In the section of Mark we are studying, we have been watching Jesus through a variety of ways instruct the disciples in the true nature of the Kingdom of God. We have seen that Jesus makes it clear that the cross comes before glory, but this is a difficult thing for the disciples to comprehend. And this lesson is very applicable to us, because, if you are like me, you do not like the cross in your life. Christians often make much about the blessings and the glory of Christianity. But usually we avoid the thought of suffering and persecution, of discipline, and of sacrifice. Much of the teaching of the church today avoids talking about these thorny implications of the cross. But Jesus makes clear to his disciples, and by extension to us, that there is no glory without the cross -- no cross; no crown. Romans 8:17 says that if we suffer with Him, then we shall also be glorified with Him.
The chapter began with the transfiguration, which was a prefigurement of the glory to come, both in the life of Christ and for his disciples. But then Mark says that they came down the mountain, back on the road to the cross, back down to the suffering and hardship and trials that often are a real part of the Christian experience. They came to find the rest of the disciples being scorned for their lack of power, their impotence over a demon controlled boy. They came down to find unbelief in the absence of the Savior. And now they are traveling again, headed to Capernaum, but Jesus knows that He is ultimately headed to the cross. His public ministry is virtually over at this point. His primary focus is on teaching and equipping the disciples for the time when He will no longer visibly be with them. So Mark says He goes out of His way to avoid the crowds, and as they are walking along on the hot dusty road to Capernaum, He tells the disciples of His destiny. Jesus said vs.31, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.”
He is speaking of His humiliation. His suffering and death, and then His exaltation, when He will rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. Once again, there is the order of first the cross, then the glory. But the disciples don’t understand what He is saying, and perhaps they are afraid to find out. So they don’t ask Him what it means, and they are fearful.
In this announcement of the cross, a new element is added which has not appeared before and may have contributed to their fearfulness. Jesus said, "The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men." The word translated "delivered" really means "betrayed." It is a word that is the technical word used for a criminal being handed over to judgment and punishment, and perhaps execution. It is a legal term and the use of it here even hints at the fact that the execution of Jesus will be to some degree a legal act. It’s an indication to these disciples that the Lord would be delivered over to his enemies by an act of betrayal. After Peter’s rebuke in the last chapter, where Jesus called him Satan, it is not surprising that this revelation would make them afraid that one of their own could betray Christ and He would be killed as a result.
But the principle Jesus wants to teach them is that He is going to suffer the cross before He would be exalted in the resurrection. His humiliation is an important principle that they need to understand, because humility is something that they needed to learn was an essential tenet of the gospel of the Kingdom. In the following verses we are going to see four ways in which the Lord teaches or illustrates the humility of the kingdom in action.
The first is brought about by the Lord asking the disciples in vs33, “what were you discussing along the way?” Jesus knew that they had been talking among themselves during their journey about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom of God. They are still thinking about glory. And perhaps, though Peter, James and John had not told them about the transfiguration as Jesus had requested, yet the rest of the disciples knew that they had gone up to the mountain with Jesus, and had to have realized that something momentous had happened there which they were not privy to. So it’s not surprising that led them to start to argue with one another about who would be first in the kingdom, and who would be next and so forth. They were picking out the seats of honor already, and there was probably some jealousy going on amongst them. In fact, this concept of glory is so fixed in the disciples mind that in the next chapter John and James even had their mother ask Jesus that her sons be seated on the right and left hand when Jesus took His throne. This kind of unbridled ambition is something that is incompatible with the new life that Jesus was illustrating for them.
So Mark says they were quiet, because they didn’t want to admit that they had been talking about who was the greatest. Yet Matthew’s account says that eventually they did ask Him straight out who was the greatest among them. So in vs35, Jesus calls them to come around Him and He sits down in the posture of a rabbi teaching His disciples and He begins to teach the principle of humility. And the principle He gave them is this; “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
You know, it is a very natural desire in the heart of man to excel, to achieve, to distinguish yourself among your peers. We teach that to our children, don’t we? We put them in sports, that are competitive. We give them grades at school. They are tested to see how they rank in regards to others in almost every endeavor. And it doesn’t stop there. We do the same thing at work. Those that excel generally are the ones that get the bonuses, the raises, the promotions. It is part of our culture to be competitive, to try to outdo one another, to rise to the top.
But the gospel is not natural; it does not operate on natural principles. It operates on spiritual principles, based on the truth of God for how we are to live. So what Jesus did was to tell them the way to true greatness. "It is not by seeking to be first,” He said, "It is by a willingness to put others first. It is not by getting people to serve you; it is by becoming a servant of all."
What Jesus is really saying is that there are two kinds of greatness, two kinds of ambition. There is the ambition to be approved and applauded by men, and the ambition to be approved and applauded by God. One way is natural, and one way is spiritual. One way involves pride, and the other way requires humility.
