Marching to Zion III

all right so give you a warm welcomethose who watching online we want togreet you to the Sandpoint 7 AdventistChurch today uh bring greetings from MyWife and our daughter and our son I wastexting with him this morning he's downat Southern doing business and financeand my daughter is as I said last nightwill become the next Dr fouchy she's uhstudying medical laboratory Sciencesright now so um I'm hoping that maybeshe can amend her ways before she goestoo far so uh I bring you greetings frommy family and uh today uh last night andSt we we're we're marching to Zion we'refollowing Jesus on his road to Jerusalemand we started out last night incaesaria Philippi and we have the storyof the blind man that has repeated Touchof Jesus to heal him the message beingthat we today need the repeated Touch ofJesus and then uh earlier uh this thismorning for Sabbath School we're lookingat what some of the teachings were forJesus on what it means for us personallyto deny self and not just deny things toself but we are to deny self our naturalhuman desire for power and authority andprogression and Prestige and the abilityto Lord it over our neighbors and ourbrothers and sisters and within ourfamilies so now we come to the teachingsof Jesus that really relates to um howwe relate to other people as we march toJerusalem or to march to Zion and wefollow him Jesus to the New Jerusalem soI'd like to invite you to open yourBibles and we're going to be lookingthrough Mark chapter 9 we're going to bebeginning at verse 30 here today and uhthis is going to be the second of thethree Passion predictions of Jesus thatwe have within this this march toJerusalem the first Passion predictionof Jesus uh we covered that last nightand that s this morning and now we cometo the second passion prediction ofJesus that he's going to die inJerusalem so we're going to be lookingthrough these teachings of Jesus andasking how do we apply this in our livestoday and today we're going to getthrough throughout through our worshipservice we're going to look at Mark 9:30through to the end of Mark chapter 9vers uh 49 there and this afternoonwe're going to be looking at what Jesusteaches about money and position andpower and what it means to be the idealdisciple so um we're going to pick upthe story in Mark chapter 9 and verse 30and31 and once again we have a geographicgical um we have a geographicaldesignation as in between for each ofthese three Passion predictions Marklets us know where this is taking placeso it says they went on from there andpassed through where Galilee he did notwant anyone to know it for he wasteaching the disciples and saying tothem the son of man is to be betrayedinto human hands and they will kill himand after 3 years after being killed hewill rise again but they did notunderstand what he was saying and theywere afraid to ask him so once againJesus is teaching his disciples he'srepeatedly teaching them that he's goingto go to Jerusalem he's going to behanded over to the chief priests and thescribes and he's going to be killed andhe's going to rise again that's in thefirst Passion prediction but thispassion prediction is slightly differentbecause this time Jesus does not say I'mgoing to be handed over into the handsof the chief priests the rulers and thescribes he says the son of man is to bebetrayed into the hands of man there's aplay on words going on here so the sonof man is going to be handed over intothe hands of men that's kind of aliteral translation of what he says herethere's a play on words and um this timehe's not going to he says I'm not goingto be handed over into the hands of theJewish hierarchy I'm going to be handedover into the hands ofhumanity now responsibility is broaderfor the death of Jesus it's not just thechief priests and the rulers and thescribes in Jerusalem who hate Jesus whoare going to do the dirty deed now theson of man is to be handed over the wordbetrayed is to be handed over into thehands ofhumanity your hands and my hands is notjust the Jewish rulers are responsiblefor the death of Jesus we we allcontribute to the responsibility for hisexecution we are all part of this storyit is humankind that bearsresponsibility for the death of Jesusnot just the Jewish religious leadersbut there's more to this picture thanjust Humanity being responsible becauseit says the son of man is to be betrayedor he is to be handed over and that wordhanded over is normally translated inthe New Testament as a tradition atradition is that which is handed overnow there were many Traditions that wefind within the gospels the firsttradition if you keep keep your fingershere in Mark 10 go back to Mark 7 andJesus um criticizes the Jewish religiousleaders because they are elevating thethe they are elevating the traditions ofmen over the Commandments of Godremember that story where a man may sayto his parents I'm responsible forlooking after you in old age but if Ihand everything over to the temple Ihand it over and I declare it to beCorban that means it can only be usedfor the temple when I die that means Ican use it now and I'm not allowed tohelp you my parents with this moneybecause this dedicated to the temple andwhen I die the temple keep the balanceso this was a way by which people couldtheoretically be religious and supportthe temple and get out of theirresponsibilities to honor your fatherand your mother um in the land that theLord has givenyou the fifth commandment and so thefirst kind of tradition we find in thegospels is human tradition humantradition that sets aside theCommandments of God for the for the forin favor uh we we set aside God'sCommandments for the traditions of menand we're not immune to that Temptationourselvestoday there are many things we do thatare really the traditions of men andmany people have no idea why we do thethings wedo like why do Adventists have communiononce a quarter does anybodyknow well there's a reason for that thataccording to Jesus we're to celebratethe Lord's Supper every time wemeet and when the Christians met in thefirst century it was on a dailybasis but we don't do that and why do wehave social meetings social socialmeetingsyes okay and why do we do foot washingonce a quarter well there are reasonsfor that that have little to do withscripture and have everything everythingto do with the writings of John Wesleythe traditions of men rather than theCommandments of God we could go on aboutthis some traditions of men aren't thatbad they don't overturn the Commandmentsof God but sometimes we have thesetraditions of men that overturn theCommandments of God but there's anotherkind of tradition out there and if youturn to Galatians 1verse4 that there's when you have humantraditions and people like their humanTraditions people become attached totheir human traditions and they arewilling to become violent for theirhuman Traditions Galatians 1 this isPaul talking about his early life as aChristian he have said there we'll readfrom verse 13 Galatians 1:13 he says youhave heard heard no doubt of my earlierlife in Judaism so he was a young man inJerusalem when Jesus was condemning theJews for elevating human Traditions overthe Commandments of God and he saysthere in verse 13 Paul he says I wasviolently persecuting the Church of GodI was trying to destroy it I advanced inJudaism Beyond many people of the sameage why because I was far more zealousfor the wats of my ancestors for thetraditions of my ancestors and this isthe same word that Jesus has condemnedin Mark 7 so Jesus condemned thetraditions of the Jews that overturn theCommandments of God and Paul was willingto kill for those traditions of men thatoverturn the Commandments of God andtoday there are people who will killbecause they think they're doing aservice toGod Jesus says in John 16:2 there iscoming a time when they will kill youand they will think that in killing youthey're offering an act of serviceworship to God we still have thatphenomenon today in many parts of theworldso you can have human Traditions uh thatthat which is handed over of humanorigin and people are willing to killfor thoseTraditions but then there's anothertradition that we find Galatians Chapter2 much more beautiful tradition oh let'slet's keep that tradition for a fewminutes go to First Corinthians15 1 Corinthians15 and we have another tradition 1Corinthians 15 and: 3Paul says there for I handed onto youand it's the same word to hand over tosome you hand something over to somebodyelse a tradition is that which is handedover Paul says for I handed unto you asof first importance what I in turn hadreceived that Christ died for our sinsin accordance with the scriptures thathe was buried that he was raised on thethird day in accordance with thescriptures so this is a good traditionthis is the gospel is that Jesus liveddied and rose again that is somethingthat is passed on from gen generation togeneration but there's more to this soyou have human Traditions who overturnthe Commandments of God and you have thethe Divine