Date: Sunday May 2, 2021      Scripture: Mark 9:42-50  Title: Warning, Discipleship is Serious

Link: Region around the Sea of Galilee

Table of Contents

Introduction. 1

1. A Warning About Your Influence. 2
2. A Warning About Your Life. 4

Gospel presentation. 7

3. A Warning about Your Usefulness. 8

Summary. 11

Introduction

This morning we're in Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9 and we're going to begin in verse 42. I'm going to read our passage here for us this morning, before we get in, and would encourage you to follow along as I read our text for us Mark Chapter 9 in verse 42.

42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, 44 [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, 46 [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast 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 becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:42-50)

When someone enlist into the military, the first thing that they have to do is they have to go through boot camp. Gotta go through boot camp. Boot Camp is the training that's necessary in order to prepare them for the service that is ahead of them. On one website, https://www.todaysmilitary.com/ it says basic training, often called boot camp, prepares recruits for all elements of service, physical, mental and emotional. It gives service members the basic tools necessary to perform the roles that will be assigned to them for the duration of their tour. The website goes on to say that when you show up to bootcamp, there are things that you're not allowed to bring. They include this: family, pets, expensive personal items like cameras, phones, laptops, jewelry. Nonprescription drugs or drug paraphernalia, weapons of any type, including pocketknives. Obscene or pornographic material, alcoholic beverages, playing cards, dice, dominos. And cigarettes or tobacco products.

And if you have questions about any of that, you can call a recruiter and he will walk you through even more things in which you cannot bring to boot camp. And on this website they interview a man -- an airman in the Air Force, who gives advice to those who are about to enter boot camp. And here is his advice. Take it seriously. That's his advice. Take it seriously.

Jesus has been putting his disciples through boot camp, so to speak.

They've been going through boot camp and they've been trained, and Jesus is continually training these men because they need to be ready to go out into the world to go and preach the gospel.  These guys are the future of the church. And they need to be trained properly. And in our passage this morning, Jesus talks about the seriousness of what it means to be His disciple. To be a follower of Christ. This is a serious thing. It's a serious task that these men have ahead of them. Now these men are about to go out into the world, and what they're going to do is they're going to represent Christ. 

Christ as we know, died, was buried, resurrected, and then He ascended to the father. So who was left? These disciples would be left. And their job was to represent Christ to the world. And so they needed to understand the seriousness of the task at hand. And Jesus gets very serious with them here and he warns them about their influence, about their life. And they're being readied to be used as those who will represent Christ in the world.

But the warnings that Jesus gives to these disciples are not just warnings for them. But they're warnings for anyone who follows Christ and represents Him in this world. These here are warnings for you and for I.  They are for us.

And so let's look at our passage here. This morning we're going to see three warnings from Jesus about what it means to be a true disciple.  If you want to be a disciple of Christ this is a serious task. It's a serious thing for us as believers.  Jesus here gives 3 warnings about what it means to be a true disciple.

The first warning that Jesus gives is a warning about your influence.

1.   A Warning About Your Influence.

As a follower of Christ, you need to watch your life and recognize and realize that you have an influence. Let's look at what Jesus says in verse 42.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.” (Mark 9:42)

Now notice what Jesus says here and how He starts off. He says, whoever…whoever. That means Jesus is not just limiting it here to the twelve apostles. This is not just for these guys that are sitting here before Him. He's not just saying if any one of you guys do this, then…but He's saying if any person, anyone who is a disciple of mine, anyone who is a follower of Me, any person causes one of these little ones -- who believe in me -- to stumble.

Then He goes on to tell us what He thinks about one of us who causes someone to stumble. Now, if you remember from a few weeks ago, Jesus is teaching His disciples here, and He's actually sitting down. We see that back up in verse 35. He's sitting down, and He calls the disciples to Himself. And as Jesus calls the disciples to Himself, He took a child into His arms and He used that child as an illustration. The child was used there simply as an illustration. Jesus was a man who used illustrations in His teaching, and He perfected it. He's amazing at it, and so He takes this little child in His arms, and this child is there still in His arms, being used as an illustration, as He's teaching in our passage here this morning.

But who is Jesus talking about -- when He says “one of these little ones?” He's got a child in His arm, but what does He mean when He says “one of these little ones”? Some have said that Jesus is limiting it here to literally, children. Young children. This was probably a toddler who couldn't talk yet, but could barely walk. A little child. He's holding this boy here in His arms.

