The Uncompromising Christ - Mark 9:43-50
The Uncompromising Christ - Mark 9:43-50
By Pastor Lee Hemen
July 25, 2010 AM
Whenever we hear the word “uncompromising”, we often get the notion it means someone is ridged, narrow-minded, or strict. Yet if folks throughout our Nation’s history had not been uncompromising, we would be British citizens or saluting a swastika. Being uncompromising is not necessarily a bad thing. We live in a day and age where people have swallowed the lie that you must compromise in in life order to “get along” with others. While compromising on how to do something might be a way to get some things done, compromising on one’s theological views can lead one into dangerous areas and even eternal death. Jesus never compromised on his spiritual or religious views.
In fact, we could say that Jesus was an uncompromising Christ, Messiah. Here, in Mark’s gospel, we find some very tough words uttered by Jesus on what it means to follow him as his disciple. Some of us this morning may have problem with the words Jesus used, but believe me he did not. The strong uncompromising words Jesus used are a warning to his followers concerning the danger of allowing themselves to be lead astray. Jesus had just gotten through telling them, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) Now, he is graphically sharing exactly what he meant. In his teaching, we discover the uncompromising Christ.
READ: Mark 9:43-50
I have heard it a thousand times, “You Christians are so narrow minded!” and you know what? It is true! We are! We are called to be narrow-minded about what we believe. In fact, Christ was uncompromising because he knew…
I. Christianity is uncompromising! (Vv. 43-47)
1. What you touch, where you walk, and what you allow yourself to view affects your life in Christ! Right now, as of today, get a hold of this plain and simple truth: Your life in Jesus is uncompromising. There is no gray area of existence where Jesus is concerned. Either you are living for him or you are not. Jesus would bluntly state, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24) the word for “money”, as translated in the NIV, is in reality “mammon” which meant “your own confidence.” You cannot place your trust in your own confidence because what you may think is correct could have horrendous results. Jesus emphatically taught, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Later, Peter boldly declared to a Jerusalem crowd, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) And while Paul knew, that God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” he also quickly related, “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:4-5) Therefore, Jesus knew that “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off” or “if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off” or “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” Did he mean to literally cut off or pluck out the offending appendage? No! Jesus wanted to get the attention of his listeners. He knew “it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye”, foot, or hand than to have two healthy feet, hands, or eyes and “be thrown into hell!” Jesus was so narrow-minded wasn’t he? Christianity is uncompromising.
EXAMPLE: Faith in Jesus is not a compromising solution to your weak or faulty spirituality. You cannot say you love Jesus and live like hell. Nor can you say you believe in Jesus and then turn around and believe a lot of other spiritual nonsense. Either Jesus saves or he does not, period. If he does not, you have lost nothing, but if he is the only means of salvation and you do not trust him with your life – you LOSE big time! Paul related it this way, “The message about the cross doesn’t make any sense to lost people. But for those of us who are being saved, it is God’s power at work… Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins. And those people who died after putting their faith in him are completely lost. If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else is. But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life.” (1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:17-20 CEV) Yes, I am narrow-minded about my faith because Christianity is uncompromising.
The fact remains, that if I am completely wrong about what I believe I have still lived my life helping, serving, and giving to others. However, if I am correct about what I believe, then those who do not believe as I do have lived a worthless existence. And worse, they will discover that…
II. Hell is uncompromising! (v. 48)
1. Eternal damnation is not one big happy picnic! However, there will be an eternal BBQ, so-to-speak, but it will not be a place of games, good times, and rock and roll! Christianity is so uncompromising because the consequences are so uncompromising. You do not get any more graphic than to be “thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” It has always puzzled me why people want to talk endlessly about the love of Jesus but neglect why he loved us so much. He loved us so much because he came to save us from eternal damnation! He told his listeners, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10) Everyone is “lost,” eternally damned without faith in Christ: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” (John 3:18) Jesus taught over and over that a time would come when “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41-42) He also related, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” (Luke 12:2-5) This is why Jesus told his followers, “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.” (John 12:48) Jesus knew without a doubt that hell is uncompromising.
EXAMPLE: I will never forget the response of one old boy who had smugly answered my question about faith in Christ with, “Well, I guess I’ll be in hell with all my buddies partying,” when I remarked, “How is that possible when they won’t hear you over their own screams nor recognize your burning flesh.” I was bit younger and blunter back then I guess. But it is true. Jesus did not come to earth to be a “good old boy” smiling and touching everyone. He came to seek and save the lost because they were condemned to hell. Why else would he suffer such a horrible death on a gruesome cross? It wasn’t so you could decide to have a grand time in hell with your “buddies”. Hell is a horrible place, full of agony and pain – you don’t wanna go there! Hell is final and hell is uncompromising.
