Eradicating the Root of Our Sins (Part 2)

[0:00] suddenly Jesus brings up this new picture of salt. Salt. How do we use salt today?

[0:12] Well, we think immediately we salt our food. We season our food with salt. We cook with salt. We use it on the snow when the roads are icy and we throw it on the road.

[0:24] Well, in the east they throw it on the road. Here we use sand, right? So it doesn't destroy the metal of our cars. You know you can buy a car from the east where they throw salt on the road because salt destroys metal.

[0:41] So we use it as ice melt, though, on our walkways and such. But salt primarily is used in processed foods and in preservation of food.

[0:56] In canned food, snack food. You know, every time you buy snack food at the convenience store, it's got salt in it because it's got a preservative. That's why they can keep it in that package for millions of years.

[1:09] In dairy, in bread, in cereal, in all the meats, salt is used to preserve.

[1:20] Not long ago, and that was before my time, but before electricity and before refrigerators, salt was how we preserved food.

[1:31] Still do. Now we can kind of cheat a little bit with refrigerators and freezers. Salt is an essential for life. When you look back at the earliest civilizations, we can trace archaeologically, 6,000 years, we can trace that they were producing salt.

[1:55] They were mining salt. It was a key to their society. It was even a way that they paid people. It was like a precious metal.

[2:05] It was a precious mineral that they would pay somebody in salt. That's how valuable it had been. It also, even health-wise, we need salt.

[2:17] Not too much, but we do need some salt in our body. It provides electrolytes for our muscles. It works with the fluids in our vital organs to cause them to work right.

[2:28] But if you over-salt, it can be bad for your vital organs, so we have to be careful with that. But it is an essential of our life. Well, that's all interesting, but how is salt used in the Bible?

[2:42] What we want to be careful with is when we read Jesus talking about salt, that we don't import our idea of salt into the first century teaching of salt. So do we have similar views of salt as Jesus?

[2:55] How would they have understood it? Well, they would have understood it primarily as a preservative for their meat, that we're using that every day. But for those who were biblically astute, for those who knew Scripture, had learned from the Old Testament, they would have recognized that salt was vitally important in the temple sacrifices.

[3:18] That every offering offered was to be salted. That even the incense that was burning every day, salt was part of the element of that incense.

[3:34] The incense which was burned. The offerings that were burned. Salt was identified in the Old Testament as that which preserves holiness and purity.

[3:49] In fact, that's how it's stated when it's mentioned as an element, an ingredient in the mixture for the incense that is to be burned continually in the temple right in front of the veil.

[4:03] Remember? The burning incense. And salt was that purifier. It was that preservative that kept that incense holy.

[4:14] And it was added to the sacrifices as that symbol of preserving holiness. It's a holy offering because it's being offered to the Lord. I'm losing my voice.

[4:28] And now Jesus calls His disciples, that we see at the end of chapter 9, to have salt in themselves. Probably a better known saying comes from Matthew 5 where Jesus talks about how you are the light of the world and He also talks about how you are the salt of the earth.

[4:49] So He's talking about our influence in the world. We're light and salt. Salt as a preservative has distinct qualities that make an effect or an influence on those that it salts, so to say.

[5:06] So, we're looking today at what Jesus is defining as preserving our purity and our influence.

[5:17] Now, in Mark chapter 9, Jesus has been teaching on what it means to follow Him. And specifically, we looked at last week how we deal with our sins. How we deal with the source, the root, the cause of our sin, and not just the symptoms of our sins.

[5:33] And so, in that context, now He talks about what we look at today is this salt. He makes a reference to salt. So, how do we figure all that out?

[5:46] It's a little odd language. He has been talking, beginning at verse 33. Remember the disciples on the way down from, on the way down to Capernaum had been arguing on the way.

[6:01] They didn't want to tell Jesus that, but He knew that. They would have been arguing about who's the greatest. And so, Jesus had been confronting them about that.

[6:11] And so, in verse 33 to 41, Jesus was teaching about the cost of discipleship in terms of fighting our own nature, in terms of reversing our selfish biases.

[6:25] So, one was, the disciples were arguing with one another who's the greatest. They have a natural, competitive spirit that is natural in us. Right? We run a race, we want to win the race.

