Gospel Discipleship

As we've already heard a few times in the service in preparation, this is a challenging passage this morning. Christ is going to call us to cut off what causes us to sin. And as we meditate upon this, I want to make sure we really have clarity on central Christian truths so that we really grasp this well, because there's errors we could easily slide into. This is a call to holiness. As we think about just kind of the big picture of what Jesus is doing, he's calling us to holiness. And so I'm not actually sure extreme and intense are the right ways to describe it. It's God calling us to himself in holiness. That itself is extreme and intense. But the way he uses a metaphor, I believe, it adds a punch to it that is hard to wrestle with intentionally. As I think about this, I want us to consider two truths together that are gonna have to guide us through this passage. The first truth that we as Christians need to regularly remember is that Christ calls us while we're sinners, by grace to believe in Him. You're saved by grace. It's a free gift. There's nothing you do by your own works to earn that grace, to earn that favor. It is simply coming in by faith that saves us. And we are justified, declared righteous by faith. That is truth number one. Our works do not contribute to our salvation. Second truth, is really what we're focused on today, and that is we're then saved for good works. Our works do not cause us to be saved, but salvation causes us to then look and say, I want to live a holy life. I want to now have good works. If you just look at Ephesians 2, 1 to 10, you are saved by grace, not by works, and yet there are works that have been prepared beforehand for you to now walk in. Most problems happen when a Christian or a church confuse these two truths. We either believe that somehow I contributed my salvation with my works, or I need to help Christ out with my works. There's complications to these. Arrogance and exhaustion occur when we think that our work led us to being loved by God. Arrogance because we boast what we've done. Exhaustion because you have to keep it up. Second, whenever we don't realize we're saved for good works, there's despondency and just disappointment. When we don't walk according to the way of Christ, we do not get to enjoy the things of Christ. So as we begin this passage that is a high call to holiness, I want us to remember we're saved by faith and we're saved for works. We're not saved by works, we're saved for works. And then in this passage, there's another teaching in 1 Peter 1 that really draws us into the bigger picture. Peter says in 1 Peter 1 16, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. This morning holiness is our topic. And we're going to see it's, it's what we keep ourselves from that actually contributes to our holiness. Now if you're new with us, what we do is we try to go through books of the Bible. We're in the Gospel of Mark. If you're new and you don't have a Bible, you can pick the one up right in front of you. There should be a Bible in the pew. And our passage is found on page 1038. Page 1038. And we're looking at chapter 9, verses 42 and 50. Again, this section in Mark, there's different groupings of text. If you look at chapter 8, verse 22, there's a healing of a blind man. If you look at the end of chapter 10, verse 46 to 52, there's another healing of a blind man. These are bookends. This is what's called the great discipleship discourse. And this section of Scripture is preparing the disciples for how they're going to live after Christ has died, risen, and ascended. And there's three predictions of His death and resurrection that this section is organized for. So if you look at chapter 8, verse 31, He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and for three days rise again. Okay? Then there's a second prediction. And they went on from there, and Pastor Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know, and he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed after three days, he will rise. And then notice chapter 10, verse 32. and they're on the road going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus is walking ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed him were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, See, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And for three days, he will rise again. Here's the most central gospel truth that Jesus keeps teaching his disciples. He will die. He will rise again. Our teaching this morning has to be seen in light of that central truth of what Christ's work is. He dies for our sin. He rises again in new life. And then we've seen instruction for discipleship coming from his work. Verse 33 through 37. Last week we, we considered what gospel greatness was. It's serving others. It's, it's considering yourself least of all and serving others. And then we saw how it calls to a unity. This morning we're going to see that discipleship causes us, calls us to cut off sin. If you're following along with notes, our first point is the importance of holiness for others. We're looking at the high calling of holiness and the importance of holiness. It is not optional. Christians, we are called to be holy because our Savior is holy. The first thing we see in verse 42 is the importance of holiness for others. And, and before we get into that, I want you to, if you, if you heard as Cheryl read and as we look at this, there's a lot of just simple word patterns in the teaching here. This appears to be something Jesus would have taught regularly that, that Mark is, has gathered here. Here are the word patterns that if it causes then it's better. If it causes to sin or to stumble, it is better. And then the last section is really sprinkled with words of fire and salt. There's a lot of repetition here. These are things that Jesus, I believe, would rightly be repeating. We see the repetition of causing, and it is better in verse 42. 