Each day comes whether we want it to or not. How we enter that day is decided by no one else but ourselves. Of course, there are things that can unexpectedly happen to us during the day, and this is why we had better be sure of what we believe concerning our faith in Christ. Jesus taught that…
III. Life is uncompromising! (Vv. 49-50)
1. Everyone goes through personal trials, but how you handle them reveals what you believe! This is why Jesus told them, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” (Mark 9:49) Bad things happen in this life to good people because sin exists. If you forget this truth, you will begin to think that only good things should happen to folks all the time. This is not reality nor is it God’s truth. Jesus reminded them by telling his disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) All of God’s people have troubles. Paul understood this. He had been shipwrecked, beaten, stoned to near death, and imprisoned for his faith, yet he would happily declare that, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39) Remember those commercials where it showed a baby being born and the next thing you knew he was going to college, getting married, and then seeing his own children off to college. They concluded by stating, “Life comes at you fast.” And this is the truth. Life is uncompromising. However, Jesus would go on to state, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” (Mark 9:50) just as the trials of life preserve, season, and enhance your life, so does your faith in Jesus. If life lost its savory quality, it would be worthless -- so too, the believer who loses touch with his Savior. Saltiness is tough to regain. Have faith in Jesus, “salt in yourselves”, and “be at peace with each other” as believers. Love God and love others (Mark 12:30-31) because life is uncompromising!
EXAMPLE: I remember asking someone who had just turned 50 years old, when I was still in my late twenties, what it felt like. They responded that they felt the same as when they were nineteen, but with more aches and pains. I can now relate. Life has a way of happening fast. It seems as if every year goes by just a little bit faster than the last one. I know it isn’t true, but mere science cannot always explain the unexplainable, especially where old age is concerned. Everyone discovers that Life is uncompromising. Everyone will be salted with fire because bad things happen to everyone. But take heart! Jesus has overcome the fire for us! While life is uncompromising, so is Jesus.
Conclusion:
We learned today that Christianity is uncompromising, that hell is uncompromising, and that life is uncompromising. This is why Christ is so uncompromising.
---
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission…
By Pastor Lee Hemen
July 25, 2010 AM
Whenever we hear the word “uncompromising”, we often get the notion it means someone is ridged, narrow-minded, or strict. Yet if folks throughout our Nation’s history had not been uncompromising, we would be British citizens or saluting a swastika. Being uncompromising is not necessarily a bad thing. We live in a day and age where people have swallowed the lie that you must compromise in in life order to “get along” with others. While compromising on how to do something might be a way to get some things done, compromising on one’s theological views can lead one into dangerous areas and even eternal death. Jesus never compromised on his spiritual or religious views.
In fact, we could say that Jesus was an uncompromising Christ, Messiah. Here, in Mark’s gospel, we find some very tough words uttered by Jesus on what it means to follow him as his disciple. Some of us this morning may have problem with the words Jesus used, but believe me he did not. The strong uncompromising words Jesus used are a warning to his followers concerning the danger of allowing themselves to be lead astray. Jesus had just gotten through telling them, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) Now, he is graphically sharing exactly what he meant. In his teaching, we discover the uncompromising Christ.
READ: Mark 9:43-50
I have heard it a thousand times, “You Christians are so narrow minded!” and you know what? It is true! We are! We are called to be narrow-minded about what we believe. In fact, Christ was uncompromising because he knew…
I. Christianity is uncompromising! (Vv. 43-47)
1. What you touch, where you walk, and what you allow yourself to view affects your life in Christ! Right now, as of today, get a hold of this plain and simple truth: Your life in Jesus is uncompromising. There is no gray area of existence where Jesus is concerned. Either you are living for him or you are not. Jesus would bluntly state, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24) the word for “money”, as translated in the NIV, is in reality “mammon” which meant “your own confidence.” You cannot place your trust in your own confidence because what you may think is correct could have horrendous results. Jesus emphatically taught, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Later, Peter boldly declared to a Jerusalem crowd, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) And while Paul knew, that God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” he also quickly related, “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:4-5) Therefore, Jesus knew that “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off” or “if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off” or “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” Did he mean to literally cut off or pluck out the offending appendage? No! Jesus wanted to get the attention of his listeners. He knew “it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye”, foot, or hand than to have two healthy feet, hands, or eyes and “be thrown into hell!” Jesus was so narrow-minded wasn’t he? Christianity is uncompromising.
