Mark 9:42-50
Temptation to Sin
Mark 9:42-50
Ever since the end of chapter 8 where Peter made that solemn confession: “you are the Christ”, Jesus has set His face towards Jerusalem where He will die to pay for our sin.
Jesus will die on the cross for sins, he will rise again, then He will ascend and leave His followers to continue His mission.
And so, in order to prepare His followers to continue the mission successfully, He is urgently teaching them some very critical lessons.
Over the past several weeks, we’ve been learning these lessons along with the disciples… and it’s critical that we do, because WE are the ones continuing the mission of Jesus in our world today!
Recap of some of the critical lessons we’ve learned about discipleship:
At the end of chapter 8 we learned that true disciples must surrender completely to the mission of Jesus.
At the beginning of chapter 9, in the Transfiguration, we learned that true disciples must set their sights on future glory with Christ
In the story of the boy with the unclean spirit and the father who cried out “I believe, help my unbelief”, we learned that true disciples must tap into the power of Christ by crying out to Him, not by relying on our own power or effort!
Last week we learned some invaluable lessons on humility, as we saw the disciples arguing about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom, and Jesus said, “if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” True disciples must be humble and servant-hearted.
Today, Jesus teaches us a lesson about the great danger of sin in the life of a disciple.
He begins by warning us of the danger of causing someone else in the faith to sin
Then He warns about the danger of sin in our own lives
Both of these dangers have severe and eternal consequences.
Mark 9:42–50 (ESV):
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.
If you remember, the scene opened last week with Jesus’ disciples arguing about who among them would be the greatest in Jesus’ Kingdom.
In order to correct their understanding of how His kingdom really works, He sat them down and took a child in His arms as an object lesson, and said, “Whoever receives such a child in my name receives me…”
What He meant for them to see is that the Kingdom of God is not about status; it’s about humility.
True disciples care for the lowly and perform humble, lowly tasks with a servant-heart. The child in his arms was the ultimate example of a lowly, humble person.
Then John spoke up and told Jesus that they had seen “someone” casting out demons in Jesus’ name and that they tried to stop him because he wasn’t part of their crew. To which Jesus replied, “don’t stop him… for the one who is not against us is for us… 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.”
In other words, true disciples are under the watchful eye of God; if someone takes care of them, even in a small seemingly insignificant way, God sees that.
Jesus introduces another layer in verse 42. He warns against causing “one of these little ones who believe in me” to sin.
Who are the “little ones who believe in him”?
Based on the conversation up to this point, it would seem that Jesus is continuing his object lesson with the little child, who is probably still in His arms at this point.
Is Jesus talking about children here? Is He warning against causing children to sin?
Or is the child a metaphor for believers?
He’s probably mainly talking about believers… vulnerable believers… believers who are particularly susceptible to being led astray into sin.
The child is simply a representation of those types of people.
But the fact that Jesus uses a child as the object lesson to represent lowly, vulnerable believers means that the same must also be true for the child.
He wouldn’t use a child as an example if the same statement wasn’t also true for the child.
So it seems safe to conclude that, according to Jesus, anyone who causes a vulnerable believer (represented by this lowly child) to sin… and by extension, anyone who would cause a literal child to sin…
it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
A millstone was a stone wheel that was used for milling grain.
There were two kinds of millstones back then; small ones that women would use by hand, and huge ones that weighed hundreds of pounds that only a beast of burden could roll… which do you think Jesus is referring to? The big one.
Also, in that culture, the sea was a symbol of great danger. People didn’t just swim in the sea like we do today. They were terrified of it. Drowning was considered the most horrific form of death.
So Jesus is playing off of their terror, and describing the most terrifying death any of them could imagine.
He’s saying, “as horrifying as it would be for you to have a millstone hung around your neck and be thrown into the sea and drown, you’d be far better off with that than with what will happen to those who lead others astray.
This is a terrifying warning about the power of influence.
All of us have influence over others. And we are accountable to Jesus Himself for how we exert that influence.
In our church, there are those who are new to the faith. Those of us who are more mature in the faith must do everything we can to nurture them and help them live lives of purity before the Lord.
