I float like a butterfly, I sting like a bee. There's not a man alive who can whip me. I'm too fast, too smart, too pretty. I should be a postage stamp, then that's the only way I'll ever get licked. I'm so mean, I make medicines sick. And if you dream of beating me, you'd better wake up and apologize. It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am. I am the greatest. They're not my words. At least that's what you were hoping right now, wasn't it? I hope Russ is not... Something's happened. Of course, these words, you might know who said them. These are the words of Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali was arguably one of the greatest boxers of his time and perhaps of the foreseeable future. He's a person who could fight. And as a person who could fight, that was his trade, that was his skill. He tried to match it with his words out of the boxing ring by dissing others and claiming to be the greatest. In a similar way today, what we see in this episode in Mark is what the disciples are doing. They're arguing about who is the greatest. As we follow Mark's gospel, we come to a few parts like this in the life, earthly life of Jesus and his life and ministry, in the life of the disciples, in their life and ministry. And here we come to one of those icky moments. It's icky, it's awkward as we watch on their own failings and well, it's embarrassing in many ways. As you follow then in Mark's gospel, we've seen this before, we're actually looking at their response to Jesus, ultimately, and it helps us to think about what is our response to Jesus? How do I respond to Jesus as a Christian person, a follower of him? How do I respond to Jesus perhaps as someone who's looking in, who's looking in at Christianity, the Christian faith and wondering, does this have any power to change my life? This is all about responding to Jesus. In fact, Mark's gospel, the book you have in your hands, I hope you've got it in front of you, you can see it there. The whole book, 16 chapters, is written as a reader response document. Now you can go online and Google that and see what that means. But in a nutshell, scholars have found that as you read this book, it demands a response. Like you can't read something like a novel in the same way. This book elicits demands. You can't put it down without a response. No one can read Mark's gospel and say, I've read it and therefore I don't need to do anything as a result because that answer is a response. Do you see? In fact, there are three ways that people respond to Jesus in Mark's Gospel, written into the book. Three ways that everyone today fits into one of these categories. There are three ways people respond to Jesus in Mark's Gospel. The first way, I like to call them the three D's. The third D's a bit tricky, I'm just trying, you know. alliteration, but the first D is very obvious. The first way that people respond to Jesus throughout Mark's gospel, through the first half that we saw last year and the second half that we'll see this year up to Easter, is it's the desperate. The desperate respond to Jesus in the only way the desperate know how, and that is to get to Jesus as fast as possible. No matter what is in front of me, or hinders me, whether that be my height, or the depth, or whatever it is, to get to Jesus. That's what the desperate do. These are people who know their own need. They need salvation. They recognize Jesus as Savior. And in desperation, they go to Him, have their lives changed, and they start living with Him as Lord of their life. Because they know He's the only loving Lord. That's the desperate. Then there's the second group. Now these are the opposite to the desperate. So the desperate are over here getting to Jesus. You've got the opposite to Jesus. And this is the D that I've called them. They don't love Jesus very much. They don't love him at all. They're the don'ts. So you have the desperate and the don'ts. Don't do that, Jesus. Don't heal that person. You're breaking laws, Jesus. Don't do that, Jesus. The don'ts. These are, and we see them throughout Mark's gospel, there are different factions and parties, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, who normally don't get on and don't like each other. You got the Herodians, who really don't like the Pharisees. But Jesus has a way of bringing people together, particularly the haters. These don't reject Jesus as rescuer. They might even slightly recognize him as from God, but they will have nothing to do with him. They don't want him to rule their life. They want to live their way. They don't love, they don't even like the idea of Jesus' lordship. That's the don'ts. Then there's the third type. This one's an easy D. It's the disciples. Now, having seen the desperate and then having seen the don'ts, which way do you expect the disciples to lean? Which way do you expect them to go? You expect them to be like the desperate, don't you? You expect them to, wow, Jesus, he is my rescuer. He is my savior. I want to live with him