Well, I invite you to turn this morning to the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Mark. This is the second book of the Bible. If you're visiting with us, we're now returning to this study after a few weeks, and we come to Mark chapter 9, and we're concluding chapter 9 today, so we will look at verses 38 to the end of the chapter. Mark 9, 38 through 50. That is on page 1075 in your pew Bible. This is the word of the Lord, Mark 9.38. John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. But Jesus said to him, Do not stop him. For no one who does a mighty work in my name will soon be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble who believe in me, 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. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire and if your foot causes you to sin cut it off it's better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell and if your eyes 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 where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched for everyone will be salted with fire 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 may the lord bless this morning his word well recently i was uh going through and surveying my bookshelf, and it stood out to me, I saw a book sitting there that was written by Donald Gray Barnhouse on the Gospel of Mark. And so I had never really looked at this book, so I grabbed it and began to thumb through it. But the reason that this book stood out to me was the very title of the book, where Barnhouse said, Mark, the servant gospel. And I thought to myself, I thought, we've been through Mark now for quite some time. Is that the theme that we're seeing in the gospel of Mark? If you were to boil it down to, what is Mark doing in this gospel? What is the major gospel theme in the gospel of Mark? Is it the servant gospel? And so I reflected on that a bit, and then I opened up the preface of the book, and this is what Barnhouse said, and I was convinced, and you'll see why. Mark is the gospel of the Lord as servant. The gospel of the Lord of glory who showed His glory by becoming little for us. He descends. He condescends. He stoops. He serves. He dies. That is His glory. He then goes on in the preface there to say the first time he ever saw King George VI at his coronation, and he saw him with all the robes and with all the pomp and with all the glory. And then later, the next time he saw George was after London had been bombed by the Nazis and the whole place was in rubble. And George was standing there with Churchill. He said, looking totally unremarkable with a derby hat on. Those derby hats are really cool, by the way. I like those. And he saw, he said, as George looked upon the sufferings of all the people of London. He said he watched George in all of these, standing there in rags and a derby hat, weeping over London. And then he looked at the people who were looking at their great king and the people were saying, he loves us. He loves us. They just kept saying it. He loves us. Barnhouse said that was the noblest picture of the king of England he had ever seen. And he said, when I want to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, I look at him dying on the cross for me. I hope that has already sort of warmed your hearts as we begin this particular section this morning. Why do I raise that? I raise it because the contrast is so painful of what the Lord is showing us here about the disciples. A great contrast is being made that the disciples look nothing like this. And the reasons for their following Jesus are all wrong. And I keep thinking to myself, if this has been such a fight and this has been such a struggle, to pull out of these disciples a certain problem that we're seeing. I promise you it's a fight and it's a struggle for you, and we will struggle with the ways that it shows itself in our lives and the things that it exposes that we are fighting the same battle, but it'll make us uncomfortable in the ways in which this shows up. They had no idea what the gospel was all about at this point. all their following all their involvement in the kingdom they're not getting the gospel they had made this all about earthly glory think about what's been presented so far peter and his disciples refuse even to hear about the message of the cross for when jesus gave his first teaching on the cross remember uh in this section peter immediately pulled him aside and rebuked him and said far be it from you that this should happen to you and jesus says you get behind me satan i mean what what a what a moment they wouldn't even listen to it and then when jesus explains the cross a second time they end up as we looked at last time in a big dispute on the road remarkably right after his teaching about the cross a big dispute about who is the greatest in the kingdom in fact we're going to look in chapter 10 this is not over james and john are going to come up to Jesus, and we actually know it's mom, we'll look at that later, who comes up and says, listen, we want you to do something for us. Would you make us to sit on the right hand and your left hand in glory? And Jesus says, are you able to drink the cup? Are you not listening to what I'm saying to you? Don't you get this yet? You can't accomplish this. So Jesus is really exposing the problem, and the problem is that we're continuing to see here, is that it's all about them. It hasn't gone away. This is why I said when I was a kid, and just to sort of set the context again, when we followed Michael