Mark 9:42-50--Exploring Discipleship, Selflessness, and Eternal Values in the Gospel of Mark-

https://www.facebook.com/ablossombiblechurch

Transcript

Discipleship and Selflessness in Mark

Speaker 1 0:12

All right . Mark , chapter 9 , verse 42, . That's where we'll start . Hopefully you can hear me . If not , just smile and nod , it's okay . Smile and nod , nod , it's okay . Smile and nod , all right .

Speaker 1 0:31

Well , in the gospel of Mark we have seen Jesus come from the top of the mountain there , the Mount of Transfiguration , where he's seen in all of his glory and he's going to the lowest point Well , in so many ways the lowest point in our story . He's going towards the cross . Now , this is not right . It's not the lowest point . It in so many ways the lowest point in our story . He's going towards the cross . Now , this is not right . It's not the lowest point , it's the highest point of the story . But he's headed towards the cross , from here on down the mountain to Jerusalem , to the cross , and it's going to take us a little while , but as he goes , we see that life with Jesus involves discipleship . He's teaching his disciples and in verse 33 , just to back up a little bit we see him in Capernaum , that's home base in the beginning of things . He's in a house , possibly Peter's house , and he confronts his disciples on something that was going on on the road . He asked them what was it that you guys talked about on the road , and they knew . They knew they were busted All at once . They knew they had been arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom , who would have the highest position .

Speaker 1 1:43

And Jesus calls them on their self-centeredness and their pride . And in verse 35 , he says if anyone desires to be first , he shall be last of all and servant of all . And then Jesus , as an illustration , takes a little child old enough to stand but still needy , young enough to be held . And and he says in verse 37 whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me . Whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me . And and so we picture it as he's teaching his disciples , holding a little child . There , his disciples are gathered sheepishly around and Jesus is going to break down the subject of what it means to be a real disciple . Look at verse 42 . We'll pick up there and we'll read to the end of the chapter .

Speaker 1 2:41

But whoever caused one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble , it would be better for him if the millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea . If your hand causes you to sin , cut it off . It is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands to go to hell , into the fire that shall never be quenched , where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched . If your foot causes you to sin , cut it off . It's better for you to enter life lame rather than have two feet to be cast into hell , into the fire that shall never be quenched , where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched , and if your eye causes you to sin , pluck it out . It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire , where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched . For everyone will be seasoned with fire and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt . Salt is good , but if the salt loses its flavor , how will you season it ? Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another . So here Jesus teaching his disciples some heavy stuff . Here teaching his disciples , some heavy stuff . Here he reminds them first , number one , that being a disciple is meant to be a selfless life , selfless life and the direct context here you got to picture it , jesus the teacher , right . Jesus the Savior is standing there and he's holding a little child in his arms . Now notice how it all starts off there in verse 22 . With that picture in your mind . Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble , it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and thrown into the sea were hung around his neck and thrown into the sea . So Jesus , with this little child , says don't cause one of these little ones . This is what being a disciple is about . Don't cause one of these little ones to stumble . And we can think about our own children . Maybe this was Peter's kid , but we think about our own children .

Speaker 1 5:04

And I don't know how it is in your house , but many times we act like our kids don't speak English Right now , when they're little . It's one thing . You can spell things out , right , and then after that you get a little more creative . My parents they knew a little bit of German growing up , and so they would every so often drop some German words so that I couldn't understand what they were saying . Right , lila and I took a sign language class together , so we would do finger spelling , you know , and you know when we didn't want our kids to understand .

Speaker 1 5:36

But there comes a certain point when they're older where you just kind of pretend I don't know what happens in our brains but we just kind of pretend they don't speak English anymore . You know , we just just just talk about it in front of them . Whatever it is , if it's work or if it's some social problem that we're having with someone , we just let it all out . And I admit I think that's wrong , right , but I do it . You know , you talk about your issues in front of your kids like they just can't hear , right , because I just don't have time for it anymore . And I think about all the times in that literal sense that you know , maybe I came talking about some things that just weren't good attitudes and I really did misrepresent God's heart in front of my kids .

