This message was preached at Grace Baptist Church in Westlake, OH on Sunday, July 27, 2008.
To hear an audio of this message, go to www.gbcwestlake.org and click listen online.
THE GLORY AND POWER OF JESUS
Mark 9:1-29
Please turn in your Bible to Mark 9. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 873 or 891.
A missionary society wrote to missionary David Livingstone, serving in undeveloped Africa, and asked, "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you." Livingstone wrote back, "If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."
Reading #1:
1: Last week, we read that…
2: Jesus began to teach His disciples that He must suffer many things,
3: Be rejected and condemned by the religious leaders,
4: And be murdered [emphatically]
1: And rise again [as though you don’t want them to forget this one]
2: But no one paid attention to that point. [emphasize “that”]
3: He was not speaking in parables but spoke very clearly.
4: Never afraid to speak without thinking, the leader of the pack, Peter, asked to have a private conference with Jesus.
1: When he got Jesus alone to the side, he rebuked him:
2: “Jesus, what are you thinking? You can’t talk like this! [in a rebuking tone]
3: You have never talked like this before. This makes no sense! [emphatic]
4: You are the Messiah, remember? You are supposed to do the conquering, not be conquered!
1: Certainly, not be killed! The people are ready to follow you. [matter of fact]
2: We are all ready to follow you. [a little stronger]
3: To overthrow the Roman government. [building in intensity]
4: To set up your Kingdom, right here and right now! [victoriously]
1: …Then Jesus turned to all of his disciples and rebuked Peter in front of them all.
2: Get behind me Satan! [strong, commanding]
3: You are speaking the word of Satan, as you try to dissuade me from God’s plan
4: You have set your mind on the plan of man, not the plan of God.
1: Jesus then called a crowd of people to Him, and with his disciples listening in, explained what it takes to be a true follower of this one and only Messiah:
2: If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must
3: Deny himself
4. Take up his cross
1: And follow Me.
2: If you are living only for the physical life
3: You will not have eternal life
4: If you give up control of your life for my glory
1: Then, you have eternal life.
2: There is no eternal benefit to having everything this world has to offer but not having eternity in Heaven
3: Those who deny Me now
4: Will be rejected when I return to judge someday.
That reading was a loose paraphrase of the final verses of the last passage we covered last week: Mark 8:31-38. We needed to be reminded of what Jesus had been talking about, because our first verse this morning concludes that discussion and gets us prepared for the passage under consideration this morning.
Mark 9:1 – “And he said to them, Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
He just spoke to them of a time when Jesus would come to judge, warning that those who reject Him now, will be rejected by Him when He comes. Just after that, he makes an emphatic statement, beginning with “Truly I say to you”. Then, He tells them that some of them that were there at that moment would not die until got a taste of this future kingdom, which would come in a powerful way.
Now, remember, just before this, they were all upset because everyone expected Jesus to set up His Kingdom very soon. But Jesus said that it was not God’s plan…yet. Before that, He would need to suffer terribly, die and then rise again. Sometime after those events, then He could come at any time to set up His Kingdom. However, Jesus was going to give some of them a taste of His glory…very soon.
There are different ideas about what this taste of the Kingdom would look like; but I believe, because of what comes next in this text, this is the immediate fulfillment. Certainly, there would be power displayed at Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as at the Day of Pentecost. But, the next recorded event after Jesus said these words best fit the context of His promise.
Mark 9:2,3 – “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.”
3 Disciples experienced a taste of the future glory of Jesus
The fact that the next words after verse 1 are: “And after six days” show the connection between what was said in verse one and what is going to happen now.
Jesus took His closest disciples: Peter, James and John and took them high on a mountain. This might remind us of times when God revealed Himself on a mountain, such as to Moses and also to Elijah, both on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24;
I Kings 19).
Then it tells us: “And he [Jesus] was transfigured before them…” This word translated “transfigured” is the word from which we get our English word: “Metamorphosis”. It means to be changed into another form. For just a moment, Jesus’ body was transformed into His glorified body and the bright whiteness of his clothes was unlike anything they had ever seen.
They caught a glimpse of what He would look like when He does come one day to judge and set up His Kingdom in power.
Walvoord and Zuck put it this way: “Jesus’ transfiguration was a striking preview and guarantee of His future coming in glory.”
If that wasn’t awesome enough, look at what happened next:
Mark 9:4 – “And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.”
One moment, there is this bright light of Jesus’ glory, and then they blink and look again; and the disciples see Jesus talking with 2 guys, and these guys were known right away, somehow. It was Elijah and Moses. Moses represented the law and Elijah, the prophets. Jesus had said that He was the fulfillment of both.
Yes, this was the same Elijah that some people thought Jesus was. Yes, this was the Moses who died long ago, who wrote the law and led God’s people up to the brink of the promised land. Yes, this was Elijah, who was a mighty prophet of God and did many miracles. Yes, these two men were miraculously brought back to Earth, just for this moment. In life, they had seen God’s great power revealed on Mount Sinai. Now, they were a part of these 3 disciples were experiencing: the awesome power and glory of Jesus, as they had never seen; and would no one would see (in this way), until Jesus returns to set up His Earthly Kingdom.
Of course, these 3 disciples didn’t know this was just a taste of the Kingdom and the power and glory of God. They probably thought this was it… the time had come. And, even though verse 6 tells us that they didn’t know what to say, Peter decides to say something anyway!
Mark 9:5 – “And Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one of Moses and one for Elijah.”
Peter, Peter, Peter…He impulsively says: Rabbi, that is, teacher, good thing we are here to experience your glory and the glorious reappearing of these great men of faith. Let’s build 3 booths, 3 tents of meeting, one for each of you, to commemorate and continue to celebrate your glory! This may sound bold, but the next verse explains why Peter just started talking:
Mark 9:6 – “For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.”
They had seen many of Jesus’ miracles, but they had never seen Him transformed like this; and they had never seen Moses and Elijah appear before. This was incredible, unexplainable, to them: terrifying. They didn’t know what to say. They were speechless; but Peter just had to say something, so that’s what came out of his mouth. They were obviously not able to comprehend what was going on; but that is pretty normal for them. If they built these tabernacles, booths, then it would give them a feeling of security, safety, and glory, rather than the suffering and death Jesus had been talking about. They wanted to escape their fear.
They needed an explanation, and God the Father provided it, next:
Mark 9:7 – “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”
In the midst of their doubts and failures, the disciples were to focus on following Jesus.
As in many times before, in the Old Testament, God appeared in a cloud and commanded with His voice. At Jesus’ baptism, this also took place:
Mark 1:11 – “And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
God wanted to make sure these disciples understood a very important point. Jesus was greater in glory than Moses and Elijah. Jesus was God’s Only Son, and the fulfillment of the law and prophets, represented by these 2 Old Testament characters. His command for how they should respond to Jesus was:
“Listen to Him.” It means to be “obedient to him”. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of a prophecy spoken by Moses, back in the law:
Deuteronomy 18:15,18 – “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brother – it is to him you shall listen…and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”
Jesus, not Moses, not Elijah, is now the One with the authority to speak for God. In a sense, this event let these closest disciples see that a definite transition had taken place. Yes, they still had the law of Moses and the Prophets, but Jesus was the One who fulfilled them all; and it was to Him that they were to listen and completely obey. And in the context of what Jesus had just revealed to His disciples, and of what Peter had rebuked Him for, this was fitting.
Jesus had been trying to tell them: I am going to suffer, be murdered, and then rise again. And now, He was telling them, even showing them, that He would come in glory in the future; and that they didn’t need to fear.
Later on, Peter would write about this experience and speak much more confidently:
II Peter 1:18 – “For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.”
God was making sure that these 3 disciples, a part of Jesus’ inner circle and future leaders of the church, would understand that Jesus Christ was THE ONE AND ONLY MESSIAH. He had God’s authority; and it was Him alone they were to listen to and follow. Yes, they doubted, stumbled and failed. But, in the end, they would see the truth and be a part of the Kingdom of God.
There was a man who went to his doctor and expressed the following concern: “Doc, I’m really worried. Every time I drink a cup of coffee, I feel a stabbing pain in my eye. Do you think it’s serious?” To which the doctor replied, “No, the coffee is not the problem - try taking the spoon out of your cup.” The problem for this man was not the coffee, it was the spoon. I’ve done this same thing with a straw many times. The disciples were like this man. They thought the problem was Jesus. He had the wrong plan. He shouldn’t have to die. But, the real problem was the spoon they left in the cup. They were thinking on their own terms, their own plans; and with their limited understanding. That is why when Jesus was transfigured, Peter suggested making booths for them to all stay in and celebrate. He didn’t get it. Now, we are going to see them wrestling with the idea of the resurrection of Christ, rather than just accepting it as Jesus told them. In a few more verses, they will focus on Elijah, when the focus should have been on Christ. We tend to do the same thing. Instead of focusing on Jesus and what He has said; we focus on our circumstances and then question what He said.
