Welcome to Monday Morning Men

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Welcome to the Monday Morning Men podcast. My name is Josh Swart. I'm here with Thomas Dellinger. And we're here to give you just a little bit of spice for your Monday morning. Well done. Our goal is to bridge the gap between your Sunday morning sermon and your Monday morning real life. I mean, we're we're living it. We were just talking beforehand about what we're talking about today and just the struggle that each of us deal with. And even how I feel encouraged talking to you this morning. And if you're trying to do this alone, it's going to be so much harder. So I encourage you to find somebody that you can share this podcast with who you can uh hold accountable, that you guys can talk through some of the things that you're struggling with. Because uh God's called us to carry each other's burdens. And so um if you're trying to do it alone, again, it's it's gonna be a lot harder. So that's my encouragement to you. This morning, this is episode 17, right? We are we've been we've been at this for for a minute. Yeah. Uh most podcasts die after episode nine. Is that true? That's statistically accurate. We're going for 52, dude. Let's go. At least 52. So I'm stoked about this. This morning, you're talking about salt. Yes. It's one of my favorite seasonings.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Uh life-giving, quite frankly.

Why Jesus Calls Us the Salt of the Earth

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah. Absolute must. Um, yeah, we're gonna talk about salt today. I I've been thinking about it. Like like I've said before, everything that was recorded on this is usually you're just getting a glimpse into how my mind works. But it does. Obviously, two epicode two episodes ago, we talked about suffering. Um, and something I've been thinking about just because we obviously I love salt. Like I would, if I'd sugar disappear tomorrow, I wouldn't miss a beep. If salt goes away, I'm very upset. I'm a chip guy, meat guy. Uh, desserts are not important, but salt is something that I love. I appreciate high cholesterol. It's what I'm chasing in my life. High sodium levels. Uh, but but it's something that I thought about because even explain to the kids, uh I've mentioned before we do Shabbat and we have to salt the bread. It's one of the uh parts of the of the Shabbat kind of ceremony. And so there's a lot of context behind that scripturally that salt's really important to God. Um, but as far as it kind of tying it, and I told you that like we're not building necessarily on a certain thought or theme, but God always intertwines, like his word is just super harmonious with everything. But I love this quote by Matthew Henry because I think it just as I've been coming off of suffering, as I've been thinking about even salt, uh, Matthew Henry has this great quote and it says this this would encourage and support them under their sufferings, there's that word, that though they should be treated with contempt, yet they should really be the blessing to the world and the more so for their suffering, thus. And the reason, just like if you're processing this kind of salt idea, um, is that we are to be this light to the world, a blessing to other people. That will involve suffering. We were just having a discussion. There will be in a context of where it's like, this is uncomfortable. I don't want to be around this person, or I have to deal with this inconvenience. And the reality is, is that's truly what being the salt of the earth is. And that's coming from Matthew chapter 5, 13. It's a verse you've probably heard before, and you've heard, you know, this person's the salt of the earth. But the actual quote is, you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. So I'm going to go through a few things

Salt Purifies: Are You Willing to Take a Stand?

SPEAKER_01 3:59

that salt teaches us and back it with some scripture and then get into some application, how we are to be actual salt in light of where we are in the world and to be an enhancer to the culture around us. So the first thing is that salt purifies and cleanses. Uh, this was something like it was normal for them to, you know, we salt the Shabbat bread, but it that kind of comes even stems from they would salt the meat that was at the altar. Um, and so it cleanses any sort of impurities, which obviously back then there was a lot of things. It was a different time and era. Um, but the scripture, kind of one of those core scriptures that we think about, is 2 Kings 2.21. It says the prophet Elisha, here he is, he's gonna purify these uh not only deadly but bitter waters in Jericho. And it says that he threw the salt into the spring and declared, Thus says the Lord, I have purified these water. There shall not be from their death or unfruitfulness any longer. The salt cleanses this water that's being given. Um, and so even in that, like we should realize real quick that if we're to be the salt of the earth, and there are there are other contexts which we need to do this, but sometimes we think of that as like just a really nice guy, a really kind guy, and we should. But the salt purifies, which should be uncomfortable. You go to the beach, you notice every cut in your wound real fast. You're like, I didn't even realize that was there, and you notice it, but it's a healing property to our body. And as Christians, we should be the ones in our culture declaring the moral, uh, you know, the moral issues of our day and making a stand for it. So if we're to be called to that, if you go to a church or you're not willing to make a stand for the things God cares about, we have an issue. You're to be the soul, you're to be the purifier within your culture. And if you're not, we have serious problems, and we're seeing that now. We have churches that won't make stands on

