Take your scriptures once more and turn for our New Testament reading to our sermon text, Mark chapter 9. We’ll be finishing Mark chapter 9 this morning, starting verse 42. Yes, Mark chapter 9, starting verse 42. Please, once again, give your full attention. This is the Word of God. 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’d be thrown into the sea. 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 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, 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 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 has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. The word of the Lord. Amen. You may be seated. Let me pray once more and ask the Lord’s blessing upon the preaching and hearing of that word. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you for this, your word. We thank you that you’ve not left us to grow up around in the dark. We pray, Lord, at this time that you would arrest our tensions. Lord, help us to drive out for us all those things that would harass us in this hour, that would take our attention, the things of this world away from the task at hand, that is receiving what you have for us in this word. We pray, Lord, that you would by this word and through your spirit do us good as we come for counsel and for your presence as you minister to us according to the wide variety of our broad needs, Lord. Help us to see that you provided all that we need in Jesus Christ. Word of life, Lord, we pray that we may come to him and find our all in him. We ask all of this for his glory and for our good in his name. And all God’s people said together, amen, amen.

If I were to title this sermon, I would call it Better Marred Than Charred, Better Mamed Than Burned, Better Marred Than Charred. We’ve talked about coming into this text, this text talks about the severity of sin and the radical remedy for that sin. In the previous passage, Jesus has been talking about this sin of self-importance, the problem of importance. But in this text, he moves on and talks about the steps that need to be taken, that it’s better to take radical steps in response to the sin rather than to meet the fires of hell. So better marred than charred. He also has been talking about this continuing theme the need to get little to get life, right, to get life. And so he begins to tell them that their service, again, is of utmost importance, and that weakness is what is exalted for the people of God and for this Messiah, again, who presented himself weak, and he was exalted. And he talks about the deadly dangers of self-importance once more as we go on. And notice that the text shifts pretty dramatically. at this point from verse 41 to 42. And you’ll notice that this is Christ, right? He’s speaking to his apostles, right? It’s not an evangelistic crusade to those who’ve never heard of Jesus before. He’s speaking these kinds of realities of the hell to come to those who’ve been following him for some time to this point. And he goes from the positive reward, right, that he’s just talked about, whoever gives a cup of water to drink, whoever gives to you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. The shift, you know, given to the little and to the least, to the severe judgment that comes, to any who stumble or scandalize those little or least.” Right? If anyone causes you, he says, causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and they were thrown into the sea. I think a lot of times we hear this text, particularly this one, and we automatically associate little ones with children. because that’s how Matthew uses this kind of verbiage. But Matthew speaking of children, Jesus speaking of children, quotes, it’s not unusual to see Jesus say the same thing in different situations, different applications. And so he’s using the same wording here, but the little ones here are not children necessarily. And we know this because of verse 39 that we just got done reading, right, where it says, do not stop him, right, this one who’s casting out demons and they had tried to excise him or tried to shut him down, for anyone who does not, who does work in my name will will not be able to sin afterwards, speak evil of me, right? And so these are the little ones, these ones that are on the outside, not part of the elite, not part of the group that he was being chastised for. We see the littles or the little ones like in verse 39. And so notice what the context is for this passage today. This man was casting out demons again. And they say, we told him to stop. We shut him down. And Jesus says, beware not to stumble little ones like this that you just told us would not fit to be serving in a kingdom like that. You better beware of stumbling the least, those who are outside your group, those who we find unattractive or without the right qualifications. Beware, he says, if you stumble those kinds of little ones. And what he means here by the word stumble, you may know this, it’s the word we get from which we get our word scandalized, right, scandalized, or caused to be a scandal. And he says, if you stumble this one, ultimately to where he gives up his quest to follow the Messiah, he says, you beware. It would be better if you were basically if you had died, he says. These are very strong words to his disciples. He says, if you cause one of these to fall away, it will be better for you for a millstone to be tied around your neck and for you to be cast into the sea. Most of us have heard a description of this millstone that he speaks of here. And basically, you’ve got this massive stone used to grind different grains. you know, we see from history, about five-foot diameter stone, about half a foot thick. It’s so heavy that it basically