[6:39] We do something, we want to be first. We get to a restaurant, we want to be seated now. And we want that waitress right now.

[6:50] Right? I mean, that's just our natural thing. We want that. We want to be first. We want to be served. And that's what Jesus was addressing with the disciples. Oh, if you want to be first, here's a thought.

[7:02] Be last. What? You want to be first, be last. So, totally different. Remember, they're wanting to go this way up, Jesus is going this way down.

[7:16] Descend into greatness, is saying. If you want to be first, be last. Reversing our natural bias. So, he deals with that competitive spirit.

[7:27] And then, remember, in verse, the next verse is in verse 38 and following. We're doing your name, and we are trying to stop them because they're not with us.

[7:40] These outsiders, we don't know who they are, so we've got to stop them. And Jesus says what? Don't stop them. Don't stop them.

[7:51] What do you know about them? Are they teaching something false? No, we don't know. We just know they're casting out demons in your name. Okay, so they're honoring my name, and you want to stop that? They're fighting a common enemy.

[8:04] You want to stop that? They're doing good things. As far as you know, all that you know is positive. So, if they're for us, they're not against us.

[8:16] So, leave them alone. Be tolerant. Give them a season of grace. So, he talks about dealing with that judgmental spirit that we naturally have, especially the kind of the cliquish thing where we, you know, they're outside, we don't trust them, we don't know them.

[8:34] Jesus is saying, give them a break. Yeah, there are times we draw lines, but you don't, as far as you know, that's positive. So, leave it alone. And then, beginning of verse 42, Jesus began to deal with stumbling blocks.

[8:49] So, verse 42 is the stumbling block of the one who causes little ones to sin. It's a very severe warning there in verse 42. The one who, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe me to sin.

[9:04] So, he warns them that anyone who causes God's child to fall is in danger of hell. And who is the little one? He's not just talking about little children. He's talking about one of these little ones, one of these little disciples, one of these weak disciples, one of these new believers, one of these teens who's just starting to walk.

[9:26] Whoever causes one of them to sin, to fall, to stumble, wow, is in danger of hell. Wow. That's how much Jesus cares for his little ones.

[9:40] Don't pull out the tares because you might pull out the wheat. Let God sort that out. Yeah, there's times we confront somebody, yeah.

[9:52] When they reveal who they are. But when I don't know, leave them alone. Especially if they're new, they're young, they're weak, they're vulnerable. And then, verses 43 to 48, Jesus deals with this second warning about those who do not fight the source of sin are also in danger of hell.

[10:12] So, notice there, he talks about a hand and a foot and an eye. Whatever causes you to sin, remove that cause, remove that hand, remove that foot, remove that eye.

[10:23] He's not talking literally about plugging out your eye because that would not deal with our lust. Would it, guys? I won't solve it. He's being graphic, he's being shockingly, shockingly, uh, huh.

[10:42] Yeah, whatever. Some kind of word that fits there, fill it in yourself. Sorry. He's using graphic language to get our attention, to say something radical has to happen.

[10:55] Something radical has to be removed from your life. And so he's talking about dealing with the source, the root, the cause, not just the sin. So, so you steal.

[11:07] So just stop stealing. Well, what makes me want to steal? That's what I got to get to. What, what, what leads me to lust? What is the, what makes me angry?

[11:19] So it's not just, so go, track it back. Look for the trigger. It's, that's where the battle is. So it's like weeding. You know, if you just cut the weeds, what happens?

[11:30] They just grow right back. So, so you got to dig. And he's using this language that means dig it out, eradicate it. Do something ruthless.

[11:42] It probably will hurt. Huh? There will be something in your life that will now be missing. Because you've had to deal with that in order to stop sinning that way.

[11:56] Okay? It might be as simple as turning off TV. I don't know. I'm not advocating that.

[12:08] That's between you and the Lord. I can't tell you what that is. So this shocking language shows us that Jesus is giving a severe warning.

[12:19] It's not a trivial matter. It's serious. Our soul is at stake. Better this to be lame than to be whole and go to hell. So he's warning.

[12:31] He's not saying a Christian can lose his salvation. He's saying how you deal with your sin will reveal who you are. If you don't ever deal with the root of your sin, if you don't fight it, if you don't ever repent of it, you're not a believer.

