When You Can't See Jesus

The question this Mark 8:22-26 asks us is simply this, what do you see when you look at Jesus? What do you see when you look at Jesus?

This miracle story only appears in Mark’s Gospel. Mark was the only Gospel writer to record this event, so he must have had some special purpose for doing so. And, well, it’s just a bit of a strange miracle isn’t it? It’s hard to think of another time when Jesus needed two goes at performing a miracle. He raised Lazarus from the dead with a simple command, He didn’t have to talk Him into it. He fed 5000 men with a boys lunch with a simple blessing, He didn’t have to have two or three tries at doing it.

I think Mark wrote down this miracle because he wants to help us know what to do when we’re like the man. When we don’t see Jesus clearly, what do we do?

The disciples, at this point, didn’t see Jesus clearly. Just before this miracle, in verse 21, Jesus said to them, ‘how is it that you do not understand?’ how have you seen me, and heard me for these years now, and you still don’t get it. But just after this miracle, in verse 26, Peter says that Jesus is the Christ. Now they see clearly. So I think this miracle, which really happened, is also a parable, a story with a meaning for you and I today.

This guys problem is our problem. He can’t see Jesus clearly. When he looked at the Son of God, He was out of focus and blurry. He was in the same position as the people that Peter mentions in verse 28. The people who thought Jesus was John the Baptist, or Elijah, or one of the prophets. And people, maybe some of us this morning, are in the same position.

I’m sure all of us can remember a time when we couldn’t see Jesus clearly.We couldn’t work out His will in a situation or we couldn’t see Him well enough to follow. Sometimes things get in the way of our relationship with Jesus don’t they, and we struggle to see Him. Sometimes it’s an activity or a hobby that becomes more important to us, and we fail to see Jesus clearly. Sometimes it’s a relationship that gets in the way, sometimes it’s work, sometimes we’re just lazy, but whatever it is, there are seasons in our lives when we don’t feel close to God, when we struggle to see Jesus for who He really is.

We’re confused, we’re joyless, we don’t know what to do. We want to commit to Jesus, we want to follow Him, but there’s something stopping us. When we look at Jesus, we don’t see the glorious Son of God, we see a tree.

So what’s the solution to the problem? Aren’t you glad Jesus always gives us the answer in His Word? Jesus isn’t like so many modern religions, or philosophies, or politics, that just point out problems and leave us by ourselves to face them. Jesus will take us by the hand, if we let Him, and lead us to the solution. Now, it may not be as quickly as we like, it may not be in our time, but it will happen.

This guy got alone with Jesus. He was taken outside the village, which, though small would have been full of people willing to stop and watch a miracle, full of the constant hustle and bustle of a fishing port. So he found Jesus, and got alone with Him.

Are you doing that?

Are you making time to be alone with Jesus in your daily life? are you looking at Him? If not, you’ll never see Him clearly. Are you desperate enough to see Jesus that you’ll set the alarm 30 minutes early to read the Bible? Do you want to see Jesus more than your favourite TV show, so you’ll turn it off and go to pray? When you have leisure time, what’s your priority? Is it seeing Jesus? Is it spending time with Him? Time with Jesus is never time wasted, it’s never time you’ll regret.

And he was honest about the problem. We have to be honest about how our Christian life is! Imagine what went through his head when Jesus asked him what he saw. Imagine the pressure. Jesus has healed everyone else, can’t I just say that I can see?’ But he was honest, and so must we be. Be honest with Jesus in prayer. Ask for His help, tell Him you wish you could see Him more clearly. Pray, I believe, help my unbelief. There’s no prayer that Jesus is so eager to answer as prayers that show our total dependence on Him! So ask Him for help. Be honest. Lord, I want to see, I want to serve, I want the joy of a close walk with you, but when I look at you, I see a tree. Don’t plaster on a smile, come to church and pretend everything’s ok for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. Be honest, ask for help!

And be hopeful. This guy didn’t throw his hands up in the air and tell Jesus it was no good. He didn’t think to himself, ‘well not even Jesus can help me, woe is me.’ No, he trusted in Jesus. He knew enough about Jesus to know that Jesus was capable, and Jesus was willing. He asked for help again, he was persistent. This is why Jesus encourages us to prayer like a nagging woman in Luke 18:1-8, or like a slightly rude friend in Luke 11. Don’t give up on Jesus. Beat His door down in prayer; wear Him out asking for help.

You understand what I mean. Your situation is never hopeless and Jesus is never helpless. So keep asking, do it again Jesus, try it again Lord.

And look at what happened as a result of these things. Verse 25 tells us that he saw every man clearly. Clearly! Not blurred anymore, he saw them with perfect vision. How sweet are the days when we see Jesus clearly. How wonderful are the moments when we know where to go and what to say, when we know we’re walking closely with the Son of God. How sweet it would have been for Peter, just a few verses later, to be able to say that Jesus was the Son of God.

So the question for us is, ‘do you see ought?’ what do you see when you look at Jesus? do you see Him in His glory in the Word, in prayer, in church, in communion? Do you look at Him and see the One for whom it is worth losing all things. Or do you see a blurred vision, an obscured vision? If that describes you, then you need help, but it’s help the saviour loves to give.

Mark 16: Resurrection Repentance

In verse 7 the angels give the women the specifics of the message. Read that with me. First of all we have to notice that they were to meet in Galilee not Jerusalem, because Jesus Kingdom is spiritual, not political. Why ‘and Peter,’ why is that detail important? Why does Jesus single Peter out above all the rest in this message? When was the last time Jesus and Peter saw each other? In the High Priest’s courtyard, as Peter was denying Him. When the trial was over, Peter had gone outside to weep. He was broken hearted over his betrayal, over the arrest of his teacher and best friend, he wept because everything he had trusted in for the last three years seemed to be in tatters. And he felt like it was his fault. Compare this with Judas. When Judas realized what he had done when he betrayed Jesus he went out and killed himself. There was no repentance.

So why ‘and Peter?’ Because Jesus wants to make sure that Peter knows he is still loved, he’s still part of the Kingdom. The Kingdom belongs to the repentant, the Kingdom belongs to those who know they mess up and whose only hope is in the mercy of Christ. Jesus wants Peter to know that He died for him, He died for those sins, He died to win Peter back. The Kingdom of God doesn’t belong to those who think they are perfect, but to those who know they are sinners. The resurrection changed Peter, it gave him another chance. Peter stands out at the end of Mark’s Gospel, just like he has all the way through. Peter never looks good in Mark, but Jesus always does, and at the end, Peter stands out to help us see what an amazing savior Jesus is.

Peter was given a second chance because of the  resurrection. Just like the women show us that the Kingdom belongs to the humble and obedient, Peter shows us that the Kingdom belongs to the repentant.
So does the Kingdom belong to you? That’s the way Mark finishes his Gospel. It’s funny that the story just stops isn’t it? Almost like Mark turns and faces us, forcing us to make or minds up. Remember Jesus message at the start of this Gospel was ‘repent and believe in the Gospel.’ Mark wants to know, have we done that, have we repented? Do we believe? Are we being changed by the resurrection?
That’s why the story ends here, because Mark wants us to think about the empty tomb. He wants us to realize that our sins have been paid in full by Jesus death on the cross, and that we can have new life, today, because Jesus walked out of the tomb. This new life is supposed to be marked by faithful obedience, like the women, and by repentance like Peter. And because Jesus is alive, anything is possible. Because Jesus is alive, we can have the power to repent, to turn away from any sin, no matter how much power we feel like it has over us. Because Jesus is alive, we can have the power to obey, even when we feel like it’s impossible. Because Jesus is alive, we are free to give up our tiny dreams and follow God’s will four our lives, knowing that whatever it is, it will be richer, deeper and better.

Mark leaves us with a stunning truth that changes the world, and changes our lives. Jesus is alive, anything is possible.

