The Sorrowful Rich Man

Mark 10:17-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, February 23, 2020.

We spend much of our days trying to impact our experience in this life.  However, the most important question begins with this.  What is next?  What is going to happen after I leave this life?  We know what materialism says about this; nothing happens.  Yet, God tells us that this life is only a prelude to eternity.

In our passage today, a deeper question is asked.  It accepts that there is something after this life, and it can be either good or bad, a spiritual life or spiritual death.  That deeper question is, what must I do to have eternal life?  Jesus came and showed us exactly what we must do to have eternal life.  We no longer need to be confused on this issue.

If this seems to be nonsense to you then I ask you to at least hear this sermon out, so you will at least know what God’s Word really says on this issue.

A question for Jesus

The story before us happens quite quickly.  A man shows up with a question for Jesus, but we need to look at who he is before we get into the question that he had for Jesus.

He is a rich young ruler within Israel who is troubled by a question.  The Gospel of Mark makes it clear at the end that he has “great possessions,” that is; he is rich.  Matthew 19:20 adds the fact that he is young, and Luke 18:18 tells us that he is a ruler (Greek- Archon).  This word for ruler is a general one.  It is used of Nicodemus, who is called a ruler of the Jews.  This seems to be a higher station and most likely refers to a position within the Sanhedrin, similar to a Supreme Court for Israel.  This term is also used for someone who is a ruler of a synagogue, which would be a much lower position.  It is unclear the level of his position, but his youth would make it unlikely that he is on the Sanhedrin.  Most likely, he has inherited much of his possessions, and perhaps his position as a ruler.

Even more important, the young man is troubled.  A question has been burning in his heart and mind that he has been unable to shake.  So, he catches Jesus as he is headed out of town going out on the road.  He runs to catch up to Jesus.  He doesn’t want to miss this opportunity, and yet, most likely waited for Jesus to leave town so that he could have a little more privacy at his question.  We should also notice that he kneels before Jesus.  This demonstrates the humility that the young man has and his high estimation of Jesus.

Now, we can look at his question.  What must I do to inherit eternal life?  His question is not about this life.  He has had it great in this life with his riches and power.  His question is about what’s next.  He knows that the righteous will be given eternal life by God.  He wonders how he can ensure that he will have eternal life on the other side.

According to the religious teachers of his day, he shouldn’t be concerned at all.  He is an Israelite, and thus, part of God’s people.  He is also an Israelite who observes the Law of Moses.  On top of this, he is rich, which was seen as a sure sign of God’s blessing and acceptance, in those days.  If he questioned a rabbi of his day, he would be told that he has eternal life of course.  Why would he doubt?  And yet, he is.  He feels that something is missing.  He feels like something could be wrong.  What is it?

I believe that he was under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  God’s Spirit is always dealing with mankind, whether as one who belongs to God, or as one who does not believe in Him.  God’s Spirit was convicting him that something wasn’t quite right, that he was missing something important.  We will put this on pause for a minute because he had addressed Jesus as “good teacher,” and Jesus deals with this first.

Jesus asks him why he calls Jesus good.  He then states that only God is good.  It is easy to just take this as a matter of fact.  Some would point out that these words mean that Jesus clearly did not think he was good, nor divine.  However, Jesus is not denying his goodness.  Rather, he is making the young man think deeper.  The young man’s ideas about goodness go to the heart of his question.  In fact, Matthew 19:16 adds a more specific detail to the question.  “What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?”  The young man is looking for that one action that is so good that it merits eternal life without question.  Thus, Jesus makes him think about his definition of good.  It cannot be found in the literature of the time that anyone would have addressed a rabbi with the adjective good.  Its use implies inherent goodness and even sinlessness.  Yes, some men are good in comparison to others, but something deeper is being pointed out here by Jesus.  The man is unwittingly correct that Jesus is good, but not because of his powers of deduction.  He is using an improper understanding of good.

Though Jesus does not spell out the logic that his statement leads to, it is not hard to follow.  If only God is good, then the best of us will always fall short to some degree.  It is impossible for a man who is not good to do an action that would be good enough.  It would always be a fallen person trying to do a good thing and falling short.  Of course, something within us all protests that surely being a good person is enough.  And, that is the problem.  The revelation of Jesus and his apostles is that there really is no good work that a person can do to inherit eternal life.  Don’t get me wrong.  Good works are important, but they can’t guarantee eternal life.

Jesus then tells him to follow the commandments, clearly speaking of the Law of Moses and especially the 10 commandments.  Six of them are listed.  Don’t commit adultery, murder, theft, bearing false witness, defrauding others, and do honor your parents.  The man responds that he has done all these things since his youth.  In other words, I’ve done those things and I still do not have a peace about my eternal future.

