The native American tribe had a new chief. Right from the beginning he felt the weight of the responsibility of leadership: the tribe asked him whether the coming winter would be harsh. Not wanting to appear inept, he looked up, closed his eyes, and appeared to be in deep reflection — but he was really wondering what in the world he should tell them.
He opened his eyes and took a stab at a prediction. “It will be a harsh winter,” he said. “Gather much wood.”
After they left he called the local weather bureau and asked what they predicted for the coming winter. They said that it would be colder than normal. He went back to the tribe and said, “It will be a very hard winter indeed; gather more wood.”
A few days later the chief had second thoughts about his prediction and called the weather bureau again. The meteorologist said that he had reassessed the situation and he thought that it would be a harsher winter than he had first predicted. The chief went back and told his people, “Gather more and more firewood. It will be a very harsh winter.”
Another few days passed, and the chief couldn’t resist calling the weather bureau again. “It’s going to be even worse than I last told you,” the meteorologist said
The chief asked, “How do you know it’s going to be such a harsh winter?”
The meteorologist said, “Well, to be honest with you, I’ve heard that the nearby Native American tribe is gathering a lot of wood.”
We live in a world where all of us influence everyone else in one way or another. Not only can everyone influence others, we all do.
One of my favorite authors, John Ortberg, is now the pastor of Meno Park Presbyterian Church in California. The church has as its core statement, “We want to become ‘Difference Makers for Christ.’”
We all want to live lives of significance, and the height of significance is being a difference maker for Christ! Jesus gives all of His followers an image that communicates this idea that we’re to be difference makers for Him. The image is a very common one: salt. In this summer sermon series we’ve been focusing on a different common object each week that tells us something about God, and we’ve been handing that object out to everyone as they leave. Today you’ll be given a packet of salt. Put it somewhere so that you’ll keep seeing it. Let it remind you that God can use you!

“You are the salt of the earth!”
In His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declared to the people who had gathered to hear Him, “You are the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13) That statement is recorded in the Bible because it’s meant for those of us today who are followers of Jesus. How are we to be like salt? Salt makes a difference. There are two major ways that salt is used.
First, it’s used as a flavoring. Most foods need at least a little salt to make them taste good. Even people on a very low sodium diet need some salt in some foods. My grandfather was put on a low-salt diet, so my grandmother made bread without salt. Bread is NOT something you want to make without salt! Bread doesn’t take much salt, but that little bit makes all the difference in the world.
Second, salt is used as a preservative. This isn’t as important in our modern world where we have refrigeration, but if you don’t have refrigeration it’s important, and it was very important in Jesus’ day.
Jesus was saying that as His followers we should be flavor in a tasteless world and a preservative in a decaying world. We can make a difference! God can use us.

The Mouse and the Lion
Sometimes we doubt that we have much influence. We question whether we can make much of a difference. This is why there’s an Aesop’s Fable about a mouse and a lion.
The fable goes like this: Once when a lion was asleep, a little mouse began running up and down on him. This soon wakened the lion, who placed his huge paw on the mouse and opened his big jaws to swallow him. “Pardon, O King,” cried the little mouse. “Forgive me this time, and I shall never forget it. Who knows but that I may be able to return the favor someday.” The lion laughed at the idea that a mouse could do something for him, but he let the mouse go anyway.
Sometime later lion hunters captured the lion and tied him up. While the hunters went in search of a wagon to carry the lion, the mouse came upon the captured beast. Quickly the mouse chewed through the ropes and set the lion free. As they both bounded away, the mouse said, “Was I not right? Even a mouse can help a lion.”
None of us is of no consequence to God! Though we may feel that we don’t have much influence, He can use us in mighty ways! How does Jesus use us? He uses us by who we are and by what we do.

