Making Disciples – part 4
055 Making Disciples – part 4
Mark 9:30-50 (49-50)
July 12, 2026
We left off rather abruptly this morning
With a realization that might have been somewhat shocking
And I want us to return to it tonight.
If you’ve missed the first 3 legs of this sermon
You’ll just have to go back and listen to catch up.
Basically Jesus is discipling the disciples.
· He is exposing, confronting, and correcting that attitudes and their wrong thinking.
· They are filled with stubbornness, arrogance, snobbery, and as we saw most recently, ambition.
They are very much in love with the world,
With status, with comfort, with glory,
And at the present they think that Jesus is their meal ticket
For acquiring all of those things.
Jesus is working to change that thinking.
TONIGHT I want us to jump back where we left off this morning.
Jesus is addressing that 4th bad attitude.
#4 AMBITION
Mark 9:43-49
I’ll remind you again that we could also call this worldliness,
But I like calling it ambition
Because it more accurately addresses the issue at heart.
THE DISCIPLES ARE AMBITIOUS.
Now, not all ambition is wrong.
2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
1 Thessalonians 4:10-11 “But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,”
· Ambition to please the Lord,
· Or ambition to lead a quiet life is a good thing.
What we are talking about here is worldly ambition.
The desire to obtain the world and excel in it.
We read it last Sunday night, but I’ll let James lay it out again:
James 3:13-18 “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
· James referred to it as “selfish ambition”
· He likened it to “jealousy”.
· He said that it “earthly, natural, demonic”
· It is nothing but “evil”.
I think we need to hear that again tonight
BECAUSE OUR WORLD DOES NOT AGREE.
Our world sees ambition as a good thing.
Our world sees ambition as a necessary thing for success.
Our world certainly doesn’t agree with James that it is evil.
James becomes even clearer later in his letter.
James 4:2-4 “You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
There James spoke of a person who is in absolute pursuit of the world
And therefore becomes an enemy of God.
Or again:
James 5:1 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.”
· Those who have obtained the world are actually pitied by James.
He says later:
James 5:5 “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
· Loving the world and ambitiously working to acquire it is a dangerous thing.
Listen to Paul discuss it:
Philippians 3:18-19 “For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
There the word is not used, but the mentality is there.
· Paul called people “whose god is their appetite”.
· He said they “set their minds on earthly things”
· That such people are “enemies of the cross of Christ”.
Now stop right there for a second.
THAT’S THE PROBLEM!
Look at the disciples.
· We know they have recognized Jesus to be the Christ.
· Peter confessed Him as the Christ.
· But at the current moment they are not interested in the cross at all.
· To them the cross is the very opposite direction of where they want to God.
They don’t want Jesus speaking about the cross,
Thinking about the cross, and certainly not going to the cross.
· They want Jesus to ascend to glory.
· They want Jesus to obtain power.
· They want Jesus to climb the ladder.
· And they want to go with Him.
And the cross is the exact destruction of all of those things.
And that is why Jesus must confront them.
That is why Jesus must confront us.
You can’t be a disciple of Jesus and seek the world at the same time.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
BUT LIKE THE DISCIPLES
We have a hard time getting that one through our heads.
Far too often we want to use Jesus
As our golden ticket to fulfill all of our worldly ambitions.
THAT IS NOT WHY HE CAME.
So is confronting the disciples for their worldly ambition.
And what He said is absolutely shocking.
(43-48) “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”
WE DISCUSSED THIS THIS MORNING.
We see a sort of backward progression here.
· We see what the hand may grab.
· We see what the feet may pursue.
· We see what the eye desires.
In reality it all happens in reverse order chronologically.
· Your eye wants it,
· Your feet pursue it,
· Your hand grabs it.
But there is a danger in it.
It is the world and it pulls your heart away from God.
In our materialistic culture
We think loving and pursuing the things of the world is so innocent,
BUT IT ISN’T.
To read it again:
1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
When Jesus said “you can’t serve God and money”,
He wasn’t speaking hypothetically.
If you pursue one it is to abandon the other.
This is what makes worldly ambition so dangerous.
We must understand:
JESUS DID NOT OFFER YOU THE WORLD. (Satan does that)
· So if you are bent on pursuing it, you must abandon Jesus.
I hope you understand that.
Ambition is a stumbling block.
