Mark 9:38 – 50

They just did not get it! The disciples just did not get it. The disciples had been with Jesus for nearly three years but they just did not get it. But before we criticize the twelve disciples we need to ask ourselves do we get it? … Get what? Do we get what Jesus is trying to teach us?

For us to grasp the full meaning of what Jesus is teaching us we need to put this passage in the proper context.

Earlier in Mark’s Gospel we read that Jesus was preparing His disciples for what was ahead of them. In 8:31 – 34 Jesus tells the disciples of His impending death on the cross and His resurrection. In 9: 31- 34 Jesus tells His followers they must make hard choices if they are to be His disciples. In the first part of Chapter 9 we have the Transfiguration where Jesus gives Peter, James and John a glimpse of the coming eternal kingdom. In 9: 14 – 29 the disciples experienced their dependence upon Jesus when they could not heal a boy with an evil spirit. Then again in verses 30 – 32 Jesus tells them another time that He will be betrayed and be killed but that He will rise again on the third day. In verse 32 we read, "they did not understand what Jesus was saying but they were afraid to ask Him". "They Just Didn’t Get It". The fact that the disciples did not get it is made crystal clear in verses 33- 37 when we read where the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest? Jesus was on the way to the cross to give His life for sinners, to be sacrificed, and His disciples were arguing about which one of them was the greatest. Since the disciples had not grasped the concept of being a disciple, … in our text for this morning Jesus continues to teach them and us exactly what it means to be His disciple.

The lessons in this passage are extremely valuable to us because we are Jesus’ disciples. You see the point of this passage is to get all of Jesus’ disciples, and that includes each of us, to wrestle with the meaning of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Our text is a collection of several important but separate interrelated teachings. Jesus is teaching all of His followers what it means to be His disciple.

The first of these teachings is in verses 38 – 40 and it is about unity in Christ:

If we are a disciple of Jesus Christ, we will never be exclusive.

The key phrase in this section is "In My Name." Notice Jesus calls for unity in Him not uniformity.

There are many different ways to serve Jesus. Yes there are other ways of doing things in our church. There are other views we need to listen to. There are different traditions that we can and should learn from. There are other forms of worship. And believe it or not, Presbyterians are not the only denomination. We are Christians first and a denomination second.

Our text this morning challenges each one of us to examine ourselves. Each one of us needs to examine ourselves by asking ourselves "Are my words and my actions including everyone in our Mt Paran family or .am I doing anything that might exclude any person from being welcome and from becoming an active productive member of Mt Paran?

As you will recall when anyone joins the church they promise to further the peace, purity, and unity of the church! Not just keep from causing a problem or a division but to further the peace, purity, and unity of the church. We are to go the extra mile to insure that there is unity, peace, and purity in the church of Jesus Christ!

Each one of us needs to examine ourselves by asking ourselves "Are we using the resources that God has given to me to meet the needs of the people around me?

In verses 41 – 42 we see that as Jesus’ disciples our actions will be rewarded or punished.

Our relationship with other people is a very important part of being a disciple of Jesus. Jesus expects His disciples to be aware of the needs of people around them.

No good deed goes unnoticed!

The example of the great millstone Jesus used would be very familiar to an agricultural society. As you can imagine anyone with a millstone tied around their neck could not swim but they would sink and die immediately. This graphically demonstrates the seriousness of leading people away from Jesus. Notice that Jesus’ teaching progresses from causing other people to sin to causing our selves to sin. This is also a vivid reminder that God is aware of all of our actions and Jesus rewards our good deeds.

Our text this morning challenges each one of us to examine ourselves.

Each one of us needs to examine ourselves by making sure that our actions are not misleading others

Each one of us needs to examine ourselves by asking ourselves "Am I encouraging other people in their Christian walk or am I discouraging other people. We need to remember our calling is to lead others to Jesus not to turn other people away from our Lord

The cup of water may seem small to us today but a cup of water brings welcome refreshment to a working person.

Next in Verses 42 - 48 Jesus tells us as His disciples we must not loose sight of our ultimate goal. Our relationship with God is the most important part of being a disciple of Jesus. Eternal rewards are much more important than physical possessions. We must take sin seriously and we must deal with the sin in our lives. Dealing with the sin in our lives calls for extreme action!

The people in Jesus’ day worked with their hands and they walked where they went so their hands, feet and eyes were critical to their survival. But as important as these things were they are nothing compared to eternal life.

We know that the admonition to cut off our body parts in verses 43, 45, and 47 is not to be taken literally. These are clearly a hyperbole. We know this because if we did cut off a body part each time we sinned in a short time there would be nothing left of our body. We know this because the Bible clearly teaches that we are all sinners, we all have a sinful nature, we all continue to sin even though we hate sinning and we do not want to disappoint our Lord. Jesus used a hyperbole here to stress the seriousness of sinning and the consequence of sinning. This passage makes it clear that sin demands serious corrective action on our part and if left unchecked, our sin will result in serious consequences.

Jesus also teaches that hell is a literal place. Hell is a place of eternal pain and a place of eternal suffering. Jesus also make it clear that the pain and suffering a person will experience in hell is the result of the choices that person makes during their life on earth.

Jesus warns us that we need to keep an eternal prospective because the Kingdom of God is worth much more than anything else.

Our text this morning challenges each one of us to examine our priorities.

Each one of us needs to examine ourselves by asking ourselves "Am I more concerned with my physical comfort and pleasure than I am about spending eternity in heaven with God?

After all eternity is a long long time!

I trust you noticed that there are several contrasts in our text for this morning. In verse 38 John is expecting a commendation, stated that they had seen others casting out demons in Jesus’ name and he told them to stop. But Jesus rebuked John. The ability of others to cast out demons is in contrast to the disciple’s inability to heal the boy with an evil spirit earlier in chapter 9 (9: 14). "Causing a little one to sin " in verse 42 is contracted to "welcoming a child in my name" in verse 37. Our actions will either bring someone to Jesus or turning someone away from Jesus. The reward for helping a believer in verse 41 is in contrast to punishment for causing one to sin in verse 42.

Our text concludes with a teaching that "everyone will be salted with fire". This refers to the trials and testing that we as believers should expect. The Christian’s life is characterized as a growing process. We refer to that growing process as sanctification. The fire refers to refining by burning off the impurities in our lives. However, this teaching ends on a positive note. The salt refers to enhancing and preserving qualities of God’s grace. The Good News is that God will preserve us during our time of testing if we will turn to Him and if we depend upon Him! Not only is the believer to be comforted by the reference to salt, but we as believers are challenged to pass it on by being salt. When we do we will be at "peace with one another".

Our text for this morning makes it very clear:

• As Jesus’ disciples we are be at peace with, to serve, and to encourage the people around us,
• As Jesus’ disciples we are to separate ourselves from evil, we are to deal with the sin in our lives.
• As Jesus’ disciples we can not loose sight of our eternal goal,
• As Jesus’ disciples we are to share the hope that we have with all the people around us.

The lessons in this passage are extremely valuable to us because we are Jesus’ disciples. As Jesus disciples we are to obey Him and we should want to live our lives in a way that pleases our Lord and honors Him.

Jesus’ teachings to us as His disciples are plain. Jesus does not want us to stumble along the path of life. Jesus wants us to walk along with Him so that we will reach our goal of eternal life. AMEN