[12:49] You're going to hell. Because a believer has a changed heart. Yes, we still fall. Yes, we still get entangled in sin.

[13:00] But the Holy Spirit's going to be going... Right? Ouch. Ow. And it might hurt.

[13:12] He will make us miserable. And He will draw us back to Jesus. He'll draw us back to the cross. We'll hear a hymn like no one understands like Jesus.

[13:23] And it'll make us cry and we'll go, oh, oh Lord. Yeah, I've been messing. So, you with me? Okay? We're not talking about you're in threat of losing your salvation.

[13:34] If you never deal with your sin, you're in threat of never having believed at all. You're a rebel. Am I scoring points over there or something?

[13:47] I don't know. What's the best record I've got to beat? All right. Competitive spirit. So now, Jesus is coming off of those warnings.

[14:01] Now, Jesus mentions and sums things up with this distinctive appeal to remember our saltish calling. You like that? If you're reading my outline, you'll see that I don't use English.

[14:14] I use my own words. Remembering our saltish calling because it's parallel with hellish and selfish. So, I'm so clever. I just wanted to point you out. Sorry about that.

[14:25] To my shame. Sorry. I'm upset. I have obsessions. I'm obsessive about that kind of silly thing.

[14:36] So, everything has to be ours. You know, sorry. That's just me. So, what Jesus is doing is he's reminding his disciples of their distinctive influence in regard to salt.

[14:53] And he's talking about what, he had been talking about things we fight against. We fight against our natural impulses. We fight against the source of our sin. Now he's going to talk about what we fight for.

[15:06] Now it goes positive. Before it's get rid of this. Now it's do this positive thing. So, what are we fighting for? Two appeals that he gives.

[15:17] Both come at the end in verse 50. Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. So, two appeals. Kind of the bottom line.

[15:29] Kind of summarizing this whole thing. So, let's look at the first appeal. It actually begins in verse 49. The appeal to have salt in yourselves.

[15:40] Let me say it this way because I think this is a better translation slash interpretation slash application. Protect the saltiness in yourselves.

[15:52] I believe that's what he's saying. not just have salt in yourselves. Protect the salt in yourself. You can't make yourself salty. You're either salty or not.

[16:04] And if you're salty, if you have the Holy Spirit, if you've been born again, if you have God working in your life, if you have been made holy by him, protect it. Which is part of what he'd already been talking about.

[16:17] Root out, you know, the source of sin. Deal with those. Overcome your natural biases. So now it's kind of summarizing that. Have salt in yourself. Protect the saltiness that's in yourself.

[16:29] The saltiness that God has put in you. So first, we're going to see three things here in verse 49 to the beginning of verse 50. First he's going to explain the issue.

[16:42] Notice the first word in verse 49 is the word for. F-O-R. What does that imply? Monday night men.

[16:54] Come on. What does it imply? What's the for there for? Yeah, it's an explanation. It's a reason. It's connected to verse 48. He's following up.

[17:05] He has just said something. Now he's going to explain it. So what has he just said in verse 48? He's talking about hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

[17:15] For everyone will be salted with fire. So he brings the word fire in again. But now in a different way.

[17:27] Some will have the unquenchable fire but everyone will experience some fire. Everyone will be salted, preserved, purified by fire which also preserves and purifies and purges.

[17:49] Okay, so he's explaining. All will be salted by fire. And as I mentioned, both of those pictures, salt and fire, both those images are part of the temple sacrifice.

[18:01] Right? So fire with the whole burnt offering, you put it on the altar and it is burned. But it's also salted. I'm doing it like a shaker as if that's how the priest did.

[18:13] I don't know how they did it. They took salt somehow and put it on the pure salt and put it on the offering and also in the incense. So that's the image for us about sacrifice.

[18:24] It's about offering, about purification and holiness and distinctness. Fire. Now fire is used in the scripture in a lot of different ways.

[18:39] God himself was a pillar of fire. He was the bush that was on fire that was not consumed. Lots of pictures of fire. Some good images of God.

[18:49] Some scary images. But fire itself is representative of trials and suffering. We sing lots of songs that talk about going through the fire.

[19:02] Right? The fiery trials are part of following Christ. All will be salted with fire. All will experience suffering. All will experience trials.

[19:13] If you follow Jesus that is part of the package. Free of cost. No, not free. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You pay.