Speaker 1 6:22

And Jesus says don't cause these little ones to stumble . It's good to remember that , right , and how we talk about other people or , you know , even life in general . But it's not just kids here . Obviously he's got a little child in his hand , but it talks about those who are maybe younger in the faith , maybe those who have no faith at all . Right , and the thing we understand is that , no matter where we are , what we're doing , people are watching us . The people in our family are watching us , the people at our job are watching us , especially if they know you're a believer .

Speaker 1 6:59

And Jesus lets us know how serious it is in verse 42 . This is where and I don't want to be irreverent , but this is where mafia Jesus comes into the picture . Right , I mean , there's a lot of serious stuff in this passage . But Jesus says look , if you cause one of these little ones to stumble , you ought to just tie a big rock around your neck and jump into the lake . Right , we have waves , you know . And you're like , wow , jesus , that is very tough . Right , you might as well just jump in a lake . Now , obviously it's not literal . Jesus doesn't want us jumping into a lake with a rock around our neck and drown ourselves , but it is serious , it is serious . It's serious the way we present Jesus through our life . Now , 1 Corinthians , chapter 8 , verse 9, .

The Sacrifice of Selflessness

Speaker 1 7:55

Paul is talking about a problem that was in the Corinthian church . They had temples to idols and a little backstory . In these temples to idols , you could buy some great steaks at a cheap price , right , because they would offer these sacrifices , and then in the back door they would offer the meat that was sacrificed to idols at a discount price . Sounds good ? Well , in the early church there , some of the people understood idols are nothing . It's just a piece of rock . It's just a piece of wood . What can an idol do to me ? I'm gonna get me some ribeye . You know what I mean , and they're like good price on stakes , I'll take it . What's an idol ? Now there were other people who were younger in the faith and had these convictions in their hearts and they said well , idol , idols , demonic man . I used to worship idols . I don't know if it's right to eat steak meat sacrifice to idols . And they were conflicted in their hearts .

Speaker 1 9:02

And Paul says Corinthians , you need a little love , you need to be selfless . I know you want to eat your meat , sacrifice to idols , but don't do it . You're going to cause one of these weaker believers . They're called to stumble . And we go . Well , weaker believers , you ought to get over it . I got liberty right , I can do whatever I want . And Paul go . Well , weaker believers , you ought to get over it . I got liberty right , I can do whatever I want .

Speaker 1 9:28

And Paul says no , no , that is not the way to look at it . It's being selfless . It's about looking out for other people over yourself . Now check it out . If you got all that about the meat sacrifice to idols , how does Paul end it In verse 13, ? 1 Corinthians 8 , 13, . He says if meat makes my brother , now picture this . You got to catch this . All right , because this is outrageous . He says if eating meat causes my brother to stumble , I will never eat meat again . And you go no , paul , you become a vegetarian , right ? Oh , my goodness , that's like worse than a sinner , right ? No , but you know , you look at that Now I think he's serious . He says if my liberty to eat meat causes trouble in someone's heart , I'll never eat meat again . This trouble in someone's heart , I'll never eat meat again , because their soul is worth more than my liberty to eat meat . Now check it out .

Speaker 1 10:31

Being a disciple , not causing the people around us to stumble , is selfless . It's meant to be a sacrifice in that sense , and whatever it is , we need to look out for the needs of others . Now he goes on . We got to move on here . But he says it's also sanctification . Now pick this up . Sanctification is this idea in the Christian life that God takes things out of our life . He takes sin out of our life . He takes sinful habits out of our life and it's all to make us more like Jesus . Now check it out , follow In your life . If you've been a Christian for a while , you should look different than the day you got saved . You should look a little more like Jesus . And it's painful . But he takes different habits and things out of our life and we see that pretty vividly here and in the next little bit . You'll remember PG 13 , verse 43 .

Speaker 1 11:38

Jesus says if your hand causes you to sin , chop off your hand Verse 45, . If your foot causes you to sin , chop off your hand Verse 45, . If your foot causes you to sin , chop off your foot . If your eye now this one's really vivid If your eye causes you to sin , pluck out your eye and I made that sound , but I'm not going to do it again Pluck it out , eject it from your eye socket . It's kind of the Greek there . And you go wow , whatever that means . That takes some determination , some determination to take sin out of our life .

