Mark 9:38-50

Jesus said, for no one who does a miracle on my name, Ken in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly, I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward. If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, block pluck it out.

It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another.

You know, maybe some of you like me, you watched the weather channel in the morning because you want to see, do I need to bring the umbrella yet again another day, you know, or you know, how, how do I need to dress for the temperature it's going to be. But if you've gotten into watching the weather channel, uh, you know that there's other shows that the weather channel has. And one of those shows, actually I haven't watched it for awhile. I don't know if it's still on. It's called storm chasers.

And for a time, Cindy and I, we were really into that show, watching this group of people who they go across the plains of Oklahoma and Kansas and Texas and, and other parts of our country looking for those super cells, waiting for those super cells to form those kinds of, uh, there's tornadic activity that spawn those monster storms in those monster tornadoes. And even surrounding that, there's kind of a tourist culture.

There are, and this is, I am ashamed to admit it, but this is on our bucket list. We want to go on one of those storm chasing trips. You know where you're guided by professionals. Of course we wouldn't do it on our own, but you go and you search out where those storms are and you stand at a safe distance and you take pictures and experienced the thrill of it I guess. Now some of you may think that's absolutely crazy, but I would point out a couple things here.

First of all, you know this is this is actually paying attention to the weather data so you are aware of where a storm is forming and you can take adequate preparations for it. And what I would say is far more dangerous is when we are unaware of a storm that is coming and we are unprepared for a storm that is coming.

And really that is the, the image that I would use to, to bring us to where we are in the text and and mark chapter nine what I see Jesus doing in mark chapter nine up to this point and continuing into our text today is preparing his disciples, his disciples then in his disciples. Now for the coming storm. Now what do I mean by that? Well, immediately he was preparing his 12 disciples for the storm. He knew it was coming their way. Where were they? They are on their way to Jerusalem.

And what did he know was going to happen? He knew he was going to be arrested. He knew he was going to be tortured. He knew he was going to be crucified. He knew they would be scattered. He knew that they, if they identified themselves as his followers, that they would be persecuted. They have no awareness that this storm is coming, but he does and he's trying to prepare them. And then take one step out from that.

There's mark, the Gospel writer Mark, who hears the accounts of Jesus' teaching from apostles like Peter, and who is mark writing to at least in his first audience, he's writing to those first century believers living in Rome. And what is mark know is happening in Rome? Narrow has come to power as the emperor and neuro wants to stamp out the Christian Church. Nero wants to persecute Christians in the most bizarre and horrible ways.

And I won't go into detail, but you probably are aware of some of the ways that the Romans persecuted Christians. So mark and even bringing these teachings of Jesus together once his readers, those early followers of Christ in the first century to be prepared for that coming storm or persecution. But then let's step one more ring out to us today because this speaks to us today is we find ourselves living in an increasingly post Christian culture.

You know, we, we don't live in the age any longer where you could assume that everybody, even if they're not followers of Jesus, they share the same basic Christian worldview. You can no longer assume that a person you're talking to at work or in school or in your neighborhood has the same concept of God that you do. You can certainly no longer assume that, that anybody recognizes Jesus as the son of God.

We can't even assume that people understand that there is an absolute standard of morality that is revealed in the scripture that is kind of encapsulated in the 10 Commandments. In fact, we find just the opposite now where there used to be in prior generations among those who rejected Jesus there there was simply maybe indifference, maybe it, you know, I don't want to hear about that. Now there's Apps, there's outright hostility.

Try sharing your faith on the street in a downtown metropolitan area and you will be met more times with not than hostility. And even beyond the hostility there is, there is outright opposition. There are groups or segments of our culture that not only want to keep the Christian faith within the walls of Christian churches, they want to shrink those walls. They want to further restrain and restrict them and ultimately stamp them out.

It is not enough to say that you have your views and I have my views, these groups, when a race, any view that would speak in a contrary way to the way they want to live and their review. And so the coming storm for us is the growing persecution that I believe is coming that in many other places in the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ have faced for years. But now it's coming to our culture and this isn't happening because God has given up control.