Mark 9:8-10 – “And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.”
And just like that, they looked around, and Elijah and Moses were gone. It was just them and Jesus again, restored to His earth bound appearance. On their way down the mountain, I suspect that these 3 disciples just couldn’t wait to tell the other guys what they saw; but Jesus commanded them to keep it to themselves – until He rose from the dead.
Evidenced by Peter’s idea of the 3 tents and the terror they displayed, these guys still did not completely get Jesus as the Messiah and the plan that God had for Him. Jesus did not want them to spread this until He rose from the dead. Then, the time will have come to put everything in perspective. In fact, it would be after Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them several times, that they finally would put it all together in their own minds. Then would be the time to proclaim to all who Jesus was and what He had done, including rising from the dead.
And just to show that these guys didn’t even understand what He just said, the final phrase in verse 10: [they were] “questioning what this rising form the dead might mean.” This was the second time Jesus told them that He was going to rise from the dead; but it was not registering with them. They didn’t get it.
So, they asked another question, as they tried to figure this out:
Mark 9:11- “And they asked him, Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”
They did know their Old Testament prophets. They knew of the prophecy:
Malachi 4:5,6 – “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of father to their children and the hearts of children to their father, lest I come and strike a land with a decree of utter destruction.”
They had just seen Elijah, so they thought this was going to be the time. But, then Elijah disappeared. So, the question about Elijah is asked. And perhaps, with Elijah’s work, maybe Jesus would not have to go through His suffering – who knows? Jesus then tries to clarify it for them:
Mark 9:12,13- “And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
Yes, Elijah does come first and bring renewal. However, this does not mean I will not have to suffer many things and go through painful rejection. He said the Scriptures are very clear on that. For example:
Isaiah 53:3-5 – “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he as despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities…”
He then identifies John the Baptist as the fulfillment of the prophecy of Elijah coming to restore. They had just seen Elijah at the transfiguration; but now Jesus lets them know that the prophecy of Elijah was initially fulfilled in someone who came in His place…a forerunner, someone to prepare the way for the Messiah. That was obviously John the Baptist.
John had also gone through a terrible murder, at the hands of Herod Antipas and Herodias, as we saw in Mark 6. Elijah had suffered great persecution, at the hands of Ahab and Jezebel, as recorded in I Kings 19. What these opponents of God did to them, they would eventually do to the Messiah, Jesus Himself.
Walvoord and Zuck explain this well: “John the Baptist fulfilled the Elijah prophecy at Christ’s First Advent. Yet Malachi’s prophecy indicates that Elijah himself will also appear just before Christ’s Second Advent (Revelation 11).
SO WHAT?
Focus on obeying God and following the example of Jesus Christ
It is so easy for us to get overloaded with information. It is easy for us to get distracted by the burdens of this life. It is easy for us to become discouraged because we fail often in matters of faith. We sometimes struggle with doubt, and find it hard to press on in the midst of it. But, one of the things we can learn from this event in Scripture is that, like the disciples who were also full of doubt and failure, there is one person we can count on to do what He has said.
Jesus Christ will come again, and He will set up His Kingdom. No matter our circumstances, we can know that what God says is true and will be fulfilled in the future. Therefore, we can focus on what we can control. Learn of what God expects and commit yourself to obedience. When you fail, confess it and keep pursuing Him. Learn more of Jesus Christ and model your life around His. This is certainly enough for us to work on.
So, they get down the mountain and return to the rest of the disciples, just to find that there is some more action going on here as well – Mark 9:14,15:
Reading #2: Mark 9:14,15
1: And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them
2: And scribes arguing with them.
3: and immediately all the crowd, when they saw Jesus
4: Were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him.
[pause]
1: Aren’t you guys supposed to the disciples of Jesus Christ, the great miracle worker?
2: So, what’s your point?
3: Well, it’s obvious He didn’t give you any of His power that you claim; because you cannot heal this boy.
4: Well, you’re sure not helping anything. All you do is sit around and condemn these sick people, claiming they have sinned.
1: That’s right, Pharisees! At least we are trying to help!
2: Trying to help? You guys aren’t helping anybody. You’re a bunch of frauds
3: Yeah? Well look who’s calling people frauds - you hypocrites
4: Hey, everybody - Jesus is here!
It doesn’t tell us the exact words of the argument; but in the next verses we find out what the topic was. There was a crowd gathered as the scribes of the Law argued with the remaining disciples. When Jesus arrived, however, all attention went to Him. And Jesus spoke:
Mark 9:16-18 – “And he asked them, What are you arguing about with them? And someone from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciple to cast it out, and they were not able.”
Jesus asked the remaining 9 disciples what they were arguing about, and someone from the crowd explains it, because he started it all. His son had an evil spirit. He came to his disciples for help; but they could not cast the spirit out. They tried, but couldn’t do it. This demon had a terrible affect on this boy, and his father was desperate for help. Perhaps Jesus could do something that His followers could not. They should have been able to. Back in Mark 6:7, Jesus gave them the authority to do so. It should have been expected that they could have done this without Jesus.
So, Jesus responds to this news:
Mark 9:19 – “And he answered them, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
The inability to do what Jesus had given the power to do was linked to a lack of faith
Jesus showed emotion, disappointment and heartbreak, in the people’s, in particular, His disciples, lack of faith. They continued to demonstrate that they had not fully embraced in practice what they said they believed through their words of commitment. They did believe, but they failed time and again to put the truth into daily practice, such as in this case of the demon-possessed boy. And Jesus expresses what any frustrated parent might say: How long do I have to put up with this? I will show you again. Bring the boy to me.
Robert Louis Stevenson gave us this little story:A ship was in a serious storm and in great distress. The passengers were alarmed. One of them finally, against orders, went up to the deck and made his way to the pilot of the ship. The seaman was at his post of duty at the wheel, but, seeing the man was greatly frightened, he gave him a reassuring smile. Returning to the other passengers, the man reported. "I have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled. All is well."
This was supposed to be the response of Jesus’ disciples, no matter the circumstances. And it was supposed to be the response by people of faith, regardless of what they were facing. This father is going to have to trust in Jesus for the miracle. One main thing they all had to learn – we have to learn – is that in the midst of the storm, our pilot is still in control, He smiles at us, and gives us the confidence to trust in Him. Jesus was continually teaching them this, and He continues as He encourages faith in the healing of this boy.
Mark 9:20-22 – “And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, how long has this been happening to him? And he said, From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
As soon as the demonic spirit saw Jesus, it responded by sending the boy into a seizure, uncontrollably shaking on the ground. Jesus shows compassion and asks the father how long this had been happening. The father said, “since he was a little boy. In fact, sometimes the demon has thrown my son into our campfire and into the lake, trying to destroy him. The father’s faith was shaken. He had brought his son to Jesus’ disciples and they couldn’t help. Perhaps Jesus couldn’t either. Therefore, he worded his request this way: “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
And then, Jesus throws the issue back to the Father:
Mark 9:23 – “And Jesus said to him, If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.”
Jesus knew He could do it. The key question here was: Did the Father have the faith to trust in Christ to do it. Jesus encouraged him to have faith: “All things are possible for one who believes.” Jesus is not talking about having faith in a lucky charm of some kind. He is referring to the faith one has that Jesus can do anything that he chooses; which includes casting out demons. And I love the spontaneous response of the dad to Jesus’ statement:
Mark 9:24 – “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe; help my unbelief!”
This dad said he believed, but he also admitted that his faith was very weak. I like that. I can identify with that! And the help, in order to have the faith that is needed, comes from God Himself. So, then, Jesus responds as a large crowd was gathering to see what was going to happen.
Jesus had the authority to perform miracles and to use the faith of others to do so
We already know that Jesus was able to heal, cast out demons and do all kinds of miracles. But, one of the interesting things here, and a main point of this passage, is that the disciples should have been able to cast out this demon if they had the faith in God’s power and relied on Him. This father was told by Jesus that it was His faith in what Jesus could do that would bring the miracle. This was an important lesson the disciples had to learn; because it wouldn’t be long before they were on their own.
Mark 9:25-27 – “And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, you mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”
Jesus gave two clear commands to the demon: “come out of him; and never enter him again.” And with one last violent surge, the demon came out of him. And that left the boy looking lifeless; even to the point that people thought he was actually dead. But Jesus lifted him up; and the boy got up – alive and well.
This same type of thing had happened at the healing of Jairus’ daughter by Jesus, in Mark 5:39-42. This is a physical picture of the spiritual victory that takes place, going from spiritual death, under the control of Satan, to eternal life, under the care of God’s Holy Spirit. And, in the context, the ultimate battle would be won by Jesus Christ, when He conquered Satan, sin and death, through His dying on the cross and His rising from the dead.
