Take Sin Seriously - God Cares

Title:  Take Sin Seriously - God Cares By Pastor Lohn Johnson

Text:  Mark 9:42-48   42 "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.  43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.   45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.   47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell,  48 'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'

INTRODUCTION:  My dear friends in Christ, It was one of the most gripping news stories of 2003.  In the beautiful but desolate mountains of southeastern Utah, a twenty-seven year-old mountain climber named Aron Ralston, made a desperate decision. An avid outdoors man, Aron was rock climbing one day when his right arm became trapped under a boulder, a boulder estimated to weigh at least eight hundred pounds. He saw immediately that he was in deep trouble. Unable to budge the rock at all, Aron took out his pocketknife and chipped away at the rock for 10 hours, managing to produce only a small handful of dust. Obviously this was not going to work. Days were passing. No one knew where he was.  Even worse, his family and friends were used to his going off for days without contacting anyone, so they were not even looking for him. With his arm still wedged beneath this enormous boulder Aron Ralston recorded a video message to his parents telling them good-bye.  At the end of several days with no food or water, however, Aron made a remarkable choice. Aron Ralston decided to amputate his arm in order to save himself. And that’s exactly what he did, using only a pocket knife. What an amazing display of courage and determination. After he was finished, he applied a tourniquet to his arm and rappelled nearly 70 feet to the floor of the canyon. Then he hiked five miles downstream where he encountered some other hikers and was rescued.  Aron Ralston made the obviously excruciating decision to amputate his right arm to save his life. It is an amazing story!

I. We can’t read this story without thinking of Jesus’ words from our lesson for today, “If your 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”? What a stark declaration.  But Jesus is in effect saying, “Take sin so seriously that you would cut off a hand to save your life.”

A. But as I look around here in church today, it is apparent that either we are living lives free from sin, or we don’t take seriously these words of Jesus.  None of us seem to be missing any body parts.  Our hands, feet, and eyes are all intact.  We haven’t taken our Lord’s words literally to cut off that member which causes us to sin.  And we shouldn’t.

1. So why would Jesus use such gruesome language?

a. Perhaps to get our attention.  If a kid is really hungry, he doesn't tell his mother, "I'm hungry."  He exaggerates, "I'm starving!" Whatever it takes to turn her attention toward his hungry tummy.  That's what this is--hyperbole or exaggeration.   b. So why is Jesus drawing our attention to this with such exaggeration?  Maybe it's because we tend to exaggerate in the opposite way.  Jesus says, "Cut off your hand if it causes you to sin," but we say, "Ah, it's no big deal.  Everybody sins.  God doesn't care."  Jesus maximizes sin here in our text because we have the tendency to minimize it.

2. We also tend to minimize the suffering of hell.

a. And that reminds me of Mark Twain’s famous statement. He said that when he died, he would like to go to Heaven for the climate, but would probably prefer Hell for the companionship. Mark Twain was clever and witty, but he missed the point. Sin isn’t fun.  Neither is hell. b. But Jesus does not exaggerate when He talks about sin or hell.

B. God wants us to take sin seriously.  He wants it eradicated, that’s why he uses the exaggeration.

1. Like this: One author tells of an event that occurred at the Atomic Energy Commission laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN on November 20, 1959. On that day a small amount of solvent exploded and blew open the door of a processing cell. When that happened, about one‑fiftieth of an ounce of plutonium was scattered into the air. Remember, only one‑fiftieth of an ounce of plutonium was involved, but here’s what the Atomic Energy Commission says resulted from this tiny spill: All those who were within a four‑acre area of the explosion turned in their laboratory‑issued clothes to be decontaminated. Their urine was checked to insure that they had not inhaled or ingested any plutonium. The processing plant and a nearby research reactor were shut down. The buildings were washed with detergents, and the buildings’ roofs were resurfaced. The surrounding lawn was dug up and the sod carted to a deep burial place. One hundred yards of surface was chiseled off a nearby asphalt road. To anchor any speck of plutonium that might have survived, the buildings were completely repainted. Final cost, including re-sodding, repaving, and reroofing: approximately $350,000.

a. The AEC will go to all that trouble for a fraction of an ounce of plutonium. Why? Because just a tiny amount of plutonium can do endless harm when released into the environment. b. Sin is like that. Even the tiniest sin has a way of getting out of hand and wreaking havoc in our lives. Sin destroys lives. Sin destroys families. Sin destroys churches and communities. And without the cross, sin would have destroyed all humanity.

