Counting the Cost

Good morning and welcome to another week of worship here at the Bridge. I am so glad we can gather together this morning for worship.

Count your coins

I remember as a kid one of the things that i did when i wanted money or i was thinking about money was through coins. Now obviously this was before i had a real job but i would find coins and collect them and i remember i kept them in a box in my closet and i would count them and roll them. I often would also every know and them take them out and i would recount them make sure everything was accurate and that i knew exactly how much money i had.

I think back on this and i almost remind myself of an old Scrooge. Now i really need to be honest if i think of scrooge i think not of Scrooge from the Christmas carol but i think of Scrooge McDuck.

Now i know that sounds silly but i can’t help it. For me and my childhood Scrooge McDuck was the very definition of who pursued money. In fact most kids first exposure to the Christmas Carol is probably Scrooge Mcduck. Or Uncle Scrooge. Don’t blame me its just the truth.

Now when it comes to your money it makes financial sense to keep track of it. Now i should be clear we shouldn’t be obsessive about it but we need to know where our money is because that is a basic responsibility of life.

This had me thinking about this mornings passage and being aware of the costs of Sin.

Mark 9:42–50 NIV

42 “If anyone causes one 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. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 44 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 46 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where “ ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 Everyone will be salted with fire. 50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

The Little Ones

This is a powerful passage. It is one that sparks a lot of different views and opinions. The first and probably most well known is this first verse.

Mark 9:42 NIV

42 “If anyone causes one 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.

This passage is one of the better known verses not only in Christian circles but in the world. It is often refered to when we deal with issues centered around sexual assault of Children. For good reason because it is directly related to that very issue.

What if i told you that isn’t the only way to read this passage though?

Who are the Little ones?

This is the question that we have to answer this morning. Now as i said there is more than one way to interpret this passage. The first is the traditional way that we have already begun to understand.

The Little ones are Children

This is the approach that we view the little ones as young children. The idea of harming or causing a young child to stumble is one that is incredibly difficult and is a topic that brings forth a lot of passionate disdain for those that do this. Children are the innocents and we hate to think of the pain that can be caused to them.

This is one of the reasons that this passage resonates with that. The very idea of taking a millstone and throwing someone to their watery grave is exactly what many people want to do to those who would harm a child. Given the passion and connection that Jesus had with children this image makes sense to us and is a word of caution to not causing a child to sin.

The Little Ones are All Disciples

The other way that we can view this passage which really broadens our view of the is passage is to see the little ones from what i would call Jesus perspective. Jesus not only considered the young children but all of his disciples as Children of God. This makes us realize even more that we must be careful when it come to how we deal with people.

Think about this for a moment. The dangers of willingly causing one of our brothers or sisters to stumble and fall you are deserving having a millstone tied around your neck and thrown into the sea.

This forces us to think about the danger we put others in and how serious it is. We have to count the cost of our actions and not just think about ourselves but we have to think of others.

Let’s switch gears a little bit and realize that when we count the cost we also not only have to think about others but we have to look at how we might be endangering ourselves.

Mark 9:43–47 NIV

43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 44 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 46 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,

The Hand, Foot, and Eye

The Hand the Foot and the eye. Here Jesus presents a very powerful passage of scripture that in all honesty is a very graphic description of what to do to respond to Sin.

Cut of your hand or foot and pluck out your eye.

Wow that seems a little extreme right. I mean think about that. We just read a passage that shared with you how serious dealing with sin is.

Now i think i should be very clear this is not to be taken literally. The reality is that self mutilation doesn’t deal with human sinfulness. Harming ones self doesn’t do anything to do with the deeper issues that are going on in your life. This is why we can view this passage not as a literal teaching but to draw us into the seriousness and dangers of sin. Instead we need to think about this imagery a little differently.

The hand— “Do not Commit Sins”

The Foot— “Don’t go where you know you will sin”

The Eye— “Don’t even think about committing sin”

Don’t Commit sins

It is amazing to me to have to say this but we need to be reminded of this on a regular basis. We should not be actively trying to sin. This is an attitude that needs to be taken very seriously, hence the reason for what seems like an extreme statement. This is why it is so important that we treat sin seriously because Jesus himself addressed it very seriously. We are called to change who we are. We are called to change our lifestyle. We are called to be more.

Don’t Go to Sin

Yet another example of what we must do to protect ourselves. We often find ourselves in this world faced with the potential for good and for bad. This is why it is important when we decide to follow after Christ we put ourselves in a position that we must be cautious about what we interact with.

Now many would take this to mean that we never interact with sin again. That we separate ourselves from the world. Yet, this isn’t what we are talking about. Instead the idea is that there are things that we know we are susceptible to pulling us into sin. Someone who struggles with any addiction avoids the addiction. Someone who struggles with Gossip avoids the situations that they would be inclined to gossip. Yet, we still must find ways to be in the world and helping others and reaching others for Christ.

Don’t even think

In many ways this is the most difficult. We have an inclination to ponder or be drawn to think about sin. This passage particularly would be in reference to sexual sin but it is still applicable to other sins as well. We can see something our neighbor has and covet it. This to me is one of the most difficult one that we must guard ourselves against because it is one that in many ways is purely internal and it is one that only we can be the ones to hold ourselves accountable. We must be ever on the guard against this.

Counting the Cost

This passages are always difficult because they push us to be more. They in many ways can spark moments of guilt and frustration as we seek to not sin. Yet, like when we keep track of our finances and our money like i did when i was a kid. Sin is similar we have to recognize that with sin there is a cost if we don’t work to be holy.

It is important to note that God’s grace is there for us and his love for us is deep and that he is able to forgive us for any one of these sins, but that doesn’t mean we don’t realize there are dangers to living in a life of sin. A life of sin will lead us to an eternity in hell. The pain of indulging in our earthly pleasures is pain of separating ourselves form a God that loves us and wants us to live a life in pursuit of him.

This draws me to the last verse in this passage.

Mark 9:50 NIV

50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Don’t Lose your Saltiness

Once we come to a position of faith we must work to maintain and build our faith in God. We must be active in our pursuit of remaining salty. WE must be active in pursuing him and working together. To answer the question that is raised here how can something be made salty again. The answer to that is only through the redemptive nature of christ and what he did for us but we must remember that we must strive to never lose that essencce of who we are and the love that is shared with us on the Cross.

Let’s Pray.