Take your text now and turn to Mark chapter nine. This will be the text for our sermon this morning, Mark chapter nine, as we continue in the gospel of Mark. We’ll be beginning at verse 38. Mark 9, 38. Once again, please give your full attention. This is the word of God.

John said to him, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. We tried to stop him because he was not following us. 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. 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. 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 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. 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 it make it salty again? Have salt in yourself and be at peace with one another.

The word of the Lord. Amen, may he have his blessing upon the preaching of the word. At this time, let’s pray and ask his blessing on that very thing. Pray with me, please. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that you’ve come to us and continue to do so in the power of your Holy Spirit and enable us indeed to praise you and to give ourselves to you. We ask now, Lord, as we seek your face in and through your word by your spirit and seek to listen to the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that you would send that your spirit to us afresh, that we may not merely come as tasters, but as your children who are hungry and long to feed upon every word that you have to say to us. We pray, Lord, grace, for your grace, that we may sit under this your word, that we may listen to your voice, that it will break through our so often and very calloused hearts, and by your gracious love and passion, Lord, we pray, transform us into the likeness of Jesus, our King and our Savior. And so we pray that you would, by your word, do this through your spirit. Do us good as we come to you for counsel and for your presence. We pray, Lord, minister to us according to the truly wide variety of our needs, but bring every one of us, we pray, Lord, to see that you have provided all that we need in Jesus and that he is indeed the fullest satiation and satisfaction of our hearts and all that we could ever hope for or long for or need. And then we may come to this Jesus and find our all in all in him. Lord, we pray this for his glory and for our good in the name of Jesus and all God’s people said together, amen. Amen. You may be seated.

As we continue through this section of Mark’s gospel, we are right on the heels of Christ recall telling his disciples for the second time that the Son of Man is going to suffer many things, that he’s going to die, and on the third day, he will rise again. It’s in light of this background that Christ has just told us of his impending death and the way in which he will suffer and at whose hands he will suffer. Remember what happens next, this conversation that we are told the disciples had, as they began to argue upon the way following this, who among them was the greatest? And this seems very strange to us, and it should. The degree of insensitivity, we would say, is quite extraordinary. He’s just told them that he’s going to die, and they’re asking who will be the greatest in that kingdom. It says your leader, the one of you following, this one you’ve committed to, is about to go to the cross and die, and the next thing that you want to discuss is who will be the greatest in my kingdom. And so he brings this child in their midst, remember. Last time we talked about, and he says, by the way, if any of you wants to be great in my kingdom, just so if you’re interested, let him be least of all and servant of all. It’s on the heels of that teaching that this particular text this morning, the set of teachings come to us that we’re gonna focus on, begin to look at this morning. And that theme that has already been introduced carries over into these texts as well. And we’ll see that Christ really is answering the question, what does it look like for those, for the one who says, I will follow this Messiah who has just told me he’s going to die? What is that? What does that look like? What does it look like for the life of the follower of a crucified Messiah? What does it look like to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? And so we’ll find our answer to that question this morning and next, and begin to ask as we do ourselves, what characteristics do we associate with the disciple of Jesus Christ? What marks a disciple of Christ? We might find our answer to those things is askew or lacking, so influenced that we are by the culture that we’re around and even the blackness of the sin remaining in our own heart. Because the words that Christ constantly tells us in this section and the section to follow regarding a disciple are words like least, little, the lost, servant, death. These sorts of themes are the themes that Christ is trying to push his disciples to see and to get. It is the least and the little they get into that kingdom. And therefore, in order to be a disciple, this is the frame of mind you need to start adjusting yourself to, not the frame of mind that argues along the way, who is the greatest? And so with that in mind, let us look at this text that we upon this morning, and