This isn't happening because Jesus is somehow unaware. Jesus himself says, in this world, you will have tribulation, Jesus and praying for us, both his disciples then and us his followers. Now if we know him as savior and Lord, he prayed in John 17 he prayed, father, I do not ask that you take them out of the world. He leaves us in this world in the midst of this coming storm.

He wants to use us as we'll see as salt and light in the midst of this coming storm, but all of that is the background for really what Jesus is doing in our text today that Roberto Roberto read verses 38 through 50 of mark chapter nine and maybe the heading that I'd give her. The question that I'd give to bring it all together is this. If this storm is coming, and I certainly believe it is if this storm is coming, how does Jesus want us, his followers to live together as the church?

How does he want us to live and function and treat each other as fellow believers, as the church? You know, this follows on the heels of what pastor Luke preached on last week earlier in chapter nine what was the dispute that was going on? You had these, these disciples and what were they fighting over? Who's the greatest? In other words, who should get power? Who should get control, who she get on, or who should be respected, who should be first? They had this individualistic mindset.

Jesus saw they had this self seeking attitude. Jesus saw they had this competitive spirit. Jesus saw and Jesus knew that will not survive the storm to the degree that you and I, even as followers of Jesus, to the degree that we think in terms of us being individuals in terms of our autonomy and our preferences to the degree that we have a competitive spirit with each other and with other churches that worship the Lord Jesus Christ, we will not survive the coming storm.

Jesus gave us the church because among all other things, we need the church to survive the coming storm. We do not survive. The storm as individuals. So what are the attitudes that that Jesus addresses and his disciples here that we struggle with as we come together as the church, both the church within the walls of central church, but even the greater church and our community and and and beyond? Well, I see a couple things.

First of all, Jesus addresses the way that we view those who are not one of us. Look at verse 38 teacher said, John, we saw a man driving out demons in your name. And we told them to stop because he was not one of us. Now, mark doesn't give us any background information about who this individual is. The indication is he clearly is a follower of Jesus. Jesus acknowledges them of that, but he was not part of that, that that circle of disciples right around Jesus.

Maybe he had been one of the disciples of John The baptist. We're not sure. In some way he'd come to a true faith in Jesus as Jesus acknowledges. And yet he not come into the circle. He certainly wasn't in the circle of the 12 and so John The apostle sees this man casting out demons. By the way, the irony of this, if you've been with us through chapter nine is this man is successfully doing what the disciples themselves we're failing to do.

Remember when Jesus came down from the mountain of transfiguration and his disciples, nine of them were trying to cast out demons unsuccessfully from that demonized boy. This man's doing what they feel to do and what do they do? They try to stop him. They tried to restrain his ministry. Why? Because he's not in our circle. He was not one of us. This attitude, Jesus addresses, he addresses it in them. He addresses it in us.

This is the, the the attitude, the spirit of division in the church that is so grievous to Christ. This is the spirit. This is the attitude that, that that views other people with suspicion.

Anyone with suspicion who is not one of us, who isn't part of our circle, who's not from the same generation from us, who's not from the same cultural background from us, who doesn't dress like us, who doesn't talk like us, who doesn't like the same kind of music like us who doesn't share all the same fine theological points as us. I mean, you could go on and on and Jesus is speaking again to people who claim to be his followers. So Jesus is speaking within the walls of central.

Jesus is speaking to us. When we look at other people who are in the same worship center, at the same church building and because they're of a different generation or a different race or a different cultural background or maybe some different theological persuasions, we were suspicious of them. They're not one of us. They're not in our circle. Jesus is speaking not only within the walls of central, he's speaking to central and followers like us.

When it comes to, uh, the spirit we sometimes have towards other churches in our community, he speaking to that competitive spirit when instead of looking at other churches as our partners in ministry, we look at them as competitors for market share. You know, their drawing off our people. We need to draw off their people. We need to do something to get more people in here that are over there. Jesus is addressing that Gri that that spirit, that divisive spirit is so grievous to him.