takes, you know, beasts of some size to rotate it. And so Christ is saying, right, if you were to put it in perspective, it’s better to have an SUV chained around your neck and thrown into the ocean, right, than to stumble one of these little ones, than to stumble what you’re doing to this man who’s casting out demons in my name, right? And so what would scandalize the person? What does that mean? How would this person be so stumbled that Christ would be this angry? What’s the scandal that this would have caused? Well, notice that it comes from the fact that they are being rejected. Both Heron and Matthew, whether it be children or the little ones, the weak and significant, casting out the demons, they’re being rejected because they appear to be too weak or too small or too insignificant to matter in the kingdom of heaven. And therefore, they’re being shoved to the side. And Christ says, you beware. You beware if you force someone out because of weakness, or smallness, or littleness. You beware, you’d be better off dead, because those are exact ones that I came for. It’s the exact nature of the kingdom that I’m bringing. Think about, even for us, how many of us have dismissed people out of the kingdom because they didn’t quite fit with our theological leanings, or they skewed something that we felt was theologically weak. or they had some sort of worship weirdness that we were able to dismiss out of hand, right? It’s good to be accurate. It’s good to be precise. Theological precision is imperative. But it’s one thing to bring people along in humble teaching and to have a desire that they grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ than to take to task or take to task someone who’s proud or arrogant or leading people astray. It’s wholly another thing. to strong arm and abuse those who just happen to be weak in the faith and aren’t that far along the path yet, and don’t know the ins and outs of the things that maybe God has made clear for you, not because you’re smarter or better, but who are you that God hasn’t given to you? What do you have that God hasn’t given to you? So God is saying for you to stumble those kind of people is to reject the very nature of the kingdom that he brings. And so he’s saying, if you scare people away in that manner, if you reject them for their littleness, you’re sending them away from me because littleness is my way. This is what I have come to seek and to save, namely the lost and the little and the least. Not only that, but in doing so, just send them away from me because I came in weakness. You’re sending me away. You’re sending yourself away from me. And the only way that you can receive me is to realize that you’re getting a Christ, one who dies, one who humbles himself, one who sacrifices himself, who does not come first in power and strength, but who gives himself as a servant to die for the people. He says, if you reject the little ones, you can’t help but reject me, and therefore it would be better for you to have never been born, because an eternal judgment is coming for all who reject Christ as Savior. And so we think how many times in our pride have we made ourselves, I’m sorry, made others feel small or belittled, right, or weakened to the extent that they even fear to make movement towards God because of service to them. They’re paralyzed because of it. They don’t measure up, for instance. I recall when I was a brand new believer, I was at a bookstore in Fullerton, California, and I was perusing the books that probably weren’t very good, and there was a couple individuals on the other side of the aisle, and I heard them talking, and they were bad-mouthing a church and running down the practices of communion or something. In hindsight, they were right what they were saying, but then I realized they were talking about the church I was going to. And so this is the kind of gross arrogance and failure to have sensitivity to collateral hearers or those who are around you and doing this very thing, belittling those who are weak and not quite that far along as you are. And Christ says, for such judgment can be so severe that it would have been better for you to cut off your limbs, to cut up, pluck out your eyes, to get every hindrance out of the way than to face what is coming for that sort of pride and arrogance. And he says, the danger, the reason that we need to be so severe is that hell is what awaits. It is a severe matter. The term here, of course, we know used for hell, I’m sure you know, is an actual location that would have been known. It was a ravine in the southwest side of Jerusalem called Gehenna in the Old Testament. It’s a place that was used for human sacrifice. So people were put to death there, and therefore the place became a place of abomination. It couldn’t be built upon because it was defiled. It was so unclean that they, in a ceremonial way, a defiled way, they ended up using it as a trash dump. That’s all it was good for, a place where they would throw away the waste from the city and also burn it there. And Christ is using that as a picture of the kind of judgment that is coming for those who reject the weak and the little because they’re rejecting him. Those who ultimately fall out on the wrong side of the kingdom. Those who will go against this son, this Messiah. And therefore he says, it would be much better, right, using hyperbole to just cut off your arm than to keep you from my kingdom. Because it’d be better to go in with one arm and to be eternally punished in the fires of hell. Better marred than charred. Better to pluck out your eye and to cut off your foot and so forth. Better to be maimed than burned in the fires of hell. And so he’s showing them by this. The kingdom and the judgment that is