Mushrooms or Maple Trees:
Spiritual Growth as God Intended
Sermon #7
Sermon Objective: Jesus’ words challenge His people to renewal, purity, dedication.
PRE-SERVICE INTRODUCTION
We are in a sermon series called Mushrooms and Maple Trees. Mushrooms sprout up overnight and then wither away in a matter of days. Maple trees, on the other hand, grow gradually while learning to withstand the forces of nature that threaten their existence. They result in a majestic fruit bearing entity that lasts for generations.
So it is with people who follow Christ. Unfortunately some wither away very rapidly; but others grow deep and strong and produce the fruit of life that God designed for them.
In chapter 8 and 9 of Mark we are discovering elements of a Christ-follower that produce this depth and substance to life.
Just as Jesus was preparing and grooming the first disciples to be Maple Trees so we will discover that as we apply the lessons to our lives we, too, will grow in kind. Maple Tree style followers live lives that please God.
In past weeks we discovered that a life that pleases God is:
1. A life that follows Him Personally (8:27-33)
2. A life that follows Him in Full Surrender (8:34-38)
3. A life that follows Him in Obedience (9:1-8)
4. A life that follows Him in Close Connectedness (9:14-29)
5. A life that follows Him in Humility (9:30-35)
6. A life that follows Him by Welcoming Others (9:30-50)
Today we will discover that a life that pleases God is a LIFE THAT FOLLOWS HIM IN PURITY (9:41-50)
Mk 9:41 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.
Mk 9:42 “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.
Mk 9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.:47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where “ ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 35
Mk 9:49 Everyone will be salted with fire.
Mk 9:50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
Have you ever noticed that Jesus always told his friends the truth – the hard truth – even when it was unpleasant? Have you ever noticed it drew them closer to him? They knew that even though he reserved his harshest criticism for them he loved them and valued them as friends!
This passage is a perfect example.
JESUS BEGINS BY ILLUSTRATING THE CHARACTER AND DEMEANOR OF A MATURE CHRIST-FOLLOWER -- a maple Tree if you please (verse 41).
Mk 9:41 I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.
The mature disciple is one who is being transformed into a servant. The idea of giving others cups of cold water was foreign to the thinking of the disciples. That becomes clear in the verses that precede.
A life reflects that character and passion of Jesus serves. A mature Christ-follower does not consider himself/herself above serving others but sees each individual as someone for whom Christ died.
HE PROCEEDS TO SHOW HIS FRIENDS THE DANGER OF RESPONDING IMPROPERLY TO OTHERS (VERSE 42).
Mk 9:42 “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.
With great compassion and genuine warning, he “shoots straight” with them. He exposes their heart – the real them – their basest motives. He shows HIS DISCIPLES (HIS FRIENDS) what he has been talking about since this passage began in 8:27.
God have mercy on us if we hurt His people spiritually. The word for “sin” is “skandalizein” and means to prevent other from acting in Jesus’ name … to cause them to stumble. Maybe even to cripple.
When my son was 12 he fell from a tree and broke both his ankles and feet in 8 places. Vickie and I were two days journey away and could not be there for the emergency surgery. The breaks in Craig’s feet were along growth plates and the orthopedist feared that his feet would not grow properly if they were not addressed immediately.
Soon afterward (while still wearing the casts) Craig began his fist adolescent growth spurt and his feet grew right along with him. We were so relieved! I cannot imagine a 6’ 2” boy with size 4 ½ shoes! It would have crippled him.
That’s what happens when we offend or cripple a weaker brother spiritually. They quit growing. We handicap them.
Such behavior offends Jesus Christ so much that he tells you it would be better to remove yourself from the equation!
The warning in Jesus’ words cuts to the quick. As a father I understand the protective nature that surrounds ones children … especially when they are very young. To attempt to injure them in any way would result in “intervention.” You get the feeling that is what Jesus is sharing with us here … his children are so precious to them that when danger comes their way one better be prepared to battle God himself.
That’s reassuring and sobering at the same time. “for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.” (Zechariah 2:8)
Hindering a fellow Christian sounds rather serious to me. But Jesus gets even more specific … you see the reason we offend others is because of the corruption within.
SO JESUS TURNS HIS ATTENTION AWAY FROM THOSE THAT MIGHT BE HURT AND LOOKS DIRECTLY INTO THE SOUL.
Do you remember what Jesus said to the religious folk in Mark 7:14-24?
Mk 7:14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
Mk 7:15 Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’ 24 ’”
Mk 7:17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
Mk 7:18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’?
Mk 7:19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)
Mk 7:20 He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’
Mk 7:21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
Mk 7:22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
Mk 7:23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ ”
There is a correlation between that and the warning he now gives to His followers in verses 43-49.
Jesus is not demanding the removal of our bodily members; he is demanding the sinful activities of these members stop. Radical spiritual surgery is demanded.
There is an undertone, to this passage that I do not want us to miss. It’s about Hell. Jesus speaks more about Hell that any other person in the New Testament. And He uses a very familiar metaphor (to his listeners) to describe it; Gehenna.