Jordan, it was not about Michael Jordan. We wore his t-shirts, we bought his shoes, we wore everything, we decked ourselves out like Mike. We all wanted to be like Mike, but it had nothing to do with Mike. It was because he had made it to such greatness, we thought we could get there ourselves it was all about us following mike that's what it was about and we paid a lot of money for his stuff well my parents did thus i i i i come up with the sermon title again this morning as we're coming to the second section here or this next section of jesus dealing with this problem because it doesn't seem to be setting in again it's not about you. Is that setting in yet? Is that setting in? It's not about your worship preference. It's not about your pursuits. It's not about your money. It's not about your children. It's not about anything that ultimately has to do with your aspirations and your dreams. This is what Jesus is dealing with here. And Jesus is making sure we get this message. He's not leaving this alone because it's the heart of the christian gospel you'll never appreciate the gospel until you get here you'll never understand the gospel until you get here this is not about us again says jesus it's about his word his glory his kingdom his righteousness his cross for you but it's his and he accomplished it and when this all becomes about us what you will build is a country club that's what you'll build of our own folk the mentality will absolutely wreck the design of christian ministry and jesus is going to get there when he says what do you think salt is supposed to be that's where we're going to go so jesus will show this mentality does great damage to the kingdom of God. And he wants you to think where this problem shows up, how it shows up, what it looks like, and understand how serious this all is. This is one of the most serious sermons in Mark because we're getting to his teaching on hell today. And Jesus is saying here, there will be severe punishment for those who are making the kingdom about them so that's what he's developing here and in this way uh he is his goal is to pull us out of that give us grace so that we would be followers of him and not of our own agenda so that then our involvement in the church our involvement in the kingdom our involvement in all the activities that we do ultimately today this passage is having us take a very serious heart check if you will about why you're here and what you're involved in that that's the goal of this today and it's meant for good jesus is reminding us today that false teachers false followers who make this all about them have a severe punishment coming and so this is intensely seriously serious you see this in the disciples struggle here was jesus gives them uh in their own struggle first then he gives them a severe warning and then he gives them a reminder of what this is all about so you see their struggle the warning the reminder of what we're doing and i believe the key to this comes at the very end of chapter 9 today to link all of this together so you see the thread running through this where he says at the very end of this chapter i want you guys to be at peace with one another were they not right they weren't they were not at peace with one another and the question is why weren't they at peace with one another because a division had happened along the road jesus had taught about the cross and then they end up remember it says they're end up in a big dispute about who will be the greatest they're fighting over this they're divided over this it was ripping them apart this this faction that had developed among his very disciples why was it ripping apart because they were all vying for the highest name and the greatest position in the kingdom so jesus is after harmony with his disciples in their purpose and their mission and their understanding and that will only occur when they begin to receive him and this is such an important point this morning i can't uh overstate it that will only occur when they begin to receive him for who he is they're not receiving him for who he is in taking on humanity and coming in this poverty but how do you create that how do you do that how do you get them on board with with what he is and what he's doing and what the mission is well he had um he had taken a little child in one of the most powerful sermon illustrations ever and he had put a little child on his lap and remember what he said he said as he's holding up this little child obviously somebody he could gather in his arms and he grabs this little child and he says your following of me will really show its sincerity and whether it's genuine of my cross and acceptance of my cross it's going to show itself in you by whom you are willing to associate with so i'm holding up a child look at this if it becomes about your way of greatness, your power, your building up of your little kingdom, you haven't shown you're following me at all. Following will be seen in welcoming the little people. And I believe he held up a child to make that point. He's little. You're interested in greatness. You're interested in bigness. He's little. He's nothing. He has no status. He has nothing. He must be provided for in every single way. So this is what he is saying. That shows that you're receiving me. Who are you receiving? What does your Christianity look like? Well, that's where we are today. John must have been really convicted about all this. John walks up to him. The son of thunder, by the way. We tend to see John as this nice, calm