If we influence someone to sin, or to walk away from the faith… we will answer to Jesus Himself.
If we extend the metaphor to include the literal child in Jesus’ arms… the warning becomes even more terrifying.
In our world today children are under incredible danger.
We have a couple in our church named Don and Bridget who started an agency that rescues and rehabilitates children who have been trafficked. They’ve rescued thousands of young children… mostly young girls.
They have stories of unimaginable evil. You can be sure that this kind of evil will NOT go unpunished. God sees it, and justice will be the Lord’s.
Many of us have children in our lives. If you have a child in your life, whether your own, or your relative’s, or your neighbor’s or the kids here at church… God has placed you in their lives to be a conduit of God’s love and care.
Hear this loud and clear: if you are mistreating one of God’s little ones, He sees it, and you are going to face the worst kind of punishment imaginable for that.
Repent and beg Jesus for forgiveness! Turn from that sin immediately! Resolve to never mistreat a child.
At this point in the text, Jesus pivots on the theme of sin and begins talking about the danger of sin in general.
The graphic and blatant language Jesus uses in these next few verses is shocking. It would have been shocking to the disciples back then, but it is especially shocking to us today who live in a culture and a church climate where discussions about sin and hell are almost pushed to the background.
We tend to treat the topic of hell like our weird uncle who we don’t want others to know about.
We’re embarrassed that those interested in Christianity or visiting church for the first time might hear about hell and be turned off.
Or, maybe we think that by talking about hell, we might inadvertently be motivating people to follow Jesus out of fear rather than out of love.
Jesus Himself had no such concerns.
In fact, Jesus talked more about the danger of hell than He did about the hope of heaven, and his descriptions of hell are much more vivid.
Not only that, but Jesus himself talked about hell more than anyone else in the Bible did.
Spurgeon: “There never was anyone else so kind in heart as Jesus was-yet He clearly taught the dreadful truth that unrepentant sinners shall be punished in Hell forever!”
Think about it this way: if hell really does exist, and lots of people really are in danger of going there, wouldn’t it be unloving not to talk about it and warn people? Is a doctor loving if they don’t warn their patient of their declining health?
That’s exactly what Jesus does in the following verses. Jesus does the most loving thing He can do: He warns us of our gravest danger.
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.’
Based on other passages we know that Jesus is not suggesting that we literally mutilate our bodies.
For one, bodily mutilation was strictly forbidden in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 23).
But more importantly, we know that even if we were to literally cut off appendages, it wouldn’t solve our sin problem because sin lives in the heart.
So what’s His point?
His point is that nothing, not even something as valuable as a critical body part, is worth more than your soul.
If you remember, back in Mark 8:36–37 (ESV) Jesus said: 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
Here, He warns that sin, if left unchecked, will lead our souls into eternal hell.
In verse 48 Jesus vividly describes hell as the place where “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”
In other words, it’s a literal place of unceasing, eternal anguish.
This is one of the most emotionally difficult tenets of the Christian faith.
Many people have tried to form entirely new theological systems to get around the doctrine of hell simply because it’s so horrible to imagine that the words of Jesus could be true.
Universalism- everyone goes to heaven eventually
Annihilationism- hell is temporary, not eternal.
(Side note: Some of you may have noticed that verses 44 and 46 are omitted from your Bibles. That’s because the earliest most reliable manuscripts we now have available don’t include the phrase that shows up in those verses. But the phrase is exactly the same as verse 48: where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” It doesn’t change the meaning of the text; it just repeats that line two more times.)
Notice the three body parts Jesus mentions: hand, foot, eye. These are representations of what we do, where we go, and what we look at.
If your hand causes you to sin… this may represent sins of “doing”, like theft or murder.
If your foot causes you to sin… this may represent sins of “going”, like going somewhere to commit a sinful act
If your eye causes you to sin… this may represent sins of “seeing”, like lust, or coveting, or adultery.
Either way, the point is clear: our entire lives must be consecrated unto the Lord. Either we follow Jesus with everything we are, or we will pay for all of eternity with everything we are.
The following two verses are tricky, but they emphasize the same point:
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.”
What is Jesus saying?
In order to make sense of this, it’s helpful to know that salt was used both in animal sacrifices, and as a preservative.