tradition which is the gospelthat Jesus lived died and rosed againbut then you look at come back toGalatians Chapter 2 there's anotherthere's another expression of traditionthat's even more significant GalatiansChapter 2 and verse 19 Paul says forthrough the law I died to the law sothat I might live to God I've beencrucified with Christ and it is nolonger I who live but it is Christ wholives in me and the life I now live inthe flesh I live by faith in the Son ofGod who now wait for it he loved me andhanded himself over for me it's the sameverb so you have human Traditions whichoverride the Commandments of God and youhave the gospel which is a that whichhas been handed over as a church we handover the gospel from generation togeneration but at the heart of Calvaryit's not just that man mankind isresponsible for the death of the Son ofGod this verse here in Galatians 2 saysJesus the son of God he loved me andbecause he loved me he himself handedhimself over for me and foryou that's good news isn't it so thereare many actors here there there's theRoman authorities there's the Jewishauthorities there's you and I and thereis God the Father and Jesus himselfhanded himself over for you and for mehere's the tradition that beats allother traditionshe hands himself over for you and for meso come back to this passage in Markhere this screen this passage on thetext here Mark Chapter9: 30 through 32there where is Jesus drawing thisunderstanding of being handed over fromwell uh the most obvious passage isIsaiah53 and if you go to Isaiah 53 keep yourfingers in Mark and go to Isaiah 53and there's something interesting inversesix very famous passage all we likesheep have gone astray true we've allturned to our own way also true and thelord has laid on him the iniquity of hisof us all that God put on Jesus all ofour sins when he died onCalvary now the uh the Greek translationof this that the apostles would haveused rather than the Hebrew translationthe Greek trans HEB the Greektranslation on the sepan reads this itsays the Lord has handed him over forour sins and verse 12 in my version saystherefore I will allot him a portionwith the great he shall divide the spoilwith the strong because he poured outhimself to death and was numbered withthe transgressions they who have theidea that Jesus handed himself over foryou and for me and the the Greektranslation reads his soul will washanded over to death and on account oftheir sins he was handed over so whatJesus is saying In this passage is thisthat when he died on Calvary it was avicarious death it means it was onbehalf of somebodyelse it wasn't just dying to show us thelove of God Jesus is saying In thispassage of Mark chapter 9 that when hehands himself over for on Calvary hehands himself over on behalf of you andmeof you and I it's vicarious thetheologians call it vicarious it's doneon behalf of somebody else it's alsowhat theologians called an expiatorydeath that is his handing over isn'tjust for the sake of it it's for apurpose the purpose is to pay thepenalty of my sins and yoursins that your sins have been paidfor whatever you did yesterday whateveryou did tomorrow God has made fullprovision for your yourforgiveness and sometimes it's hard tograsp just the depth and the the thedepth and the breadth of the grace ofGod but there's no sin you're going tocommit that's going to catch himunawares or catch him bysurprise this Grace was given you and Iit was given us in Christ Jesus beforethe foundation of theworld that means before you were bornGod knew every sin you would ever commitand in the the perfect death the perfectsacrifice of the perfect Son of God onCalvary full um full payment was madefor all of your sinseverything that's good newsyes and the Apostle Paul goes on to sayin Romans 5 and verse 8 is just as byone man's Act of Disobedience death cameto all we're all subject to death so byone man's Act of righteousness lifecomes toall we are saved as Adventists notbecause of our perfect adherance to thelaw of God the law of God is importantwe as Adventist struggle with theAssurance ofSalvation I did anointing earlier thisweek and I'm telling you this many oldAdventists these elderly Adventists notold elderly they don't have theAssurance of Salvation why because ifyou come through time beginning here andending there we understand that when youare baptized God forgives you and givesyou Grace for everything that's happenedup to your baptism but the question ishow do you remain saved do you youremain saved by Perfect obedience to thelaw of God and God tops off with littlegrace to help you where you've fallendown that's how many Adventists livetheirlives that I'm going to somehow keep thelaw of God perfectly myself and onlywhen I'm sinless do I have the Assuranceof Salvation which doesn't last for verylong or we remain in a saved conditionby keeping our eyes in faith on the onewho died in ourplace so this death of Jesus is a bigdeal Jesus handed himself over for youand for me I'm responsible for his deathyes but he voluntarily chose to die foryou and for me and you may live in aworld that says you're not worthanything and you may live in a homewhere there's angry and demeaning wordsspoken to you on a daily basis but theson of man came and handed himself overforyou you're important toGod you're so important that heaven wastorn in half as God the father wasseparated from God the son on the crossofCalvary you're important to God but thedisciples still don't get it so if weunderstand this passage here in thelight of Isaiah 53 jesus' death isvicarious and it's expiatory that it isto pay the penalty for my sins and yoursif we understand it in the context ofDaniel chapter 7 is that jesus' deathwas part of a cosmic conflict that willonly end when the son of man willreceive a kingdom that will never cometo an endso there's a conflict between good andevil going on Beyond you and I we thinkas Christians today that the worldrevolves around us it doesn't we'resimply little porns in a much greatercanvas of time and history so jesus'death was for my sins and for yours butit was also to bring about victory inthe cosmic conflict between good andevil in order that sin and sufferingmight no more have any part in God'screation so jesus' death can beunderstood at multiple levels herebut the disciples still don't get it thedisciples still don't understand whatJesus is teaching them about here and sothey follow Jesus on the way toJerusalem and on the way to Jerusalemthey're arguing amongst eachother we come to the disciplesmisunderstanding there we are it saysthen they came to capernium so they'remarching they're coming down from Caesarof Philippi now at the seity of Galileeand when he was in the house he askedthem now what will you arguing about onthe way but they were silent why becauseon the way they had argued with oneanother about who was thegreatest now the Silence of thedisciples reveals that they knew thatsomething was wrong does itnot when Jesus says now what were youguys when you were following me on theroad to Jerusalem what were you talkingabout amongst each other and thedisciples are silent because they knowin their heart of hearts what they werediscussing should not be discussed amongdisciples why they had been arguing notjust discussing arguing with one anotherabout who was the greatest and when youhave an argument with someone AngryWords Get spoken and Barbs get put intopeople's hearts do they not so Jesus isspeaking not just to arguing disciplesbut he's speaking to woundeddisciples you might see in Zechariahsays that he was wounded in the house ofhis friends yes but many Christians arewounded in the house of Christ in thechurch why because there's jostling forposition and jostling forpower this is a this is aum well let me ask you this does thishappentoday yeah so when I was about 15 I hada consciousness of this kind of stuffand my father used to Pastor in largeJamaican churches or Caribbean churchesand I soon leared that on every board inthe Caribbean Church there had to berepresentative from every Island represpresented in the church so if 90% ofmembers from Jamaica and the othermembers were from St kits or St nevas orSt Lucia or Grenada or J or Haiti thenevery island had to be represented onthat board why because there's so littletrust that every island needs itsrepresentative in the decision-makingprocess and when it comes to nominatingcommittee time I noticed that my fatherhad this calendar on his wall and onthat calendar he had like everyWednesday was crossed off for prayermeeting every Sabbath was crossed offfor one or two sermons spending how manysermons he had to preach and then umevery when was it July or August therewas like a red line going through thecalendar said Dad what's that red linefor he says Sonny said our Pastor AlSala is is laughing that's nominatingcommitteetime and we smile about it but my dad'slast church he had about 600 offices tofill and because it was so much work hedid did nominating committee every twoyears because