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. Now we need to make sure we understand the different parts of this this great warning. Whoever causes one of these little ones Now remember earlier in the passage, verse 36 of chapter 9, he's taken a little child and he's put the little child in the midst of them. It's possible he's pointing to the little one here, the child. That's very possible, but I also want to make sure we understand the important qualifying word, the little ones who believe. Whoever he's speaking of here is not just children in general, but it's speaking of little ones who believe in me. The young in faith. The new believers. They could be children, but they're those who are young in the faith. There are those who have a, who have not yet grown up to have a strong root system and a strong trunk to bear much fruit. No, they're, they're early in their, the early, the early growth, the sapling, the roots are not yet established. Okay, so the little ones who believe in me, someone who has said, I believe in Jesus and is striving to walk after him, who wants to learn how to walk after him, that's who he's speaking of. And the warning is, if you cause one of these young in the faith, little ones who believe in me, to sin. The little word here is to trip. If you cause them to stumble, right? So you can picture somebody running a race hard and fast, and then someone just putting their foot out and tripping them. That's the picture. Someone who has believed and they've set their way on the straight and narrow of Christ, they're seeking to run the race with joy, and someone comes along and trips them. Puts an obstacle in front of them. Makes them stumble. Causes them to sin. If you are an active agent in causing a young believer to sin, All right, that's the problem. Listen to what he says. It would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. Now the great millstone, this is one that's not the upper millstone where a human being would just kind of move it around and it would crush the grain. No, this is a great millstone, so heavy only a beast of burden could pull it. This is heavier than a human being. This is tons of weight. If you're going to cause a little one to stumble, if you're going to cause an obstacle, if you're going to have your life get in the way of someone walking in Christ, it would be better for you to sink deep into the depths of the sea. This is a severe, painful punishment. It's a warning that we have to realize that the way we live affects others, and it matters. The way we live and the way we would call stumbling among others is frightful, and there's a proper fear here to consider. Now, I wanna be very clear, this is a warning, not a prescription. The church doesn't look for someone they think should be stumbling and cause some kind of severe infliction. No, this is just a warning for self-reflection. You know, last week we considered that great call to move toward. Consider what true greatness is. Serve all. If you would be great, Be least of all. Be last. Serve all. That's a great gospel goal to move toward. And here we see a warning. You want to avoid this at all costs. Don't be the kind of person whose words, actions, trip up and cause to stumble other believers. This is really how Jesus is calling us to love one another, serve one another, be humble towards one another, live at peace with one another. It's important when we consider how our lives affect other believers, how Christ takes that personally. Just to kind of capture what goes on here. Remember in Acts when Saul is going around persecuting the church and he's on his way with a letter giving him full rights and privileges in Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to go persecute the church. Jesus stops in his tracks. What does he say to Saul? Why are you persecuting me? Jesus takes it personally. when his own people that he's bought with his precious blood are injured. Now at one level that's great comfort for us. God sees us. We are the apple of his eye. Anytime Israel was attacked he took it personally and brought justice. And so there's a great comfort for the believer that Christ, he sees it as such a personal affection that he has for us, that if we're persecuted, he's persecuted. But here it's a warning. If we're causing another to stumble, it would be taken as personal as if we're doing the same to Christ. This is supposed to bring great fear. Now, what does this look like? What would it look like to cause somebody to stumble? Because I don't think it's just putting your foot out and causing someone to physically trip. Here are some ways that you might, we might, cause a young believer to stumble. First, there's the direct invitation. Come and taste and see. Come and be part of the lie