Sunday, September 29 Sermon

Preacher: Rev. Maudelin Willock, Pastor
Message: Maintaining Saltiness.
Text: Mark 9:49-50
As Jesus continues to teach his disciples about the importance of inclusion over exclusion, he cautions them and us (today's Christians), that putting stumbling blocks in the way of another person (Christian or otherwise) who seeks to know Jesus and to do work for him, is a no-no. Jesus reminds the disciples that if someone is not against him, they are for him since the Holy Spirit brings fruit from what is done. Jesus wants disciples, who follow him, to allow the flavor of their lifestyle to be what flavors the relationship between people. In other words, telling another they must follow Jesus the way I do is not the point of why Jesus came and died for the sin of the whole world (John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life). In the two last verses of Mark 9:49-50, Jesus says: 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 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.”
What all this means, especially in these days of division and hate, is a renewed call for Christians and non-Christians to live in peace with one another and to allow Jesus to do the purging by fire. In the text (Mark 9:38-50) Jesus lines up two kinds of fire - the consuming fire of sin and the fire of exclusion that hyper-Christians use to destroy others and so leave them feeling worthless.
The first type of fire relates to Romans 6:23 - “the wages of sin as death,” while the other type of fire represents our attitudes of hate that deems some people unworthy to speak the name of Jesus that our response is to 'otherize' them to make ourselves feel better. When Jesus tells the disciples (and us) that "Salt is good" he wants us to understand the three purposes salt serves - (1) preservation (2) cleansing, (3) flavoring). As Christians, we tend to pick purpose 2 - wanting to clean up everyone but ourselves and so quickly forgetting our responsibility to preserve the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith (Galatians 5:22).
When we choose exclusion, we easily omit the flavoring properties of salt that is given to us by the grace of God to overpower the tastelessness around us so others can see their worth as people created in the image of God - worthwhile and worthy of a relationship with God.
My prayer for all who hear this message (Christian and non-Christian alike), is that Jesus’s death on the cross is for you. Jesus’ resurrection from the grace is for you and Jesus’ return is for you if you accept God's grace available to you, through faith in Jesus (Romans 5:1).
Jesus' death and resurrection have already been accomplished for us, therefore, what we need to do to experience the third and final act in the redemption process is Jesus' return - which has no set date (Matthew 24:30, Revelation 19:11-16).
Dear Listener, regardless of what you have done in the past, Jesus wants to forgive you and help you, by the Holy Spirit to maintain your saltiness. Jesus did the hard work already. Now he is standing at the door knocking and asking you to let him in (Revelation 3:20) at this moment he invites us to, “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…” (Hebrews 12:2) so by the Holy Spirit your saltiness returns so you can become one of the main ingredients in the flavoring needed in the dish of inclusion, respect, and peace this world needs.
CCRC will be delighted to walk with you through the process of deepening your belief in Jesus into a deeper relationship with God, as together, we live into Jesus' call to maintain our saltiness. You can email - [e-mail]. May God Bless you mightily. Amen.
Listen to the message here - • Sunday, September 29 S...