How does he do it? Well, he affirms this man's ministry. He notes that again, what they had failed to do. This man does, but he acknowledges he's doing it in my name. Not, not that this man was just saying the right formulaic words. This man is acting in faith upon Jesus has power and so Jesus gives them and he gives us a principal and verse 40 about how we should view and relate to other Christians, particularly the ones that are different than us. Whoever is not against us is for us.

Now, that seems really simple but, but think of how often we get twisted up about that. Whoever is not against us. Think of those who are against us, those who are out in our culture, who reject Jesus, those who are out in our culture and want to stamp Christianity. Those are the ones that we should be concerned about. But Hulu we generally concerned about.

We're concerned about even fellow believers within the walls of our church or fellow believers at another church just down the street in our community who, who may be a little different in certain ways from us and those are the people that we all get wrapped around the axle about. Why do we behave towards fellow believers as if they were against us?

Could we not see that whether that person dresses differently than I do or has different musical tastes or speaks differently or is it different race when when we are worshiping together, they are one of us. They are one of us. They are for us. Could we not look past our differences? That's what Jesus calls us to do. Basically, Jesus is saying, you will not survive the storm if you don't look past your differences.

Go on the mission field and you find missionaries from, from different churches, different denominations. They know in the midst of hard missions environments that the work of God will not be advanced unless they can look past their differences and come together recognizing, you know, they're together. These people aren't against us. They're there for us. We need to do the same both within the walls of our church and with other churches in our community.

Secondly, Jesus addresses how we view those who are in need. Uh, you know, as the storm comes, as persecution grows, what we're going to see, we see this around the world and other places where persecution is more overt is people are going to pay for following Jesus. People are going to lose privileges that they have in society.

People May, as governments do in other countries before us to forfeit their homes and their goods and, and their economic security that people may be forced to give up their jobs for not for, not following the, the governmental line. All of that could come here. All of that kind of persecution, even including imprisonment, even including torture and death that happens at other places around the world could come here and as that comes, what's going to happen?

We're going to see people within the body of Christ, both within the walls of our church and in our community who are in desperate need and Jesus addresses. How do you respond to people in desperate need? It is one thing to say, you know, it's not affecting me. Not yet. You know I have enough. I need to take care of my family. I need to take care of the people who are close around me, but Jesus gives a totally different way to look at this. In verse 41 I tell you the truth.

Anyone who gives you a cup of water and mine name because you belong to Christ, we'll certainly not lose his reward. Jesus is saying, when you become aware of a need and a brother or sister in Christ and you look beyond your own comfort and your own security, even if you meet that need in a very simple way, a cup of cold water, a humble way to meet a need. Jesus says, you are doing that as if you're doing that to me and he says, you will not lose your rewards. You may lose.

You may give up some of your economic security. Now, you may actually put yourself in more danger in that kind of setting for ministering to our brother or sister in Christ, but your reward will be great. If you're not rewarded now, you certainly will be rewarded in heaven.

That's the attitude that Jesus calls us to have as we come into the storm and then he gives us the flip side of this in verse 42 he warns against having the kind of prideful, individualistic, autonomous self seeking attitude that that makes us overlook those kinds of people in need. Look at verse 42 if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to send stumbles, the better translation, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.

Now, little ones here does not refer to children. That's not what he's talking about. Little ones refers to, I think the best term I could give us. Those who have fragile faith, those who are going through persecution, their faith is very fragile. Those who are suffering, their faith is very fragile.

Those who are coming to faith, coming to Christ in the midst of growing persecution, their faith is very fragile and scripture calls us to be very mindful of these people who are so easy to overlook, especially when we're secure. First Thessalonians five 14 Paul says, encourage the fainthearted help the weak. But if we have that spirit that the disciples had earlier, who's the greatest? Who's in power?

Who's got the resources, who can make the decisions, whose preferences, who has the influence to make their preferences, uh, what the church is going to do? We easily overlook those and need and not only that in doing so, even though we may not intend to do so, we may cause those with fragile faith to stumble. We may cause those who have fragile faith, we may cause them disillusionment in their faith. We may cause we may inhibit their faith.