Gehenna is the name of a valley outside Jerusalem.
o It was the place where some of the kings of Israel had offered their children to the god Moloch, to be burned with fire.
o It was a defiled place, and it became the city’s garbage dump.
o Fires smoldered there continuously
o Repulsive and ugly worms ate at the garbage.
When Jesus spoke about “Hell” he used the word “Gehenna” because of the graphic nature of the imagery. But, if we are not careful we will miss an important element about “hell” … WASTE. We tend to think about a place where “ ‘the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ But there is another component too … a wasted life.
A life that is qualified / fit for Hell is a wasted life. When we live in such a manner as described in this passage it means we have wasted our lives … was have thrown them on the garbage heap.
JESUS STARTS WITH THE HAND.
To "cut off the hand," of course refers to eliminating the actual act that is wrong, the sinful deed.
Jesus commands us to deal with the “hand”, cut it off … stop the sinful act!
o Isaiah 1:16 says “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;”
If you have an infected hand and it is threatening your very life, there is only one thing left to do: cut it off, amputate it.
So it is with sin too. Repent of it … turn from it. Abandon it!
The Bible says: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Otherwise … you’ll waste your life.
JESUS MOVES FROM THE HAND TO THE FOOT.
The foot serves as a symbol of the path that leads to evil. The Old Testament uses this imagery;
o Psalm 119:101say “I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.”
o Proverbs 6:18 talks about “a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,”
Jesus is talking about the approach to temptation, the circumstances that lead you there. You may have to change where you go and what you spend your time doing, because you are confronted with temptation too strong for you to handle. The Apostles understood this and expand on it later. Paul says:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Jesus said, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. (Luke 22:40)
If you have an infected foot and it is threatening your very life, there is only one thing left to do: cut it off, amputate it.
If the paths you travel every day take you into temptation then you need to change you traffic patterns!
The Bible says: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Otherwise … you’ll waste your life.
Jesus begins by speaking of the HAND (the act and behavior of sin), next the FOOT (trafficking in paths that lead to temptation), AND NOW THE EYE.
The eye is the symbol of the inner vision
• the pictures we see in our imaginations
• the fantasies
• the memories and dreams of the past which light the flame of temptation.
This must he plucked out.
There are way too many occasions when the deed we do is rehearsed and planned in the mind. Sin seldom “just happens” to us. The very nature of disobedience means we are not victims we are initiators.
Some people try to excuse and rationalize their thinking by claiming they cannot help what they think about and what their eye sees. If I may use an old expression – that is poppycock! You can discipline yourself.
The Bible says that only two entities should control you … the Holy Spirit and you. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. Galatians 5:22 says: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.”
To say you cannot monitor and control your thought life or your actions is a lie you feed yourself to excuse your sin.
o Job said: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” (Job 31:1) You can choose what you look at and what thoughts / actions you entertain.
o The Apostle Paul said: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1 Corinthians 9:27). You can choose what you look at and what thoughts / actions you entertain.
o The Bible says: “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8). You can choose what you look at and what thoughts / actions you entertain.
I understand addiction. I understand you can get to the place where you can no longer handle something on your own. That is a terrible place to be and requires one to:
[1] Admit (confess) they got themselves into the situation by not disciplining their hands, feet, and eyes
[2] Make disciplined choices to seek help and accountability to get out of that situation. (This is a simple way of instructing you to turn from the sin.)
Addiction is the consequence of an undisciplined life. A life not led by the Holy Spirit. It is the consequence of one who did not turn their feet from evil
If you have an infected eye and it is threatening your very life, there is only one thing left to do: remove it.
If your thought life leads you to entertain temptation then you need to discipline your mind. Otherwise … you’ll waste your life.
WRAP-UP
In v. 49 THE TOTAL SELF COMES TO THE FOREFRONT.
Mk 9:49 Everyone will be salted with fire. 50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”
We miss the symbolism here but Jesus’ disciples (Jews) knew exactly what this imagery referred to. It referred to the temple sacrifices which were purified and dedicated to God by salt on an open flame at the altar.
Every true disciple is to be a complete and living sacrifice to God. The Bible says to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)
Notice the disciples are not to be are not seasoned with salt … but with FIRE. Just as salt always accompanied the temple sacrifices, so fire will accompany the disciple’s living sacrifice.
The fire is the purifying presence of the Holy Spirit. This is not new theology … this is the fulfillment of prophecy. Even John the Baptist said we would be baptized with fire. In Matthew 3:11 he said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”
To live with sin will result in the fires of Hell … a wasted life.
To live in Christ will result in the fire of purification. You see, there is a reason God’s Spirit is referred to as “The HOLY Spirit”. It is the term that describes Him and the impact He has on humankind. To think you can be spirit-filled and not be holy is ludicrous!
Jesus has taken a time out to “renew” His disciples. They were losing their salty seasoning
o Powerlessness
o Pride
o Proprietary thinking (excluding others)
o Causing others to stumble because they failed to serve
o Making themselves impure by excusing their weaknesses while accusing others
They needed purification!
Overtime we too will lose our seasoning if we do not return to the Father for routine check-ups and renewal.
There is no time like the present.
Let’s pray.
