Mark 9:14-50
Date: March 19th 2023
Speaker: Samuel Crites
Scripture: Mark 9:14-50
Exegetical Outline
Main Idea of Text: Jesus travels back to Capernaum and teaches his disciples many lessons, especially regarding his death and resurrection.
9:14-29: Jesus casts out a demon through faith and the power of prayer.
9:30-32: Jesus foretells his death and resurrection a second time.
9:33-37: Jesus teaches his disciples about leadership in the kingdom of God.
9:38-41: Jesus teaches his disciples about cooperation in the kingdom of God.
9:42-50: Jesus teaches his disciples about temptation, sin, and the holiness required to enter the kingdom of God.
Homiletical Outline
Main Idea of Sermon: The kingdom of God is empowered by faith and prayer, inaugurated by Christ, led by servants, furthered by cooperation, and populated by those that are holy.
The kingdom of God is empowered by faith and prayer.
The kingdom of God is inaugurated by Christ.
The kingdom of God is led by servants.
The kingdom of God is furthered by cooperation.
The kingdom of God is populated by those that are holy.
Introduction:
What is the kingdom of God? When we started the Gospel of Mark, Mark told us the content of Jesus’s public ministry. In Mark 1:14-15, Mark said:
Mark 1:14-15
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The Gospel message that Jesus preached, the good news that he brought to the people of God, was that the kingdom of God was here. It had arrived. Therefore, the people of God needed to repent and believe in this good news in order to participate in the kingdom.
Some did not understand this message. The Pharisees and scribes followed Jesus all over Galilee, attempting to discredit and hinder this gospel message. Instead of joining in the advent of kingdom, they resisted the kingdom.
Others accepted this message. The disciples dropped their nets and followed Christ because they believed in this kingdom. They have been on a journey discovering what this kingdom is and who is its king. This has been the majority of the ministry of Christ in the Gospel of Mark. The first eight chapters have been a long, slow process of Jesus revealing himself to the disciples and helping them understand just what it means for him to be the Messiah.
In our last couple sermons, we have seen the disciples turn the corner of understanding. They have come to the deep conviction that Jesus is the Messiah, but they are struggling to understand what Jesus must do. At the end of Chapter 8, we saw Jesus prophesy of his impending death in Jerusalem. This was unacceptable to the disciples. The Messiah is not supposed to die. He is supposed to be the conquering king. He is supposed to deliver us from these oppressive Roman dictators and reestablish the throne of David. He is supposed to usher in the Great Day of the Lord and banish wickedness from Israel. He is supposed to inaugurate a kingdom of God that will never end. How can any of this happen if he dies? What is a kingdom without a king?
This week, we are going to begin to see what Christ meant by the kingdom of God. The disciples were expecting a physical kingdom with a physical king, but the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. Its strength is not in armies, but in prayer and faith. Its king does not conquer men, he conquered death. It is not led by Lords, but by servants. It is always expanding through he most unexpected allies and it is populated by those that are holy. It is everything that they desired, but in nothing like they expected. Read Mark 9:14-50 with me and let’s consider the peculiar nature of the kingdom of God.
Mark 9:14-50
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
42 “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 around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 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. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear 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, 48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Now that the disciples understand that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, is to understand that he is a king. He is the inheritor of the throne of his father, David. So the disciples must reconcile the advent of the kingdom of God with the immanent death of the Messiah. In the same way that the Messiah is not what they expected, Jesus is teaching the disciples that the kingdom of God is not what they expected. Which brings us to the main idea of our sermon: the kingdom of God is empowered by faith in prayer, inaugurated by Christ, led by servants, furthered by cooperation, and populated by those that are holy.
