If I were to ask you this morning to consider in your minds and just think for a second about a discipline involved in following Christ in holiness, I wonder how many of you would picture a discipline that involves other people. My guess is that most of us would think of a scene where we are by ourselves – meditating on Scripture or praying. Maybe you think of taking the Lord’s Supper. But if you did, I wonder how many of you imagined that scene intentionally considering the numbers of people around you, celebrating with you?
Now, I don’t ask this to downplay meditating on the Scriptures or praying. And, as we’ve noted before, these are crucial disciplines for the Christian life. You remove these from your life and negative repercussions will definitely follow. Nor am I suggesting that there isn’t value is thinking of the benefits Christ’s death brings to you personally as you celebrate communion – such as the forgiveness of your sins. However, the more I read the Scriptures, the more I find myself being amazed at how often holy living is portrayed as a task which necessarily involves multiple people.
We are called to love others – which I believe is the chief mark of holiness – and something that can’t be done without, well, others. We’re called to serve others, bear others’ burdens, share in one another’s joys, count others as more significant than ourselves, look out for the interest of others, care for the needs of others, pray for one another, preach the gospel to others, exhort one another every day, and on and on and on. Simply put, holiness is an impossible pursuit if you isolate yourself from others.
Therefore, it should not catch us off guard in this section of Mark’s gospel where Jesus takes time to teach his disciples and specifically to teach them about what it looks like to follow him, that Jesus provides for them some lessons that revolve around their interactions with others. What does following Christ entail for how we view others, treat others, interact with others, etc.? These are the questions that our text this morning answers. Therefore, I want us to look at this morning what it looks like to follow Christ, specifically as it relates to our interactions with others.
But before diving into some of those things, let’s first note that . . .
Our text begins with Jesus foretelling his death and resurrection for a second time in Mark’s gospel. As they were passing through Galilee, Jesus was making sure that people did not know he was there because he had no intention of speaking to the crowds, healing the masses, or dealing with the antagonism of the religious groups. He wanting to focus on teaching his disciples. That’s what Mark tells us – “he was teaching his disciples” (v. 31). So, how does he begin to teach them? Mark tells us that he taught them, saying, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise” (v. 31). He begins his time of teaching by first talking about what he would do. He would suffer, die, and be raised on the third day.
What’s interesting about this is that this isn’t the first time Jesus began his instruction on this note. In Mark 8:31, Mark tells us that Jesus “began to teach them,” and what does he start with there? Mark adds, “. . . that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
There are no doubt many reasons why Jesus begins on this note so often, but one of them is doubtless because his disciples (and we) need to understand that they (and we) must always live in light of Christ’s death and resurrection. That is, as we consider how we live, what decisions we make, what sacrifices we’re willing to make, we must always make those decisions through the grid of what Christ has done for us.
This is how the apostles ultimately understood Christ’s death. This is why Paul tells the Philippians not simply to count others as more significant than ourselves in humility but to allow ourselves to be guided in our minds by the one who made himself noting and was obedient to the point of death. That is, since Christ humbled himself and died, then we should consider that as we consider ourselves in relation to others. We should humble ourselves and esteem others.
So, that is our grid, our filter, through which we make our decisions. All things are decided in light of Christ who lived, died, and was raised for us. Now, with that as our foundation and starting point, we also see in this text that . . .
As Jesus is telling them about the fact that he must die (which they, again, did not understand), they’re having an argument over which one of them would be the greatest. And as Jesus asks them what they’re talking about, they’re a bit sheepish. They don’t want to admit it. So, that action right there shows that they know something is inappropriate about their conversation.
But it might be a little more understandable in light of their culture. In the time and place in which they lived, there was much about the status one had. This is why James and John are eventually going to have a conversation with Jesus about one sitting on his right and one on his left hand. That seems an odd request to us, but it denoted a place of status, a place of honor. It is also why James gives us instructions about not taking a seat of honor and leaving oneself the opportunity to be moved up to a higher place of honor instead of assuming the seat of honor and being asked to move to a seat of lesser honor. Again, this was their culture. But even then, they knew it was wrong. That’s why they were silent when Jesus asked them what they were talking about.
But since Jesus knew what they were talking about (he is God the Son, after all), he went ahead and used it as an opportunity to tell them that they would need to alter their thinking. He first told them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (v. 35). Then he demonstrated it by taking a child, putting him in the middle of them, and adding, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” (v. 36-37).
Now this isn’t Jesus saying we should become like children, though he’ll say something like that in another place. The child in that society represented the lowest of the low. If you ranked people who really benefited society in the mind of the first century Jew, it would have been men, women, and then children. Slaves, servants, and others would have been considered above children. They were on the bottom rung of the ladder.
So, when Jesus says that we should receive one like this children, he’s saying that we shouldn’t see ourselves above others in society but stoop down and serve them. And as we serve the lowest of our brothers and sisters in Christ, it’s like serving God himself.
Now, I want to note one thing about this. Jesus could have said, “Guys, stop pursuing greatness. Just quit.” But he doesn’t. Rather, he tells them that the path to greatness is through service. In this instance, C. S. Lewis’ observation is exactly right when he says, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” 1
We are content to pursue greatness in this world via exalting ourselves above others while Christ invites us to pursue eternal greatness, which requires us to become the servant of all in this life. So, pray for a greater desire for greatness than you may currently have, and seek and delight in opportunities to serve others.
