Mark 2022

Mark chapter 9 and verse 30 to 50. We're working our way through Mark. Well, actually, this will be penultimate. Next week, we're going to finish a series in Mark. And then in the New Year, we're going to open up 1 and 2 timothy.

So Mark chapter 9 and verse 30, they left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after 3 days, he will rise. But they did not under stand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

They came to Capernium. When he was in the house, he asked them, what were you arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet because on the way they'd argued. About who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the 12 and said, anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all.

He took a little child who he placed among them taking the child in his arms, he said to them. Whoever welcomes 1 of these little children in my name, welcomes me, And whoever welcomes me does not and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but the 1 who sent it. Teacher said John. We saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop because he was, oh, what about Do not stop him, Jesus said. For no 1 who does a miracle in my name, can in the next moment say anything bad about me for whoever is not against us is for us.

Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward. If anyone causes 1 of these little ones, those who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, It is better for you to enter life, remained than with 2 hands to go into hell where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, it is better for you to enter life grip and to have 2 feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with 1 eye than to have 2 eyes and be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good. But if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt amongst ourselves and be a peace with each other. Hello and good morning from me.

My name is Ben, 1 of the pastors here at the church. Good to have you if you're if you're new or visiting or watching online. Or if you're a regular, it's always good to see you. Thanks for joining us again this morning. Let's pray We've just sang, where Meekfuls will receive him still, the deal all enters in.

And we want to be Meek we'll know that after we see what the Lord has to say to us today. But let's begin meetingly, shall we? Let's begin knowing we need the lords to feed us and ask for his help to do that. Father, thank you. That though we're we're often so stubborn and we come sometimes not hungry, not feeling hungry for your word.

We don't see the malnourishment of our souls quite often. You still feed us and you you are patient with us. And though we come to you arrogantly sometimes, not meekly, In our own greatness, you are merciful and kind. You're a loving heavenly father. And father, I pray for us now.

We've all come from different mornings. Some of us here are excited and looking forward to the day, some of us are just dealing with disappointment after disappointment in life. And some of us are struggling. Some of us don't even want to be here, but I pray, please, you would fill us now with your spirit, give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and give us hearts that we'll receive, please, in Jesus' name, amen. On then.

Great. You might have seen this week that Volodymyr Zelensky was announced as times person of the year and the Ukrainian spirit, the spirit of Ukraine. He really shot to fame this year, didn't he? I didn't really know who he was before this year. I don't think many of us did.

And he shot to fame and is the sort of person of the year, not only because he's the president of a nation, that's under attack at the moment because there are many nations under attack at this time. But I think in particular because of his impassioned call, I'm sure we've all seen the speeches he's given to parliament around the world. He used to give those nightly addresses, don't know if he still does that. Loads of things on social media. Tyme wrote this about him.

It said, when the war started. He gave his generals the freedom to lead on the battlefield and focused instead on the dimension of war where he could be most effective. Which was mainly persuading the world that Ukraine must wait at any cost. So that's the work that he got he got going with. And you might have remembered in the first week of the war this year, he came before the European Parliament and and he said he said this.

Oh, that's a spoiler. He said this. Do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you are indeed Europeans and then life will win over death.

And light will win over darkness, which is quite an amazing sort of thing to say, isn't it? The language there is strong, very Christian in in his sense. So really, what what time have identified about this man is that it was his speeches And I'm sure you've seen them. Maybe you were quite moved by them yourself. I don't know.

It was his speeches that rallied the people of Ukraine and the nations around the world. To sort of step up and defend the country and and stand with them. It was his speeches largely, I think, that that helped that. A good speech rallies people, isn't it? And it brings them to your cause.

It gets them on side. It gets them thinking the way that you think. It would be quite odd if Zelensky's speeches had the opposite effect that he intended. It would be odd if he stood up and spoke in front of the European Parliament and people lost confidence in him and thought, well, maybe we shouldn't do anything. I remember he spoke at the the parliament, the British parliament, and there was a standing ovation, I think, after he spoke.

