♪ My voice is truly heard ♪ ♪ When the weak and glad and sagging winds blow ♪ Amen, may we indeed turn to the Word of God. The grass withers, the flower fades, the Word of our Lord endures forever. And we turn again to the Gospel of Mark, page 1075 in most of the Pew Bibles. And we will read the last two verses of chapter nine. And then we will go ahead to verses 13 through 16 of chapter 10. Certainly, chapter 10 verses 13 to 16 is a logical sequel to teachings about marriage in the beginning of chapter 10, but to consider the last two verses of chapter 9, which are not the easiest verses to consider, And to take all that teaching in the beginning of 10, it's just not logical or practical. So Lord willing, we'll return to those verses next week, Sunday. And also thematically, these verses do go together. They are describing for us the righteous. They are describing for us what it is to be a kingdom servant and what a kingdom servant must look like. And so it's appropriate to consider these verses together as well. So we'll read the last two verses of chapter nine, and then we will read verses 13 through 16 of chapter 10. Let us hear the word of God. For 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. Now verse 13 of chapter 10. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, let the children come to me, do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. So far the reading of God's eternal word. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, what does our Savior require of us that we might not go astray, but that we might stay in the way? And once that difference is established, what does it look like to be servants in the kingdom of God? What is a servant in the kingdom of God? What are ways in which they can be described? Well, certainly, Certainly on the surface, to be described as salt and fire and to be described as a child seems to be, you know, why would we read these passages together? But they are both relating to this. They are both relating to what is God's will for his kingdom servants? What are his kingdom servants to do? What are his kingdom servants to be like? What are they to go through? Who are they to be? And so this is our theme this morning. A faithful kingdom servant demonstrates both courage and trust and seemingly far different illustrations, far different language can be used to describe this, to impress this reality upon our hearts. And so we consider these verses together. and we'll see first that we are to be like salt, and then that we are to be like a child. Now, as we come into our first point here, and these verses, 49 and 50, which close chapter nine, let's note a couple of things as we begin. First of all, these are not the easiest verses on the surface. These are some of those verses which we read and we say, wait a second, what did I just read? In fact, if we look at the Middle Ages, as the monks and priests were making the new writings of scriptures before there was the printing press yet, they would often write explanatory notes for these verses. There would be words to explain what was going on here. They're not the easiest verses and so, partly for that reason, we'll have more support passages than normal for these verses. Scripture interprets scripture surely and so it's appropriate to turn to a number of passages to help us see what Jesus is communicating. Much communication with a few words in these verses. And also as we begin, let us know there's a more familiar passage which speaks about salt in Matthew chapter 5. Is there not? You probably don't have these words from Mark 9 on the top of your head. But perhaps for Matthew chapter 5, you do. You are the salt of the earth, Matthew 5 verse 13. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. And in this way, let your light shine before others. Now there is some of that kind of thinking and teaching going on here in Mark chapter 9. The end of verse 50, it says, have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. But the primary thought is something different. It's salts being used in a different way for a different kind of teaching, a different kind of emphasis and illustration in verse 49. And to do this, let's turn to the Old Testament. Leviticus chapter two, if you would turn with me. Leviticus chapter 2 verse 13. What were those kind of explanatory notes which the monks often added? Well, it was the word offering. They would speak about offerings. because it has been understood rightly through much of church history that these two little verses are speaking about the salt of the offering. Leviticus chapter two, verse 13. You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering. With all your offerings, you shall offer salt. what is the grain offering. It's one of the three offerings most often given in the Old Testament. It's one of the three frequent offerings. It's one of the three common offerings. And so making an offering to God and salt are tied together. They are commonly tied together. And for this offering in particular, it was required that salt would be part of the offering. We also read in Ezekiel chapter 34 there is an example of the burnt offering having a sprinkling of salt. Ezekiel chapter 43 speaks of burnt offerings having the sprinkling of salt. So now back in Mark chapter 9, how does this make us help us to make sense of what is going on there? For everyone will be salted with fire. And now we think of this in the context of being an offering for God. everyone will be salted with fire. In other words, as we make an offering to God, as we bring our salt offering