Jesus has a soft spot for kids. We see that in a few different places. One is here in Mark 9:33-50 and in Matthew 19:14 as well where Jesus says:

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1 Mark 9: Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. Today s passage is kind of confusing and is often taken out of context. When we first read it, we kind of think what. Why is Jesus talking about cutting off our body parts and what does he mean by being salted with fire? Jesus is actually talking about four or five different things here and he is connecting them together with a logical path. They follow a thought pattern. Even though they are four or five different topics that he is covering, they are still all connected. They have a common theme. For the sermon today, we will: First try to understand the thought pattern of how Jesus is talking. Second, we will try to understand what each topic is and how they were connected to each other. Third, we will look at the individual topics that he is referring to. Finally we will look at all of them together. We will see how they all tie together. What the common theme is. So let s jump right in and see if we can understand the thought pattern. Let me give you an example of connecting different ideas to one thought pattern. For our example we are going to talk about how to have a healthy car, and we will start the conversation with what not to do. Be sure to not put diesel fuel into your gasoline vehicle. If you do, you will have to drain your fuel tank and change your fuel filter. Speaking of changing your fuel filter, you should also change your oil filter every 3,000 miles when you change your oil. Also, when you changing your oil it is a good time to check the air pressure in your tires. Do you see how that worked? We talked about four or five different topics, but they were all related. We talked about fuel filters, oil filters, oil changes and tire pressure. They are all different aspects of car care and maintenance, but they all relate to having a healthy car. We started with the topic of not putting diesel in your gasoline vehicle and we finished with checking your tire pressure, but each topic transition was related. That is what Jesus is doing here, but he is not talking about cars. He is talking about us. Now that we understand how Jesus is speaking, let s look at what he is saying. 1

2 In order to help you understand what he is saying, I m going to paraphrase him. I m going to restate what he is saying in my own words. See if you can make the logical transitions between topics and see how they all relate to each other. We have to start with some context as well. If you remember last week, Jesus is speaking to his apostles and teaching them. He has a litle child sitting on his lap, and the little child is representing those who have faith in Christ. The child is also representing those who are helpless and easily taken advantage of. Jesus uses this child as an example and says: Don t cause other Christians to sin, especially ones who are easy to take advantage of. Don t allow yourself to sin either. If there is something in your life that is causing you to sin, get rid of it. Removing yourself from the temptations of sin may cause pain and suffering, but there is no pain or discomfort here on earth that is worse than hell. It is better to suffer temporarily on earth, than eternally in the fire of hell. And we will all suffer temporarily on earth. Those sufferings are trials that refine us like fire. Those fiery trials also salt us. Being salted is good, because it preserves us and brings out the good flavors in us. If you fail to be salty, then you are failing to serve God. Be salty and quit arguing with one another. Does that make sense? Do you see the logical connections from one topic to the next? That is a paraphrasing of this passage. It is not a literal translation, but the goal of the paraphrase was to break it down so you could see the individual topics and how they are related to each other. The first topic is not causing other people to sin, and that moves into not causing yourself to sin. One reason we don t want to sin is because of the painful consequences. While it may be painful to remove temptation from our lives, it is less painful than the eternal fires of hell. But the earthly pain that we temporarily suffer through helps us learn how to live godly lives. Now let s look at each individual topic starting with point 1. Point 1: Don t cause others to sin Jesus has a soft spot for kids. We see that in a few different places. One is here in Mark 9:33-50 and in Matthew 19:14 as well where Jesus says: Matthew 19:14 14 but Jesus said, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. 2

3 There is just something about the innocence and trust of a child. It is simple and pure. We all have that draw to children who are shy but they smile when they peek up and see you. But when they are allowed or trained to be brats, we can t stand to be around them. Jesus is using that as an example here. We are his children. He says that we are to have the humility of a child. Matthew 18:3-4 3 and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God belongs to those who are childlike, and God gets really upset when we cause his children to sin. He is protective of them, like any parent would be. Mark 9:42 42 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. Jesus does not want us to be training his children to sin or to become misbehaving brats. Jesus loves his children and wants them in his home, but he has no room for naughty kids. If we cause his children to sin, God then has to correct us and correct his children. None of us like disciplining our kids. It isn t fun to do. God doesn t like it either, but he will do it because he loves us. I just don t want to be the reason that God has to discipline his people. Point 2: Prevent yourself from sinning Just like we shouldn t cause God s children to sin, we shouldn t cause ourselves to sin either. There are things around us that tempt us and we should remove those temptations. The temptations are not the same for everybody. We each have our own weaknesses. For some people, the internet is a huge temptation. There are all kinds of bad things on the internet and they are only one search phrase away. For some people alcohol is a temptation. There is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol, but if you can t stop drinking it then don t start. Anyone who has ever tried to quite an addition can tell you that it is much easier to start than it is to stop. That is the point that Jesus is trying to make in verses Jesus uses a type of speech called a hyperbole. It is using an exaggeration to express a truth. A few examples are: I m so hungry that I could eat a horse. She is as skinny as a toothpick. This is going to take forever These shoes are killing me I ve told you 1,000 times to clean up your room. If your hand is causing you to sin, cut it off. If your eye is causing you to sin, pluck it out. Whatever it is that is causing you to sin, remove it from your life, even if that will cause you pain and discomfort. 3