It would be weird, wouldn't it? If if the if the MPs heard his speech, gave him a clap and said, yes, we must get behind this. The Zoom call ended, he disappeared. And then they just carried on like normal and did nothing. It would be quite odd, wouldn't it?

Well, in today's passage, in the bible, Jesus has given his disciples a speech It's what he's just done. And it's a speech predicting his death. It's actually all about the cross what he's just said to them. It's about what the Christ has come to do. It's about who he is and what's gonna happen to him.

But in response to hearing this speech about what will happen to the Christ, the disciples do something immediately afterwards That is completely the opposite of what the cross and the Christ is all about. In fact, Jesus does this 3 times, 3 times he predicts his death, After every single prediction, the disciples do something that is utterly uncrossed like. Totally totally different to to what Jesus has just been talking about. It's a really sharp contrast. Because here, they start arguing among themselves about who is the greatest.

I mean, imagine being on a London bus. Seeing someone give up their seat for perhaps an elderly person or a pregnant woman or someone who's disabled 1 person stands up and gives up their seat because no 1 else would. You've all seen these people, they sort of look out the window, put their bag on the chair, sort of say I'm saving it for someone or just completely ignore the person. So everyone else refuses to stand up. 1 person stands up and gives up their chair.

But then suddenly, everyone who's remained seated suddenly starts arguing amongst themselves about who's the most compassion it. Which 1 of them is the most sympathetic? And the 1 who cares most about people is ridiculous, isn't it? That would be mental. Well, that's exactly what's happening here in this passage.

Because in God's Kingdom, greatness is humility. Greatness is service. Greatness is self denial of the centeredness, not self centeredness. Jesus says in verse 35, Anyone who wants to be first in the kingdom of God must be the very last and the servant of all. And here are the disciples.

After hearing Jesus sort of talk about the cross. They're arguing who amongst themselves is first and which 1 of them should be at the top of the pile. It's ridiculous. So Jesus wants to teach them this. Understanding the cross what he's just said to them, will transform their understanding of what greatness is.

That's what's going on here. And we're gonna see that in these sections here today with these little sort of conversations and interactions that go on. We're gonna see how the disciples believe that elitism is greatness. That's what they thought. They thought that there is a sort of class above.

And if you're in that class, you are the greatest but the cross. Is going to make them welcome everyone. The disciples believed being exclusive is greatness. If you can make a club for yourself and and it's hard to get in, then that's greatness. But the cross is gonna teach them that being inclusive is greatness.

And the disciples idea of greatness will see actually only in the end leads to destruction. And Jesus is gonna lift the lid on that and show that. And say the way you're going, the way you think greatness is, is only going to lead to your destruction and the destruction of others. And the cross is the thing that's going to bring them life. And look, today, we're born into the same world as the disciples.

We breathe the same air as they did. We have the same DNA of our hearts. I was thinking just think about the way that businesses have exclusive memberships and you wanna just you wanna be part you want the gold card. Don't you? When you get it, you feel good.

You think, yeah, I'm in the gold. I've got access to that area over there that other people don't have. And how good is it when you go into a restaurant and there are some people sitting there and you've just walked in and they come over and serve you first. It's sort of great, isn't it? And you hate it when you're the other people, but it's good.

When you get served first, that that's because our hearts are exactly the same. As the disciples 2000 years ago. So we need the cross to teach us as well. What is greatness? And that's what Jesus is going to do today.

The first point this morning is the cross defines what is greatness, actually. Look at verse 30 in Mark chapter 9. They left that place and they passed through galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.

They will kill him, and after 3 days, he will rise. So it's a it's a short speech, isn't it? It's very simple. But actually there's 4 extraordinary points than what Jesus has just said. 4 amazing truths that he would be desperate that we understand.

Here they are. We'll go through them. The first 1 is that he is the son of man. Maybe you don't know what that means. Maybe you've not heard that before.

Well, the son of man is a phrase From Daniel chapter 7, it's prophetic language. It has a whole host of meaning behind it, the title son of Matt. Because in Daniel's vision, he sees 1 like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. And he approaches the ancient of days in his lead isn't into his presence. And that is a magnificent magnificent vision that Daniel has.

