Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, September 3, 2023

Salt and Fire. Today, Pastor Michael is talking about how Christianity isn’t always an easy path to follow.  God will bring good from the things that test us.  Michael’s memory jingle for the day is “Tribulation is transformation. Integrity is Influence.”  That’s what today’s message is all about! Jesus mentions salt and fire in today’s verses in Mark, and it is said, “salted with fire”.  The fire here may mean the parallel of refining and purifying of salt and followers of Christ being persecuted in an “unsalted” world.  The “salt” is the distinctiveness of salt and the distinctiveness of being followers of Jesus.  So these two simple verses carry a lot of meaning, in a lot of ways. And the fire does not destroy who we are; it destroys who we were pretending to be.  When you’re facing struggles, don’t assume that God doesn’t care.  Jesus didn’t come to rid the world of suffering; He came to redeem our suffering here and now.  It can be the catalyst for growth and maturity! (CSB Study Bible Notes) 9:49-50 Jesus’s puzzling statement in v. 49 probably drew on the association of fire and salt in the sacrificial context of Lv 2:13. The first salt saying of Mk 9:50 occurs elsewhere (Mt 5:13; Lk 14:34) and focuses on the good uses of salt, which disciples must reflect on (Mt 5:13). Salt from deposits around the Dead Sea could lose its flavor since it was not pure sodium chloride. Disciples who lose their saltiness are no longer effective witnesses. The second “salt saying” of v. 50 draws on the OT custom of using salt in making covenants of peace. Verses can be found in Mark 9: 49-50 and James 1: 2-4. Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.