We may even cause some of them to fall away, not because we intended, but because our focus is upon ourselves.

You understand that that military term collateral damage when you have a two adversaries and they are attacking each other, their intent is to herd an injure and ultimately destroy each other, but what happens often in those attacks that those attacks resolved in, in d, in hurting those, those noncombatants around the enemy, those people who are innocent, the the, the collateral damage that the effect of that attack is much wider than maybe intended and many innocent people are heard and that

collateral damage syndrome that that happens when when there is fighting within the body that church fights divisions between believers, splits in churches always cause collateral damage. There are always those who who see that and say if that's what the church is like, I don't want any part of it.

There are always those who have taken maybe the first few steps in faith and and, and they see that and they become totally disillusioned and they, they swing back into their old lives and Jesus indicates that he takes that collateral damage. Even if we do not intend it, he takes it very seriously, especially when it comes out of our spiritual pride, especially when it comes out of that desire to be the greatest, to be first, to have our preferences, to have our way.

He says in a stern warning, it would be better for that spiritually proud, that self seeking person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around their neck. There's a picture coming up on the screen. I took this picture two summers ago when I was in Israel. I think it's in Capernum. That's a millstone and the picture doesn't do it justice for how big it is and how heavy it is. But look at that.

Imagine, you know, imagine how heavy it is and imagine running a chain through the hole in the middle of that millstone and then changing that chain. Do you or your ankle and then jumping off the side of a boat with that chain to your ankle in the middle of the ocean, you'd have no chance. There's no way you're going to be able to save yourself if that occurs. That's the point Jesus is making by hyperbole.

It is better to drown in the sea with no chance of escape than to face God's judgment for the spiritual injury we would cause to someone else by our spiritual pride, by our spiritual self, seeking by our desire to be the greatest to be first. Jesus then gives a string of three jarring images of the radical steps that he calls us to make when we realize that's what's going on in my life.

My pride has gotten the best of me, my desire to have my preferences, my desire to be first has gotten the best of me. He says, treat it like infection. Treat it like gang green. Verse 43 if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better to enter life maimed than then with two hands to go into hell. And now before I go on with these images, Jesus is using these images symbolically. He is not advocating the literal amputation of parts of our body.

And even if we were mistaken about that and we did that, that is not going to address what's in our heart. So Jesus is talking about interior spiritual surgery here and he uses the image of a hand. What's the image of a hand?

The hand is the image of things that we grasp for those preferences that we want my way, that I want that control, that power that I want and that desire to have our way to have our preferences that we grasp over all that grasping of our hand and flicks collateral damage on those around us. Verse 45 and if Your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, it is better for you to enter life crippled than to have to feed into be thrown into hell. I mean again, think of that image of a foot.

A foot is what we walk with, what we run with and and you think about the psalms and proverbs, they use that often. Proverbs one talks about walking on paths that lead to sin running after evil. It's when we take what we want to pursue and we let it drive us and we let it take us places that we should not go in pursuit of what we want. Think about where your fleshly desires would take you if you follow them, if you let them lead you.

Jesus warns that our feet not only lead us into spiritual danger, he warns that there is almost always collateral damage to our family, to our friends, to other Christians. Verse 47 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 than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell again. The eye is a symbol. The eye is a symbol of things that we look at, things that in other words that we value that we think are important.

Think of that image all the way back in the garden in Genesis three when Satan tempted eve what with what, what was pleasing to the eye? You know that, that, that, that autonomy she wanted to have was pleasing to her eye. And we all stumble with our eyes by desiring what we should not have. Even good things. You know, we desire to be respected, to be honored, to be loved.

We made desire somebody who is physically attractive to us, but when we let that desire mastress, when it becomes misdirected, when it becomes in Ordinance, we spiritually stumble. And that not only injures us, that causes collateral damage to those around us. So Jesus is warning is shocking here again, it's that image of gang green. You know, if your hand becomes and you don't deal with it and it develops into gang green, it's going to kill you unless you cut it off.

