1. What is the link between Jesus' statement in verse 37 and John's question in verse 38?
2. What lay behind John's and the others attempt to stop the man in verse 38?
3. What was the test of the truth of this man's testimony in verses 39-40? What is the basis for this judgment?
4. What is the basis for the reward promised in verse 41 and why is it important?
Note: ‘Little ones’. In the context of the disciples’ argument about which one of them was the greatest, Jesus took a little child (v. 37) to illustrate that the least of believers must be served and welcomed. He also warned the disciples not to cause “one of these little ones who believe in me” to sin (v. 42). It is possible that Jesus could be talking about believing children only. However, it is much more likely that Jesus is referring to all those over whom the disciples do or will have pastoral responsibility, including the anonymous exorcist. All believers under the spiritual care of another are included as ‘little ones’, especially new Christians, the impressionable, the young, and the weak. The Christian leader's responsibility to them is enormous.
5. How does Jesus describe hell? (cf. Isa 66:22-24)
Note: ‘Hell’ (Greek, gehenna). Literally, this was the valley of Hinnom, a ravine South of Jerusalem where rubbish, including carcases, were burnt. The fire never went out. Jesus uses it as his image for the place of eternal punishment.
6. Who does Jesus warn about hell? (v. 35; cf. Luke 17:1-3)
7. How seriously does Jesus consider sin, our godliness, and hell?
Notes: (a) ‘Millstone’. Drowning with a millstone tied around the neck was a cruel method of execution suffered by the zealots, Jewish freedom fighters, as punishment for their uprising against Rome in AD 6.
(b) The command to cut off offending limbs is given twice in Matthew (5:29-30, 18:6-9). It was obviously a teaching about which the disciples and we need constant reminders.
8. How might you cause one of Christ's little one's to sin? (cf. Matt 5:27-30)
9. Who does Jesus especially have in mind in causing others to sin?
10. What steps do you need to take to avoid causing one of Christ's little one' to sin? What gangrenous limb requires amputation?
11. What do you think that the references to ‘salt’ (v. 49) refers to? (cf. 1 Cor 3:12-17, esp. v. 13; cf. v. 17 with Mark 10:42)
12. What could it mean to have salt in yourselves? (v. 50; Matt 5:13)
I think that churches and guinea pigs have a lot in common, and not just because guinea pigs are cute and furry. When our kids were little, we became guinea pig breeders. It’s not very hard. I originally thought we were only going to be guinea pig owners, actually. But that was before we discovered that ‘Lucy’ was actually ‘Luke’.
Guinea pigs live in small groups in their native Chile. Five to ten guinea pigs make their home together in an underground cave, very much like one of our home bible studies. As pairs, I am told they live together harmoniously. Our book on guinea pigs said, “If they have a disagreement, it is usually the boar [that is, the husband] who gives in […] the boar tolerates everything patiently, and goes so far as leaving his beloved treats.” I’ll leave you to work out whether this feature is also seen among human couples.
But we have also discovered that guinea pigs don’t remain as only pairs for very long—they start that way, but soon comes the clitter clatter of little feet—in multiples of four. And it is in their social life that they bear some remarkable resemblances to the disciples of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. For within groups of guinea pigs, there is a strict hierarchy or ranking. Two males cannot fit into this hierarchy, but the stronger male threatens or even bites the weaker one.
Well, it is this feature that is remarkably similar to the early church. Mark gives us a warts and all view of the disciples. There is no airbrush used on this portrait, no filter to soften the photograph. We see all of their dullness, their failure to understand, their petty jealousies, competitiveness, and arrogance.
Jesus and his disciples have just arrived in Capernaum. Jesus has just sat them down and wants to talk to them, because they have been arguing on the road. Like a parent or schoolteacher, Jesus wants to get to the bottom of it, so he starts his inquiry: “What were you arguing about one the road?” And like guilty schoolboys, they all keep quiet. They study their feet. No one wants to tell.
But Jesus knows. They’ve been arguing about which of them was the greatest. It’s a very male thing. They are comparing, each to the other. They want to work out where each of them is in the pecking order. It is a bit like at school, when the two captains get to choose their team, and they start with the best players first, and you hope that you are one of the first ones chosen, but inevitably someone has to be last, and it just so happens to be you. So the disciples have been comparing themselves with one with another, working out the pecking order, the hierarchy, the rank—whose at the top, and whose at the bottom, whose the alpha male, the top dog, and who is the bottom of the barrel.