as Lord. I want him to rule my life as we've sung today. You expect them to do that. Here's what Mark notes for us again and again and again. They tend to lean towards the way of the don'ts. And that tends to cause us to tear our hair out, because we're just like, why can't you see? Like I've read Mark's gospel with those who are not yet Christians. I've read Mark's gospel with those, it's a great gospel to, it's a great evangelistic book. I've read it with people who are looking into the Christian faith. And at times, they've been reading it going, disciples, don't you get it? You're being just like the Pharisees. You're being just like the Sadducees. You're being just like the Herodians. Don't you get it? You're expecting like the Herodians, a political savior. You're expecting like the Sadducees, someone to come along and just fix up all our earthly problems. You're expecting someone like the Pharisees? And the disciples continue to lead towards the don'ts. Why does that happen? Because that is the natural human response to Jesus without his supernatural help. and his supernatural help in this episode is to show them, show them again the glories of the gospel, show them again the glories of who he is, to teach them, to help them. See, what do you expect Jesus to do? We tear our hair out. I can't believe this is happening. I can't understand what the disciples are doing. And perhaps in that moment, we expect Jesus to go, come on, Jesus, be like Muhammad Ali. Why don't you just give them a big spiritual uppercut? But that's not what Jesus does. Jesus instead recognizes in them, they need to recognize real greatness. What they desperately need is a repairing of their comparing hearts. And friends, if we could be honest, we do too. We need this too. We need Jesus for our hearts. There's all sorts of things that we need today, yes, things to meet our needs. But I don't know anybody that says, I've got too much Jesus in my life. Even a Christian person would say, I need more of him in my life. My problems are so deep. I need more of him. So Jesus doesn't give them the verbal equivalent of a boxing uppercut. Rather, he helps them to see what is enjoyable for them, what will liberate them, what will give them happiness. And he gives them this. to show them that being last of all, a servant of all, that is the place of happiness. That is the place of real joy. In a world that does not understand that, in a world that is cutthroat and competes, Jesus comes in and says, no, I'll show you being last of all and a servant of all, that's where it's at. Have a look there in verse 32 to 37, Jesus and his disciples have come down from a mountain of transfiguration, they've passed through Galilee, they're on their way to Capernaum, and Jesus now speaks, and he says in three times about his death and resurrection, this is the second significant time, he starts teaching his disciples that his purpose is to be butchered on a cross. his body dead and buried, and then after three days he's going to rise from the dead. Now, if you are listening, if you're a disciple and you're listening to that, that is profound. There's not a teacher on earth that would teach that, not a religious leader in the world, not a guru or a wise guy or girl that would teach that. And here Jesus has just done that. But look at the disciples' response. They don't understand, but here's what's worse, they don't seek to understand. For they're too busy discussing other weighty matters that matter to them. You see what they are? Here's what matters to the disciples. Who's the greatest among us? I mean, Jesus has just shared his heart. Jesus has just said, I am, for the second time, I'm going to die on a cross. It's going to be horrendous and awful and isolating. It's going to be humiliating. It's going to be an execution for all to see. I'm going to die. He's just shared his heart. And what are the disciples arguing about? Who do you reckon is greater among us? I mean, read the room, disciples, read the room. It would be easy for us though, just to point with a pious face and say, you stupid disciples, how silly are you? But friends, their response requires us to respond with honesty. Now, honestly, Reforming, I don't think, I cannot recollect in 12 years of this church's existence, I can't recollect a conversation where I've heard anyone argue in public or in private about who is the greatest disciple among us. I don't think that's ever happened. Like if it has, I'm happy to be corrected, a bit sad about it, but I know that we've had those conversations. No one, no one ever morning tea has been arguing or at a church lunch over those tables, who is the greatest disciple at Reforming Church. No one's ever done that. But is it possible we've let that thought sit with us just for a little too long? Is it possible we've perhaps translated it in different ways? We'd never, you know, we're not going to go Muhammad Ali on the church, but we perhaps have thought things, at least things that would compare myself