And the same image of those things that we grasp for or where we want to go or what we desire with our eyes. Jesus is saying, you need to take radical spiritual surgical steps are not only will you enjoy those around you, you as a result may be thrown into hell. The Greek word there that we translate as hell as is Henna, and that that word is used in the new testament by Jesus.

Most of all to indicate is that place of final judgment that all who reject Christ are sent to, and I know we don't preach on hell much in our culture anymore, but look at the images that he uses there. He uses this image of the unquenchable fire to talk about the torment that someone experiences externally. Imagine your your body being consumed, burnt and burnt for eternity in unquenchable fire, but then he gives an image not only of external torment, but of internal torment.

The worm that does not die. Imagine being consumed from within by a worm. That is that image of not only the torment of our body, but the internal torment of our soul. Now, maybe you're thinking at this this moment. Now, wait a minute, don't we believe in eternal security here at at central? How would it be possible for somebody to be cast into hell? Who, who is a follower of Jesus?

And, and the answer is yes, yes, a genuine believer cannot lose their salvation, but I would underline the word genuine. There are many who, who, who may make some some misdirected efforts and and mistakenly think that they are in the faith, which is why scripture says over and over again. Second Corinthians 13 five would be one example. Examine yourself to make sure you are in the faith. Test Yourself. Make sure, in other words, that your faith is genuine.

Because as Steven Lawson says, much better than I can. The faith that fizzles before it finishes had a flaw at the first. Only Steven Lawson could put all those F's together. But think about what that says. Somebody who falls away and that respect had a faulty faith at the beginning. And so this is a warning to us, examine your faith, make sure it is really general. Make sure that there was not a flaw in how you think that you came to faith.

Make sure that you are genuinely following Jesus as savior and Lord Jesus concludes with three quick images that all have to do with salt and I would say it this way. You know my, my words, not his. Remember salt as the storm is. I spent many years in Minnesota and when the blizzard storm was coming, we all went out to the hardware store and we bought salt rock salt so we could solve the ice of our driveways and and and our sidewalks.

It's not that that kind of salt here but, but it's a similar idea of Jesus uses the image of salt as they used it in that culture to make his final points of how he calls you and me all his followers to live together, to relate to each other, to treat each other in the midst of the coming storm of persecution. Here's the first image. Salt purifies.

Look at verse 49 everyone will be salted with fire and he takes those two images of salt and fire and he puts them together because that's the old testament image of what you did with the sacrifice. If you want to look up at it later, look right down in Leviticus two 13 it says that every, every sacrifice that is brought to the altar, the altar, the Jewish alter at the tabernacle, and then the temple is to be salted.

You took a piece of meat when you are going to offer it as a sacrifice before you burn it, you would pour salt over it and it saw it has a, has a purifying effect and so that's what God called and yet that image of not only purification but of fire, fire is a biblical image of persecution. What is Jesus saying there? Just as a, he's saying basically that to follow him as a follower means that the persecution that are comes away comes our way, has it, will have a purifying effect.

It purifies it in. In a church as pure as persecution sweeps across a culture, churches tend to be purified by persecution. Those who are not genuine believers, those who are just there for the social connections, those who are just nominal Christians, they tend to scatter when there's persecution. The fire of persecution has a purifying effect in the church. The fire persecution has a purifying effect in us individually. Do we really believe Jesus is savior and Lord?

Are we really willing to give up anything in order to keep him to follow him as savior and Lord and do not? Again be mistaken? That persecution is is somehow, you know, God has turned his back on his, you know, God can't prevent this from happening. Notice that the way Jesus phrase it, we will be salted with fire. That is a divine passive.

In other words, God will allow the persecution that comes, God allows it not because he likes it, not because it is a is a good thing, but because he will use it for his good purposes and purifying both us individually and us as a church. The second image, salt flavors and preserves the first half of verse 50 solid as good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty? Again, solve is good, especially in that culture as in how it flavors. It adds flavor to the food we eat.

But it was also good in the terms of the way it preserves and in a day without refrigeration, they preserve food longer from rotting by salting it. But if it loses that essence of its saltiness, it no longer tastes any good and it no longer has the effect of, of purifying the food. There's a picture up on the screen also that I took two years ago.