Speaker 1 12:14

Hebrews , chapter 12 , verse one compares it to being in a race . The Christian life is like being in a race and the author to Hebrews says when we're running this race , let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance . The race that's set before us Now a little less intense than chopping off a hand , foot or plucking out an eye . But he says , if we're going to run this race we've got to lay aside things . That this obviously doesn't mean to go literally cut your hand off or cut your foot off or pluck your eye out , because many in church history during the monastic period , you know where there were monks and people would move out to the caves . You know , society is evil . I'm going to move out to a cave , you know . You know clothes is too much temptation , so I'm going to wear sackcloth , rough sackcloth on , and they would do all these kinds of things , even down to these literal things . They should never done it . Literal things of plucking out eyes and cutting off hands . Not what God intended , that's the devil would do that kind of thing to you . But they would do that and many would say in those situations , I've done it and I still have a sinful nature . You're like , wah , wah , you know , don't do that .

Eternal Consequences of Sin

Speaker 1 13:44

It's not about taking off a hand or plucking out an eye . It's about dealing radically with sin . Sanctification is pretty radical stuff , so check it out . Maybe a more reasonable way to look at this is you know , if your internet causes you to stumble , disconnect the service . You know , if a relationship is bringing you to sin , you might have to cut that relationship off and you go . You know , that's pretty radical . That's painful . It's about as painful as plucking an eyeball out . But Jesus here says it is serious .

Speaker 1 14:24

Now notice something else here . Notice there's a repeated phrase here and there's kind of an idea . He says it's better to cut off a hand , cut off a foot , pluck out an eye than to look at verse 43 , go to hell , into the fire that shall never be quenched , where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched . And it says it three times , basically the same way . It becomes almost like a little bit of a commercial , right ? You kind of feel the idea . That's a little bit like a jingle . You know liberty , liberty , liberty , liberty , liberty . You're like it's in my head now . Thanks , you know . You know , whatever the commercial ? When my kids were younger it was red Robin , yum , I mean so simple . And they would go around the neighborhood and they would just sing that all day long . Red Robin , yum . Well , this is kind of like that .

Speaker 1 15:16

This is actually the last verse of the book of Isaiah that he's quoting . There the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched . And Jesus says it three times , I think , to get it in our head . He's talking about hell . Right , jesus is talking about hell . In our Bibles it does say hell . Now , some will point out that this word hell in the original text is Gehenna . Gehenna is what this word is , and Gehenna was actually a place on the map . Hell is a place on the map . Well , gehenna is a place on the map . On the map , well , gehenna is a place on the map . Gehenna was an area outside the city of Jerusalem that , during the time of King Manasseh and King Ammon , sacrifice to the idol Molech took place . It was horrible , horrible sacrifice it was . We're not even going to talk about how horrible it was , but they led the people out into idolatry .

Speaker 1 16:16

And Josiah comes around and Josiah's heart is changed . He starts throwing things out of the temple , the idols . He does away with the idols and all the false , you know , priests and stuff , and there's a revival under Josiah , ammon's son . Well , he takes this now . Listen , he takes this valley that used to be used for sacrifice to Molech and he defiles it and makes it a garbage dump right . That's how you get rid of the places of worship . You turn them into garbage dumps , right .

Speaker 1 16:53

And so check it out Outside the city of Jerusalem . They would bring their garbage and they would burn it . So , nonstop , day and night , there was a field and there was a fire going . You could bring your trash and burn it . If you brought food stuff or animal stuff , there was decomposition , right , you know . And so this phrase here the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched . Put with this term Gehenna was that picture of the garbage dump outside of the city of Jerusalem . But you know , with all of its history , it was a pretty like just heavy place . History , it was a pretty like just heavy place , continuous fire , continual like decomposition and worms . It was not a nice place to be , and Jesus here says it's better that you lose a hand , lose a foot , lose an eye , then go to hell .

Speaker 1 17:50

Now , many will take this idea nowadays and say well , hell is not a place that we're told of in the Bible , it's not an eternal place it's representative of this field outside of Jerusalem where it was burned , but there's no eternal hell . In the church it's actually rather popular to explain hell away . There's no eternal judgment , like the Jehovah's Witnesses say , outside of Christianity . Once you're dead , you just oblivion , you disappear . That's it , and many in the church today would rather that , and I get it .