NOW, THAT’S STILL A BIT OF RECAP,
But the part I wanted to jump back into tonight
Is the real shocking aspect of this text.
Clearly Jesus warns that the effect of such ambition is “hell”.
That’s the danger.
Illustrated by the local dump “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”
But ultimately it is the lake of fire
Which was initially prepared “for the devil and his angels”.
Jesus said “If you give in to ambition it will lead your heart away from God and it will ultimately land you in hell.”
But here is the really shocking part.
JESUS WAS HERE SPEAKING TO THE 12.
· Had He preached this sermon to some crowd on the mountainside…
· Had He preached this in some synagogue somewhere…
We wouldn’t bat an eye.
We would just see this as a great evangelistic sermon
And a warning to all who are lost.
BUT THE ADAMANT UNBELIEVER WAS NOT HIS TARGET.
Up in verse 31 we read, “For He was teaching His disciples…”
· This warning was not given to the unconverted masses.
· This warning was not given to the rebellious cities.
· This warning was not given to the legalistic Pharisees.
This warning was given to the 12.
Jesus spoke to them as though hell was still a danger and a threat.
Jesus spoke to them as though they should still take great pains
To make sure that they do not go to that place.
AND THAT IS SHOCKING TO US.
We live in a day where we recognize a person’s “decision for Jesus”,
Even if it occurred when they were 5 or 6,
And then tell that person to never doubt it again.
We watch them grow into absolute immoral pagans.
· They never read the word.
· They abandon the fellowship.
· They live in sexual immorality.
· They pursue the things of the world.
· They speak like sailors.
· They indulge the flesh in greed.
· They chase every worldly form of fantasy and entertainment.
· They typically graduate, leave the church, and never return.
But we like to tell them, “Oh, it’s ok you made that confession when you were 6, you’re saved because we believe you can’t lose your salvation.”
Well that’s true.
We do believe salvation is secure.
But there is no way in the world they ought to believe that they have it.
Peter just confessed to Jesus on the mountain that He was the Christ
And now, just a few weeks later
Jesus is warning him about going to hell
If he can’t root the ambition out of his heart.
YOU SAY, “PREACHER, WHAT’S YOUR POINT?”
My point is that the modern day Christian church
Has put way too much emphasis on some personal profession
And not near enough emphasis on a transformed life.
I’m sorry if you were told that because you prayed one time and got baptized that you were saved and should never doubt it.
That is a horribly misleading statement.
What you should have been told is this:
“It is a good thing that you have made a public profession of Christ, now keep that confession to the end, and we will know that it was real.”
If it was real, they will keep it.
If it was real, Christ will keep them.
BUT IT IS ABSOLUTE MADNESS
For the church today to hand out these absolute assurance cards
To people who love the world as much as any pagan
Just because they got baptized as a child.
Jesus here looked at the 12 and warned them
That they must take extreme measures
To eradicate ambition from their lives.
“Amputate it if you have to!”
“If you don’t rid your heart of its love of the world
It will eventually be drawn away from Christ and will end up in hell.”
Do you see the danger of ambition?
Do you see the danger of loving the world?
Have you ever wondered
Why “Thou Shalt Not Covet” was even one of the ten?
Is wanting the things of the world
Really as bad as murder or stealing or idolatry or adultery?
If you think that coveting is somehow less dangerous
Then you don’t understand the danger.
· Coveting is the root of all of them.
· Coveting is the source.
· Coveting is where stealing and murder and adultery are hatched.
That worldly ambition is what pulls your heart away from God.
Think about that Rich Young Ruler again.
We’re going to get to him in a couple of weeks, but a little preview won’t hurt.
Mark 10:19-20 “You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”
Jesus is pretty crafty there.
You know that there are 10 commandments.
The first 4 all point upward toward our relationship with God.
· No other gods
· No graven images
· Don’t take God’s name in vain
· Remember the Sabbath
The other 6 speak to our relation with humanity.
I hope you caught that Jesus named 5 of the 6 here.
Murder, Adultery, Stealing, False Witness, and Honoring your parents
But He did not list the 10th – COVETING
And the young man was convinced he had kept them all.
But when Jesus brought up his coveting
And love of money and ambition, it all fell apart.
Mark 10:21-22 “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.”
Go ahead Rich Young Ruler:
· Tell me how obedient you’ve been from your youth up.