Mark 16: From Mourners to Messengers

Mark's Gospel is a story of eucutastrophe, and tonight, in the last 8 verses of Mark’s Gospel, we see the biggest eucutastrophe of them all, we see the most important moment in human history, and the most important moment of your life and my life, that happened two thousand years before we were born. Tonight we see with two women, the empty tomb.

One man is notably absent from Mark’s account. Jesus! We hear Jesus message from the angels, but we don’t actually hear of see Jesus. Why not? Because Mark’s point is that He is not there. Mark’s point is that the tomb is empty. Jesus has risen! The women came expecting to find a dead body, what they found changed them, and changed the world forever. Tonight’s question, and the question that Mark leaves us with is, ‘how does the resurrection change you?’ What’s different about you because of the resurrection.

Let’s read the first seven verses together, and see who these women were, and why it’s important. Three times in nine verses, in 15:40, 15:47 and 16:1 Mark is careful to identify who these women are. Why? Well these women were eyewitnesses of Jesus death and burial. They stood by the cross watching Him die and they followed Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb. And they’re back as soon as they can be on Sunday morning after the Sabbath. They are the only faithful ones left, they are the remnant of Jesus’ ministry. Right now, they are the Kingdom of God.

These women didn't come because they expected Jesus to have risen. Look at verse 1, they bought spices so that they might anoint Him. That was what you did to a dead body before burial, but they didn't have time on Friday, so as soon as they could they came to wash and cover Jesus’ body with spices. It’s amazing isn't it, how none of Jesus followers came to the tomb expecting to see Jesus rise. Mark tells us that Jesus taught about His resurrection three times, which, given how selective Mark is in what he tells us, probably means that Jesus told them about it again and again. But none of them came. I hope that encourages you, when you struggle to trust or understand Jesus, so did His disciples!

Look at verse 4, Mark tells us the stone has been rolled away. Matthew tells us in his Gospel that there had been an earthquake on Saturday that moved the stone. They look inside, and all the see is a young man, an angel. No Jesus. No wonder they were alarmed! The angel tells them what is going on, he tells them three words that will change the world. He has risen! That changes everything. The resurrection changes everything! These women are amazed, scared, and trembling. They literally can not believe what their eyes and ears are telling them. The angel tells them to pass on their message, and to gather the disciples in Galilee. Right now the fate of the whole world hangs on their shoulders.

Mark tells us they said nothing to anyone, but that can’t have lasted long. We know  from Luke that  eventually this news came bursting out of their mouths to Peter and John, and that they ran to the tomb. These women humbly and obediently spread the message about Jesus resurrection, and you and I have to do the same. These women were changed by the resurrection from mourners into messengers, and the resurrection must change us in the same way. Before we were saved, we had nothing to live for, now we have the greatest message in the world to share.

These woman were amazed by the resurrection and changed by the resurrection. Is the same true for us? Are we humble, obedient messengers? Calvin said that if our hearts are turned to the power of the resurrection, then, in our hearts, the cross of Christ will triumph over every evil. The resurrection changed these women externally. Their world had ended that first Good Friday, but now they have hope again. And as we think about Christ's victory over the grave, as we look at the empty tomb, we won't be able to stop this truth changing us as well. We'll be encouraged, because we'll know that the Father has accepted Christ's sacrifice. We'll be encouraged because we'll know that one day we'll never be tempted again, raised from our earthly bodies into His glorious body, and we'll be changed, because the very power to change us was unleashed by the resurrection. 

Keller and Tolkien on Happy Endings

I came across this while studying Mark 16 for Teen Church tonight.

Perhaps (our lack of appreciation for stories with happy endings) is the reason that Steven Spielberg was refused any Oscars until he stopped making movies with only happy endings, yet his fairy tale movies are his most popular by far. Critics observe this and scowl that, of course, 'escapist' stories will always be popular. 

But no less authority than Professor JRR Tolkien explains the adiding popularity of the stories that the critics disdain. He insist that people sense that happy endings are not escapist but somehow true to reality. In his famous essay 'on fairy stories' Tolkien expounds his view that the mark of the most satisfying stories is eucatastrophe. Katastrophe is the Greek word for a dramatic, world changing event, but what does Tolkien mean by eucatastrophe?

'The joy of a happy ending is not essentially escapist of fugitive...it does not deny the existence of a dycatastrophe of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance (eucatastrophe); it denies, in the face of mkuch evidence, if you will, universal final defeat, and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of this world, poingnant as grief...when the sudden turn comes we get a piercing glimpse of joy and hearts desire, that for a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the very web of the story, and lets a gleam come through.'

Tolkien argues that people sense such stories point to some underlying Reality. As we read of watch them, we are being told that the world certainly is filled with sorrow, pain and tragedy, but nonetheless, there is meaning to things, there is a difference between good and evil., and above all there will be a final defeat of evil and even an escape from death, which Tolkien says is the quintessential happy ending. 

The Reason For God, Tim Keller, Pp226-227.

Update: I'd written about this before, as has my friend Cat Caird.

Ironies at the Foot of the Cross

In Mark 15 verses 21-32, and see that God’s ironies tell us what Jesus will do. God’s ironies tell us what Jesus will do. What is irony? Mark uses a form of dramatic irony in these verses as he records people speaking better than they knew. The three voices we hear in these verses think they are mocking Jesus, but actually, they’re telling the truth about Him. These ironies show us what Jesus will do. We hear the first voice in verse 26, read that with me.  When someone was crucified they had a sign hung above their head detailing what their crimes where. It might have said ‘murder,’ or ‘treason.’ Jesus crime according to Pilate was that He was the King of the Jews. No doubt Pilate put this sign up to embarrass the Jews. The Jews themselves, those who arrested Jesus would have hated this. But Jesus really was the King of the Jews, the King of the new Kingdom. The King that David had been promised, the King that Judah had been promised, the King that the Jewish leaders should have been looking for. The King they needed but didn't want. The King that would have set them free from themselves. The King of the Jews, hung on a cross, cursed by God. 

We hear the second voice in verse 29. Remember all the way though Mark’s Gospel, the claim that Jesus made early in His ministry, recorded in John 2 that if the temple was destroyed He would rebuild it in three days was something that people used against Him. People now insulted Him by saying, in effect, if you’re so clever that you can rebuild the Temple in three days, you ought to be able to get yourself off the cross. But again, this is irony. Jesus is The Temple, the real temple, the real place where man can meet with God. He is the Temple, the meeting place because He died. Mark shows us this truth again in the immediate aftermath of Jesus death . In verse 38, just after Jesus breathes His last Mark cuts away from Golgotha and takes us into the Temple. There he shows us the curtain, the thick, richly-woven, heavy curtain the symbolized mans separating from God being torn in two. Now if you want to meet with God where do you need to go? To Jesus? And when? Whenever you need to. You're invited by His nailed scarred hands. 

We hear the final voice in this section in verse 31. They admit that He saved others. He gave sight to the blind and legs to the lame. But now look at Him. Naked and nailed to the cross, totally hopeless. He can not save Himself they joke. What a fraud Jesus is. Except, there’s more irony here isn’t there.  It’s simply because He saved others that He can not save Himself. It’s because He’s dying on the cross for sin that He can save others from sin.

Mark uses the ironic comments of the passers-by to teach us that Jesus will be the King of a renewed Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. This has been Mark's message since the first verse of his Gospel. That he brings good news about the Son of God. This is how the King is crowned, and this is how the Kingdom works. IN the darkest of nights, there is light, in the worst circumstances there is hope, though the King wears a crown of thorns, He really is the King. There are mysteries in the Christian life, and ironies. But the King makes everything beautiful in it's time...

Hope Filled Risk

⁴² And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 

Have you ever wondered what Joseph was up to?