before the Lord, our common offering, our frequent service to God, it is an offering, it is a service, which will include fire. That's the kind of image which Jesus is impressing upon his disciples. as part of our very service as faithful kingdom servants to be an offering of salt. And that offering is going to include fire, fiery trials. Now the New Testament can help us to make sense of how fire is being used here, because this is different than how fire is being used in verses 43 to 47. That's a different kind of fire. This is now the kind of fire tied to offerings tied to going before God, and so we might say it's like the fire of testing in 1 Corinthians 3, or even more particularly, the fire of trials in 1 Peter 4. I'm going to read two verses from there. What does it say about fire and the service of a Christian, that it is a suffering service, a suffering offering before the Lord? 1 Peter 4, verses 12 and 13. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. The fires of testing and the fires of trials, that is tied to salt, salt tied to offering, salt tied to our service to God, salt tied even particularly to the burnt offering in Ezekiel. This is part of a Christian's service. Commentator William Lane summarized it this way. Quote, the disciples must be seasoned with salt like the sacrifice. This will take place through fiery trials. Now is also a time when it's appropriate to mention again who the first hearers of the Gospel of Mark were. Who were the first hearers of the Gospel of Mark? It was the Christians in Rome. And they were indeed going through fiery trials. They were indeed going through, they were an offering to God. Their service as faithful servants to God was through fire. And what about the disciples themselves who heard this before even the Christians in Rome heard it and before we hear it today, it was certainly the disciples were tested by fire. They went through many trials. Many of them were martyred. This is part of the Christian's service. In other words, this is consistent with God's call for His people to offer up their whole selves. Now we can tie it back to the verses which come before. Do you remember from last week, people of God, that there's this language of severe sanctification? every area of life you must take sanctification very seriously you must take the removal of sin very seriously and so there's this strong language about about things that we must cut off right and then it's speaking not literally, but in an illustrative sense, to get the seriousness of sanctification across to us. How does that relate now to this? The movement is this. You must take your sanctification, your life to be a holy servant of God seriously not just in every area of life, your hand, your feet, your eyes, but with your whole self. Your whole self is an offering. That's the movement of the passage before us. Be salted with fire, such as the language in Mark chapter 8. Right? Verses 34. Verses 34 and following. And he called the crowd to his disciples and he said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Forever who would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. Give up your whole self. This is the offering of our whole selves, which the apostle will later speak of in Romans chapter 12. And that's a passage, which again, may be more familiar to us. Romans chapter 12 says it this way. that I appeal to you brothers Romans 12 verse 1 by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice and in light of Mark chapter 9 we might say it this way as a salted sacrifice even through fire acceptable to God which is your spiritual or reasonable service And Jesus is saying many things in a few words here. But the movement is this, may every area of your life be sanctified for holiness and may your whole life be an offering for me. And if you are not willing to be an offering to God, if you do not think that your whole life should be offered to Him, if you do not think that you should be salt even through fire, even through fiery testing, even through fiery trials for God, if that is not how you think of your service for God, then you have lost your saltiness. verse 50, and how you make it salty again. This is the service we are called to. And even as we use scripture to interpret scripture, we know that the prodigal son can return home. We know that those who have gone astray can return to God, but generally speaking, when one who would be a part of the church, when one who would be called to be a kingdom servant, when one who would be called to give himself up as an offering, as we all are called to do, it is our reasonable service, our spiritual service, Romans chapter 12, verse one. If one who is called to do such does not do so and loses his saltiness, It is difficult indeed to repent and to become the salt offering again as you ought. That's the reality. Or let us put it simply this way. One of the greatest days in the history of a church could be when a wandering son or when a rebellious member who has even been excommunicated would come back, right? We have a form for that. It's a day of rejoicing. It's something we would all long for, we would all pray for. But it doesn't happen very often. This has an application then to all of us. Remember what our primary focus was last week? Stay in the way. Stay in the way. Do not stray. Do not fail to give yourself up as an offering, even through the fire. Do not leave or forsake the Lord your Savior. Do not lose your saltiness in your whole self, in your whole self being offered to God. Do not forget the seriousness of being