But Jesus takes in his arms a child, a little one. He shows them the little one, and promises them in verse 37:
Whoever welcomes one of the little children in my name welcome me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me. (NIV)
And this probably reminds one of the disciples, John, of something. John probably gets a pang of conscience, because he remembers an event where he wasn’t so welcoming. Verse 38:
“Teacher”, said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” (NIV)
There was another man driving out demons. Perhaps John was annoyed by the disciples’ recent failure to drive out a demon. They couldn’t drive out a demon in chapter 9 verse 18 because of their lack of faith and prayer. We know that others cast out demons, presumably using other names (Matt 12:27; Luke 11:19). But here is a man driving out demons in Jesus’ name, and he is not a follower of Jesus, not one of them.
Surely this is unacceptable, unfair, a breach of intellectual property, trademark violation. This unknown guy is using our trademark, which is the name of “Jesus”, but he is not “one of us”. He is not affiliated with us, part of our organization. Surely, we have the exclusive franchise for the name of Jesus in this area with exclusive naming rights. Surely we don’t have to welcome him. Surely we need to stop him.
Now, John’s comments are reminiscent of another famous 2IC (Second in Command). Joshua the son of Nun said something similar to Moses. In the Exodus, God’s Spirit rested on two elders, Eldad and Medad, and they started to do some unlicensed, unauthorized, and unapproved prophesying. We read in Numbers 11:28-29:
Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” (NIV)
And Jesus’ answer to John in Mark 9 verse 39 is similar to Moses’ answer to Joshua: “Do not stop him,” Jesus said.
The disciples here are acting like Joshua in Exodus, and like the Pharisees earlier in Mark’s Gospel. All of them share this in common, that they all sought to forbid a work of God’s Spirit. They sought to “stop” the Spirit, for the reason that the Spirit was using someone else, someone not in our club, someone “not from us”.
But here is the sovereignty of the Spirit. He blows wherever he pleases. You hear his sound, but you cannot see where he comes from or where he is going (John 3).
And friends, we too must recognize the sovereignty of the Spirit. He is not bound to our club, whether to the Sydney Anglican club or the Moore College club—whatever group for us is the ‘in-crowd’ or the ‘correct’ pedigree. The Spirit is free and sovereign.
So Jesus prevents his disciples from stopping this unknown, unnamed exorcist in Jesus’ name. Verse 39 again:
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No-one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me” (NIV)
Here is the principle that Jesus lays down to govern his disciples’ treatment of outsiders. It’s a cautious principle, a wise principle: in the first instance, do not forbid. For the person who works the miracle in Jesus’ name cannot in the next moment, or soon afterwards, speak evil of Christ.
This isn’t an unqualified statement of approval. Jesus simply says that in the next moment, the exorcist in Jesus’ name will not say evil of the Christ. The miracle means he won’t speak evil of Christ in the next moment. But we also know that the miracle doesn’t prove that the worker is a true prophet. For false prophets will perform signs and miracles to deceive people (Mark 13:22). In the end, only time will tell: by their fruit they will be known (Matt 7:15-22).
It would seem that Jesus’ advice is similar to the later wise advice of Paul’s teacher, Gamaliel, regarding the disciples themselves. Acts 5:38-39:
Leave these men alone! Let them go! For it their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men’ you will only find yourselves fighting against God. (NIV)
Time will tell, but at this stage, don’t forbid it.
Jesus also gives another principle that he is working off. Verse 40, “for whoever is not against us is for us.” It is a minimalist principle. At least the worker is not against Jesus and his disciples, so there is no need to stop him. He is not again, so he is for. It must be said that this principle in Mark 9:40 is different from the principle in Matthew 12:30, where Jesus says, “He who is not with me is against me.” In this later saying, it is not enough to simply be not against Jesus—you have to be for Jesus.
Both of these principles are of course true in their own time and circumstances. Sometimes in war, neutrality is support enough. Sometimes neutrality is insufficient support, and only active support, fighting side by side, is of help.
Our mission, our gift, is to see Bible-based churches and fellowships and gatherings established throughout Sydney and indeed Australia, in whatever places and communities and people groups we can. The great commission demands nothing less. At one level, it doesn't matter whether or not they are ‘Anglican’ churches. We want ‘Bible-based churches’, Protestant Reformed Evangelical churches, of all different kinds and nationalities and styles. Our mission calls us to a principled ecumenism, and partnership with other Bible-based Christians who love the gospel of Jesus Christ. To reach Australian society, we will need conservative evangelical churches of varied stamps: Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Independent, Ethnic churches, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Islander, Arabic, Iranian. We will need niche ministries, ministries to different interest groups, new ministries to reach new groups to penetrate the structures of our society. We want to see every such Bible-based ministry and church grow in our city. We need a vision beyond our own parish and denomination, beyond our own club and brand name.