otherwise you'd never endyour nominating committee process and Ican tell you that from a pastor'sperspective nominating committee is abrutal time ofyear you think it's hard to callsomebody to ask them to do a job youwait till you're a pastor kind ofsupervising that process it can beabsolutely brutal nominating committeetime is not easy election time inconferences is not easy when nominationsare made in their factions withinconferences it is very unpleasant to seeit there are some parts of the worldtoday where they have shame and honestsocieties and cultures where if somebodyis not going to be reelected thenthey're not going to be re unelecteduntil they found a different positionfor them with equalstatus because to lose that position isso overwhelming causes so much shamethat may people will threatensuicide not because they want the jobbut because the shame of losing the jobin front of everybody is so overwhelmingnow we don't really experience that tosuch an extent here in the west but thatidea in shame and Honor Society if youwere the treasurer of a conference insay southeast Asia and you are going tobe you're told 6 months in advanceyou're not going to be reelected butdon't worry we're going to shift you offto some University together as a VP forfinance that's okay but wo beide thetreasurer who is not reelected in a Jameand Honor Society it can be absolutelyhorrific there was a Treasurer not solong ago in Southeast Asia who committedsuicide precisely over the issue ofshame we won't say where or but ithappened these things are real the ironyis Jesus is teaching us that the son ofman is going to sacrifice himself forpeople who hate him for a world inrebellion and just as Jesus is teachingthe disciples about what he does for uswhich is being faithful and obedientunto the death of a cross the disciplesresponse is to argue about who's thegreatest in God's kingdom do we not seelike the something's not right here yessomething doesn't add up with thesedisciples responses the point is thisthose disciples are physically followingJesus toJerusalem okay but it's almost as ifthey're missing the touch of Jesus intheirlives and we may be sitting in churchweek afterweek and we may be missing the touch ofJesus in ourlives and earlier in this gospel in Markchapter 6 when Jesus is walking to thehouse of gyus and he's surrounded by alarge crowd and there are peoplejostling people on every side of him andthat the woman with issue of blood for12 years comes up behind him and shetouches the Hem of His robe and shethinks if I can just Touch the Hem ofHis robe then I'll be healed Jesus turnaround and says who touched me thedisciples says how can you say whotouched you everybody's touching you butthe point is even when you're jostlingthat close to Jesus you like you'removing right beside side by side withhim and you're you're kind of jostlingaround him like this and you're touchinghim from shoulder down to to knee eventhose people did not experience thetouch of Jesus in a spiritual sensephysically yes but spiritually no soeven if you're walking with Jesus toJerusalem as we see with blind bartuslater today or you're walking to Gus'shouse with Jesus and you're in yourcrowd with Jesus or these disciplesfollowing Jesus to Jerusalem and we arefollowing Jesus to the New Jerusalemtoday it is possible to be so wound upin our power games that we miss thetouch of Jesus in ourlives and those who touch him with faithsuch as blind bartmus or the or the manwith the with the with the poor eyesightor the the woman with the issue of bloodthey're the ones who are touched in theway that matters that brings physicalhealing and spiritualsalvation it may be you may bewalking after Jesus today but you mayhave never been touched by Jesus and youmay be sitting in the pews here thismorning and you sing about Jesus and youhear about Jesus but you've neverexperienced his touch in your life wellthe first question I'd ask is are youplaying power games within the body ofChrist because when you push yourself upyou by inevitably you're pushing otherpeopledown and that's why there is so muchwoundedness around nominating committeetime and hurt feelings and people can'ttrust eachother I was called the other day bysomebody who remained nameless veryupset withme and somebody had called me from awell-known Adventist institution about 6months ago and said can you give areference to this individual and I gavewhat I thought was the truth and thatindividual called me this week to saywhat do you mean you told them thesethings and I thought I thought that wasinconfidence these things happen and itcreates woundedness it means we can'ttrust one another and if I can't trustyou and you can't trust me I'm much lesslikely to serve you in love and to beyour champion in front of other peopleso Jesus goes on to talk about thisParadox of the human condition it sayshe sat down and he called the twel andhe said to them whoever by that meanshe's extending it to you and I todaywhoever wants to be first must be lastof all and servant of all this is aparadoxical statement from Jesus um theuse of all in both sides of the sentenceprovides interruptive clue to be thegreatest among you means to be the wordmy version says servant but the word isDuos and the best translation isslave that if you want to be be great inthe kingdom ofGod then greatness in the kingdom of Godis Will is measured by a willingness toserve in a hidden way I think of thedeacons that come in at 5:00 in themorning in some Churches to switch theheating on nobody ever sees that but Godsees that you think of the the folksthat make the the the the bread for thefor the for the Lord's Supper when youhave Lord's Supper everybody sees it andthey see the hot water for the footwashing but hardly anybody says thankyou to those who did that behind thescenesand you think of your Sabbath Schoolteachers who labor through the week toprepare good lessons for your childrenand you barely give any thought to thetime and effort that goes into doingthat week after week after week yearafter year afteryear to be great in the kingdom of Godmeans to serve other people as the sonof man would give his life a ransom foryou and for me so we are to serve likehim and we are to be Servants of allJesus doesn't just say servants of thosewho like you he says Servants of thosewho maybe despitefully used you despiteServants of those who have gossipedabout you Servants of those who havesaid things about you on nominatingcommittee time that meant you notreelected to a job you wanted Servantsof those um who you have a rivalrywithin the church we're not just to beservants those who are can do thingsgood good things back to us theChristian church is is exemplified bypeople who say yes there are wounds inour midst but we're going to be aspiritually debt-free Church like thegreater the wound you've given me themore I'm going to serve you in responsebecause good will overcome evil Good'sgoing to overcome evil if I fight firewith fire the whole church is going toburn down so I'm going to fight evilwith good and if you are to be great inthe kingdom of God and we all want to begreat in the kingdom of God then I needto ask myself today who in my church hasgiven me the most pain in the last yearcan you think of that person rightnow think of that person who's given youthe most pain in the last year that'swho God is calling you to serve todaythat's who God is asking you to pray forto be a blessing for because if wecannot live the gospel among ourselvesthen people outside the church willnever see it being expressed and peoplelive in a world of polarization andDivision and fighting and anger and ifthey don't if they just see the samepolarization and anger within the churchthey're not going to join the body ofChrist so we talked yesterday and wetalk this morning about that these thesethese talks I'm giving here today arenot just like academic talks this ispractical stuff who who's hurt you themost in the lastyear in the body of Christ and you knowwho that well you know who that is I'mchallenging you today to Covenant withGod this morning that Lord I'm going tobless that person from nowon I'm going to bless them in every waypossible I'm going to melt the ice thathave stuck onto our hearts like theIdaho snow I'm going to melt that icewith the son of righteousness theregoing to melt it away and somethingGood's going to come in its place Idon't know what the outcome is going tobe all I know is if I follow theteachings of Jesus and overcome evilwith good and be a servant of all thenGod is going to bring good out of thissituation so you do your part and trustthat God is going to bring somethinggood out to the end of it so The StoryGoes On then they came to caperniumwe've already covered that verse haven'twe let's go the otherway he took a little child and put itamong them and take taking it in hisarms he said to them before we get towhat he said we think about it this thisway in those days children had a verylow status in society in Roman societyif