sanctified and made holy before Him. Do not lose your saltiness. Whether young, whether old, continually give yourself as an offering to God and rejoice in giving yourself as an offering to God who himself has offered everything, even his own life for us. Remember, that's the theme through Mark. Jesus calls his disciples to difficult things and the disciples don't get it, right? That's the theme of Mark. But Jesus gets it and does it perfectly. That's what we see again and again. Through fire, through the trial, Jesus is saying this as he is on the way. Where are they about to be? Chapter 10, verse one, they're about to leave there and enter the region of Judea. They are getting closer to Jerusalem. Jesus knows what his own offering will be. and Jesus will make it through every fire. And so he calls us to have salt in yourselves and to be at peace with one another. If we are offering up our whole selves to God, even through fire, how can we not be at peace and have harmony and love with our fellow servants, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? If all the people of God are offering up their whole selves, even through fire, there's gonna be peace and harmony, is there not? In fact, church history teaches us that when the fire is most severe is usually when the church is the most at harmony. I mean, just think of the Christians that had to live together in the catacombs to survive, right? I mean, talk about living with your brothers and sisters in Christ. have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Surely God's faithful servants are called to be courageous servants, offering up their whole self to God. So be salt. Now a much different image, but again tied to what a faithful kingdom servant looks to. And so we turn our attention now to, to be like a child in verses 13 through 16 of chapter 10. To be a child. And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them. What kind of children? The word in Mark here is kind of the general word for children, but the parallel account in Luke is the word which could be translated babies. And indeed, the image we have here is of small children indeed. Jesus is holding them in his arms and laying his hands on them and blessing them in verse 16. It's small children, as Luke would tell us, including infants. And the people, they, it doesn't tell us who the they are, perhaps the parents, perhaps other children, older siblings, we don't know, but they were bringing children to him that he might touch them. And the disciples rebuked them. Now remember, this is the pattern of of the Gospel of Mark. We see this again and again. So at the end of Mark chapter 8, God calls for radical sacrifice of his whole self and then he'll return to that teaching as we just saw. Well, what about this? Where did we just read about this? Mark chapter 9 verses 33 to 37 was just teaching on this, wasn't it? He took up a child, verse 36, and put him in the midst of them and he says, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me but him who sent me. This is only 25 verses earlier, and now we come to chapter 10, verse 14, and 13 and 14, and the disciples are saying, no, no, no, hold on a second. Jesus didn't literally mean that we should let the children come before him, did he? And what does Jesus do? Jesus is indignant. Of course he's indignant. He's like, I just told you, let the children come to me. What are you doing? Jesus is indignant. Didn't I just speak to you about this with a child on my arms? I mean, let them come, let them come. I do not care that they are the lowest of society. We've seen this now in almost every way. Who was seen as lowly in the society in the times of Jesus? Women were seen as lowly. Who did Jesus receive? Jesus received the Canaanite woman. The, those possessed by demons were seen as lowly. Who does Jesus receive and spend time with? The demoniac. The blind, the deaf, they're seen as lowly. Who does Jesus heal and give personal touch to? The blind and the deaf. And now there's another, now there's another group. Children, children and no social status. Lowly in this world which cares so much about social status. And Jesus says, let them come as well. Let the children come. I am indignant. Have I not just told you? Let the children come. Do not hinder them. For to such belongs the kingdom of God. For whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. What is something which verse 15 does not mean? And then what does verse 15 mean? What does it mean to be like a child? What does it not mean to be like a child? Well, let's think about what it does not mean first. We quite commonly use the phrase in our day and age, innocent as a child. This is not what Jesus is speaking about. That's not an image we have in scripture. No scripture tells us that we are conceived and born in sin. The Apostle does speak at one point in 1 Corinthians 14 about infants not being mature in their evil. They're not able to increase evil in the way that an adult is, but that kind of thought should not be what enters our head. It's a common image in our culture. It's not what the disciples would have been thinking about. It's not what Jesus is speaking about. Also, clearly, Scripture interprets scripture as Jesus saying that we must be childlike in our thinking, in our knowledge. No, Jesus is not saying this. The Apostle says clearly in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 20, the Apostle says this, Brothers, do not be children in your thinking, but in your thinking be mature. So there are things which clearly Jesus is not saying here. But what is Jesus saying? Well, we come back to that image, that teaching even of before in 9 verses 33 and following, Jesus is speaking about those who have no social standing, who come with no claim, who come with no merit of their own, who must come in humility. In fact, the parallel account in Matthew chapter 18 uses that word humble for us, to center us. And there we read, truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of God. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the grace and the kingdom of heaven. So in short, what is Jesus saying here? He's saying, see yourself as not having any standing in and of yourself. and receive the kingdom with humility and trust. In this way, be like a child. God calls us to be mature enough to offer up our whole selves to even be described as the salt of sacrifice. And God calls us to be humble enough that we would recognize that we must be like a child as we receive the kingdom. And he took them in his arms and he blessed them. This is not the only time in scripture that we see the blessings of a child. This is something which was done throughout the centuries. This is something which was commonly done all the way back to the time of Jacob and Joseph. In fact, that's the example which we do have. Genesis 48, Joseph brings his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and they are blessed. by the hand of Israel, of Jacob. And here we have Jesus blessing those who are brought to him. Now this passage is often used for the event of a baptism. Is that appropriate? I think J.A. Alexander has a helpful distinction for us people of God. He has said it this way, this was, he's long since passed now, but he wrote this, he spoke about how this passage is not an argument for infant baptism and that this passage by itself does not prove infant baptism. This is a blessing, this is not a baptism, but it is consistent with it, so he says this, quote, it is an illustration of the spirit of the Christian system with respect to children. In other words, this is not like a single proof, this is not baptism, it is a blessing, but it is consistent with what scripture teaches us, that children are a blessing, that children are worthy of receiving a blessing, that children have a part in the kingdom of God. So it is appropriate as a wonderful illustration of what Jesus himself has done when we think of the baptism of our infants. But that's not the same as being a proof for it. It is an illustration of it. It is not an argument for it in that sense. So people of God, We have these two images, salt, salt offering, child, and the kingdom of God. They're very different images. But it is another example for us of how God speaks to us clearly, isn't it? Even though the last two verses of chapter nine, there's a lot being said in a few words, so we might say, well, that's not clear. But no, it does speak to us of the clarity of scripture. God uses images which we know, the image of a child. the image of salt and offerings, the image of fire. God uses images which we know so that we might better understand who we are called to be. And that includes being courageous through the fires, whatever fires God calls us to go through as his servants. That includes being a humble and trusting child. You see, it's not one-dimensional. These two things do tie together and they do help us to understand who and what we are called to be as God's faithful servants. Jesus himself being the perfect example of these things, even the submissive trust of a child. Was it not Jesus who said in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father, not my will but yours be done. If there is any way, take this cup from me. There was no way. Do you see how at that moment Jesus is both On the cusp of going through the ultimate fiery trial and at the same time showing a perfect submissive obedience, we then are called to be servants. Jesus being the perfect teacher and the perfect example. of all that being a faithful covenant servant includes. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, we pray that you would make us to go forth to give our whole self in service to you, and to do this like a humble and trusting child. Not always understanding the fires you call us to go through. Not always understanding how it is that we, your weak servants, are yet called your sons and daughters, but we rejoice in these things. We rejoice in our Savior and the perfect Son, Jesus Christ, our elder brother. And so we pray in his name. Amen. People of God, let's turn then in song. Let's stand to sing number 333. Let's stand to sing. ♪ Hosanna, thou hosanna ♪ ♪ The things all children say ♪ ♪ The pillar, court, and temple ♪ ♪ The lovely and the brave ♪ to Jesus who had blessed them, those folded to his breast. The children sang their praises, the simplest and the best. On the limit they followed in an exultant crowd, The victory palm branch waving and chanting clear and loud, The Lord of Earth and Heaven, the God in holy state, God sworn that little children should on His bidding wait. Hosanna in the highest, that ancient song we sing, for Christ is our Redeemer, the Lord of heaven, our King. O may we ever praise Him with heart and life and voice, and in His blissful presence eternal. Amen. People of God, it is time now for our morning gifts and offerings. Note there are two offerings this morning, first for the building fund and second for RYS. you If you would stand now, receive God's parting blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all preachers hear. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.