Do You Really Want To Be Like Jesus? | Mark 9:30-50

Y’all can go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Mark 9.

So y’all know how there are different clubs you can join in high school? Well back when I was in high school, I was told to join as many clubs as possible so it would look good on my college application. And I tried to be fairly involved with most of the clubs, but there was this one club that I was part of called Interact Club. Have y’all heard of Interact Club?

Well I joined this club I think it was junior year of high school, and I did nothing in this club. I honestly barely showed up to the meetings. They met while another club that I actually did stuff with met so I would go to those meetings most of the time instead. I’m not even joking with y’all, I had to look up the list of clubs at the high school I went to because I couldn’t even remember the name of this club. That’s how little I did with Interact Club. I don’t remember what the purpose of Interact was. I think it was to volunteer to help people. I don’t know.

On paper, I was part of Interact Club. But if you looked at how much time I actually spent on this club, it was basically zero. So even though I was on the list of members, no one ever saw me as a member of Interact Club.

In the same way, there are many people who will say yes if you ask them if they’re a Christian, but they don’t act like a Christian. And it makes you wonder, are they actually a follower of Jesus?

And that’s what our passage tonight aims to figure out. What does a follower of Jesus look like?

And we’ll start with verses 30 through 32 of Mark 9.

Mark 9:30–32 NLT

30 Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, 31 for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” 32 They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

Let’s go ahead and hit the first slide…

1. Death to self (Mark 9:30-32)

If y’all remember from a few weeks ago, I said that Mark is divided into two parts; the first half and the second half.

What are those two parts about? The first half is about who Jesus is (the Son of God) and the second half is about what He came to do (die for our sins)

And I said that in this second half of Mark we’re gonna see Jesus predict His death 3 times. We saw Him do it for the first time in Mark 8 and now we’re seeing the second time Jesus predicting His death here in chapter 9.

Something we learned in the first time Jesus predicts His death is it’s not just Him who is called to die. We’re called to die as well.

Let’s turn back to Mark 8 for a moment.

Mark 8:34–35 NLT

34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.

So anyone who wishes to follow Jesus is called to die as well. And what does that mean? Jesus isn’t saying here that everyone is literally called to die for Him; though everyone should certainly be willing to. What Jesus is saying here is that we are all called to sacrifice what we want in life to live for Him.

For example, I like video games. And there are so many games that I can’t play because I’m not willing to shell out the money for a new console. I still play on the Xbox One. Which, by the way, came out in 2013. I would love to buy the newest console, the Xbox Series X, but I’m choosing to use my money so that I can give a tithe, help someone out in need, etc.

Now I’m not saying I do this perfectly. I spend probably more money on games, shoes, and many other things I prolly don’t need than I should, but I know that this is something I always need to grow in.

But this doesn’t just apply to money. This also applies to how much time you spend on things. There are times where I really want to watch TV when I know I should be reading my Bible.

And there are many more examples of that, but let’s go even broader. This even applies to your hopes and dreams. Because being a follower of Jesus isn’t just something you spend a couple hours on in a week, your life is completely changed as a follower of Jesus. Instead of your priority in life being to get a good job, make money, have a family, and live the American Dream; you’re now called to share the gospel with the world, grow in your relationship with God, provide for others, and I’m sorry but those things don’t go hand in hand with the American Dream.

The American Dream is all about you living a happy, secure, and cozy life. But that’s just the opposite of what it means to follow Jesus. Following Jesus means being put in uncomfortable situations, being persecuted for your beliefs, not seeking after these things that you really want for the sake of advancing the gospel.

But hey listen, you don’t need the things the world gives. You don’t need popularity, fame, money, power, security; you don’t need any of these things. You NEED Jesus.

Jesus also says in Mark 8…

Mark 8:36–37 NLT

36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul?

Jesus calls you to give up everything to follow Him because nothing is worth giving up your soul.

Let’s go ahead and hit the second slide…

2. Servant to others (Mark 9:33-37)

Mark 9:33–37 NLT

33 After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” 34 But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” 36 Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”

So Jesus and the disciples are walking down the road to Capernaum, which we know is pretty much Jesus’ home base, and the disciples are having a conversation on the road.

And guess what? After all this talk from Jesus about being humble, the boneheaded disciples are arguing with each other about which one of them is the greatest.

When they get to Capernaum, Jesus (probably already knowing what they were talking about) asks them what they were talking about on the road. And they know what they were talking about was wrong because they don’t even answer Jesus.

So Jesus sits down, calls the twelve over to Him, and tells them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last and be the servant of everyone else.”

Now I’m sure the disciples are again confused at something Jesus has told them, so He gives them an example.

