Mark 9:49-50; Rom. 6:12-14, Reigning in Life (4)

We have been seeing Jesus deal with His disciples about being great and what greatness in His kingdom.  We come now to what could be called the “practical application” of what He has taught them so far.  But before we look at this, let me repeat Rom. 6:12-14 and what it takes to “reign in life.”

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

First we are not to let sin reign in our mortal body.  Jesus has said this, telling His disciples it would be better to cut your hand off than to let that hand in some way cause you to offend in such a way that you reject Christ and go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched.  We must be ruthless with sin that, as with Cain, lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it (Gen. 4:7).  But then, Paul says, present yourselves to God.  That brings us to the end of Mark 9.

·       Greatness part 4, 9:49-50.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth (Mt. 5:13), just before He said that we are the light of the world and should let out light shine.  What is Jesus talking about here?  Everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.  Lev. 2:13 helps a lot.  And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering.  With all your offerings you shall offer salt.  Sacrifices were placed on the fire of the altar.  Most sacrifices were eaten by the priest and some also by the worshipers.  Thus, to all sacrifices salt was to be added.  Salt worked as a preservative and, thus, said something significant about God for whom the sacrifice was made, as well as the blessing of the sacrifice to those who partook. 

o   What Jesus was saying was, first, that we are to be sacrifices.  We “present ourselves to God” (Rom. 6:13) and “present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God” (Rom. 12:1).  In other words, we are on the fire of the altar, the altar being the cross that we bear as we follow Christ.  As an offering, we are to be the “salt of the earth,” blessing those who need Christ who are around us.  Sometimes we may bear the cross grudgingly, feeling sorry for ourselves, considering ourselves “the filth of the world” (1 Cor. 4:13, Paul said that).  But God’s intention is that we reign in this life, not allowing sin to rule over us but that by grace righteousness rules in our lives.  The end is that we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:14).  Or, as Christ said, that we have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.