It was the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. And not just any Sabbath, the Sabbath after Passover. It would have been some time after 3pm, and the Sabbath started at sundown, maybe 6pm. He had at most three hours to gain Pilate's permission to take Jesus body down, work out a way to take it down, wrap it up and deliver it to the tomb he had ready. He couldn't handle a corpse on the Sabbath without becoming unclean, and he knew that. he'd have to work quickly. It was risky.

Joseph was a respected member of the council. He was risking more than being unclean on the Sabbath, he was risking his very life. He'd either kept his mouth shut in the night time trial, or perhaps more likely, they'd not included him in the plans, as a known Jesus sympathizer. But he knew that the scorn of men was worth less than the scorn of God. He'd been looking for the Kingdom of God and he was pretty sure he'd found it. He was going to take care of Jesus body, he was going to identify with the Nazarene. It was risky.

But why take the risk?

Joseph would have known his scriptures. He would have known Psalm 22. He'd have known the hope of the God forsaken, and would have known the ultimate hope of the ultimate God forsaken. He'd have known that all the ends of the earth would come and worship the Lord, he'd have known that Jesus righteousness would be proclaimed to a people as yet unborn, that He has done it. He knew, perhaps through a glass darkly, the hope of the resurrection. So filled with this hope, he took probably the greatest risk of his life.

When we know the One who holds time, when  we know the One who sustains the universe, risk is right. In fact, there's not even really such a thing as risk. He knew that a life lived without hope filled risk in the resurrected Saviour was a life not really worth living.

Joseph, filled with hope went to get Jesus, and gave Him the burial He deserved. What might we achieve, filled with the same resurrection filled risky hope?

And Love Your Neighbour (Mark 12:28-44 Pt 2)

That’s why loving Jesus shows that we’re saved, but why does loving others show that we’re saved? Jesus gives us two reasons. A positive example in verses 41-44, but first, a negative example in verses 38-40. Let’s read those verses together READ. What do the scribes like? They like honor, they like greetings, they like attention. They like to come first. They can’t put God first, because they are putting themselves first. They want the greetings and the seats of honor. These men want everyone to know who they are, they want to come first. Them. Not God. They can’t love God because they love themselves too much.

Maybe sometimes we’re like that. We want attention, we want the praise, we want the focus to be on us and our achievements. The scary thing is that these scribes would have totally agreed with what Jesus said to the scribe in our first passage, but it didn’t make any difference to their lives, and they were far from the Kingdom of God. They did not love God. They made long prayers that everyone loved, but because they were for show they meant nothing, they fell to the ground like a lead balloon. So will your prayers if they are for show and not for God. They devoured widow’s houses. That doesn’t sound great does it? They exploited widows instead of helping them, making money off their poverty, rather than helping them as they were supposed to do.

This should scare us a little bit. These guys looked great to everyone. They followed all the rules, did their devotions, never missed a youth activity, were always in Sunday School, but Jesus condemns them, because in their hearts they were first, not God. James tells us that faith without works is dead. This is what he means. All the good works in the world mean nothing if God is not first in your heart.

If you come first in your life, God can not come first in your life. real faith, Kingdom faith, saving faith puts God first, and puts others first. It doesn’t think of itself very often, it thinks of God and others a lot.

Saving faith looks like the widow we meet in verses 41-44. READ. The two coins she put in the offering plate were worthless. Together they were 1/64th of a days wages for a builder. They would have made no difference to the running of the Temple, but they would have made a huge difference to her life is he’d kept them. Jesus tells us that she put in all she had to live on. What was she going to do the next time she got hungry? She had thrown away her life for the sake of God, and others.

This is what Jesus wants us to see as a real example of someone who is saved.

She had real devotion, not pretend prayer. She didn’t wait for her house to be devoured, she put God first, and gave everything to Him. can we say the same? We may not think we have much, but do we give to God what we do have? Are our plans different because of Jesus? They should be. This women would have known that her pennies were basically worthless, but she knew that in the Kingdom of God nothing is worthless. Whatever gift, or talent, whatever you can offer, can not be worthless, if you give it to God.

So to go back to our question at the beginning. How can i know i’m saved? You can know you’re saved if your life has a single devotion in it to put God first.

Putting God first means putting others first, and it means putting yourself last. It means that, as we saw last week, we give to God what is His. That means everything.

 

It means that we know faith in Jesus is better than sacrifices and burnt offerings, because Jesus sacrifice is better. It means we have a faith in Jesus that puts others first, rather than ourselves. It means that we have a faith in Jesus that gives Him everything we have, no matter what it’s worth.

It means that the Christian life is always about someone else before it’s about you. The Christian life is about God, and then it’s about others. So what is your life about? What is the focus of your life? That’s how you can know whether or not you are really living in the Kingdom, whether or not you’re really saved.

Love God (Mark 12:28-44 Pt 1)

Life is full of important questions isn’t it? Is it safe to cross the street? Will my teacher mind if i don’t do my notecards, does she like me back? One day those questions will become ‘should i cheat on my tax return,’ and ‘should i ask her to marry me.’ Some important questions change, and some stay the same. How do i know that i’m really saved is one of those that will always stay the same.

How do i know if i’m really saved? We all need an answer to that question. How do in know that i now live in the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of the world. Has the Kingdom broken out in my heart?

 

That’s more or less the question that the scribes asks at the beginning of our passage tonight. ‘what is the most important commandment of all,’ he asks. What is life like in the Kingdom? Remember we’re still in the temple, this is the same conversation that follows on from last weeks dispute with the religious leaders. Jesus cursed the Temple two weeks ago, and with it denounced religion. Jesus cursed the temple leaders last week, and with it denounced religious people. People who think that they can earn God’s favour, and get God to do what they want Him to by the way they act.

 

The scribe asks a genuine question. He’s not like the Saducees with their marriage in Heaven nonsense question, or like the Pharisees and the Herodians who are trying to catch Him out. He really wants to know. And because he really wants to know, Jesus will give him a straightforward answer. Jesus will never turn away anyone who genuinely seeks Him.

 

So what is the most important commandment? Look at verses 29-31 with me. READ. Jesus tells the scribe that most important things we can do in the Kingdom of God, the best way of knowing that we’ve saved is that we love God, and we love others. Jesus puts these two side by side. He says that if you love others but don’t love God, then your love for others is worthless. He says that if you love God but don’t love others then your love for God is worthless. Jesus says ‘there is no commandment greater than these.’ So how do you know that you’re saved? What is the most important thing that we have to do? Love God, and love other people.

This is worth more than sacrifices and burnt offerings. An amazing thing to say in the Temple, which was built for sacrifices and burnt offerings. Why is love to God and love to people better than sacrifices and offerings? because of what Jesus makes us think about in the next couple of verses. Look at 35-37 with me. The tables are turned here, as now Jesus is the one asking the questions. How can the Messiah be the Son of David, which is one of the few titles that Jesus accepts in Mark’s Gospel, and the Lord of David, as His quotation from Psalm 110 says? This is the great glory of the Gospel. Jesus is descended from David, He’s David’s Son, He is like David, He will rule over the Kingdom of God. But He is also the Lord of David, and will rule over a Kingdom much different from earthly Israel. He rules over the heavenly Kingdom of God that will never end.

 

Jesus offering is better than our offering, and we need to have faith in Him, and Him alone. Jesus will have victory over His enemies, and sit at God’s right hand, so we’d better make sure that we love Him and have faith in Him alone.

Jesus Vs Religion (Mark 11:12-26)

Mark’s Gospel is about the Kingdom of God coming. Mark’s Gospel is all about the King of that Kingdom coming. You would maybe think that when God’s chosen King, Jesus, came to God’s chosen city, Jerusalem, He’d be welcomed and adored. And last week we saw that he was. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Monday the city went crazy, until Jesus slipped away, and went to inspect the Temple, and then went back to Bethany. Tonight’s passage covers the events of the Tuesday before Jesus is arrested on Friday morning.

