Cut It Off

July 2

Read: Mark 9:42-50

Cut It Off

Whatever causes sin must be “cut off” and “put to death”. Period. There is no “management”… there is no “moderation”… in a certain sense there is not even “redemption” as much as there is “removal”. Look at the pattern: “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.” (v.42) This is destruction for the entity causing sin. Again: “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off….if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off…if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out.” (v.43,45,47) This is an utter removal of the cause. Even more so, it is a “disconnecting” of the member from what it needs to live. Severed hands, feet, and eyes cannot live. This is what must happen to those things that cause temptation and sin… they need to be “cut off” from those things which feed them and keep the alive. I need to remove myself from whatever is feeding sin within me. I need to sever the ties between the agent of sin and that which empowers and feeds it. This is a serious matter.

Jesus uses such gruesome imagery here. Think about his teaching thus far, and then look at this passage. It is distinct… pungent… strong. I think we all need these moments of “shock and awe” every once and awhile. We need to be reminded that “…desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:15) Jesus promises us that whatever is “cut off” and “sent to the bottom of the sea” is a small price to pay for “life” and “entering the Kingdom of God.” (v.43,45,47) The trade off is worth it. Sometimes we may feel like we are “missing out” if we cut ourselves off from what causes us to sin. We might feel like we “don’t get to handle as much” in this life with our proverbial one remaining hand. We might feel like we are not as nimble or fast in getting places and doing what we want to do with our proverbial “one remaining leg”. We could be tempted to think that we will be at a loss regarding what we get to “see and take in” when we are figuratively down one eye. This is the illusion of sin… and the LIE of the enemy. Even if it is true that we don’t “grab as much” or we “walk a little slower” or “don’t see as much stuff” Jesus assures us: “It is better for you to enter life crippled (and) lame… enter the kingdom of God with one eye” then the alternative which is destruction and hell! Whatever we might feel like we “miss out on” here we will receive something more valuable and greater in the life to come.

Jesus says something that is odd and cryptic at the end of this passage: “For everyone will be salted with fire.” (v.49) What does he mean? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Jesus immediately says that “Salt is good”. (v.50) So it seems like he is describing something that is good in the end. What exactly does fire do? Well it destroys that which is rooted in sin and it refines that which belongs to God. What fire does to you and your actions in this lifetime depends on who you belong to! We see this “salting of God’s people with fire” in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15:

“For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

The actions of our life matter as well as the “cutting off and casting away” of whatever causes us to sin. I have been challenged lately by this truth. What if looking at all these ads or marketplaces causes me to covet and be discontent? What if social media destroys my faith, makes me depressed, or causes me to stumble in sin? What if keeping my Disney+ account (or Netflix, or Hulu, or whatever other streaming service) is funding an organization that blatantly opposes the truth of God… and actively promotes sin and depravity? I am more bent on keeping these ridiculous avenues for entertainment around than I am battling sin! What if the news makes me angry and it drives me to hate others - directly contrary to Jesus’ own teaching in Luke 6 - do I turn it off… “cut it off” or do I keep it around !?! How many times do we make excuses for what we say we need to “keep around” and “stay connected to” when in the end these things cultivate pride, arrogance, coveting, lust, and anger? (Just to name a few.)

My prayer today for you and I is that the Lord would grant us the clarity to recognize those things which cause us to sin, and the courage to disconnect from them… to “cut them off”! JESUS IS NOT ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT LITERALLY CUTTING OFF HANDS AND FEET… but he might be literally calling you to unplug form your phone, turn off social media, get rid of a TV, or empty your house of liquor and drugs. We need to separate what is causing us to sin from ourselves… we are actually the ones keeping the sin alive - the same way the “sinful hand, foot, or eye” cannot survive when cut off from the body. These sinful members… mechanisms… cannot live without us. What we gain in LIFE and reward from Jesus will far outweigh any “loss”. Fighting sin is serious business. Love you guys! - JDP