Because to be coming with the clouds of heaven, doesn't just mean, you know, we see the pictures. Don't we? They're sort of pink fluffy clouds, and Jesus is there descending. It's sort of it's a nice picture, but it means something. It means that he's coming with the very power and righteousness of god himself.

The cloud in the old testament was the visible presence of God. So wherever you were in the old testament and there was a cloud, God was there. So you have it on Mount Sinai. Moses goes up and he disappears into the cloud and he meets with God at the very top. In the wilderness, the pillar of cloud led the Israelites through.

God is with them. In the cloud, in the tabernacle, God appeared above the ark in the Holy of Holy. There's a cloud. This is God and in the same in the temple, there was a cloud. And even here in mark chapter 9 verse 7, look up at verse 7.

And we'll see it again. Then a cloud appeared and covered them and a voice came from the cloud. This is my son whom I love. Listen to him. Here is God in the cloud.

And so Jesus coming with the clouds of heaven is not just a nice mode of transport to make a nice picture. It is God himself. The power and the righteousness of God. So this is who the son of man is. And to be able to approach the engine of days is not a normal thing.

The ancient of days is the creator himself. He's, you know, without interventional or mediation or sort of protection to be led into the presence of the ancient of days is extraordinary. Again, in the old testament, the high priest was the only 1 he could go to see the cloud. And the things he had to wear were amazing. He almost wore like battle armor, jewels, and a and a thing and a sort of almost a helmet on his head that said, consecrated to the lord on it and other sort of robes and garments and only after an avalanche of sacrifice to purify himself, could he go into the presence of the ancient of days?

Well, here is Jesus, the son of man, coming with the clouds of glory approaching the ancient days with no mediation necessary hairy. He is the 1 who can boldly approach the the father and come into the very presence of God himself. And not only is he able to approach the engine of days, but Daniel goes on and he says that this sort of man was then given authority, glory, and sovereign power. Who's he given it from? He's given it from God?

And God doesn't share his glory, by the way. God doesn't share his sovereign authority. He doesn't share power outside of himself. And so do you see who the son of man is? The son of man is is none other than god the son approaching the father and sharing the authority and glory and sovereign power of the Godhead.

Jesus is the son of man. That's the first point of his discernment. Yeah. It's not a little thing Jesus is saying to them. The son of man, that's the first point.

The second point is going to be delivered to the hands of men. Surprisingly, isn't it? The sun of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. The all powerful 1 who comes on the clouds of heaven who approaches the ancient of Dave. He is going to be delivered into the hands of men.

He's going to give up his sovereignty. He's instead of all men being subject to his hands, he is going to be subject to the hands of men. It's as if Jesus is walking sort of unarmed into enemy territory with his hands out like this, ready to be arrested. And to be tried in their courts without a defense, to be accused by their people without sticking up from being whipped by their guards and beaten. I don't know if you saw also in the news this week there was a women's NBA player American lady who was arrested, I think, in Russia.

She was in a Russian jail. And this week, there was a swap, so a Russian prisoner went She went to America. And America released a Russian prisoner back to to Russia. So the US government and the lawyers working around the clock to get her out of that place, to get her out of that prison, to get her back home into the safety of the United States. But here is Jesus doing the absolute opposite.

He's saying, deliver me into the prison. Deliver me into the hands of those who want to arrest me. But notice they haven't forced us upon Jesus. Nobody arrests Jesus against his will or even at a time that he hasn't ordained. People couldn't lay a glove on Jesus except that he's delivered to them.

The father is delivering Jesus. Into enemy territory. It's like a lamb being led by its shepherd. The shepherd walks alongside the lamb to to the slaughter. That's what's going on.

It's not a police car that arrives at rest Jesus in heaven brings him back down here and then does whatever he wants with him. It's the father's royal carriage that brings Jesus into his world. He's being delivered right into the middle of occupied territory. In other words, this is the plan of God. The father has sent the son of man into the hands of man.

And that's what Christmas is all about, isn't it? And we see baby Jesus. Who has put in there? Who has delivered him there? It's not an accident.