guy. The son of thunder, remember that. He was feisty. And he walks up to Jesus and says, hey, Jesus, we saw somebody casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he's not following us. A little random? Here's the scenario. Someone else is out there doing what we consider to be the greatest works in your kingdom. He's casting out demons. Now, why would that bother them? Well, in the previous section, it would really bother them because the disciples couldn't do it. Remember chapter 9? They're down there, the father with the boy. They can't do it themselves. And we looked at the whole section there on prayer and where strength comes. Well, here's this loner out here. And he's out doing it. He is actually out casting demons. And here they are. They're seeing it. This is a real blow to them. It shouldn't be. should it or should it maybe he's the greatest see it they're bothered maybe he's the greatest what is jesus really picking up and using this entire scenario in providence to do for his disciples remember this is all training for them jesus is picking up a sectarian spirit he's not of us did you catch it he's not following us what that means is they're all jockeying for first place and they hear about this man who is not even one of them and they're bothered because somebody's doing a mightier work than what they are unable to do now if they're all vying for the number one position then ultimately what they're simply saying is and hear it for what it is this is not about making the disciples great again this is about making who gets in the number one spot great for they will become followers of that person it's an interesting moment in the ministry of jesus because he hears this and he says don't stop them don't stop him for no one who does a mighty work in my name will soon afterward speak evil of me will be able soon afterward to speak against me for the one who is not against us is for us we're not told who this was but the thing to note is he's the real deal that that's really important to note here he is the real deal this is not a false teacher jesus is not saying you can never criticize false teachers we'll come back to that this was not a charlatan out there doing bad things that he shouldn't have been doing this was somebody that god had given the power to a power from god to cast out demons as an opportunity here for the kingdom but also to train his disciples what was going on here i think we have an old testament correspondence to this that really helps you see remember uh we'll come to this in exodus uh remember eldad and medad in the camp uh they were listed among the elders this is this is the it says this in in in the old testament two men whose names were eldad and medad had remained in the camp they were listed among the elders but did not go out to the tent yet the spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. Joshua, son of Nun, who had been Moses' aid since youth, spoke up and said, Moses, my Lord, stop them. But Moses replied, here it is. Are you jealous? Are you jealous for me? I wish that all of the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord would put His Spirit on them. We have a similar event here in the Gospels, don't we? This was all about rising to the top of the spiritual ladder, taking the seat themselves and making this ride for them. As a side note, and I have to say this, this is why you should be greatly troubled with Rome's position on a pope. I know we're all nervous about that and speaking about anything, but listen, this is the very thing Jesus has condemned from the beginning, putting one man at the top. it should greatly anger you. It should greatly anger you if you care about Jesus. He is putting this out. No man gets that honor. No man gets that name. So Jesus is appropriately raising the issue of what? The question is not about allegiance to you, but it's about allegiance to me, says Jesus. He says that here. He's casting out demons in whose name? Yours or mine? But you're worried that he's not doing it as followers have noticed that us you as you all vie for the number one position in the kingdom let me paraphrase this for a minute i see what this is you guys you guys have been arguing about who will be the greatest in the kingdom and you're really bothered that somebody out there is doing something bigger and better than you that's what this is you don't get it. Are you looking at the child I'm holding in front of you? Do you see him? Do you think there's anything less great about this child? You're looking at this child as a nobody. I'm telling you to see this is how anyone enters the kingdom. Let me correct you with what you think is great even in terms of serving. Anyone who comes, notice the next section, and brings a cup of cold water in my name. He's not losing his reward. You're all focused on the big stuff. You're all focused on the big gifts. You're all focused on the big things. I'm telling you, little child, cup of cold water, Christianity. You getting it? Oh, you still struggle. Oh, we still struggle. Your hearts are all on you. And that's evidence in your obsession for greatness. You're looking to what you think are the greatest works for that reason. I see it, says Jesus. I see it. Now, this is why I challenge the motivations of what we do in worship. This is why. Almost inevitably in all these discussions, it's all about personal preference. Without ever asking, does Jesus have the preference? Has Jesus made the preference? Has Jesus defined things? has God said? Do you