· Tell me about your childhood conversion…
· Tell me about your VBS attendance…
· Tell me about your baptism…
· Tell me about your faithfulness to the youth group…
HERE IS WHAT I KNOW.
“You love the world more than you love Christ
And as a result you abandoned Him and ended up in hell.”
CAN YOU SEE IT?
Though confessing Christ is essential to salvation,
The confession you make is of no power
If it is not evidenced by a changed life.
The youth studied it Wednesday night:
Psalms 76:11 “Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them; Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him who is to be feared.”
Or how about:
Psalms 50:14 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High;”
Don’t just say it…DO IT.
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 “When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”
That is what Jesus is driving home to the disciples.
You confessed that I am Lord and Christ.
· But you don’t want to go where I’m going.
· You are more worried about your greatness than Mine
· You won’t accept others who love Me if they aren’t with you.
· You are seeking only to use me to obtain your own ambitions, not Mine.
THAT IS PROBLEMATIC.
Church, removing worldly ambition from our lives is not optional.
It must be eradicated if our hearts are to cling to Christ.
ONE OTHER THING I WANT TO SAY HERE BEFORE WE MOVE ON:
· I had a person ask me this morning on the way out about a practical guide
here.
· That’s a good question.
· There’s some passages that speak very directly here:
TURN TO: MATTHEW 6:19-34
· That’s pretty practical.
· Don’t hoard, don’t worry.
1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”
SO JESUS SAYS WORLDLY AMBITION MUST BE ERADICATED:
AND HERE’S ANOTHER REASON WHY:
(49) “For everyone will be salted with fire.”
That is admittedly a confusing statement.
Many have wrestled with it over the years to understand it’s true meaning.
I think there are a couple of ways you can read it.
1) That Jesus is speaking of the certainty of judgment upon those who stumble.
Clearly in our text “fire” has referenced judgment.
· We would be hard-pressed to see “fire” as judgment in verse 48
· And then say it means something else in verse 49.
So if that is the case then Jesus is reminding us
For those who do give in to ambition,
There is no way they will escape the coming judgment.
· That would seem to be the point of James in his letter when he lamented the rich man and said that he had fattened his heart for a day of slaughter.
· We could certainly also quote that rich man with Lazarus again who ended up in hell because he chose his good things in this life rather than the last.
And if that is the point of Jesus,
Then we just see an emphatic warning here.
You must cut off your hand, you must cut off your foot,
You must gouge out your eye before you stumble
Because everyone who stumbles will suffer the fires of judgment.
I have no problem with such an interpretation.
But there is another way it can be read
2) That Jesus is speaking of the inevitability of testing that will come into our lives forcing us to prove our ambition.
That is sort of what we think of when we read “salted”.
That Jesus is telling the twelve that they must not ignore their ambition.
You cannot just allow it to settle in your life
And think that it will never come up and bite you.
For this world in which we live has a way of testing you.
· This world has a way of luring you.
· This world has a way of forcing you to prove where your heart lies.
If you think you can love this world but keep it concealed
And not be affected by it as you follow Christ, think again.
We strive against the same devil who offered Jesus the world
In order to get Him to turn from God.
· You are going to be tested.
· You are going to be pushed.
· This world will force you to choose.
We saw that this morning when discussing Satan’s requirements that you put his number on your head or you lose access to the world.
And it could be that this is what Jesus is telling the 12 here.
“You had better hope you eradicate your ambition because the world is going to test you and the real you will come to light.”
I’m not sure which of those interpretations I lean toward,
It could be either, but both give a similar warning.
Jesus isn’t playing around here.
This is serious.
Ambition will kill you.
You cannot be a disciple of Jesus if you have it.
· So leave your stubbornness
· Leave your arrogance
· Leave your snobbery and jealousy
· And leave your worldly ambition
Now, there’s one more attitude that Jesus will address.
And really it serves just to emphasize all the others.
#5 AUTHENTICITY
Mark 9:50
The analogy is not lost on us.
“Salt is good”
Here He is NOT talking about the process of salting something,
As He did in verse 49.
Here He is talking about salt itself.
And Jesus says that it “is good”.
And many people have filled in the blank
On the uses of salt and what Jesus probably meant.
SALT CAN BE A PRESERVATIVE
· We’ve all heard of “salt pork” or some other meat packed in salt to preserve it.