with others in the church. Is that possible? Is it possible we've all faced the temptation to compare my walk with Christ, my discipleship with those around us? Even people you love and you'd long to see their discipleship grow, but what we do is we compare ourselves with one another. Is it possible that we've done that? I think so. Is it possible that we who are parents have compared our parenting triumphs, or our secret failings, with other parents. And we've held on to that temptation to measure ourselves that way. Maybe I am the greater parent. Maybe I am. Is that possible? Is it possible that we who are young look at those who are senior among us and we think to ourselves, I'm going to make better decisions than they did? Are we better at life than those boomers? Is that possible? Is it possible that rather than reflect and rejoice on the death and resurrection of Jesus, that Jesus just told us about and tells us every week at church, that he tells us the gospel through his word preached to our hearts. Is it possible we hear that and then go, I don't really understand, but I don't seek to understand. Is it possible we then spend our spare moments jostling for us to be important, for us to be seen, for us to be right? Friends, if we're honest, it's possible because we are so weird and wrong because of sin. Even us who follow Jesus struggle with these things. If we're honest about it, the problem is deep. It goes to the Mariana Trench of our hearts. It goes to only where the light of Christ can reveal this is true of us and that Jesus is the only one that can help us. And so we need to reflect and listen on this. Jesus says this in verse 35. Friends, we would do well to memorize this. We would do well to believe this in verse 35. If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and a servant of all. This is totally upside down to the way the world works. It's not how you get first in the world. to get first in the world, you've got to compete, be cutthroat. The best way to do that often to short circuit that process or to hothouse it to make yourself better because you know time is ticking. And I was told once when a man gets to their 40s, that's his prime years, that's when he's got to be competing and be his best and triumph. So look, I'm seven years in, I've got three years to go and then I'm done. And what do I need to do in that short period of time? Because life is so brief. What do you need to do to do the best? You've got to tear others down. And you might do that in subtle ways in the world, because we're a bit sophisticated these days. You know, we're on the right side of history and all that kind of thing. And so what we do is, we don't do it obviously, we just tear them down in subtle ways. And we lift ourselves up in subtle ways. But notice here, Jesus' words. Notice that Jesus is not devaluing our quest for value. Jesus doesn't say it's bad to desire good things or even to do good things or great things in the world. He just says we are so messed up that we need to hear his words to repair our comparing hearts. Jesus instead shows us here's how to recognize real greatness. And Jesus puts his finger on right where our heart's desire is. Your heart's desire, my heart's desire, has a natural tendency now to want to be seen or first. It wants to be the one that has the right answer, wins the argument, gets their way. It just is. And even if you think, well, I'm not a public person, I'm not perhaps someone up front on the platform at church or whatever public nature you think it is, we do it in our close circle of friends. We do it in private as we look on with social media. We just want to be first. We've got a craving to be important. But Jesus shows us, here's how you get to experience real greatness, real value. That in the world's way, you look last. Well, you think, well, that's not going to work. Because if I'm last and they don't see me at all, how am I going to have value? But do you see, it's not about being seen by the world. If you're last in the world and not seen by the world, that's the point, because you're seen by the one who actually matters. Not the world. It's God himself. The world can see as far as its own toes. Like, honestly, the world thinks it can predict the future. The world is going to go this way. The media is constantly telling us what they're frightened about the next movement politically and what's going to happen. Look, we can't even predict what the weather's going to be next week, let alone what's going to happen next month. And as we do that, recognize the world sees this far ahead, perhaps as far as its own fingertips, and that's it. God sees everything. The one who actually matters, the one who actually sees, sees the one who is last in the world and says, that's the first. Now that might not make sense. You might be looking in on Christianity thinking, if that's what it's all about, well, no, I'm going to go stick back to my cutthroat board meetings, thank you very much. And perhaps you're even a Christian and thinking, that's hard, right? It's hard to be forgotten in the world. It's hard to be kind of lost. How do we do this? Well, Jesus uses an illustration, a live one, literally. See in verse 36, Jesus takes a child and he puts the child in the middle of the discussion. and they're all looking at the child, and then he takes the child in his arms. So the child, Aaron zooms in. You've got Jesus and the child. Verse 37, Jesus says, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. And whoever receives me, receives not me, but him who sent me. Jesus shows us something profound here. Do you see what he's showing us? He's showing us children. It's a fun thing. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but look, I'm on social media and my wife Amy is. There are these reels, memes that are tailored for parents that just show all these, you know, fun things kids do or things that parents go, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen that. Like it might be, you know, that one of my favorites is there's one where the dad, the husband is trying to talk to his wife and every time he tries to talk, the child interrupts, but they, they flashed to a goat screaming. So I was like, Hey honey, I'd like to talk like, do you get what I'm saying? Yep. That's one of my favorites. There's lots of memes right out there with like, oh, children do the darndest of things or children, classic children, you know, like children, kids being kids and all the parents reeling off late at night when they should be sleeping going, look at this, ah, silly kids, silly, you know. But if we hear Jesus rightly and see the upside down, inside out way of Christ, It might make for better reels and memes to watch the adults doing their adulting. Jostling for position, jostling for greatness. It would make for more awkward memes, would it not? And so Jesus says, look at children and the measure of real greatness. And here's something to see straight up that often we might not notice, but I'll tell you what church leadership notices. We notice this, we talk about this. Here it is, verse 35. The children, in verse 35, are part of the all. If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. Here's what I regard as great, and what is of first importance in recognizing greatness. Ryan mentioned earlier, we're starting up, we're a church plant, we're 12 years in, we're established by God's grace, now it's the next phase. And the next phase of our church is for training leaders, training, developing, and deploying leaders. So cruciforming is starting up. It's a made up word from cruciform, which means cross-shaped. Take up a cross, follow Jesus, and we play on words with our church name, reforming, cruciforming. Second Saturday of the month, men and women, we might be in different groups at different times, but we're all in. Kids are welcome. There's going to be a beautiful brunch and we are going to devote ourselves to discipleship training and leadership development. And here's something you need to know. How do we look for future leaders? Where do you find them? Do you know where you find future leaders of this church? In the creche. In kids' church. That's where you find them. See, it's so easy, isn't it, to want to do ministries in the church that are up front, that are seen by the adults. That's easy, but I tell you, all of those who are elders in our church, all of those who have some upfront ministry, have at some season in their life, for extended periods, served in children's ministry. Because if you're looking for future leaders, that's where you'll find them. Why? Because leaders who serve all, do not look down at children's ministry as like, I don't want to do that. No. Kids are so difficult. All the memes. Actual leaders will want to be last and serve in children's ministry. And here's why it's so important. You can test this out this morning at morning tea. You can test this. Because children don't make a big deal out of you. They don't, do they? Like at the end of Kids Church, you will not find the children praising their leaders. You will not find the children at the welcome desk shaking their kids' church leaders' hands going, my word, that was a good lesson you taught today. So the kids' church leader's thinking, I just wish I could do kids' church next week and get more praise. Wouldn't that be great? There's many a preacher that just loves that little feeling of praise. not a kids church leader. Why do they do it? They serve not for the greatness, not for the praise. They serve the all, even the little children. And then notice something more. Jesus makes a connection in the text here from how we receive children to how we receive Jesus. What? Yes, follow along at home. It's exciting. Look at this. He says, if you receive a child, right, in my name, you receive him and then you receive God the father. Do you see? Why does he say that? Because just doing children's ministry, for example, just serving children is not a trick way to get you into