But we can't just limit this to children because Jesus qualifies who He's talking about when He says “who believes”, right? You see that? “Who believe”. What Jesus is talking about here is believers. And believers, as He uses this child as an illustration, He's talking about believers who are lowly and weak. We could even say that these are new believers. Young in the faith. These are believers who are not as grounded in their faith as those who have been sanctified for years. These are believers who have repented of their sin and put their faith in Christ, but who are still vulnerable to sin. 

We, all of us, have either been there, or currently are there right now, vulnerable to sin. They haven't fought the battles. They haven't matured like those who've been walking with Christ for a long time. They are weak, and all they know right now is “look…I was once lost, but now I'm found, and it's only by the grace of God.” These are vulnerable believers.

And what does Jesus say to His disciples about these little ones who believe? He says that if anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he'd been cast into the sea. It's pretty serious here, right? This is serious stuff.

What does Jesus mean by stumble? What does He mean by stumble? Anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble… This word, stumble, here means to entrap or to trip up, or to cause to sin. What Jesus is saying here is that there are people who trip up vulnerable, weak believers, and lead them into sin. And those that do that have grave consequences.

Now, why would Jesus say this to these disciples at this time? If you remember a few weeks ago, what did John say that him and the other disciples tried to do? They tried to stop a man from casting out a demon in Jesus’ name. (Mark 9:18) You remember that? They tried to stop this man. And why did they do it? Because this man was not a part of “the group.” He wasn't one of us. He wasn't chosen like us twelve are…Jesus, he wasn't one of us, and so they thought that they were doing a noble thing by stopping this man. But what does Jesus do? How does He respond?

He rebukes them. He rebukes them and He tells them not to stop such a man. Now, how would the disciples have been guilty of causing this man to stumble? Well, they could have easily caused this man to doubt his faith. To doubt his faith. As if the only way this guy could do this, to cast out this demon, is if he were a part of their group…instead of by faith in Christ alone…and through the power of Christ.  Causing another brother in Christ to stumble, to sin.

And Jesus says that if you do that, notice, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. This is serious stuff. Jesus is not playing games here. It's serious to be a disciple of Christ.

Dying a horrible death, of being drowned at the bottom of the sea…notice this would be better. In fact, it would be more preferable for that man, who caused another one to stumble.

Now, what was a millstone? He talks about a millstone. It would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck. What is a millstone? The millstone was at a heavy circular stone that was used to grind grain. What they would do, is put grain in this trough, and then they would put this stone over it that would roll over the grain, but the only way that that stone could be moved is with a donkey. It was so heavy that no man could push this stone. And so they attached it to a donkey, and the donkey would then move this around in this circular trough, and roll this stone, this millstone around, and it would grind up the grain. It's a heavy stone.

And Jesus said it would be better to have that stone tide around your neck and cast into the sea than to cause another believer to stumble. This is shocking. This is shocking to these guys. And it should be shocking to us as well. Jesus is serious. This is serious stuff. But sadly, there are many people today, especially pastors, who are leading people into sin through their influence.

We continue to hear…as the media loves to put it on display for the world to see…we continue to hear time and time again of moral failure by leaders in churches, who are preying on weak and vulnerable believers. Jesus is disgusted with it. And He says it's better that these men have a mill of millstone tied around their neck and cast into the sea -- than for them to do what they've been doing. Jesus is serious.

What Jesus is saying here is that you need to watch how you live your life and how you influence others. You, as a follower of Christ, have a great influence on other people as they are watching your life. Right? You have an influence. And especially on those who are younger in the faith. They're watching everything that you do.

It's like our children. We raise our children. They do some things and we go. Ah, I don't like that they do that. Where did they get it from? They're watching everything that we are doing. And the same is true for believers. The world is watching. The world is watching and younger believers in the faith are watching. And we have an influence in their lives. And Jesus says, if you lead them into sin, it would be better for you to sacrifice yourself, and die a horrible death, than to lead them there into sin.

What is Jesus saying here? Watch your life. Watch your life. Because you have influence on others. And you better not be leading another believer into sin.

