"For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." (Mark 9:41-50)
What would you like for your epitaph to read? After you are gone, how would you like to be remembered? Epitaphs are very interesting. Sometime when you want a little humor, just spend an afternoon walking around a graveyard. Now, you may not think that humorous, but if you read the epitaphs on tombstones, you can find some very funny remarks.
Most tombstones have the essential information about a person -- when they were born, when they died, and maybe a simple saying. But occasionally you'll run across some very creative and often humorous sayings. One epitaph reads, "All dressed up and no place to go." On another grave, we read, "This man died at thirty; he was buried at seventy." Still another tombstone had inscribed an original saying, to which someone had added a comment. The original inscription read, "Remember, friend, when passing by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be, prepare for death and follow me." The added comment read, "To follow you, I'm not content, until I know which way you went." My favorite tombstone inscription reads, "I told you I was sick."
Hopefully, we will have more positive statements used to describe our lives. All of us want our lives to count. We all desire to live purposeful, fulfilling years upon this earth. We all want to accomplish significant achievements and to be known for positively impacting our society. Then is it important how we live our lives? I certainly believe it is. If you agree with that, then is there any practical help from the Bible for us in living lives that count?
In the Scripture passage which is our focus today, we hear Jesus discussing the importance of living lives that count. He reveals to us several ways in which we can live lives that count.
"For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." (vv. 41-42)
One important area in which our lives need to count is the area of our relationships with others. While it is obvious that we can certainly have negative relationships, the good news is our relationships can be positive. In verses 41 and 42, Jesus speaks of two ways in which we can deal with people. We can either deal with them positively, through encouragement, or we can destroy that relationship through selfish manipulation.
It is important for us to see that encouragement builds positive relationships. In verse 41, Jesus speaks of someone giving you a cup of water to drink because you are a follower of Christ. This may sound like a small thing to do. But it is a very important thing. It is a basic act of encouragement. The picture painted for the disciples was that of a long, dusty journey, a hard day's toil in which they had spent themselves ministering in Christ's name. They were tired and thirsty. Then someone comes along and recognizes them as Christ's followers. He sees their need and offers them a little refreshment along their way. It was an act of encouragement. It is far more than a mere glass of water. It is just what they need at just the right time. It says to them, "I'm for you and I'm with you. Let me encourage you to keep going for Jesus."
Isn't it true that we all need encouragement like that? Sometimes our souls are weary and parched. Our emotions thirst for someone to refresh us and encourage us. A little encouragement will go a long way. It doesn't have to be some costly gift. What we need may not cost anything financially. It may only cost just a little time. All of us need encouragement.
Encouragement has the power to build positive relationships. It can even turn negative relationships around as we seek to affirm that we are for one another, that we care about one another. How we treat others counts. And if our lives are to count, people must count.
But just as encouragement builds positive relationships, manipulation buries positive relationships. In verse 42, Jesus warns us against causing another believer to stumble. It is an exhortation against selfishly manipulating people for our own purposes.
We always have the choice of either seeking to build up one another or to tear down one another. The disciples had to make that choice. They were arguing over who was the greatest and seeking to clamp people tightly in their mold. They were becoming prideful and exclusive, judgmental and manipulative. Those kinds of attitudes always destroy relationships. We have the power to choose to liberate people into the freedom of being all God can make them, or to place obstacles in their way, unnecessary obstacles over which they may stumble and fall.
Those obstacles are placed there because of selfish small-mindedness on our part. And Jesus indicates that it is a very dangerous thing to do.
In the case of one believer encouraging another, which Jesus described in verse 41, there is a reward. But in the case described in verse 42 of causing another believer to stumble, there is a condemnation. The stumbling blocks we place in front of other believers become millstones around our necks.
When Jesus spoke of a millstone hung around someone's neck and that person being cast into the sea, He was using an illustration contemporary to His time. According to the Jewish historian, Josephus, in his Antiquities, Judas the Galilean, an early Zealot leader who had led an insurrection was drowned in a lake in this fashion. The Roman historian, Suetonius, mentions in his De Via Caesarium, a similar punishment being inflicted in another graphic case. No doubt, the apostles had seen the drowned bodies of victims swaying to and fro in the current as ropes attached them to huge millstones. What a horrifying image! Yet Jesus says that is a better fate than the fate which awaits those who cause one of these "little ones" to stumble. People are just too important to be manipulated and led astray.