Basically, we need war-time alliances. We need to engage in co-operative action with our brothers and sisters, with our neighbouring Anglican churches, with our neighbouring Conservative Protestant churches. We must not pursue partnership with those with whom we have no unity in the gospel. We cannot join with those who deny the fully deity of Christ and the personhood of the Spirit, for they offer a fundamentally different Jesus and Spirit—the Christadelphians, the Jehovah’s Witness, the Mormons. We cannot bind ourselves with those who reject the authority of the Bible, whether they are Anglican or not. This means we cannot do gospel work with liberal Christian organizations, who reject the miracles of the Scriptures, penal substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection of Christ, Jesus’ literal return. In some ways, other Anglicans might be the worst to unite ourselves with. We cannot be one with those who add to the gospel in any way, or subtract from it. Nor can we or those we unite with be anything but Bible-based. We must believe only what can be proven from the Scriptures. The bible is trustworthy, clear and sufficient. This means that our unity with both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy is not a gospel unity, nor a unity based on the Bible. Our ability to work with these groups is severely limited because our message of salvation in Jesus Christ and our authority for so offering him to sinners is fundamentally different to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Moreover, as justification is by faith alone apart from our works or deservings, we cannot join with those who add works or baptism or circumcision to faith for justification. But with those who stand on Scripture and are not ashamed of the gospel of free justification in Christ, and who know nothing except the cross, we already have unity, which we can express in our common gospel efforts. For our unity lies in our common Lord, Jesus Christ, and it will be expressed in our unity of co-operative action. Verse 41:
I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. (NIV)
Here is a description of partnership in Christ’s cause, and an example of true fellowship suggested. Notice it starts with people belonging to Christ, “because you belong to Christ.” This is the essence of being a Christian. You are not your own, you are bought at a price. You belong to another, to him who died for you and rose again. You are “of Christ.” You are Christ’s person, a Christian. For Christianity is not just an ethical system or a moral way of living. It involves belonging to a person, to Christ the King.
But fellowship is more than belonging to a common Lord. Fellowship also involves sharing in a common action in the service of the common Lord: shared activity for the shared Lord. The cup of water is fellowship in the shared service of the Lord. We know, don’t we, that whatever we have done for the least of Jesus’ brothers or sisters, we have done for Christ (Matt 25:31-46). Whether it was food, drink, shelter, clothing, care for the sick, or visiting the imprisoned, all done for Christ’s family is done for Christ himself.
The author to the Hebrews speaks of Christians sharing the hardship of others in the face of suffering:
Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated (Heb 10:33 NIV)
Friends, this raises the issue for us, “How can we stand with those who likewise belong to Christ? How can we be partnered with them, and share in their ministry of the gospel?”
Of course there is financial assistance. Our secret giving to Christ’s brothers and sisters will not go unrewarded in the age to come. Then there is the standing with those who belong to Christ. The Spirit of God in them reaches out to the Spirit of God in us. Perhaps it is a visit to a Christian friend, sick or incapacitated. Perhaps it is a letter of encouragement, or an email, a call, or a chat. Perhaps it is the continued ministry of meeting together, or the ministry of intercessory praying and not giving up.
Friends, and I speak to myself also, let us not give up the ministry of well doing to the people who belong to Christ. As Paul says:
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Gal 6:9-10 NIV)
So there is great reward in store for those who do good to Jesus’ disciples. But Jesus also gives us a great warning. If we have capacity to do good to the people of God, we can do harm also. Verse 42:
And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. (NIV)
The “little ones who believe in me” here I understand to be disciples of Jesus. It includes children who are literal children according to their age, and who trust in Christ. Jesus will be particularly vengeful of any harm done to his little ones. And there are others who are weak and vulnerable who have put their trust in Christ. This category especially includes those new to the faith. But in truth the description encompasses all Christians, all disciples, for even the greatest are called to be little, the least of all. It includes Peter and John and Paul.
Here is a warning to all who might cause sin. It is a warning to me personally. It warns me not to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It bids me to look at the potential harm I could do, and be afraid. As Paul says to Timothy, “Watch your life and doctrine closely, so that you may save yourselves and your hearers.”
I heard recently of a senior minister who used to pray for his assistant ministers. That’s good. He prayed that he would prefer them to die rather than to shame the gospel and sin. He understood this passage. We all offend in many things, so please pray for your ministers.
But Jesus’ words are also a warning to every Christian. The author to the Hebrews says, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Heb 12:15). We are members of each other. If one sins, the others suffer.
Please pray for those of us that teach or lead bible study. They are teachers who will be judged more strictly. Please pray for your wardens and parish counselors, who diligently govern the affairs of the church. Pray for our children’s ministry and others in our bible based churches, that all thing be done in a fitting and godly way, that no one is sexually immoral or godless. Sin is an ever present danger, so have mercy, mighty God, according to your unfailing love.