[19:24] You pay. You die daily. and fire purges out what is impure. It consumes.

[19:37] Consumes. It tests our faith as to whether it is genuine or not. Listen to the way Peter says it in 1 Peter 1.6.

[19:50] He says you have been grieved by various trials. So he's given his hint there of what he thinks of trials. Grieved. Okay? Not fun. Not happy.

[20:02] You know. Grieved by various trials. All kinds of different trials. So that, watch what he says. So that the tested genuineness of your faith.

[20:15] It tests the genuineness of our faith. More precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire. So when they burn gold it burns away the impurities so that you have pure gold.

[20:30] Right? So that the testing the genuineness of your faith may prove to result may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[20:40] So in the end it will show all the testing you've gone through all the fires you've gone through all the suffering you've gone through. Reveal your faith to be genuine. And that will receive honor and praise and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[20:56] So, suffer now glory comes later. So, what is Jesus showing by this picture of salt?

[21:09] Well he says in verse 50 now he's going to go on everyone will be salted by fire verse 50 salt is good. Salt is good but if the salt has lost its saltiness how will you make it salty again?

[21:23] So salt is good. So, he's just recognizing the word good there means it benefits it helps it's a helpful thing it's a good thing good for society. So, we've already recognized there's good benefits that come from salt it preserves things it adds taste to things those kind of things.

[21:43] But if you're without salt now he makes a statement that gets the hair up on the liberal scholars who say oh Jesus makes an inaccurate scientific statement therefore Jesus doesn't know what he's talking about.

[21:59] Though we know he's the creator of salt he does know what he's talking about. What I mean by this is salt is a pure mineral.

[22:14] it's either salt or not salt it can't lose its saltiness. Being pure it cannot suddenly become no salt. It's either salt or it's not.

[22:26] So here's Jesus' point. If your salt is shown to be not salt then you know what you are?

[22:39] You're not salt. Profound right? just like before it said if you're not fighting the source of sin you're not a believer.

[22:52] Here he's saying if you're not salty if you have no taste you have no distinctness you do not have influence.

[23:04] You do not have effectiveness. You can have a form of godliness you can be a Pharisee and look good on the outside and usually probably what you're doing is hurting the little ones as a Pharisee because you're looking down you're condemning but if you don't have salt you're either salt or you're not.

[23:30] Okay? You're either a believer or you're not. There's no in between. If you are without salt salt then you are fake.

[23:44] You see what Jesus did know being in the region of the Dead Sea Dead Sea obviously having lots of salt remember it was the original area of Sodom and Gomorrah that was destroyed right?

[23:57] So lots of salt his wife right Job not Job sorry Job Lot thank you Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt so lots of salt in that area you go to the Dead Sea you actually have been there you can actually float it's got such a high salt content you float you can't go down less like my brother you lose your wedding ring then you can't get down there to find it bless his heart so so they obviously they're mining a lot of salt from the Dead Sea there's a lot of good salt there there's also stuff there that looks just like salt but it's got impurities in it and it's not salt that's what Jesus is talking about in the same mine you can mine pure salt and impure which doesn't have the taste it doesn't have the distinctness it doesn't have any effect it doesn't work on the meat

[24:59] I put that salt on the meat and it didn't preserve it why because it's not salt didn't make any difference so if your salt has become to be revealed as no salt you have no effect in this world you are not distinct from this world you're no different from that you become tasteless you bring no benefit no good you're either salt or you're not and you don't make yourself salty that's what Jesus how do you make it salty again you can't do that that's impossible only a creator can make salt we mine salt we don't create salt we don't make salt salt is you find it so how do I become born again well these three steps right I pray this prayer and I walk this aisle and I sign that card right tried it hundreds of times doesn't work not until

[26:08] God says now it doesn't mean he wasn't working he's he's convicting I'm coming I'm trying to come Jesus and I don't get changed until he says now Paul walking on the road had no concern for Jesus whatsoever except to obliterate him we sang I saw the light Paul was joining in on that song I saw the light and then I saw nothing because I was blind right he's going this way he didn't follow any steps except his own steps right the light shines all sudden Paul's going that way tell me how that happened what was Paul's part in that God did it and as soon as the light shines as soon as his eyes opened as soon as his heart was softened yeah he believed he had a part but it was

