is gone. All speak well of them because they say nothing to hinder the cascade of humanity over the edge.

Can the saltiness be restored? Can we learn to hunger "now" again? Can we learn to be poor of spirit now? Can we not only weep now, but rejoin the harvest and live for men and women and children to learn the mercy of God and the forgiveness of Christ and find peace? God's specialty is resurrection. We have to re-learn to value our salvation more than anything else. We have to be crucified in Christ and live only to Him. We have to turn off the computer and TV and allow the life of Christ and His Word to reenter our veins and pulse through our spirits.

My favorite verses out of the OT. 2 Chronicles 34:27 "Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares the LORD.

As disciples, it's time to sit at Jesus' feet and choose for Him and His sake and for those He is wanting to reach, to work now and to live in the harvest. The party is coming, but the work is "now".