to come is so severe against the enemies of God that you need to do whatever it takes to enter in, to not take it as a light matter. Death is better than what is coming. Being maimed is better than what is coming. Pluck out the eye, chop off the foot, bring about your death. Christ is showing the solution for our self-importance in doing this, and it’s a willing death that he’s talking about, a willing death. Notice what Jesus is doing. John is caused what, right? Remember, this comes about because John is sinning in this way. The Apostle John, he’s caused offense already. That’s why this teaching is here. He’s already done something like this. He’s sinned in a way that stumbled someone, this man who was casting out the demons. And yet, we don’t believe that the Apostle John has gone to hell. But still for us, and I hope as you consider this text and the weight of the text here, there should be a certain amount of fear that comes upon us, right? A certain amount of reflection, fearful reflection. What if I do these things? What kind of person am I? Am I living in such a way that puts me in this situation, right? Namely, to be cast out of God’s presence and under his judgment forever. Well, because Jesus is giving instructions like this to John and to us, we have to ask the question, why? And as you consider this text, and as you consider who you are, as John hears this teaching, what would be exposed in him, the apostle John? Clearly his own pride. Right, clearly his own self-exaltation in his action, in his sin. Clearly he is the problem, or he’s part of it that Jesus is addressing. And so are you, and so am I. And part of what Christ is doing, he’s trying to do in this teaching is to show us that though we find ourselves exalted, he’s gonna expose us for what we really are. And what we really are is blind and maimed. and broken, we are one-legged, we are truly better off dead. And when we realize that this is who we are, and that we’re people that are deserving of these sorts of judgment, Jesus says what? He says, now that you know who you are, I can do something with you. I can do something with that condition that you’re aware of. I can serve people in all kinds of circumstances, the blind, the weak, the lame, the lost, those I can save. And while I can’t save those who actually think they’re great and have no need of salvation, those who put themselves outside of the kingdom, those who push out the weak of the kingdom, because in pushing out the weak, they push out not only a person, but they push me out as well, because my manner of salvation is weakness and service that gives forth to exaltation and to power. And you see, if we were to take this seriously, we will see that we are condemned in this text. we are condemned. And if we grasp that, and if we can admit that, we can realize that we deserve the judgments that are placed before us here. We’ve done all sorts of things, and we can read these kinds of texts, and we can’t help but realize, I don’t take this near serious enough. I think of myself way higher than I actually am. And Jesus, when he puts us in that position, is saying, if you can realize this is who you are, you’re not far from the kingdom of heaven. If you realize that you are little and that you are lost and that you are truly weak and helpless, you are nearly dead, those are the kinds of people that this Christ says to, great, I’ve come to save you. You’re just who I’m looking for. I’m willing to show my mercy to the weak ones. And these are the people that, are the disciples of Christ, right? Those who realize they have a great need, that they have no hope outside of a Savior, who come to be a shepherd to a stumbling and broken sheep. There’s only one way around these sorts of judgments, and that is to become little, to get little, to get life, to admit the lostness and failure and weakness and our smallness in this life. get little and get life, better marred than charred. And that self-importance, that problem, that self-importance leading to the scandal of the least and the little is a grave sin indeed. It is an idol. And like every idol, it is misplaced worship. Like every sin and every addiction, it is misplaced worship. Our sins are so corrosive and destructive, even if we aren’t always conscious of them being so. It’s a mercy of God that he reveals to us in time, the corrosiveness, the destructiveness of our sins. My sins, your sins are an act of worship to a false God. Whenever we seek satisfaction or joy or rest or peace or fulfillment or escape in anything other than Christ, we’re offering ourselves to another. We are misplacing our worship. And you know, the early church, in church history, we read about times when Christians were persecuted unto death. In the Roman Empire, before a statue of the emperor, all were required to assume the position and make the confession, Caesar is Lord. Bow and confess, Caesar is Lord. Not just in a leadership kind of way, right? They believed divinity of Caesar. Most Christians, of course, refuse to participate in this confession and in this posture. In the Roman eyes, the refusal to say Caesar or Lord was regarded as treason against the empire. When you and I think about this, we’d like to think that we would be strong and mighty. that we would resist, that we would be bold, that we’d struggle at least against the soldiers, forcing us to assume that position, kneel down on knees, sword on the back of the neck, commanded to confess, Caesar is Lord, right? We’d like to think that of ourselves. But in our 21st century lives, to our false lords and our false idols, we voluntarily assume that position all the time. ourselves and worship another, whether it’s the God of substance or the God of whatever the sin