The religious leaders of the Jews had been trying to kill Jesus since 3:6, they’ve been plotting to destroy Him, and His arrival into their city, onto their patch hasn’t helped calm them down any. Here, Jesus contention with the Pharisees steps up another level, and as it does, we learn something vitally important about the Kingdom of God, and about it’s King. We learn that life in the Kingdom is about a relationship, not about religion. About love, not about works. Tonight we’ll see Jesus condemn religion, and show us two things that real faith in God is based on.

First of all, in verses 12-21, we see Jesus condemn religion. What is religion? Religion is any system, or anything we do that we think makes God approve of us. For the Jews it was animal sacrifices, which were given to Moses to show him the need for a saviour, but by Jesus’ time had been turned into something corrupt and sinful. For us it can be anything. Our church attendance can be religious, if we feel like it makes Jesus love us more. Our Bible reading can be religious if it makes us feel like Jesus approves of us. Not committing sins that ‘they’ commit can make us religious, if it makes us think we are better than whoever they are. Here, Jesus condemns religion. Here, Jesus puts religion out of business. Let’s see how.

In verse 12, He’s hungry, He’s skipped breakfast to spend more time in prayer, and He sees a fig tree with no fruit on it, and curses it. How often have we opened the fridge at home and not found the food we were looking for and wish we could curse the fridge?! Well here that’s what Jesus does! But why? And why does Mark tell us about this? Well if you look at this passage you’ll see that Mark puts Jesus visit to the temple in the middle of the story about the cursing of the fig tree. Jesus is showing us what’s wrong with religion by showing us what’s wrong with the fig tree. It had leaves but no fruit. It looked good, but there was nothing worthwhile on it’s branches. We can say exactly the same thing about religion. It looks good, but it’s dead. The Temple in Jerusalem looked good, but there was nothing good there, no life there. Our religion, whatever it may be, looks good, but there is no life there. Jesus condemns religion as He curses the fig tree. Religion does not produce life, and therefore it is worthless.

Then Jesus heads to the Temple. Remember it’s Passover, and maybe as many as two million people have come to the city to take part in the festival. These people had foreign money that needed changing, and needed to buy animals to sacrifice. All this business took place at the Temple. It started as a good service, people didn’t have to bring a lamb with them when they travelled, they could buy one when they got there. People had to offer Jewish money in the Temple, so they could buy some with their Syrian or Egyptian money when they arrived. Except by Jesus time this had turned from a religious help into a money making scheme for the priests. Animals were sold at extortionate prices, money was exchanged at a 400% mark-up, meaning that if you gave $2 you’d get 5c back. This is what Jesus confronts as He enters the Temple. This is why there were money changes, and pigeon sellers and people carrying things through the Temple. And Jesus stopped them all.

Imagine how powerful, how influential Jesus must have been to shut all this down by Himself. To let all the animals loose, to stop all the buying and selling, to stop anyone bringing anything through the Temple. I would’ve loved to have seen it. And why was Jesus doing all this? Because of what he says in verse 17: ‘is it not written by house shall be a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. Jesus quotes from Isaiah to remind His listeners of the real purpose of the Temple, which is to meet with God. It’s a place for all people to come together and pray and worship and thank God. This is how we can know whether or not what we’re doing is from religion or from faith. Does your Bible reading bring you closer to God, or just make you feel better about yourself? Does coming to church bring you closer to God, or do you just come to stop feeling guilty? Are you faithful, or religious?

Jesus shows us the religion is not only fruitless, but also corrupt. Not only does it not produce good fruit, like joy, peace and patience, but it produces bad fruit like pride and greed. So are you joyful and patient or proud and greedy? That answer goes a long way to demonstrating whether you’re faithful or religious.

On the way back out of town that evening, they pass by the fig tree once more and Peter notices that it has withered. Just like the cursed Temple is finished so is the cursed fig tree. No fruit will ever come from the tree again, just like no fruit will ever come from the Temple again. The Temple was destroyed, never to be rebuilt, about forty years later in 70AD.

Why does Jesus do this? In Amos 4:9, God says this to His people: ‘I struck you with blight and mildew, your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the Lord devoured, yet you did no return to me, declares the Lord.’ Jesus does this so that His people might return to Him, and how can we do that? Jesus shows us two things that real faith is based on in verses 22-25, read them with me.

First of all, real faith is based on dependence. Jesus doesn’t teach us here that prayer give us super powers, but that in a crisis, and in fact every day, we rely on Jesus, not on religion. We turn to Jesus and ask for help, we turn to Jesus and ask for guidance and wisdom and forgiveness. Religion doesn’t do those things, Jesus does. He promises the disciples that the Temple would be destroyed, but they have to wait 40 years for it. They have to depend on Him. He makes promises to us that we have to wait for.

Do you depend on Jesus? Or on your religious works?

The Lord sums up His attack on religion in verse 25. Simply, if we want to live in the Kingdom of forgiveness, we must forgive. If the Temple was supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, it would first have to be a place of forgiveness. If you and I are going to be forgiven by God, we’ll have to forgive others. Are you forgiving? Do you forgive? Or do you hold grudges to make yourself feel better about life? Do you forgive? Or religiously hold up a standard that no one can maintain.

In Mark 11:12-26 Jesus attacks the Temple, and with it attacks every form of religion that we care to mention. But let’s not feel smug and think that we have it right. That’s the heart of the religion that Jesus was attacking and condemning. Instead let’s examine ourselves, and ask God to reveal our motives. Why do we do what we do? Why do we read the Bible? Why do we go to church? Because we have faith in Jesus? Or because we are religious? And let’s ask Jesus for help. Help not to be proud, but help to be dependent on Him. We can’t get to God in any other way except through Jesus, and we come to Jesus through faith, not religion.

The Disappointing Entry

What do you do when Jesus disappoints you? What will you do when something you’ve got planned, something that you want, doesn’t work out? How will you react when you feel like Jesus has let you down? These are questions that we’re left to ask ourselves at the end of Mark 11:1-11.

To understand this, we have to understand what it was the disciples, and by the sounds of tonight’s passage, a large number of the crowd, thought Jesus was going to do. They believed He was the Messiah, which He was, and they thought He was planning to set up a Kingdom, which He was, but they thought that this would be an earthly Kingdom. They thought that Jesus was going to go to Jerusalem and kick out the Roman armies and set up another Kingdom of Israel, bigger and better that the one we read about in the OT. Mark 11:1-11 is a story of messianic and nationalistic fervor, rather than real faith in Jesus.

We have entered Jerusalem, and with it the last week of Jesus life. Mark takes about a third of his Gospel telling us about the last five days of Jesus life, we’ll spend about ten weeks going through it.  Mark 11 happens on Monday, and it’s important for a couple of reasons that we understand the timeline of Jesus last week. On Saturday Jesus arrives at the house of Mary and Martha, this is when he raised Lazarus from the dead, which you can read about in John 12. Then On Sunday the crowds come to Bethany to see this man raised from the dead, which brings us to Monday, which we read about this evening. On Tuesday He cursed the fig tree and returned to the temple, of Wednesday He confronted the religious leaders and preached about His second coming, on Thursday He celebrated Passover, and on Friday He was arrested. Why does a timeline of events really matter? Well, on the Monday of Passover week, the 10^th of Nisan, the Passover lambs were selected and brought into the city, then they were killed on Friday, the 14^th of Nisan. Jesus, the ultimate Passover lamb, entered the city on the 10^th and was killed on the 14^th. One more cool thing. Daniel 9:23-24 promises that it will be 483 years from the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the appearance of the Messiah. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem in the 483^rd year after the walls were rebuilt! That’ll be important in our Sunday morning study in Revelation as well soon.

So let’s look at Jesus, and let’s look at the crowd and then let’s look at us, and how we react when Jesus disappoints us. Verses 1-6 tell us about the preparation, verses 7-10 tell us about the entry, and verse 11 tells us about the surprise.