the first thing that we wanna see as we look at this text is really the problem of significance or this issue of importance. We’ll notice that immediately following his teaching concerning this child from last week, he brings into their midst. He says, if you wanna be great, become small. Become like this one who can offer me nothing. And John, the beloved disciple, comes to Jesus. And he says, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, but don’t worry. We told him to knock it off because he wasn’t following us. And John, with the disciples, has seen a man who, in the name of Jesus, was going out and setting people free from the bondage of demon possession. And apparently, he was being successful in that. Notice the language that John uses. He was casting out demons in your name. And they said, we told him to stop it, we forbid him. John says, we went to him and we made sure that he knew he was forbidden from doing these things, right? And so you have to ask, why is that? What would prompt the disciples? to do this. I mean, it seems like if someone is using the name of the kingdom, of the king of the kingdom, and he’s doing the work of the king of the kingdom, and those who are ultimately in bondage are being set free, then the goal of that kingdom is being accomplished. Why wouldn’t this be celebrated? Why would they want to halt this activity? But John says, no, we made sure to take care of that, and we stopped it, stopped him in his tracks. because the problem, Jesus, was that he wasn’t following you. But that’s not actually what he says, is it? It’s not what he says. It says, Teacher, we saw someone cast out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. because he was not following us, right? We would think, well, okay, maybe this guy has the wrong impression of Jesus, or maybe it’s like in the book of Acts. Remember that incidence with the sorcerer, Simon the sorcerer, who’s just using the name of Jesus for power’s sake. But John’s concern is for none of these things. He says the real problem is that he was not following us, not Jesus. John’s not concerned about Christ’s name and Christ’s reputation in the kingdom. It’s the fact that this man is outside of the 12. He’s not in the inner circle. He’s not one of us. And how dare he go about doing these things, doing our business without our permission? He’s not in the inner elites like we are. And since he’s not, how dare he go out doing the things that we’re supposed to be doing? And it’s really this man’s lack of qualification in John’s eyes. that’s frustrating him, that he’s not paying the correct due to the disciples who have been set apart specifically by Jesus to be his followers and go out casting out demons in his name. Now, Jesus just got done speaking on the greatness of the kingdom, the greatest in the kingdom, being the least of all and the servant of all, right? He just got done talking about this. And this man, John’s main issue is that this one is casting out demons isn’t in the inner circle. He hasn’t associated himself with them. He doesn’t know that the needs, what he needs is to be with them if he’s going to be doing these great things. And John, you’ll notice, and this is the first time in the gospel of Mark that John speaks alone. It doesn’t matter. John doesn’t really get the bad press usually that Peter does, right? When we read the scripture and we hear teachings on those who stumble over themselves and put their foot in their mouth. And it’s usually Peter, right? He’s always the one that’s being, he’s like the poster child for acting and saying wrong stuff. And he’s kind of the favorite disciple that everyone picks on. But John’s track record, is not great. And if you read the Gospels carefully, we hear John for the first time here. Notice the first thing is this guy’s in the wrong group, and he’s not respecting us like he should be. And the next time that we’re going to hear him speak, it’s him and his brother, remember. And they’re asking for these special seats in the kingdom. Can we be right next to you on the right and the left? Can we be exalted in your kingdom? Notice that him and his brother get special names in the other Gospels, remember, because why? Because when the Samaritans were inhospitable, his first reaction, John’s, was, so shall we call down fire from heaven and kill these guys? That’s his reflex. In Linneus, John has one particular mode of operation. He’s not quite figured out that littleness and leastness is what Christ is looking for. You’ll notice what he is, his mode of operation, if you will, is power and a desire for power and a display of power and making sure that if people are going to do anything, they give proper due and respect to those who have been exalted by Christ, namely the 12. And his problem in this particular text is the smallness of the one who’s operating. This guy doesn’t fit. He’s not qualified, he’s not a big deal like the rest of us, and so we told him, you need to knock it off. And the grand irony, of course, is that, think about what just happened in the flow of our text. In the Mount of Transfiguration, And I’m coming down and they hear this argument going on. And what’s the problem there? This is the irony. It’s no