Mark 9:28 – “And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could we not cast it out?”
Going into the house, the disciples were sure curious. They had cast out demons before. What was going on here? Why couldn’t they cast this particular demon out of the boy? I’m sure they were embarrassed, for one thing. This didn’t make any sense to them; and I’m sure it was frustrating.
Mark 9:29 – “And he said to them, This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
Fasting is added in some of the translations, but not here in the English Standard Version. Walvoord and Zuck give a brief explanation as to why some translations have the additional words: “Perhaps the words were added early by some scribes to the textual tradition to support asceticism. But the words, if original, refer to a practical means of focusing one’s attention more fully on God for a specific purpose, for a limited period of time.”
Jesus explained that this type of thing: casting out demons, comes through a complete dependence on God – demonstrated by prayer. Perhaps these disciples went into this particular confrontation with this demon, overconfident because they had cast out demons before. And Jesus is reminding them that they must have continual and full dependence on God, just like they did when He first sent them out two by two, to cast out demons for the first time. In the end, this is all about faith.
SO WHAT?
Go to God, in faith, and see what He will do.
This is all about faith. It is all about trusting in God and what He has said in His Word – that it is true. It is all about taking whatever circumstances we face day to day, and submitting ourselves and those circumstances to the authority of God and His Word.
And this goes well beyond the issue of casting out demons. It affects every aspect of our lives today:
Reading #3
1: I have an illness, and I’m not sure I can deal with it
2: The answer is prayer: Give your illness to God; and submit your life to God.
3: Believe, by faith, in what the Bible says. God will use your illness to understand that He is all you need:
4: II Corinthians 12:9 – “But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you,
1: for my power is made perfect in weakness.
2: Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
3: so that the power of Christ
4: may rest upon me.”
[pause]
1: I have financial problems, and it seems like God is letting me down
2: The answer is prayer: Give your financial problems to God; and submit your life to Him.
3: Believe, by faith, in what the Bible says. God will use your financial difficulties to improve your faith and trust in Him.
4: Philippians 4:12,13,19 – “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.
1: In any and every circumstance,
2: I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need…
3: And my God will supply every need of yours
4: according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
[pause]
1: I find myself getting worried, all the time, about everything!
2: The answer is prayer: Give your worries, your burdens to God; and submit your life to Him.
3: Believe, by faith, in what the Bible says. God will use your anxieties to get your focus on Him and to glorify Him in your mind.
4: Philippians 4:6-8 – “Do not be anxious about anything,
1: but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
2: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
3: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,
4: whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
[pause]
1: When I face difficult circumstances, I find my faith to be very weak; and I have no idea what to do
2: The answer is prayer. Give your difficult circumstances to God; and submit your life to Him.
3: Believe, by faith, in what the Bible says. God will use your difficult circumstances to bring about what is best for your spiritual good.
4: Romans 8:28 – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
These are just a few examples of how our real life issues fit into these passages about faith. It is faith in the glory and power of God. It was for the disciples, and the key issue remains the same for us today. Whether it was the transfiguration of Christ, His prediction of His coming death and resurrection; or the healing of a demon possessed boy, it is all about faith.
And my guess is, is that you are somewhat like me, and I find myself a lot like those disciples – I don’t always get it; and I fail in faith often. I believe in the power and glory of God, but I don’t always live that way. However, God has called me, He has called us, to live lives of faith; and we can take another step toward Him this morning. Perhaps one of the issues you just heard from our readers hits you; and you need to spend some time in prayer concerning that. Or, perhaps there is some other issue of faith you need to deal with God about. Take a few moments to silently pray and talk to Him about your response to His Word today.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
WHAT DID JESUS JUST SAY?
there are many things Jesus said that are difficult to hear; and even more difficult to obey. When His first disciples spent those 3 years with Him in public ministry, they were continually challenged witht eh truth of who Jesus was,and what was expected of them. This has not changed in 2,000 years. His words continue to challeng me - even today.
This messagewas preached on July 20, 2008 at Grace Baptist Church in Westlake, OH. It is available to listen to online at www.gbcwestlake.org
WHAT DID JESUS JUST SAY?
Mark 8:22-38
Please turn in Your Bibles to Mark 8. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 873 or 891.
VIDEO: WHO WAS JESUS? [2 minutes, 55 seconds]
In these passages today, we are going to see more of who Jesus was, based on what He did, and what he said. And His followers, and all those who were listening, were going to need to decide what they believed about Jesus Christ; and whether or not they were willing to follow Him. We have the same decision to make today.
Mark 8:22 – “And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.”
This seemed, in the gospel of Mark, to happen quite often. People helped their friends, family, who were in desperate need, to get to Jesus, hoping that He would touch their friend and healing would take place. In this case, a blind man had friends who cared enough about him, not only to bring him to Jesus, but to beg Jesus to touch him. That demonstrates great faith.
Mark 8:23 – “And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him., Do you see anything?”
Just like with the deaf mute in Mark 7, Jesus led this man away from the crowd and became very personal with him. Jesus spit on his eyes and laid His hands on this man. Using spit was something the blind man could relate to in that day. People believed there was special power in saliva. Even today, many people instinctively respond to a cut or burned finger by putting their mouth on it to ease the pain. Jesus used this method to connect with this man.
He then asked him what seems to be a strange question:
[1] “Do you see anything?”. What did Jesus just say? Anytime Jesus would touch someone or declare someone healed, He knew it was done and wanted others to believe it was done, even if the victim of the particular disease wasn’t there. In this case, He just touched the man and then asks if he sees anything.
Mark 8:24,25 – “And he looked up and said, I see men, but they look like trees, walking. Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”
The man looked up, probably seeing the disciples, but said that he could not see clearly, because they looked liked trees walking around. Perhaps Jesus was making a point about spiritual understanding. The disciples were a lot like this man, in a spiritual way. They could see some of what Jesus was saying, but it was still pretty cloudy to them. They didn’t fully understand – didn’t full see it. It was a process for them; just as it for us.
So, Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again. It is the only time we see a gradual miracle from Jesus; and this miracle is only recorded here in Mark. This time, the man opened his eyes, his sight was fully restored, and everything was clear. There is no indication that Jesus didn’t have enough power the first time – and no indication that this man lacked faith. It does make sense, in the context, that Jesus was teaching his disciples something. Just before this passage, we have recorded the feeding of the 4,000, the disciples not “getting it”; and Jesus asking: “Do you not yet understand?” Their spiritual understanding was coming in stages, and they still had a long way to go. Then, Jesus made a statement that makes us ask: Did He just say that?
Mark 8:26 – “And he sent him to his home, saying, Do not even enter the village.”
Jesus instructed this man, [2] Do not go back to Bethsaida; but instead to return to wherever He lived. Why did Jesus say that? It seems this is another instance of Jesus wanting some of His activities to remain silent. We know, in most cases, this didn’t happen; but people kept talking about what Jesus had done for them.
There is a transition that takes place here in the book of Mark. From here until the end of the gospel, the focus becomes Jesus Christ as the Messiah, here to die for the sins of the world. And this next passage gets us headed that direction with a couple more questions that Jesus asks:
Mark 8:27 – “And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am?”
They travelled about 25 miles north of Bethsaida to these villages of Caesarea Philippi. This was once a great center for the worship for Baal. According to Barclay: “On the hillside there was a cave which was said to be the birthplace of the Greek God, Pan, the god of nature. Farther up on the hillside rose a gleaming temple of white marble which was built to the godhead of Caesar, the Roman Emperor, the ruler of the world, who was regarded a god. It is in this context, that Jesus asks a very important question, and the answer becomes a turning point in this gospel.
While they were walking, Jesus posed a question: [3] Who do people say that I am? Why would Jesus ask this? It is interesting that Jesus would ask this, since He already knew the answers. But, there was a point to this line of questioning.
Mark 8:28 – “And they told him, John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
Back in chapter 6 of Mark, when Herod had heard of all Jesus was doing with His disciples, he heard a few suggestions for who this man going by the name Jesus really was. And the same suggestions were the ones the disciples mentioned here. People are saying three basic things: You are either John the Baptist, Elijah or another one of the prophets. In each case, they thought Jesus was a returning spirit or something from the dead. They certainly could not accept Jesus for who He was claiming to be! The majority of the people did not understand, at all, who Jesus was – not unlike the people in the video we began this message with.
But, Jesus now goes to the heart of the matter. Here is a penetrating, but important question from Christ, that we must all answer:
Mark 8:29 – “And he asked them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, You are the Christ.”