EXAMPLE: Faith in Jesus is not a compromising solution to your weak or faulty spirituality. You cannot say you love Jesus and live like hell. Nor can you say you believe in Jesus and then turn around and believe a lot of other spiritual nonsense. Either Jesus saves or he does not, period. If he does not, you have lost nothing, but if he is the only means of salvation and you do not trust him with your life – you LOSE big time! Paul related it this way, “The message about the cross doesn’t make any sense to lost people. But for those of us who are being saved, it is God’s power at work… Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins. And those people who died after putting their faith in him are completely lost. If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else is. But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life.” (1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:17-20 CEV) Yes, I am narrow-minded about my faith because Christianity is uncompromising.
The fact remains, that if I am completely wrong about what I believe I have still lived my life helping, serving, and giving to others. However, if I am correct about what I believe, then those who do not believe as I do have lived a worthless existence. And worse, they will discover that…
II. Hell is uncompromising! (v. 48)
1. Eternal damnation is not one big happy picnic! However, there will be an eternal BBQ, so-to-speak, but it will not be a place of games, good times, and rock and roll! Christianity is so uncompromising because the consequences are so uncompromising. You do not get any more graphic than to be “thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” It has always puzzled me why people want to talk endlessly about the love of Jesus but neglect why he loved us so much. He loved us so much because he came to save us from eternal damnation! He told his listeners, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10) Everyone is “lost,” eternally damned without faith in Christ: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” (John 3:18) Jesus taught over and over that a time would come when “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:41-42) He also related, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” (Luke 12:2-5) This is why Jesus told his followers, “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.” (John 12:48) Jesus knew without a doubt that hell is uncompromising.
EXAMPLE: I will never forget the response of one old boy who had smugly answered my question about faith in Christ with, “Well, I guess I’ll be in hell with all my buddies partying,” when I remarked, “How is that possible when they won’t hear you over their own screams nor recognize your burning flesh.” I was bit younger and blunter back then I guess. But it is true. Jesus did not come to earth to be a “good old boy” smiling and touching everyone. He came to seek and save the lost because they were condemned to hell. Why else would he suffer such a horrible death on a gruesome cross? It wasn’t so you could decide to have a grand time in hell with your “buddies”. Hell is a horrible place, full of agony and pain – you don’t wanna go there! Hell is final and hell is uncompromising.
Each day comes whether we want it to or not. How we enter that day is decided by no one else but ourselves. Of course, there are things that can unexpectedly happen to us during the day, and this is why we had better be sure of what we believe concerning our faith in Christ. Jesus taught that…
III. Life is uncompromising! (Vv. 49-50)
1. Everyone goes through personal trials, but how you handle them reveals what you believe! This is why Jesus told them, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” (Mark 9:49) Bad things happen in this life to good people because sin exists. If you forget this truth, you will begin to think that only good things should happen to folks all the time. This is not reality nor is it God’s truth. Jesus reminded them by telling his disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) All of God’s people have troubles. Paul understood this. He had been shipwrecked, beaten, stoned to near death, and imprisoned for his faith, yet he would happily declare that, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39) Remember those commercials where it showed a baby being born and the next thing you knew he was going to college, getting married, and then seeing his own children off to college. They concluded by stating, “Life comes at you fast.” And this is the truth. Life is uncompromising. However, Jesus would go on to state, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” (Mark 9:50) just as the trials of life preserve, season, and enhance your life, so does your faith in Jesus. If life lost its savory quality, it would be worthless -- so too, the believer who loses touch with his Savior. Saltiness is tough to regain. Have faith in Jesus, “salt in yourselves”, and “be at peace with each other” as believers. Love God and love others (Mark 12:30-31) because life is uncompromising!
EXAMPLE: I remember asking someone who had just turned 50 years old, when I was still in my late twenties, what it felt like. They responded that they felt the same as when they were nineteen, but with more aches and pains. I can now relate. Life has a way of happening fast. It seems as if every year goes by just a little bit faster than the last one. I know it isn’t true, but mere science cannot always explain the unexplainable, especially where old age is concerned. Everyone discovers that Life is uncompromising. Everyone will be salted with fire because bad things happen to everyone. But take heart! Jesus has overcome the fire for us! While life is uncompromising, so is Jesus.
Conclusion:
We learned today that Christianity is uncompromising, that hell is uncompromising, and that life is uncompromising. This is why Christ is so uncompromising.
---
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission…
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