We should note that Jesus has listed the commands that have to do with our relationship with other people, commands 5 through 10.  However, he has left out commands 1-4, which have to do with our relationship with God.  Most likely, he has left these commands out in order to highlight where the problem is.  He is doing well in how he treats others.  No doubt, he does fail even here in light of the way Jesus interprets these commands in his Sermon on the Mount.  There, Jesus states that it is not good enough to refrain from doing these bad things.  If we harbor them as thoughts and desires within us then we are still breaking them.  The main problem is between him and God.  The Spirit of God is calling him into an intimate relationship rather than just satisfying his duties.

The problem in first century Israel is not that people were obeying the Law of Moses.  They were under a covenant with God and therefore they should be obeying these commands.  The problem was that, in doing the commands, things and duties had become the focus rather than a loving relationship with God.  The doing of things had come to be seen as the way to get close to God, instead of the truth that it should be the other way around.  I cannot do anything good enough to have a relationship with God, who is the source of eternal life, but a relationship with God can help me to do good things.  Another way to say it is this.  We do not do good things to obtain, or merit, salvation.  We do good things because we are in relationship with the one who has saved us.  Good works are the fruit of a relationship with God, not the means of obtaining it.

We are told that, as he pours out his heart, Jesus looks upon him and loves him.  Here is a man who is doing as best he can to obey God.  He is trying to respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit that something is missing.  He is humble and open to what Jesus has to say.  He is close to eternal life because he is close to having a relationship with God through Jesus.  God is answering the question of his heart.  What a lovely thing for God, to see a troubled man kneeling before him asking for help.  I know that some who are not Christians despise such an image, but know this today.  God will not despise the humble, and He will give them grace.  However, the proud and unrepentant will find Him quite difficult to face.  The young man is doing what pleases the Lord, and so should we every day.

Jesus tells the young man that he lacks one thing.  With all of his possessions, he could not see that he was lacking one thing, and that was a living relationship with the God of his fathers.  Jesus is going to tell him exactly what to do in order to have eternal life.  Though it may seem complicated, it is as simple as telling him to quit trying to obey his way (or the way he had been taught) into eternal life, and start embracing the One who is eternal life.  Stop seeing eternal life as something separate from God that we can obtain without having to really deal with Him.  Instead, see it as the inseparable character and power of the One who calls us into relationship with Him.  Ask yourself today.  Have I been stuck doing things for God’s approval without actually having a relationship with Him? 

It is interesting that Jesus turns around and gives the young man 5 commands for him to obey that are not actually part of the 10 commandments.  They are: Go your way, Sell what you have, Give to the poor, Come taking up your cross, and Follow me.  If we are in the mode of thinking about good works then we will hone in one the selling of everything.  However, the main point of these commands is to remove the things that keep us from going after God.  To follow Jesus is to follow God.  Let’s look at each of these commands, and make no mistake, they are commands.

Jesus tells him to go his way.  There was something particular that the young man needed to deal with and he needed to do it by himself, though the Spirit of God could help him if he would ask for help.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his book The Cost of Discipleship that, if we obey the Lord in every way except the one that he is commanding us right now then we are not obeying the Lord.  We cannot point to all the other ways we are obeying in the face of the one thing the Lord tells us to do.  We simply must do it.  He must go to deal with it.  He cannot leap-frog over it and follow Jesus without being disobedient.

The next command is to sell all that you have.  Possessions and wealth are in between him and God.  They were holding him back spiritually.  There is no verse in the Bible that commands us to sell everything.  In fact, this verse does not intend to teach that all Christians for the rest of time must sell all their possessions.  Jesus gives him the one drastic action that would cure him of his problem.  It is similar to the earlier drastic action that Jesus spoke of when he mentioned cutting off your hand to avoid Gehenna (Mark 9:43).  As I said when we looked at that passage, it is not our hands that lead us into sin.  It is the stronghold of sinful desires within us that lead us into sin.  He had a sinful attachment to the great amount of possessions in his life, and therefore, he needed to sell them all, not because it is sinful to have possessions, but because possessions were stirring up sin within him.  Yes, the Bible doesn’t say you must sell your possessions to make heaven, but it does tell us that this particular man did need to sell his possession to make heaven.  Even then, it wouldn’t be the selling of them that would merit eternal life.  Rather, the selling of them would free him to enter into relationship with the Lord of Life Himself.  He was trying to serve two masters, but wealth had his heart, not God.  He needed to divorce himself from his current love, and pursue God. 

This begs the question.  What might be in my way? If you have tried being a Christian, but found it to be missing something, then hear the Spirit of Christ calling to you today.  You too have things in your life that have your heart so much that you are unable to enter into a real relationship with Christ.  Let the Holy Spirit put His finger on it right now.  Hear Him telling you to go and do that drastic action that will set you free to follow Jesus.  He will never tell you to do a sinful thing.  Rather, it will always be something that our flesh will protest by saying, “but there is no verse that says I can’t have this!”

Next, Jesus tells him to give to the poor.  Just as elsewhere, giving to the poor is synonymous to putting treasure in heaven.  Giving and helping people who cannot pay you back is true spirituality and will be rewarded by God Himself.  It is not based upon the amount, but upon the intent and sacrifice.  By the way, this is not a commentary on a proper economic system.  Jesus did not ask this of everyone who believed on him, but he did this man.  We should all help the poor, but we are not all called to sell all our possessions (unless they have our hearts).  The key is understanding what is getting in the way of my relationship with God.