SALT CAN BE A CURRENCY
· We’ve heard the phrase, “worth his salt”.
SALT IS ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE
· There’s a reason we put salt blocks out for animals.
But here the statement of Jesus
Lends for us to recognize the other and most common use of salt,
And that is FLAVOR
Salt is what makes food worth eating.
· All you have to do is accidentally buy one of those cans of green beans that says “no salt added” or be put on a low sodium diet.
· A French fry or a pinto bean just aren’t the same without salt.
And that is the way Jesus speaks of it here.
He is talking about flavor.
And even more specifically we’re talking about Christian flavor.
Our entire world lives in a vacuum chasing the wrong thing.
Just go read Ecclesiastes again.
Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 “I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.”
Or go read chapter 2 where he experiments with money and women and wisdom and drugs and accomplishments.
Ecclesiastes 2:17 “So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.”
But that is all the world knows.
They see the fancy, sparkling, shiny nuggets and assume, “If I can just have that, then I’ll finally be content; I’ll finally be happy.”
And it’s a lie.
It’s a menu with the finest looking food you can imagine,
But when you finally buy it and eat it
You realize it doesn’t have any salt!
It’s tasteless.
But that is where the Christian steps in.
· We have found true life.
· We have found abundant life.
· Not in the world, but in Christ.
Paul said:
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”
It is the same Paul who said:
Philippians 4:12-13 “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
And the same Paul who said:
Galatians 6:14 “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
He understood true flavor.
It wasn’t in anything the world had to offer.
That is what Jesus is talking about to the disciples.
“Salt is good;”
“but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again?”
What does He mean?
· A Christian in the world is a good thing.
· A disciple of Christ who forsakes the world for Christ is a good thing.
But if you are a disciple that doesn’t know that,
What good are you going to be to the world?
What use is an ambitious disciple to the world?
Of what benefit is a coveting Christian to the world?
OH, WE TRY IT.
The entire prosperity gospel was invented
To try to reconcile these irreconcilable realities.
The prosperity gospel tried to manipulate the message to say,
“That Christ will satisfy your worldly ambition.”
It’s a lie.
Christ told us to forsake the world for Him, not pursue it through Him.
So what use is a disciple who is busy chasing the world?
What message does he have for the lost?
“Oh come to Jesus, He’s perfect, He’s enough, He’s sufficient”
(While I chase the stuff of the world right beside you?)
THAT MESSAGE WON’T FLY.
And that is what Jesus is saying.
What good is a flavorless Christian?
What do we mean then?
BE REAL
Jesus is NOT looking for “Disciples In Name Only”
No DINO’s
He is NOT looking for
· People who confess Him, but only because they think it will help their social status or bank account.
He IS looking for
· Disciples who will follow Him and follow Him to the cross.
· For those who can stand in the masses while losing everything and say, “Take the world, but give me Jesus!”
That is the disciple that shocks the world.
That is what Jesus is looking for.
And so He closes this first discipleship lesson with this one admonition.
“Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Two final admonitions.
BE REAL & GET ALONG!
WHAT A REBUKE
· For a bunch of guys who were just arguing over who was the greatest.
· For a bunch of guys who thought they were more important than other
people?
· For a bunch of guys who are just trying to figure out how to obtain the world?
BE REAL & GET ALONG!
AND THERE IT IS TO US.
Since we are those who are in the process of being discipled,
WE EMBRACE HIS TEACHING.
1. We know that we must understand that Christian calling is a calling to sacrifice.
2. We know that we must understand that we are called to pursue a high position, but so that we might serve one another, even the least.
3. We know that we must understand that there is no place for snobbery or jealousy, but that we should be more concerned about not causing our brother to stumble.
4. We know that we must guard ourselves from worldly ambition which can cause even us to stumble.
5. We know that we must be real, and that there is no other option.
AND THEN WE MUST DISCIPLE ONE ANOTHER
We encourage one another in the same way.
· There is no use just playing a game.
· There is no use just playing church.
· This is not a club.
We aren’t interested in petty traditions and secret handshakes
Or merit badges or any other silly behavior.
WE ARE THE CHURCH.
· We are those who embrace the cross.
· We are those who forsake the world.
· We are those who love the least.
· We are those who show the world what true life is all about.
Be a disciple!
Make disciples!
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”