less than that close, right? A handful of verses earlier that the disciples had gone out trying to do this very thing, cast out demons, and they were unable. They didn’t have the power to. And this very thing that John’s trying to protect, he couldn’t even accomplish. Perhaps that factored into his thinking and his reaction. And this one who’s being successful of this man, John says, oh, don’t do that. You’re not following us. We want people being set free from bondage if you’re not associated with the right team. And so until that, we want you to stop. And the text says they forbid him. Their greatest desire as disciples had been God’s kingdom, His kingdom coming in Christ. None of this would have been an issue for them in this text, in this instance. But their priorities up to this point in the ministry there, The priorities are all wrong, they’re scrambled, they’re messed up. Their priorities are really about position and place and the kind of kingdom that exalts them in a particular way that they longed for, which is why Christ has had to over and over reshape them, correct their way of thinking about discipleship. And he’ll continue to do so, as we know, for the next couple of chapters as well. And this man we see was casting out demons, at the very least understood that a war was underway. And he put himself on the right side of that war. And he saw that there was at least authority in this particular name, Jesus, and he wanted to side with that authority. And he knew enough to actually be successful. And the casting out of demons and to entrust himself and align himself with Jesus, yet the disciples are upset about this. And if we think about this mentality and this response, this reflex, things really don’t change all that much, right, in the hearts of sinful man. I mean, as we read this, we may smirk at John’s thinking in this way and why people need to side with him, but things aren’t that different for most of us. How hard is it for any of us, no matter what we associate ourselves with in our faith, in the faith broadly, Christianity, how hard is this to look at the littleness and the least and to say that’s a virtue? Very often our attitudes, we think no YouTube presence, no podcasts, you’re not published, No degree, not up to date on all the little controversies. How small, how insignificant. How powerless, but it’s the weakness, it’s the smallness and the powerlessness of what Christ, that’s who he exalts. He exalts weakness and those who aren’t exactly proper on our side as we see, as we would imagine it. And he exalts those who are foolish and those who are weak, those who are even uneducated, even sometimes, heaven forbid, those who are unreformed, right? Sometimes God uses all sorts of people and actually exalts them through their manner of weakness in Christ and uses them in ways that baffle us. And so for many of us, we still have this idea of discipleship that comes down to kind of a one-upsmanship, that you gotta be associated with the right team and have all the right categories, and if you’re not, God forbid, then you won’t be useful in this or that particular area of the kingdom. But Christ says that’s not the way that it’s going to work. And notice as he moves forward, he changes the subject from the problem of significance or this issue of importance to correct their thinking. And he tells them what’s actually significant in his correction. He corrects their perspective and he tells them what truly is significant because it’s not what you’ve placed it upon. And notice as the text goes on, Christ’s immediate words are, don’t forbid him, right? Stop doing that. And it’s not just a past thing. He didn’t say, you shouldn’t have forbidden him. He says, don’t do that. Stop forbidding people in that way. I’m commanding you to do the exact opposite of what you did because your thinking is wrong. And the generous spirit of Jesus in relation to his disciples is quite obvious. He says, Do not forbid him, for no one working in my name will soon speak ill of me afterwards. No one who is for us can so readily and easily be against us, he says. Christ is the test of acceptability. They have a different test. We have two different ways of evaluating the situation, he’s telling them. And we notice that you’re on the exact opposite side to this particular theological question. He says, I say, don’t stop him. And your normal and natural reaction was to cut him off at the knees. You see that he’s outside the norm. He’s outside of the group. He’s outside of strength, right? He’s weak. And I’ve already told you that this is the weak and it’s the foolish and it’s the small and the little that I’ve already promised would become great in the kingdom. And because you have yet to adjust your way of thinking and your mentality to that, you can’t see him for what he is. You’re blinded by your error. Yes, he’s unofficial. He’s unofficial. And by the way, disciples, did I tell you that the officials of the nation were about to put your Messiah to death? Yes, he’s weak. Yes, he seems foolish to you. But then I mentioned to you that the end of my ministry with you will be on a Roman cross. He’s already tried to show them that their way of thinking won’t work, because