Next, Jesus tells him to come back to him taking up a cross.  Once we have removed the idols that we have in our heart, we are now ready to come to Jesus.  Yet, even then, we must approach with the right attitude.  Picking up your cross is the readiness to suffer in whatever ways you have to suffer in order to follow Jesus.  I must be ready to die to more things that may crop up later between me and Jesus.  Don’t bother coming to Jesus if you are not also packing your own cross.  If you think that following Jesus will obtain you riches and power then you might as well turn around right now.  If you truly follow Jesus then you will find the many things of this world to which you must die in order to keep up with him.

If you have done the previous four commands then you are now ready to actually follow Jesus.  Following Jesus requires a surrendered life.  Lord, I don’t have to know the way, just lead me one step at a time.  The Spirit of God will always give us direction, but we are not always quick to follow.  Eternal life is not as simple as being nice to others.  And yet, it is as simple as following Jesus.  It isn’t easy to follow the one who calls us to die to those things that keep us from following him.

This is not what the young man wanted to hear, which is proof positive that Jesus had put his finger exactly on his problem.  It says that he left sorrowful.  He approached Jesus in a more promising manner than Nicodemus did, who came by night.  Yet, he left saddened by the answer.   Whatever became of him?  We do not know.

The greater question is what will become of you, or me?  Do I have eternal life?  In John 17:3, Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”  He does not just mean to know about him, but to actually experience a relationship with him, like the disciples who followed him did. 

How can you have eternal life?  Instead of offering God your good works and hoping that they will be acceptable to merit it, humble yourself and die to those things of this world that are getting in the way of following him.  Jesus is eternal life, and all who connect to him by putting their faith in him will have eternal life.  Let the Spirit of God lead you to cast aside your fears and doubts, and step into a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!

Sorrowful Rich Man Audio

A Blessing to Children

Mark 10:13-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, February 16, 2020.

Am I a blessing to the children in my life?  Children are easily overlooked because they seem to have little value nor can they offer much help.  However, they will be the ones who care for you when you are old…, or not.

As we approach our passage today, I want us to think about the way that we impact the young people in our life.  It is not just the physically young, but also those who are young in experience.  A new guy on the job may not be a child, but they are not experienced in the profession.  A new woman in the church may not be a child, but she may be a child when it comes to the things of God. 

How do we impact such people?  Do we give them the attitude that they should be seen and not heard?  Do we see them as our personal servants?  Perhaps, we may see them as our competitors.  If we are going to be like Jesus then we are going to have to open our hearts to the way that he received children.  He was a blessing to them and he wants us to be a blessing to them as well.  Let’s look at our passage.

They brought the little children to Jesus (vs. 13-14a)

In this passage, people are bringing little children to Jesus in order for him to touch them.  This term for touch can mean a lot of things, but it always implies more than just a surface touch.  Matthew 19:13 specifically states that they wanted Jesus to lay his hands upon them and pray over them.  This is exactly what we see at the end of this passage in Mark.  Jesus prays a blessing over the children.

We have talked before about how the laying on of hands while praying for someone is actually an aid to our faith rather than a necessary component.  Whether for healing or blessing, as is the case here, Jesus doesn’t need to touch them to bless them. 

That said, it is a component that has a rich history throughout the Bible, and not just for good things.  We see it prominently in the case of Jacob praying a blessing upon the children of Joseph in Genesis 48.  He puts his hands upon their heads and prays a blessing over them.  Thus, the image is one who has walked with God praying a blessing over those who are young in the experience of this world and walking with God.  It is a powerful image that manifests the way that our lives impact those who are coming behind us.  We will talk about this more, but it is good to pause and recognize that we will touch the lives of children both literally and spiritually.  Will that touch be a blessing or a curse, help or hurt?  May God help us to be like Jesus because they clearly see him as a source of good for these children.

We are told next that the disciples rebuked their efforts.  It would be interesting to have the actual words of the rebuke, but we do not have them.  Clearly, they didn’t thing that Jesus should be bothered by little children on the one hand, and those who are not sick on the other hand.

We should also pay attention to the fact that little children were mentioned several times, and it seems to be triggered by the arguing over which of them is the greatest disciple.  In Mark 9:37, Jesus had stood a child in their midst and warned them how they received such little children.  In Mark 9:42, Jesus had warned those who would cause a little child to stumble.  It would be better for them if a millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.

Once again, we find that the problem is not in the children, but in the disciples themselves.  They are still too proud and they do not understand the heart of Jesus for even little children, or better yet, “the least of these.”  They believe that they are doing a good thing, serving as gate keepers to the master.  “Don’t bother Jesus with such trifles.  He is resting!”  Yet, Jesus wants to be bothered with these things, especially when little children and new faith are involved.