It Matters Who You Are
Have you ever been around a person who didn’t walk the talk? What they said was good and true, but they spoke so loudly that you couldn’t hear what they said.
Do you want to be a person of influence? The method is very simple and uncomplicated. (I didn’t say that it was easy, just that it’s simple and uncomplicated.) To be a person of great influence we need only to be like Jesus! In other words, the way we’re “difference makers for Christ” is by being like Christ.
How do we become more like Jesus? First, we have to know Him personally. If you’ve never decided to know Him personally, this is the first step. We get to know Him personally by inviting Him into our hearts and lives, to take the number one place in our inner being — even ahead of ourselves. After this we simply try to keep drawing closer to Him, learning more about Him, being open to more of His love for us, and seeking to yield more and more of our selves to Him. This is a lifelong process; it’s sometimes called spiritual formation. Becoming more like Jesus is the way to be a person of growing positive significance.
The apostle Paul wrote, “ And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18) Our goal is to keep looking to Jesus, allowing Him to transform us to be more like Him all the time. Some practical ways to do this are by spending regular times in prayer, reading God’s Word regularly, being around other Christians a lot, and trying to find opportunities to share honestly and openly about your walk with the Lord — the highs and the lows.
Jesus said, “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 by men.” (Matthew 5:13) In Biblical times salt was often mixed with other minerals. You could have a batch of what you thought was salt, but rain or moisture could have washed away a lot of the salt, leaving the other minerals that were useless for flavoring or preservation. Jesus is giving us a warning: we can claim to be followers of Jesus, but are we really?
We can try to be different, like Jesus, by working hard and being good — but that’s going about it the wrong way. We need to start from the inside out. You can tie apples to a tree, but that doesn’t make the tree a productive apple tree. We will by nature reflect more of Jesus when we grow closer to Him. You grow to be like the people you spend time with, so spend time with Jesus!

It Matters What You Do
Who we are is most important, but it’s also important to seriously think about what we do. We can have a tremendous impact on a lot of people. Let me suggest something a person can say and something a person can do, neither of which is nice. You can say to someone, “You’re a jerk.” What’s something you can do? Spit! If you went around the rest of the day and did those two things to everyone you met, do you see the number of people whose days you could ruin? And you thought you weren’t a person of influence!
On a more positive note (let’s quickly move beyond insults and spitting), we can influence people for good. By influencing for good, I mean having the kind of influence on a person that Jesus would have if He took your place. Consciously live each day with the awareness that you’re there as Jesus’ replacement. There’s a reason that He has put you into contact with the people you meet in any given day.
Don’t overlook the people who are almost always a part of your day: your mate, parents, kids, close friends, and co-workers. We often take those relationships for granted, but we shouldn’t. Remember that the people you’re closest to are the ones whose days you can make or break by what you say and do — or don’t say or do.
Sometimes we overlook the most important work that God has for us because it’s so close to us. Someone has said that life is what happens while you make other plans!
Parents, remember the tremendous influence that you can have on your kids. Be there for them. I just got a flyer promoting Family Day: the fourth Monday in September, the 25th. The organizers recommend that families try to eat together on that day. Studies have shown that children who eat dinner with their families will be less likely to use alcohol or drugs — actually at half the risk for substance abuse. They get higher grades and have lower levels of stress. Eating together is just one example of a multitude of ways in which parents can have a positive impact on their children.
Couples, are we treating our mates with the same kind of respect and care we did when we were dating? If not, what happened? Why not begin again?
Are we being difference makers for Christ on the job? We should be different at work than people who aren’t close to Jesus. For example, you might ask someone to cover for you or switch times with you, but they turn you down. Two weeks later that person asks you for a favor. How will you respond? Will you be like Jesus or not?
If you’re retired, are you using the time that your job used to take up in a way that brings glory to Christ? Our daughter Julie and her husband Victor, who are missionaries in Mexico, recently hosted a wonderful retired couple from Wisconsin who have traveled all over for missions. They’re seeing the world — not via cruises or popular tourist spots, but where there’s desperate human need. They still get to see the world, but they also get to see Jesus working through them.
Make it a practice every day to be a difference maker for Jesus. This message prompted me to do this in a new way. Two boys knocked on the door of the church the other day. They were kicked out of school across the street from the church and needed to make a phone call to be picked up by a parent. I was sitting in my office working on this sermon, knowing that the boys were waiting at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn’t concentrate; I knew that I had to apply this message myself.
I went down the stairs to chat with them and gave them each a pocket New Testament. I wish I could say that it went well, but they were acting cocky and obnoxious. I told them that God loves them, and they laughed — and swore some, too. An hour later, after they left, we found both of the New Testaments; one was all torn up. Did I succeed at being salt for Jesus in that situation? Actually, I did! The boys didn’t succeed in taking it the right way, but I did what I thought I should do.
You and I may not always get the results we want, or the affirmation or thanks we think we deserve, but that’s not why we’re supposed to be doing what we know we should do. We’re doing it because Jesus wants us to do it!

As a hobby, I sell some of my photography on the internet. One picture that has sold over a dozen times is a tipped-over salt shaker with the salt spilling out. I knew that it would sell. I’m not sure what the buyers are using it for, but one use is obvious to me: to communicate what we’ve been talking about. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Let’s be His salt, and let’s get it out of the salt shaker!