It was the father who sent and the son agreed and went and obeyed. Jesus is lying in the manger with his hands out like this ready to be delivered into the hands of men. That's the second point. The son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. Thirdly, they will kill him.

Man will kill him. He's going to die fact, worse than just die in his sort of old age peacefully. He's going to be murdered brutally in the most cruel way that a a world empire could think of. He's gonna be murdered. Now this is the mystery of God, what we see here, what Jesus has said.

It's amazing what Jesus has said. The glorious son of man himself, the 1 with all authority, The 1 who shares the power and the glory with the father. The 1 who who has nothing in himself that is sinful and can stop him coming from the father. He is the 1 who's gonna come into this world and die to give his life as a ransom for many. The 1 who's been with the ancient of days for all eternity, the 1 who was with God in the beginning, the 1 who has life in himself is going to give up that life.

For those who were dead. And again, it's not an accident. Jesus says no 1 takes my life from me, Good luck trying to take Jesus' life from him. But I lay it down on my own accord is what Jesus says. He's come into this world hands bound, delivered to die, and to lay down his life.

That's the plan man. He who had no sin is going to suffer the penalty for sin, which is death. And then the fourth point of this amazing speech Jesus gives is after 3 days he will rise. Matthew Henry, a bible commentator. He drew my attention to this wonderful little sort of ideal fact that whenever Jesus spoke about his death, he always spoke about his resurrection as well.

It was like he never wanted us to think that death was gonna be the end for So whenever he said, I'm going to die, I'm going to rise again. He wanted us to that the lasting flavor on tongue. The thing we remember is not that he stays dead, but that there's life. He wants life to be the final word. So though he is the son of man, though he's gonna step down and become nothing, though he's gonna give himself over to the hands of men who kill him, he's going to be victorious from the dead and he's going to to rise.

And so what Jesus is really saying is the place of weakness. The smallness of what he's going to do is actually great. That's the place of grace. The cross, the place where Jesus seems the weakest of most frail and fragile, is the place of greatness. And of glory.

Because of the cross, death is going to be defeated. Sin is finished with Satan is gonna be crushed. And when he's risen, not only will death never be able to touch Jesus again, but he's gonna lead his people through death as well. Tom prayed a line from Harry the Herald Angel Singh. Let me read a couple more lines, mild he lays his glory by.

He lays his glory by. Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of Earth. It's not just Jesus who will rise from the dead. If you if you have faith in Him, he's gonna raise the sons of born to give them second birth.

So that's Jesus' prediction. That's his speech that he's just given. This is the message of the cross. Which actually defines what greatness is. Greatness is is that he who was the greatest of all becomes the smallest to serve others that he who had life in himself gave up his life for those who were dead.

That he who was rich becomes poorest of all to lift up those who had nothing. That is greatness. That's great. That's what God thinks greatness is, and that is glorious. So you can see how jarring it is.

Immediately after Jesus has given this little speech, the disciples are then arguing amongst themselves about who's the greatest. I'm the greatest. We saw the mock drama, very funny scene. Geraint, playing Peter, is saying I was called first And then Andrew was like, yeah, me too. I was called first.

And then I think James or John says, yeah, but you were up the mountain at the transfiguration. And then Geron, who's Peter, says, I like your logic. I was called first and I was up the mountain, so I'm the greatest. Amazingly jarring, isn't it? What Jesus has just said?

About what greatness is, what he's come to do. And then the disciples are arguing amongst themselves is pathetic, really. So it's jarring. So how is Jesus going to apply this truth about the cross, about what real greatness is? To them.

Well, in the next 3 sections, we see we see 3 things. The first 1 is is welcome, not elitism. Look at verse 36 of March chapter 9. He took a little child whom he played among them. I think this is quite a strange thing for Jesus to have done.

Where where's this child come from? Who's child is this? He's just taken a child, presumably, with permission. And he's placed this child among the disciples. He's he's placed them.

And I think it would be interesting to have seen what the disciples would have done. I'm I'm having a baby in well, Carrie's having my baby. In February this year, We're doing NCT classes and there are 8 of us couples and there's 8 lads. And in NCT, you have to go out and they split men and women up and you do little sessions by yourself. And it's quite funny at this stage, all of us blokes.

