302. Walking in the Word, Team Jesus!

We are all on Team Jesus! And though we each have a role to play, we are all equal in God's eyes. Today's teaching is full of hard truths AND the unimaginable glory of God's goodness. (Matthew 18:6-9, Mark 9:38-50, Luke 9:49-50) ******* Welcome to Walking in the Word, the biblical teaching arm of the Women World Leaders' podcast. If you are joining us for the first time, I'm so glad you are here. My name is Julie Jenkins and I am privileged to work with this amazing team of women who are striving together to empower everyone we can to walk in their God-given purpose. We all have a purpose that God designed specifically for us, and the devil would like nothing more than to sway each of us from that purpose. So we are fighting against that! When God calls us to walk by His side, He has a leadership job for each of us – we are here to help you find that leadership role, that purpose, that drive that gets you out of bed each morning. God continues to fashion this ministry, Women World Leaders, by the gifts of the women He brings to us – so we don't know exactly what tomorrow will hold, because God holds the blueprint for Women World Leaders! What we do know is that we are centered on prayer and biblical teachings, and along the way, God has called us to present podcasts, write books, create and distribute a worldwide magazine, hold each other up in prayer, and join together in fellowship as we lead events. If you would like to join us on our mission, we would LOVE to have you. Send us an email at [email protected], visit our website (womenworldleaders.com), or find us on social media…you guessed it…at Women World Leaders. Part of our current mission is to present you with podcasts that, we pray, will enrich your week. On Mondays, founder Kimberly Hobbs hosts Empowering Lives with Purpose, a 30-minute interview with a different woman of faith who shares HER God-story, with the intention of inspiring you to live out your God-story. On Fridays, Celebrating God's Grace is a time of joy, wisdom, and … well, celebration presented by various women in the ministry. And today, Wednesday, you have landed on Walking in the Word – a time when we open our Bibles together and ask God to teach us. We are currently walking through the gospels, looking at the life of Jesus and His disciples chronologically. Before we begin…let's pray… Dear Most Holy God…we humbly come before you asking you to cleanse us of any impurities as we open your Word. Father, we want to hear directly from you, and we know that we can hear most clearly when we empty ourselves of sin and self-thoughts. So we ask for your help. Forgive us of our sins, allow your thoughts to become our thoughts, and help us be teachable – willing to listen to all that you have for us today. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Today's study comes from Matthew 18:6-9, Mark 9:38-50, and Luke 9:49-50 Recently, we studied how Peter, James, and John had gone to the mountaintop to see Jesus transformed from His human body to His glorified body. That was a blessing that I'm sure those three disciples were still pondering in their minds. When they reunited with the other 9 disciples, we saw that those disciples were distraught because a man had brought his demon-possessed son to them to be healed, but the 9 could not rid the boy of the demon. When Jesus returned, however, HE was able to heal the boy, setting up a teaching opportunity for all 12 disciples on the necessity of using God's power through prayer to do all that God has called us to do. Then, last week we saw the disciples arguing among themselves about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of God – this likely stemmed from the fact that, while three disciples had seen Jesus' transfiguration, the other 9 had been unable to successfully harness God's power to heal the boy. To teach them, Jesus brought before them a small child, telling His disciples that to be the greatest, they must humble themselves like a small child. With this teaching, Jesus put all twelve disciples back on the same playing field. But even though they, hopefully, now understood the message that they were all equal partners on the same team, somehow the disciples got the idea that THEIR playing field was a little more high-brow than others who were playing the same game. And instead of going after each other, they started going after others, who were doing things a little differently. Mark 9:38 from the New Living Translation begins… 38 John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn't in our group." I can almost see Jesus rolling His eyes, can't you? What's it that Proverbs 15:18 says? Pride goes before destruction,     and haughtiness before a fall. But how many times have I been reprimanded by God and proceeded to pick myself up and, in my own strength, stand a little taller? Only to get knocked off my high horse, as my mom would say? Thank goodness we serve a LOVING God who will NEVER give up on us – and never stop teaching us. Verse 39… 39 "Don't stop him!" Jesus said. "No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. 