Salt Enhances: Bringing Out the Best in Others

SPEAKER_01 5:46

social issues, and I don't mean that yeah, that has to be your identity, it doesn't have to be the thing you talk about, but it should be the trendsetter and the example setter for all of our culture. Instead, we're allowing the culture to impact the church. Uh, the second thing is that salt enhances. Um, this is one I want to stay on for a minute, and this is gonna kind of just this is what I'm really trying to walk out. Salt brings out the best flavor in something. Um, you just get a real appreciation of it. I mean, like, I'm a huge steak guy, and it's crazy how you can eat a steak and without salt, it's just kind of like, oh, it's a little bland. But the moment you put salt on it, you're like, it's the best thing in the world. It's amazing. It is, and I it's kind of a I was watching a video with Wolfgang Puck, who's obviously like a one of the best chefs ever. And he's like salt is like how he usually seasons a lot of his stuff. That's it. He's like salt and pepper, the simplicity, it'll bring out the best flavor in that particular food. We're not trying to cover it up. Yeah, if you're putting sauces on something or over, you know, seasoning, it's probably because the food itself is not that great. Um, but as believers, we're called to bring out the best version of who God made them to be. And this is something we're why I'm walking out with my kids and as a family in different ways. Uh, and the reason is this obviously, scripturally backing, Psalm, uh Proverbs 27, 17, iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. There's that rub, there's that tension, right? It that that's there. Uh, Colossians 4, 6, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Romans 15, 2, let us each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. There's this idea you to bring up the best version of an individual. And uh, we were actually talking um about John Volcan and uh Scott's actually gonna be on our podcast in the next couple weeks, his dad. And I use them as an example to my kids. I said, I always ask the kids, I'm like, why do people love John and Uncle Scott so much? And I tell this to the kids. So my son was dealing with he has a friend who has a lot of insecurity and he has nothing in common with this guy. This kid doesn't have a lot of friends, and he's like, Dad, he just wants to hang out with me, he wants to be around me. And my son's like, I would really like him to not be in my life. And I get it. Um, we all have people like that. But I said the one reason people love Scott and Uncle John is because they ensure that that person feels loved, accepted, confident. And they're and in that, when we when we feel seen and known, it brings out the best version of ourself. So, yes, we're to purify and call things out, but we should take our time to love on people so that we can get to the heart of who they are so we see the best version of them. Because you're getting a filter of insecurity, you're getting a filter of am I being accepted and all the baggage. The moment we become more like Jesus, it shows who we can be truly are and our confidence in him. So I'm like, take the opportunity to just love on this kid, to welcome him in. And it's a hard place to be because it's selfless. But if we're the salt, we're to take that individual, even though we can see all the problems and go, we're gonna enhance this. We want to, we want you to be the best version of yourself. Um, and that's a really hard place to be because we're more just like, I would like to be the best version of myself. How am I gonna lay down when I really don't care for you as an individual? But that's part of being that salt of the earth. Like, I'm gonna take all your insecurities, all your problems, all your awkwardness, all your weirdness, whatever's there, and love on you for a minute to just bring out the best version. And Scott and John do that well. Everybody's like, I love them and I feel so accepted. And it's like, I probably am willing to bet that like it's work for them to love you. And the reason I know that is because I know you and it's work to love you. But they they take the time to pour into that person. What's your hobbies? What do you like to do? That's loving somebody,