We are told that Jesus is greatly displeased with his disciples.  He had been dealing with them about their pride, and so he is indignant when it rears its ugly head again.  It is even more important that Jesus is indignant on behalf of the children and those who brought them.  This is not a self-serving thing in which he is trying to keep them in their places beneath him.  He is rising to the defense of those who are helpless in the face of his own disciples.  Let us never forget that God’s heart is in defending the helpless even though it be his own people who abuse them.  It may appear that he is silent now that we are not physically walking with Jesus on this earth, but his rebuke will come.  It may be in the moment, or it may come down the road, but come it will.

In fact, much of the judgment of God that hangs over this world can be seen as being against all the ways that parents and authority figures of all stations have improperly touched the next generation.  How horrible it is that the impact of our lives would be to mislead the little children into paths of wickedness.  The hand of physical abuse, sexual abuse, even leading little children into changing their genders, such things should not be so.  You were placed in their life not to harm, but to help, not to debase, but to bless.

Jesus corrects his disciples (vs. 14b-16)

Jesus proceeds to teach them why what they are doing is totally wrong.  He commands them in a positive and negative form.  Let the children come to me, and don’t actively forbid them.  Instead of being a formidable wall between them and Jesus, we must become a welcoming door that draws them in so that they can be touched and blessed by Jesus.

In fact, the same world that is working overtime to twist the children of this age into all manner of perversions, will, at the same time, increase its hostility towards believers who try to help kids come to Jesus.  They already accuse parents and churches of harming children.  Yes, many have harmed children in the name of religion, but this is the work of the enemy of Jesus, not Jesus himself.  How important it is for us as followers of Christ to be above board in this area and to be a bulwark of defense to the children from wolves without and wolves within.  Yet, the hostility will be mostly against the audacity that you would lead a child to embrace Jesus and to become a follower of him.  We must stay the course that our Lord has given us, and wisely continue the work of blessing young children through the help of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus again reminds them that they will not enter into the kingdom of God unless they become like little children.  A child needs to physically, mentally, and emotionally mature in this life.  Yet, as these things happen, their hearts become hurt with wounds and scars of this life.  We become something that is no longer innocent, trusting, and believing as a means of protecting ourselves.  This may serve us well in relation to people, but it does not serve us well in relation to our Father in heaven.

The challenge is to be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves, that is without becoming a serpent ourselves.  In fact, it is clear that Jesus is not just going for neutrality, i.e. not causing harm.  He wants us to become more than just a dove, but all that a dove symbolizes.  We can be a peaceful place, a shelter in the middle of the storm of this life where people can come into and be safe, learn of Christ, be strengthened, and outfitted in order to face the storm well.  In short, we are to be a blessing.  We can become hard, bitter, and a bruiser, instead of remaining soft, sweet, and one who blesses, like a child.  The first heart will get in the way of following Christ, even making heaven.  The other heart will open the door before us.  Jesus is giving a strong warning to those who would follow him, and we should heed it!

The scene ends with Jesus taking the children in his arms, laying his hands upon them, and praying a blessing over them.  How we need to do this today.  Instead of cursing coming out of our mouths, we must choose to be a source of blessing.  This is as easy as yielding to the Spirit of God, and allowing Him to flow through our lives.  Yet, it is as hard as saying, “No,” to the spirit of this world, and removing those things in our lives that keep us bound in a life of cursing and harming others, or at the very least out of the game and focused only on self.

If we are not a blessing to the next generation then this world’s curse will be the main influence upon them.  May God help us to rise up and go to war against the constant onslaught of evil that is happening to children all across this world.

A Blessing to Children audio

Marriage & Divorce

Mark 10:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, February 09, 2020.

In our country, divorce and remarriage have become increasingly easier and acceptable.  Of course, I am not implying that divorce is emotionally and psychologically easy upon those who do it.  For every situation where this is a good thing (like in the case of physical abuse), there are countless others that are simply because the couple no longer love each other. 

In first century, AD Israel, there were some similar dynamics that had led to some rabbis having a very strict teaching regarding divorce and other rabbis having a very loose teaching on it.

I would encourage you today to receive this message as an attempt to clarify rather than to condemn people.  It is important for us to understand the issues clearly so that we are not adding to the overall confusion that exists in our country.  Confusion such that people who are married and not divorced yet are already committing adultery with another person.  Confusion such that people treat a casual sexual affair as if it is just a regular maintenance of a marriage that has lost any sense of true love. 

God wants us to have clarity about His purpose for marriage so that we will work towards it.  Yet, there are times when marriages fail because of the hardness of our hearts.  Regardless of your experience in this area, let’s talk about God’s desire for our marriages and how we can turn our hearts in the right direction.

Is it lawful to divorce your spouse?

A parallel account of this passage can be found in Matthew 19:1-10.  It shows us that there are some subtle details left out of Mark’s version.  In Matthew, we see that the question above is even more specific.  “Is it lawful to divorce your spouse for just any reason?”