2. We’re not the Atomic Energy Commission.  There is no protocol for us to remove sin like there is for plutonium.  Even if a sinner cuts off all of his limbs, tears out his eyes, and removes his ears and tongue, he will still be a sinner before God because sin dwells in his heart.

a. We won't even enter heaven at all if our heart is not first cleansed of sin.  We all have sinful hearts and have used our hands, feet, and eyes to cause others to sin--whether they were children or adults who are weak in the faith.  We all deserve that millstone. b. And if this doesn't shake you up, then nothing will.  If anyone can hear this and later say smugly, "I'm not all that bad; others are worse than me; I don't need to repent of any sin; I've lived a pretty good life and deserve a place in heaven..." then God is being shut out of that person's heart.

II. Now having said that, let me remind you that the church is not a club or gym where we come to work on a protocol for removing sin.  The church is a hospital and you are here for major surgery.

A. Christ is the surgeon.  We are the patients.

1.  And we are here for our Lord to expose our wicked hearts, and to create “a clean heart within us.”

a. Even though Jesus says, “cut off,” in our text, it is really He who does the cutting.  No patient can operate on his own heart, and neither can we cut away the wickedness of our hearts. b. David cried, “Create in me a clean heart, O God!”  And that is our cry.  We stand with our first parents in the Garden, and seeing our sinful heart exposed by the Word of God, we can do nothing other than cry out to God for mercy.

2. But listen to this good news!  You will not be thrown into the depths of the sea or hell, but rather you have been thrown into the forgiving waters of Baptism.

a. God is merciful, He drowned your sins in Baptism’s waters, and He raised you up with Christ there.  Look to your baptism and see there the love of God for you.  Those waters are not frightening—they are comforting, for they have given you life instead of death, forgiveness instead of punishment, heaven instead of hell. b. Your baptism shows you and gives you what Jesus did for you.  At the cross He took that millstone off your head and He accepted a crown of thorns upon His own head for you.  At the cross He was buried beneath the load of our sins so that you would forever be free of that awful load.  At the cross they put a spear into the heart of your Lord so that in your baptism, He replaces your wicked heart with His own clean, holy heart.  At the cross Jesus closed His eyes in death for you, so that you are forgiven for all the sinful things you look upon with your eyes.  At the cross Jesus’ hands and feet were pierced with nails for you, so that whatever wickedness your hands and feet have done, God, for Jesus’ sake, forgives you for everything.

III. So that now, in Jesus, there is something better for you.

A. And as you come up to Jesus’ Holy Supper, your feet which bring you forward, are forgiven.

1. Your hands, into which Jesus’ body is placed, are forgiven.  Your eyes, which behold the bread and wine in which your Savior comes to you, your eyes are forgiven. 2. This is the place in our church...the place where, not hands, and feet, and eyes are cut off and piled up, but where they are forgiven through Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is the place where filthy hearts are exchanged for new ones; where Jesus takes your sinful heart and gives you His.

B. You and I may have caused many little ones to sin, but God looks upon us with compassion.

1. Our hearts may be sinful, but His heart is full of pardon for you.  And because He has washed your eyes, hands, and feet in the waters of baptism, He now uses these members of your body, not to lead children into sin, but to lead them to Christ.  2. For when your hands open the Scriptures for a little child, it is Christ using your hands.  And when your feet walk with a child to God’s House, it is Christ using your feet.  And when a child sees your eyes closed in prayer, it is Christ who is teaching him to pray through you.

CONCLUSION: But understand this...you and I are still in a battle with the sinful world every day, and we get all bruised and bloodied. The battle makes us weary. And so we come here to Jesus’ hospital and He cuts out of us what is dead and dying, and He restores your soul, He gives you new life, He forgives you. And He sends you back out there into the world to fight the good fight. And if you haven’t figured it out yet. We cannot fight without Jesus. We cannot win without Him. And so we must come here to the place of forgiveness, the place of healing. We come faithfully. Because when the war is finally over, even though you will be cut up and bruised... you know that you will be going home. Amen.