Salt Preserves: Protecting Relationships and Covenants

SPEAKER_01 9:30

that's enhancing and building them up, as Roman says, to build them up. Uh, we're we're loving them to for their own good and to bring out the best version of themselves. Uh, the number, the third thing is that salt preserves. This is really hard. We're actually gonna get into this in the next episode a little bit more. But salt obviously is gonna keep things uh from spoiling. It keeps, it stops the uh decay of whatever, you know, whatever food, it keeps it from spoiling on a quicker level. But if we apply this to our life, it should protect our covenants relationship integrity over time. So if we are we're calling out sin, that's true honesty. That's that's a genuine relationship. We're we're loving other people and we're building up the best version of the self. And in that loving, we're also gonna protect that relationship, no matter how bad, uh how uncomfortable, how selfless we have to be. You know, obviously, marriage is like one of the ways that we can view that. It's like I'm protecting this covenant, even though there's gonna be a lot of laying in my life down as marriage should be. But this is out of Leviticus 2.13. It's the salt of the covenant. Um, kind of, you know, even when we were mentioning about the Shabbat before, it says this season all your grain offerings, right? Your bread with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings. Add salt to all of them. I mean, that your your even your gift back to God had to be like, I want to protect my relationship with you, protect my relationship with God. You have to protect that relationship with your church body and with your friends and your family that are just local in your life. Psalms 15, 4. Who keeps an oath even when it hurts and it does not change their mind? What if you got just like a friend and you do something really just sucky and you're like, you know what? I'll replace you, or I don't need to love you. I have really good people in my life. I'm gonna push you out. I have that mentality sometimes all the time. And it's not like I can find friends. Like I, and unfortunately, in this day and age, I have access to anybody, anywhere, and could establish a relationship. But if we believe that it's like, I'm gonna keep an oath or I'm gonna keep a friendship, I'm gonna keep a covenant, I'm gonna keep a relationship, even when I'm getting nothing out of it, or even if it's filled with a lot of problems, it doesn't change who we are that we're gonna love other people. Malachi 210. Do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? I told someone this the other day. I'm like, we think community is hanging out with our best friends, and it's just not. That's a good time. That is, I mean, it's fun, but it's not work. That's not a that's not anything where I'm like, I'm not worried about walking away because it's such a mutually beneficial relationship. But what if it's not? And when we say that people are the salt of the earth, we usually mean that they're selfless. Yeah. So if we believe that, I'm gonna approach that relationship now where it's like, I'm gonna lay my life down for you, even if I don't get anything out of it. And we're gonna get into this a little bit uh, you know, here in the future on the next episode. But uh, this idea, this quote comes from John

“We Do Not Exist for Ourselves”

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Piper and it's amazing. It says people don't enjoy salt, they enjoy what is salted. We are the salt of the earth, we do not exist for ourselves. I mean, selflessness and laying our life down and being the the cultural enhancer. And that's the thing. People, people appreciate the salt, they they really realize when it's not there, but it's actually not the it's not the main dish. The steak is the dish. So not only you not seen, it may not even be thankful it's there, but without it, nobody wants to eat it. We do not exist for ourselves, uh, ourselves. This is a just like a quick just something I want to point out. Um, my my buddy Andrew, uh, who we're gonna record with here in the coming weeks, he he turned me on to this and and it was it was really it's really a cool dive on it. But if you do a like a hermeneutic study on that word and the and the way that it's written out in the in the verse, um we have that so in the way that it works in the Greek, verbs always