There is some necessary background to this question.  At the time in Israel, there were two theological schools of thought on the issue of divorce.  Rabbi Shammai had a strict interpretation and taught that it was only permissible in the case of sexual immorality, i.e. infidelity.  Rabbi Hillel had a looser interpretation and taught that it was permissible for almost any reason.  In fact, it was common in this second group to say that if a man had a “bad wife,” it was his duty to divorce her.  We will come back to these conflicting interpretations of the Law of Moses, but for now let’s just recognize that the debate existed and affected many lives.

On top of this general debate, we also have a very public situation between the wife of Herod Philip and his brother Herod Antipas, which John the Baptist had openly condemned as unlawful.  Lust was at the heart of this divorce and remarriage.

We have a similar situation today where some Bible teachers teach that divorce is always wrong in every case (i.e. Christians are to be more righteous than the Pharisees) and others who are very lax to the point that divorce is no big deal before God (i.e. it is forgiven under the blood of Christ so you can do it if you want).  As we work through this passage, we will try to pull out some timeless truths so that we can better know how to please God in our day and age.

Now that we understand the question, let’s look at the response of Jesus.  Jesus may appear to be avoiding the question, but such is not the case.  Rather, he is making them work through the issue.  Just what does Moses command?  The key word in this question is “command.”  When it comes to divorce, what are the commands of the Law of Moses?  The Pharisees respond by changing the verb from “command” to “permit.”  This underlines something important.  When a divorce occurs, some tend to see it as an unfortunate, but necessary solution to their problem.  However, we should never kid ourselves how God sees it.  Divorce is always the failure of accomplishing the will and purpose of God for marriage.  It is not the solving of a problem, but rather the walking away from a problem that God desires you to work through.  Yes, it is more nuanced than that, but this is a bedrock truth from Scripture.  God hates divorce, period!  The Law of Moses never commanded anyone to divorce another even in cases of sexual immorality.  It only permitted it.

Second of all, Jesus points out why it was permitted.  It was permitted “because your hearts were hard.”  Now, there are different reasons why something may be permitted.  The permitted thing can be a good thing that simply needs to be regulated, for example, you may give a child permission to have another cookie.  However, the permitted thing can be a bad thing that becomes a lesser of two evils, which is clearly the case here.  Divorce is not a good thing.  It is something to be avoided at drastic cost to both parties in the marriage.

In cases today where both parties amiably agree and get along afterward (i.e. the “best-case scenario”), they have still hardened their hearts towards working out their differences with one another.  The hard heart may be on the part of one spouse, or both, but it is the salient point.

God has a purpose in marriage that we are going to talk about in a second.  Yet, people’s hearts can become hard towards one another and towards God’s purpose for their marriage.  It is not God’s intention to have people trapped in a marriage that is failing to accomplish his purposes.  However, many people feel trapped in a marriage because their hearts are in the wrong place.  They are living for themselves and their own fleshly desires instead of living for God.  They are looking to the hills for something better instead of weeding the garden of their own marriage.  Thus, divorce occurs when one spouse or both become hard-hearted towards the other and towards God.

Believers in Jesus should not be as concerned about lawfulness as we should be concerned about the plan and purpose of God.  In verses 6-9, Jesus takes the Pharisees back to the beginning of the book of Genesis and he reminds them of God’s purpose in the Garden.

God had made them “male and female.”  Marriage was designed by God for one man and one woman as was seen in the original couple, Adam and Eve.  Secondly, it is to be a union of a new family before God (Genesis 2:24).  This union involves the leaving of their parents and a joining to each other.  The word “joining” has the idea of being glued together.  The phrase “one flesh” becomes more than a physical description of sex, but rather something far greater with emotional, relational, and social implications.  They become a unity that is difficult to separate without tearing parts of the other away.  They are to be a new unity within society, a oneness.

Once a marriage begins, there is no question what God’s will is.  He wants us to work in order to be a unified couple.  Marriage is the holy ground upon which we are challenged in what it means to love another person.  It becomes that wrestling place in which we either mature and become something greater, or we remain immature and become something lesser.

Jesus then ends with what sounds like a categorical prohibition of divorce.  “What God has joined let not man separate.”  The Greeks had two words for “not.”  One of them is a categorical negation.  However, the one used here is the negation of the idea.  Thus, the meaning is something like this.  God has joined you together and wants you to be unified.  Therefore, you should not be working towards something that goes against it.  At this point, you can hear the protestations.  “But, he will never change!” Or, “She doesn’t love me like she used to do!”  Yes, those are no doubt the realities on the ground, but God is asking you to learn to love them, to learn who they are, and to learn how to become one with them.  So, are the things that I am doing in my marriage contributing to emotional separation, or are they helping to draw us closer?  Of course, this is not about a “perfect marriage” in which neither spouse ever does anything that stirs up emotional separation.  This is about learning to love, which involves repentance and forgiveness among each other.  If you have never repented of mistakes you made, and you have never forgiven your spouse for their faults, then you aren’t being real with each other.  As long as the endorphins of sexual desire are still pumping, we ignore all manner of sins, but sooner or later, we will come down to earth and realize that it takes work, repentance, and forgiveness, in order to have a “perfect marriage.”  Yes, the perfect marriage is one that trusts God’s purposes by living out repentance and forgiveness every day.

