Called to Be Faithful By Rev. David Lauten Mark 9:42-50
“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. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life 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,
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esus speaks these words on the heels of his discussion on true discipleship. Our Savior has just emphasized the importance of doing things “in my name” (v 37). What is of importance in Christian discipleship is personal allegiance to Jesus. This begins with a saving trust in Christ and his righteous life of active obedience to passive obedience.
Through a living trust in Christ and his cross work alone, we are united with our Sav- ior in a way that brings us from spiritual death to life anew with God. The redeeming love of our God is indeed marvelous. But the glory of the gospel is not only that God saves us from the penalty and consequences of our sin, but that in Christ, he transforms us. My grandfather was skilled at taking a piece of wood and whittling to make it into something he saw in that kindling. One day as a boy, I recall watching with fascination the shavings falling to the ground as he skillfully used his pocket knife. He asked why I was looking at the pile of shavings instead of what he was making of that piece of wood. If we know Jesus, God is at work changing us to become more like Christ in our char- acter. We can tend to look at the various things that may be falling to the ground in our lives, but he is at work conforming us to the image of Christ.
His work of transformation means that he lovingly whittles away at the areas of re- maining sin in our lives. He involves us in our own spiritual growth. Now that we are in Christ, we have new desires to please God. We want our lives to be lived for his glory. The Apostle Paul relates our growth in grace to a change of wardrobe. We are to take off the clothes of sin and put on Christ and the new life that is found in him (Colossians 3).
May/June 2023
While God is taking initiative in our progress in spiritual growth. In this pas- sage, Jesus teaches us the importance of addressing areas of lingering sin in our own lives. We will only make spiritual progress as we take sin seriously in our lives. We tend to dismiss the problems in our own lives. How easy it is to consider other people’s sins and be dismissive of our own. The person at the other end of the pew, the neighbor across the street, the co-worker down the hall – they have the issue, not me. Jesus does not allow us to excuse our own sins so easily. Instead, he calls us to radically address it. Jesus uses the starkest of terms to de- pict the ongoing effort we are to wage against personal sin. To draw our atten- tion to the severe nature of our sin, he uses hyperbole. If our hand or foot causes us to sin, it is to be cut off. This is among the most radical language Jesus uses be- cause he knows us and our tendency to be complacent with our own sins. - cation, Jesus also provides a comparison. While losing a limb or an eye is a horrible thing. This loss is much better than the alternative of not dealing with sin. The Bible is clear that we are saved not by our works but by faith alone in the per- son and the perfect work of Christ alone.
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