So let’s look at verses 1-6, the preparation.  What do we learn about Jesus? What does Mark want us to think about ourselves? Jesus needs a colt, a small horse or donkey to ride into the city, so He tells two of His followers to go and get it. Jesus knows exactly what the owners of the colt will say when they see two men taking their animal away, and gives the men an answer, ‘the Lord has need of it.’ This is slightly ambiguous, but it seems to work, perhaps the men who owned the colt were believers. Mark spends so much time in his introduction to the last week of Jesus life, and goes into so much detail about it, because he wants us to understand that Jesus is totally in control of everything that’s happening. Sometimes you’ll hear people saying that the cross wasn’t the plan, but God made the best of a bad situation. Sometimes you’ll hear people say that Jesus didn’t know what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem, or that He was a victim of fate. Mark wants us to kill these ideas dead. Jesus knew where His animal was, knew what the problem would be, and knew what His followers would have to say to get it. Jesus is in control.

Remember that when you’re disappointed, when plans don’t go your way. Remember that Jesus is totally in control. He hasn’t dropped the ball, and He hasn’t forgotten you. He knew about the colt…His eye is on the sparrow, and His eye is on you.

That’s the preparation, lets look at the entry itself in verses 7-10. There’s so much detail and fulfilled prophecy in these verses! First of all, Jesus rides a colt into the city to fulfill Zechariah 9:9. In that verse the coming King is described as righteous and bringing salvation, humble and riding on a donkey. Another prophecy about Jesus, Genesis 49:11 talks about the King who all nations would obey riding a donkey. That’s Jesus! Cloaks are thrown on the road as a symbol of obedience to the King, and wave palms as a symbol of rejoicing in the King. You see what I mean? This would have been a noisy, joyful parade full of singing and dancing. People who were coming to Jerusalem for Passover would have been carried away in this joy, the Messiah was coming. And look at what they shouted in verse 9 and 10 READ. Hosanna literally means ‘save’ or ‘save me now.’ It’s a shout of joy and praise to God. The crowd call Jesus the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the one who will take David’s throne.

Why does this happen? Because Jesus is in control. He knows that by Friday He needs to be on the cross, so He needs to stir up the Jewish leaders to do something. They had been slow to act their plan against Jesus so far, but now, Jesus knows it’s time. The crowd welcome Jesus to Jerusalem as the Messiah, as God’s warrior King who would set them free and rule for them. They were delighted in Jesus and expectant of the great works He was about to do.
You’d expect verse 11 to be the start of a war wouldn’t you, a gathering of troops, people getting ready for war. But what happens? Jesus goes to the Temple, apparently alone, looks around, and then goes back to Bethany. What an anti climax. Parades are supposed to go somewhere aren’t they? There’s supposed to be a finish to them. It seems like Jesus just slips away, wanders into the temple and then goes home. There would have been about two million people in the city at this point, so he would have been able to disappear quite easily, but why?
Because He has a different plan from the crowd. They wanted victory, He’s going to die, they wanted an Earthly Kingdom, He’s going to establish a Heavenly one, they wanted praise, He offers them shame. Mark shows us Jesus going to the temple, alone, at the end of this huge parade, because He’s preparing us for what’s next, he’s preparing us for the cross. He’s preparing us to be disappointed.

In just a few days, from Monday to Friday, the crowd that rejoiced and shouted hosanna would revile and shout crucify. Jesus would disappoint the crowd so they would turn on Him. What will you do when Jesus disappoints you? When His plans aren’t your plans, what will you do? Will you turn your back on Him and cry ‘crucify’? or will you trust Him? If you don’t get the college, or the grade, or the job, or the girl that you want, what will you do? When life seems full of nothing but problems, when it seems like Jesus plan is not working, what will you do?

We must trust that Jesus is always doing something better. The crowd and the disciples wanted an earthly Kingdom, but Jesus was doing something better. You want things from your life right now, Jesus wants better things for you. Probably harder things, definitely better things. When life isn’t turning out the way you planned, will you trust Jesus? These are the two options everyone has. You either give your whole life to Christ, asking Him to be the King of your life and decisions, of your plans and your dreams, or you crucify Him.

The Magic Gospel Bullet

Which famous Christian celebrity would you like the be discipled by? Paul? Augsutine? Calvin? Piper? Or how about Jesus Himself.

Of course, that's a bit of a false dichotomy, but in Mark 8:22-10:52 we find Jesus' private discipleship lessons, remembered by Peter, recorded by Mark, and given to us. Think of it! In these chapters we get to wander around Galilee with Jesus, listening in to some of His most intimate and important teaching, before striking off south, face set to Jerusalem.

Mark bookends these lessons with two stories of Jesus healing the blind. First of all in chapter 8 there's the man who sees trees walking. This was a real event that really happened, but it's also a parable. When the disciples looked at Jesus, they saw a tree walking. They saw Him feed five thousand men with a boys lunch, and then worried about where they were going to get bread. They looked at Jesus and didn't get it. If He's the Messiah, where His sword? More importantly, if He's the Messiah, where is our sword?

In this section Jesus predicts His death and resurrection three times, and three times the disciples misunderstand. Peter is often at the forefront of the misunderstanding, at least initially. It seems Jesus closest friend was not one to retweet compliments. Jesus says i'm going to be handed over to men, who'll treat me shamefully. The disciples argue over who is the greatest. Jesus says He'll be mocked, spat on and flogged. James and John wonder if they can sit either side of Him when He turns the Temple Mount into the centre of His earthly Kingdom. They don't get it. Even after Peter's great confession, even after the transfiguration, they still look at a man, and see a tree.

I wonder if Jesus was frustrated with them. He was certainly indignant when the twelve tried to turn away a child. Here's the great encouragement for me from these verses. Jesus was in charge of these guys discipleship, and they still grew slowly. They still misunderstood, they still didn't get in. Very shortly the leader of their group would cut a guy's ear off! Next time, when i feel like i'm failing in the same area for the hundredth time, or helping someone else who has, i need to remember that.

Everyone's Christian growth is normally incremental. Sure, there are times when growth occurs like a bolt of lightening across the night's sky, but it's more often like the sunrise. I was thinking yesterday how much i wished there was a magic bullet for Christian growth, but how, at the same time, i'm glad there isn't. As Jesus keeps teaching slowly their eyes opened as they learnt to depend on Him. The final increment didn't fall into place until the ascension, but their eyes opened in the end.

And so will everyone's eyes, yours and mine included. One day, we won't look at Jesus and see a tree, one day we'll be like Bartimaeus, the living example of what Mark 10 is about. Committed enough to stand out from the crowd, humble enough to ask for help, his only ambition to follow Jesus into the last week of His life. Slowly but surely, as Christ Himself disciples us, God's Word will do God's work, our eyes will be opened. We'll see, and we'll follow.

Kingdom Life (Mark 9:30-50)

Mark’s Gospel is about the Kingdom of God. Mark’s desire in writing is to show us how the Kingdom of God breaks in, how all Heaven loose around Jesus. But the Kingdom of God doesn’t just involve Jesus, although He is the King. The Kingdom also involves everyone who Jesus saves, the Kingdom of God involves us. There is a way to live that shows that we are part of the Kingdom, a way of living that shows our hearts have been changed by what God has done through Jesus Christ. Tonight’s question is what is Kingdom living about? What should the lives of people who live in the Kingdom of God look like? How should your life as a Christian be different because of what Jesus has done for you?
Remember we’re in the middle of a sequence of three predictions by Jesus of His death and resurrection, followed by misunderstandings by the disciples, followed by Jesus teaching about Kingdom life. So what discipleship lessons do we learn tonight? What three things does Jesus teach His disciples, and us, about Kingdom living tonight? First of all we see that Kingdom living is about the cross, we see that kingdom living is about others, and we see that Kingdom living is about sacrifice.

