THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Mark: Jesus The Perfect Servant Of God

Part II: The Perfect Service Of Jesus, The Perfect Servant Of God, Mark 1:1-10:52

KK. Christ's Warning Against Letting Ourselves Be Spiritually Led Astray By False Striving

(Mark 9:43-50)

I. Introduction

A. We learned in the first lesson in this series that Mark's Gospel presents the perfect service of God's Perfect Servant, Jesus, with Mark's focus of having rebounded unto upright service from personal failure.

B. Mark had defected from service in Acts 13:13 due to some improper thinking, and Jesus warned His disciples in Mark 9:43-50 not to let themselves be led astray by anything from God and His will in their lives.

C. We thus view Mark 9:43-50 for insight into Christ's warning that we might be vigilant against being misled:

II. Christ's Warning Against Letting Ourselves Be Spiritually Led Astray By False Striving, Mark 9:43-50.

A. After warning His disciples not to cause the lost to be misled away from Him by sinfully striving against them over status (Mark 9:42), Jesus warned His disciples not to let themselves be led astray, B. K. C., N. T., p. 147.

B. Thus, if one's hand, foot or eye, instruments of the body through which temptations could occur that might cause one to be led astray from believing in Christ, Jesus held that it would be better to remove that body part than not to believe in Him and end up in hell, Mark 9:43-48.

C. Though many manuscripts do not have verses 44 and 46 where Jesus warned that in hell one's "worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched," they all have verse 48 that states these truths, indicating that hell is "the eternal place of future eternal punishment for the wicked," for "the imagery of fire and worms" to describe hell are used in "the apocryphal Judith 16:17 and Ecclesiasticus 7:17" that all the orthodox Jews knew well, Ibid.

D. Also, the Greek word translated "hell" in this context is geena, translated "Gehenna," and it comes from two Hebrew words that mean "Valley of Hinnom," the refuse dump in the valley south of Jerusalem "where fires burned continually to consume regular deposits of worm-infested garbage," Ibid. For Mark's Roman readers, this word and his description of it as being a place "where the fire never goes out" (NIV) pictures "the unending, conscious punishment that awaits all who refuse God's salvation," Ibid. (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

E. Mark 9:49 KJV then directs that "everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt," a verse that has caused a lot of confusion and debate, but that is discernible via the context (as follows):

1. First, important manuscript evidence indicates that the verse should read, "For every one will be salted with fire," that the rest of the verse was added later in varying forms by scribes who tried to explain what Jesus meant in the first part, Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Com. on the Greek N. T., 1971, p. 102-103.

2. Second, as Jesus was here speaking to His disciples and that of the fate of those who will not be His disciples, He was evidently meaning "every person" by the words "every one" and not just unbelievers who will end up in hell or just believers who will not end up there, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 148.

3. Third, the claim that all will be "salted with fire" thus means every one "in a time and manner appropriate to their relationship with Jesus," will be "salted," Ibid., and we explain this from the wide context:

a. For the lost, they will be "salted" by the "fire of final judgment" for unbelief, Ibid. (Mark 9:38-48)

b. As for believers, they will be "salted" by "the refining fire of present trials and suffering" that judges their false ambition that leads to striving over their status and thus being misled from following Jesus, Ibid.

F. Accordingly, Jesus taught that since salt is good if it has not lost its savor, His disciples were to have potent salt in themselves to avoid such trials from God, "to maintain" their "allegiance to Jesus at all costs and to purge out destructive influences" like false ambition that leads to strife with others, saved and unsaved alike (cf. Mark 9:33-41), Ibid. Jesus wanted His disciples humbly to follow Him at be at peace with others versus shifting their focus from humbly following to striving about their status with each other (Mk. 9:33-37) and striving with those open but not yet believing in Jesus as it could hinder their coming to Christ, Mark 9:38-40.

Lesson: Jesus warned His disciples not to let themselves be misled from humbly following Him to strive against others over personal status, for (1) such striving does not edify fellow believers, (2) it can cause the lost who are open to Jesus but not yet trusting him Him to stumble through their being offended by the believer's striving against them and (3) failure to judge false ambition in ourselves will be severely judged by God!

Application: May we not let ourselves be led astray from following Christ by vainly striving about status with fellow believers or with others who do not yet know Christ, but purge out such false ambition lest God severely judge it.