leadership. It's like, oh, I got it now. I don't need to do. If I sign up on the roster to serve in the creche four weeks in a row, straight to eldership. No. We don't serve children to then get to be serving as a leader or to be up front in church. We serve children to serve all. Because when you serve children, you actually are positioning yourself not to be seen. Can you see the kids church leaders this morning? You can't. They're in those rooms with all the soundproofing and everything. So they're doing all their wild stuff, learning about Jesus. Isn't that great? In fact, by and large, I would guess most of you don't see what those kids' church leaders do. They're all safe church approved. We're about to talk about that in a moment. They're all safe church approved. They're not causing those little ones to stumble. They're teaching them Christ and they're being forgotten. They're serving the all. You never see them on the live stream. You'll never hear the accolades. And by and large, some of them serve every single week because we haven't got enough people to serve on the roster. And as they do that, they will never hear in this life, oh wow, you're a fantastic, you're first of all, you're the most important leader in our church. They won't hear that. But one day, they will know from Jesus and the Father that he saw everything. That's real greatness. We now have no need to settle for anything less. Why would you settle for the world's accolades? Why would you settle for doing anything else when you can have the joy of knowing your father in heaven sees and he gives so much value to that. He says, that is the greatest. You are the greatest as you serve there. Would you want anything else? Jesus shows us how you can recognize real greatest, not in the praise of men, but in the joy of receiving God. which means you and I no longer need to play the comparison game. I mean, we said this before, it's an old saying at this church, you play the comparison game, everyone loses. You always lose the comparison game, but we don't need to, why? Have a look, verse 38. Jesus has been showing these things. You expect the disciples to be getting it, but instead what do they do? They again go the way of the don't likes, and John says something. John's like, I gotta say something. John says, verse 38, teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us. Just hear that again. We tried to stop him because he was not following us. Not following us. It's so tempting, even for Jesus' disciples, to start make Jesus all about us, rather than us all about Jesus. You see? Especially as with the case of the disciples. Look, they're seeing someone else, this other man, he's bearing fruit in his ministry. He's got things happening. He's actually casting out demons. Of all the people who tried to cast out demons most recently and couldn't, who was that? Oh, it was the disciples. They couldn't cast out a demon because they weren't being prayerful. We saw this a few episodes ago. But now we see here, this guy's casting a demon. So what is their answer? Let's stop him. You mean he's actually doing good? The demons are being cast out. Yeah, yeah. People are being healed. Yes, they're being liberated. Yes, they're being free. What are you going to do? Let's stop him. It makes total not sense. Their problem is this, and they say it out loud, even John says it out loud, is not following us. And so Jesus brings his caring correction in verse 40, but the one who is not against us is for us. For truly I say to you, whoever gives a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Jesus is showing his disciples that day and churches today that there is this thing called the universal church, the wider church. We serve in it. You may not know this because it's totally fine if you don't, by the way. I know not everyone knows lots of things about the Presbyterian church, which is okay. There's books, lots of books, and you could read those books and I could spend all day talking about how it works. But the reason we're Presbyterian, one of our convictions is, and one of my vows as a pastor, I take at Ordination, is that I will contribute to the wider work of the church. That means I've taken vows that I should turn up to Presbytery, which is our Presbytery runs from Castlemaine to Mildura. We do a lot of traveling, a lot of meetings and a lot of pastoral care and a lot of things across the leaders and care of a whole region of churches. And sometimes if you get to know me, I was even to it this morning. I've said yes to a lot of things in the wider church in that presbytery. And then I even said yes to helping the Northeast presbytery, which goes from here to Gippsland. And I said yes to doing that. I don't know why, except I did take vows when asked to serve the wider church. Why? Because we don't believe that reforming church is the best church. We don't believe that we are the only church. We don't believe that this is where the real Christians are and everyone else has got it wrong. It's