No. Absolutely nothing. It's our first child, all of us. And so there we are. And it's and it's like we had to do this thing.

What do you wanna get out of these sessions? And 1 of the guys was, well, some mates to drink without the pub when the baby's born to go out and have a drink. So I can just imagine if if someone had just dropped a baby into that session with us 8 blokes there who knew nothing, what on earth would we have done? We probably would have just been like, I don't know what to do. What does it need?

Does it smell that? Does it need changing? Does it need feeling? I don't know. Does it need to sleep?

Is it is it asleep? Is it awake? What's actually going on? And I think that's a little bit like what's going on with the disciples here. Jesus places a child among them.

They obviously have no idea what to do because Jesus goes on. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, whoever welcomes 1 of these little children in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but the 1 who sent me. If you do not understand the cross, you will not welcome little children or internationals. Or the poor or whoever it is that seems less important to you because in those days children weren't very important they were very lowly in society.

And the disciples are betraying by their reaction of doing nothing that they are separate and above from these children. They don't welcome the little children. And so Jesus is saying If you don't understand the cross, you will not welcome little children. Or who is it for us today? I mean, we love children today, don't we?

But who is it? Is it international? We're a very international church, so probably not for us. Is it the poor? Who is it that we do not welcome?

Who is it that seems less important to us? You may have heard at the Qatar World Cup, the Guardian estimates that there have been 6 and a half thousand migrant workers who have died constructing the stadiums. And the official numbers that Qatar have released are only 3 people have died from work related deaths, only 3. This week, just gone, another migrant worker died during maintenance of a stadium. And because the whole world's there, they can't hide it or cover it up.

They had to acknowledge it. And And so they come out and they say yes, we've unfortunately had a work related death incident, which is a 33 percent increase on their previous number. And now 4 official work related deaths. And when questioned this week, you might have seen this interview. The CEO of the Qatar World Cup was getting angry that he was being asked questions about this man who died.

He was saying, why are you asking me about this? We're having a very successful World Cup. Death is a natural part of life is what he said. Why did you bring this up? If Jesus the son of man put himself last behind even unknown, unnamed migrant workers.

If even a migrant worker is worthy to receive the precious blood of the son of man if he who had life in himself gave up his life 4, migrant men and women. Do you see how the cross deconstructs our elitism and our sense that there are some people who are better than others, and it transforms how we see and we value the least among us. The cross does that. The cross changes us. And if you don't welcome the least, Jesus says, you actually don't welcome him.

And if you don't Welcome Jesus. You actually don't welcome God. So you can talk about how much you love God as much as you like. And that you honor God and that you serve him. But if you aren't welcoming the least, you aren't welcoming him at all.

So I was thinking for us here, how do we apply this? Well, if someone sits down next to you who's new or you don't know or smells a bit, what are you going to do? Are you gonna be like 8 NCT lads in a pub when a baby's put in front of them? What do I do? Or are you gonna welcome them in the name of the Lord Jesus?

Are you gonna welcome those sitting around you this morning? I wonder have you welcomed those sitting around you this morning? We don't want to be a leadist here. We want to welcome everyone and especially the least. We also see that the cross makes us inclusive, not exclusive.

So, verse 38, Teacher said John, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop because he was not 1 of us. We told him to stop Jesus because he's not 1 of us. There's this mentality coming out here again. So somebody is doing a gospel work, actually driving out demons. Restoring broken people with the truth, presumably telling them about Jesus, and as a response, the demons are fleeing.

And this person is doing it in the name of Jesus, and Jesus is getting glory because it's done in his name. But because he wasn't in the inner circle of disciples, he wasn't 1 of the 12 that were called because he's not 1 of us. The disciples told him to stop. CS Lewis wrote about the dangers of the inner ring, the inner ring. You all know about the inner ring.

We all know about the inner ring. It's a delicious thing to be in the inner ring, isn't it? It's an unspoken group, isn't it? The inner ring. As a group of people, maybe some friends that are meeting over there and you want to be part of that.