So first of all, in verses 30-32, we see that Kingdom living is about the cross. This is Jesus final sweep through Galilee, before He heads south to Jerusalem where He will be crucified in about six months time. This is no longer a public ministry, large crowds are no longer gathering to listen to Him, they’ve rejected Him. These are private lessons from Jesus to His disciples, and you and I get to listen in. One again Jesus is teaching them about His death and resurrection. The ‘son of man,’ that’s Jesus favourite title for Himself from the book of Daniel, ‘will be delivered,’ will be given up or handed over to men who will kill Him. Just think for a moment. Jesus uses the most glorious tiutle in the Bible, the Son of Man, and says He will be given to men, to kill Him. Given by who? Given by God? The Bible is clear that throughout Jesus arrest, trial and crucifixion, He was in control. Peter tells the crowd in Acts that Jesus was delivered up according to God’s plan. The disciples can neither understand a Messiah who get killed, nor a rising from the dead. And they were afraid to ask Him, possibly because they didn’t want to know what Jesus dying meant for their own plans.

We have to see that Jesus death and resurrection is at the centre of Kingdom living, at the centre of Christian life. Without the cross and empty tomb, there is no Kingdom, and without Christians being changed by these things, there can be no Christian living. It’s because of what Jesus has done that our lives can be different. So how different are your lives because of the cross? How does Jesus death impact the way you live? The things you do? The decisions you make? Mark will show us two ways that the cross should affect us, but we have to remember that our lives should be different because of what Jesus has done for us. Kingdom living is about the cross.

In verses 33-42, we see that Kingdom living is about others. It’s amazing isn’t it that shortly after Jesus told them He was going to be arrested and killed, they were arguing about which one fo them was the greatest. The debate would probably have turned into a heated discussion before too long. No wonder they were ashamed to admit to Jesus what they were talking about. Their minds were still stuck with a worldly mindset, still focused on what they could get out of Jesus for themselves, they weren’t thinking about others. In these nine verses, mark shows us three ways that life in the Kingdom is about others. First, Jesus takes a child in His arms, and tells them that when they receive a child, they receive Him. Children were considered the least important members of a society that was obsessed by importance. But Jesus says Kingdom life is about treating unimportant people well, about not getting caught up in who is more important, but treating all people equally. And when the disciples welcome a child, Jesus tells them they welcome God Himself. Secondly, Jesus teaches them that the smallest act of service done for others is worthy of the Kingdom. There’s not much that sounds less important that getting someone a drink, but if we do this Jesus tells us that we ‘will by no means lose our reward.’ That’s an amazing statement! We’re not to get caught up in who belongs to which group, but we are called, in the life of the Kingdom, to serve people in any way that we can. And thirdly we see in verse 42 that we are to live for others by helping younger Christians, not hindering them. We are to serve and love new converts, and not treat them like second class citizens.

Jesus teaches us that in friendship, in service, and in love, the Kingdom life is about others. And finally, Kingdom life is about purity. Read verses 43-50 with me.

What Jesus is and is not saying is pretty clear here. Jesus is not saying that Kingdom living is about literally cutting off your hands and feet. People have done that over the centuries, but they have discovered that, as the Bible teaches, their hands or their feet are not the problem. But Jesus is saying that we must be radical in our battle with sin. We must fight sin with all our might. Why? Because look at the alternative. Jesus says that if we are not fighting sin with this sort of intensity, if we are not getting radical in our pursuit of purity, then Hell is our eternal destination. So get radical. If the tv in your room causes you to sin, get rid of it, if unmonitored internet access causes you to sin, get rid of it, if a friendship causes you to sin, it’s got to go, music, tv shows cut them off. Get radical for purity. What are you afraid of? Hebrews 11:6 tells us that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

And as we make these sacrifices, Jesus promises us that He will be with us. That’s what verse 49 means. Our sacrifice for the sake of purity is the fire, and the salt is Jesus preserving help which promises that cutting off what causes us to sin will not hurt us, but help us. Salt and fire are pleasing sacrifices to God. So get radical about your Kingdom living, get radical about your choices, and make a pleasing sacrifice to God.

So how do we live in the Kingdom? By remembering the cross, and by living differently because of it. By putting others first because on the cross, Jesus put Himself last. By cutting off our hands and feet if they cause us to sin, because on the cross Jesus was pierced in His hands and feet, and gives us a new heart when we get saved. The death and resurrection of Christ give us all the power we need to love others and to fight sin. How do we get the power to love others? by thinking about what Jesus has done on the cross for them. How do we get the power to fight sin? By thinking about what Jesus has done on the cross for us. This is Kingdom living. Lives and relationships changed and shaped by the cross.

Faithlessness and Jesus

Mark 9 is a reboot, a re-beginning of Jesus ministry. You can cut Mark's Gospel in half, either side of Peter's great confession in 8:24. A week after that great moment Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain and is transfigured before them.

Peter makes himself sound a bit slow. he often does in Mark's Gospel. if we agree that mark got his information from Peter, we have to conclude that Peter wasn't one to retweet his own achievements. He offers to make tents for the three men he sees. Jesus, Moses and Elijah. On that mountain, His clothes shining white, Jesus is endorsed by the law and the prophets. In Luke 24 Jesus tells us that the law and the prophets talk about Him, well, here are the law and the prophets talking to Jesus.

But not just the law and the prophets. The men here a voice from heaven as well. 'This is my beloved Son, listen to Him.' Just like at the beginning of Jesus' ministry in Mark, Jesus is endorsed by His Father. The second half of Mark starts like the first, Jesus is re-comissioned by the Father, and sets off for the final part of His earthly ministry.

Having been with Elijah and Moses, Jesus then faces what they faced. What happened when Moses left his meeting with God on a mountain? He was met with the faithlessness of his people, including, worst of all, Aaron. He found them dancing around the Golden Calf, worshiping it as the 'God who brought them out of Egypt.' Faithlessness. Why was Elijah on a mountain talking to God? Faithlessness. He told God that he alone was left, that everyone else has bowed the knee to Baal. He was wrong of course, but that was his perception.

What did Jesus meet as he came down the mountain? Faithlessness. The remaining disciples were arguing with some scribes because they could not cast a demon out of a boy. Jesus could and did. But why, the disciples ask, couldn't they? Presumably when Jesus sent them out two by two they hadn't met any such problems? What was the problem?

Their problem was that even though the Kingdom comes to earth in glory, the Kingdom grows in our hearts slowly. Jesus tells them that they must pray and fast. I can't believe they weren't already doing that, but Jesus simply encourages them to do it more. Pray more, fast more, grow more. You'll get there.

How can we be sure we'll get there? Well, remember who told them to pray and fast? Who tells us to pray and fast? Who helps us grow as Christians. Jesus! Jesus who was endorsed by the law, the prophets and the Father! Jesus who stood transfigured before Peter, James and John. Jesus who took on death, and left it defeated in the grave. Jesus who rules the Kingdom for His people, Jesus who returns.

So if you wish you were growing more quickly as a Christian, you're in good company. And you've got all the help you need. Jesus encourages us to pray, to fast, to ask for help. And as we pray, He'll answer. The great and glorious Son of God will help us grow.

A Strange Miracle

For the last couple of months we've been going, verse by verse, through Mark's Gospel. On Wednesday we were in 8:22-9:1, the pinnacle of Mark's thought and theology and message. The high point and low point of Peter's early ministry, and home to one of the oddest stories we find in Mark's Gospel.

The halfway point is the transition from action to talk, more or less. Chapter 1-8 has Jesus healing, exorcising and raising, 9-16 has Jesus explaining. Those are broad brush strokes, but close enough to the truth.

So why this odd half miracle, this miracle in two parts to set the stage?