Speaker 1 18:27

Eternal punishment does not sound nice . It's hard to say , oh , god is love , and then say but he sends some people to hell to punish them for eternity . However , the Bible is very clear . There is a literal place called hell eternal fire weeping and gnashing of teeth so many times the Bible talks about it and there sin is judged . And we see in hell that sin is serious stuff . We look at sin and go oh , let bygones be bygones . But God says sin , the wages of sin is death . Jesus died for our sin on the cross . Now , if there's no eternal punishment , we go well , it's only so important that our sin was taken care of . It's just . You know , it's a thing , but it's not everything . No , the Bible says that a just and righteous God will punish sin forever . Now , he doesn't want it that way . He hasn't created us for hell . He created hell for Satan and his angels . But many of us will go that way if we reject what God's done for us , and that's serious because sin is really bad . God is really righteous and he's just , and so Jesus here paints this for us and he says it's better to lose a hand than go to hell and burn forever . Right now we don't always see it that way , but eternity is a real thing . When you die , it's heaven or hell and both are eternal heaven or hell . Now check it out .

Speaker 1 20:10

This last week has been pretty heavy . A lot of weeks lately have been heavy . This last week has been pretty heavy . A lot of weeks lately have been heavy . This last week has been pretty heavy because we've experienced two major airline crashes right , and you know that's serious business , but I've really been thinking about it and this is just where we're at today . But you know you think about that .

Speaker 1 20:30

No warning , we've seen two fireballs explode on I'm sorry , explode on the TV , and all at once , in an instant . It was pretty quick , I think . All at once people went into eternity , heaven or hell , all in an instant . And you know , I got to say in my hard heart that doesn't really bother me enough ? I don't think . I mean I know you've got to kind of like guard your mind and your heart a little bit or you go nuts , but the idea of eternity on both sides of the coin doesn't really bother me that much . And yet , all in an instant , people , souls , faced eternity .

Speaker 1 21:24

And I think what Jesus is really getting at here is that it's serious . Life is serious , we'll see . Our witness is serious , and it's serious . Life is serious , we'll see . Our witness is serious and it's eternal . There's eternal consequences . It's crazy to think that 80 , 90 years we live here whatever a hundred , we're really lucky it's nothing compared to eternity in the grand scheme of things . And yet , how we live our life , it's worth way more to go without an eye , without a hand , without a foot , than to ourselves go there . There's theological issues in that . Are we losing our salvation here ? But let's just look at the people around us . How we live our life is worth it for the eternity that's all around us . And we don't know what this next week is going to look like . I hate to put that in front of us , but that's really true . We don't know how much time we have with people around us and eternity is in the balance here . So sanctification is important stuff , but Jesus goes on . We should probably chew on that longer , but Jesus goes on . Verse 49 . For everyone will be seasoned with fire and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt .

Speaker 1 22:43

I have a little bit of trouble with this , but really I think it's pointing to sacrifices . If you're reading through the Bible in any kind of way , you get to the book of Leviticus and you got a good long time talking about sacrifices . If you're reading through the Bible in any kind of way , you get to the book of Leviticus and you got a good long time talking about sacrifices . You're like why do I got to learn about sacrifices ? I don't , we don't do this anymore . Jesus was our sacrifice . We don't have to do this , and that's part of the joy of reading Leviticus . We don't have to do it .

Speaker 1 23:06

But sacrifices uh , lots of things you could sacrifice for in the old Testament sin sacrifices lots of things you could sacrifice for in the Old Testament Sin . There were sin sacrifices , there were trespass sacrifices , there were burnt offerings which were really good , and I think this is kind of what that's pointing to . But you would take an animal . You would offer it to the Lord , maybe in your place for sin , maybe in your place for commitment there to God . And it would involve fire . That's what the sacrifices were burnt . But they would also involve salt , which is really strange . And salt is part of a sacrifice .