Now kids back in this time period were considered the lowest people in society. Mainly because they depended on others for survival. So Jesus takes a child in His arms and says, “Anyone who welcomes people like this child welcomes me and my Father who sent me.”

And what Jesus means by this is those who want to follow Jesus are called to welcome the lowest of the low. The poor, the homeless, the widow, the orphan, we seek to serve everyone, even the lowest of the low.

That’s the upside down kingdom that Jesus brought. Jesus, the King, didn’t come to Earth to be served, He came to serve everyone else. I’m sure at this point the disciples are probably thinking to themselves, “Yea with this Jesus guy we’re gonna have this awesome kingdom and we’re gonna be some of the top guys cause we started with Him so we’re gonna get all this great treatment from others.”

No. Jesus came to die on a cross for our sins to serve the world. And all those who follow Him are called serve others as well.

Alright, onto the third mark of a follower of Jesus. Let’s go ahead and hit the next slide…

3. Welcoming of others (Mark 9:38-41)

Mark 9:38–41 NLT

38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” 39 “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. 40 Anyone who is not against us is for us. 41 If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.

Now we’re gonna be quick with this one. Here it looks like the disciples saw someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, but this man didn’t travel with Jesus’ group. So the disciples think since this guy isn’t in the group, he can’t cast out demons in Jesus’ name.

Jesus responds to the disciples by telling them to not stop anyone performing a miracle in His name. People who do this aren’t against us, they are for us. He then says that even if someone gives the disciples a cup of water because they belong to Jesus, they will be rewarded.

Y’all the application for this is really simple. We celebrate and welcome Christians even if they belong to other churches. Even if they believe stuff we don’t agree with, we don’t tell them they should stop everything they’re doing for Jesus. We celebrate the great things they’re doing in Jesus’ name and we encourage them to keep following after Jesus.

Alright, the fourth and last mark of being a follower of Jesus is amputation of sin. We’ll go ahead and hit the last slide.

4. Amputation of sin (Mark 9:42-50)

Mark 9:42–50 NLT

42 “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. 45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’ 49 “For everyone will be tested with fire. 50 Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”

This is what I want us to spend a good bit of time on.

Jesus is saying some pretty radical stuff here. It’s better for you to be thrown into the sea with a really heavy object around your neck than to cause someone to sin. If your hand, causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. This is some intense, radical stuff Jesus is saying.

Now I’m not gonna tell y’all to go cutting off hands and gouging out eyes. I’m not trying to have that phone call with your parents. And Jesus isn’t telling you to do this either. Instead, He’s showing you exactly how bad sin is.

Jesus is saying that it’s better for you to cut your hand off than to use that hand to punch someone in the face. He’s saying it would be better to have no mouth than to use that mouth to lie to someone. He’s saying it would be better to gouge out your eye than to use it to look at someone lustfully. This is how bad sin is. It would be better for you to cut off body parts and not have the ability to sin than to use those body parts to sin against God.

And I love the way Jesus closes out our chapter tonight. He says everyone will be tested by fire. The Bible often uses this imagery of being refined in fire like a blacksmith molds weapons in fire. You’re gonna face some hard stuff. Some of you are facing some hard stuff right now. What you’re facing right now or are going to face in the future God will use to mold you into a disciple of Him.

Jesus expands on this by saying that salt is useless without its flavor. And that we are to have the qualities of salt as followers of Jesus. These four marks of a disciple; these are examples of having the flavor of salt. God tests you in difficult situations so that you might be the rich salt of the Earth. So that you may take the righteousness of God to those around you and fill the Earth with the richness of the glory of God.

I want to make this clear to y’all tonight that this isn’t a sermon where I’m telling you to do better. We all need to do better, but the truth is we can’t do better. So I’m not telling y’all to try to do these things, instead I’m telling you to cling to the only one who can do these things through you.

I’m not telling you to die to yourself better, I’m telling you to cling to the one who died the ultimate death for you on the cross so that He can crucify the sin in your heart and make you more like Him.

I’m not telling you to be a better servant to others. I’m telling you to cling to the ultimate servant of the entire world so that He can produce the qualities of a servant in you.

I’m not telling you to just be better at welcoming others, I’m telling you to cling to the one who welcomed all (including the widow, the poor, the diseased, the hated amongst everyone else) into the kingdom of God so that He can make you into one that welcomes others.

And I’m not telling to magically get rid of your sin. I’m telling you to cling to the sinless Son of God who can transform your heart from a heart of sin into a pure heart of righteousness.

How do you do this? How do you cling to Jesus? Give me some examples.

Being in God’s Word, praying, this time we have in community on Wednesdays, this produces these marks of a follower of Jesus in your life.

We’re gonna use this time of community to talk more about growing in each of these in small groups.