I want to spread. Come and be part of the gossip that I'm enjoying. Come and enjoy the love of the world. It's introducing them to something that's clearly sinful, and you're inviting them in to participate in your own sin, maybe to justify it. So there's the direct invitation. Then there's the indirect way we could cause someone to stumble. Flaunting what we have that might stir up jealousy. there's a way of exasperating children that, that I believe can cause them to stumble. Wives not submitting. Husbands not leading with love. Employers not, not, not caring. Employees not serving as unto the Lord. We can think about all those different roles, and how if we're not fulfilling our role, and our job, and our calling, it can, it can lead others to, to an indirect temptation. It could just be we're setting an ungodly example. When a young believer sees hypocrisy, right? It causes a confusion. What does that mean? When they look up and they see somebody they've admired in the faith, and they see them sinning, and they see the hypocrisy, it causes a confusion. I believe that's the kind of danger we need to be aware of and fearful of. Let me put it this way. Christians are not supposed to be stumbling blocks. The Gospel provides its own stumbling block. The Gospel itself, the cross, is the stumbling block. It shows us how sinful we are. It shows us how Christ had to come to die for our sin. That's the stumbling block. We're not supposed to be that. We confess our own sin. We're to seek forgiveness. We're to model this. So there's a few ways that we can avoid causing someone else to stumble. And I'm, I'm just trying to walk through Mark and what he's already said to us here. Don't try to be the greatest the wrong way. Rather, seek to serve as a model of the Gospel. That's just taking what Jesus taught us in Mark 9, 33 through 37. Don't, don't seek greatness according to the world, but seek greatness according to the Gospel. Second, don't, don't, don't, don't try to stop gospel work for selfish reasons. That's what takes place in Mark 9, 38 through 41. Rather pray and rejoice in what God is doing everywhere. Our own passage. Don't embrace sinful practices. Cut them out of your life. Well I do believe the passage focuses on young believers. I want to give us a warning. We need to remember the children are always watching. And I do think it matters greatly what they hear us talk about, how we talk, and how we treat one another. There is a warning of being a stumbling block to the little ones. The second point is it flows with the same language Verses 43 through 48. And here we just see the importance of holiness for life. Jesus goes from that relating to the other in a warning, and now it's relating to our own life and destiny. And just hear the words repeated. If it causes, it is better. If it causes, it is better. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter a life crippled than with two hands to go to hell and the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter a life lame with two feet to be thrown into the hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell where their worm does not die and fire is not quenched. Notice the shift. If you cause one of these little ones to stumble, then this is the warning and the danger you face. Here it's much more turned in towards us. If your hand causes you to sin, it is better if you cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, it is better if you cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, it is better if you gouge it out. The above passage regarding the little one was a warning, not a prescription. I believe this passage, verses 43 to 48, is saying the same truth in three different ways. It is a warning and a prescription. It is giving us a great warning, and it is telling us what to do. Cut sin off. Now, it sounds extreme. cutting your hand off, cutting your foot off, tearing your eye out. I want to be very clear that when it comes to sin, it would be nice if it were just that easy. If we really take sin seriously, and the way the heart gets twisted, and knotted, and the way the heart is deceiving, it would actually be nice if it were just as easy as cutting off a digit, or a member. He's getting to a hard spiritual truth here with this metaphor. It doesn't loosen this teaching that it's a metaphor. No, this hyperbole is supposed to heighten this to a fear of sin that your hand's not even worth keeping if it causes you to stumble. It doesn't loosen the teaching that it's a hyperbole or that it's metaphoric. It heightens it. It makes us aware. Now let's look at the three different kinds of consequences. Three different times he mentions it's better that you would enter life, okay, without your hand. You enter life, enter the kingdom of God. This is the first time kingdom of God seems to be a, a future reality. Remember Jesus starts the gospel saying the kingdom of God is at hand. But here the kingdom of God is that future eternal life. And the warning is you don't want to go grasping on the sin with two eyes, two hands, and two feet into hell, thrown into hell, thrown into hell where the worm does not die and the fire does not quench. He seems to be escalating the intensity of the punishment. Here, I believe this passage shows us there's two ways to live, and they each lead to two different destinies. There is two ways to