Leviticus 2:13 (ESV): 13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
When you get to the New Testament, you have Jesus encouraging His people to act like a preservative in society as the “salt of the earth” (Matt. 5). To slow the moral decay of society like salt slows the decay of meat.
We also see the Apostle Paul tell us in Romans 12 that our bodies are to be a living sacrifice unto God.
You put these two ideas together, and you get this idea that the entirety of the believer’s life is to be lived out sacrificially as an expression of worship unto God.
As we live out our true purpose as His disciples… we automatically avoid the path of sin that leads ultimately to hell… at least, that’d be a nice theory… And that’d be a nice place to wrap up the message…
But, there’s a slight problem with all of this: None of us are sin-free. None of us have successfully avoided sins of “doing, going, and seeing”.
This means that we are all guilty as charged, and you and I are the ones who deserve the millstone necklace.
You and I are the ones who deserve to wind up in the place where the worm doesn’t die and the fire is not quenched.
You and I have earned for ourselves eternal, conscious torment.
What’s more: Romans 1 makes it clear that all of humanity falls into this category by default.
In other words, hell is not just a place for exceptionally bad people… it is the standard destination for all of humanity because the “wages of sin is death”.
God is just to give this to us. He is not sinful to send us to hell. He is right to send us there.
But praise God that He is not only just, but also loving.
And in His love, He sent His son to provide for us a way to have our sins paid for so that we don’t have to pay for all of eternity.
When Jesus died on the cross, He took the full punishment for our sins upon Himself.
He cried out, “it is finished!”.
The curtain in the Jewish temple tore in two, signifying that the sacrificial system is no longer needed because Jesus became the perfect, once for all sacrifice for humanity.
Just like in Moses’ day when the Israelites could only avoid death from the snake venom by looking upon the snake up on the pole, the only way for you and I to avoid eternal death from sin is to look upon the one who took the curse of sin upon Himself while hanging on the cross.
Now, just to be clear: the fact that Jesus went to the cross and paid for our sins in full so that we can have salvation by faith and not by works does not nullify the importance of Jesus’ warning to us in this text.
We might be tempted, as disciples of Jesus, to take the commands and the warnings of Jesus simply as suggestions now that we have the full measure of His grace poured out on us… In other words, we might be tempted to take advantage of His grace and try to live like Hell on our way to Heaven.
The Lord knows how our minds work, and so He inspired the Apostle Paul to write these words in Romans 6:
Romans 6:1–11 (ESV):
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
To put it bluntly, as far as the Bible is concerned, there’s no such thing as a legitimate follower of Jesus who continues to live in ongoing patterns of unrepentant sin, because to be a true follower of Jesus means we have died to our sin. It’s completely incongruent to think we who have crucified our sin nature with Christ on the cross and have identified with Jesus in His death and resurrection, and have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, can then continue to live in open rebellion against God.
We will struggle, yes. Sanctification is a process that will continue until we are with Jesus, yes. But those who are truly His have repented and turned to actually follow Him.
Conclusion:
Maybe today you came here with a nonchalant view of sin in your life.
Sins of ‘doing’... sins of ‘going’... sins of ‘seeing’.
If that’s you, God is graciously trying to wake you up to the great eternal danger of sin. Turn to Him. Say you’re sorry. Resolve to leave your sin. And trust in what Jesus has done for you on the cross.
Maybe today you’re feeling beaten down in your struggle against sin in your life.
No matter how hard you try, you keep slipping into the same old patterns.
Cry out to Jesus. Remember the gospel. Remember that it is by HIS righteousness that you are saved, not by your own. Remember that He has given you freedom not just from the penalty of sin but from the power of sin.
Maybe today you are simply struggling to live in light of the reality of hell.
It all just seems so fanciful.
The devil would love nothing more than for you to keep living under that delusion all the way to your grave.
Let me encourage you to immerse yourself in the Word of God and prayer and beg God to give you a sense of the reality of eternal hell.
Wherever you’re at in your heart today, let’s rejoice that Jesus is enough for us. He’s not only just to punish evil, He’s also kind to forgive those who run to Him (1 Jn. 1:9)