Certainly, there are some who purposefully lead people astray. There are the Joseph Smiths, the Jim Joneses, the David Bergs, the Judge Rutherfords, and the Shirley MacLaines. There are even preachers who use the word of God in a deceptive way, redefining the words, emptying them of meaning, and thereby leading many astray. The judgement will certainly be great upon such people. But how can that relate to me?
We can put stumbling blocks in the path of others by having an unforgiving spirit, by engaging in dishonest business transactions, by using crude and worthless language, by engaging in judgmental gossip. If we are to live lives that count, we must watch how we live as we deal with others. May God give us the grace to be an encouragement, not a stumbling block; to be one who builds up, not one who tears down; to be one who affirms, not one who manipulates. The good news is our relationships can be positive. God intents for that to be, and that is good news indeed.
"And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." (vv. 43-48)
It should be apparent to all of us that sin destroys our lives. That is the point Jesus is trying to get at in this section of Scripture. He is saying that because of the devastating effects of sin, it is better to be physically crippled than to enter into hell outwardly whole.
The word Jesus for "hell" in this passage is interesting. It is the Greek word gehenna. It refers to Israel's valley of Hinnom. Joshua describes it as marking the boundaries between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. During the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh human sacrifices were offered to the heathen god, Molech. Later, the valley turned into a garbage dump, a place for burning refuse and also the bodies of criminals. Fires smoldered there continuously. Repulsive worms crawled through the garbage. It is a picture of hell. It is a symbol of the eternal waste of human life. It is a picture of the results of sin. Sin causes you to end up on a garbage dump, a life wasted, thrown away. That is why Jesus deals so radically with sin, because He knows what sin can do to us.
Because sin can destroy our lives, sin must be dealt with ruthlessly. It is like a cancer eating away. In order to save our lives, the surgeon may need to cut it out. If it means losing an eye, so be it. If it means losing an arm, so be it. If it means losing a foot, so be it. Why talk about eyes and arms and feet when our lives are at stake?
Now, obviously Jesus is not encouraging people to arbitrarily chop off their arms or pluck out their eyes or lop off their feet. Unfortunately, there have been some who have done so. However, it is true that it is better to live life maimed rather than go into hell. But Jesus' point is that we must deal ruthlessly with sin in our lives, cutting off the harmful practices in our lives. The hand may symbolize what we do; the foot, where we go; and the eye, what we see. He is saying to us that if there are practices in our lives that drag us down, we must cut them off through self-denial and self-discipline. We must not only not cause our brother to stumble, we must not cause ourselves to stumble. How we deal with others counts, and how we deal with ourselves counts.
Notice also that Jesus says we are the ones who must do the cutting off of sin. It is your hand, your foot, and your eye. You are the one who must deal with it. You are the only one who can.
"For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." (vv. 49-50)
How we treat others counts and how we live counts because our lives can impact society. But first, our lives need seasoning.
In verse 49, Jesus speaks about being salted with fire. In verse 50, He speaks about salt and its value. What is He saying to us? When He says, "for everyone will be salted with fire," He is speaking of the value of sacrifice and self-judgment. In Old Testament times, all the Temple sacrifices had to be accompanied by salt. Salt speaks of sacrifice. Fire speaks of judgment or testing. To be "salted with fire" means that we will be tested and tried in order to develop the character of Christ in us. This is the seasoning we need in order to put something of strength and value into our nature. It puts the saltiness into the salt. Before salt can season and preserve, it must be salty itself. For the Christian, that's what trials and testings do for us. It makes us salty.
Lives can season society that are themselves first seasoned. History is replete with examples of individuals who, by the strength and force of their inner character, made a drastic difference in society. One such example is William Wilberforce, a tiny, almost elfish man, who by the strength of his character almost singlehandedly brought about the Slavery Emancipation Bill in England. He was salt to the British society. James Boswell wrote of him after he heard one of his speeches, "I saw a shrimp become a whale." Those who are salty make a difference in society. They season it. They preserve it.
We should be salt. Our lives should count for something because we stand for something. Our very presence ought to raise the moral atmosphere of society. The salt of our life ought to have a healing and preserving influence. Our lives can positively impact society. We can make a difference.
In this passage of Scripture, Jesus is giving us several important ways in which we can live lives that count. He is basically saying three things to us today: He is saying how we treat others counts; how we live counts; and who we are counts. How we treat others counts -- Our relationships can be positive. How we live counts -- our walk can be victorious over sin. And who we are counts -- Our lives can impact society. Positive relationships, victory over sin and impacting society -- these are characteristics of those who follow Jesus.
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