Christ teaches his disciples five things about the kingdom of God. First, it is empowered by faith in prayer. The disciples were unable to help the man with the demon possessed son, because they were trying to help him in their own power. They did not understand that power of the kingdom of God is mediated through confidence in the effectiveness of prayer. Second, the kingdom of God is inaugurated through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ is a conqueror, but he is not a conqueror of men. He is the conqueror of death, the true enemy of his people. Third, the kingdom of God is led by servants. The disciples wanted to be great, but greatness is counterintuitive in the kingdom. Greatness is established by lowliness. Leaders are born out of servanthood. Fourth, the kingdom of God is spread through cooperation. God is establishing his kingdom on multiple fronts in many different ways. No single person or Church has the monopoly on Gospel ministry, not even the disciples. Fifth, and finally, the kingdom of God is populated by those that are holy. The citizens of the kingdom must be set apart from the wickedness in the world. The kingdom of light has nothing to do with the kingdom of darkness. God’s kingdom is empowered by faith in prayer, inaugurated by Christ, led by servants, furthered by cooperation, and populated by those that are holy.
The kingdom of God is empowered by faith in prayer.
Let’s look at our first point. The kingdom of God is empowered by faith in prayer. Let’s reread Mark 9:14-29.
Mark 9:14-29
14 And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Jesus, Peter, James, and John are on their way down the mountain after the transfiguration. As they have been coming down, they have been processing all that they experienced, and Jesus has commanded them to keep it to themselves. What happened on the mountain is not for them now, but it will help them in the future. They must spend time considering all that they experienced so that it will help them once Jesus is resurrected from the dead and ascends to the Father.
When they get to the bottom of the mountain, they find the other disciples attempting to help a man whose son is possessed by and evil spirit. They have been unsuccessful. This demon is too strong for the disciples.
Imagine the anguish of this father. He has been dealing with this since his son was little. He has probably sought help from so many people, and every time has been disappointed. Then, when he goes to Jesus, who has been able to help other people, the disciples can’t help him. Jesus is exacerbated with his disciples, because they have failed to understand a crucial fact about the kingdom of God. Power in the kingdom of God does not come from the strength of men. It comes from God. It is his kingdom.
This father is on the verge of losing all hope, because he has come to those that are supposed to be able to help him and they can do nothing for him. The failure of the disciples is clearly a lack of faith, because look at the conversation between Jesus and the man in verse 21.
Mark 9:21-24
21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Jesus tells the man that anything is possible for those that have faith. Did the disciples not have faith? They had faith, they just had faith in the wrong person. They thought they could help this man. They are Christ’s disciples after all. Didn’t Jesus deputize them to handle just this sort of problem?
But Jesus implies something different. All thing are possible for the person that has a faith oriented in the right direction. The disciples were depending on themselves and the man was depending on the disciples. When Jesus tells him to believe he asks for help, help to believe in the right person. The man puts his confidence in Jesus, the man that is truly God, and Jesus has the power to help his son.
This is an important point, because later in verse 28, the disciples ask Jesus why they couldn’t cast out the demon, and Jesus says that they needed to pray to God for help. Did we see Jesus pray? If this type of demon could only be cast out by prayer, why didn’t Jesus pray to God to help him? Because the prayer was not between Jesus and the Father, but between the man and Jesus.
What does that say about Jesus? It says that he is God. It was appropriate for the man to come to him and ask him to save his son, because Jesus is God. That was a prayer. A genuine prayer offered up to God in faith and the Lord himself cast the demon out of the boy.
Power in the kingdom of God does not come from men. It comes through men who in faith pray to God for help. This is why one of the core values of our Church is prayer. We want to be a praying Church because we want to be an effective Church. What God requires from the members of Mosaic Church is not ability. He has said that he will establish his Church. It is his work, not ours. What he requires from us is faithfulness. A genuine confidence that when we ask him for something, he hears us. He is not deaf to our pleas, and he desires to meet our needs.
So, every week, we dedicate an entire service to praying. We gather for the sole purpose of praying to God as a Church. It takes place at 10 am on Sunday mornings at our house. Technically, it is optional. We do not require our members to come to that service. But many of you should consider what Christ is teaching his disciples in these verses. Do you believe that prayer is as powerful as Jesus claims in Mark 9:14-29? We have said that prayer is going to be a priority of Church. We are going to practice prayer, we are going to sacrifice to pray for one another, we believe that faithfulness requires us to be a praying people. Let’s live up to our commitment to be a praying Church by participating in our corporate prayer meeting on Sunday mornings, and Scripture teaches us that God will pour out his power into the life of our Church and bring about his kingdom among us. The kingdom of God is empowered by faith in prayer.