[27:10] God first obviously God changed Paul tells us that in Ephesians too right you even when you were dead in your trespasses and sin he what made you alive before you were alive how much can dead people do to resurrect themselves not anything how much can a blind man do to make himself see not anything how much can a lame man do to make himself walk every miracle Jesus does illustrates this truth it's a work of God you either have salt or you don't and so now at the end of verse 50 he appeals to them have salt in yourselves a better translation might be not just have it seems so excuse me passive and for James this is a present active verb here imperative so it's not passive Dan it's not passive it's not acting on me it's active this time so I'm acting it's present so I'm continually

[28:13] I'm having salt in myself but having sounds passive it's a better translation to go with hold on to salt in yourself grasp hold of salt in yourselves keep it preserve it guard it protect it Paul's referring to this in 1 Corinthians 9 27 when he talks about I buffet my body I make it my slave lest after preaching to others I might be disqualified I think of my dear brother I revealed to you a month ago my dear brother friend from childhood amazing preacher amazing preacher was real that he was caught in an affair he's disqualified breaks my heart that doesn't mean he's not saved

[29:16] I believe he's saved I believe he just did a David you know is that what you call that I don't know lest I be disqualified so Paul is saying I what do I do I'm active about my faith I'm active about my discipline of my body because my body can lead me into sin so I'm working on it it's a daily watchfulness a diligent prayer an active faith so following Jesus is not easy it's a cost Jesus said if you will follow me what do we do sign the card and enjoy the ride no if you want to follow me deny yourself take up your cross this is what it is it's not easy it's a costly it's a battle it's a sacrifice it's dying to self it's protecting the saltiness that we have the distinction the holiness that God has given to us the change of heart that God has given to us protecting that in the book of

[30:32] Romans for 11 chapters Romans is 16 chapters long for 11 chapters Paul rehearses the mercies of God from for 11 chapters talking about how God has saved us how God has redeemed us how God has delivered us from sin from bondage all these things he's given us his Holy Spirit talking about all these things that God has done all these mercies that God has piled on to us so then beginning in Romans chapter 12 there's a big therefore therefore based on all that God has done for you here's how you apply here's how you walk and what's the first thing he asked them to do listen to this Romans 12 1 I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that's number one that's the very first response and application of all that God has given!

[31:31] to us! present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed passive there be transformed by God's working in you by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect for by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly I'm the greatest no I'm the greatest than he ought to think but to think with sober judgment each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned so why do we sacrifice why would we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God what would motivate me to do that by the mercies of God all that he has done that's why we do communion regularly we remember what he did that's why we preach the gospel to ourselves every day what

[32:41] God has done he has saved he has rescued he loved me while I was still an enemy bless you he made me salty when I was not salty he delivered me from slavery to sin he has forgiven me this is why we offer ourselves as his sacrifice so that we might keep salty so that I might protect the salt within myself how do I protect my living real genuine relationship with the Lord how do you how do you protect your relationship with your wife guys how do you keep your marriage salty you're not a husband you can't respond I said guys I'm just teasing you keep talking to them don't you keep them happy happy wife is a happy life listening listening what did

[33:46] Barb and Rolt teach us listening don't ask her if she wants the problem solved ask her do you want me just to listen yes listen relationship so how do we protect our living faith with the Lord relationship daily relationship why does he ask us to pray when he already knows what we need before we ask him he wants relationship that's how we keep salty this is why we protect our saltiness he died for me so I will live for him I give myself regularly surrendering as a living sacrifice so that's his first appeal second appeal seems to come out of nowhere the very end the last phrase he says have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another there's a second appeal be at peace peace again kind of a weak translation the verb is peace so how do you make peace into a verb we say something like be at peace but that's kind of weak because again it's a present active which means we're pursuing peace we're seeking peace we're cultivating we're not just being at peace that sounds like yeah in the lounge chair

[35:12] I'm being at peace cool that's not what he's saying at all so here it seems out of place what is peace with others have to do with purifying ourselves he's just been talking about all these things we're dealing with reversing our natural biases eradicating the source of our sin he's been talking about purity and all of a sudden he says be at peace where's that coming from what does that have to do with well one he's saying it's not just all about you yes you do need to deal with personal things you do need to do personal inventory you do need to root out the source of what causes you to sin yeah you gotta deal with that work but don't live there you're also created to be in a body you're also created to be in a congregation you're created to be with one another that's why I made Eve for Adam he's just not supposed to get all his tasks done he needs a relationship

[36:16] Christ has a relationship with us but then also remember the context what started Jesus teaching what started him talking about if you want to be first be last what brought that up on the way the disciples are arguing with one another about who is the greatest Jesus is coming full circle they're arguing with one another about their competitive spirit and their judgmental spirit led him to teach about reversing those mindsets!