Jesus gives further clarification on divorce

In verses 10-12, we are told that the next discussion takes place later between Jesus and his disciples.  They are asking for further clarification on this matter.  Here, Jesus basically tells his disciples that those who divorce and remarry are committing adultery.    Matthew 19:9 adds the phrase, “except for sexual immorality.”  I do not believe that Jesus is trying to say that Moses made a mistake and that he is now correcting it.  He is not saying that previously God let Israel sin, but now it is time to throw off this antiquated law.  Rather, Jesus is teaching them the true interpretation of what the Law intended all along.  Deuteronomy 24:1 lays out how divorce should be done, and it has the phrase “because he has found some uncleanness in her.”  The rabbis’ debate centered upon what constituted uncleanness.  Jesus is stating that it meant sexual immorality, not burning dinner, or getting wrinkles.  He is giving them a warning that ties back into the original question.  If you divorce your spouse, for just any reason (i.e. other than sexual immorality), then you are committing adultery when you remarry. 

The key here is this question.  Does God recognize legitimate grounds for divorce?  It is clear that an unfaithful partner is legitimate grounds in God’s eyes.  If you divorce an unfaithful spouse and remarry then it would not be adultery.  Yet, neither does he command you to divorce.

The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:15 talks about the situation when an unbelieving spouse wants a divorce.  In a sense, they are wanting to abandon the marriage.  Paul states, “but if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases.  But God has called us to peace.”  The phrase “not under bondage” seems to imply to a moral obligation not to divorce.  He is easing the conscience of those who do not want to divorce, but their spouse is abandoning the marriage.  It seems clear from the passage that Paul would counsel them to remain single.  However, if they are no longer “under bondage” does that also mean they are free to marry?  Some teachers believe so.  They would say that the spouse who abandons the marriage would be committing adultery to remarry, but the spouse who was abandoned is free to remarry.

The Bible does not give any directive on the issue of physical abuse.  However, even more so, we could bring up the issue of God not wanting to chain people in bondage, but rather for them to have peace.  God does not demand a woman to remain in a marriage where she is being physically abused.  God recognizes that there are times when the hardness of a spouse may put you in a situation where there is nothing left to do but to admit that the marriage has failed, or even died.  This does not remove the greater purpose.  As much as is possible with me, I should be working with God to heal the marriage and grow, not working to tear it apart.  If a marriage fails then let it be over the top of my sacrificial attempts to make it work because God intends marriage to be for life.

What do I do if I have failed in this area?  What if my current marriage fits the description of Jesus and is technically adultery?  Like Adam and Eve, we cannot go back into Paradise and Innocence.  We must repent before God, draw a line in the sand, and determine to work with God to help the marriage that we have today to become what He wants it to be.  We have to carry the burden of past decisions, and the effects that they have had on us, and move forward towards the healing that only God can bring.  Only He can take that which is not holy and make it holy.  May God help us to soften our hearts towards him and our spouse, and learn to love like He loves, sacrificially and to the end.

Marriage & Divorce Audio

The Danger of Causing Someone to Stumble

Mark 9:42-50.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, February 02, 2020

How do I treat other people?  Our passage is specifically about how Christians treat each other.  Our culture has developed a blasé attitude regarding the issue of how our words and actions affect other people.  Some even become very heated in their statements that it’s their problem and not my responsibility.  They should be stronger or better than that, appears to be their response.

Here, Jesus shuts the door on the propriety of a brazen attitude towards the affect our words and actions have upon others, especially other believers.  We are going to be held accountable, and there will be no excuses that will work.  May God help us to take these matters seriously because we are going to be a challenge to one another even if we are doing our best.  There is no call for making it worse through neglect, or purposeful intent.

Jesus warns against tripping others up spiritually

In verses 42-48, it is clear that this is the climactic instruction from Jesus to his disciples concerning their interest in which of them is the greatest of his disciples (vss. 33-37).  He first challenged them with the illustration of a small child. Then he dealt with their attitude towards a believer in Jesus who was not a part of their group (38-41).  This passage puts the capstone on the warning that Jesus is giving to his disciples, and us by extension.  They were in danger of being a stumbling block to one another and they needed to quit it.

Let’s deal with what is meant by the words “to fall into sin” or “cause to stumble,” in verse 42.  Both translations are correct.  The word is literally “to put a stumbling block in front of someone and is typically used metaphorically for causing someone to sin.  The KJV uses the word “to offend,” which meant “to strike against.”  This isn’t a bad translation either, for its time, but the normal usage of this English word can mislead us today.  The focus is not on how our actions and words can make a person feel, though that is a subset of the issues involved.  Rather, it is about the fact that our words and actions can cause a person to spiritually stumble and fall into sin.  To be fair, we should also note that it is not particularly about our intention either.  Whether intentional or not, our words and actions can be like a stumbling block that trips a person up.  Some people are particularly agile in this area and do not fall into sin, whereas, others are not. 