You—and You Alone—Are the Salt

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contain the person and number within their endings. So what's happening is by itself already means you all are. So when he says you are the salt of the earth, therefore it explicitly adds the pronoun in front of it and it makes it grammatically redundant. So we don't understand that we just see you are all the salt of the earth. It makes sense to us in our English language, but this is what makes it unique. There's this hermeneutical shift that when the Greek writer includes an unnecessary pronoun, it's done for intense emphasis. Jesus is saying you and you alone are distinctly and uniquely are the salt. And what's important to understand this when Christ is saying you are the salt of the earth or you are the light of the world, and I don't want to be careful, I'm not trying to step on toes. You should vote and you should make a stand for what you believe in. But if you think transformation and you think bringing out the best version or that you're the moral compass, it does not come from your government, it does not come from your vote, it does not come from your nonprofit, it does not come from your secular community. It only comes from Jesus through the body of Christ. And if we take this ownership, we need to realize we're the ones that are impacting. And a lot of times as Christians, we defer that. Well, I'm just gonna give to this nonprofit or or or even I'm gonna even extend it to another brother. I'm just gonna donate to this min, uh, this missionary and let them run with it. They'll be the missionary for me. No, no, no. You do not get to defer that responsibility. So for us, we need to realize that you as an individual must be the salt within your own community. It's super important that we understand that. It's redundant in the way that Christ even wrote it and that it's you and you alone. Um, there is a warning to that. So if we understand that you are the stink salt, and the moment you lose this, there is a warning in scripture. God says that if you're not salty,

The Warning: Don’t Lose Your Saltiness

SPEAKER_01 15:10

you're cast out, you're trodden in the foot in men. There's this idea, it's like not that God does what we yeah, He doesn't save us in spite of, you know, just so that we do things for Him, but it would be evidence of our love to walk in a way that's fully sold out for Christ. We have the warning in Revelation 3:16. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. If you are no longer salty, I have no use for you. There's an idea like we're to go into all the world. These are commands. Our salvation isn't based on what we do. We're not earning merit with God just by what we do. But there's this sense of like where God is clearly communicating, I've given you a calling and a job. And for you to walk in that, it's disobedience. So if you're listening to this and you're like, I'm not really salt in my community, you're walking in actual disobedience. It's not just apathy, it's actual direct obedience to what God has called you to be, you and you alone. This is a great Paul Washer quote, huge Paul Washer fan. Listen to this. The church must seek to be biblical rather than relevant. We are not going to leave a mark upon our culture because we've studied its ways and adapted ourselves to it. And that's what we see all the time, by the way. We are relevant when we reject the world outright and are its polar opposite. This presents darkness. This present darkness provides a great opportunity for the church to be the salt of the earth. But if we mix it with the very impurities we are supposed to expose, we are as useless as the culture already believes us to be. As the church goes, so will the world in some capacity. We are called to something much greater. And yet, unfortunately, we see around us, we see apathy. No one's being the salt in their community. And sadly, the church is just magnifying that with the way that we approached our culture. So here's some application so that we can practice