know the human heart is a factory of idol making? Do we know that? What we do in worship is not about personal preference. It's not what we like. It's not what we want. It's not how we feel. Those discussions exemplify a people morbidly focused on themselves. We've got to get out of it. It's not, isn't it not an evidence that when we're talking about all those issues that we're not satisfied yet with the cross. That's here. It's in the text. They're not yet there. They're not satisfied yet. They haven't received him yet. I've always believed that when people find the pearl of great price and they've been satisfied with Christ, all your questions change and all your discussions change. I said that from the beginning when someone said, you know, Pastor, we've had a lot of discussion about different views of worship and music. How do you solve all that? You preach the cross. Those things go away. They go away. And when they don't, we've got a lot of things we've got to work on because we haven't grown up yet. I think it's important to make it really clear this is not about making the Escondido URC great. I'm not after making us great. Let's be known as the least. I'm good with that. This is not about making followers of Pastor Gordon. Let me decrease and Christ increase. Our goal is to bring people to Him. That's what this is all about. That's what we do. And do you see the danger when we make this about us, me or anyone else? Do you see what all this is? Most of our discussions on being involved in the kingdom demonstrate the worst kind of narcissism. Jesus sees it. And He's telling His followers to understand who they're following and for what purpose they're following. It's so much bigger. What has been the biggest problem in the history of the church? People making the ministry about them and about a man. And whatever works he can do, whatever great things he can do, you have all sorts of people who gather to the man side or the faction side and they split up the church and it's sad. This ripped up Corinth, by the way, but why? What ripped up Corinth? What ripped up Corinth? It was because the leaders were obsessed, some of them with making their name great, and the people jumped on the bandwagon and were interested in the things that they thought using worldly wisdom would work. Greatest gifts, greatest abilities to speak in tongues, best speech they could entertain, but it's not ministry at that point. That's what Corinth, if you go back to the series in Corinth, that's what that was all about. That's why we preach that book. That's not ministry. We decrease, Christ increases. Aren't you glad? Paul said to the church in Corinth, look you guys, what you do is foolishness to the world. It'll never be popular. And when you forget that, here's the sad consequence. I quote, you make the cross of Christ of no effect. that's a serious thing how do you facilitate deadness in people how do you bring about deadness in people take jesus away make it all about your wants that's how you make a dead church it's a scary thing because you take the glory from christ he is having them think about what the pursuit of greatness and glory now is really doing. Jesus says there are those ministering who are for me out there, and that means that they're not against me. But you know how Matthew took this? And Jesus, I believe, Mark goes in this direction to make this point. Matthew says there are also those who whoever is not with me is against me. And whoever does not gather with me, think about the sad thing you guys, dear beloved, scatters. The American compromise that says everything's okay and you can't criticize anything, it's not compatible with Jesus' Christianity. Jesus says in this passage, there's a hell for this. That's what makes this hard. And I sat down to write this and thinking, well, I could try to lighten the load, but does that do anyone any favors? Jesus now does something that I hope you all see and say this is the ultimate expression of love because he's protecting the flock. He goes on and teaches the 12 so they understand the seriousness about ministry. People don't take it seriously. Notice what he says. He goes on here and says first, And you'll notice here in verse 42. In verse 42, it's just a fascinating section. Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, who believe in me to sin, it would be better if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. A millstone was a large circular rock, you know this, and it was used to grind wheat and it was used to grind grain into flour. And it was a form of capital punishment in the day. And what they would do in the capital punishment was, this was recorded by the Greeks and the Syrians and the Romans, a millstone would be taken out on a boat and a millstone would be tied around the neck of the criminal and they would utterly thrust him out into the middle of the sea alive and he would drop down. Terrible way to die. He had just held a little child out. And he had said in his lap, this is what this is about. And many people apply this as sins against little children. That's not ultimately what he's saying. His point the entire time is we all need to be a little child. Those who minister in his name are serving little children. And then there are those who are making the ministry about them. And when that's done, and they're doing it for their own greatness, their own glory, their own name, for their own honor, their own purposes, that's not shepherding little ones. They're taking little ones like you away