One commentator says, “To offend willfully, even the most obscure, insignificant or weak believer is a matter of most serious consequence. Physical death of the most repulsive sort would be preferable to causing one of Jesus disciples to stumble.” It's a serious warning. It's a serious warning not only for these twelve disciples who are here sitting before Jesus, but it's a serious warning for us as well.

2.   A Warning About Your Life.

There's a second warning that Jesus gives. A second warning. Not only does he warn us about our influence in other peoples lives, but second, he warns us about our life. He gives us a warning about your life. A warning about your life. Look at verse 43.

“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, 44 [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, 46 [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, 48 where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.” (Mark 9:43-48) skipping verses 44, 46 on purpose.

Now if you notice I didn't read verses 44 and 46. Some of you may have noticed that I skipped over those two verses. Why? Because they're not in the earliest manuscripts.  You'll see in some of your translations there, they are in a bracket. That is that they were added later by a scribe, because of verse 48. Because of what verse 48 says, but nonetheless the idea is still the same throughout. The idea is the same throughout.

And what Jesus is doing here in this these verses is He's giving a warning about your personal life. In the previous warning, He was talking about how your life influences or affects other believers. That is, when other people are watching. But now He puts the mirror up and He says, not only do you need to watch how you are living before others, but you need to watch your very own life when no one is watching. Because who is always watching? God is.

Remember in 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul told Timothy, “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching.” Pay close attention to yourself, that is, to your life Timothy… you need to hold the mirror up and you need to see how you are living your life. You need to pay attention to yourself.

And Jesus is telling these disciples here, and anyone who wants to be His disciple. Watch your life. Watch your life. Watch your heart. Now notice, Jesus uses the same word that He used back up in verse 42. The word stumble. The word stumble. This is the same Greek word throughout all of these verses, and again it means to sin. To sin. And what Jesus is calling for here is radical obedience to Him. Radical obedience to Him. Not just obedience when others are watching. But obedience when no one is watching.

And what Jesus does here is he uses hyperbole. He uses hyperbole to get his point across. Jesus doesn't mean for us to take this literally. It's not what He's doing here, He's using hyperbole, some in the past have taken this literally. That's not what Jesus is saying here. He's not calling for self-mutilation. But He says, if your hand causes you to stumble or to sin, cut it off. Of your foot causes you to stumble or to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. Now, why does Jesus choose these three parts of the body? The hand, the foot, and the eye? 

Because these symbolize the entirety of the believer’s life. Notice that.

• The hand symbolizes what you do.
• The foot symbolizes where you go.
• And the eye symbolizes what you see.

Sums it all up right? Pretty simple for us. There's your whole life right before your very eyes, your hand, your foot in your eyes, there it is, that's you. And Jesus, here, is calling for a radical change in your life. A radical change. If there is something that you do that causes you to sin, you need to stop doing that.

If there is somewhere where you go that causes you to sin, don't go there. If there's something that you look at that causes you to sin, stop looking. And this becomes even more important in the day that we're living in. When we have 24/7 access to all kinds of visual stuff, right? It's right there in our very hand.  Jesus says if you are looking at stuff that causes you to sin, stop it. Stop doing that.

Remember what Peter said? We talked about this last week in 1 Peter 2:11, “abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul.” (1 Pet 2:11) Abstain from those things. They wage war against your soul. And we know where this battle happens. Where does it happen? In the heart. Right? That's where this happens. It all happens in the heart, but the outward actions symbolize what is there in the heart. You do what you do because that's what's in your heart. And so, if you're doing things that are causing you to sin, it's because you ultimately have a heart problem. That's what Jesus is after here.

He's after the heart. When you sin, it's because that sin is there in your heart. But as believers, we should be willing to take drastic measures to stop from sinning, right? We should be willing to take drastic measures, whatever it is, to stop from sinning.

I've had people come and tell me that they've been struggling with their phone. Either how much time that they spend on their phone, or the things that they're watching on their phone and they're falling into this sin…always being on it always being on it, and I said, well, what do you? What do you do before you go to bed? “Well, you know I plug it in next to my bed and it's there and I just always have access to it.” I said, well, why don't you take that and go plug it in in the kitchen or in the living room?  Well…and here's the excuse they give. It's my alarm clock.

