Mark 9:38-50 It’s an almost universal complaint
of those who are hospitalized or living in a nursing home: the food is bland. It doesn’t have enough salt and so there is
no flavor—the green beans and potatoes and mystery meat all taste the same.
That can happen to
Christians too. Jesus said that we Christians
are the salt of the earth but he also warned us that we can lose our “saltiness”—that
is, we can lose the distinctive effect that we are supposed to have on the
world around us so that we give no distinctive “flavor” of Christ to our relationships—no
distinctive “purifying” effect to the world around us because our lives are no
different than those who do not believe in Jesus.
But the
“well-seasoned” disciple is different.
These disciples know that they are called to be salt and light in a dark
and decaying world by letting the purifying work of the Spirit do its work in
their hearts and the “salt” of the Word give a distinctive Christian flavor to
the way they live their lives.
As we consider the
“well-seasoned” disciple from God’s Word we will see that this kind of
Christian: 1. supports the mission of
Jesus Christ 2. and is careful to cause
no one to sin (not even themselves) and 3.
is filled with the Word so that their lives always have a distinctive
Christian “flavor.” St. Mark writes:
John said to [Jesus],
“Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop
him, because he was not following us.”
The Bible says
that “The Son of God appeared to destroy
the works of Satan.” In other words,
the mission of Jesus Christ was being accomplished by that man who was casting
out demons but the disciples wanted to stop it because they weren’t the ones
doing it. Perhaps there was some
jealousy because not too long before this conversation the disciples had failed
at this very task. But Jesus quickly set
them straight. He 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.
The
“well-seasoned” disciple takes the Lord’s words to heart and understands that
the mission of Jesus is much greater than our own little group--even if that
group is the original twelve disciples.
Jesus has destroyed the power of the devil and broken the bonds of death
and he wants every Christian everywhere to have a part in that mission of
setting people free by sharing the Gospel.
The LWML has taken
our Lord’s words to heart. They know
that there are people all over the world who are working in the harvest field
of souls and they are glad to support the mission of Jesus far beyond their own
particular group. They themselves are a
part of that mission through their own works of mercy and witness. Jesus says:
Whoever gives you a
cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his
reward.
Compared
to driving our demons, giving a cup of water to fellow Christian may not seem
like such a big thing. But the Lord’s
accounting is very different than ours!
Every work of mercy done in Jesus’ name is remembered by him and will be
graciously rewarded on the Last Day.
And so when one of
our LWML guilds hosts a brunch for our graduates or prepares the altar for Holy
Communion or sends cards to those who are ill-- they are doing a work that pleases
the Lord.
The “well-seasoned”
disciple knows that they are called to support the mission of Christ through
gifts and service. They also know that
they are called to holiness of life so that they do not undermine the salvation
of those who are brought to faith. Jesus says:
“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.
When
a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ a great spiritual battle has been
fought and won. The forces of death and
hell that reigned over that person’s life have been conquered by the Lord of
Life. A prisoner bound by chains of sin
in Satan’s kingdom has been set free.
Hell has lost a soul and heaven gained one.
But from that
moment on, there is another battle for that person—the battle against sin—the
battle of faith. The “well-seasoned” disciple
knows they have been called to walk in newness of life so they do not undermine
the faith of a fellow disciple.
Imagine for a
moment a person who has just come to faith.
They know that the way they lived their lives in the past was outside of
God’s will and deserving of his eternal punishment. They want to live a new life.
But there are
Christians around them who engage in the same sins that once afflicted
them. Christians who don’t take seriously
the call to live a holy life. Christians
who are cavalier about making use of the means of grace.
And seeing this
poor example in the lives of those who have been Christians for years, their
own, new lives of faith are undermined.
They return to the sins that they left behind. They don’t feed their new faith with God’s
Word and Sacraments. And having little
root, they fall away from faith in Christ.
Jesus says that it
would be better to be drowned in the depths of the sea than destroy the faith
of a fellow Christian by our sins. “Well-seasoned”
disciples are called to preserve the faith of those around them rather than
cause it to decay by unholy living. And
that is true about our own lives too—we are called to holiness of life for the
sake of our own faith journey. Jesus
says that:
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.’
If
these words of Jesus do not convey to us just how seriously Jesus takes sin and
how seriously he calls us to holiness of life—nothing will! We are to let absolutely nothing lead us to
sin—not even the members of our body. We
are to be willing to sacrifice everything if it is leading us to hell—even the
members of our body.
Living in sin can
destroy our lives eternally. Hell is
real. It is eternal. It is terrible. It is unending, unquenchable, fiery torment—and
it is the final destination for all of those who live in unrepentant sin. We must fight against sin all our days so
that we do not fall from faith.
Jesus, of course, knew
perfectly well that cutting off our hands and feet and eyes and ears will not
cure our sin problem because our broken-ness goes to the very center of our
being. But he wants us to see the same--
and so he uses this vivid language about a sacrifice for sin so great that we
cannot provide it. But he can—and did.
To set us free
from sin, his hands and feet that never sinned were pierced for our
transgressions. His lips that never
spoke an unkind word were beaten and broken.
His eyes that never looked upon evil filled with blood from a crown of
thorns pressed upon his head—and he died for us, in our place—every member of
his body an instrument of righteousness for our salvation.
It is not
necessary to cut off our hands and feet and pluck out our eyes. Something much more difficult is required—and
that is to be born again into a new life—something that must be done for us by God through his Word and
Spirit. Jesus says:
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.”
At
the beginning of this morning’s sermon we hear our Lord tells us that we are
the salt of the earth. He also said that
we are the light of the world. Both of
these images convey the distinctive difference the Christian is to have on this
dark and decaying world. But what
accounts for that difference? What makes
us the salt of the earth? What gives a Christ-like
“flavor” to our lives?
The
difference is the Holy Spirit working new life in us through Word. James said that we have been born again
through the Word of Christ. John the
Baptist said that we have been baptized—not just with water—but with the fire
of the Spirit. Our lives are shaped and
guided by that same Spirit who brought us to life by the Word.
The
“well-seasoned” disciple knows the importance that the Word of God plays in the
life of faith and how a faith that is not fed by Word and Sacrament can lose
its distinctive “flavor”. And so the
“well-seasoned” disciple makes sure that they stay connected to Jesus through the
Word so that they are “salted” for service again and again.
Our LWML members make
it a point to study God’s Word and attend church and Sunday School so that the
Word of God can have it’s purifying, enlightening effect on their lives and on
the lives of those they touch through their service and witness.
On this LWML
Sunday we give thanks to God for the work of the LWML in this congregation and
throughout our church but we also hear with fresh ears the call of Jesus for
all of us to be “well-seasoned” Christians:
doing our part for the mission of the Church—living holy lives in
service to those around us—and staying connected to the “salt” of the Word and
the “fire” of the Spirit. Amen.
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