you did not want a child you couldeither abort it or you would expose thechild to expose the child meant thatafter you had the child a slave wouldtake it to the Public Waste tip in Romeor the city where you're living and justleave it by the waisttip and the child was not left to diebecause if somebody found that childthey could raise them as aslave or they put them to work in abrothel this is what happened childrenhad a marginal existence in the time ofJesus and even in Judaism children wereviewed as a blessing from God we saw thequote from uh the Psalms um during thechildren's story that children are ablessing from God but even in the timeof Jesus Children had a marginal statusthey basically didn't exist in the eyesof Judaism at least a boy did until hepasses by mitzvah at the age of 12 or13 and so Jesus Takes a little child andhe puts it among them and he takes it inhis arms it's a sign of acceptance fromJesus now the the sto the emphasis hereis not on the child it's on what Jesusdoes to the child we know nothing aboutthis child we don't know whether thischild is Jewish or Gentile we don't knowhow old this child is it would haveappear from the the text that it'sprobably a male child but beyond thatthere's almost nothing we can say aboutthis child the focus here is not on thechild but it's on what Jesus does forthe marginalized in hiscommunity he takes that child in hisarms and he hugsit this is a surprising thing back thenrabbis and teachers weren't in the habitof taking children into theirarms what is Jesus teaching Us in thisverse here is that Christians receivethe socially insignificant and theywelcome themChristians are not socialclimbers we welcome the sociallyinsignificant we identify with thesociallymarginalized we reach out to those whoSociety thinks nothing of whether youlive or die nobody really cares but toChristians that is not thecase so Christians look after the poorand needy in theircommunity and we do not walk on theother side of the road as the parable ofthe Good Samaritan we are that GoodSamaritan if the uh if the polite ofsociety walk by on the other side wepick up the Brokenhearted we bind up theBrokenhearted we bring good news to thepoor we set the captives free becausethat is what Jesus came to do and wefollow in hisfootsteps so it is right and proper forChristians to be a force for good forthe marginalizedoppressedimpoverished um parts of our communitytoday that is part of what it means tobe the salt of the earthto be the light of theworld if those who are suffering in lifedo not experience God's blessing fromChristians from whom will theyexperience God'sblessing so again church is not acomfortable middle classClub church is God in action in ourbrokenSociety we have high levels ofBrokenness in our society today we havedeaths of Despair On The Rise suicidesare on the rise addictions and all themany forms are on the rise we are calledby Jesus Christ to take the sociallyinsignificant the socially marginalizedthe socially oppressed those who have novoice no presence in society they liveor die nobody cares those are the peoplethat Jesus is calling us to ministerto so in your congregation beintentional aboutthis it is right and proper that thepoor have good news preach to them andthat doesn't just mean the gospel itmeans that people get help is we offerhelp with people's rents with theirmedical bills we're getting people toschool making sure there's there'sgroceries in on the kitchentable Christianity is a practical FaithJesus didn't just say look after this CHthis child to the to the 12 he took thatchild and gathered it into his arms andhe thus showed us that we don't justhelp the poor but we embrace the poor wedon't we want to minister at armslength like I'm going to go to the soupkitchen I'm going to minister to youunder the archers in the city but I'mnever going to invite you to my home orbe my let you be my friend becausethere's too much Social distance betweenus that's what not what Jesus ismodelinghere we are called to invite and towelcome and to love and to be vulnerablewith those that Society has thrown onthe on the on the on the thrownaway you know when you hug somebodyyou're exposing the most vulnerableparts of your body to them you realizethat when you put your coms out likethis and you hug somebody you'reexposing this is the most sensitive partof your body if somebody's going to hurtyou this is where they're going to gofor but when you embrace them as Jesusdid here you're saying I will bevulnerable with you I will welcome youinto my Social Circle I will startpraying with you I'll visit with youwhen it's Thanksgiving you're going tocome to my house you're going to be mybrother or sister inChrist we're not called to be a politemiddleclass Church we're called torepresent Jesus to the Brokenhearted ofplanet Earthand so before Jesus even speaks he'sgiving us a lesson but the next verse hesays whoever welcomes one such child inmy name welcomes me and whoever welcomesme welcomes not not me but the one whosentme what this tells us isthat disciples are not called to be likechildren but we are called to be likeJesus if we welcome those who aresocially insignificant in the name ofJesus we're welcoming Jesus into ourlives and into our homes you don't knowbut that mother who can't pay hergrocery bill in front of you in Walmartis actually the presence of Jesus inyour life and you hardening your heartto that mother who can't pay hergroceries that month or that week you'reactually closing yourself off to thepresence of Jesus coming into your lifeshe may not know it she may not think ofit in those terms but you do notknow so disciples are called not to belike children but to be like Jesus Jesusis inviting us to A discipleship ofselfless service for those around uswhom Society has turned its back onThose whom polite Society wants nothingto do with and although Jesus isteaching the 12 here um he's broadeningdiscipleship to whoever he doesn't justsay the12 he says whoever that means he'stalking to you and I he's not justtalking to the 12 there and Jesus issaying that to be my disciple you don'tjust have to one of the 12 you can be mydisciple all the way down the time tillJesus comes again and this is somethingthat disciples just don't get cuz theythink there's something special aboutbeing a disciple so we come to the caseof the unknown Exorcist and the nextverse says this and John said to himteacher we saw someone casting outdemons in your name and we tried to stophim because he was not followingus like you hear the pride there yes nowjust earlier in this chapter um fromverse 14 through 29 the disciples hadnot been able to cast out a demon fromtheboy so these are failed disciples theyhave failed to cast out the demonearlier in the chapter from the littleboy and so John with this sense of Prideand self congratulations as well Jesushe says you know I've got a good reportfor you this week he says we sawsomebody who was casting out demons wecouldn't do it during the chapter butthey were able to cast out demons andeven though they could cast out demonsand we couldn't do it just a few versesearlier in this in this story here eventhough they were casting out demons umwe tried to stop him because he was notfollowing us as if following John is iswhat we're supposed to bedoing you know there's this element ofPride here yes we follow Jesus thereforeeverybody followsus no we follow Jesus and we inviteother people to followJesus John is rebuking somebody stoppingsomebody doing what he could not dohimself for God's Kingdomthere's a there's a it's a pitifulpicture of disciples here that Johnshows no concern for the victim ofdemonicpossession according to his logic thatperson was best left demonized by ademon it better for him to remaindemonized if the demon wasn't going tobe cast out by one of the12 do you see the lack of concern forthis suffering person here according toJohn being a follower of Jesus was not acall to serve service but John viewed itas entitling him to privilege Authorityand position insociety personal Authority and prestigein this story here are put above thepersonal Deliverance of other people thekingdom of God has now become a platformfor personal gain for these 12disciples it's a platform for personalgainwhy because they still want to be thegreatest in the kingdom of God and theywould rather see peoplesuffer then then be helped by the thepower of Jesus Christ if my position isthreatened because you're somehow goingto be delivered by Jesus Christ thenit's better that you stay oppressed bySatan now I'm sure this doesn't happenin any of our churches I'm sure nobodyis so wedded to position and power andLeadership roles inchurches here but elsewhere in the worldI see plenty of that people can be sowedded to a certain job they're kind ofweed you know ining getting them out ofthat job can like tear a whole churchapart some people think that they areowed a leadership position in the churchbecause their dad paid for thechurch some people think they are owed