he says, I’m the Messiah that’s going to the cross, and if you can’t wrap your minds around this, you’re gonna be thrown off with everything that I do. And so since they’re still speaking, seeking rather categories of power and a Messiah who’s going to come and exalt them immediately and give them a kind of salvation that they’re looking for, which is not the kind of salvation that he promised to bring, they can’t see fellow members of this kingdom in the right way. Christ basically is asking them the question, didn’t I already tell you? Didn’t I already tell you that I was going to lose? And then my whole ministry is about losing and joining myself to losers. You saw this man, you thought, well, he’s a loser. He doesn’t fit. And I was trying to tell you, no, those are the ones that are qualified. That’s the prerequisite is weakness. And you and I are on the same page yet in this, Jesus is saying to his disciples. Why are we so surprised? Why are we so surprised at this? Things don’t change that much. We don’t have to look merely at church history and see the kind of men and women that God uses to carry out his plans, their weakness, their suffering, their littleness, their insignificance, seemingly. We can look at our own lives and look at those in them. We see those who’ve been broken and weak and are small and disfigured. Maybe there’s those who are a little slow, yet nevertheless have been used by God who’ve had mighty faith and an impact and cast a long shadow in the lives of others. Christ is trying to teach his disciples that they should not be scandalized by his weakness, the weakness that he has promised they will have to see put on display in his crucifixion. And they’re repudiating his weakness, they’re repudiating Christ’s means of salvation for his people. What is about to come, Christ telling them, is a lot more scandalous than this man who’s doing works in my name. And so he’s saying, listen, if this man is doing works in my name, and he’s sided with us, and I’m going to do something that is really disrespectful, disrespectable in this culture to these people, the whole society’s gonna think that I’m a criminal and a thief. He won’t easily turn against me then. And we’re gonna have a propaganda problem. in this endeavor. And our way of getting the word out is going to turn into a serious issue. When he realized that the advertising of my program is our Messiah got murdered by the Romans. And he says, it’s the one who’s doing works in my name, he’s already decided he wants to be on our side. We need to join ourselves to weak ones like this. And he goes on to talk about the fact that the disciples might have to gain a higher view of actually what’s going on, which means a lower view of themselves that they should have. And it says, don’t you see that anyone who comes to you and brings a cup of cold water in my name will receive a reward? So the disciples are really concerned about who’s on the inside, you know. But basically, they want to secure their position on that inside, and they want to make sure that they have a right to their rewards in heaven and that it’s the right rewards. They wanna sit on the right hand and the left hand of Christ. They want a certain kind of exaltation for themselves. And they say, this guy’s not on our team. He’s gotta stop before he perhaps takes our stuff, right? Maybe he’s a challenge to our reward. And Jesus says, don’t you see? It doesn’t really matter. Even the weakness, the weakest of the weak, even the one who has no seeming gifts at all, If they come and they bring you a cup of water because they see you and that you’re in need, don’t you see that I’m going to reward them abundantly in the kingdom? It’s that kind of weakness and that kind of foolishness, seemingly foolishness, that kind of service and humility that’s going to be exalted when the kingdom comes. So don’t fear about other people taking your position or your place. He says, for I have plans for rewarding not just major players in the kingdom, like you might think yourself to be, but the weakest will actually be the major players in the kingdom. And if you can’t start doing that kind of calculation and that kind of math, you’ll always get it wrong. And that’s what he’s trying to teach us, that this math of the kingdom of God does not equate to the way that we do business here on this earth. So whether one can cast out demons or just give a cup of water, no matter how small, as long as they are serving the Lord in the name of the Lord for the glory of the Lord, they shall be exalted in the kingdom. They will be exalted. So he begins to tell them that service again is of utmost importance in the life of those who name the name of Christ. Weakness is what is exalted, he says, discipleship. Discipleship is service. It’s sacrifice. It’s the moment-by-moment life, living before the Savior of your life, and you’re a Lord of your life. We’ll look at the remainder of this particular point, Mark 9, next week. But I wanted to end just for a moment looking at this exaltation of weakness in the kingdom of God from the Zechariah passage that we read earlier regarding Yahweh’s work, the Lord’s work, and this weak one who was pierced and the promise to serve, rather