4 One example of removing a temptation that would cause discomfort could be technology. We have become dependant on technology, almost addicted to it. But we can survive without it. Mankind lived for thousands of years without electricity or the internet. Life is possible without Facebook. As a disclaimer, I make my living from technology, computers and the internet. I work for a company that is about 3 hours away, so I telecommute. I work from home over the internet. I fix their computers, manage their systems, write software for them and even sell their products on ebay. So it would be really hard for me to support my family without the internet. We would probably have to move and I would have to find a different job. So I get it. Life would have to change if it was taken away, but it would be worth it if it was a temptation. I actually know at least two people who live without internet. One does so simply because he doesn t like computers and smartphones. They are expensive, problematic, confusing to use and just a pain. The other one does so because it is a temptation for him. They both use flip phones and their wives use the internet for them if they have to do anything that requires it. They do it for different reason, but they both live successful and productive lives without it. It is possible. Whatever the temptation is, get it out of your life. It could be your car, or your house or your hobby. If you spend all your time washing and waxing your 1964 Ferrari, and all you money goes into restoring it, then it is becoming an idol. Get rid of it. There is nothing wrong with any of these things and there is nothing wrong with having lots of things. The issue is, what is our attitude about them. If something is causing us to sin, then we need to take it out of our lives. I don t think that Jesus is actually telling us to cut off our body parts. He is using that as an example to show us the severity of our sins. It is because of our sins, that Jesus had to suffer on the cross. He actually sweat drops of blood before his trial. We read about that in Luke 22:44. Luke 22:44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. That is a rare but real medical condition. It happens under extreme stress. He knew how much he was going to suffer on the cross and it caused his capillaries around his sweat glands to burst when he thought about it. Making him sweat blood. His suffering was great because our sins are so great. That s how bad our sins are and how bad hell is. We do not want to spend even 5 minutes there. So what Jesus is saying is true. It is better to lose a body part than to go to hell. He isn t saying anything that isn t true. The trouble is that the hand or the eye isn t the problem. The heart is the problem. If you have a problem stealing, cutting of your own hand isn t going to remove your desire to keep stealing. You still have one good hand for that five finger discount. You need a change of heart. This brings us to the third point. 4

5 Point 3: Trials will refine you God is the one who changes our hearts, but he leaves some of the day-to-day work for us. He does everything necessary to save us from going to hell, but he still leaves the daily choice to sin or not to sin up to us. He doesn t just leave us here to suffer for no reason. The trials that we face on earth help strengthen us. It s like anything else. We get stronger when we work out. We get better at playing an instrument when we practice. We become more Christlike when we practice living out his character traits. Romans 5:3-5 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. We have a word for this. It s actually two words. Progressive Sanctification: Becoming Christlike Sanctification means to make Holy or to set apart for God. We are made holy when we accept Christ as our lord and savior, but we still sin. I want to make sure that everyone understands this concept. It is an important one. 1. Christ did all the work for us to go to heaven. We did not and we can not earn that. 2. Christ's work on the cross justifies us before God. That word justified, means that we are legally free from sin and guilt. We are getting the credit for Christ s perfection, his sinlessness and his work, but we are still sinners. 3. As we live our lives on earth, we are to become more Christlike. This is Progressive Sanctification. It is the same as growing in the Lord or or growing in spiritual maturity. We go through this process for the rest of our lives. I want to read you three different passages that talk about this process. Philippians 1:6 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 5