might be, we have to ask, is that you? Where is that true of you? What idols do you bow down to happily? No sword, no soldier needed, just bend the knee to gods who aren’t Christ. Is that you? Have you done these kinds of things? I have too. For you and for I, we must eradicate them from our lives. Radically, yes. Daily, for sure. Better marred than charred. Because the satiation of the soul only comes in the Savior of the soul, Jesus Christ. We confess, we repent, we reconcile to God by the work of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which accomplishes this very thing. This is what discipleship looks like. This is what it looks like. This is what it’s grounded in. Authentic gospel, cruciform life before one another, lived with integrity that comes by the Spirit, increasing over time, glory unto glory. Better marred than charred, brothers and sisters. And I, like you, need to flee to Jesus again and again and always for your satisfaction, for my life, for cleansing, and for all those things I sought after and you sought after in those false gods. He alone will fill them. He alone will fill them, because those false gods are a lie, and they never satisfy. He goes on, Mark. Mark goes on in verse 49 and 50. He says, will be salted with fire. Salt is associated, of course, with the Levitical sacrifice we read about. By contrast to the fire of destruction just spoken of, believers will persevere through fire, right? It’s another theme that we see, and be purified by it, says the Apostle Peter. He says, so that to test the genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire and may be found to result in praise and glory and honor, the revelation of Jesus. In verse 50, salt is good, but that salt has lost its saltiness. How will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. But this is the picture of true discipleship, what he’s talking about all along. Salt is a preservative for your life. And he’s telling them here, Jesus, telling him to use humility and service to preserve the peace of the church rather than dividing it through a desire to be great. Smallness, littleness, weakness is exalted. That’s the way of the kingdom. And he says, better marred than charred. Get little and get life. And he shows us clearly in this text, even that John the Beloved is worthy of a millstone tied around his neck. But in hearing that and seeing that, he knows who he truly is, one who is completely unworthy of the kingdom. And for the first time begins perhaps to realize that that’s what’s needed to enter, unless you have no hope of entrance, except the Savior who came to seek those which are lost. Savior who really did die on a Roman cross, who really was marred and scarred and charred and remains scarred, bears those scars that he took for us, for all who flee to him in faith for life. So may we exalt, brothers and sisters, in what he exalts in, and may we glory in our weakness to the glory of his precious name. Amen.

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you for this, your word. We thank you, Lord, that even in our weakness, your strength shines through and your power is made great. We pray, Lord, that we indeed would trust what you tell us, that your grace is sufficient even in our weakness, that your grace is sufficient even in our suffering, that your grace is sufficient in our struggles and in our joys, in our hardships, in our delights, Lord, that your grace is sufficient. Praise you, Lord, for that grace shown to us through Jesus Christ. We pray that we would believe what we have heard, that we would indeed have our perspective in life corrected by this your word, and that we would embrace the truths that we learn here, and we’d be aware of the gross and ugly arrogance and pride that cling so closely to our flesh, and that we would indeed live lives of love, reflecting the love shown to us in Jesus, for we were gross and ugly, yet he died to save us. Father, we pray for this church, you would continue to bless it. Pray, Lord, that it would be a blessing to this geographic location, this city that you placed us in. Pray, Lord, that you would provide for us a place that would be better to facilitate or accommodate the number of people that we have, Lord. We pray that we would be… open to your leading, Lord, and that you would make a way known. Lord, we pray that you would guide us in that. We pray for the leadership of this church, that you would continue to bless us, that you would continue to humble us, that you would continue to give us a great love for the flock set before us, Lord, and that, Lord, for this church as well, we pray that you would bless the children and the parents and the singles, Lord, old or young. We pray that you would indeed be to us a wall of fire around us, and the glory in our midst, Lord, we pray that we be receptive to your leading in our lives, and that we would indeed be beacons of light in a dead and dying world that is in such need of the gospel, and that we would take these things seriously, and that we would know, Lord, even more so, the reality of death, and a death without a Savior. Indeed, the fires of hell would shake us, shake us awake of the realities of these things and the importance of life here and the decision to be made for you. Lord, bless those of our loved ones and our family who despise you, who do not know you. Lord, we pray that you would work your spirit, your spirit would work in their lives. If it is your will, Lord, that they would come to faith, give them hearts that beat for you. We thank you for the profession of faith that we heard this morning, Lord, and we pray that you would bless all of us as we continue in this week. Lord, until we come again, we ask this all in Jesus’ name, amen.