[4] “Who do you say that I am?” Ok – so the popular opinion is that I am one of those options. But, what about you? He asked this of the 12 guys that He personally chose to follow Him. And, I believe, without hesitation, their spokesman, Peter, said what is recorded here: “You are the Christ.” In other words, Peter, representing the 12 disciples said: “Jesus, we wholeheartedly believe that you are, indeed, the promised Messiah from the Old Testament. You are the Christ.”
We almost would expect Jesus, now, to applaud His followers for such a great statement of faith. Instead he says this:
Mark 8:30 – “And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.”
It is almost as though He followed Peter’s statement: You are the Christ, with: shhhhh: [5] “Don’t tell anyone who I am.” Did Jesus just say that?
Jesus did accept this statement as truth. However, the disciples still did not fully understand, and were not ready to proclaim Him publicly as the Messiah. In fact, proclaiming Him as such at that time would have caused more confusion and problems than progress for the gospel. People even in that day had many different, wrong ideas about the Messiah. The popular opinion was that the Messiah would be a political hero, who would come on the scene to rescue the Jewish people from Roman authority.
But, as Jesus was about to explain, He was here for something much more important. He was the Messiah, but the not the one they all expected. It was time for the disciples to hear the whole truth about what would have to happen to this One and Only Messiah:
Mark 8:31 – “And 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 after three days rise again.”
For the first time, to His disciples, here in Mark, Jesus predicts what is going to have to happen to Him, in order for Him to fulfill His position as the true Messiah. He is basically saying this: Yes, I am the promised Messiah. And I am the Son of Man, fully man and fully God. And, [6] “as a man, I will experience incredible suffering, I will be condemned by the religious leaders [the 3 groups mentioned in v.31 that make up the Sanhedrin] and I will be put to death.” But, I will also rise again 3 days later. What did Jesus just say?
They didn’t even notice that He said He would rise 3 days later. We know the disciples never really got that point until days after He actually did rise from the dead. But, the other part caught their attention. Instead of setting Himself up as some political and military hero, here to rescue people from foreign authorities; Jesus said He was going to humble Himself, go through physical pain, and endure the great humiliation of capital punishment. This is not what the disciples expected to hear. But, this was the mission that God had for the Messiah. He said: The Son of Man must suffer many things. This had to happen. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, in John 3, He explained:
John 3:14,15 – “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
The people of Israel knew the story: a bronze serpent was put on a pole and the sinning Israelites had to look on it to be saved from their poisonous snake bites. Also, Jesus had to be put up on the cross, so that everyone who looked to Him in faith would be saved from their sin. All of this was connected to personal salvation for all who believe. He had to suffer and die. This was a major part of God’s plan to redeem us.
And Jesus said this as a matter of fact. And then, as soon as he said it, the representative for the 12 disciples felt He needed to say something else:
Mark 8:32 – “And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.”
The man who boldly said: I don’t care that everyone thinks you are John the Baptist or Elijah or just another prophet. I know that you are Jesus Christ, the Son of God – the promised Messiah! – that man, now takes Jesus aside, as you would your young child who just said something embarrassing in front of company – and Peter rebukes the Messiah. What was He thinking?
Well, he was probably thinking what the rest of the fellas were thinking: “Wait a second Jesus. As the Messiah, you are going to do the killing, not the other way around. We are going to be with you as you defeat this ungodly government. We are going to be with you as you set up your Kingdom (that you keep talking about) here on Earth. Don’t be a “glass half full” kind of guy Jesus. Don’t be negative, pessimistic – Don’t talk this way – about suffering and death. That’s not a good plan!
As you can imagine, it was “teachable moment” time.
Mark 8:33 – But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
What did Jesus just say? [7] “Get behind me Satan.” Did He just call Peter: Satan? Well, He basically said this: “You are speaking the words of Satan.” Jesus took this opportunity to address all His disciples, and by rebuking Peter, He was emphasizing that this plan He just unveiled was the plan of God. And any other plan, including their own, was all about man.
Why did Jesus call Peter Satan? Because what Peter did was to communicate what Jesus’ greatest adversary was trying to communicate and accomplish. The last thing Satan would want is for Jesus to suffer and die for the sins of the world. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, He was trying to get Jesus to respond to selfish thoughts and goals. But, that is not what Jesus was here to do. And Peter was really representing the thoughts of Satan when he rebuked Jesus.
The disciples probably had this fantasy in their heads, that they would accompany Jesus as He overthrew the Roman government and set up His Kingdom right here and right now. Then, they would rule with Him. What Jesus was sharing didn’t sound like it was going to fulfill their fantasies. In fact, it sounded like a nightmare. So, Jesus needed to explain to His followers and potential followers what it truly means to follow Him. There were many people volunteering to be with Christ and follow Him; but their motivations and expectations were out of line. Jesus was going to be clear about what following Him really means.
There’s the story of a soldier frantically digging in during battle as shells fall all around him. Suddenly his hand feels something metal and he grabs it. It’s a silver cross. Another shell explodes and he buries his head in his arms. He feels someone jump in the foxhole with him and he looks over and sees an army chaplain. The soldier thrusts the cross in the chaplain’s face and says, “I sure am glad to see you. How do you work this thing?” Jesus is about to address this same type of question that people interested in Jesus have been asking about the significance of the cross: “How do you work this thing?” Peter had just claimed the truth of who Jesus was, but in the next moment, demonstrated that he didn’t understand anything. He had just learned that His Messiah, Jesus, was going to take a very different path than Peter had imagined.
Mark 8:34 – “And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Did Jesus just say that? I don’t think I like it. He was not just talking to His 12 chosen followers. He was talking to them, since they obviously didn’t understand yet; but He was talking to everyone that considered becoming His follower. And He is certainly saying that same thing to us today.
Understand something: To trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation; or to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior – whatever specific terms you might use to describe the fact that you are a Christian (if you are). – is equal to what Jesus is talking about here. In other words, Jesus is not giving a 2 step plan. First, you pray to receive me as your Lord and Savior. Then, later, hopefully, you decide to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. NO! He is saying: Do you want to call yourself a Christian? This is what it is all about. It is about being a committed follower of Me.
Here is His main statement: In order to be my disciple, you must:
[8] “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”
Instead of saying: Bow your heads, close your eyes and repeat after me: I want to receive Jesus into my heart and go to Heaven; Jesus said this: Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. This is a hard statement. Now, don’t be confused here. Most of us begin to follow Christ with some type of prayer and very little understanding. We pray to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and later we truly learn what that means. That is o.k. But, Jesus wanted to make sure these people understood what the decision to follow Christ truly entailed from His perspective.
To deny yourself is not: to beat yourself up, treat material things as evil, to pretend to be something you were not created to be. To deny yourself is to put aside your selfish desires so that you can put God’s interests above your own. It is to be God-centered rather than self-centered. And that…is tough!
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of two young brothers who come downstairs for breakfast on a Saturday morning, and their mother was cooking pancakes. She was starting to pull them off the griddle when the boys start arguing about who’s going to eat first. Their mother seizes this teachable moment and says, “Now boys, what would Jesus say if he were here?” They stopped, looked a little confused, and then their mother says, “Jesus would say, “My brother, you have the first pancake. I’ll wait.” The older brother looks at the younger brother and says, “Hey John, you be Jesus.”
To deny yourself is to apply:
I Corinthians 6:19,20 – “…You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
To take up your cross has nothing to do with the necklaces, tattoos, bookmarks, or any other object in the shape of a cross. The cross had a very distinct picture associated with it in that Roman dominated society. The cross is what a condemned man would pick up and carry. And in doing so, he was showing submission to the Roman authority that he had previously disobeyed. The cross had and is still to have an incredible meaning to those of us who claim to follow Him.
Rene Lacoste was the world’s top tennis player in the late 1920s. He won seven major singles titles during his career, including multiple victories at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open. His friends called him “Le Crocodile,” an apt term for his tenacious play on the tennis court. Lacoste accepted the nickname and had a tiny crocodile embroidered on his tennis blazers. When he added it to a line of shirts he designed, the symbol caught on. While thousands of people around the world wore “alligator shirts,” the emblem always had a deeper significance for Lacoste’s friends who knew of its origin and meaning.The cross is an emblem of Christianity that holds special meaning for every one of us who identify with Jesus Christ. Whenever we see a cross, it should remind us of Christ’s tenacious determination to do His Father’s will by dying for us on Calvary. The cross is all about making a choice. The cross is about discipline, hard work, obedience, and commitment. The cross can be an obstacle for many people.
Billy Graham wrote in Decision magazine, “I find that I can preach on any subject other than the cross, and it does not seem as offensive to people as the cross does. I can preach on doing good works, on social improvement, on all kinds of things, and people will applaud me. But when I preach on the cross and the blood of Christ, there is an offense.”