Oh, really. You know they sell alarm clocks at Walmart for like 10 bucks. You can plug into a wall and it'll beep when you tell it to beep. Ah well. I don't. I don't know if I can, you know. I mean it's like 8 hours where my phone is away from me. Are you willing to take drastic measures in order to get rid of that? If that's causing you to sin? How about the Internet on your Phone, get rid of it. You're spending all this time and it's taking you away from the Word of God. Get rid… well…I need my work emails. Or you could just wait till you get in the office. Go on your computer there.  

Excuses.  Why? Because that's what's in the heart. That's what's in the heart. What Jesus is saying here is we need to be willing to take drastic measures because our heart needs to be continually turning from sin. And we need to be pursuing righteousness. And anything that would stop us from that, we need to get rid of that, right? We need to take drastic measures to get rid of that. And if we do that, what does that then say about our heart? That then our desires are righteous, right? Because I'm willing to do this. Because I desire obedience to You, Christ, rather than this thing that's leading me to sin. It says that our heart is righteous if we're willing to take these drastic measures that our heart is right before God, that our heart longs for obedience. And that we desire the things that God desires.

Notice how serious Jesus is about this. He doesn't say if your hand causes you to stumble, slap it. Because you might lose out on a blessing in life. No, He says cut it off. Get rid of it. That hand, hand’s important to us, right? Think about all the things that we do with our hands. Very important. Our feet. Our feet are very important, right? You ever…if you've ever broken an ankle or twisted an ankle, you begin to realize wow, my foot is very important. Can't get around like I used to. Your eyes. Our eyes are very important, right? But Jesus says, get rid of it…cut it off because it's better to be crippled than have two hands, two feet, two eyes and go to hell, where there is an unquenchable fire.

What is hell? The Greek word here is the word Gehenna. And that word there is a transliteration of the Hebrew word Gehenna, which means Valley of Hinnom. What's the valley of Hinnom? The valley of Hinnom was the valley down in the southern side of Jerusalem. And in Old Testament times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god of Molech, down in this valley. And specifically, the human sacrifices were child sacrifices, where people would go and they would sacrifice their own children to the god of Molech, down in the valley of Hinnom. In 2 Kings 22, King Josiah comes in and King Josiah destroyed that place, and then it came to be known as the place where it was a place of divine judgment. Divine judgment. And that place, after King Josiah destroyed all of that, it came to be a place then where human excrement and garbage was disposed of and burned. That's the valley of Hinnom.

And so when Jesus says Gehenna, He's talking about hell. And notice how He qualifies it in verse 43. He says it is a place of what? Unquenchable fire. Unquenchable fire.  A place of total destruction and complete agony forever. In verse 48, He says that it's a place where the “worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:46). Jesus describes it in Matthew 22:13 as a place of “outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Continual weeping and gnashing of teeth. Because the people that are there are in such agony and such pain that they weep and they gnash their teeth because they can never get out of it. It's eternal. Hell is a terrible place. And those who don't deal with their sin now will be cast into that place.

This is a dramatic warning. This is a serious warning. And Jesus here is calling for extreme allegiance and obedience to Him. You either deal with your sin here and now. Or you will be cast into hell where there is unquenchable fire and where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. That is where there will be pain that comes from within, and pain from without, that you have no control over that you cannot stop. It is eternal. 

Gospel presentation

How can a person deal with this sin now? Well, they can't do it on their own. But we can't deal with our sin by good works.  

The only way that we can deal with our sin now is to have a heart change. A heart change. And that only happens through repentance and faith in Christ. You want to know how to deal with your sin now? You must come to Christ. In repentance and faith. Christ, who paid the penalty for your sin who bore your sin on that cross so that you could have eternal life. Come to Him now. And some of you are here this morning and you're headed towards this place called hell. It's a real place. A place of eternal damnation, eternal destruction and Jesus says, come to Me and I will give you life. So that you won't have to go there. Repent of your sin and put your faith in Me and you can be with Me forever in heaven. A place of complete love and righteousness and blessing and glory for all of eternity.

Come to Christ today, put your faith in Him.  And all those who come to Christ and faith, Jesus says here, will have life. Notice that He says, will enter life in verses 43 and 45. And what is that life? He goes on to tell us what it is. It's eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Heaven with Christ. Where He rules as the King where He sits on His throne. But only those who deal with their sin in this life will be able to enter in. You must deal with your sin now. Only those who place their faith in Christ alone will be able to enter in to the Kingdom of God.

