Walkin’ with Jesus:
Limping through Life with You in Mind
Scripture Text: Mark 9.42-50
INTRODUCTION
He’s talking about living in relationship with others!.. That’s-what Jesus is talking-about in this passage… Now, there’s a-whole-lot going-on here ~ …dramatic and attention-grabbing-stuff ~ …But, what-it-all boils-down-to is that Jesus is talking to His followers, …to people like you-and-me ~ …people who’ve decided to walk with Jesus. And-what He says is powerful… challenging-stuff; …And it-has-to-do-with our relationships with others!
BODY
I. Influence
Do you know that you have a tremendous amount of influence on others?
It’s extremely-naïve to think that our actions don’t have a tremendous-amount-of-influence on the people around us!
[Use personal illustration of people that have had a positive impact on you and your faith-walk.]
My decision to accept Christ as Savior was largely influence by consistent, caring-acts toward me-and-my-family that-made the difference.
You will have no-idea how large-your-influence-is on-other-people, …until you open your eyes to see all-the-ways and all-the-opportunities that you can plant-seeds, …and make impressions, …and have an impact in big-and-small ways on those around you! We all have an influence ~ for good-or-bad; …we all leave an impression ~ positive-or-negative. There’s no-escaping this reality!.. Whether you realize-it, or-not: …you are influencing other in significant-ways. By the way you handle your emotions, …to the way that you fulfill your promises and vows, …to the way that you manage information that comes down the grapevine, …to the ways that you manage your money, …to the things you invest your time-and-energy in. Each one of us has an impact on the people around you!
There’s a-lot in this passage that’s-attention-grabbing ~ …and we’re gonna-get-to-that, in-a-minute ~ …but we often skip-right-over the-whole-point, of-what Jesus is talking-about. “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin…”
He’s talkin’-about our relationships within the church, …relationships between-and-among believers. And-the-heart of the issue is the influences that we have on others ~ …and Jesus is warning us: “Don’t drag others down”!
II. Cut It Out!
The bulk of these verses is some pretty-dramatic-stuff. Cutting and chopping and gouging… It’s attention-grabbing! If your hand, …or your foot, …or your eye causes you to sin ~ “This is serious business” Jesus is saying. Don’t blow-it-off! Don’t dismiss-it.
But, this is much-bigger than a personal-issue. If we read these verses by-themselves, …it sounds-like this is just-about our personal eternal-destiny… that you need-to-do whatever-it-takes to rid-your-life of sin.
Now, I don’t know of a single Bible-scholar or pastor who says Jesus means-for-us to take this literally. But, He uses these graphic, jarring-illustrations to make a point, …and the point is: ”This is serious business! “Sin has no plae in the life of believers. “Sin carries with it, consequences.” Undesirable consequences. Eternal consequences. And you don’t-wanna-go-there! You don’t wanna allow sin to rule the members of your body. And-so, whatever-it-is ~ that’s leading you into sin ~ …cut-it-out! Get rid of it!
Now, one-of-the-reasons we-know that Jesus isn’t being literal, here, is because we all know that the hand doesn’t cause anyone to sin! Nor does your foot. The same-goes for your eye ~ …the parts of our bodies don’t cause us to sin. That cames from somewhere else ~ …somewhere deep within us.
Jesus-himself helped us to see the nature of sin when He said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’”
In-other-words, sin takes shape in our hearts and imaginations ~ …not when the members-of-our-bodies act-it-out! The hand is not the problem ~ …it’s the heart that entertains thoughts of sin. The eye is not the problem ~ …it’s the imagination that is not content with what God has blessed us with! Your feet aren’t dragging you into sin ~ …unwilling and captive to your feet’s desires!
No! The problem is deeper within us ~ And Jesus’ warning to us is: This is serious business, with serious consequences. You don’t wanna go there! You don’t wanna live with the results. You don’t want to live in sin ~ …so cut it out! Make changes now! Do what-it-takes to free-yourself of the influences in your life that pull you toward sin.