from Jesus and your children. That's going on. And now you understand how wonderful the Lord is. He loves you. This is what He's trying to do here. This is gospel. He wants to protect you. It doesn't feel good, does it? But he's got to fight for you and your children. That's what he's doing. He's restraining this stuff. He's putting a restraint on this stuff so that you're not carried away. He cares about you and your little ones, your little sheep, and anyone taking himself, and think about what he's warning me about here. I get it. I listen to it. I'll take it. he's warning people who minister in his name you better take this seriously friend you need to think carefully about whether service in his name who it's for or actually you're doing it under the guise of your own greatness and trying to promote that you can do that we can all do that and when that's happening jesus says somebody's actually working against him and they're going to receive the greatest judgment on judgment day it's going to be awful false teachers false prophets who make a shipwreck of people's faith jesus said it'd be better to go out right now and head on out to the ocean put a millstone around your neck that's what he just said and drop you right in to get it over with then to continue to do what you're doing so so this is This is heavy. This is why James says you don't want many people becoming teachers. I believe this needs to be heard today. And I have to say, if Jesus is that serious about false ministries and Jesus is that serious about His own disciples not becoming little cult leaders and doing this stuff and false things happening, that He's going to judge people for it, then shouldn't you care about it? Shouldn't you be willing to stand with Him on it? Right? Shouldn't you have some backbone? Not do this thing that everything's okay? Shouldn't you warn your little ones? I mean, that's ultimately what this particular section is doing. And so he goes on to teach the 12, so they understand the seriousness of it for them, for them, for them, for them. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than to have your two hands to go to hell in unquenchable fire where the worm does not die and the fire is not clenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It's better if you enter life lame than having your two feet to be cast into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not clenched. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not clenched. Do we know what hell is? I've never really preached on it too much here. When they heard that in Gehenna, they knew from the days of Josiah and the people had been burning their children, sacrificing them to the gods, that Josiah set the thing on fire and it was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem where the fires were always burning and refuse and trash was constantly going in there and being burned and worms were in there eating it all constantly. Jesus compares that to a real place called hell. I want to pastorally say in love, I don't want anyone to go there. You can't say this. I know there's been old hellfire and brimstone approaches to this, and I won't do that. This is awful. I say it with a burdened heart. I don't want anyone to go there. But I've got to be strong for you and your children if I'm going to be a pastor, and I've got to watch my own life. You might be bothered that I have to say something that's wrong, but I hope you see it for what it is. I do it with the utmost conviction to keep you out of this place and to turn your faces to Jesus. But I know that in this warning, we're all a mess. And we need them. But it better not become about us. You know, the great problem is captured by Paul in the book of Philippians. Here it is. Let me summarize the great problem that we'll hopefully take with you today. For everyone looks out for their own interests and not the interests of Jesus Christ. Paul captured your problem. Jesus says there are false teachers full of sin as a way of life. They live in it, they walk in it, they'll go to hell for it. But we are those who are walking circumspectly as his followers, remembering who we're following, and our lives can't be the stumbling block. And in this way, then Jesus speaks to all of us. As his little ones, we should remember we're not in his kingdom to push our agendas, our wants, especially for the church, to make your little ones stumble serious. Our past should be casting down sin in our lives, not letting it rule us, and going to the Lord for grace and strength and help. Jesus is saying that often, separations happen in Christianity are a result of people making the ministry about them. And that's what brings all of this. and this is why he's saying live in peace this is why he's saying live in peace so i say then shouldn't we all ask whether our christianity is about us whether we've made it about us now i see this section is the greatest expression of love on christ's part because he is motivating the correct and guarding this he's guarding his his church he's guarding his ministry and motivating us for the kind of service and following him that leads people to him that's why this is so serious people have to be brought to him and that leads us to his last comment salt is good but if the salt loses its saltiness how will it be made salty again have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another what he's saying is you are my salt think of matthew 5 in this in this connection you're the salt of the earth but if the salt