But our calling doesn’t stop with simply serving our brothers and sisters in Christ . . .
In the next section, John comes to Jesus upset. He’s found someone who is casting out demons in Jesus’ name (apparently successfully), and he told him to stop because he wasn’t part of the disciples with John. But the guy wouldn’t quit. So, John wants Jesus to get involved. Jesus’ answer? He says, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will 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” (vv. 39-41).
That is, Jesus wants John to know that it doesn’t matter if this one is following Jesus and the apostles or not. This one is seeking to minister in the name of Christ. And if he does so, he will not seek to speak evil of Jesus. Moreover, if one seeks to minister to them in the smallest of ways because they belong to Christ, he will honor that.
This seems to be a struggle with John because he’s begun feeling a bit elite. In fact, you not only have a guy casting out demons who is not in their group, you have a guy who’s doing it successfully so it appears. And the last time we saw the disciples trying to cast out a demon, they couldn’t.
But before we think condemningly of these brothers, let’s consider this ourselves. Do you find delight when someone else seems to be succeeding in ministry when you’re not? Or do you rejoice simply because ministry is being done? Would we delight if the Lord seemed to bless every other church in Jackson in enormous ways and seemed to let us at Cornerstone flounder? We would have reason to rejoice, wouldn’t we? God would be doing a great work in Jackson. And if we didn’t, it would reflect that we are not excited about the advancement of Christ’s kingdom; we’re excited about God’s kingdom advancing through us. And that is not acceptable thought for one who follows the crucified and risen Lord.
You see, it is not enough that we serve others. You can serve others and have a heart that hates them. We must serve our brothers and sisters and delight in them enough that we rejoice in God’s work in and through them – even when it might not include us. This is the call for a follower of Christ.
Finally, we see that . . .
There are three lessons here, but I think we can sum them up as I have. But let’s look at them one at a time first. The first is simply verse 42, where Jesus says, “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.”
Now, the language here can be confusing. Who does he mean by “little ones who believe in me?” I don’t think he means children. Rather, by saying, “little ones who believe in me,” he’s saying even the lowest of believers. And if we cause even the most lowly regarded believer to sin, we need to fear the Lord’s judgment.
The image he uses is strong. To have a large millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the sea is equivalent to certain drowning – a terrible thought. So, this should sober us up a bit. If Jesus uses this kind of imagery of purposeful drowning someone as discipline if we cause another to sin, then we need to be very careful don’t we? It means that the couple who leads each other to sexual immorality prior to marriage is not engaging in something of little importance. You’re causing another to sin. The lesson here is that we must prize the holiness of our brothers and sisters dearly.
Then, in the next section (vv. 43-48), Jesus exhorts us to do everything necessary to fight against a sinfully hardened heart that would lead us to hell. He says if our hand or foot causes us to sin, we should cut it off. If our eye causes us to sin, we should pluck it out. It is better to avoid hell with one eye, one hand, and one foot than to go to hell with two eyes, two hands, and two feet.
Now, we are right to say, “Well, Jesus is speaking hyperbolically.” That is, he is making an exaggerated point for effect. He didn’t intend on his followers literally cutting off their hands. If he did, then none of us would have eyes, hands, or feet would we?
But the approach isn’t to say, “Okay, well then he’s not talking in extremes here.” In fact, he is. He’s using hyperbole to push us beyond what we think. That is to say, if we think it’s an acceptable sacrifice to do away with _________ (fill in the blank) in order to avoid sin, Jesus is saying to do away with something of much more value. That is, Jesus is telling us to go to radical measures in order to avoid sin. That’s how much we should prize holiness – that we would do away with things we treasure if necessary in order to avoid sin.
So, perhaps we should ask what that might be in our lives. What leads us to sin? If we value holiness more than our earthly treasures or pleasures, it will mean that we take whatever necessary steps in order to fight against sin.
Finally, in verses 49-50 Jesus says, “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, be at peace with one another.”
These images are confusing, but when Jesus says everyone will be salted with fire, he is probably making allusion to the sacrifices in the Old Covenant. Such sacrifices were seasoned with salt and then burned. Jesus is saying that our lives are to be sacrifices to him. Additionally, when he speaks of remaining salty and not losing saltiness, this is probably a metaphor for what makes us distinct – that is holiness. To be holy is to be set apart, and to live in such a way that we honor the Lord in a place where he is hated is to be set apart. Thus, Jesus calls us to live our lives as sacrifices to the Lord in such a way that we serve him in distinction from the rest of the world. And then he adds, “Be at peace with one another.”
Again, the idea seems to be that we are to sacrifice whatever necessary for personal holiness and the holiness of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Neither can be neglected. So, ask yourself if you are going to radical measures to pursue holiness – in yourselves and for others. This and nothing less is Christ’s call to us.
Our Lord lived, died, and was raised for us. So, what does that Lord call us to do in relation to others? He calls us to serve others, delight in others’ successes in service to the Lord, and to sacrifice whatever necessary for our holiness and theirs. That is our call. May we declare that we have heard and received the Word of our crucified and risen Lord as we come to the table. Amen.