aleadership position in the churchbecause their grandfather was thefounder of thechurch some people think they owed aleadership position in the churchbecause they return the most tithe anddrive the Fancy's car in the parking lotyou carry a big stick and you shoutloudlyand this whole passage here the thesechapters as the disciples are followingJesus those disciples are no differentto ustoday whoever wants to be greatest amongyou must be the slave of you all saysJesus as Jesus is a slave handed himselfover forus and now the disciples are quitewilling to let other people suffer if itmeans that their position of power andPrestige is not threatened does none ofthis sound familiar to anybody here yeahI mean is it does this phenomenon onlyoccur back then so Jesus says to John donot stop him for no one who does a deedof power in my name will soon afterwardsbe able to speak evil of me so Jesusrebukes John and sayso not stop him andthe reason is then given works andwonders in the Name of Christ areevidence of the calling and commissionof Christ and fellow disciples arecautioned against thinking ill of thosewho bear genuine fruit for Jesus Christand Jesus goes on to say in the nextverse furthermore he say says whoever isnot against us is forus what is Jesus saying here is thatthere are people in the church who areself-appointed Arbiters of who isacceptable to God and who is notacceptable toGod and it's God who determines whosehis disciples are not those who arepuffed up with their position andPrestige and Power in thechurch God says you may think that thekingdom of God belongs to Jesus says tothe disciples you think the kingdom ofGod just belongs to you 12but I'm telling you that there's peopleout there who are working for me thatyou do not know and some of them you'reactively down putting down but I'maffirming there my disciples as well thefact that they are ministering in myname and miracles are taking place in myname through their Ministry is evidenceof the fact that God has called themanointed them and it is not your role asthe TW to determine who can and cannotbe called a disciple of JesusChrist it is God who recognizesdiscipleship not ustoday we are not to be self offappointed Gatekeepers who determine whois acceptable toGod we saw yesterday last night thatwhen people come to Faith In Jesus theyrequire the repeated Touch of JesusRemember that we've covered that theme anumber of times and if people need therepeat Touch of Jesus then at what pointdo you say how many touches do you needto have before you're acceptable to sitand worship with us nextSabbath God is growing that personsometimes over many years and it's myprivilege to love you and walk with youthrough that growing process rather thanto say we only want you to you're onlyacceptable in this church when you'vehad a shower dress in smart clothesdrive a nice car and all the visiblesins of your life have been cleaned upso you're not a source of shame tous does any of this ring abell I hopeso I hope not actually but I fearso John thought that following Jesus wasa one-way ticket to having power as towho receives a gift of eternal lifebecause to be in the kingdom of God isto receive eternal life so it's anultimate power to have the pope claimsthat Authority but disciples do not havethat Authority in Mark 9:41 Jesus goeson to say for truly I tell you whoevergives you a cup of water to drinkbecause you bear the name of Christ willby no means lose the reward it's abeautiful teaching of Jesus here thatany Outsider will receive a rewardthrough a simple act of kindness to adisciple of Jesus that God sees whenacts of kindness are done not just tothe lost but also among Disciples ofJesus and so we are called to be toengage in genuine acts of kindness tothose who bear the name ofChrist and we are called to engage inacts of kindness to those who aresocially insignificant who do not yetbear the name ofChrist are we known for our kindness arewe known for our acts ofMercy do people know that we willprovide the them with that proverbialcup of water when they needit youknow whoever gives you a cup of water todrink because you bear the name ofChrist will by no means lose thereward we don't know who when Jesus sayswhoever is he speaking about discipleshere or about people outside the kingdomof God it's not very clear in thepassage but the bottom line is treatinga fellow member of the church kindlygives you an eternal rewardGod sees it and he will rewardit which is why Jesus then comes onto the stumbling blocks to the kingdomof God now just a little bit of Greekbackground here the the Greek word forstumbling block isScandal you know what a scandalis when you have a scandal in your lifethere's a scandal in society a scandalis is something that's just lying acrossthe floor and you you kind of trip overit as you're walking alonga scandal is literally a stumbling blockso Jesus then talks about scandals inthe kingdom of God that's what the wordstumbling block means in Greek and uh hesays there if any of you put a stumblingblock before one of these little oneswho believe in me it would be better foryou if a great Millstone will hungaround your neck and you were throwninto the sea so the first question weask is well who are these little onesthat Jesus is talking about is Jesustalking about the child that he justpucked up in his arms three versesearlier or is he talking about somebodyelse and the the clue in the text is thephrase who believe in me so Jesus is notnecessarily talking about literalchildren here because there's nothingthat links this this those who believein me to the child you just picked upwhat he is talking about is as we livein the church as we live in the body ofChrist God does not want us to putcauses of stumbling in front of ourbrothers and sisters particularly thosewho are new in thefaith we are not to dothat it will be better for you you if amillstone were hung around your neck andyou were thrown into the sea well youwonder well if that's the good optionwhat option what other options is Jesusthinking ofhere if it's good to put have your feetset in cement and dropped off into NewYork Harbor if that's the good optionthen you go heaven forbid you whatwhat's the bad option they have for mehere it's better for you to be drownedin the deepest sea says Jesus if you puta scandal a cause of stumbling in frontof a young believerso what is Jesus talking about what ishe talking about here well there aremany causes for stumbling for littleones but there's one I want to focus ontoday I want to drop over to thewritings of Paul first Thessalonians 4and verse 1-7 it says there finallybrothers and sisters we ask and urge youin the Lord Jesus that as you learnedfrom us how you ought to live those arethe the Traditions that have been passedon of the Gospel how to live and toplease God as in fact you are doing youshould do so more and more for you knowwhat instructions we gave you throughthe Lord Jesus for this is the will ofGod so hear this today standpoint ChurchGod's will is yoursanctification how is that put intopractice and this particularly appliesin 2023 that you abstain fromfornication or sexual immorality thateach one of you knows how to controlyour own body in Holiness and honor notwith lustful passion like the Gentileswho do not know God then the bit in rthat no one wrongs or exploits a brotheror sister in this matter because theLord is an Avenger on all things just aswe've already told you beforehand themsomly warned you for God did not call usto impurity but toHoliness what is Paul talking abouthere he's talking about members in thebody of Christ who sexually wrong otherbrothers andsisters and it says here that God willavenge youthere are many sins in this world but asexual sin is a sin against the personit's against your innerbeing that no one that means nobodythere's no exception to this nobodywrongs a brother or sister in sexualmatters nobody exploits a brother orsister in sexual matters why because Godwill avenge you for that there will bean eternal judgment if you put thatcause of stumbling in front of somebodyelsenow again we've gone allquiet it's seriousstuff in AFM we get student missionariescoming everyyear and as I talk to particularly theyoungladies it becomes clear tome that it's a miracle some of thoseyoung ladies are still in the body ofChrist because of what has done tothem fathers uncles Brothers cousinsElders youth leaders the list goeson makes me angry makes me very angryI've got a daughter and if you're afather your job is to get your daughterthrough to adulthood in one pieceunharmed andhealthy she has the rights to expect herfather to be her protector and herEarthlyAvenger and there's too many fathers whoare happy to father a child but not tobe a father to the childGod sees when there is sexual wrong donein the church and God is not pleasedabout it and if you are engaging insexual wrong in the church or to anybodybut particularly in the church it isbetter that a millstone be thr cast tiedaround your neck and you be