JANUARY 27 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#01 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

 JANUARY  27  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#01  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord, Master, Lover of my soul, Giver of Life, start my day with Your Mercy, Your Grace and Your Love and then move me to share the overflow of Your Goodness with all those that I come into contact with today. Lord, I desire in the depths of my heart that when others see me that they do not see the old sinner I was but the forgiven sinner that I am and that they see the Source of my Salvation shining forth through my former darkness to illuminate the Truth that is Jesus Christ.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS has now been proven in Matthew’s Gospel of Jesus Christ in chapters 1-3 to be the Messiah by circumstances external to Himself and His disciples such as the location of His Birth, His Kingly Lineage (you cannot choose your parents but God can!), and the “Virgin Birth” — however; beginning at the end of chapter 3 Jesus is quoted as telling John the Baptist — the prophesied “forerunner” of the Messiah, who upon seeing Jesus declared “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) — to baptize Him in the Jordan in order to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 5:13) Jesus is then shown by His Actions to be the Messiah in chapter 4 by the way Jesus lived. Everything Jesus was accomplishing were all things that would be done ONLY by the True Messiah and His Actions established that Jesus was not paying “lip service” to the title “Messiah” but everything Jesus did and Taught and preached demonstrated that Jesus was indeed the Anointed One and that His Purpose was to “fulfill all righteousness” and to “take away the sin of the world” thereby proving by His Actions that these are the Actions of the Messiah! Jesus started His public ministry after His Baptism in the Jordan River by being led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, then at the end of fasting forty days and forty nights, Jesus successfully dealt with the devil who tempted a tired and hungry Jesus with the 3 temptations that everyone faces. (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus then went about Teaching in the synagogues and healing everyone brought to Him and soon “great multitudes followed Him” (Matthew 4:25) Matthew started chapter 5 by stating “And seeing the multitudes, [Jesus] went up on a mountain…then He opened His mouth and taught them…” (Matthew 5:1-2)  There is little doubt about Jesus being the Messiah when the account of His Lifestyle is read because everything Jesus did and said was to advance the kingdom of God and to Glorify God in Heaven whom Jesus proclaimed proudly as “My Father”! Jesus gave His “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5:3-12) and then asked His first Teaching Question: JQ#01  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13a) This blog on “The JESUS Questions” challenge by the Holy Spirit is to consider the Questions that Jesus asked and study them until our “understanding” of the Holy Scriptures leads us to an “honest” answer. When we stop to consider the Question we must first try to understand the significance of why Jesus began by asking the JQ#01 Question about “salt”? Sharon Anderson commented on “salt” in this JESUS Question and stated: “Salt in Biblical times had varying degrees of purity… Inferior salt in those days was used to keep footpaths free of vegetation so people could walk on them.”  If one reads what Jesus says about “useless” salt in the same verse that He asked JQ#01 then Sharon’s comment gives us a modern understanding of what Jesus was saying to us in verse 13 about useless salt: “It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” (Matthew 5:13b) It was at this point of insight that I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit that it was Jesus that gives salt its flavor and it is Jesus that gives Christians our flavor. Applying that “logic” it is our “Christian” purpose in this world to season this tasteless world with the flavor of Jesus which is Mercy, Grace, Forgiveness and Love and if we lose our flavor then we become useless Christians and will be “trampled underfoot by men” and that is what I see happening today with the Church that professes to be “followers of Jesus”!?!?  We lose our flavor each time we deviate from the Truth of Jesus Christ and try to season the world with “compromise” instead of “conviction”. A Christian without the “conviction” that Jesus is the Messiah, the Only begotten Son of God and “the Lamb of God sent to take away the sin of the world”, is inferior salt that has lost its flavor and usefulness for the Kingdom of God which could explain why the Church today is being “trampled underfoot by men” !!! A Christian without Jesus Christ is a lamp under a basket! The question then is “How do we prevent losing our flavor?” As always — God provides. In this case He had told us how to keep our flavor in verses 5:3-12 in the Beatitudes. I encourage you to read the Beatitudes again as a type of map to keeping yourself committed to following Jesus. Consider that God has established His Laws governing the entire known universe. God always provides an understanding of the Law, then He gives us FREEWILL to apply His Laws or go the way of the doctrines of man — Jesus also established before the creation of the world a Consequence for each of His Laws, applied fairly and equally among all mankind, so that we can make an informed decision whether to follow God or to decide for ourselves and go our own way without God. Jesus said that He came to “fulfill” the “Law of the Prophets” (Matthew 5:17) so consider the Beatitudes as Spiritual Laws and that following them results in the “Consequences” as stated in the “Blessed are” statements. Not following the Law of God results in the Consequence of being “trampled underfoot by men” listed in Matthew 5:13b — for the way of the world is darkness and tasteless salt — but by following the “Way” of  Jesus,  You CAN Be Light and keep your Flavor.