40 Anyone who is not against us is for us. 41 If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded. There are ONLY two teams on this earth! Those who are FOR Jesus and those who are AGAINST Him. And if you are on Team Jesus, there is no hierarchy! That is such a difficult concept for us to understand! In school, we are graded from A to F. In our jobs, we have bosses, and in our communities, we have political leaders. I even went to church one time and was told I couldn't sit up front – that those seats were reserved for the big donors. We have rules about qualifications and degrees. Society in this world is segmented and organized and orchestrated. But in the Kingdom of God, on Team Jesus – we ALL count. And we ALL count equally! I've heard it said that God doesn't have grandchildren – we are all His children.  New believers and trusted theologians alike are loved the same by God. As He teaches the disciples, Jesus underscores His message with an illustration. 42 "But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck.  The words "little ones" here are not necessarily referring to children, but to those who are young in their faith. And a millstone was a large rounded stone used for crushing grain into flour or pressing olives into oil. It was moved in a circular fashion by a donkey and weighed dozens, if not hundreds, of pounds. if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck.  Jesus teaches that as you and I grow in our faith, we have a RESPONSIBILITY to care for, lead, and guide the newer believers who come behind us. That's our job! That's our purpose! Not to judge them or to show them how great we are, but to wrap our arms around them in love, to grasp them by the shoulders and turn them toward the glory of God, and then be there to applaud when their faces glow and their lives shine with the glory of God! Matthew 18:7 records Jesus' words… 7 "What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.  When we, as believers, do not put our arms around those who are seeking God, we block them from seeing and reflecting God's glory. When we turn a new believer away from being on the BEST TEAM EVER – Team Jesus - because they don't measure up to the standards that WE put in place for God's people, we are telling them to find somewhere else to fit in. Like the child who can't find love at home turns to the acceptance of a gang, when we fail to embrace someone into God's Kingdom, we point them in the devil's direction. That's a hard truth. But it is truth, none-the-less. So Jesus admonishes the body of Christ to be HIS body…continuing on with the words written beginning in Mark 9:43… 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell[a] with two hands.[b] 45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet.[c] 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It's better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 'where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.'[d] This teaching is two-fold. First – to the body of Christ, Jesus teaches that we must welcome and not harm new believers, and we must protect the body from pride or malice toward others that can infiltrate our culture and cause others to stumble. Second – to the individual believer, we each must protect ourselves from the same infiltration of pride and malice that can cause us to act disobediently and take us out of the mainstream of the power of God. And though this is an illustration and God is not instructing us to physically maim ourselves, we must take this warning seriously and work relentlessly to cut out any individual heart problems that the world or the devil are trying to inflict on us. Simply put, we must destroy our wrong thinking before our wrong thinking destroys us. Mark 9:49 and 50 records… 49 "For everyone will be tested with fire.[e] 50 Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other." Even as Christians, we WILL be tested with fire again and again. And just when we think we've got it going on, chances are we will get knocked right down again. Just ask the disciples! But praise God, He will always be there to lift us back to our feet! Salt brings to mind goodness and purity – it was used in the establishment of covenants. But salt, in Jesus' day, could become flavorless if it was infiltrated by impurities. Jesus warns His disciples – don't lose your goodness – you must hold tightly to all that God has called you to – to love and peace and equality of all in the body. We are Team Jesus! Remember, anyone who is not against us is for us. Don't harm your teammates. It is better to be thrown into the depths of the sea with a millstone around your neck than to face the consequences of causing someone to stumble. And rid yourself of anything that threatens to infect you with that which is less than God's instruction and for God's glory. Today's teaching is so deep, and am sure speaks to each of us on at least one level. I know it does to me! But we must not be afraid of these words of truth. Jesus said them for a reason, God made sure they were recorded for a reason, and I can guarantee that there is a reason that God is bringing them to light for you and me today. Let's lean into Him, thanking Him for pruning us as He makes us stronger. Dear Most Holy God – we confess the times that we have hurt you by pitting ourselves against others or causing others to stumble. Father, we thank you for your grace. For picking us up, dusting us off, and helping us stand taller in your power. God, give us your guidance and wisdom and courage as we turn from our own desires for greatness and look to YOUR greatness. Help us always to turn our face to your glory and, in love, to help others do the same. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.