To be able to understand what Jesus is asking us to do in “taking up our cross”, we have to understand what He did. Jesus was responding to the will of the Father, in going to the cross. He was not following natural self-protection plans or even selfish political aspirations. He was going to obey the Father, and not be sidetracked by anyone else’s desires for Him. When Jesus said to take up your cross, he was not saying they would all have to physically die like He was going to. He was also not saying that enduring certain burdens in our lives was equal to carrying our cross. Sometimes people think they are carrying a cross by putting up with annoying people or bad weather or some other minor thing.
The primary meaning of this phrase: take up your cross, is all about obeying God and doing His will – no matter what. It is a narrow focus on doing only what God wants for our lives, not selfish dreams or even following the dreams others have for us. It means a willingness to do even what would be misunderstood by others. It means doing what might even be considered a waste by others.
When Jesus said “Follow Me” he said it in a way that means: Keep following me.
This is a life process. The disciples certainly didn’t just make the decision to follow Him and then always do it just right. The call is to continually follow. That is a mark of a true Christian – one who is still following, years after they prayed to trust in Christ. You have decided not to follow your own plan, but God’s. You are not going to go after your own dreams, but the vision that God gives you for your life. You are not out to please others with your life, but God. And your greatest example, for you to follow, is Jesus Christ Himself.
This call to follow Christ is not an easy one. In the early days of World War II, when Winston Churchill took over the leadership of England, he said that all he had to offer his people was "blood, sweat & tears."
During the siege of Rome in 1849, Garibaldi, the great Italian patriot, made this famous proclamation: "Soldiers, all our efforts against superior forces have been unavailing. I have nothing to offer you but hunger & thirst, hardship & death. But I call on all who love their country to join with me."
Martin Luther said: “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”
Billy Graham has said, “Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have”
And concerning the cost of discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who paid the ultimate price with his execution at age 39 on April 9, 1945, was a good example of this. He had bravely resisted Hitler and the Nazi State when most of Germany’s clergy supported the Third Reich. And it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
If all of this sounds extreme to you, then you have a little idea of what those disciples and others were experiencing as they listened to these words from Christ 2,000 years ago.
These next 4 statements, are all descriptive ones, to elaborate on this foundational commitment: “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” They explain it:
Mark 8:35 – “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
· Those who follow Christ submit to God’s will and gain eternal life
What did Jesus just say? He gives a paradoxical statement here. He just said: Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, if you want to be my disciple. Because: the person who tries to protect Himself will not gain eternal life; but the person willing to give up everything important to him, for Jesus’ sake and the good news, will actually receive eternal life.
Whether one actually gives up physical life for the sake of Christ or gives up their own personal control of their lives, the same thing applies. This is how you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ. That person is a true Christian, and therefore, has eternal life promised in Heaven.
Understand, this is not about good works. This is about the evidence of a person who has truly committed his life to Jesus Christ – one who is a true follower – a Christian. These statements are showing the differences between those who are Christians and those who are not. Don’t get caught up, here, in trying to figure out who is saved or not saved by what you presently see. Don’t get discouraged because you don’t always see great fruit in your life. However, you should take this opportunity to check your heart and make sure that the commitment you made to Christ was real; and if you have become lazy in your commitment to follow Christ, you have a great opportunity to get back where you should be. Even if you are saved, you probably still need to reminded of your commitment, just as I do.
Jesus now uses the common day idea of financial gain to speak of following Him for spiritual gain – that is much more valuable:
Mark 8:36 – “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”
· Those who live for themselves lose everything in the end
The rhetorical question: What benefit is there for someone to gain everything this world has to offer and yet suffer the loss of his soul, with no eternity with God? The obvious answer is: There is NO benefit – NONE – It is a wasted life.
Mark 8:37 – “For what can a man give in return for his life?”
· Those who live for this world’s goods have nothing with which to bargain for their eternal life
The next rhetorical question: What can a person, who is living for this world, give to God in order to receive eternal life with Him? The obvious answer is: NOTHING.
It is not difficult for us to see most of the people in this world living for material gain. Most of what our world tells us is about how to get more money and how to spend it on things that will make us happy. And yet, most of what people are living for has NOTHING to do with eternity. In fact, people are pursuing what cannot satisfy and will be gone when this life is over; and ignoring what will truly satisfy and bring eternal life in the end. And even we Christians sometimes get caught up in the confusion – don’t we?
In his book: Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper relays this story:
“In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa. Ruby was over 80 years old. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing 80 years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly…Was that a tragedy? Two lives, driven by one great passion, namely, to be spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ – even two decades after most of their American counterparts had retired to throw away their lives on trifles. No, that is not a tragedy. That is a glory. These lives were not wasted. And these lives were not lost…
Piper continued:
I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot boat, play softball and collect shells.’ Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life – your one and only precious, God-given life – and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this; playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.”
Mark 8:38 – “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
· Those who deny Christ in this life will be rejected by Him when He returns
Jesus is continuing to explain the statement: Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Jesus is noting that the majority of people living at that time were spiritually unfaithful and continually sinning. And in the midst of it, those who denied Christ (were ashamed of him) demonstrated that they were not believers and would be rejected by Jesus Christ when returned for judgment in the future, along with his angels.
We need to be careful here, because at first reading, we could easily be confused. We are removed 2,000 years from when this was written, and we tend to read it differently than it was intended. You might read verse 38 and think it is saying that if we Christians get embarrassed and are unwilling at times to share our faith or even say we are Christians, then we will lose our salvation and not go to Heaven some day. That is not what this is saying.
Those who are ashamed, or reject Christ are the non-believers. One of the reasons we know that is because one of Jesus closest disciples, the Apostle Peter, was obviously a Christ –follower and on His way to Heaven. However, he denied that he knew Christ, not just once, but 3 times. Did he lose his salvation? NO. Does this mean he was never truly a Christ-follower? NO. This verse is not referring to our failure to talk boldly about Christ. It is referring to those who rejected Christ for who He said He was. They would be rejected in the judgment.
It does point out that true believers will be willing to tell people that they are Christ-followers. They will not be ashamed of Him. Yes, we fail often; but true Christ-followers are denying themselves and lifting up their only hope: Jesus Christ.
SO WHAT ABOUT YOU?
This question is on your outline but there are no blanks to fill in. You will have to answer this question for yourself:
Has there been a time in your life when you have confessed that Jesus Christ is who He said He was: The promised Messiah who died for your sins? Have you trusted in Him for your salvation, not counting on good works or religion to get you to Heaven? Have you given your life to Him, accepting the call to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him?
If you have not, today is a great day to do that. You can do that right in this moment. Just tell God what you want to do. If you would like to talk about it with someone, I will be up here when the service ends; and I would love to talk with you about it.
If you have already made this decision at some time in your life, this is great time to evaluate where you are in following through with this commitment in reality. Maybe you have gotten a little lazy. You might even be living in a way a non-believer lives: you are not denying yourself, you are not submitting to God’s authority and the way of the cross; and you are following your own plan, and not following Christ.
If you find yourself there, you have one option: confess it before God and recommit yourself to His call today. You can do that right in your seat. If you would like to tell us about it, you can see Steve or I after the service. We would love to hear about your decision and pray with you.
Let’s take some time to consider this and pray right now.
This messagewas preached on July 20, 2008 at Grace Baptist Church in Westlake, OH. It is available to listen to online at www.gbcwestlake.org
WHAT DID JESUS JUST SAY?
Mark 8:22-38
Please turn in Your Bibles to Mark 8. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 873 or 891.
VIDEO: WHO WAS JESUS? [2 minutes, 55 seconds]
In these passages today, we are going to see more of who Jesus was, based on what He did, and what he said. And His followers, and all those who were listening, were going to need to decide what they believed about Jesus Christ; and whether or not they were willing to follow Him. We have the same decision to make today.
Mark 8:22 – “And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.”
This seemed, in the gospel of Mark, to happen quite often. People helped their friends, family, who were in desperate need, to get to Jesus, hoping that He would touch their friend and healing would take place. In this case, a blind man had friends who cared enough about him, not only to bring him to Jesus, but to beg Jesus to touch him. That demonstrates great faith.
Mark 8:23 – “And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him., Do you see anything?”
Just like with the deaf mute in Mark 7, Jesus led this man away from the crowd and became very personal with him. Jesus spit on his eyes and laid His hands on this man. Using spit was something the blind man could relate to in that day. People believed there was special power in saliva. Even today, many people instinctively respond to a cut or burned finger by putting their mouth on it to ease the pain. Jesus used this method to connect with this man.
He then asked him what seems to be a strange question:
[1] “Do you see anything?”. What did Jesus just say? Anytime Jesus would touch someone or declare someone healed, He knew it was done and wanted others to believe it was done, even if the victim of the particular disease wasn’t there. In this case, He just touched the man and then asks if he sees anything.