The kingdom of God is inaugurated by Christ.
This brings us to our second point. The kingdom of God is inaugurated by Christ through his death, burial, and resurrection. Read with me Mark 9: 30-32:
Mark 9:30-32
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
This is the second time in a very short period of time that we have seen Christ teaching all the disciples about his death, burial and resurrection that is quickly approaching. They are coming back from the lands North of Galilee, near Caesarea Philippi. They are about to make a pitstop in Capernaum, and then they are going straight to Jerusalem. When they get there, Jesus is telling them that he is going to be rejected by the chief priest and the elder, he is going to suffer, he is going to die, and on the third day he is going to rise from the dead.
As we have already seen, this does not compute with the disciples. You cannot have a kingdom without a king, and you cannot have a king that dies, no matter what he says about this resurrection nonsense. The king does not establish his kingdom through death, but through conquest. He is supposed to drive back the conquering mob of Romans and liberate his oppressed people.
The irony of this misunderstanding is that Jesus is establishing his kingdom through conquest. Not through the conquest of a physical enemy, but through the conquest of a spiritual enemy. Not just a spiritual enemy, but the spiritual enemy. The ultimate and great enemy of God’s people is not Satan. It is not sin. It is death. We see this in 1 Corinthians 15:25-26:
1 Corinthians 15:25-26
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
And what is death? Is it not the judgment of God, the outworking of his curse against sin? He told Adam not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because on the day that he ate it he would surely die. When Adam did eat it, God cursed the man and said to him in Genesis 3:19:
Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
Because man disobeyed God, God cursed him with death. There is no escaping it because it is the wrath of God against sin.
So the disciples were looking at the wrong enemy. They thought that Rome was their biggest problem, but in reality, Christ was going to Jerusalem to conquer the great enemy of mankind, death itself. He was going to Jerusalem as a propitiation, a sacrifice of atonement to satisfy the wrath of God against sinners. The Gospel is God’s means of saving man from God.
Jesus was the perfect man that followed the path that all men must follow. He was going to Jerusalem to die. Only, he was the only man in all of history that did not have to die. He is the only man that freely chose death in order to free all men from the slavery of death. An infinitely valuable sacrifice to satisfy an infinitely offended God to redeem an unworthy people that hated him and were his enemies. This is love. This is the Gospel. And this is the campaign of conquest that established the kingdom of God. In the same way that you cannot have a kingdom without a king, you cannot have a kingdom without a people. At the cross, Christ purchased for himself a people from every tribe, tongue and nation from God to be a kingdom for God.
So far, we have seen that the kingdom of God is empowered by faith working through prayer. We cannot do anything in the kingdom without tapping into the power of God through prayer. Now we have seen that the kingdom of God is inaugurated by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He conquered death, satisfied the wrath of God, and gives his people eternal life in a kingdom that will never end.
The kingdom of God is led by servants.
Now let’s consider our third point: the kingdom of God is led by servants. Read with me Mark 9:33-37:
Mark 9:33-37
33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
When the disciples and Jesus arrive back in Capernaum, there is trouble in paradise. The disciples have been arguing amongst themselves. I imagine that the origin of the argument about who is the greatest among them has to do with the special treatment that it seems Peter, James, and John have received. Either one of those three are lording their privilege over the other nine, or one of the nine is trying to challenge their worthiness to receive shut special attention from Christ.
Regardless, an argument breaks out among the disciples about who among them is the greatest. When Jesus asks them about their discussion, they ashamedly do not answer him. Now, they do not need to answer him, because Jesus already knows what the problem is.
So, like a good teacher, he uses the opportunity to teach them a lesson and he includes a visual aid. The lesson is that those who desire to be the greatest in the kingdom of God must be the least. They must serve. The political paradigm in the kingdom of God is the exact opposite of the kingdom of man. The powerful do not rule, they serve. The leader does not lord over, he shepherds and cares for people. The strong do not use their strength to dominate, they use their strength to support the weak.