How to Actually Become Salt in Your Community

SPEAKER_01 16:52

this this week, how you can start to become the salt. Find a specific area where you're currently struggling to be that salt in your, whether that's your community, your church, or your family. So one, are you purifying? Are you allowing things into your home, your mind, or your church that are not of God? Are there things that you're like, my family is doing this and it's it's an impurifying thing? It's it's a sinful thing. You are called, especially if you're a man, which you know, obviously this is geared towards men, as a as a leader of your home, you are the gatekeeper. You are the one that's saying, we do not do this and we stand for this. You should be that same way in your church, your business, whatever, you know, service aspect you are living in your community. Scripture calls this leaven, a small event, a small amount that will eventually corrupt the entire batch. We need to understand that even if we're allowing little impurities, and I'm not talking about legalism, you're gonna get everything right. What I'm saying is that you need to evaluate when you look the other way and you say, I'm not worried about this thing and I'm not gonna stand for the truth, you're allowing impurities into your home, which you're not being the salt of the earth. And then on top of it, it will corrupt eventually the entire batch. Are you making a tangible stand for righteousness? So this is also a daily um commitment to your holiness. Again, this is not your political vote. I'm not saying don't vote. I'm not saying don't make a stand. I'm not talking about that. But to think that that's your one and done job, the amount of people I've talked to that's like, well, I support this movement. It's like, I mean, great, but that's not like how about how about you do some actual groundwork and you be the salt and not defer that? Second, are you enhancing? This is where I've been trying to work on this. I feel like I don't have a problem making a stand. I don't mind the confrontation. What I really have a hard time doing is laying my life down to not be selfish and to view people as to just love on them. So are you actively enhancing the lives of those around you? Are you bringing out the best in people? Are you being the John and Scott of your culture that's like, I want to see this person thrive? Are you creating an environment of love to help bring out that best portion of who they are? Are you taking time to disciple them? Right? There's this idea we want you to be where I'm at. When you get there, give me a call. It's like I told this to one of the guys. He's like, What is one of your priorities? I'm like, two things. If I can meet with a guy in the week that I can pour into, I also want to meet a guy that pours into me and calls out my stuff. This is the way scripture is asked of us to be as men, discipling and being discipled. Are you preserving? Are you staying committed to your relationships even when it gets hard? This obviously applies to your marriage, but what about your other friendships? Or or even just friending and loving somebody? We have this guy, and I respect so much. There's this guy at my church. And and there's a lot of issues there, unique past and and just um not the easiest person to talk to and different things. And to watch all my pastors just love on this individual. In fact, I've even taken my son to Bible studies and be like, watch how they give him the time of day. And I'm like, I mean, I can tell you they're getting nothing out of them, they're getting the life sucked out of them for this individual. But knowing his past and what he's gone through and to watch the pastors love on him has been extremely challenging to me. So the question is, are you preserving even that relationship and helping that person preserve their relationship with God? We have to reject the convenience culture, and we'll talk more about this next week. But are you the kind of salt that reminds people of the true covenant God has with us? Because we'll diss people and like we're gonna move on. God does not do that with individuals. Are we quick to cut people off simply because the relationship becomes inconvenient or we're not getting anything out of it? Or there's this ROI issue that we have with relationship, and we'll talk more about that. But there's like, are you just gonna sit simply love that individual and protect that relationship and point them to God? So pick one of these uh salt characteristics you struggle with and work on that this week. Call somebody that you know you have a hard time loving, or send them a text or a thought, or let me encourage you in this, or maybe make a stand to, you know, your family member where you know this is an issue and call out that sin. And then also work so hard uh to preserve and to enhance all the relationships around you. That's what God's called us to. This is a final thought from John Stott, which by the way, if you've never I haven't done a ton of reading about his stuff, but just like his life is a unique one. He's uh he was an evangelical Anglican pastor and theologian. Um, and what makes him unique is uh he was born into wealth, he never married. Just his idea was that like I want to give everything away and sold out for Jesus. What we would probably label as a true salt of the earth, very unselfish acts that he had. Um, but this is this

Get Outside the Church and Be the Salt

SPEAKER_01 21:35

awesome quote. He says, God intends us to penetrate the world. You see a theme here very similar to Paul Washer's quote Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in its elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars, which is what we do. Our place is to be rubbed into the secular community as salt is rubbed into our meat to stop it from going bad. Get outside your church, get outside of deferring your responsibility, guys, and go be the salt to the relationships

Salt Creates Thirst for Christ

SPEAKER_01 22:07

of the people in your community around you. That's the idea. So those are my thoughts on salt. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 22:13

You missed one of the characteristics of salt. I did. Give it to me. It it it creates thirst. It does that's good. So like our our saltiness should create uh thirst. And appetite is good for Christ and others, right? Yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Um that was one. No, that's really good. I well, well, and and I mean you think about it. I'm not saying that the world's gonna reject, like they rejected Jesus. But the one thing that they were all infatuated with is here's a man declaring himself to be king, and yet they wanted to know more about him. He loved on people. But I hope it's said about us, it's like, yeah, I don't I disagree with them, but look at the way they loved us. I want to know more

