“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.” (Matthew 5:13, NIV)

An old friend of mine just posted on his Facebook page a tribute to a well-known preacher who recently passed away. This minister was always known for compassion, social justice, and loving the unloved. While I didn’t always agree with him, I always appreciated his heart for the lost and those who are difficult to love. Later in his career, however, he allowed his compassion to override his commitment to the truth, and he advocated full acceptance of homosexuality within the church. Thus, homosexual couples could serve as pastors and leaders without repenting of their homosexuality. Whereas earlier in his career he believed that we should accept people with homosexual orientations while holding that homosexual activity was still sinful, he later taught that homosexual behavior was no longer a sin.

I was concerned that my friend was praising this very public figure without any caveat toward his apostate teaching. When you approve of a man’s ministry, you at least have the appearance of also approving of his teaching. Concerned as I was, I kept reading found another interesting twist. This preacher taught that you should never mix religion and politics. He was quoted as saying that it was like mixing ice cream with manure. It doesn’t do the manure any good and it totally ruins the ice cream.

First off, let me say that I don’t really have a problem with comparing politics to manure. But consider the implications of comparing the church to a bowl of ice cream. When you consider that he turned away from the clear teaching of scripture on human sexuality and marriage, it is curious that he used a sweet confection as a metaphor for the church. His approach to confronting sin in the body of Christ is to deny the evil and harm that it does in an effort to make the church palatable to everyone, even unrepentant sinners. Is this biblical? Is this what Jesus taught? Did our Savior ever liken the church to ice cream and chocolate syrup? Or did he say it was to be salt and light?

Of course, Jesus spoke of the church as being salt. It is interesting, almost prophetic, that this preacher paired ice cream with manure, because you actually can mix salt with manure. In fact, the ancients often poured salt over dung to keep it from decomposing too quickly. It also prevents pests from infesting the manure and keeps down the odor. When the church is described as ice cream, we have something lovely to tantalize our taste buds, and we would never want it to be corrupted by something so foul. Curious, isn’t it? No one would ever want to mix manure with ice cream. But for centuries people mixed salt with manure because of the beneficial effects of the salt. Ice cream may taste a lot better than salt, but it lacks any power to overcome the corruption of decay. Salt, on the other hand, is not as appealing as ice cream, but it has the power to overcome corruption and to bring to a beneficial purpose even something a detestable as manure.

This has a powerful parallel in the scriptures. In the old covenant, any unclean thing would bring corruption to that which was ceremonial clean. The Pharisees carried that model into the time of Jesus and we’re very concerned about him being ceremonially unclean. But Jesus showed that the Kingdom of God triumphs over the uncleanness of the world, and he touched the lepers, healed those with open sores, and raised dead bodies back to life. Jesus realized that what he carried was essential to the welfare of those around him and he mingled with prostitutes, tax collectors, and drunkards. The good religious people, who wanted to stay clean, kept far away from them. They didn’t try to save them or support them; they were totally self-focused. But Jesus loved them enough to risk getting dirty. In doing so He exposed himself to rebuke and judgment from the religious and political leaders of his day. But was not willing to let the people languish in their sin and slide into perdition. He showed us how to be salt and light despite the personal challenges this caused.

When Christians say that politics is dirty and they want to steer clear of it, they are unwittingly standing in the place of the Pharisees who did not want to make themselves unclean by associating with the rabble. By staying out of politics, Christians are condemning the government to be run by heathens and reprobates. We can’t just privately pray for those few Christians who decide to run for office and keep silent in public. We need to support them fully and be willing to deal with the fallout for having taken a public stand.

Some may say that we will give people a bad witness by discussing important civic and political issues. Jesus didn’t avoid confronting people when he saw that they were deceived and misled. People who are willing to hear the truth will be favorably impressed when we stand for righteousness and have the right attitude. Being respectful and non-judgmental is critically important, but keeping silent is not a viable option. The world needs our wisdom, that is, wisdom from above, that is:

¹⁵ This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, free of hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
James 3:15-18, NASB

If we walk in humility, with the spirit of Christ, we can impact culture in a positive way and not surrender the world to be ruled by the powers of hell. We must stop partnering with a political spirit which compels us to wage war carnally and use unrighteous weapons. We must resist the religious spirit which causes us to judge others and brings division and isolation. And we must avoid compromising with the spirit of this age that wants to ignore clear mandates of scripture to allow people to feel comfortable in their sin. The church is not meant to be a bowl of ice cream that appeals to people’s spiritual sweet tooth. We are called to be salt, that which preserves, yes, but also mixed into the substance of life to make it all richer and more satisfying. Jesus is not just  a sweet dessert that you can add onto your meal if it pleases you. Like salt, he is an essential ingredient of life that affects every part. And He is just as essential in the rest of society, from education to the arts, from business to media, from family relationships to church administration, and even in politics.