live, and there are two basic outcomes. I want to affirm a statement. All roads do lead to God. Every path that you want to take, it will lead to God. But every path except for one is going to lead to a God who is judging you for the sins you've committed. You can choose whatever path you have. There are many paths out there. There are many promising paths. The self-effort path, the Hindu path, the Muslim path, the Mormon path. There are many different paths. And they all do lead you to God. Everyone will have to stand face to face before a holy and righteous God. And every path leads to God standing over you in judgment with wrath, except for the way of Christ. He uses the word here, hell. It's actually Gehenna. It was a literal place. It was a landfill on the outside of town, and they literally would burn garbage there. It was known as a place of destruction and burning. It was disgusting. You went there to throw trash away. No one wanted to stay nearby. And here he mentions the worm that doesn't perish in the fire, and the fire that is not quenched. He's giving us some word pictures that this is not a place you want to be for the rest of your life. There's a high warning. The stakes are significant. I want to just pause and maybe wonder. Maybe he's using a metaphor here with the fire and the worm. Because I don't think fire is actually what makes hell so unbearable for eternity for those who aren't in Christ? I believe it's our sin coming into direct contact with a holy God where there is no grace. Like right now, we live in a common grace time where we're not feeling the full press of God's glory hanging over, and God's perfect judgment hanging over our sin. But for eternity, if you're without Christ, I think it's going to be worse than if you were burning forever. Because the holy glory of God is going to come up against your sin, and it's going to have an eternal devouring of you. Be warned. But Jesus says there's a way to enter life. There's a second way. What Jesus calls the kingdom of God. We'll talk about this in a moment, but, but the warning is if, if you're living a life that's really trying to entertain the things of sin and the things of this world, you're, you're not going to enter into the place where you're enjoying God because you're setting your life against Him. Here it's important to remember again those two truths that we started with. We're saved by faith. It's a free gift. It's not earned. Coming to Christ does not require you to clean yourself up. Coming to Christ does not require you to fix yourself so that He would find you pleasing. No. Coming to Christ is coming and saying, I see my sin and I can't do anything about it. Christ, I need you. Coming to Christ sees a heart that is so deceitful, you can't figure it out. And you're coming and saying, I've sinned against you, Almighty God. Please forgive me. I can't help myself. I need help from you. What Jesus isn't saying, that if you clean yourself up enough, then He'll accept you. No. What He's, He's still, the invitation is clear. I'm going to die for your sins. I will rise again to give you new life. But if, if you're going to confess that I'm your Savior, and you're going to keep practicing sin, you're, you're just a liar. Sin must be seen for what it is. It's destructive. It's dangerous. What we see here in Jesus' passage is a simple, clear call to repent. Repentance is a necessary part of faith. It demonstrates faith. We don't see anything here different than I think we've already read in Colossians, put off the things of this earth, put on Christ, or Romans 8, where he says, mortify the flesh, or in 1 Peter 1.6, be holy for the Lord your God is holy. We see a high calling to holiness that requires repentance, and the stakes are high. There's one more thing I want us to consider in Jesus' greater teaching here. When we come back to Mark 7, he didn't say it's your eye that causes you to be defiled. It's not your foot that causes you to be defiled. It's not food you eat. What causes the defiling, what causes the uncleanness of our lives, it comes from our heart. This is what I want to say. It would be, it would be easier if you could just cut off a digit and, and be free of sin. But that's not the problem. The heart, the problem is, is internal. I believe if we were supposed to cut off a member in order to remove sin, it'd be the tongue. James says it's the one most untamable member of our body. With it, we're, we're supposed to be boasting of Christ, but we boast of ourselves. No, it's, it's the heart. What I believe he's getting at here is learning new thought patterns, being transformed in your mind. Learning new practices, learning how to get better at something that is actually glorifying the God. Learning new desires. Having your heart bent away from sin and self and back up to God. It's an extreme action that Jesus prescribes. Cut off your sin. Don't play with it. Flirt with it. Put it in a box for a rainy day. Think that somehow you have some kind of control that you'll just entertain it every now and then. No, it's to be cut off. To be put to death. When we think we have any kind of control over sin, it is then controlling us. You either kill sin, or it kills you. It's interesting as you think about, or as I think about temptation, it's the same thing we've always dealt with. It looks good to the eye. It must be good to