stitched into our convictions as a denomination. Now, you could say, well, that's just the Presbyterians. Well, it is the Presbyterians. We're doing our best to say that we're not the only church. It's how we do things. I grew up in a church that was an independent church. They just saw themselves as, we're just going to care for our own stuff. Presbyterians say, no, I want to care for you too. If you're going through some stuff over there, I'm there. I'll make time. But we also don't just think the Presbyterians are the only ones around. You may have heard the joke about Presbyterians. There's a few. Let me say one. It's a bit fun. You know, Bob dies and goes to heaven. He's walking through heaven. He's walking past a pool party and he says to his guide, um, who's that? Says, ask the Baptists. Yes. Dunking each other, almost drowning each other. Comes to the next section. There's a lot of people wearing very lovely outfits, big garb and big, big pointy hats. Who's that? Oh, that's the Anglicans. Yeah, cool. That's Anglicans. I went to an Anglican college, by the way, that's not just in England. I went to more college just so you know. They like to wear robes at times. Then he comes to, um, there's a big high wall, huge wall, as you can see, and it goes this way and that way. It's just, it ends up finding out it's this massive, big room. Bricked. No windows. And, uh, I could get in a lot of trouble in a minute, but anyway, he says, Bob says, what's this about? He says, ask the Presbyterians. Cause I think they're the only ones here. Now that's a joke, and I didn't get a lot of laughs here at Reforming Church. For anyone listening on Life of M or on Light, but know this. That's a joke, but we don't want that for anyone. We Presbyterians, like of all things, you can look into our own personal history as a church plant. We've worked with other churches in Bendigo. We seek to do so. Why? Because we do not want to be looking at others saying, let's stop them because they're not following us. They're following Jesus. What does Jesus say? If they're for Jesus, then go for it. They're for Jesus. Now, yes, that does mean. So for example, Matthew 12, verse 30, Matthew 12, verse 30, Jesus says the opposite. He says this, whereas not with me is against me. and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Why does Jesus say that? What's that important for? Because you've got to recognize if a ministry is not about themselves, some ministries can be. Some ministries can be named, for example, Ravi Zacharias Ministries. That went very bad, very bad. And it was named after the man. I'm always finding a ministry named after a person a bit weird, but anyway, that's just me. If a ministry is not about Jesus and it's about the man, well, probably we will avoid it. If it's all about the brand and not Jesus, we'll probably avoid it. But if a ministry, be that a church or a parachurch, is all about Jesus, we want to be friendly and all about that too. And so we support financially ministries overseas, like we heard about last week. We support financially the AFES in their ministry on the campus. We support financially PIM and other ministries like that. We do it because they're about Jesus. But it's so possible, isn't it? Is it possible that we as a church could be tempted to think it's a competition? I think it is possible. Is it possible that we're tempted to criticize other Christians when they're praying and persevering in evangelism? I think it's possible. Of all the things we criticize, let's not criticize evangelism. It's possible that we in the church also might not be in danger of so much looking out, but we look in and we form cliques in the church. And so we have this clique, you know, are they of our clique? Are they of us? Like we might be the gaining clique. Are they interested in gaining? Well, they're not. So we won't include them in our friendship circles or invitations to do things. Jesus says, that's not what we're about. Because ministry is about being last of all. It's not about being noticed. It's about giving cups of water. Do you see this? Jesus is talking to people who are more concerned about exercising demons. And Jesus says, I just want you to give a cup of water to someone. God sees the smallest of works. Make sure you don't play the comparison game of wanting to be greater than someone else. You don't need to. Instead, now we see thirdly, we can be at peace with one another. We look at verse 42 there. Jesus is talking about one of these little ones. I think he's still talking about the child. He's talking about the little ones, but exemplary of anyone who's a little one, anyone who's a person of Jesus. He says in verse 42, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he was thrown into the sea. What is Jesus saying here? Backing off that last conversation. Firstly, he looks at children and he says this and friends, I want to say this and hear me loud and clear. This is one of the reasons that we are a safe church church. I've met people. I've