Jesus is back in the Jewish area in the town of Bethsaida. They bring a blind man to Him, and Jesus laid His hands on him, but the blind man couldn’t see properly. He told Jesus that he saw men, but they looked like trees walking around. Then Jesus laid His hands on this man again, and his sight was fully restored. What’s happening here, why couldn’t Jesus heal him the first time? Because Jesus is acting out a parable.

This event really happened, Jesus really did heal a blind man in Bethsaida, but it was also a parable. What’s a parable? A short story designed to show a truth. So what truth was Jesus trying to show here? Why does Mark, include this incident when no one else does? Because he wants to make us think about how we see. What was the disciples’ problem at the moment? They couldn’t see Jesus very clearly; He looked like a tree walking. That’s why they could see Him feeding 25,000 and then 20,000 people with a few loaves, and still worry about getting hungry on a boat with Him. Just like this man, they couldn’t see Jesus clearly.

So of us are like this as well. We don’t see Jesus clearly. When we look at Him, we see a walking tree, our spiritual eyes are blurred. We see Jesus, we know Jesus, but not very well. This is why some of us struggle with Bible reading. We see other things more clearly. This is why some of us struggle to make it to church on Sunday, just one day a week (!) other things are just more important than Him. This is why we struggle with sin. If we could see the beauty, the riches, the satisfaction that springs only from Christ, we'd never take a second glance at the pigsty of sin. But we can't, so we do.

Although this is without precedent in Mark, it's not without repetition. Isn't this why Mark places the cleansing of the Temple in between the cursing of the fig tree and it's withering? So we might learn the lesson?

So how do we solve this problem? What do we do when we wake up and don't want to read the Bible. When we see Facebook, or the news, or anything more clearly than we see Jesus? When we don't want to sing, when we don't want to worship? What did the man do? He didn’t pretend everything was ok, and then stumble off. He was honest, and he asked Jesus for help. If you struggle to be seriously, regularly committed to Jesus, then ask Him for help. Ask Him to help you see clearly, ask Him to help you get more excited about your faith, more excited about the Bible and more excited about your faith. This man asked Jesus, and he saw everything clearly.

Marks of the Messengers 3: Faithfully Repetitive

On Saturday morning we had our church leadership conference, an annual morning where we get together and share the vision for Trinity in 2013. I spoke on 'Marks of the Messengers,' from Mark 6:7-14. You can view part one here and part two here.

But we have to remember, that hopefully at least, it’s not us they are rejecting, it’s our message. And it’s a message we repeat. We see in verses 12-13 that messengers are repetitive. Look at those with me. What did Jesus send the 12 out to do? Preach repentance and heal the sick. Call people into the Kingdom and exorcise demons. Jesus didn’t tell them to make it up by themselves, He told them to repeat. This is just Jesus’ version of 2 Timothy 2:2, ‘what you have heard from men the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, who will able to teach others also.’ What’s our aim this year at Trinity? To discover some great new idea? To be novel? No! To be old and faithful and orthodox and repetitive. To remember that the Gospel is the only relevant message, and to repeat it. And repeat it. And repeat it!

This is particularly important in youth ministry. There’s always a new curriculum, always a new dvd series, always a new guy with trendy facial hair telling us how he went from five teens to five million in five easy steps. Do you know how your teens are taught? Verse by verse, through books of the Bible. Read and explain, read and explain. It’s deeply unpopular, and deeply fruitful. Last Wednesday we looked at Mark 7:1-30 together, this Wednesday will be Mark 7:31-8:21. And when we’re done with Mark, we’ll go to chapter one verse one of somewhere else. Because Christian ministry is a ministry of repetition.

Christian messengers are always ready, sometimes rejected, and faithfully repetitive. And from this faithfulness, this obedience, the Lord gives fruit. I always pray for growth in two different ways. I pray we’d grow wider and deeper. Deeper in our knowledge and love and obedience to Christ. Deeper in our response to the Gospel, deeper in our prayer life and Bible reading. And that growth is happening in many, many teens, and that’s exciting. And width growth, growth in numbers. More people in Sunday school, more people in teen church. And that’s happening, slower than I would prefer, but happening all the same.

Everything that this youth ministry does, whether it’s bowling or a mission trip is informed by this philosophy. This is why we do awana, this is why we have Sunday school and this is why we have Wednesday night classes. We never do something just to do something. The teens who come bowling tonight will be challenged from the Word, a message I’m ready to give, a message that may be rejected, but a message that’s repeated.

As we go out as messengers, and as we train people to go out, we must prepare to be ready, to be rejected, and above all, to be repetitive.

Marks of the Messengers 2: Sometimes Rejected

On Saturday morning we had our church leadership conference, an annual morning where we get together and share the vision for Trinity in 2013. I spoke on 'Marks of the Messengers,' from Mark 6:7-14. You can view part one here.

But we have to remember, as Jesus warns us in verse 11, that sometimes we’ll be rejected. Read that with me. This is not a new teaching from Jesus. Remember He said if He was called Beelzebul as the master of the house, what will they call the servants in the house. Jesus was rejected wasn’t He? He came to His own, but His own didn’t receive Him. He was rejected in Nazareth; a prophet is not without honor, except in His hometown. He was rejected by the crowds in John 6, and finally, but the majority of His disciples. Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and rejection.

Should we expect any better? Of course not! Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians  2:16 that we are the aroma of death to those who are perishing. That’s rejection. When you smell something like death in your house you throw it out, you don’t make a bouquet out of it. So many problems that the evangelical church gets itself into these days are because we’re afraid people don’t like us, we change to be liked. We worship a guy who got murdered, of course people don’t like us, of course our message is offensive! If we are going to be effective messengers, we have to get over the idea that everyone, everywhere is going to like us, sometimes they’ll shut the door in the face of your teenage son, sometimes they’ll ignore you in the checkout line, sometimes they won’t send you a Christmas card. That’s ok, that’s a mark of the messengers.

Marks of the Messengers 1: Always Ready

On Saturday morning we had our church leadership conference, an annual morning where we get together and share the vision for Trinity in 2013. I spoke on 'Marks of the Messengers,' from Mark 6:7-14.

One of the best things, and most vital things about Christian ministry is resisting the temptation to re-invent the wheel every year. Avoiding the thought that just because something is new, it’s also better. In 2013 there will be new books written, new programmes published and new ideas followed. But we know our responsibility, we know what will grow a church, and that is staying faithful to the plan that God reveals in the Bible. So, it’s with great joy that I take you to a two thousand year old book and share with you how Teen Ministry at Trinity fits into the overall philosophy of our church.

We see in these 7 verses from Mark’s gospel three things I’ve called ‘Marks of the messengers.’ Marks of the messengers. We’re the messengers, just like the original 12 were back then, what are to be our distinctive, what are to be our marks? We see in these verses that messengers are ready, messengers are sometimes rejected, and messengers are repetitive.

The messengers are ready, look at verses 7-10 with me. Jesus tells the 12 what to wear, how to dress, were to stay, what to bring. Is that important? Why couldn’t they bring bread or money with them? Because they had to be ready. They had to have a single focus on the task that Jesus had given them.

He doesn’t send the 12 out as sightseers; they’re not going to catch up with friends. They are going with a message. They don’t need money or food; they’ll be fed and accommodated. They need a staff, but not two coats, nothing that would distract them, nothing that would weigh them down. The instructions Jesus gives here are similar to those given by the LORD to Moses before the Passover escape. Moses is told that the Jews must eat ‘with your loins girded, you shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand,’ (Ex 12:11). They had to be ready to eat, and we have to be ready to carry the message where we go, and where we are.

Moralistic Attenders

What is Christianity?

What is life in the Kingdom of God? what makes us different. Doing good things plus going to church? Morals plus attendance. I wonder if that's how we often think about our faith, i wonder if that's how we present our faith. We give to charity and go to church, and we're welcomed in the Kingomd of Heaven. We vote Republican and eat at Chick-fil-a, so Jesus stamps our ticket.