To illustrate this, Jesus calls a little child to himself as a visual aid. At this time, children are not seen positively in society, especially orphan children. Children are a nuisance to be cared for until they reach adulthood at which point, they can actually contribute to society. This child was likely one of the camp followers and also likely an orphan. An undesirable in society that was a burden and had no power to defend themselves. A true picture of weakness and frailty that provided the perfect illustration for what Christ was teaching them. To be the greatest, you must become the least.
And isn’t this the exact same thing that Christ models for us? Isn’t he the perfect example of humility? Humility and a focus on serving the needs of others is the leadership quality that should define those that are great in the kingdom of God.
Since before we came to College Station, we have been constantly praying for God to bring us elders in the Church. That he would both raise up elders from among us and bring us men that were of a spiritual maturity that would be qualified to be elders from the moment they joined the Church. But how would we recognize such men? How would we know if they were among us?
Often, in the Church, our paradigm for evaluating our leaders is as pragmatic as those of the world. I have been in the business world. I know what the world looks for in a leader. They want someone that is intelligent, well spoken, has a resume of success, and that is attractive, someone people want to follow. They are wealthy, charming, and confident.
But this is not the decision-making matrix that Christ teaches us to use to evaluate our leaders. There are far too many elder boards full of men that look like leaders by the standards of the world, but do not understand the leadership described by Christ in Mark 9. As we evaluate our leaders, look for those that serve. That sacrifice to put the needs of others before their own needs. We want those willing to care for those that are hard to love. We want those that are willing to do any job. We want those that know how to shepherd. That the members naturally gravitate to for spiritual care and who seek out the sheep that are lost. Those that sacrifice their time to disciple and minister to God’s people.
We don’t make elders; we recognize them when they are among us. When I am around a true shepherd of God’s people, I feel myself relax. I know I am in a place of safety, where someone is going to care for me. This is what we are looking for in our leaders. We do not want Sanhedrin, comfortable moving among the rich and prosperous. We want shepherds that smell like sheep and desire the kind of greatness that comes by serving others.
So far, we have seen that the power of the kingdom of God is accessed through faith in prayer. Confidence that when we go to God for help, he hears us and will move on our behalf. We have also seen that the kingdom of God is inaugurated by Christ through his death, burial, and resurrection. He conquered our true enemy, death, so that we could be citizens of his kingdom. And now we have seen that the leaders in the kingdom of God are the servants of the kingdom of God. May the Lord bring us godly leaders that are true servants, and may we have the eyes to see them.
The kingdom of God is furthered by cooperation.
This brings us to our fourth point: the kingdom of God is furthered by cooperation. Let’s take a look at Mark 9:38-41:
Mark 9:38-41
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
While the disciples are in Capernaum preparing to head toward Jerusalem, they see a man they do not know casting out a demon in the name of Jesus. When they try to stop him, I am assuming the man ignores them, because they come to Jesus and ask him to do something about this man. Jesus’s response is interesting. He must know that this man is a true believer, because other places in Scripture, such as Simon the Magician in Acts 8, are clearly rebuked for taking advantage of the Gospel for their own personal gains. While the text is not explicit, we should assume that this man was acting in good faith and was either a believer or Jesus knew he would become a believer very shortly.
The lesson to learn here is that just because God is at work with us, it does not mean that he is only at work with us. The kingdom is spread through many different means and many different people. The disciples do not have a monopoly on Gospel ministry. Even their proximity to Christ does not justify the belief that they are the only ones that God is working through to bring about his purposes on the Earth.
So as we think about Gospel ministry, we should be champions of it wherever we can find it. Now, that does not mean that all ministry is Gospel ministry. There are many bad actors operating under the guise of the Gospel. But, we are also not to be so arrogant as to assume that God is not at work other places.
This might not seem like a very important lesson at the moment, because we are small. Our Gospel ministry is just getting started. However, many large churches out there operate as if they are an island. Everything they do is for the glory of their church and their church alone. They are not dependent on anyone and they don’t believe they need anyone else to accomplish what they feel the Lord wants them to do.