met Presbyterians. They're rare, but I've met Presbyterians who are, let's not be a safe church church. Let's not worry about safe church. Really? Well, aside from the financial implications, which actually not primary, of the wrong thing being done, it's the hurt. It's verse 42. Jesus says, whoever causes one of his little ones who believe in me to sin. So you've got a child, you've got children who are following Jesus. And if you teach children or hurt children in such a way that is unsafe, in any category of what that is, if the vulnerable here in this church or in our denomination are hurt, yes, you could be worried about the earthly implications of that. You should be listening to Jesus' words about that. Because who sees all? You might even think you got away with that. I'm not talking to us as a church, I'm talking to those out there who want to hurt children. But as a safe church, church, we hear this. Listen to Jesus' words. You do this, Jesus is saying, it would be better if a massive rock was tied around your neck and you were thrown into the ocean, never to rise. You want to play around with slave church? You want to criticize slave church? You want to say we don't need to worry about slave church? I want you to read verse 42 until you realize the depths of sin that Jesus is concerned about. Jesus here is saying, You know why people end up thinking they can just hurt children or causing little ones to sin? It's because of way back earlier, they thought they were something and they thought they were so great that not even God was watching. They thought that they were so great that they could do whatever they want. And Jesus is saying, you have missed who is the greatest here. Causing children to sin because of grown-up pride, or whatever it is, is a real problem. And Jesus is starting to get serious now. He's got this little one, this child, but he's looking them in the eye and he's saying this, your heart that starts tracking about how can I be seen and great will then end up in places that will cause you to sin in devastating ways. Because a heart that thinks I can do whatever I want and be great starts to think, well, I can sin and I just get away with it. I can look at whatever I want. I can do whatever I want. No repercussions. And what does Jesus say to that? Have a look. Verse 43. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands and go to hell. And hell is described here as an unquenchable fire. That is, it's not just the end, it is the daily unquenchable judgment and end of those who sin against God. He speaks about feet causing you to sin. You're running to sin and doing things. We see this in the Proverbs. People who run to cause devious evil and bring hurt upon people. And then he speaks about your eye causing you to sin, tear it out. Because Jesus is so concerned for us. Notice this, he's not speaking to non-Christians. He's not speaking to non-followers, he's speaking to his disciples. The human heart can so track in such a way that Jesus is saying, be careful it doesn't track to this end. Whatever causes you to sin needs to be cut off. Now you might look around the room right now and think, I do see most of us have both hands, both eyes, both feet. Of course, we know Jesus is not saying literally, because Jesus himself in Mark's gospel has said literally sin doesn't come from your hand, doesn't come from your eye, doesn't come from your feet. In Mark 7, Jesus says, where does sin come from? Your heart. And not the blood pump, just in case someone's going to go home and think, I've got a solution to that. Got a big knife. I'll cut that thing out and I'll be fine. You won't be. That's my medical book, professional opinion. Cut your heart out. You're finished in this life. It's not the blood pump. It's the place where everything you desire sprouts. It's the seat of your affections, what you love the most, what drives you. It's the drive shaft of you. And Jesus says, that's the issue. He says, it's the kingdom of God or it's hell. Jesus uses this cutoff language and about hell to illustrate what hell is about. Hell is a place of God's judgment, but where you are cut off forever from his joy, the joy of his presence with you, from his face turned towards you by his grace. Now, obviously this means for us that we've got some thinking to do. And you're primarily probably also thinking in the text, what's the salt got to do with it? Well, that's where we read our first cross-reference reading from Ezekiel 43. Because Jesus is showing us here, salt is about the final judgment. In Ezekiel 43, in that cross-reference reading, salt was associated with the Old Testament sacrificial system, where offerings were not only burnt, they were seasoned and purified with salt. And so Jesus is saying now, Because salt is that purifying agent that burns the bad. Jesus says, we need to be salty now. To have salt in your life now is to burn out sin now, cut it out, preempt the judgment day is coming. Get serious about it. Friend, is there a