dropped inthe deepest specific than what God hasin mind foryou my job as a father and I have adaughter my job as a father is toprotect my my daughter she has everyright biblically because God has giventhat daughter to me as a gift I'mresponsible to God for that gift she ispart of stewardship is not just moneybut it's raising the children that Godhas given you it is my responsibility asa father to protect thatdaughter and there are too many women inour church and men but it's mostly womenthere are too many women in our churchwho are sitting with Dee rooted woundsin their hearts because somebody didsomething to themand the stories I hear are not juststories about you know full on rapethere's other things that go on evenlike like a grope or a feel or a touchor a a careless glance or kind of anoffc colored joke these things woundpeopledeeply and those scars stay with peoplesometimes for the rest of their livesthey often prevent people from enteringinto normal healthy adultrelationships God is an Avenger of thethese things I don't want God to avengeanything on me it is a fearsome thing tofall into the hands of the Living God Ido not want that Eternal destruction soI'm going to go to the opposite end ofthe extreme and say I'm going to doeverything I can to stand up for thosein our church who are being hurt in thisway and to be a source of protection forthose in the church you know my daughterknows that she lives at the end of a carin our bedroom our house at home there'sa long Corridor and if anybody comesthrough my front door they're going tobe met by a hail of precious metalbefore they get anywhere near my mydaughter'sbedroom I'm not joking aboutthat the law says in Michigan you canlose lethal Force if you fear if there'sreasonable belief that it's going to beimminent the reasonable doubt if theyreasonably believe there is imminentthreat of physical or sexual assault thecivil government recognizes this so muchso much more the the moral government ofGod it is our responsibility to protectthe women and the children those who arevulnerable in our midst and stand up forthem and it is not our right to cover upthese things when they take placebecause that just leads to hypocrisy andyoung people smell out a mof and when ayoung person has been hurt in this wayand she sees the church does nothingabout it that person walks away from thechurch and from God for the rest oftheirlife and there's an eternalconsequence so be careful that no onewrongs or exploits a brother or sisterin these matters because the Lord is anAvenger in all these things this tellsme that if you have been hurt bysomebody else God is not blind to it hewill bringJustice he will avenge you he willrestore the years that the locusts havehave stolen he will make things right inhis time I I do a lot of Deliverance Minwith my colleagues and she's inSwitzerland right now and she wrote tome last night because we talk back andforth we normally Minister together butI'm here and she's there and she's aretired lady and she wrote to me aboutthis phenomenon that she's SE see therethat we're seeing more and more inAmerica this phenomenon of a young womanwho was abused as a young girl and uhbecause there's this wound of bitternessin her Hearts she now experiencesdemonization in the form of a demonvisiting her at night and assaultingher we may think in 2023 Sandpoint ohthat doesn't happen oh yes it does Ihear this a lot from women in the MiddleAges it was called Incubus or succubusthat is demons coming and manifestthemselves in a certain way at night toboys and girls and men and women andthis happens because if that trauma isnot resolved if if the shame is notwashed away if that person does notreceed the healing they need from Godthen that is an open wound upon whichSatan can play for the rest of thatperson'slife and there are some people today whonever recover from thatwound it's why God takes it soseriously if I hit you in the face you'dbe okay in 5minutes I touch you somewhere else youmay never recover for the rest of yourlife those wounds are deep they'repersonal they're invisible but they'rerealand it leads to dysfunctional marriagesand dysfunctional parenting anddysfunctional lives and addiction and uhjust so muchpain so when Jesus speaks these words inMark's gospel not to put a cause ofstumbling in front of anybodyelse he's deadly serious and if you aredoing this you need to stop it today andrepent and what I would suggest is youturn yourself inbecause only when there is truthfulnesscan the healing process start for thevictim if there is no truthfulness ifthere's no recognition of the wrong thathas taken place then the healing processalmost will never take place if I go tothe doctor and say I got a problem withmy left shoulder and the problem is withmy stomach I'm not going to receive theright diagnosis I'm not going to receivethe right treatment plan if I have aproblem with depression I go to apsychologist let's say and thepsychologist says what's wrong with youcar and I say well you know I just havethis over uberant all the time I'm notlikely to get the right diagnosis ortreatmentplan so for there to be healing for theBrokenhearted there has to betruthfulness a recognition that wrongshave occurred and that's the startingpoint for healing for manypeople Jesussays going back here letcome actually no that's gone too faractually before before we come tothis somebody asked me about this theother day so if you have yourBibles go backto uh let's have I'm trying to thinkwhere it is now numbers 21 Ithink no it's not go to Leviticus21 I'm getting old andtired it's not those it's Exodus 21 allright we're narrowing it down it's oneof these books of Moses Allright yes it's Exodus Exodus ExodusExodus listen tothis Exodus21:1 this is talking about marriage andthe maritalrelationships uh Moses says or God saysto Moses and says to us if a man takesanother wife to himself Exodus21:1 he shall not diminish the foodclothing or marital rights of the firstwife and if he does not do these threethese three things for her she shall goout with it without debt withoutpayments of money so this forms thebasis for the Jewish marriage vows and aman would promise four things he wouldpromise to provide raw food and rawmaterial and he would promised to befaithful to his wife and he promisedconjugal love and in exchange the wifepromised to make turn the food intomeals to provide the cloth into clothingto be faithful to him to honor him inpublic and also to provide conjugal lovethat was the basis of the Jewishmarriage vow and it comes from here skipforward in your Bibles to the NewTestament and you come to Ephesians 5and in Ephesians 5 we havethere we have there the discussion ofhow men are to treat their wivesEphesians5:25 says husbands what should you do toyour wives so so women are to respecttheir husbands because men want respectmore than love but women want love morethan respect it seems so it sayshusbands love your wives just as Christloved the church and gave himself up forher etc etc then it says verse 29 youshould love your verse 28 husband shouldlove their wives as they do their ownbodies he who loves his wife loveshimself for no one ever hates his ownbody but he nourishes and tly cares forit and so those verbs have entered intomodern Christianity via what we known asthe common book of prayer producedaround the Elizabethan time and when wehave our traditional marriage vowstraditional marriage vows we promise tolove honor and cherish those threethings have you heard those three verbsbefore love honor and perish they comefrom Ephesians 5 they ultimately comeback from Exodus 21 so they all go theygo all the way back to Moses so when youpromise to love honor and cherish and Ihate modern vows people say I promise togo climbing in the Rockies with you andall that kind of rubbish no these vowshave a deep biblicalroute when you promise to love it meansyou're promising the conjugal side ofthings in marriage when you promise tohonor it means that you will honor yourspouse in public you're not going todemean them you're not going toundermine them you're not going to mockthem you're not going to make jokes attheir expense you're going to lift themup on a pedestal beforesociety and then we promise to cherishand cherish means you're going to takecare of like the physical side of thingsso if you have a plant like an amarillisflower you're going to put water on itevery day you can turn it round so itjust catches the Sun at the right angleso when you promise to love honor andcherish you're promising conjugal lovepublic Fidelity and honoring of yourspouse and you're also promising to doall in your power to nourish that asperson as anindividual not just feeding them I'mgoing to do everything in my power togrow you so that you are the the mostperfect person that God created you tobe and a divorce is a legal recognitionsomewhere down the road that someonewasn't honoring one of those three vowsto love honor andcherish and God says in Malachi I hatedivorce the covering your