This is at the Dead Sea in Israel and if you weighed out into the Dead Sea like I did, you find that you're, you're stepping on all these little, they look like small snowballs but those are little salt balls. And I picked up the first one that I stepped out and I thought, oh this is going to taste just like salt. And I tasted it and almost made me throw up. Why? Because yes, there's salt in it. But that solid has been mixed in with the gypsum and other minerals that make up the Dead Sea.

And so yes, there was salt, but it has lost its saltiness. It has lost its ability to flavor anything. It's lost its ability to preserve anything, and that's the image that Jesus is drawing on here. He's caused us as his followers to be that flavoring, preserving salt in the midst of a corrupt and dying culture. He wants us to to live like him, to grow in him, to become transformed in more and more into his image.

So, so that that we have that flavor that stands out from the rest of our culture and to the degree that we do that, we are a preserving influence in our culture. The fact that our American culture has lasted this long is because of the preserving influence of the, of the Christian faith final.

But if we lose our saltiness, obviously if we're not living like that, if we're more concerned about who's first and who's in control and are my preferences being met, we lose our saltiness, we lose our ability, we become unusable. Finally, salt forms a covenant of peace. The second half of verse 50, have salt among yourselves and be at peace with each other.

He's picking up here on the eastern custom of uh, when two strangers would come together and, and uh, one would invite the other to share a meal and that meal, even if they came from very different perspectives, even if they were enemies before they came together, that meal was a meal of fellowship and a meal of peace. And that was symbolized by a covenant of salt. They would share not only food, they would make sure that they shared salt together.

And two people who had that kind of fellowship meal forming that covenant would say we have, there is salt between us and Jesus is picking up on that image. Really Jesus is saying this, if even unbelievers in your culture can have salt between them can come to this place of peace, cannot you? My followers be at peace with each other. That image of salt as the covenant of peace. And is there anything that will speak right now and our culture more than whether we are at peace with each other?

Is there anything that we'll have more of assaulting effect in our divided culture today? Then if believers can get along with other believers, what does the world see when Christians lose their saltiness to denomination splitting apart again and again, churches, splitting churches, dividing what it would be if we form a covenant of Peace, a covenant of salt and be at peace with each other and let me close with this. This is who we desire to be. You need to know this.

If, if you are intending to make central year ongoing church home, the new constitution that we just passed, two new things that we're in have never been in the constitution before. I know I don't often quote the constitution in sermons, but this is worth quoting. The first speaks to us as members section for expectations of church members committed to striving for the peace, unity, purity and edification of the church. That's who we aspire to be.

That's who we want to be so that we are salty and our culture, and then not only that, that's what we want our leaders to lead us in section 17 in their ministry of Shepherding and oversight of the church body, the elders, she'll seek to be peacemakers, something they never really been called the B before. Peacemakers, teaching and leading the church body through the biblical resolution of all disagreements, disputes and conflicts. Can you think of the saltiness that we would have?

The effect that we would have as we as the body led by our elders, led by our leaders? Could be peacemakers, could have peace and unity and purity and edification together as a body. Can you think of the effect that we would have in this corrupt and dying culture? This is who we, this is who Jesus calls us to be. This is who we aspire to be. Let's pray, Lord Jesus, these are hard words. These are hard images. Jesus.

These are some of the most drastic, vivid images that we've seen you in your teaching so far. Speak to us so we want to hear them. I pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would help us get beyond maybe the struggling that some of us have with some of these images and you would drive to the places in our heart where we like those disciples. We want to be the greatest. We want to be first. We went our way and we want our preferences.

We went, our needs met Lord, give us the view that the storm is coming. We need to be the body and we need to have this covenant of Salt, this covenant of peace between us. We need to love each other. Even in the midst of all of our differences. We need to come together and support each other. We need to meet each other's needs. Only you, Lord Jesus, by Your Holy Spirit can produce this kind of heart and us.

We ask that you do this, that you would be lifted up and all men and women would be drawn to you in the midst of our corrupt and dying culture. In your name we pray. Amen.