thing in your life that you know hinders your life with Christ? that perhaps even causes someone else to sin. Jesus is saying, it's time to be at peace with one another. Receiving him into our hearts is how that happens. Because I want you to see this as we finish. Jesus is more than just the teacher. When the disciples say, hey, who's the greatest among us? And Jesus says, hey guys, huddle up, huddle up, bring it in, bring it in, bring it in. Right, we need to do this occasionally, if not regularly, bring it in. Brings a child in and teaches them. Jesus is teaching them, but he's more than just a teacher. Jesus is the embodiment of this. That's why we read our second cross-reference reading from Philippians 2, isn't it? You see, when you see Jesus, he embodies his teaching. Who is Jesus? Mark's gospel, the second half, is all about the person and purpose of Jesus. Well, who is the person of Jesus that they got last time? They understood this. Jesus is, first of all, God himself. But by his grace, who does Jesus become on earth? He becomes last of all. This is unfathomable. It's unspeakable by other human religions that even include Jesus as a prophet. The idea that he is God and then becomes nothing becomes a servant becomes a human he becomes last of all and he does this in his death on the cross ultimately he does it for all who belong to him and so here's where it really matters in our hearts here's what we need to believe right now if you think Serving in Christian ministry is by being seen to be serving, people talking about you, being notable, then you've not understood Jesus Christ at all. If you think Christian ministry is about you, you don't understand the gospel. Because a humble servant will ultimately have a real recognizable ministry. In the context of service, it's never, how can I use you to meet my needs for affirmation? It is always, how can I serve to meet your needs, to see you meet Jesus? That's why the Christian doesn't seek gratitude in service, because we serve out of gratitude for Christ. I don't need people to give me accolades. I need to see who Jesus is for me. That will help me. That will be enormously where the place of my value, a healthy church is that where people don't compare themselves with one another, but they seek to serve one another for their walk with Christ, for each other's walk. A healthy church is where you and I are not a big deal, but Jesus is. Reforming. Imagine if people saw that in this church. I want to say they can and they do. I've met people, new people to Bendigo recently and one of the things they walk away with is saying how welcoming this church is. I kid you not, they're not doing it to flight our boat. They're not doing it to compare to other churches. But I want to say, praise the Lord and let's keep doing that. Let's keep seeing how others' needs in Christ can be met. Hospitality, having people in our homes, walking across the room and meeting the new person. That's where we just provide that cup of water. We serve the other. We love others. Imagine if we came to church, walked in the door, jumped on our phone and sat there the whole time. We might do that if we're an introvert. We might do that if we're a newcomer. But imagine if we did that, if we were a member, even a leader. Can you imagine if I walked into church and I was up there and I was just there on my phone and didn't talk to anyone. Imagine if I was in a conversation with you and I was texting someone else at the same time. Like I wasn't putting anything in my calendar about meeting with you, but I was texting someone else about, yeah, this person is so annoying. Imagine if I was doing that. We don't though, do we? That's not our culture. Because our culture here is, we give the cup of water, we belong to Christ, and we find our worth in Him and want others to do so too. Let's pray that is the truth among us. Let's pray that is our culture, that Jesus would repair our comparing hearts, that it would not be about us, be about Jesus, and that others meeting Jesus too. Let's pray now, friends. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, all we're asking now, we pray that this would be believed by us. We pray that this will be the real experience of reforming among us. We pray that as we're about to sing in response to God's word, that this would be true of us, that my worth, reforming's worth, is found at the cross. We know if we believe that it would change everything about how we relate to one another, how we'd be at peace with one another. We wouldn't be jostling for our arguments, arguing with one another about who is the greater parent, who is the better person, who is the one who's right, who knows best around here. Father, may that not be named among us, but instead may it be that if people came here, they would say, this church is all about Jesus. This is what we're asking for now. Thank you that we've seen the evidences of that grace among us. We pray for it more and more. We pray and we sing this in Jesus name. Amen.