garments withviolence becauseif somebody divorces you after 20 yearsofmarriage it's not like a work colleaguewho's known you for a week who just saysor I don't want to talk to you anymoreif they've known you for 20 years ofmarriage there's nothing that's in yourlife or being that is hidden from thatperson when they say I'm going todivorce you it's a rejection of you atthe deepest possible sense and of yourbeing that's why it's so painful it'ssomebody who knows me better thananybody else still thinks I'm not worthspending time with and God hates this hehates it not many things God hates buthe hatesdivorce and we are called as Christiansto love honor and cherish in ourmarriages we're not to put a cause ofstumbling in front of our spouse orcause of stumbling in front of youngpeople but we particularly in ourmarriages and our families we're calledto love honor and cherish I want tochallenge you today think about thosethree vows you may not have said thembut they're in the common book of prayerthey're in the ministers manual thatministers use as the as this as thedefault set of vows those things have adeep spiritualroot when you hit your wife when youdemean your wife when you criticize yourwife bitterly when you nag your husbandand question him and stuff like this youare not honoring your vow to cherishthat person you are breaking thevows and we are called then torepentance and forgiveness which is whyin Matthew 18 Jesus talks aboutforgiveness so many times divorce comeswhen forgiveness is no longer possiblefrom one side to the other because it'sbeen going on for so long but I'm hereto tell you today and to share with youtoday that we are not to put a cause ofstumbling in front of anybody in ourlives so if you are in that maritalrelationship think hard about thepromise love honor and cherish it's inEphesians 5 comes from number Exodus 21it's in what we Advent as pastors use itmakes good sense to think about thosethreevows don't put a cause of stumbling infront of those closest and dearest toyou and don't put a cause of stumblingin front of Brothers and Sisters inChrist so Jesus goes on tosay for those who put a cause of stumstumbling in front of anybody else ifyour hand causes you to stumble cut itoff it is better for you to enter lifemimes than to have two hands and to goto hell to the unquenchable fire and ifyour foot causes you to stumble cut itoff it is better for you to enter lifelame than to have two feet and be throwninto hell and if your eye causes you tostumble tear it out is better for you toenter the kingdom of God with one eyethan to have two eyes and to be throwninto hell where their worm Never Diesand their fire is never quenched so wecan ask ourselves some questions aboutthe saying of Jesus what life is hetalking about well it doesn't appearthat he's talking about eternal lifebecause according to 1 Corinthians 15:50 onwards when we are resurrected weget imperishable Incorruptible Immortalbodies so he's not talking about thatand in Jewish thinking at the time uhwhen you when the resurrection takesplace the Blinder heals the lameerhealed and everyone shall be healed oftheir physical ailments so thereforeappear that what Jesus is talking abouthere is if you're going to follow metoday today before we get to heaven forthe for the remaining years of your lifehere on planet Earth when you get toheaven you're going to get a new lifebut if there if there is something inyour life that is causing you to be acause of stumbling for other peoplebetween now and when you die when Jesuscomes again it's benef you to get rid ofthat thing in your lifeto get rid of ittotally have nothing to do with it nowis Jesus speaking hyperbolically thatyou chop off your hand or take out youreyemaybe maybe not he certainly doesn't saychop somebody else's hand off if youthink they're a cause of stumbling toyou he's not giving anybody thatright but I know look I've never tastealcohol in my life I can walk by aBuffalo Wild Wings and it has notemptation to me even though I know thatthey say alcohol in there but I knowthat there are people who are recoveredalcoholics and for them to even walk bythe sight of a sports bar fills themwith an overwhelming desire to go in andpartake of thealcohol all right so for somebody whohas never tasted alcohol in their life Ican walk by Buffalo Wild Wings don'tthink twice about it I'm not going totake a deviation to avoid the sight ofit but if I have a friend of mine who isrecovered alcoholic I know for him thepressure is just overwhelming just thesight of the neon lights and the thesmell of the alcohol and tobacco comingout the front door it's better for himto take a detour to to avoid that thingcompletely and instead of mocking himinstead of questioning for that I say Irecognize that you've come from a placeof Brokenness and you have to havereally hard fixed lines in your lifeotherwise you're going to fall into thatarea of sin once again and so whenpeople come into the body of Christ fromchaotic backgrounds whether it be adrugs background or promiscuitybackground or an alcohol relatedbackground and they appear rigid to youas a Christian today who've been walkingwith Jesus for many years it's notbecause they're rigid and legalist it'sbecause they face Temptations you don'tand they don't want to go anywhere nearthat precipice to fall back into sinonce again and so they have those fixedlines in their lives you think why arethey so ridiculous and so hard Ed onthese things no they know they'revulnerable there they want to stay asclose far away from the precipice aspossible again we're giving people timeand space to grow in the kingdom of Godso we can live maimed in this life todayin the current age while we're stillfollowing Jesus to Jerusalem with thepromise that one day we're going toreceive a new body with new eyes and newhands and a body that is Immortalimperishable andIncorruptible so is there something inyour life that needs to beremoved and is there something in yourlife that is a cause of stumbling toother people does that thing needs to beremoved again we've gone very quietis there a source of stumbling in yourlife is there something in your lifetoday that is causing someone younger inthe faith to stumble in their walk withGod and if there is don't say well it'smy right to do this it may be your rightto do it if maybe eating certain kind offood or engaging certain kind of hobbybut if it's causing somebody else tostumble in their faith why not for theirsake temporarily give it up in orderthat they might also receive eternallife this is where as Christians wedon't just say it's my right to do thisI'm going to do it whether you like itor not we recognize we're in a Communityof Faith what I do affects you and whatyou do affects her and what she doesaffects me and if I see somebody doingsomething I think well if they can do itI can do it but it may lead me into sinso we live the Christian Life consciousof the fact that our lives are livedbefore men and angels and what otherpeople see may send them the messagethat you can do such a thing or engagein such an activity and that may be thecause of theirdownfall so we're living Our Livesconscious of the fact that before God Idon't want to be a scandal a stumblingblock before somebody else and I'm goingto remove those scandals those causes ofstumbling in my life so that those whoare walking around me don't trip upinadvertently so the Christian Life isyou know man is nil to himself it's nota solo religion the Christian Life islived in a Community of Faith wherewe're looking out for each other andonly doing that which is designed andcalculated to uplift the body of Christrather than to turn it tear it down orto divide it are you all following me onthis so this passage here the the lastquote there verse 48 where their wormNever Dies and the fire is neverquenched Jesus is quoting from Isaiah66:4 where Isaiah speaks about thepeople who have rebelled against Godthey ELD they end up in smoldering puriffaion in the Valley ofDeath the point is this what Jesus issaying In this passage here in thegospel ofMark it's not justadvice that you can take or leave youneed to know that whether you take it orlead it leave it there's an eternalconsequence you take it and you remainin the kingdom of God you reject it andyou facing the prospect of putria in theValley of Death when Jesus comes againso there are consequenceswhen we hear the word of God when wehear the teachings of Jesus Jesus issaying it's better for you to enter lifein this world maimed and to chop offthose causes of stumbling from your lifethose causes of Scandal because youstill have the promise of eternal lifebut you need to chop them out of yourlife now because I don't want anybodyelse to be hurt by what's going on inyour life and when we get to heaven allthings will be made rightagain so is there a cause of Scandal inyour life are you causing a scandal tosomebody else are you causing uhsomebody else to lose their faith areyou causing somebody else to give uphope have you