Jesus calls us to be servants.
Last week my father-in-law spoke on Mark 9:35 (NIV) which says, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." These are very fine words. As Christians, we romanticize this notion of being a servant, especially in the context of the church. Here at Lakeside we have tremendous servants!
We have people who set up chairs, prepare communion, unlock the building for groups, pull weeds, mow the lawn, hold babies, and make coffee. If you go to our website and click the link "Volunteers" you will get a picture of all the moving parts that make this place work. So understandably, in this place, we value servanthood.
But I noticed something for the very first time this past week about Mark 9:35. Jesus spoke these words while sitting in a home in Capernaum. (See Mark 9:33). The very next verse, Mark 9:36, describes Jesus taking a child into his arms. And then I realized that it's one thing to talk about being a servant at the church, but it's quite another to talk about being a servant in the home.
At the church, you can easily put on a façade of service. It doesn't take much to come here, put in an hour of service, and not worry about serving again for weeks, or even months! But it's not that way in our homes. In the home, the demands of servanthood are much more persistent, strenuous, and exhausting. We're not always the best servants on the home front.
This morning I want to outline four ways in which we must become servants to our families. As I mention these four things, I want you to notice how deliberately, powerfully, and unequivocally Jesus speaks of these things. When it comes to our families, there are eternal consequences at stake. In the church, you can shun responsibility and hope someone else picks up the slack. In your home, you carry the responsibility. So let's jump right in.
Responsibility number one: Radically eradicate sin from your home.
In Mark 9:42 (NIV), with a young child in his arms, Jesus continues teaching, "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."
As you can see, there isn't any way to sugarcoat Jesus' words here. Parenting is already filled with enough guilt. Who needs more, right? We all get that. God understands that. Yet there are an alarming number of parents (a growing number) who are so nonchalant about parenting. The reality is that children are always learning from our example. They're always catching our attitudes, mimicking our mood, our behavior, and our speech. Children are a reflection of their parents in virtually every respect. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
In Mark 9:42 Jesus' warning is about causing little children to stumble in their faith. If you are a parent, you've been entrusted with a living soul who is highly impressionable and vulnerable in every way. You are more than a mom or dad. You are a destiny shaper. God's harshest judgment is reserved for those who would carelessly damage young souls.
What does Jesus mean here? He says that it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck than to cause a child to stumble. There are real responsibilities to parenthood. You are accountable before God. Knowing this, a parent ought to change his attitude about sin.
Look what Jesus says next in Mark 9:43-48 (NIV). "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, where the fire never goes out. And 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. And 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, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' "
What are you doing to eradicate sin from your life? What are you doing to eradicate sin from your home environment? Your children will watch what you watch on television. They will listen to your music, find and read your magazines, and repeat what you say. Your sins will become your children's sin and your indiscretions will become your children's indiscretions. Being a parent is a grave responsibility. It always has been. God desires godly offspring, and he holds us accountable for anything we might do to thwart his holy purpose. Pray hard. Live courageously. Be holy.
We live in a culture right now that has some of the lowest standards for morality in the world. Our television sets, the internet, and now smartphones, steadily pipe images of sexual immorality right into our living rooms. Sin is in our face, and instead of being entertained and cozying up to sin, we need to eradicate it.
A problem today is that parents don't fear the consequences of sin. They have no fear of sin for themselves or for their children. They think that hell is a fairy tale and that God's judgment is laughable. You don't leave poison sitting around your house for fear that your children will eat it and die. Where is that same concern when it comes to sin?
Responsibility number two: Faithfully promote peace in the home.
In Mark 9:49-50 (NIV) Jesus says, "Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."
I will keep this point brief. Every family undergoes its own trials. Not a single family is exempt for times of testing. What's important is that no matter what your family encounters, you learn to hold onto the good and be at peace with one another.
When times of trouble arise, you're most apt to take it out on those closest to you, your spouse or your children. Part of being a servant is not letting your home become a warzone that is filled with anger, bitterness, and resentment. Peace is not something you magically feel, it's something you must create through the grace of God. So the Bible says in Ephesians 4:26 (NIV), "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry." Your home should be a refuge, a place of rest and renewal. Eradicate sinful attitudes and promote peace in your home!
Responsibility number three: Fight for the sanctity of marriage.
In Mark 10:1-16 (NIV) we're told, "Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?' 'What did Moses command you?' he replied. They said, 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.' 'It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,' Jesus replied. 'But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.' When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. He answered, 'Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.' "
We could easily spend hours dissecting what many see as one of the hardest teachings in scripture. The main headline here is that in Jesus' day, like ours, there were those who took a very liberal view of divorce. If your spouse burned the toast, you could divorce her. You could divorce her for any cause. It was just a matter of a little paperwork and following a few legal procedures.
Instead of championing the ideal of lifelong marriage, the Pharisees were looking for legal loopholes for what they could get away with in the eyes of God. But the issue Jesus exposes is that their hearts were adulterous and hard, their minds were already made up, and they weren't open to the work of reconciliation and restoration.
You will notice that Jesus does not say divorce is permissible if such and such conditions occur. Instead, he presents God's ideal for marriage, which is not debatable. God's ideal is that when husband and wife come together, they remain together till death do them part.
Another interesting phrase that occurs in these verses is, "what God has joined together." The Greek word there is "synezeuxen." It sounds an awful lot like our English word "synergy." The phrase literally means "yoked together." So if you can imagine, in biblical times, when two oxen were yoked together, the two oxen would have synergy. Together, working as a team, their power could be multiplied beyond anything they could achieve alone. In marriage, 1 plus 1 = 1,000,000.
But notice the attitude of the Pharisees. Instead of being obsessed with union, they were obsessed with separation and divorce. How can we end this smoothly? they were thinking. Not, How can we bring about restoration and redemption?
Listen, there is no greater service to your family than to guard your marriage. And there is nothing more destructive than to entertain thoughts of separation, divorce, and adultery, and "How can I get out of this smoothly?" When it comes to marriage, 1 minus 1 = a tiny fraction of self. A fraction is what you end up with after a divorce. You're never left with a whole person.
Responsibility number four: Make worship a top priority.
It was customary in Jesus' day to bring children to great men to have them blessed. In Mark 10:13-16 (NIV) we read, "People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them."
There is no greater service to your family than to enable and encourage their worship of Jesus Christ. Notice what happens when the little children are ushered into Jesus' presence. Mark 10:16 tells us that Jesus blessed them fervently. As a parent, you should want your children to be blessed by God. The very last thing you should want to do is hinder them from seeking God.
In this day and age you're going to have to make some hard choices about worship. We have a phenomenal children's ministry here, with outstanding volunteers. Some of you are robbing your children by depriving them of great learning and great relationships through the children's minisity. They are missing great worship and great blessings.
It's a shame that parents think their children are more greatly blessed by sports and activities than by learning to worship Christ, but this is the way things are now in the world. The Church can provide opportunities for worship, but if as a parent you hinder your children from those opportunities, you are responsible to replace them.
When your children are young, they're extremely receptive to Christ's kingdom. When they're in college, it's often too late. These are the most important years of your child's life-- terribly formative years! Why not make the most of them?
Eradicate sin. Promote peace. Fight for the sanctity of marriage. Make worship a top priority.