[36:59] Now he's coming full circle so have salt in yourselves you can imagine Jesus teaching them have salt in yourselves and by the way guys pursue peace with one another I don't think he said it like that he said it some way that was probably ooh got it stop arguing and he doesn't say that he says pursue peace so how are we at peace well it's an active pursuit peace again this is a present tense active voice imperative so we're actively going for peace we're pursuing it we're cultivating it we're practicing it we're continually aiming and seeking at peace it's not passive it's not like keeping the peace by the way when somebody says I'm keeping the peace what are they doing nothing we don't talk about!

[38:03] we don't bring up that issue because that will cause trouble gotta keep peace in other words I don't want anybody to get upset is that how Jesus dealt with us Jesus comes and says repent what that's not very peaceful no it will bring your peace Jesus said blessed are the peace keepers right am I being accurate in the beatitudes Matthew chapter five blessed are the peace makers not keepers not the ones who avoid the issues the ones who deal with the issues the makers that's how Jesus did it he came he preached he laid down his life to establish peace he broke down the barrier wall to establish peace he's not a peace keeper he's a peace maker he pursues it he cultivates it he aims at it that doesn't mean that you're pushy it doesn't mean that you're aggressive so where do we pursue this peace he says pursue peace with one another in mutual relationships in other words within the church body so the twelve disciples you pursue peace with one another

[39:44] Peter pursue peace with John James son of thunder pursue peace with Andrew and with Nathaniel and with Philip and with that zealot guy over there hey zealot guy by the way remember one of his disciples was a zealot not a peaceful man you get to work on that too interesting he picked a zealot isn't it that had to be fun he had his hands full with Peter let alone the zealot guy no he had a sword on so what does it take to do that how do we pursue peace seek to build up one another to encourage one another what does it take Ephesians 4 starts out talking about that how we walk in a manner worthy by humility by bearing with one another so when somebody upsets me in the church

[40:51] I have options the natural one the one that most people choose is I leave the church because I don't want to deal with that I'm a peace keeper I don't want to cause trouble well maybe God's leading you to cause some trouble maybe there's a sin that needs to be rooted out in that congregation you ever think of that I am not geared for that who is okay a few people or as Paul calls us to we can bear with them I live with it I bear it it becomes part of the cross that I carry just like Jesus bears with me or I can go confront it as Jesus taught us if your brother sins against you go in private don't talk to everybody else first go in private keep it because maybe you can resolve it right there and nobody else has to know that's good stuff and then if it doesn't then you go remember you take another one and you verify and by the way that's a listening meeting not a go for and if we must then go and restore the sinner with grace first taking the beam out of my eye before

[42:22] I concentrate on the speck in their eye sounding like Clinton now aren't I I apologize for that I'm losing my voice I'm not beating up on Clinton here I'm just saying sorry if that's distracting so salt is what makes us a distinctive influence in our relationships instead of seeking revenge I seek peace when they hurt me instead of responding with like hurt I respond differently I respond with salt which is forgiveness bearing with or understanding they're struggling with some sin and I go in gentleness and graciousness having prayed and removed the log and getting the Holy

[43:27] Spirit working with right I care for that brother even when he hurts me that's hard you know how hard that is it's like the prayer we pray every day forgive us as we forgive okay okay I'm asking Jesus to forgive me have I forgiven today still got that grudge against so and so salt so this pursuing peace with one another what's involved with this what does it look like if it's active what does that look like to make peace not just keep peace well again in Romans 12 where it started with present yourself as a living sacrifice Paul goes on to talk about peace with one another in Romans 12 and I want you to notice the context within which he talks about being at peace with others because there's a whole list of relationship stuff going on in

[44:31] Romans 12 verses 10 through 21 so listen to this this is not a to-do list by the way because there's like 27 things here it's like okay okay am I doing that one it's a get the mindset he starts with love one another with brotherly affection!