6 2 Peter 3:18 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. Philippians 2:12 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Paul isn t saying that we work for our salvation here in Philippines. Pay attention to verse 13 here. It says that it is God who works in us to will and to act. So we can t take credit for our justification and we can t really take credit for our progressive sanctification either, because it is God who works in us to motivate us. Have you ever seen someone win a gold medal or complete a great event? When they are all done, they get interviewed and say I couldn t have done it without my coach. Their coach was their motivation and their instructor. The coach gave them the knowledge on what to do and gave them a reason to do it. Jesus did all the work to earn our salvation, and the Holy Spirit now gives us the motivation and knowledge on how to become more Christlike. Working on becoming more Christlike once we are Christians is still our responsibility, but we can t do it without God. Point 4: Be at peace with one another Before I talk about this point I want to go back and look at who is Jesus talking to and why is he having this conversation with them. He is talking to his disciples because they were arguing over who was the greatest. He is telling them to get along with one another. We can think of this in a couple of different ways. One way we can think of this is as a coin that has two sides to it. On one side, he is telling us to be at peace with one another. On the other side, we still have to point out truth. Another way we can think of this is in two parts. The first part is what is this passage telling us. The second part is what is this passage not telling us. Let s look at the first part, living in unity. There are many Bible passages that talk about Christian unity. I couldn t list them all here, but I have chosen two that I can read for you today. 6

7 Romans 12:16 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Ephesians 4:1-6 4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. What do both of these passages have in common? The unity is based on our humility. Both of these passages were written to Christians and is telling the Christians to have unity with each other. It is also telling them that the way to do that is to be humble with each other. Don t think of yourself as better than others. I m going to be honest with you. Living where we do, this has been really hard for me. When you see people who chose to live in poverty conditions with no sanitary place to go to the bathroom even though they have money for rent, it is hard not to judge them. When people buy drugs, alcohol and cigarettes but they don t pay their water and electric bills, it is really hard not to look down on them. I m a real live and let live kind of guy, but it s hard to watch little kids run around outside underdressed when the parents are in the house stoned. So how do we process all of this. How do we put this idea of being humble into practice when we witness that kind of activity? We need to remember that we are all sinners. None of us have any value in and of ourselves. All of us are nothing but dirt. Remember Genesis 2:7 and Genesis 3:19. Genesis 2:7 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, 7

8 and to dust you shall return. Physically we have no more value than the beef or chicken that we had for dinner last night. The only reason we have value, is because God gives us value. All humans are made in the image of God. Our choices and actions do not give us value. God gives us value and he gives us all the same value. Remembering how we ourselves are nothing without God is what keeps us humble. Humility is the foundation of having Christian unity. If I go around thinking that I m better than you, and you think that you are better than me, we probably aren t going to get along. But if I treat you like you are worth more than I am, and you treat me like I am valuable, we will probably have a pleasant time together. It s not really rocket science, but we often forget to live that way. We, especially as Christians, are to live in unity. That does not mean that we should compromise truth in the name of unity. Those are two totally different things. It is too often though that we see Christian groups who compromise truth in order to bring an appearance of unity. That is not unity, that is defeat. Unity for the sake of unity is not good. The disciples were not arguing about the deity of Christ or if we can be saved by works, they were arguing about which one of them was more important. When Jesus tells us to be at peace with one another, he is not telling us to compromise on his truths so we don t offend people. In fact we are taught just the opposite. Ephesians 4: so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, Paul is specifically telling us here that we are not to be fooled by the teachings of man. They are deceitful, cunning and crafty. They are lies that are hidden by partial truths. How do we combat those lies? We speak the truth in love, so that we may grow up in Christ. There is that progressive sanctification again that we talked about earlier today. You see, this is all tying together. Being humble and treating others as more important than yourself is hard and sometimes trying, but it brings unity and helps us to grow in Christ. Final Thoughts: This brings us to our final thoughts for the day. How do all of the topics in today s passage work together? These are all about how to live a Godly life and how to become sanctified. It s about being at peace with one another and not trying to elevate ourselves above each other. This is all about humility. Just like our example with the car was all about proper vehicle maintenance, this is all about us being refined by the trials of our lives as we practice putting the lessons of Jesus into our daily attitudes. God doesn t put us 8

9 through hardships, pain and trials for no reason. He does this because he loves us, and if we follow his guidance, we will come out better on the other side of it. When we first read this passage, it may look like a list of things to do and not do, but isn t what it is. Jesus is trying to change our heart attitudes here. He isn t giving us a specific list of rules like we see in the Old Testament. He is giving us ideas and concepts that we mold our lives around. What motivated Jesus to start this teaching session, was that the apostles were arguing over who was the greatest back in verse 34. The rest of the passage is Jesus is telling them not to do that, and then he gives them some reasons why. I d like to leave you with a verse that my mom used to quote to us boys as kids. Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! How true that is. Any of us that have children can attest to that. We are God s children and it is my prayer that he finds us good and pleasant. That we bring peace to the kingdom of God with our humility, thinking of others before ourselves. 9