Being a Christian Is No Cakewalk
Mark 9:42-50
October 10-12, 2009
19th Weekend after Pentecost
Pastor Don Sutton
Mark 9:42-50
42″And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47And 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 to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48where ” ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 49Everyone will be salted with fire. 50″Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” (NIV)
Introduction
When I was in grade school in the town of Barneveld, WI, then population 420, I recall that some school and community evens included cakewalks. How this worked was that some of the good bakers in town would bake and donate cakes for fun or for a fundraiser. If it was a fundraiser people might pay a dollar to participate, which my dad sometimes did and then had me take his place. Usually there was a circle of squares or of chairs with one marked differently than the others signifying that whoever ended up there would be the winner of the cake. Partcipants either stood on the squares or in a circle around the circle of chairs. When the music began they either danced, pranced or walked until the music stopped. Then whoever was on the winner’s square or by the winner’s chair won a cake. I remember winning a couple of cakes.
Since being in a cakewalk was easy, in time the term cake-walk was coined to refer to things easy to do. “Oh, that’s a cakewalk,” we may say. Or, “That’s a piece of cake.” Today we hear Jesus talking to his disciples about being a Christian. Basically what he says is this:
“Being a Christian Is No Cakewalk…”
1. Because of Our Responsibilities to Not Cause Others to Sin
(Show Picture of Millstone) Check out the millstone on the screen. Imagine having that tied around your neck and being pushed off a dock or a boat into deep water. As Jesus spoke to his disciples he said that if someone causes “a little one” who believes in him to sin, this is what should happen.
By “little ones” Jesus is obviously talking about children of a young age. They can believe. With this Jesus reminds us of the importance of baptism and on-going Christian education of children by word and by example beginning at a very early age. However, elsewhere in God’s word we are reminded that there are those who may be adults in age who in their spirituality are babes because they are new or immature Christians. Jesus’ warning would apply to not causing them to sin and stumble in their faith.
Jesus is serious about not causing others to sin, isn’t he? What does that say to us parents or to those who are looked to as examples whether it is big brothers or sisters, class leaders, or people who in charge in the work place or elected leaders or authorities in government? What does it say to pastors, teachers, staff ministers, professors, and elected church leaders who are to leadership to teach and model God’s word? What does this say if we set a bad example for “little ones” by living as married people when they are not, showing favoritism or treating people unfairly, cursing, ripping the reputation of others behind their backs, showing disrespect for teachers and others in authority, neglecting God’s word and worship, fighting and hurting one another whether physically and/or emotionally, not practicing good money management, or failing to peacefully work to settle disputes, wioth the result that “the little ones” in our lives end up doing the same?
Jesus is saying when you fail in these areas and cause others to fall into sin, you should have this millstone tied around you neck and be thrown into the sea. This is one of the reasons that being a Christian is no cakewalk. But this is true not only when it comes to others, but also when it comes to us…
2. …Because of Our Responsibility to Get Caught up in Sin.
Jesus emphasized this, too – “43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47And 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 to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48where ” ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”
This is serious stuff, isn’t it? If we took this literally, most of us wouldn’t have much left of our hands, feet or eyes when we left this world, not to mention our hearts and brains. So don’t start hacking off body parts when in some way they are involved in some sin.
Jesus’ lesson is this: Sin, being a destructive force, must not be pampered. It must be put to death. Temptation should be flung aside immediately and decisively. Dallying in sin is deadly. Halfway measures wreak havoc. The spiritually surgery needed to deal with sin must be radical. If things cause you to sin, stop using them. If relationships cause you to sin, back off from them to the point where they are godly, or else end them. If attitudes cause you to sin, change them; if actions lead you to sin, stop them.
Jesus says that there is too much at stake. At stake are one’s relationship with Jesus and the promise of eternal life. If a Christian’s sin is not checked through repentance and one’s sinful lifestyle not changed in the fruits of repentance, one’s saving faith may be choked off. If we die spiritually we will die eternally, forever separated from God and his blessings, and always in torment of hell conveyed in terms of the fire that is not quenched and the worm that does not die. We can relate to the discomfort of high unending heat. But I’m not sure that we relate to the “worm that does not die.” So let me tell you a story.
One August day I realized that my forefinger was starting to become red and painful. As the hours wore on I noticed the redness spreading to my hand and starting to go up my arm. I kept thinking, “What’s causing this?” I was beginning to think that I needed to go to the doctor. But I decided to see if I could figure this out. So I pressed and swueezed on my finger until I noticed a little black thing up under the cuticle of my fingernail. I thought it was a sliver. I pressed on it some more and out slithered a little black worm, the larva of which must have gotten into my finger when I was doing some gardening a few days before. It sure did hurt. If that is even a fraction of the torment that the Lord is referring to when he talks about one’s worm not dying, I want no part of it. The same is true of the discomfort represented by the fire that is not quenched.
Jesus’ point is that as painful and hard as it may be, it’s better to get rid of or get away from those people or things that cause us to sin, lose our faith, lose out on eternal life, and end up in the torments of hell. Jesus is emphasizing that being a Christian is no cakewalk. This also true ….
3. Because of Our Role as Salt in Our Society
In v. 49 Jesus said, “49Everyone will be salted with fire.” As I mentioned in the Children’s Devotion we have all been salted with the saving activities of Jesus. What we couldn’t be and do for God under his law, Jesus was and did to perfection. He was a lamb with our defect. He was lile us in every way but without sin. But then rather than letting us suffer for our sin, he suffered and died for us. He experienced the fire that is not quenched and the worm that does not die. He had our sins tied around his neck and was thrown … not to the depths of the sea …but to the depths of hell. As a result, rather than putting a millstone on our necks and throwing us into the depths of the sea, God hurled our sins into those depths as Micah said in Micah 7:22 God would do when he wrote, “You … will hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”
We were salted by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit as he worked through the gospel to bring the righteousness of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins to us as he worked faith in our hearts through the gospel.
So God, in his grace and with his power salted us and made us salt.
But to test and strengthen our saltiness, God may allow trials in our lives. In 1 Peter 1:6 God tells Christians about the glory of heaven that awaits them and the trials they experience, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” With these trials God often moves us to look at priorities, become more spiritual and be more active in prayer. He salts us with the fire of trial.
As a result, being a Christian is no cakewalk, either in our being salted or our being salt in our society. And this is what God wants us to be. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves…” In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus added, “You are the salt of the earth (Mat5).”
The point is that in a world and society where many are lost and there is so much immorality, God calls on us to have a salting affect. We do this as we share the gospel with others and send missionaries to do the same. We do this as we live our lives to the glory of God according to the will of God. So many people who never read the bible are constantly reading us. Make the message you send, “God is good. God’s will is good. Being a Christian is good.”
As Jesus emphasized, this means living at peace with one another. If people see and hear us ripping on one another, hurting one another and hating one another, why would they ever be a part of us? Therefore, “Be at peace with each other.”
Treat one another with love and respect. Encourage one another. Get to know one another. Help one another. Pray for one another. Forgive one another.
This is not easy. Being a Christian is no cakewalk. But as God salted us to begin with, through his word and sacraments, with his love and power he renews and empowers us. Therefore use these means. Receive them often. “Have salt in yourselves.” Be salt for others.
Being a Christian is no cakewalk, but the prize that awaits us is far, far better than any cake. Amen.