Mark 8:24,25 – “And he looked up and said, I see men, but they look like trees, walking. Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”
The man looked up, probably seeing the disciples, but said that he could not see clearly, because they looked liked trees walking around. Perhaps Jesus was making a point about spiritual understanding. The disciples were a lot like this man, in a spiritual way. They could see some of what Jesus was saying, but it was still pretty cloudy to them. They didn’t fully understand – didn’t full see it. It was a process for them; just as it for us.
So, Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again. It is the only time we see a gradual miracle from Jesus; and this miracle is only recorded here in Mark. This time, the man opened his eyes, his sight was fully restored, and everything was clear. There is no indication that Jesus didn’t have enough power the first time – and no indication that this man lacked faith. It does make sense, in the context, that Jesus was teaching his disciples something. Just before this passage, we have recorded the feeding of the 4,000, the disciples not “getting it”; and Jesus asking: “Do you not yet understand?” Their spiritual understanding was coming in stages, and they still had a long way to go. Then, Jesus made a statement that makes us ask: Did He just say that?
Mark 8:26 – “And he sent him to his home, saying, Do not even enter the village.”
Jesus instructed this man, [2] Do not go back to Bethsaida; but instead to return to wherever He lived. Why did Jesus say that? It seems this is another instance of Jesus wanting some of His activities to remain silent. We know, in most cases, this didn’t happen; but people kept talking about what Jesus had done for them.
There is a transition that takes place here in the book of Mark. From here until the end of the gospel, the focus becomes Jesus Christ as the Messiah, here to die for the sins of the world. And this next passage gets us headed that direction with a couple more questions that Jesus asks:
Mark 8:27 – “And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, Who do people say that I am?”
They travelled about 25 miles north of Bethsaida to these villages of Caesarea Philippi. This was once a great center for the worship for Baal. According to Barclay: “On the hillside there was a cave which was said to be the birthplace of the Greek God, Pan, the god of nature. Farther up on the hillside rose a gleaming temple of white marble which was built to the godhead of Caesar, the Roman Emperor, the ruler of the world, who was regarded a god. It is in this context, that Jesus asks a very important question, and the answer becomes a turning point in this gospel.
While they were walking, Jesus posed a question: [3] Who do people say that I am? Why would Jesus ask this? It is interesting that Jesus would ask this, since He already knew the answers. But, there was a point to this line of questioning.
Mark 8:28 – “And they told him, John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
Back in chapter 6 of Mark, when Herod had heard of all Jesus was doing with His disciples, he heard a few suggestions for who this man going by the name Jesus really was. And the same suggestions were the ones the disciples mentioned here. People are saying three basic things: You are either John the Baptist, Elijah or another one of the prophets. In each case, they thought Jesus was a returning spirit or something from the dead. They certainly could not accept Jesus for who He was claiming to be! The majority of the people did not understand, at all, who Jesus was – not unlike the people in the video we began this message with.
But, Jesus now goes to the heart of the matter. Here is a penetrating, but important question from Christ, that we must all answer:
Mark 8:29 – “And he asked them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, You are the Christ.”
[4] “Who do you say that I am?” Ok – so the popular opinion is that I am one of those options. But, what about you? He asked this of the 12 guys that He personally chose to follow Him. And, I believe, without hesitation, their spokesman, Peter, said what is recorded here: “You are the Christ.” In other words, Peter, representing the 12 disciples said: “Jesus, we wholeheartedly believe that you are, indeed, the promised Messiah from the Old Testament. You are the Christ.”
We almost would expect Jesus, now, to applaud His followers for such a great statement of faith. Instead he says this:
Mark 8:30 – “And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.”
It is almost as though He followed Peter’s statement: You are the Christ, with: shhhhh: [5] “Don’t tell anyone who I am.” Did Jesus just say that?
Jesus did accept this statement as truth. However, the disciples still did not fully understand, and were not ready to proclaim Him publicly as the Messiah. In fact, proclaiming Him as such at that time would have caused more confusion and problems than progress for the gospel. People even in that day had many different, wrong ideas about the Messiah. The popular opinion was that the Messiah would be a political hero, who would come on the scene to rescue the Jewish people from Roman authority.
But, as Jesus was about to explain, He was here for something much more important. He was the Messiah, but the not the one they all expected. It was time for the disciples to hear the whole truth about what would have to happen to this One and Only Messiah:
Mark 8:31 – “And 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 after three days rise again.”
For the first time, to His disciples, here in Mark, Jesus predicts what is going to have to happen to Him, in order for Him to fulfill His position as the true Messiah. He is basically saying this: Yes, I am the promised Messiah. And I am the Son of Man, fully man and fully God. And, [6] “as a man, I will experience incredible suffering, I will be condemned by the religious leaders [the 3 groups mentioned in v.31 that make up the Sanhedrin] and I will be put to death.” But, I will also rise again 3 days later. What did Jesus just say?
They didn’t even notice that He said He would rise 3 days later. We know the disciples never really got that point until days after He actually did rise from the dead. But, the other part caught their attention. Instead of setting Himself up as some political and military hero, here to rescue people from foreign authorities; Jesus said He was going to humble Himself, go through physical pain, and endure the great humiliation of capital punishment. This is not what the disciples expected to hear. But, this was the mission that God had for the Messiah. He said: The Son of Man must suffer many things. This had to happen. When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, in John 3, He explained:
John 3:14,15 – “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
The people of Israel knew the story: a bronze serpent was put on a pole and the sinning Israelites had to look on it to be saved from their poisonous snake bites. Also, Jesus had to be put up on the cross, so that everyone who looked to Him in faith would be saved from their sin. All of this was connected to personal salvation for all who believe. He had to suffer and die. This was a major part of God’s plan to redeem us.
And Jesus said this as a matter of fact. And then, as soon as he said it, the representative for the 12 disciples felt He needed to say something else:
Mark 8:32 – “And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.”
The man who boldly said: I don’t care that everyone thinks you are John the Baptist or Elijah or just another prophet. I know that you are Jesus Christ, the Son of God – the promised Messiah! – that man, now takes Jesus aside, as you would your young child who just said something embarrassing in front of company – and Peter rebukes the Messiah. What was He thinking?
Well, he was probably thinking what the rest of the fellas were thinking: “Wait a second Jesus. As the Messiah, you are going to do the killing, not the other way around. We are going to be with you as you defeat this ungodly government. We are going to be with you as you set up your Kingdom (that you keep talking about) here on Earth. Don’t be a “glass half full” kind of guy Jesus. Don’t be negative, pessimistic – Don’t talk this way – about suffering and death. That’s not a good plan!
As you can imagine, it was “teachable moment” time.
Mark 8:33 – But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
What did Jesus just say? [7] “Get behind me Satan.” Did He just call Peter: Satan? Well, He basically said this: “You are speaking the words of Satan.” Jesus took this opportunity to address all His disciples, and by rebuking Peter, He was emphasizing that this plan He just unveiled was the plan of God. And any other plan, including their own, was all about man.
Why did Jesus call Peter Satan? Because what Peter did was to communicate what Jesus’ greatest adversary was trying to communicate and accomplish. The last thing Satan would want is for Jesus to suffer and die for the sins of the world. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, He was trying to get Jesus to respond to selfish thoughts and goals. But, that is not what Jesus was here to do. And Peter was really representing the thoughts of Satan when he rebuked Jesus.
The disciples probably had this fantasy in their heads, that they would accompany Jesus as He overthrew the Roman government and set up His Kingdom right here and right now. Then, they would rule with Him. What Jesus was sharing didn’t sound like it was going to fulfill their fantasies. In fact, it sounded like a nightmare. So, Jesus needed to explain to His followers and potential followers what it truly means to follow Him. There were many people volunteering to be with Christ and follow Him; but their motivations and expectations were out of line. Jesus was going to be clear about what following Him really means.
There’s the story of a soldier frantically digging in during battle as shells fall all around him. Suddenly his hand feels something metal and he grabs it. It’s a silver cross. Another shell explodes and he buries his head in his arms. He feels someone jump in the foxhole with him and he looks over and sees an army chaplain. The soldier thrusts the cross in the chaplain’s face and says, “I sure am glad to see you. How do you work this thing?” Jesus is about to address this same type of question that people interested in Jesus have been asking about the significance of the cross: “How do you work this thing?” Peter had just claimed the truth of who Jesus was, but in the next moment, demonstrated that he didn’t understand anything. He had just learned that His Messiah, Jesus, was going to take a very different path than Peter had imagined.
Mark 8:34 – “And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Did Jesus just say that? I don’t think I like it. He was not just talking to His 12 chosen followers. He was talking to them, since they obviously didn’t understand yet; but He was talking to everyone that considered becoming His follower. And He is certainly saying that same thing to us today.