The Refining Process of Becoming Salt

SPEAKER_01 23:03

about that. So that's a good, that's a really good point.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Well, even if you think about the process of how like getting salt, like becoming salt, either you're evaporating it from uh salt water or a brine, or you're mining it. And even with that, there's like a refining process that it has to go through to become salty, right? And so this I don't think that somebody can immediately um become a Christian and then all of a sudden it's like I'm salt, right? Right. Like agree. There's there is like a there's a real process to being to work out the impurities and things that are out of the salt in order for it to be in its purest form, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:46

So I let's sit there for a second. Because I think it's like like just even going back to what we were talking about. I don't like this person. We we think like we wake up and all of a sudden we're just gonna love everybody and everything. No, there is a refining process of where it's work. Yeah, there are days you wake up and you're like, my wife is ticking me off today. She's probably saying that a lot more about me, but it's like that refining process doesn't mean I don't love or I have this, isn't it? It's not this euphoric Greco-Roman mythical love that we have towards people. There is a refining process where it's like I choose to love you today, even though you're driving me nuts or you're weird or whatever it is. Yeah. So that's a good point.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Yeah. So it's not like you wake up every day and you're like, I'm the salt shaker full of salt. I'm just gonna like dab around like the salt fairy to everybody in my life. Because like it's just there's impurities and there's things that are in you that aren't right. And so I think even this process of trying to be the salt of the earth, right? Allowing the Lord to do a work in your life is in fact the call to be the salt of the earth, right? Like it just doesn't, it doesn't just happen. Like you, it's a daily choice. Like you've got to be, it's not easy, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Well, remember that God's gonna be the salt in your life, and he's gonna work out of the purity. So if he's developing it as you develop to other people, it's it's a process, always has and always will be. Yeah, that's good. I like it.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Um, one of the things you were talking about is um not allowing like the leaven of culture or sin to like uh be

The Subtle Impurities Shaping Your Life

SPEAKER_00 25:21

in your life. One of the things I am consistently, and I'm sure that there's other people that can relate to this, is like social media, and it may not be an intentional thing. Like it's one thing to be like, this is a bad show, I'm turning this on. It's another thing to be social media where you're like one scroll away from being influenced by culture, and it's very subtle. Yeah, and before you know it, you're like 15, 20 minutes into this, and you're you're like, it's just a bunch of garbage, right? It is so that's one of the things that I've been convicted of, to where it's I constantly go in and out of this, like I'm deleting all of it. I delete all of it, and then it's a couple weeks go by, I'm like, man, but there's so much good for my business and for like relationships and family. And I'm like swinging back and forth in this pendulum of like I'm I'm half in this and half out. But that's that's the one thing that I've so I'm off. Like I've like deleted all of my elections, and all that stuff. So that was one of the convictions I've had recently.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yeah, I I I think that sometimes when we view impurities, we think of like the worst sins in the world. Not that we should tolerate it, but sometimes it's just the the toleration of apathy, time wasting, yes, all of these things. There's like little things like that that lead into bigger and bigger things. Well, yeah. And and I think it's just as a practical sense, you rarely pull out the steak out of the fridge and it's all black, but there's spots in it, you're like, oh, that went bad, that little spot there, or there's a little bit of mold on that bread, or whatever it is. And just realizing, be conscious of even the small things this week, guys. I think that would I think that's a really good point that you need to pay attention to the things that you're allowing in that don't seem like that big of a deal, but they are exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

So, I mean, it's not like I'm smoking crack, right? But oh, I knew that was a possibility.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Okay. I know you think of new fear unlocked. No, I get it now.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

It's true. Yeah, you think of these like allowing sin into your life as these big, big events. Yeah, but they're like little tiny habits that contribute to that leaven working

Final Challenge: Go Be Salty

SPEAKER_00 27:27

throughout your whole, your whole life, your mind, your family, and all that stuff. So good. Um, all right, guys, hope you enjoyed this episode. Please share this with somebody else who uh you have a desire to be salty with. And uh, if you got questions, prayer requests, you want to have us cover different topics, and email it email us at info at mondaymorningman.com, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Hope you guys were blessed by this episode, and we'll see you next week.