In verses 43 to 48, Jesus again emphasises the importance of eradicating sin. This is Jesus here who speaks of hell. And he doesn’t speak of hell to non-Christians. No, he speaks to his disciples about hell, warning them about it. And he says that amputation without anesthetic is better than hell! Verses 43-48:
43If you hand causes you to sin, 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. 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47And if your eye causes you to sin, 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, 48where “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” (NIV)
Here Jesus uses stark hyperbole to make a deathly serious point. Unfortunately, at least one person in the history of the church literally amputated part of their body he feared would cause him to sin. I speak of Origen. But this was a mistake. We hear of amputations in some Islamic countries for stealing, but unfortunately, removing the hand is insufficient. The problem is the heart. And anyhow, we must affirm the goodness of the created body.
Jesus is saying that we need to radically break with sin. It is better to amputate than end up in hell, because sin takes people to hell, and we need to flee sin.
Our world offers new ways to commit old sins. A vast proportion of our magazines, TV shows, and movies are soft porn. Newspapers publish sleaze, slander, gossip and abuse as news. Billboards and magazine stands seek to grab you with suggestions that should not be. Even if you are just watching the sport, the prime time TV ads continue to push the boundaries. The internet offers new opportunities to sin, whether it is pornography, or new ways to breach of copyright, which is stealing. Maybe the temptation is to go faster than the speed limit—I confess I don’t have all my licence points. I guess God answered my prayers by the tickets, because every time we pray for the government, we are praying that the government would be better at catching us speeding. Or maybe the temptation is to lie, to exaggerate, to not speak the truth to your neighbour. Like Sarah, perhaps you are afraid, and so you lie.
How can we cut off these offending members. I have a friend who has put a timer on his TV to stop sin. Another had his SBS aerial cut off, so he couldn’t get SBS. Or one who gives his wife his net nanny password. Or one who get gets a friend to ring him up every so often to see how he is going. Or perhaps we could get into mentoring relationships or prayer groups, where we can talk about our struggles and confess our sins, and be held accountable to do what we need to do.
The bottom line is this: Jesus warns his disciples and us about how horrible hell is. Literally, the word translated ‘hell’ is ‘gehenna’. This was the Valley of Himmon, the smoldering garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. It was always on fire, probably like those great tyre dumping grounds which catch alight and burns for decades. Indeed, today there are landfill garbage dumps where the decaying biological matter dumped heats up and spontaneously combusts, and burns for years (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_fire). In such places, the fire never goes out; the gnawing worm never dies.
What a tragic disaster hell is! It appears that every human being will receive the gift of a beautiful new resurrection body, a body like Jesus’, that he won for us by his obedience and suffering. And yet the Bible is clear that there is a terrible destiny awaiting many humans in that new resurrection body, that those people in their resurrected bodies will be cut off from Jesus, shut out from the presence of his glory, continue their impenitence in rebelling against God and his Christ, and alone with a bad, accusing conscience, the guilt of their sins will gnaw forever at them. That is torture and hell. Whether the ordeals of hell also include literal fire and literal worms at one level doesn’t matter: it is truly awful, and of course, it may certainly involve those literal sufferings.
These are Jesus’ words, not mine, not the apostles, not Peter nor Paul nor James nor John. In love Jesus warns us, his followers. Make sure you don’t end up here—cut off sin. May we heed his warnings.
Dear friends, know there is a way out of hell. It is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and his death for us. For he descended into hell, as our creed says. He bore the punishment of hell, the gnawing guilt of sin and the anger of God, because as the Scriptures say, “He who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21). There is forgiveness for our sins, and repentance for the asking, for God grants repentance and has given authority to his Son to forgive sins.
Jesus closes these promises and warnings with three somewhat cryptic sayings, each of which uses the figure of salt. Salt was and still is a preservative, also used to enhance the flavour of food. And in verses 49 and 50 there are three different sayings involving salt that Mark has grouped together for us.
The first saying is in verse 49, that “Everyone will be salted with fire.” Some think this refers to the persecution of believers. And it is true that everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Others point out that the judgment of Christians is spoken of as a time when fire reveals the quality of their work (1 Cor 3:10-15).
The second calls believers to a radically distinctive lifestyle: verse 50, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?” A salt that is not salty: what a contradiction in terms. Unsalty salt stands for a Christianity that merely reflects the world and has lost its Christian distinctiveness. Consequently, it has nothing to say to the world. Here is Christ’s call that we be the moral preservative of the world.
The third saying is found in the last few words of verse 50: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”This saying, somewhat obscure, is probably a call to the disciples to organize their relationships among themselves differently. They should not be like the gentiles, quarreling over who is the greatest. Rather, their relations with one another are to be characterized by “peace”, the last being first and the first last.