Well, Jesus is not done giving warnings about the seriousness of being His disciple. There's a third and final warning that He gives a warning about your usefulness.

3.    A Warning about Your Usefulness.

Look at verse 49.

“For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:49)

Now verse 49 here is commonly known as one of the hardest verses to interpret in the New Testament. Here it is. You want to know what the hardest one to interpret is? Right before our very eyes. Verse 49. It's a hard verse. It doesn't have a parallel anywhere else in the gospels. This is the only place where it's found, and so all we have is what is here in front of us. What does Jesus mean when He says for everyone will be salted with fire?

Well, although we have just come off of talking about the fires of hell, the unquenchable fires, we need to look at this verse and not interpret it in light of that.

One commentator says, “this verse sets forth the demand that assures escape from the fires of Gehenna.”  That's what Jesus is talking about here. He's assuring our escape from it. And notice He says for everyone. The “everyone” here is limited though, to those who are His disciples. Because that's who He's specifically talking to. Those who will enter into the Kingdom of God. Everyone is not everyone in the entire world. It's everyone who are His disciples.

And those who are His disciples, they escape hell by being salted with fire. Now, why does Jesus use salt here? Notice what He says there. Salted with fire. Why does Jesus use salt? Well, in order for us to understand what Jesus is talking about here, we have to go back to the Old Testament to Leviticus 2:13 and listen to what it says in Leviticus 2:13. It says this.

“Every grain offering of yours, moreover, you shall season with salt, so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer [what?] salt.” (Lev 2:13)

As the Israelites came to bring their offerings, they would come to the temple and they would come to bring their offerings, and as they brought their offerings, the offerings that they brought, they needed to be seasoned with salt. It was a requirement they had to sprinkle salt on it.

Now we today, we don't have grain offerings. We don't have animal sacrifices and other offerings that we bring, right? Nobody brought a lamb this morning to come to church, and have me sacrifice for you. I'm not a butcher, I'm a pastor. But that's what they did then in the Old Testament…they would show up to worship and they would show up with their lamb, for it to be sacrificed, and the priest then would have to sprinkle it with salt.

But we don't do that today. We don't come with offerings. But we do bring an offering to God. When we come, we do bring an offering to God. What is our offering? Our very lives. Our very lives. We need to live our lives as an offering to God. As a sacrifice to Him. Romans 12:1 tells us as a living sacrifice which is pleasing to Him. We need to bring an offering that is seasoned with salt. As we come and bring our lives as an offering to God, we need to bring it seasoned with salt. Not physical salt. So what does Jesus mean by salt? Well, what is salt used for?

In Jesus’ time, salt was used for flavoring, for preserving, and for… listen to this…purifying.  For flavoring, for preserving, and for purifying. They didn't have refrigerator systems like you and I have today. So they use salt to preserve things and to purify them. And so, as a purifying agent it represents purity. It represents purity.

And that's what Jesus says…everyone will be salted with fire, salted with fire, that salt…it's purification, so another way that we could say this is everyone will be purified with fire. Everyone will be purified with fire.

Now what is the fire? What's the fire that Jesus is talking about here? Fire is simply this…persecution and trials. Persecution and trials. That's the fire in our lives as believers, right? We know that we have escaped hell not because of what we've done, but because of what God has done in us, right? We have escaped the fires of hell. But there are fires that we go through in our own lives, persecution and trials that God uses and tests us in our life. Because God wants to purify us.

Listen to James chapter 1. 

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,” (James 1:2)

Joy? James, do you know what you're talking about here? You know how hard trials are? You know how hard the tribulation is, the things that we go through? And you're telling me to consider it all joy? Yep, that's right. Why? Verse 3:

“knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:3)

What does God do in our lives?  He tests us with trials. And He puts us through trials. Why? To grow us, to purify us. Trials in our life produce purity, and when you are pure you become what? Useful.  When you are pure, it's then that you become useful. Which is what Jesus says in verse 50.

“Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again?” (Mark 9:50)

Salt is good because it does what? It preserves and it purifies. But if salt becomes unsalty. Then it is useless. It can't preserve anything, and it can't purify anything. If salt becomes unsalty. Now, how does salt become unsalty?