the promise to those who have surrendered themselves and given their lives to him. Zechariah 12 and 13, they tell us that Yahweh will defend Jerusalem. Of course, this is typological of the people of God in consummation, but following from this, following this defense will be the people’s mourning for the one whom they have pierced. This will result in what we read earlier from Zechariah 12, the purification of the people and the land and of their leadership. And that’s the basic horizon. You know, when we think of the horizons of the prophets, It’s the basic horizon of Zechariah and his hearers, right? The forward and upward pointing to glory, right? The horizon that’s the up and ultimate purification is catalyzed by those two curious figures that we read about. The pierced one in Zechariah 12.1 and the stricken shepherd in Zechariah 13.7. Both are afflicted and smitten. in weakness, and this happens for the redemption and the redemptive good of his people. And we know from the horizon given in the New Testament, of which Christ is leading to, that the fulfillment of both figures, both pierced figures, comes in the final events of the life of the Messiah himself, Jesus Christ. In the original context, there of Zechariah, the people look upon the one whom they have pierced as a response to the Lord’s pouring out His Spirit of grace. And this results in what? This life-giving fountain of water that purifies them from sin, cleanses them. And the Apostle John, rather, brings all these themes together, right? The pierced one, the pouring out of the Spirit, the fountain of water. We read about this in John 7. During the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus declares in the temple, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scriptures have said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And then in verse 39 of John 7. Now this he said about the spirits. whom those who believe in his name were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. And so do you see it there, what’s going on? The living water and the outpouring of the Spirit brought together in Jesus. And we see this piercing of Jesus. This third theme there is being pierced in the side by the soldier. And he quotes there Zechariah 13, they will look upon him whom they have pierced. Weakness indeed, but the victory and weakness in this crucifixion is a sign to those looking on, but it’s not a sign of defeat. It’s the inauguration of God’s glorious full and final work that already has come. That’s power and weakness. That’s victory and defeat. And through the death of Christ, God purifies the people for himself. who are you, the people of God, those who name the name of Jesus. All those that look to him in faith, this one who was pierced, they will have their sins forgiven and will receive the outpouring of the Spirit. And for those who do not know and will not recognize the crucified one’s true identity, they will mourn when they see him come. in full manifest glory to judge the world. John tells us in Revelation 1, behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. And so do you recognize this pierced one? It’s the most important question you could answer in all of your life. Do you acknowledge your sins? and his purifying death, the death that pays for those sins. I pray that you do. And I pray that you’re worshiping him even now at this moment, because this pierced one, this Jesus, upon the cross had the cup of the Father’s full wrath pressed to his mouth. And he was given to drink it down, all of it, down to the dregs, and he was forsaken by all. And he cried out on the cross, Why? Why, Father? And the answer comes, why, my son? Because in doing so, I’m making you, I’m making my people pure and full of life, new creations to dwell with us forever in glory, without enemy or fear or pain or mourning or crying ever. As we close, listen to John’s, last book, the book of Revelation, the last chapter of God’s word given to us. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And through the middle of the street Also, on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer, it says, will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him, and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and the night will be no more. and they will need no lamp, no light or sun for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever. Remember, dear Christian, remember. Remember always and especially when you were beat up and when you were brought low by the circumstances of life and the world around you and the enemy and even your own heart. All the grotesque things going on in the world. but the inner blackness that remains. Remember these things. Remember who you are in Jesus and all that he’s done to accomplish your salvation, taking your punishment and taking God’s wrath. And remember the promise of cleansing and purification. May these truths drive us to lives of gratitude and commitment to the God who gave us new life. to live with boldness and passion for this Jesus, this weak king, this victorious king, the one who was pierced so that we would be whole. So may we go from here with his love for ourselves and for our neighbor and all for his glory, amen.