It would be very easy for Mosaic to become that way as the Church grows. It is hard to imagine because we are so dependent on other churches at the moment. We meet in another church’s building. Other churches fund our budget. As an elder, I lean on elders at others churches for encouragement and support, because we don’t have multiple elders yet. But one day, we will have a place to meet, we will have a self-sustaining budget, we will have other elders. On that day, will we be as sensitive to the interconnected of God’s churches? Will we remember how we were propped up by God’s people in other churches so that we could grow and mature?
Cooperation is life blood of external Gospel ministry. The people of God can accomplish more together than they can by themselves. Even in the age of mega-churches with budgets in the tens of millions of dollars, there is a need for churches to cooperate. We must work with one another to accomplish more for the kingdom of God.
This is particularly important as our Church is considering our affiliations. What extra-curricular organizations should our Church be a part of? Should we join the SBC? How are we going to plant churches among the unreached people groups of the world? What are we going to do with the leaders God raises up in our Church? We must consider how we cooperate with other co-laboring churches in God’s kingdom to accomplish as much as possible for his glory.
The kingdom of God is empowered by faith in prayer. It is established by the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is led by servants. And now we have seen that it is furthered by cooperation amongst God’s people. What the disciples experienced was unexpected and strange. Cooperation with other churches and parachurch ministries can often be challenging and come with unexpected headaches, but where the Gospel is truly being preached, we should support the ministry taking place there.
The kingdom of God is populated by those that are holy.
This brings us to our fifth and final point. The kingdom of God is populated by those that are holy. Let’s read Mark 8:42-50:
Mark 8:42-50
42 “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 around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 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. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear 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, 48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Jesus continues to teach the disciples with the little child standing beside him. The lesson here is as much about leadership as the lesson that immediately preceded it. There is a weight that comes with being a leader. You will be held responsible for those that you lead. The leaders in kingdom of God better not lead any astray, because it would be better if a massive rock were tied around your neck and you were thrown in the ocean. God will require his leaders to faithfully lead his people.
And what does it look like to be a faithful leader? It looks like living a holy, genuine life. The way that you keep anyone from stumbling starts with how you live your own life. The great ones in the kingdom of God are the ones that make war on their sin. They excise it from their life with a ferocity that matches the seriousness of the standard they will be held to by God.
Living a holy life and making war on your sin is going to hurt. It is going to cost you a lot. The example Christ gives is like tearing out your own eye or cutting off your own hand. Better to lose something as valuable as an eye or a hand then to lose everything by being found to be a fake.
Now, this lesson is not only for the leaders in the kingdom of God, it is also for all people in God’s kingdom. We can see that because verse 49 says that everyone will be salted by this kind of fire. This struggle against sin will be something that characterizes all of God’s people. There is a unique responsibility we can see at the beginning of this section for leaders, but it is also true for all of God’s people. We are to be salt. Something special that stands out when it is present. You know when your food has been salted. The taste is undeniable.
The same should be true for God’s people. The salt is holiness and the holiness of the people of God should be evident because they have made war on the sin in their own lives.
So, in order to correct the bickering of the disciples, Jesus tells them to serve one another, cooperate with one another, and deal with their own sin issues. What wise and good advice. When conflict arises among those in the kingdom of God, we should focus on meeting the needs of other people, cooperating with each other, and killing sin in our own lives. Christ says in verse 50 that this will reestablish peace among his people.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we have seen that the kingdom of God is empowered by faith in prayer. We must confidently approach God to go to work on our behalf because we recognize that we do not have our own power to succeed. Everything is dependent on him. Then we saw that the kingdom of God is established by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He conquered the enemy that we could not conquer by being the sacrifice that we could not be. Now we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Our third point was that true leaders in God’s kingdom are servants. They don’t start as servants to get to a place of leadership. To lead is to serve, period. Then, we saw that the kingdom of God is furthered through cooperation. Even when it is unexpected and odd, we should be champions of Gospel ministry wherever it is found. Finally, we saw that those who are in God’s kingdom, especially the leaders, must live holy lives that make war on their sin.
This kingdom is a spiritual reality. Its people are a spiritual people. It exists in the already, but not yet. Christ rules and reigns in the hearts of his people, and that future hope of the physical reign of Christ is yet to come. Let us pray that that day of the Earthly reign of Christ comes quickly.
Let’s pray.