taste. If you partake of it, your life will be enhanced. How could you say no? How could God not want you to enjoy this good thing and then you partake and shame sets in? It's the same pattern. The evil one has the same scheme. And as we look at it, it's simple. No, we've got to cut off the lie that says sin somehow is satisfying. We have to cut off the lie that somehow these desires are okay. We have to cut out the lie that these patterns of thinking and these practices are under our control. Now some could look at this passage and say you could lose your salvation. I don't believe that's what he's teaching at all. I don't believe you can lose your salvation if Christ has died for your sin. You will never be counted guilty for it again. But Christian, you can lose your joy. If you decide you want to entertain sin rather than delight in Christ who died for you, you can lose your joy. You can lose your assurance of salvation. You may even realize you're demonstrating that you were never truly saved and you need to truly repent Here Paul's warning in 1st Corinthians 6 beginning in verse 9 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God Do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanders, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Now if we stop there, there's no one in this room that's going to be in the kingdom of God. We're all guilty of some, if not all, those sins. We're all guilty of some element of those sins. Listen to what he says next. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed. sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God. What, what, what Paul is trying to capture here is the simple truth that if you've been washed from that lifestyle, you don't return to it and keep practicing that same pattern. Someone who tries to profess Christ and yet continues practicing that pattern of sin is a, is, is self-deceived. It's giving a false testimony of the Gospel. We should not assume we are kingdom bound if we are walking in the way of rebellion. This brings a terror. The kind of sin patterns we can easily embrace. Now let me set a different category here. If you're struggling with sin, that first Corinthians isn't speaking to you. It's a warning here, but if you're struggling with it, if you recognize this is sin, and I'm having a difficult time fighting it and overcoming it, that's not someone who joyfully, intentionally practices sin. If you're struggling it, if you're in the fight, brother, sister, persevere. Ask for help. Look to Christ. No, no, the warning of 1 Corinthians 6, the warning of Jesus is those who would say, I'm going to believe in Jesus and then I'm going to do whatever I want, however I want, and it doesn't matter. Recognize Jesus is prioritizing holiness because that affects our relationship with God. If we embrace Christ, we cut off sin. If we embrace sin, we're cutting ourselves off from Christ. Hear that warning and be terrified. Now, now, let me just give some very simple, practical instruction on what I believe it means to cut off sin. All right. First, you have to recognize it for what it is, and that it is destructive, not delightful. It will not satisfy you. The only way you will ever get to the point where you truly mortify sin, cut off sin, put off sin, is to see and recognize it for what it is according to God's Word and what it does to your own life. It's destructive. It's deadly. I've never seen anyone cut off sin who did not first come to that recognition. So this is where you need wisdom from above, eyes to see sin for what it is, destructive and deadly. Here's the second thing. Once you see it's destructive and deadly, that's when you have to start doing heart work. It's what I call untying the knot. You see, when sin sets in the heart, it, it twists it. It knots it up. It creates a system of lies and desires and thought patterns and practices, and the heart just gets twisted up. And we usually need help untying that knot. God's Word? Asking help from the Holy Spirit? A friend who can help us tell us truth and repent of the lies? We have to untie that knot first. Then we have to say, you know, I'm going to stop putting myself in situations where my heart gets knotted up quickly. I'm going to get accountability. I'm going to ask for friends to help me keep myself from those things that tie the knot up. Now I give you that list in that order because this is what I see too often. Someone sees how destructive sin is, and they go straight to accountability. Accountability is only helpful whenever you've gotten the heart untied to keep it from getting tied back up. Accountability can't keep a knotted up heart from sinning. Does that make sense? The heart has to be untied, the heart has to be unknotted, and then accountability keeps you from going back to that knottedness. That's simple reflection today. prayerfully consider, if I'm not regularly rejoicing in Christ, what sin needs to be cut off that I've embraced? As a simple prayer for us to reflect upon, after the service, to talk about. If I'm not regularly rejoicing in Christ, what sin is there that I've embraced that keeps me from regularly rejoicing in Him? What needs to be cut off? Or if you're wrestling with assurance, What sin did you decide wasn't worthy of repenting when that assurance started being tinkered with and messed with? Friends, we have to realize that some of the sin that we started our worship service with, none of us have clean hands and pure hearts. Christ leads us into worship because of His pure hands and clean heart. We follow Him. sinners following Him into that holy place of worship because of who He is in His perfect obedience and righteousness. We get to follow Him because of what He's overcome. And then we can rejoice that He's washed us. We can rejoice in His power to overcome sin, and we can start putting off sin with Him. And that is worship in the holy place of God. Finally, our last verse. Verse 49. Holiness for worship. Holiness for worship. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Now, the passage so far has been difficult because of the extreme metaphor, but these passages are interesting. How do they connect? He's introducing all new language of salt and fire. Well, they're repeated ideas. We want to make sure we understand there's a forward that he's connecting this passage with. Let's first look, fire is meant for purification. In the previous passage, fire was meant for a judgment, but here it seems to be a purification fire. And salt, it appears to be something that helps preserve life in this passage, and the seasoning. So we're taking these words and we're using them in a spiritual, metaphorical sense, according to their realities. When we think about how salt and fire relate together in this passage, I believe the best clue To understand what Jesus is doing here is it appears that he's alluding back to Leviticus 2.13, where there's a grain offering that is salted before it is burned. It appears that salt was a regular part of the sacrificial system. And there's a particular grain offering mentioned there that is a sacrifice of total devotion. The sacrifice of salt and fire in Leviticus, if that's what Jesus is alluding to, and I believe it is, it makes the most sense of the passage, is consecrating yourselves wholly unto God. What Paul would have called in Romans 12, presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice, or living the life that Christ has called us to. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. Verse 50. Salt is good. That's a great affirmation to start working with. Salt is good. But if the salt has lost its saltiness, how do we make it salty again? Now, don't worry. I have consulted a chemist on this. It appears scientifically. It is scientifically true. Salt cannot lose its saltiness. It is a stable chemical. It is a stable absolute that you actually can't take the saltiness out of salt. What actually happens is if salt is mixed with something, if it chemically binds with something else. In this day and age, there's a lot of salt with gypsum. It was worthless. In their words, it lost its saltiness. When the soul had bound itself, there was a chemical binding with another element, it was ruined and worthless and not good anymore. The spiritual picture is so clear. If we bind ourselves with something ungodly, it changes who we are. Paul warns us, if you lie with a prostitute, you're connecting and binding a prostitute to Christ. The warning is very clear. Be wholly consecrated. Be as pure as possible. This is where that exhortation. Have salt in yourselves. Be committed wholly to Christ to be as pure as possible. Untarnished. As pure as one could be. The more holy. Repenting of all sin. Put off that which might take away your saltiness. Do not be bound up with sin. Because that is our witness. The way Jesus actually uses the same teaching as in Matthew 5. We're supposed to be salt to the world. We're supposed to be a witness. We're supposed to be a seasoning that's attractive to the world. But if we connect ourselves with sin, if we bind ourselves with sin, we lose our effectiveness. Notice the last thing. Have salt in yourselves. I believe he's saying be as pure as possible. Do not be connected with a sin. Cut it off. And he closes it. Be at peace with one another. It says in this passage, beginning in verse 42, he thinks about the other, the little ones who believe. Here it's, be at peace with one another. There are some just sacred teachings we need to embrace at the church. The one another's. Serve one another. Love one another. Be kind to one another. Build up one another. Here it's simply be at peace. Be a peacemaker. Don't be easily offended. Be quick to reconcile. Be quick to forgive. Be the kind of believer who's constantly seeking to build up the peace of Christ, which is usually over against our own sin. If we want to be a salty church, and requires a pure love of Christ and a love for one another. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your kindness that you have sent your Son to die for us. We thank you for the assurance we have that our salvation is, has been completed by Him and what He's done. And Lord, let us be eager to walk in His ways. To deny ourselves. To carry a cross. To follow Him. To, to, to live the life of, of joy in Christ by committing ourselves to the good works He's prepared beforehand for us. Help us, Lord, to see the danger of sin. Help us, Lord, to see how it knots up our heart. Help us to see how we can keep ourselves from the dangerous circumstances that, that lead us into that sin. And help us, Lord, to find accountability and care from one another. so that we might rejoice in the life Christ has purchased for us. In his name we pray, amen.