Speaker 1 23:51

And here we see , I think , jesus pointing his selfish disciples , who are arguing about who's the greatest , to the idea of a sacrificial life . Right , guys , your life will be offered with fire , your life will be offered with salt , but it's a sacrifice . I think that really points to what Paul says in Romans 12 . Good one to memorize Romans 12 , verse 1 . There Paul says I beseech you therefore , brethren , by the mercies of God , you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God . So check it out . Everything you do can be a sacrifice to God . You can say God , here's my day , use it , here's my time , my energy , use it for you , and you just offer it up like a living sacrifice . And I think that's what Jesus is pointing to . But let's end with verse 50 .

Speaker 1 24:39

Salt is good . There's a statement you can just kind of underline Salt is good , right ? Unless you have high blood pressure . It may not be good , I don't know , I'm not a doctor but salt is good , right , we know that . Right . If you've ever had to eat like sodium , a low sodium diet , you're like what's the point ? I don't even know why I'm eating this anymore . You know , I had a big problem with salt when I was a kid . I used to go to the restaurants and embarrass my parents . I would put salt in my hand and I'd look around , I go . It was like I was a weird kid . I really liked salt . It was probably some kind of deficiency . But you know , salt is good , right , and you could do a whole study on this . All the things that salt does , right , salt is for taste , that's a good one . It preserves . There's some degree that salt is a healing kind of thing , right , salt is good .

Speaker 1 25:38

And Jesus here says now check it out . In verse 50 , if the salt loses its flavor , how will you season it ? So Jesus puts in this strange idea here . He says if salt stops being salty , what are you going to do with it ? And you kind of your brain does backflips and you're like unsalty salt . I mean , it's in its name . How can it be unsalty salt ? Is it possible to have unsalty salt ? Maybe it is , I don't know . But I feel like when salt loses its saltiness , it's not salt anymore . I don't know what it is Right . And Jesus puts that in there .

Speaker 1 26:21

If you , being the salt of the earth , as he says in the Sermon on the Mount Matthew , chapter 5 , you're the salt of the earth , you're the light of the earth , you're the light of the world , you're like salt . You go into this world and you make things taste better . Yay , you bring healing . Yay , you preserve things in this rotting world . Yay , but if you stop being salty , what good are you ?

Living a Salty and Sanctified Life

Speaker 1 26:50

A disciple , a Christian , is meant to be salty in this world , and Jesus says if you just stop being salty , what good are you Now ? In other places , jesus says the only thing unsalted salt is worth is throwing out and being trampled underfoot . I don't know what that's all about , but it is concerning our witness here , as we bring it all together . It's concerning our witness , the , as we bring it all together , it's concerning our witness . The disciple's life is to be salty , that you're put in this world , to make a difference in the relationships that you have and check it out . People are watching . The little ones in your life are watching you . The little ones at work are watching you every single day .

Speaker 1 27:33

We need to be sanctified . Not only are we selfless , but we need to be sanctified . God's taken things out of your life , things like sin and things that tempt you . You may have to pluck those things out or cut those things off , but it's worth it . It's sacrificial life , it's laying down your rights , getting on the altar , that we can be salty in this world .

Speaker 1 28:03

But I think the big thing that I get from this because it was a heavy chapter , right the big thing I get from this is that it's serious . Jesus is absolutely serious with his disciples and us . Take a deep breath . Jesus is serious with us . Life is about eternal things . I know you don't see it , but people are going into eternity every single day . One day we'll go into eternity and only what's done for Christ will last . And so good encouragement to disciples . And notice he does end it there and he says have salt in yourself , have peace with one another . Guys , don't argue about silly things . Get out there and live that eternal , meaningful life , silly things . Get out there and live that eternal , meaningful life .

Speaker 1 28:57

God , another pep rally in so many ways . But yet I know a pep rally isn't what we need , god . We absolutely need your spirit to work these things into our life . God that we would really see things from an eternal perspective . God that we would see heaven and just how wonderful that's going to be it really is . But God , we would see hell and just how so many people are just going there and it's not what you want . God , help us to make a difference in this world and God forgive us for being hypocrites . God forgive us for misrepresenting you , but God , help us this week to just represent you in all that we do . God , take our hearts and our time , our lives , everything . God , I pray for my friends . You would protect them this week . You would give them strength . God , you would encourage them and lift them up every single day . God , we love you . Thank you for your faithfulness . In Jesus' name , we pray Amen .