Now to illustrate this principle, Jesus calls forth a child, maybe 2 to 4 years old. It could have possibly been Peter’s son, as they were probably in Peter’s house. So picking up the little boy in His arms, Jesus said, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”
So Jesus reveals, in three remarkable ways, the real marks of greatness as illustrated by this child. Children are illustrative of the Christian. But especially in that culture, children were not considered important. They were property. They were workers for the family good. But they were not given the esteem that our culture gives children today. So the first mark of greatness in the kingdom of God is found in these words: "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me." The important words there are "in my name." The motive for receiving such a person, such a little, unimportant child, is that it is done as unto the Lord -- done in his name. It is not done because the child can reciprocate by doing good things for you; it is something you do regardless of whether you receive any benefit in doing it, because it is done as unto the Lord.
The first mark of greatness is that you learn to be no respecter of persons, to welcome people simply because they are people, to take no consideration of whether they can do something for you or not, and not to be concerned whether knowing them enhances your own prestige, but because, potentially at least, they are sons and daughters of God Himself. Romans 12:10 tells us to be “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.” We do this without regard for their standing, or rank. We should put others importance and needs before our own.
This is illustrated in the next section by John. At this point, Mark says, John interrupted Jesus. “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us.”
Probably the mention of the phrase, "in my name” caused John to suddenly recall an incident which had taken place not long before, when he and some of the other disciples had seen a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus. John said, "Teacher, when we saw him, we told him to stop, because he wasn't following us." This is a typically human reaction, isn’t it? This is jealousy, and it was probably brought on by the fact that the disciples had recently been unable to cast out the demon in the boy. They were jealous of the fact that someone else was doing something, even successful at doing something, that they thought only they were entitled to do.
I think what also must have irked them was that this man actually was succeeding in what they were having trouble doing. This man was not an imposter. Jesus gives him credit for accomplishing a true miracle. Let’s be clear about something though. We aren’t encouraged here to accept shysters in ministry who claim to be faith healers and are not. The Bible makes it clear that we need to beware of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing. But this man was legitimately casting out demons and they were jealous of him.
This is what Jesus was saying to his disciples. The mark of greatness is that you look not at a person's credentials, nor at the outward characteristics they manifest, nor at their affilations, but that you see a life of faith that honors Christ. And if the name of Jesus is being honored by any such person, do not hinder them, but honor them and accept them. And very importantly, don’t measure yourself against other Christians. Don’t judge people according to the gifts God has or hasn’t given them. Let God be the judge of those who are His. God uses a variety of people for a variety of purposes. One person is not more valuable in God’s eyes than another. But their value is in doing what God has purposed for them to do. And if we are to be great in the eyes of God, then we will not hinder others from doing God’s work, but rather encourage and build them up in the Lord.
The next mark of greatness follows immediately in vs 40, "For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
Remember that Jesus is still holding the child in His arms, and now He is giving a positive and a negative charge concerning how we are to treat the children of God. The positive is obviously meant to represent doing a small thing which has a big reward; as even giving just a glass of water has a great reward in the kingdom of God. The negative thing uses a similar equation in reverse; whoever by even a small sin causes a Christian to stumble, will be guilty of a great punishment.
I think the mindset of most Christians today is far too often focused on their liberties in Christ, rather than their responsibilities. Remember Jesus said it is better to give than to receive. But a lot of times we are only focused on what we receive as Christians, rather than on what we can give. The real blessing and sign of maturity for a Christian comes not from getting, but giving. What may be a small sacrifice for you in time or effort or resources can have great eternal benefit.
On the other hand, what liberties we take with our Christianity often can become a stumbling block to others. 1Cor. 10:23 says, “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify,” that is not all things build up others. If we truly loved others, then we would gladly sacrifice our liberty for the sake of another brother. Especially in those areas where other Christians are weak.
I will speak bluntly of a couple of examples. Women you need to be careful in the way you dress for the sake of your Christian brother. Yes, men are weak. Many men are perverted in their thinking. Yet that doesn’t relinquish your responsibility. The Lord loves those who are weak. He died for those who are weak. How can we then not sacrifice our liberty for the sake of someone who is weak? And I will also speak of drinking. I’m not going to say that you have to be a tee totaller to be a Christian. But I also shouldn’t have to tell you that alcohol is a tremendous problem in our society. We need to be careful not to present a temptation to a weaker brother, nor an excuse because they see us indulging in something that would be destructive for them. And as such we need to take Jesus’s warning here seriously, “if you cause one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better to be cast into the depths of the sea with a millstone around your neck.” Sounds like Jesus takes such things seriously. So should we.