You want to be in that. Maybe it's at work. There's an inner ring of people who meet at the coffee station. Or who are only called to certain meetings. You see it in the playground all the time, be in a ring.

And once you're in it, it's hard work to get in it, but, oh, man, when you get in that ring, it's good, isn't it? You have finally made it. I got added to the WhatsApp group. I'm in the ring. And then the people on the outside who used to be with you looking in suddenly are very distant from you.

And they might come to you and you treat them a bit differently because you're in now and they're not And maybe you actually you like that you got in, but you also like the exclusivity of it. So now you want it really hard and other people can't come in That's the inner ring. And we need to be wary of the inner ring in our church and in our friendship circles within the church. We can have friendship groups. We can be friends of people in the church, but we can't be closed off to others and not include them because they're not 1 of us.

Verse 39, do not stop him Jesus says. For no 1 who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me. Whoever is not against us is for us, truly, I tell you anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the messiah will certainly not lose their reward. Now, this is not a license for just anyone to use the name of Jesus, and then we have to accept them because they said the name Jesus. Here's how you tell a Christian and a genuine follower of the Lord, they will refresh you in the name of Jesus because you belong to Jesus.

That's a genuine believer. So anyone who gives you a cup of water to refresh you in the Lord Jesus Christ physically, literally or metaphorically because you belong to him. In other words, they see you're a follower and they want to encourage you in the faith they will certainly not lose their reward from Jesus. So when was the last time you refreshed someone in a faith? You refreshed someone this morning?

I also think for us cornerstone again, we're a growing church. Some of us have been here a long time. Katherine been administrator for 9 years. That's a long time. Some of us have only just joined in this last year.

So we need to be aware of this in a ring. Don't we? Amongst ourselves. It's a danger for those of us who have been here 10 years or more to sort of look out at the new people and say, well, they're not 1 of us. We were here 10 years ago.

Where were they? We've done 10 years of putting chairs out, so it's their turn to put chairs out now. We've sort of progressed from chair putting out and we have the better, finer jobs in the church now. I think similarly, there can be a kind of tribal newness. Those who were new in the last year or 2 years.

You go through newcomers together. That's like going into war, isn't it? And coming a brotherhood and coming out again. You guys are like tight. You're tighter than some of the people who've been here 20 years.

And so you might look out and go, well, the people who have been here 20 years, they're not 1 of us. They don't know what it's like to be a newcomer in this church. They don't know how hard it is. Just trying to integrate into the church We mustn't have inner rings here in this church. The cross teaches us inclusion and to refresh 1 another.

We all belong to the same body of Christ. And the the last thing the cross teaches us is life, not destruction. So verse 42, if anyone causes 1 of these little ones, those who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone will hang around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. Notice how those who believe in Jesus here are described as little ones. Why is that Because the people who've understood the cross don't see themselves as big ones.

They see themselves as little ones. They're not the great ones that the disciples are arguing about, they're little. And desiring greatness Jesus goes on to show us here, desiring to be great disciples. If you carry on the way you're going, this desire and greatness for yourself, it's only going to lead to destruction. If you cause others to stumble because of your greatness, It's better for you to be chucked into the ocean than to receive the wrath of God.

This is actually if you read the book of Revelation, there's an angel on judgment day. If you who holds a giant millstone into the sea, and that's God's judgment upon the world. Jesus is saying it's better for you to be thrown to the bottom of the sea. Then to have that which is coming towards you if you cause a little 1 to stumble because of your greatness. And he goes on verse 43.

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed then with 2 hands to go into hell where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, it is better for you to enter life crippled than to have 2 feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with 1 eye then to have 2 eyes and be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them do not die.

And the fire is not quenched. If your foot, if your hand, if your eye causes you to stumble. Now the trouble is we'll we'll stumble. Don't we? I stumble.

I'm sure you stumble. So maybe that word is not very helpful here. The word false stumble is actually literally to set a trap. If you're gonna catch something, so it can't escape, you set a trap. To be so chained in other words to sin that you cannot get up and follow Christ and leave it.

