How to be Salt in a Decaying World - Matthew 5:13-22, John 1:4, Matthew 22:36-40 · Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. 1

   Read Matthew 5:13-16. Kent stopped on the grammar: "you are the salt of the earth" is a statement, not a command. Jesus is not handing out an assignment, he is telling you what you already are. What changes about the verse when you hear it that way?

2. 2

   Kent said salt does two jobs — it preserves and it seasons — and that Christians are not called to be the anti-people who say no to everything. Which of those two comes more naturally to you: slowing down what is bad, or bringing flavor to a room?

3. 3

   Kent quoted D.L. Moody: lighthouses blow no horns, they only shine. Then an old sailor came up after the service and told him that is not quite right — a lighthouse absolutely makes noise when a ship is heading for the rocks. When is quietly shining the right move, and when do you have to raise your voice?

4. 4

   Kent read Rebecca Manley Pippert's observation that one of the chief complaints against the Son of God was that he was not religious enough — he mingled with the wrong people and appeared to enjoy them. Does the Christianity you have seen up close look like that? Where does yours not?

5. 5

   Salt degrades if it is just left out and exposed, Kent said, and so do we — the faith is still there, the flavor is gone. Where have you noticed yourself going flat, and can you put a rough date on when it started?

6. 6

   Kent's applications were deliberately unglamorous: be the one at work who will not pad an expense account or claim hours he did not work, vote, write your representative, actually care about a coworker or a neighbor. Pick one. Name the real person or the real situation, and report back next time.