And to illustrate just how seriously Jesus considers such stumbling blocks, the next characteristic follows in vs43: "And 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 to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 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 with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. For every one will be salted with fire." What Jesus is teaching is that the path to greatness starts by judging yourself correctly, rather than judging others. The Lord is saying that the mark of greatness in the kingdom of God is one who takes seriously the importance of sanctification, which means that he begins to judge himself according to the standard of God’s righteousness, and deals drastically with himself, purifying himself.
The analogy he draws is very graphic. If you have an infected arm that develops gangrene, and it is threatening your very life, and the doctors cannot do any more for you, there is only one thing left to do: cut it off, amputate it. Your life is at stake. Jesus uses that very graphic analogy to tell us how serious it is when we are involved in wrongful and hurtful attitudes and actions, and what we must do about it. We must deal drastically with these things; otherwise they bring upon us the judgment of fire.
The word used here for "hell" is gehenna. Gehenna was the name of a valley outside Jerusalem. It was the place where some of the past kings of Israel had offered their children to the god Moloch, to be burned with fire. Consequently it was a defiled place, and it became the garbage dump of Jerusalem. Fires smoldered there continuously; repulsive worms ate at the garbage. And that garbage dump becomes the symbol of the eternal waste of life. When we read these words of Jesus about hell we must understand that when they are applied to an unbeliever, i.e., one who resists and rejects the good news of Jesus and dies an unbeliever, it means his whole life, spiritual and physical, is like that -- wasted, a total loss. There is nothing salvageable about it. He may have won the approval of men, may have lived very comfortably, but at the end his life is a worthless, a total loss, good only to be thrown on the garbage heap for eternity. When these words apply to believers, as they do here, he is speaking of physical loss. Our physical life is wasted, squandered, lost; it is misused. And such wantonness brings about the fire of judgment that we might suffer the loss of such things.
The way we avoid that loss and wasting of life is, as Jesus said, to salt ourselves with fire, i.e., to judge ourselves. The fire represents judgment in our life. He tells us to deal drastically with ourselves in this way, and, in this very helpful analogy he gives, he starts with the hand. To "cut off the hand," of course refers to eliminating the actual act that is wrong, the evil deed. If you have a dirty mind, a filthy mouth, stop thinking evil thoughts, stop using obscene language. Deal with the sin, cut it off. If you are engaged in sexual wrongdoing, stop it. If your attitude toward another is bitter and resentful, stop thinking that way. Stop saying the things you say about them. Deal with the act, cut it off. Otherwise you waste your life.
And God will bring a refiner’s fire into the life of a Christian who lives in sin. 1Co 3:13 “each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.” God brings this fire not to consume us, but to refine us, so that we might be useful to the kingdom. As it says in 1Peter 1:7 “so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
So then, if we judged ourselves correctly, then we not only cut off the hand that does evil, but the foot that runs to it. The foot is the symbol of the path that leads to evil, 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, lest you are confronted with temptation too strong for you to handle. Cut it off. It may be that you will have to limit the time you spend watching television, or stop watching certain programs, or not attend certain movies, or not read certain books, because these expose you to temptations which are too much for you to handle. Cut them off; otherwise you will waste your life.
Or it may be that the eye -- the things we look at, the pictures we see in our imaginations, the fantasies, the memories and dreams of the past which light the flame of temptation -- must he plucked out. Jesus is saying that you must deal drastically with these things. They not only waste you, but they affect others. They must be dealt with.
He concludes with these words in vs.50 "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Salt in those days was a thing of great value. It was used as currency in some cases. That’s the origin of the phrase being “worth your salt”. And the primary thing salt was used for was a preservative. They had no refrigeration in those days. So they salted fish or meat in order to preserve it against corruption. So Jesus is saying have salt in yourselves. Don’t allow the corruption of jealousy and selfish ambition to creep into your lives. Be salt in the church. Be salt in your community. Guard against the corruption of sin.
Salt was often used in primitive cultures to clean a wound, to guard against infection. And when the salt is applied it burns like fire. It may burn now, but it cleanses and purifies. So the Lord says, judge yourself, look at yourself and evaluate what you are doing and learn to control yourself. But it must be the salt of truth. Salt which has lost its saltiness has no worth. It must be real, genuine salt. And so, have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. Judge yourselves correctly, and let God judge others.
Jesus says that the receipt for greatness in the kingdom of God is to have salt in yourselves, to begin with yourself, to deal with your own weakness and not another's, to cleanse your own life and not another's. Start dealing drastically with the things which are wrong in your own life. For the marks of greatness in the kingdom of God are these: to learn to treat everyone the way you would treat the Lord, without respect of persons; and be concerned to put others ahead of yourself, to build into their lives and strengthen them, and not harm them or injure them; and to begin to judge with yourself and to deal drastically with the things in your own heart which are wrong. Such a person rises in stature and greatness in the eyes of God, and will be honored before Him.
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