loses its saltiness how can it be made salty again it's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot short of it remember who you are and why you're here you're my witnesses you're my disciples but if you make kingdom work about your name your kingdom your church your family watch out that's not salty behavior there's no effect in that model there's no effect with that approach That's how you make churches largely ineffective. Make it about you, your family, your church, your name. It's not what this is. And I think that's so important to think about for us. It's not about building a safe haven for us. If Christ were to come and talk with us today and say, why are you in the Escondido URC? Your name, why are you in the Escondido URC? Would it reveal ultimately that you are here selfishly motivated? to please others that sin propels you to live for your own interests you say this is a hard section pastor where's the good news everywhere everywhere everywhere what's he doing jesus has come to lay down his life for you mark is the gospel of quoting barnhouse lord is servant the gospel of the lord of glory who showed his glory by becoming little for us he descends he condescends he stoops he serves he dies that's his glory you know what he accomplished on those hours in those hours on the cross you confess in the apostles creed he descended into hell for you so that you never have to go there that's what you're saying do you know what it was who went to the cross for you? It was the Son of God who took on rags. Though He was rich, He became poor for you. You get that? That'll change the way you look at everything, I promise you. You're going to say, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. You're going to finally get on your knees. Seeing He became nothing for you, it's going to change your way. You look at your involvement in the church who you look at who you serve who you surround your life with the word will become everything else to you everything to you not all this other stuff the word because it makes christ known service becomes sincere and authentic because i'm seeing a whole bunch of people giving cups of cold water in the name of christ and there's no glory to that outwardly but it's going on i'll never forget a lady in linden she's dead now she would go and clean never told anyone i found this out after she died she would go and clean the feet and trim the nails of the widows sitting in their homes never even heard about it till she was dead when you're no longer looking out for your own interests for you and your children and Christ begins to be exalted so that we should no longer live for ourselves but for Him who died and was raised again. Having been crucified with Christ, it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I'm living for Him. And that shows in the little things of loving my neighbor. You didn't just need to go cut out a few body parts to deal with your sin, by the way. I need to make that clear before we close this section. You had a much bigger problem. You know what had to happen to you to get to this place? Jesus has to kill you. Jesus has to kill you and raise you up brand new. Your old existence gone. And you know what happens with these disciples? Besides Judas, 10 out of the 11 are martyred. 10 out of the 11 die. These guys, these guys who are fighting about greatness, die for their faith so that you would have this gospel brought to you. They became nothing. They became little because they were following their head finally. Aren't you glad he loves his little ones? As I said before, your greatest enemy, mine, And I take this all on myself too. Whatever I preach to you, I know. I know my own problem with narcissism. Your greatest enemy needs to come down in your life. It's another way of saying you need to be born again. You. So I ask the question in closing. Have you heard him yet? Again. It's not about you. Aren't you glad? That's freedom. Go love your neighbor. Let's pray. Father, confess that many of our discussions about what the church should be are just shallow and show we haven't grown up. They display the ignorance of what we study with these disciples that it's still all about us. And you're so long-suffering. It's just wonderful to study. Look how long-suffering you are on the pages of Scripture. You forbear with these guys. You bring them along so that by the end of their lives, they're laying down their lives. It's just a marvel of grace. Thank you that you care, oh Lord, to guard us from hell. We would go through this life and run right into it with us and our children, never fighting for anything. But you care to fight. May we care to fight. May we remember what this is about. Why we're here, why we exist, who we're following. forgive us for sins if you brought them out in the open we would all be shamed cover them and help us to go to great extremes to cut out sin out of our lives by your help but always remembering that you already dealt with the greatest thing in killing us and raising us brand new so that it's never any of these things that saves us but again the lord jesus accomplished all righteousness in becoming the curse going to hell for us so we would never have to go there. We should be the most cheerful people on the face of the earth. Turn our hearts to you in true faith and may we lead this life that we now live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave his life for me. May we all be able to say that today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you.