Understand something: To trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation; or to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior – whatever specific terms you might use to describe the fact that you are a Christian (if you are). – is equal to what Jesus is talking about here. In other words, Jesus is not giving a 2 step plan. First, you pray to receive me as your Lord and Savior. Then, later, hopefully, you decide to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. NO! He is saying: Do you want to call yourself a Christian? This is what it is all about. It is about being a committed follower of Me.
Here is His main statement: In order to be my disciple, you must:
[8] “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.”
Instead of saying: Bow your heads, close your eyes and repeat after me: I want to receive Jesus into my heart and go to Heaven; Jesus said this: Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. This is a hard statement. Now, don’t be confused here. Most of us begin to follow Christ with some type of prayer and very little understanding. We pray to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior and later we truly learn what that means. That is o.k. But, Jesus wanted to make sure these people understood what the decision to follow Christ truly entailed from His perspective.
To deny yourself is not: to beat yourself up, treat material things as evil, to pretend to be something you were not created to be. To deny yourself is to put aside your selfish desires so that you can put God’s interests above your own. It is to be God-centered rather than self-centered. And that…is tough!
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of two young brothers who come downstairs for breakfast on a Saturday morning, and their mother was cooking pancakes. She was starting to pull them off the griddle when the boys start arguing about who’s going to eat first. Their mother seizes this teachable moment and says, “Now boys, what would Jesus say if he were here?” They stopped, looked a little confused, and then their mother says, “Jesus would say, “My brother, you have the first pancake. I’ll wait.” The older brother looks at the younger brother and says, “Hey John, you be Jesus.”
To deny yourself is to apply:
I Corinthians 6:19,20 – “…You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
To take up your cross has nothing to do with the necklaces, tattoos, bookmarks, or any other object in the shape of a cross. The cross had a very distinct picture associated with it in that Roman dominated society. The cross is what a condemned man would pick up and carry. And in doing so, he was showing submission to the Roman authority that he had previously disobeyed. The cross had and is still to have an incredible meaning to those of us who claim to follow Him.
Rene Lacoste was the world’s top tennis player in the late 1920s. He won seven major singles titles during his career, including multiple victories at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open. His friends called him “Le Crocodile,” an apt term for his tenacious play on the tennis court. Lacoste accepted the nickname and had a tiny crocodile embroidered on his tennis blazers. When he added it to a line of shirts he designed, the symbol caught on. While thousands of people around the world wore “alligator shirts,” the emblem always had a deeper significance for Lacoste’s friends who knew of its origin and meaning.The cross is an emblem of Christianity that holds special meaning for every one of us who identify with Jesus Christ. Whenever we see a cross, it should remind us of Christ’s tenacious determination to do His Father’s will by dying for us on Calvary. The cross is all about making a choice. The cross is about discipline, hard work, obedience, and commitment. The cross can be an obstacle for many people.
Billy Graham wrote in Decision magazine, “I find that I can preach on any subject other than the cross, and it does not seem as offensive to people as the cross does. I can preach on doing good works, on social improvement, on all kinds of things, and people will applaud me. But when I preach on the cross and the blood of Christ, there is an offense.”
To be able to understand what Jesus is asking us to do in “taking up our cross”, we have to understand what He did. Jesus was responding to the will of the Father, in going to the cross. He was not following natural self-protection plans or even selfish political aspirations. He was going to obey the Father, and not be sidetracked by anyone else’s desires for Him. When Jesus said to take up your cross, he was not saying they would all have to physically die like He was going to. He was also not saying that enduring certain burdens in our lives was equal to carrying our cross. Sometimes people think they are carrying a cross by putting up with annoying people or bad weather or some other minor thing.
The primary meaning of this phrase: take up your cross, is all about obeying God and doing His will – no matter what. It is a narrow focus on doing only what God wants for our lives, not selfish dreams or even following the dreams others have for us. It means a willingness to do even what would be misunderstood by others. It means doing what might even be considered a waste by others.
When Jesus said “Follow Me” he said it in a way that means: Keep following me.
This is a life process. The disciples certainly didn’t just make the decision to follow Him and then always do it just right. The call is to continually follow. That is a mark of a true Christian – one who is still following, years after they prayed to trust in Christ. You have decided not to follow your own plan, but God’s. You are not going to go after your own dreams, but the vision that God gives you for your life. You are not out to please others with your life, but God. And your greatest example, for you to follow, is Jesus Christ Himself.
This call to follow Christ is not an easy one. In the early days of World War II, when Winston Churchill took over the leadership of England, he said that all he had to offer his people was "blood, sweat & tears."
During the siege of Rome in 1849, Garibaldi, the great Italian patriot, made this famous proclamation: "Soldiers, all our efforts against superior forces have been unavailing. I have nothing to offer you but hunger & thirst, hardship & death. But I call on all who love their country to join with me."
Martin Luther said: “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.”
Billy Graham has said, “Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have”
And concerning the cost of discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who paid the ultimate price with his execution at age 39 on April 9, 1945, was a good example of this. He had bravely resisted Hitler and the Nazi State when most of Germany’s clergy supported the Third Reich. And it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
If all of this sounds extreme to you, then you have a little idea of what those disciples and others were experiencing as they listened to these words from Christ 2,000 years ago.
These next 4 statements, are all descriptive ones, to elaborate on this foundational commitment: “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” They explain it:
Mark 8:35 – “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
· Those who follow Christ submit to God’s will and gain eternal life
What did Jesus just say? He gives a paradoxical statement here. He just said: Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, if you want to be my disciple. Because: the person who tries to protect Himself will not gain eternal life; but the person willing to give up everything important to him, for Jesus’ sake and the good news, will actually receive eternal life.
Whether one actually gives up physical life for the sake of Christ or gives up their own personal control of their lives, the same thing applies. This is how you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ. That person is a true Christian, and therefore, has eternal life promised in Heaven.
Understand, this is not about good works. This is about the evidence of a person who has truly committed his life to Jesus Christ – one who is a true follower – a Christian. These statements are showing the differences between those who are Christians and those who are not. Don’t get caught up, here, in trying to figure out who is saved or not saved by what you presently see. Don’t get discouraged because you don’t always see great fruit in your life. However, you should take this opportunity to check your heart and make sure that the commitment you made to Christ was real; and if you have become lazy in your commitment to follow Christ, you have a great opportunity to get back where you should be. Even if you are saved, you probably still need to reminded of your commitment, just as I do.
Jesus now uses the common day idea of financial gain to speak of following Him for spiritual gain – that is much more valuable:
Mark 8:36 – “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”
· Those who live for themselves lose everything in the end
The rhetorical question: What benefit is there for someone to gain everything this world has to offer and yet suffer the loss of his soul, with no eternity with God? The obvious answer is: There is NO benefit – NONE – It is a wasted life.
Mark 8:37 – “For what can a man give in return for his life?”
· Those who live for this world’s goods have nothing with which to bargain for their eternal life
The next rhetorical question: What can a person, who is living for this world, give to God in order to receive eternal life with Him? The obvious answer is: NOTHING.
It is not difficult for us to see most of the people in this world living for material gain. Most of what our world tells us is about how to get more money and how to spend it on things that will make us happy. And yet, most of what people are living for has NOTHING to do with eternity. In fact, people are pursuing what cannot satisfy and will be gone when this life is over; and ignoring what will truly satisfy and bring eternal life in the end. And even we Christians sometimes get caught up in the confusion – don’t we?
In his book: Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper relays this story:
“In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa. Ruby was over 80 years old. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing 80 years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly…Was that a tragedy? Two lives, driven by one great passion, namely, to be spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ – even two decades after most of their American counterparts had retired to throw away their lives on trifles. No, that is not a tragedy. That is a glory. These lives were not wasted. And these lives were not lost…
Piper continued:
I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot boat, play softball and collect shells.’ Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life – your one and only precious, God-given life – and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this; playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life.”
Mark 8:38 – “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
· Those who deny Christ in this life will be rejected by Him when He returns
Jesus is continuing to explain the statement: Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Jesus is noting that the majority of people living at that time were spiritually unfaithful and continually sinning. And in the midst of it, those who denied Christ (were ashamed of him) demonstrated that they were not believers and would be rejected by Jesus Christ when returned for judgment in the future, along with his angels.
We need to be careful here, because at first reading, we could easily be confused. We are removed 2,000 years from when this was written, and we tend to read it differently than it was intended. You might read verse 38 and think it is saying that if we Christians get embarrassed and are unwilling at times to share our faith or even say we are Christians, then we will lose our salvation and not go to Heaven some day. That is not what this is saying.
Those who are ashamed, or reject Christ are the non-believers. One of the reasons we know that is because one of Jesus closest disciples, the Apostle Peter, was obviously a Christ –follower and on His way to Heaven. However, he denied that he knew Christ, not just once, but 3 times. Did he lose his salvation? NO. Does this mean he was never truly a Christ-follower? NO. This verse is not referring to our failure to talk boldly about Christ. It is referring to those who rejected Christ for who He said He was. They would be rejected in the judgment.