We know that you study salt, salt is a stable compound and it can't lose its saltiness. But there was a type of salt that was around the Dead Sea. That was there, that was mixed with gypsum, and if it wasn't processed correctly, it would actually lose its saltiness. It would lose its flavor. And that salt would be no good. Oh, we don't worry about it at the dinner table, right? Picking up the salt-shaker and putting it on our soup or your food, whatever it is, you don't dump it on there and then think I'm going to take a bite and not taste salt, right? You expect that you're going to taste some salt, that's why you put it on there…to add some flavor.

But if you were to put that salt on there and you didn't taste it. It would be useless. Why are you putting it on there? It's completely lost its purpose. And that salt would be no good. Because you can't even use salt to make the unsalty salt good again, you follow that? You can't use salt to make the unsalty salt good again. And what Jesus is saying here is He's saying, don't lose what you have. Don't lose what you have, remain pure and be useful as His disciple. As a follower of Christ. Remain pure. And when you're pure then you will be useful.

The key here is found in the next two commands that He gives in this next line. There are two commands that He gives. (Mark 9:50)

1. The first one is this, Have salt in yourself. Have salt in yourself. That is, we are purifying agents in this world. This world that is full of death and decay, we are purifying agents in this world because we have the gospel that changes lives. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount “you are the salt of the earth.” He's talking to believers. You are the salt of the earth. You have a purifying and healing message, so go and be useful. Live pure lives. And salt the earth with the gospel. That's what we've been called to do. Have salt in yourselves. That's what he's saying. Be pure and be useful and take that healing gospel message out to the world. Go and be useful.
2. And then there's a second command. He says, “and be at peace with one another”. Now remember the context of this and what's going on with these guys.

Before they arrive after they've come down them after Jesus and Peter, James, and John come down the mountain, they go down there they try and cast out a demon out of a little boy and were they successful? No, they weren't successful, right? So Jesus cast the demon out of this boy and then off they go to Capernaum. And as they're walking along the road, what are the disciples talking about? Who's the greatest?

What are they doing? They're bickering and fighting and arguing with one another about who's the greatest. Acting like little children. Talking about who's the greatest, we see that back in verse 34. But Jesus tells them that they need to not fight amongst one another, but they need to be what? At peace with one another. We need to be at peace with one another. As believers in the church, you and I, we need to be at peace with one another. If we want to be useful in this world, we need to be at peace with one another.

If we're bickering and fighting within the church of God, you think we're going to be any use to the people outside the world. We're trying to deal with their own problems here. But Jesus is saying, don't bicker, don't fight with one another. You need to be at peace with each other. And then when you're at peace with one another, you'll be useful.  You'll be able to go out and do the things that I've called you to do.

But our selfish ambitions will destroy peace with others and will cause us to be of no use. In fact, when we act with selfish ambitions, the whole group suffers.  The whole church suffers when we act out in selfishness. And we are less useful than as a church than we would be if we were all at peace together with one another.

Sadly, too many Christians fight, and they bicker with one another, instead of living a life of sacrifice for one another. And if we had more Christians who were willing to sacrifice for other believers, and be at peace with one another, we could be a lot more useful for the Kingdom of God.

Summary

Jesus is serious. This is a serious calling, a serious task to which you and I have been called. And being a disciple of Christ is costly. It will cost you. It'll cost you time. It will cost you resources. It'll cost you things in your life that you desire. It's costly to be a disciple of Christ. And this is a very serious calling. It's very serious.  

Why is it serious? Because we are the only ones who have the message of eternal life. You realize that? We are the only ones who have this message. This is a matter of life and death. It's a matter of life and death. And as disciples of Christ, we need to live the gospel and we need to go out and preach the gospel. And I think all of us could learn from the simple wisdom given by an airman in the Air Force who said “Take it seriously.”

Father, we thank You for calling us to be Your disciples. Father, as we have read this morning, this incredible task, to which we have been called…to live the gospel and to proclaim the gospel…Father, we can't do it on our own. Forgive us for times when we have tried to do it on our own. And help us to remember that we…we need to rely upon You.  Father help us to walk in the spirit so that we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.  Father help us to realize and to recognize that we have the message of life for a lost and dying world. God use us. Keep us pure. And use us for Your glory alone. We pray in Christ's name.  Amen.