been abusing somebody haveyou been exploiting somebody have youbeen um misrepresenting somebody haveyou been putting somebody down in orderfor you to be raised up and look as ifyou're smelling ofroses if that's been happening in yourlife then here this teaching of Jesustoday it's better for us to enter life Mby cutting out those s of Scandal thosestumbling blocks then for us to loseeternallife so take it seriously take itseriously Jesus is being as explicitwith us as he possibly can be and heneeds to be because we all come fromdifferent cultures we have differentlanguages we come from different partsof the world and so the teachings ofJesus are explicit and clear so thatnobody can can say later in life oh Ididn't understand it it wasn't clear tome to me so what I'm preaching here tosay I'm trying to make it as clear as Ican remove sources of scandling from oursources of Scandal stumbling blocks fromour midst in order to receive the giftof eternal life and if I want to keepthose sources of Scandal and stumblingblocks in my life and in particular Iwant to continue abusing somebody elseand in very particular details in sexualabuse terms then I have the assurancethat one day I will be a putrifying messin the valley of deathso the message could not be more Starkcouldit God sees how we treat eachother how we treat each other has aneternal consequence for each one of usstarting withme treat one another as Jesus said inall things do unto others as you'd havethem do unto you and if we all followthat simple Golden Rule none of theseother teachings would be necessary butJesus gives us these other teachingsbecause he knows that we're for Fallenhuman beings with Fallen appetites andFallen desires and sinful thoughts andso he has to explain for us in crystallyclear terms Crystal Clear terms exactlywhat it means to live like this foreveryone he says will be salted withfire now Jesus is referring here back toLeviticus chapter 2 and verse 13 wherewhen you come before God with asacrifice you come in a covenantrelationship with God every sacrificewas to be brought with some salt thesalt of theCovenant so Jesus is saying here is thatum if you're going to be my disciple ina covenant relationship with God becausewhen we celebrate the Lord's Supper wecelebrate the New Covenant if you'regoing to be in that Covenantrelationship with God then then you'regoing to be salted with fire the salt isis an image here for purification orsanctification that if we're going to bein a covenant walk with God God islooking for our sanctificationwe don't just we're not just saved todayand then we remain the same ever afterwe are Justified today by faith and thenwe are saved on a daily basis and inthat saving process God is alsosanctifying us and changingus he's purifyingus what good is salt says Jesus later inthe S on the mount if it loses itssaltiness the implied answer is ifyou're going to be in mykingdom then I need you to go through aprocess of purification in particular inhow you treat your brothers andsisters how you treat your brothers andsisters is so important and if the saltloses its saltiness that means it's fitto be thrown out if I claim to be inGod's kingdom but I'm not experiencingthe purification of how I live my lifethe sanctification that God wishes forme and I'm causing um scandals andstumbling blocks in front of my brothersand sisters so they lose heart and losefaith in God and drift into outerDarkness then I then Jesus says thenthat salt is fit to be thrown out I'mfit to be thrown out aswell so he concludes this passage thischapter we're looking attoday with this salt is good but if Salif salt has lost its saltiness how canyou season it have salt in yourselvesand be at peace with one another so thatfinal those two imperatives have salt inyourselves and be at peace with oneanother it suggests that to have salt inyourselves means to live at peace withone another we are called to be acovenant a people of Peace Jesus is thePrince of Peace he wants his people tobe peacemakers blessed are thepeacemakers for they shall be called thechildren of God and if you've come herefrom your home church with your fists upready to go back for a fight nextSabbath then Jesus is Calling You toreturn next Sabbath with your handsextended like this and say how can I bea peacemakerand he's not asking you to wait for themto be a peacemaker to you because you'rehearing this sermon today that I believeGod is asking you to take the first stepfor you to initiate the peacemakingprocess if you have an argument withsomeone and you make up the relationshipis stronger after the argument and afterthe reconciliation than if you never hadan argument in the first place becauseyou become vulnerable with each otherand if we come to church we're just likethis we're going to butt heads all thetime but if we start to open up to eachother and we're vulnerable with eachother we can have a much closerconnection with our brothers and sistersand in the final crisis you want peoplewho are like this with you not to likethis withyou so live at peace with one anothersays Jesus in this saying of his it'sthe conclusion of this particular thisparticular chapterhere I could say a lot more about thisbut our time is up so I'll bring this toa close here in this passage here ofMark9 Jesus is teaching us says if you'regoing to follow me to the New Jerusalemthis is what it requires of youtoday what is Jesus teaching ustoday is that we are to live at peacewith one another rather than in openconflict that peace is only possible tothe extent that today you and I committo God that we will serve one another aseach other's slaves we will only do thatwhich is good for our brothers andsisters that we we will endure purifyingtroubles we won't get angry with thembut we'll recognize that God sometimesputs me through a furnace in order topurify my faith that peace is possibleto the extent that you and I removecauses for stumbling within ourselvesand between ourselves otherwise known asscandals and that peace is only possibleto the extent that you and I embrace thesearch for humility and service toothers rather than power and Prestigeand position within God's Kingdomthis is what it means to follow Jesus tothe NewJerusalem so I don't know where you sittoday when I see you sitting here buthow this has impactedyou but to be a follower of Jesus is nota soloreligion it's something that is livedout within a Community ofFaith and God is concerned about how wetreat oneanother and he will bring Eternaljudgment or eternal glory to those whoput a Scandal or a a stumbling block infront of the weaker and the moremarginalized in ourmidst if you have been hurt by somebodyelse know today that God will be yourAvenger and he will work out Justice inhis time and in his way and if you areaware that something is going on thatshould not be going on you have a moralresponsibility to speak up to stop itfromhappening I think the average pedophileis captured after they've messed withabout 80 plus kidsand nobody raises a cry of alarm beforethathappens so let us live at peace with oneanother let us follow these teachings ofJesus as we live ourlives as Jesus says here have salt inyourselves experience the sanctificationthat only God can give and be at peacewith oneanother maybe God is asking you to makepeace with somebodytoday maybe God is asking you to removea cause of stumblingtoday maybe God is asking you to be apeacemaker in your home in your marriageor in your churchtoday this is the way to eternal life aswe live in a Community ofFaith so if God has brought convictionto your life today about something inyour life that needsfixing I'm not coming here from Michiganto preach here and you know for peopleto kind of clap and go and D on theFlesh of the preacher as they have theirpotl luck I'm standing up here to saythese things because time is short Jesusis coming soon you don't know whetheryou're going to make it home alive todayor not we need to be right with Godtoday we need to be right with God andeven if you don't get the chance to makeup with somebody tonight and say I'msorry you can at least Covenant now withGod so God knows what the intention ofyour heart was should you not make ithometonight so I'm standing and preachingthesethings in order that we might have theAssurance of eternal life that we mayfollow Jesus in the way that he teachesus and he asks of us not because it'ssomething difficult to do but becausehe's already troden that path beforeus he came as the Prince of Peace hecame to be served to serve and not toserve and to give his life a ransom formany we'll talk about that and what itmeans this afternoon but he's asking usto do what he's done forus and because he's done it for us andbecause I love him I want to do it forhim and we want to do it for him as wellso when God looks down on planet Earthand he sees Conrad or Jane or James overthere he doesn't say That's my boy hesays that's my boy that's my daughter toall who believe he gave the power tobecome the Sons and Daughters of God