Kingdom Life (Mark 9:30-50)

Mark’s Gospel is about the Kingdom of God. Mark’s desire in writing is to show us how the Kingdom of God breaks in, how all Heaven loose around Jesus. But the Kingdom of God doesn’t just involve Jesus, although He is the King. The Kingdom also involves everyone who Jesus saves, the Kingdom of God involves us. There is a way to live that shows that we are part of the Kingdom, a way of living that shows our hearts have been changed by what God has done through Jesus Christ. Tonight’s question is what is Kingdom living about? What should the lives of people who live in the Kingdom of God look like? How should your life as a Christian be different because of what Jesus has done for you?
Remember we’re in the middle of a sequence of three predictions by Jesus of His death and resurrection, followed by misunderstandings by the disciples, followed by Jesus teaching about Kingdom life. So what discipleship lessons do we learn tonight? What three things does Jesus teach His disciples, and us, about Kingdom living tonight? First of all we see that Kingdom living is about the cross, we see that kingdom living is about others, and we see that Kingdom living is about sacrifice.

So first of all, in verses 30-32, we see that Kingdom living is about the cross. This is Jesus final sweep through Galilee, before He heads south to Jerusalem where He will be crucified in about six months time. This is no longer a public ministry, large crowds are no longer gathering to listen to Him, they’ve rejected Him. These are private lessons from Jesus to His disciples, and you and I get to listen in. One again Jesus is teaching them about His death and resurrection. The ‘son of man,’ that’s Jesus favourite title for Himself from the book of Daniel, ‘will be delivered,’ will be given up or handed over to men who will kill Him. Just think for a moment. Jesus uses the most glorious tiutle in the Bible, the Son of Man, and says He will be given to men, to kill Him. Given by who? Given by God? The Bible is clear that throughout Jesus arrest, trial and crucifixion, He was in control. Peter tells the crowd in Acts that Jesus was delivered up according to God’s plan. The disciples can neither understand a Messiah who get killed, nor a rising from the dead. And they were afraid to ask Him, possibly because they didn’t want to know what Jesus dying meant for their own plans.

We have to see that Jesus death and resurrection is at the centre of Kingdom living, at the centre of Christian life. Without the cross and empty tomb, there is no Kingdom, and without Christians being changed by these things, there can be no Christian living. It’s because of what Jesus has done that our lives can be different. So how different are your lives because of the cross? How does Jesus death impact the way you live? The things you do? The decisions you make? Mark will show us two ways that the cross should affect us, but we have to remember that our lives should be different because of what Jesus has done for us. Kingdom living is about the cross.

In verses 33-42, we see that Kingdom living is about others. It’s amazing isn’t it that shortly after Jesus told them He was going to be arrested and killed, they were arguing about which one fo them was the greatest. The debate would probably have turned into a heated discussion before too long. No wonder they were ashamed to admit to Jesus what they were talking about. Their minds were still stuck with a worldly mindset, still focused on what they could get out of Jesus for themselves, they weren’t thinking about others. In these nine verses, mark shows us three ways that life in the Kingdom is about others. First, Jesus takes a child in His arms, and tells them that when they receive a child, they receive Him. Children were considered the least important members of a society that was obsessed by importance. But Jesus says Kingdom life is about treating unimportant people well, about not getting caught up in who is more important, but treating all people equally. And when the disciples welcome a child, Jesus tells them they welcome God Himself. Secondly, Jesus teaches them that the smallest act of service done for others is worthy of the Kingdom. There’s not much that sounds less important that getting someone a drink, but if we do this Jesus tells us that we ‘will by no means lose our reward.’ That’s an amazing statement! We’re not to get caught up in who belongs to which group, but we are called, in the life of the Kingdom, to serve people in any way that we can. And thirdly we see in verse 42 that we are to live for others by helping younger Christians, not hindering them. We are to serve and love new converts, and not treat them like second class citizens.

Jesus teaches us that in friendship, in service, and in love, the Kingdom life is about others. And finally, Kingdom life is about purity. Read verses 43-50 with me.

What Jesus is and is not saying is pretty clear here. Jesus is not saying that Kingdom living is about literally cutting off your hands and feet. People have done that over the centuries, but they have discovered that, as the Bible teaches, their hands or their feet are not the problem. But Jesus is saying that we must be radical in our battle with sin. We must fight sin with all our might. Why? Because look at the alternative. Jesus says that if we are not fighting sin with this sort of intensity, if we are not getting radical in our pursuit of purity, then Hell is our eternal destination. So get radical. If the tv in your room causes you to sin, get rid of it, if unmonitored internet access causes you to sin, get rid of it, if a friendship causes you to sin, it’s got to go, music, tv shows cut them off. Get radical for purity. What are you afraid of? Hebrews 11:6 tells us that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

And as we make these sacrifices, Jesus promises us that He will be with us. That’s what verse 49 means. Our sacrifice for the sake of purity is the fire, and the salt is Jesus preserving help which promises that cutting off what causes us to sin will not hurt us, but help us. Salt and fire are pleasing sacrifices to God. So get radical about your Kingdom living, get radical about your choices, and make a pleasing sacrifice to God.

So how do we live in the Kingdom? By remembering the cross, and by living differently because of it. By putting others first because on the cross, Jesus put Himself last. By cutting off our hands and feet if they cause us to sin, because on the cross Jesus was pierced in His hands and feet, and gives us a new heart when we get saved. The death and resurrection of Christ give us all the power we need to love others and to fight sin. How do we get the power to love others? by thinking about what Jesus has done on the cross for them. How do we get the power to fight sin? By thinking about what Jesus has done on the cross for us. This is Kingdom living. Lives and relationships changed and shaped by the cross.