But we know this caricuture isn't Christianity. Why isn't it? Why can't we just modify our behavior, 'be nice' and go the Church? Why is our problem not solved with this answer?

The answer is found in Mark 7:14-23.. Verse 14 sums up the dispute with the Pharisees, and then Jesus moves away with His disciples to start teaching them. But verse 17 tells us the disciples are confused. Jesus has just told them, and everyone, that nothing that we put into our bodies can make us unclean, make us unacceptable to God. Again, this was absolutely world changing news for the Jewish people, in fact, so unusual was this teaching to their ears that they thought it must have been another parable!  It’s no wonder He is asked to explain in verse 17. I love His response… ‘are you kidding me?’ is basically what He’s saying, are you as bad as those other guys who don’t get it?’ Jesus explains to His disciples, and to us in 17 and 18 why Christianity is about the heart, why performance is not how we get saved. When you eat food, it eventually leaves your body. It doesn’t stay, it can’t hurt you long term because it’s not there for long, it gets expelled. It’s the heart that’s the problem; it’s the heart that causes issues. Look at what comes out of the heart…evil thoughts, immorality, slander, envy, pride and foolishness. That’s bad. It’s the heart that’s the problem; the heart is deceitful above all things and totally wicked. It’s our hearts that need changing. Our hearts are the same wherever we take them, church, the mall...sitting in front of the TV. Entering a building doesn't give us the change we need! Our problem is bigger than that.

This is why Christianity is inward, because the problem is inward. This is why Christianity is radical, because our problem is radical. Christianity is not morality plus attendance. The moralistic attenders were the ones who Jesus reserved His most bitter words for. Jesus demands not a new diet, but a new heart. And why? Because we are heart sick, we are inwardly sick, and we need an inward Saviour.

An inward salvation, not an outward one. Goodness knows, we need to more committed to church attendance and Bible reading, but not like a Pharisee, but like a Christian. Not coming to church to be seen or to tick a box, but to worship. Not to use good deeds as gambling chips to cash in at the prayer counter, but seeing them as the natural fruit of the Gospel tree.

Our hearts are the problem. Our hearts are sick and desperately so, only Jesus can give us the medicine we need.

God in the Storm

As a youth pastor, a lot of what i do is aimed at Wednesday night's teen church service. Monday's are spent in staff meetings, and then in a daze trying to remember that great idea i had as i was eating lunch the day before, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are sermon prep time for Wednesday evening, before attention turns to Sunday on Thursday and Friday.

So this Tuesday morning, i was reading and thinking through Mark 6:45-56. In the aftermath of the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples get into the boat, and (yet again) get into trouble on the tranquil waters of the Sea of Galilee. And of course, as you know, Jesus saves them. He meant to 'pass by,' but when they cried out He told them 'it is I.' He'd just provided bread from nowhere, and now He's controlling the waters for the benefit of His people.

John gives us a detailed account of the day after in chapter 6. The crowds return, but there's no free food and no revolution on offer, so they all leave. All apart from the 12. Whatever happened that night on the boat made them stick around when the easiest thing in the world would be to leave with the crowds.

So what happened on that boat? Matthew and Mark seem to disagree at this time. Matthew tells us that the 12 cried out 'surely this man is the Son of God!' Mark tells us their hearts were hardened because they did not understand about the bread. 

What do we make of this, and what's the bread got to do with it?

Well we can piece it together this way. When they first saw Jesus, they didn't understand, but quickly after that, when they understood about the bread, they got it, and reacted as Matthew recorded. If Mark was writing in Rome it would make sense that he would want the first confession of Jesus as the Son of God to come out the mouth of a Roman solider wouldn't it? And Peter, Mark's source seems to go out of his way to shine the light on Jesus, and leave him the the rest of the disciples in the darkness.

But we still have to ask, what's the bread got to do with it? Well these guys grew up in Saturday School, they went to Junior Synagogue, or whatever, they were supposed to know their Old Testament. Maybe they started thinking, 'who provides bread from nowhere? Who controls the waves? Who passes by? Who says don't be afraid, it is I?'

Who provides bread from nowhere? The LORD in Exodus 16, and Jesus in Mark 6. 

Who controls the waves so His people have safe passage? The LORD in Exodus 14, and Jesus in Mark 6.

Who would pass by? The LORD in Exodus 33, and Jesus in Mark 6.

Who dismisses fear on the basis of being who He is? The LORD in Exodus 3 and Jesus in Mark 6.

No wonder, when the 12 understood about the bread, their hearts exploded in faith! Who else were they going to trust in the storm except Jesus, who lead His people out of Egypt? Who were they going to trust the next day, in the stormy loss of faith, except Jesus.

Jesus didn't come from nowhere, His track record is second to none. In the storms, we can trust in Him, just look at what He's already done.

A Tale of Two Kings

Mark's Gospel is all about Kingdom, all about eucatastrophe, the Kingdom of God breaking out on Earth. The Kingdom comes as the King comes, and as He is worshiped. I spent most of the early part of the week puzzling over why Mark recounts the story of John the Baptist's beheading just before the feeding of the five thousand. The following, from last night's teen church message, represents my best guest!

We see that the kingdom comes as the real King is worshiped  Let’s read verses 14-16 together. Word has reached Herod of what Jesus is doing. He asks people who they reckon this healer preacher is. Maybe He’s Elijah, maybe He’s one of the prophets. This was the common opinion of Jesus at that time. But Herod is sure that Jesus is John the Baptist come back from the dead to haunt him.

Why?

Let’s read why John the Baptist was beheaded in verses 17-29. Can you see some of the themes here? Impurity, adultery, lust and jealousy. There were the marks of Herod’s family. This Herod is the son of the Herod who was King when Jesus was born. He had ten wives, and called all his children Herod, which explains why there are Herods everywhere in the NT. He had illegally married his brothers wife, and John regularly condemned him for it. Herod was a weak, cowardly man, doing whatever he could to save his reputation and appear powerful in front of his friends, even though it’s clear from this incident that it’s his wife running the show. And as a result of this man’s weaknesses, John the Baptist loses his head. This is an ugly, horrible story, an awful way for a King to act, an awful way for anyone to act.

Why does Mark tell us about this here? I think to show us what the real King is like. He wants us to contrast the actions of an evil, perverted human king, with the actions of Jesus, the Heavenly King.
Let’s read 30-44 together to understand this contrast. The disciples come back, and they’re tired, they need to rest. So Jesus takes them away in the boat, with the idea of having a break. But they get seen, people work out where they’re going, and before they get there a huge crowd has arrived. Five thousand men, Matthew tells us. So maybe a total crowd of 20 or 25 thousand, if they all brought their families. Jesus begins teaching them, but it’s getting late, and the disciples are tired and hungry. ‘send them away Jesus, we need to rest,’ they say. Jesus response is met with sarcasm. They haven’t got enough money, and even if they did, there’s no walmart to buy food for thousands of people. It’s got to be caught or baked, and then served. Totally impossible.

Verse 38 is where it gets exciting. They find five loaves, more like biscuits, and two fish, a pretty normal lunch for a Galilean kid, but no help to feed so many people. But no problem for Jesus. He has them sit down on the green grass, and divides out the food. There’s no indication that anyone in the crowd, or maybe even the disciples knew what was happening, the food just kept on coming, and people got full. The word used in verse 42 means something like stuffed. Everyone had more than enough food. And how many baskets were left over? Twelve! How many disciples were there? Twelve! I love that. Jesus cares and loves so deeply for His people that He won’t just feed them once, He’ll make sure that they’ve got something to take home with them afterwards.

Can you see the contrast between Jesus and Herod. Jesus is the Shepherd King organizing and providing for His people on the green grass, making sure they are fed and satisfied. Herod takes and takes, Jesus gives and gives, even to the point of giving His own life, so that we might be satisfied forever.