[44:55] Outdo one another in showing honor that would be interesting huh let's have a contest who can outdo in giving honor do not be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit serve the Lord rejoice in hope be patient in tribulation let's skip that one be constant in prayer contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse!

[45:24] rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who weep don't beat them up weep with them live in harmony with one another do not be haughty but associate with the lowly never be wise in your own sight repay no one evil for evil but give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all if possible I know it's not always possible but if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all that's our same word again pursue peace with all if possible which means it's not always possible but as far as it depends on you pursue that not everybody will reconcile with you you go and pursue you go and confront you go and lovingly try to rescue them from sin and they don't always respond positively you can't always reconcile but you can't forgive live peaceably with all beloved never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of

[46:37] God for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord to the contrary if your enemy is hungry! If he's thirsty give him something to drink for by doing so you will reap burning coals on his head do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good this is not a could you imagine if this was a to do list okay I write down all 27 I got to go through the no they're all examples of the very first thing that he said love how do I love contribute pray with them encourage them weep with them rejoice with them I never repay evil for evil to them it's a mindset and what's common to all of it is loving with grace treating others as Christ treats me even blessing my enemy seeking peace and not revenge how in the world do

[47:38] I do that how do I overcome my natural response to want to revenge isn't that the first thing that boils up when you get hurt I get defensive I put up you know I can't help my emotions bring me there right so I got to fight through that that might take a while depends on how much of a feeler you are I wish I could be the kind of person like Mark Dever just you know people rag on him he doesn't affect him at all then there's John Piper guy fall apart I'm sorry I'm going on I'm speaking to the elders here some common language we've had how do you respond to those who hurt you he tells us to never avenge ourselves to leave it to the

[48:39] Lord to bless them not curse them to overcome evil with good see that's salt that's saltiness it's distinct and it will make an influence imagine that one that's hurt you and you respond with bless you they're going to think you're nuts then they'll realize you're you're real and you don't fight back you're you're you're you're you're distinctly different I might arise within them something like how do you do that why are you so kind to me salt makes that distinct influence so it's not a natural response how do we do it by daily seeking grace from the Lord by daily asking the

[49:46] Lord and cultivating my relationship with him reminding myself that I need his grace I need his empowerment I need to walk with the spirit and I can't do this I cannot cultivate peace with others until I truly experience peace myself you can't help those kids right to find real peace until you know the peace giver yeah and then you know how to lead him to the real peace until I find peace with God until I re-find peace with God maybe maybe you're a struggling Christian and you have no peace with God right now because you're not fighting that sin right you're deep in a hole and all you can do all you can do is say help Jesus you don't know can't articulate words maybe I can get out a remember what

[50:51] Romans 8 says the spirit interprets our groanings right it's okay I don't have to have all the right words so until you know peace from God until you know the gospel of peace by the way what's the gospel remember our four words God man Christ response or faith God who's God holy righteous merciful and loving the one to whom I'm accountable who's man total failure rebel without a cause right fallen so short Christ he's the redeemer he's the he's the remedy he's the one that brings the two together he's the one that comes from above down to us what's our response faith you leave repent that's the gospel it's that simple and that complex let's pray father we thank you for the text today we thank you for Jesus causing us to think hard we thank you for this text in fact the last couple of weeks where you have forced us to look within at things we don't want to look at!

[52:31] you forced us to uncover the inside motives and the stuff in us that we'd like to sweep into a corner our biases our our our our the source of our sins that father we we don't want to deal with because we still are trapped in it or we still somehow are seeking hope from those sins we seek release from anger we seek release from lust whatever it is father forgive us we repent help us to repent more fully lead us to the cross today help us to understand the salt that you put within us and how to preserve that and certainly father continue to foster among us here in this congregation a peacefulness!

[53:26] help us not just to be at peace help us to seek it with one another help us to to pursue it and in a way that reflects your grace and gentleness this is what we pray in Christ's name amen I'm sorry.

[54:11] I'm sorry.

[54:41] I'm sorry.

[55:11] I'm sorry.

[55:41] I'm sorry.

[56:11] I'm sorry.

[56:41] I'm sorry.