So if your own hands sets a trap for your body says Jesus and change you to this world, then cut it off, says Jesus. Leave it behind. And look if you think you're the greatest and that your idea of how you live your life and that your idea of who Jesus is and what he demands from you, and your idea of how you should treat others. If you think that's the greatest, you actually will part with Christ. You will cut Christ off.

Because you no longer need him. But if you think Christ is the greatest, if you think his idea of how you should live your life, If his idea of what he demands from you, his idea of how you should treat others, if you think that is the greatest, if you think I'm little, Christ is big, then you will cut off sin in order to have Christ. Either you cut off your your limb that's changed you or you cut off Christ. That's what Jesus is talking about here. That's the the humility of entering life with no hands or feet.

Or eyes. You're humbling yourself. You're denying yourself, but you're entering a life. So I wonder, do you have hands that lay traps for you? Do your hand send a text to someone that then traps you in sin?

Are you clicking a link that's trapping you. What about your feet? Are your feet physically taking you to places that are gonna trap you in sin? Where are your feet taking you? I mean, this morning, your feet have bought you before the Lord.

That's just good. And amongst the Lord's people, but where are they going to take you tomorrow? People who are not here. Katherine, You'll fight, Katherine. People who are not here, where have your feet taken you?

Or your eyes, when you cast your eyes over something that traps you and holds you down and takes your attention from cry What are you going to do? Are you going to deny yourself and you're going to part with those things? I want to enter life like a little 1 with no eyes. With no hand, with no feet. I wanna deny myself, or are you gonna be content to part with Christ so you can have your eyes?

Do whatever you want with them. You have your hands. Do whatever you want with them. Have your feet. Go wherever you want to go.

Did you notice that versus 44 and 46 are missing here in your bibles? Sort of goes 43 and then, oh, 45. 45. Oh, and then 47. That's because in some manuscripts, what Jesus says in verse 48 which is a quote from Isaiah, is repeated 3 times in those 2 verses that are emitted here.

Let me read this again to you with those repetitions. First 43. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with 2 hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out, where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have 2 feet and be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.

And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with 1 eye than to have 2 eyes and be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched. Do you hear the urgency in Jesus' voice here? What worm doesn't die in death? The worm of death doesn't die.

What fire is not quenched? The fire of God is judgment for your sin, either part with the sin that traps you, begs Jesus, cut it off or else you will cut Christ off and you will be in that place. Greatness will destroy you. But Jesus wants life for you. How many times does he say?

Enter the kingdom of God. Enter life. Enter life. And the way we do it is humbly without the things that we thought would make us great. I'm gonna I'm gonna cut that thing off That's that way that I feel great about myself.

I'm gonna deny myself. I'm going to cut it off so that I may have Christ. And the cross shows us these things. The cross is the thing that shows us where life comes from. So to finish, where in your life are you tempted be the greatest.

What have you had to cut off? Are you a handless person in this church? Did you have to chop your foot off to come here today? That's good. Do you need to chop the other foot off to stop you going somewhere tomorrow?

What is it that you need to cut off? Are you an elitist? Or do you welcome the least among us? Do you think others should be doing certain jobs in the church and not you because you've been here a long time? What do you think I've only just got here, so I shouldn't be doing that?

Are you exclusive? Or do you include all the people who are the lords? Or have you gotten in a ring? You speak to the same people every week. You refresh only the same people every week.

Are you destructive? Maybe to those around you or even to yourself because you want to be great and not little. Well, let's let the cross teach us what it means to be truly great and find life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray shall we. Father, we thank you that you delivered Jesus.

Into this world with his hands bound that he would be killed and give up his life. But also then rise to life again. We thank you father that the cross teaches us what greatness really is. That greatness is being the very last putting others before ourselves. We're sorry lord that in our hearts, we actually desire that we are great.

We hate being little. We hate losing our eyes and our hands and our feet and precious to us. Yet, lord, teach us the way of the cross. I pray. Help us to to to love Jesus, to want to follow him.

To gladly enter life without hands, to gladly enter life humbled and little. And to be with Jesus forever. Father, greatness is in the Lord Jesus. And I pray that you would help us to see that. And to desire that kind of greatness in Jesus' name, amen.