It is clear that Jesus is rebuking their attitudes towards each other within the group, and also with others who were not a part of the group.  Their attitudes would lead to a multitude of sins and the ruination of what Jesus was laying his life down in order to build.

The first warning is given through the reference of a horrible, unthinkable death.  For clarity in this section, I will use the terms the offender and the offended.  Jesus warns us that it is better to have a horrible death of a millstone tied to your neck and be thrown into the sea than to be a cause for the stumbling of another.  Such a death is the ancient equivalent to the mob putting your feet in cement and tossing you in the river.  It would involve the terror and horror of being murdered through drowning. 

All of us would agree that this would be an undesirable death, but not all of us would agree about how deserving of judgment our actions are toward another.  We tend to see our actions as innocent and the actions of others as fraught with injustice.  Could you imagine if the game of football didn’t have referees, but instead every player and the coaches all had their own flags?  What chaos that would be.  We are ready to “throw the flag” on everything others do and vehemently contest the flags that they throw against us.  Jesus is warning us that it is foolish to remain in such a state.  You will stand before God one day and give account for how you treated others.  He who is the judge of all men, both the living and the dead, takes these things seriously.  It is better to have a horrible death without causing others to stumble than it is to have a wonderful death, and then face the judge having lived carelessly.

We should also notice that Jesus ties this warning back to the image of the little child standing in their midst.  “These little ones who believe in me” are not just about physical age, but also about spiritual age.  Young believers of any age do not have as much spiritual growth and more easily stumble.  If we are focused on our greatness then we tend to only care for ourselves.

We must ask ourselves if our words and actions help others to believe in Jesus, or could they be a source of stumbling into sin for them?  The warning is very strong, and is against treating this lightly.

The second warning is reiterated three times.  However, there is a textual issue in these verses.  Depending on what Bible version you are using, you may be missing some of the verses that are in some of the older translations.  There is no conspiracy to get rid of any doctrines.  It is a matter of determining what Mark exactly wrote.  Let’s look at this textual issue further.

Here is a brief layout of the warning:

43.  If your hand causes you to sin…

                44. Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

45.  If your foot causes you to sin…

                46.  Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

47.  If your eye causes you to sin…

                48.  Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

The three sections are identical except for a different part of the body being mentioned.  People often sin with their hands, feet, eyes, and Jesus could have continued.  In between each is a quote from Isaiah 66:24 regarding their worm and the fire that is unquenchable.  When the KJV was written, they had a particular number of known Greek manuscripts from which to determine what the text originally said.  The scholars of that day felt the repetition of verses 44, 46, and 48 were original.  There have been many more manuscripts discovered over the years since then (the most famous being the Dead Sea Scrolls).  Some of these manuscripts do not have verse 44 and 46, but they do have verse 48.  To many scholars today, it appears that the statement of verses 44 and 46 were not originally there.  That means it was only stated once at the end.  Of course, the repetitive structure of this teaching would imply that it applies at those places too.

Whether such scholars are right in this judgment or not, notice that the absence of verses 44 and 46 do not change the meaning and their presence is definitely implied.  The absence or presence of these verses, therefore, are not a problem for the biblical reader.  Nothing is lost or gained in either decision.  Now, let’s get to the particulars of this second warning.

Verses 43 through 48 all represent a reiterative, second warning.  This warning can be taken as towards the offender and the offended.  It begs the question of what exactly is “causing” us to sin.  In the end, no one can make me sin by being offensive, or by being such that stirs up the desire in me to offend them.  The issues of sin are deeper than what others have done to me.  Notice that the thing that causes me to sin here is not another person, but rather parts of my own body, a hand, a foot, and an eye. 

The structure of this warning draws us into the deeper issues such as who do I blame?  It is easy to blame others for my sin, but James 1:14 tells us, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”  Yet, the warning mentions the parts of our body that are often used to act out the sin.  It would definitely be harder to sin without hands, feet and eyes (and we could add brains at this point).  Jesus is using the obvious external things to connect to the hidden internal things that cause us to sin.  It is not the presence of a hand that causes a person to steal, but the internal evil desire takes advantage of the fact that they do have hands.

What Jesus does here is extremely powerful.  We can all imagine the horrors of cutting our own hand or foot off.  Yikes!  I do not believe that Jesus ever intended that people would actually do this.  However, neither do I want to mitigate the power of what he is doing.  Such a drastic act is extremely rare.  There is a story of a hiker, Aron Ralston, whose hand was pinned by rock in Utah.  He could not get free, until he imagined the possibility of cutting his hand off.  He lives today because of his courage.  Most people would have died in that same spot.  To the degree that the outward physical act seems outrageous, is the degree to which we should go in fighting against the internal.  In fact, it begs the question of effective ways to fight against strongly entrenched desires.  It can be a combination of drastic external and internal changes that set us free from the control of sin in our life.

