2. Luke 14:34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” NIV

3. What is the purpose of salt ?
“Luke intends for us to interpret salt as readiness to sacrifice comfort and even life for Jesus’ sake.”
Being a salty Christian is about passion!
Ralston paraphrase: “Your passion to do good is good, but if you lose that passion, how can you ever be made zealous again? 35  You aren’t fit for the making things good nor for the manure pile; You are fit to be thrown out.

4. What good are we? Purposes for salt To make soil into Pavement
Preserving food from spoiling (corruption)
Enhancing Flavor
Aid in healing
There is one mountain here called Jebel Usdum, seven miles long and several hundred feet high, which is composed almost entirely of salt. The Jews appear to have distinguished between rock-salt and that which was gained by evaporation as the Talmudists particularize one species (probably the latter) as the "salt of Sodom." The salt-pits formed an important source of revenue to the rulers of the country, and Antiochus conferred a valuable boon on Jerusalem by presenting the city with 375 bushels of salt for the temple service. As one of the most essential articles of diet, salt symbolized hospitality; as an antiseptic, durability, fidelity and purity.

5. 1. What Good are we? Firm Footing
Salt was used to make the soil into pavement
Mingled with soil, wet, then like concrete
The Salty Christian provides firm footing in a place where it is otherwise hard to walk the path of life

6. 2. What good are we? Preserve what is good
“Salted pork” kept what would otherwise spoil and make it safe to consume.
We live in a world that is rotting with corruption.
The salty Christian represents in a “priestly” fashion the Christ who is able to transform a corrupted life into something good and useful.
Salt curing is one of the oldest techniques for curing meat. When meats are salt cured, they are packed in salt and periodically turned for a period of months. As the curing progresses, water is drawn out of the meat, and salt penetrates inwards. The salt prevents molding and rotting, acting as a preservative to keep the meat in good condition. Well-handled salt pork could last a year or more packed in barrels, making it a staple food in many regions of the world.
Traditionally, salt pork was kept on board ships as a ship's ration, and this food was also used to supply armies and explorers with their basic protein needs.

7. 3. What good are we? Add flavor
Christians enhance their surroundings with goodness.
Wholesome fun is refreshing.
Wholesome fun is an acquired taste.
No need to experience guilt afterwards
The salty Christian points the trajectory of conversations and situations toward a positive, uplifting outcome.
Most exciting church in Colorado Springs. Come hear Pastor Rick Bland. Never met him. But every sermon he preached would be a bland sermon.
Bland is not a good
20 years of sponsoring AFA cadets. We have fun. Not raucus,. No drunkeness. No drugs. No dirty movies. But games, stories, horrible puns and jokes; and a desire to show the cadet that we believe in them. That they are a person of value and worth. We have had people in our home who washed out. I have visited friends of our cadets in hospitals who had to leave because they wrecked a motorcycle they weren’t supposed to have. Wrecked. Nearly died.
What do we add? Flavor. We take the goodness already inherent in a person’s life and enhance it to bring out the best they can be. Do we preach? Rarely. Do we point towards God? Always.

8. 3. What good are we? Add flavor
Salt has two functions- it saves from corruption and adds zest to the meal… Too often, sinners give zest, but no preservation from corruption; and too often the “saints” offer a preservative, but no zest! The true church, in the self –giving of the real followers of Christ, has the double grace.
Interpreters Bible Commentary

9. 4. What good are we? Healing
Primitive salve
Salt tablets- primitive remedy for heat
A bath in Epsom salts brought healing
The salty Christian binds up the wound and sets the stage for God to bring about healing.
Salt was used not only as a food, but as an antiseptic in medicine. Newborn babes were bathed and salted (Ezekiel 16:4), a custom still prevailing. The Arabs of the desert consider it so necessary, that in the absence of salt they batheir infants in camels' urine.
Backpacking in Rocky Mountain National. Awoke with a dear 10 inches from my face. Munching the ground. My friend was older. Needed to go in the middle of the night. Didn’t want to leave his sleeping bag so stood on it and relieved himself.
In the morning, that deer needed salt so badly, it sought it out.

10. When our “saltiness” is gone, we are not worth anything.
Beware of the Christianity that is not quite on the mark
Beware of Christianity that is passionless
Going through the motions
Not really good, but not really bad; between usefulness and the manure pile
Christianity without passion stinks

11. So what? Take your passion temperature! Be honest
With God
With yourself
With others
(everyone goes through dry spells)
Invite the Holy Spirit to re-fill you.
Read the mood, situation, conversation
Add flavor,
Affirm
Change the trajectory