But ~ the thing-is, that this is a much-bigger issue than a personal, private-thing. Your choices ~ …no-matter how hidden or private ~ …your choices have serious ripple-effects on other-people! As followers of Jesus, …we must not lead others into sin. I hope I’ve already-established that we all have tremendous-influence over others. You don’t-have-to-be a president or a Senator, …a CEO or a movie-star, …in-order-to impact others. You don’t have-to-be a board-member or a pastor, …a Sunday-School-teacher or a missionary to sway others in their walk with God. All you have to be is a friend, …or a parent, …or a classmate! The beauty of the church is that there’s no hierarchy.
We are all sinners-saved by-grace. We are brothers-and-sisters. The ground is level at the foot-of-the-cross. And because of this, …we all have a tremendous amount of influence on each other.
Therefore, indulging in sin is not a private-matter! It affects your brothers and sisters in Christ. And-tragically ~ …it may lead someone-else down the same road. Then, they are no longer following-Christ, …they’re following you into sin! And-to-that, Jesus-says:
“It would be better for you to have a great-big-rock tied around your neck and then tossed overboard into the sea!”
It’s not-a-pleasant-thought. It’s a very-strong warning! Sin is serious business ~ …not-just-because of where it takes the sinner; …but also because of the very-real-possibility that you might drag-others down with you! So… cut-it-out! If-not for your own-sake, …for the sake of the “little ones” around you!
III. Peace
When you eat a sandwich ~ ….whether it’s a p-b-&-j or lunchmeat or a b-l-t ~ …when you eat a sandwich, …there are two-pieces of bread surrounding the filling. What you taste is what’s-in-the-middle. But, the bread holds it all together. And-so, a sandwich it-would-not-be without the two-slices of bread.
That’s-what we’ve got goin’-on in this passage. The “filling” of the sandwich gets all our attention ~ …cutting and chopping and gouging, and-all-that-talk of being tossed into hell. This tends-to-be where our focus rests. But this is the filling ~ …and the two-slices of bread are what holds the whole thing together.
We’ve already seen the first slice of bread: …”if anyone causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin…” ~ This is the first slice of bread, …and it tells us that this sandwich is all-about-relationships in the body-of-believers. The first-slice is all-about the influence we have on one another. And, as we’ve already-noted, …as-followers-of-Jesus, …we are called to live our lives in such-a-way that we don’t lead others into sin.
The second-slice-of-bread on this sandwich is found at the end of the passage: Jesus wraps-it-all-up by saying, “Live at peace with one another”.
Live at peace.
Unfortunately, we’ve got a bargain-basement-understanding of “peace”! When we think of peace, we think it means something-like: “The absence of conflict”.
Well, that’s a pretty weak, diluted, anemic-definition of peace! Peace is one of the greatest promises and blessings that come with walking with God. The Bible talks about peace all-the-way-through ~ …that we have peace with God when we enter into a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus; …that we can have peace with one another ~ …even-if we were enemies or adversaries before-becoming brothers-and-sisters in Christ; …that God plans to bring peace-on-earth through the kingdom-of-God.
And-I’ve-gotta-tell-ya, …He’s talkin’-about so-much-more than-simply the absence of conflict, …or the end of hostilities!
Peace is a totally transformed relationship based on the love of God! Peace is experienced as people live-out the two-great-commandments ~ …as we love God wholeheartedly; …and, as we love one another. Peace is what happens when we nurture-and-support each other in our walk with God. Peace is what happens when we beat our swords into plowshares, …lay down our weapons, …and live in loving relationships, …rather-than in competition or unforgiveness, …distrust or hard-heartedness toward Christian brothers-and-sisters. Peace is what we find when we live according-to the kingdom-of-God, …rather than the kingdom-of-this-world!
Jesus says, “Be at peace with one another”. This is the second-slice of bread for our sandwich this morning. The sandwich is all-about-relationships within the church. Don’t lead one another into sin! Be at peace with each other.
CONCLUSION
As-followers-of-Jesus, we are called to live-out our walk-with-Him in the context of relationships-with each other. Walking with God is never a solitary, private-exercise. It always involves rubbing-shoulders with others.
That’s probably why Jesus put the two great commandments together the way-He-did:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself”.
It’s all-about-relationships. Salvation may begin with accepting the invitation to a personal relationship with God ~ …but it doesn’t-stop-there! It immediately, undeniably, irrevocably moves from our walk-with-Him to our relationships with others! Be at peace with one another! Don’t lead anyone into sin! Seek God. Live the Kingdom. And-behold:
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn 13.34-35)