The person addicted to pornography does not need to gouge their eyes out, but they do need to get drastic about cutting off things in their hearts and in their daily activity.  They need to get drastic about their computer usage, and accountability to other people in their life.  We can say things like: “But I need to have my smart phone with a data plan,” or “There is no verse that says I can’t have a computer!”  Yet, all of such things are only the protestations of a corrupt desire.  We must get drastic because our sin can cause us to go to hell.    It is better to live this life without something and make it to heaven than to keep it and end up in hell because of it.  Which is more important to you?

The word for hell in this passage is “Gehenna” in the Greek.  It translates a Hebrew word that means the Valley of Hinnom.  In the past, the English word “hell” was used to translate several Greek words, which has caused much confusion.  The word “Hades” refers to the grave, a spiritual holding place for all who have died.  There they await the judgment.  It is not properly hell.  However, the condition that one experiences in the grave is clearly connected to a person’s eventual judgment.  Thus, the rich man of Luke 16:23 was in torments in Hades.  It was hot and he desired just a drop of water from the finger of Lazarus who was in the paradise of Abraham’s bosom.

Gehenna literally refers to the valley southwest of Jerusalem, which connects with the Kidron valley which comes from the east side of Jerusalem.  Let me just list some Old Testament passages that will give us background to the sinister connotations of Gehenna.  2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31-32; 32:35. At one point in Israel’s history, a place called Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom (GeHinnom/Gehenna) had an altar or a high place to the false god Molech.  There many Israelites, including some of their kings, burned their children as sacrifices to the false god of the Ammonites in hopes of fertility in crops and more children, and in hope of success in war.  The idea is that you show the god your devotion and he rewards you with these other things.  We may shudder at child sacrifice, but it really is an extremely pragmatic proposition.  This was always called an abomination, thing of abhorrence, to the God of Israel, the One True God.  Isaiah particularly uses Topheth as a picture of the burning wrath of God that was coming for the wicked.  Isaiah 30:33 and 66:24 are his descriptions of something that is more than a place on earth of judgment on the wicked, but is a judgment of a fire that never goes out.

Gehenna properly connects to the Lake of Fire in the book of Revelation, not the grave.  There we see it is the Second Death that all men and spirits must face.  We will either be judged worthy to enter into eternal life, or we will be given eternal judgment.  Whether you think such a judgment is warranted or not, we must hear the warning of Jesus.  It is better to go through this life without something that keeps leading us to sin, than to end up in the Lake of Fire with that thing.  What good do eyes do me if I am in the Lake of Fire?  None whatsoever.  The emphasis is not so much that you will go to heaven without your hand, etc.  This says nothing about resurrection.  The emphasis is on your condition when you “enter” the next stage.  I enter life as a man who had lost his hand, but I avoid the Lake of Fire because of my sacrifices in this life.  I won’t continue on this theme. 

Let me just end it by saying that Jesus spoke of Gehenna to religious people and always as a warning that was intended to shock them out of lethargy concerning their sin.  You do not see him trying to scare those who don’t know God with the reality of hell.

Don’t let the trials of this life rob you of peace with one another

We need to bring this to a close, so let’s quickly look at these last two verses.  The desire to be the greatest threatened to rob the disciples of peace between each other in this life, and potentially peace internally in the life to come.  Jesus challenges us not to let the trials of this life rob us of our peace.

When he says that everyone will be seasoned with fire, he uses imagery that represents the trials and occasions of stumbling into sin that come upon us in this life.  We would probably use the word “peppered.”  We are peppered with fiery trials and temptations in this life.  It is impossible to avoid them.  We can focus upon the people who put the stumbling blocks in front of us and blame them, but that won’t deliver us from the temptations.  You can’t avoid it through the blame game.  You must deal with sin in your own life, or become a casualty to it.

Thus, our lives are called to be a sacrifice (living sacrifice) here on this earth.  The lives of the righteous are a sacrifice in the sense that we go through these fiery trials for the glory of God and in honor of him.  We become an acceptable sacrifice that is pleasing to God when we put our faith in Jesus, pick up our cross, and follow him.  The lives of the wicked are a sacrifice in the sense that they are an unacceptable sacrifice that is not pleasing to God.  Thus, eternity is not pictured as being salted with fire, but being immersed in a Lake of Fire with no moments of reprieve.  We must not kid ourselves that hell describes our life here without God.  No, such is only a foretaste of something far worse, walled off from the goodness of God.

To follow Jesus is compared to remaining salty.  In Colossians 4:6, Paul says, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”  The more that we live out the godly character of Jesus, the more that we will have peace with one another.  Of course, it takes two to tango.  So, you can only focus upon your part of the equation.  I don’t want to be a source of trial that causes you to sin.

Gehenna is the negative motivation for not wanting to hurt one another.  However, peace and eternal life are the real motivations that ought to spur us on to love and forgiveness with each other.  Ultimately, we need to see that we will not have rest, in this life or the next, until we desire to be like Jesus more than we desire the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride of this life.

Causing to Stumble Audio