It does point out that true believers will be willing to tell people that they are Christ-followers. They will not be ashamed of Him. Yes, we fail often; but true Christ-followers are denying themselves and lifting up their only hope: Jesus Christ.
SO WHAT ABOUT YOU?
This question is on your outline but there are no blanks to fill in. You will have to answer this question for yourself:
Has there been a time in your life when you have confessed that Jesus Christ is who He said He was: The promised Messiah who died for your sins? Have you trusted in Him for your salvation, not counting on good works or religion to get you to Heaven? Have you given your life to Him, accepting the call to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him?
If you have not, today is a great day to do that. You can do that right in this moment. Just tell God what you want to do. If you would like to talk about it with someone, I will be up here when the service ends; and I would love to talk with you about it.
If you have already made this decision at some time in your life, this is great time to evaluate where you are in following through with this commitment in reality. Maybe you have gotten a little lazy. You might even be living in a way a non-believer lives: you are not denying yourself, you are not submitting to God’s authority and the way of the cross; and you are following your own plan, and not following Christ.
If you find yourself there, you have one option: confess it before God and recommit yourself to His call today. You can do that right in your seat. If you would like to tell us about it, you can see Steve or I after the service. We would love to hear about your decision and pray with you.
Let’s take some time to consider this and pray right now.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
What if they fell off the balcony?
One of my favorite worship songs is: Blessed Be Your Name. It is taken from the book of Job. After Job found out that he lost all of his children to tragic deaths, he did this:
Job 1:20-22 - "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
I love singing the song, as it brings my love for God and commitment to His care to the forefront of my emotions and out through my voice. It is a great song of praise. But, I don't know that it was easy for Job, when He first said those words. It was probably pretty painful - very painful; and yet he did give God praise anyway - although he just lost all 10 of his children to death!
But, as with every biblical truth, the real test comes, not in the middle of a praise and worship song; but in the midst of loss, discouragement, and pain. I came very close yesterday, to being tested as to whether or not I would respond the way Job responded. At least, Teresa and I view this as though we were very close.
We were visiting with my parents in Cincinnati and staying at a 16 floor hotel. Teresa walked in yesterday to our room to find our youngest 3 children who had gone there ahead of her. What she saw was what might be played out in many parent's nightmares:
Our daughter Breanna and son Caleb were out on the balcony (we were on the 12th floor), but they were not just standing there looking out over the city. They were standing up on the ledge of the balcony, with only a foot or so of railing near their feet, in between them and a 12 story fall into the street! You can probably imagine what kinds of thoughts and feelings going through my wife's mind and body at that sight.
They did then get down in time for Teresa to chastise them for a while. We all talked about it as a family later. It has been difficult, even a day later, for Teresa and I to get that picture out of our minds - of our 2 children falling off the balcony to their death.
Would I have sung that song, or said what Job said - if they would have gone over that balcony?
I don't know - and I am extremely grateful that I have not yet been tested to that degree.
I told Teresa that there has been a prayer I find myself praying often; especially when my children's health and well being has been in danger; but also when I consider the spiritual battles they are facing in this world. The prayer goes something like this:
Lord, our children are really yours. I am not holding on to them with clenched fists; but with an open hand. They are yours, to do with as you please, for your purposes and for your glory. Although you know my concerns and desires for their physical and spiritual health, you know better than I, and I DO TRUST YOU WITH THEIR LIVES.
Whatever you choose to do, it will be right, it will be best; and I commit to praising you. I am committed not to spend my time worrying about my children; but enjoying every moment you give us with them. They are precious to us; but we know they are even more precious to you. And you will not allow anything to happen to them, except what is truly "best" in your perspective; and for your glory.
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!
Amen
Job 1:20-22 - "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
I love singing the song, as it brings my love for God and commitment to His care to the forefront of my emotions and out through my voice. It is a great song of praise. But, I don't know that it was easy for Job, when He first said those words. It was probably pretty painful - very painful; and yet he did give God praise anyway - although he just lost all 10 of his children to death!
But, as with every biblical truth, the real test comes, not in the middle of a praise and worship song; but in the midst of loss, discouragement, and pain. I came very close yesterday, to being tested as to whether or not I would respond the way Job responded. At least, Teresa and I view this as though we were very close.
We were visiting with my parents in Cincinnati and staying at a 16 floor hotel. Teresa walked in yesterday to our room to find our youngest 3 children who had gone there ahead of her. What she saw was what might be played out in many parent's nightmares:
Our daughter Breanna and son Caleb were out on the balcony (we were on the 12th floor), but they were not just standing there looking out over the city. They were standing up on the ledge of the balcony, with only a foot or so of railing near their feet, in between them and a 12 story fall into the street! You can probably imagine what kinds of thoughts and feelings going through my wife's mind and body at that sight.
They did then get down in time for Teresa to chastise them for a while. We all talked about it as a family later. It has been difficult, even a day later, for Teresa and I to get that picture out of our minds - of our 2 children falling off the balcony to their death.
Would I have sung that song, or said what Job said - if they would have gone over that balcony?
I don't know - and I am extremely grateful that I have not yet been tested to that degree.
I told Teresa that there has been a prayer I find myself praying often; especially when my children's health and well being has been in danger; but also when I consider the spiritual battles they are facing in this world. The prayer goes something like this:
Lord, our children are really yours. I am not holding on to them with clenched fists; but with an open hand. They are yours, to do with as you please, for your purposes and for your glory. Although you know my concerns and desires for their physical and spiritual health, you know better than I, and I DO TRUST YOU WITH THEIR LIVES.
Whatever you choose to do, it will be right, it will be best; and I commit to praising you. I am committed not to spend my time worrying about my children; but enjoying every moment you give us with them. They are precious to us; but we know they are even more precious to you. And you will not allow anything to happen to them, except what is truly "best" in your perspective; and for your glory.
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!
Amen
Friday, July 18, 2008
ENCOURAGEMENT IN CHRIST
For a few years now, there has been a list of truths from the Bible that have been a constant encouragement to me. I pull them out when I sense discouragement coming on; or I feel as though I am all alone. I hope you will find them to be a comfort and encouragement as well. These are true of every person who has placed all of their faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. You may want to say them out loud for greater effect!
IN CHRIST (from The Bondage Breaker – Neil Anderson)
I am accepted:
I am God’s child (John 1:12)
I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15)
I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am united with the Lord and one with Him in spirit (I Corinthians 6:17)
I have been bought with a price – I belong to God (I Corinthians 12:27)
I am a saint (Ephesians 1:1)
I have been adopted as God’s child (Ephesians 1:5)
I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)
I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins (Colossians 1:14)
I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)
I am secure:
I am free from condemnation (Romans 8:1,2)
I am assured that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28)
I am free from any condemning charges against me (Romans 8:31-34)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39)
I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God
(II Corinthians 1:21,22)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
I am confident that the good work that God has begun in me will be perfected (Philippians 1:6)
I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)
I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind
(II Timothy 1:7)
I can find grace and mercy in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)
I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me (I John 5:18)
I am significant:
I am the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13)
I am a branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15:1,5)
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)
I am a personal witness of Christ’s (Acts 1:8)
I am God’s temple (I Corinthians 3:16)
I am a minister of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:17-20)
I am God’s coworker (II Corinthians 6:1)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 2:6)
I am God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13)
IN CHRIST (from The Bondage Breaker – Neil Anderson)
I am accepted:
I am God’s child (John 1:12)
I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15)
I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am united with the Lord and one with Him in spirit (I Corinthians 6:17)
I have been bought with a price – I belong to God (I Corinthians 12:27)
I am a saint (Ephesians 1:1)
I have been adopted as God’s child (Ephesians 1:5)
I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)
I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins (Colossians 1:14)
I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)
I am secure:
I am free from condemnation (Romans 8:1,2)
I am assured that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28)
I am free from any condemning charges against me (Romans 8:31-34)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39)
I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God
(II Corinthians 1:21,22)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)
I am confident that the good work that God has begun in me will be perfected (Philippians 1:6)
I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)
I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind
(II Timothy 1:7)
I can find grace and mercy in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)
I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me (I John 5:18)
I am significant:
I am the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13)
I am a branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15:1,5)
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)
I am a personal witness of Christ’s (Acts 1:8)
I am God’s temple (I Corinthians 3:16)
I am a minister of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:17-20)
I am God’s coworker (II Corinthians 6:1)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realm (Ephesians 2:6)
I am God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
SEEING IS BELIEVING
This message was preached on Sunday, July 13, 2008 at Grace Baptist Church in Westlake, OH. If you would like to listen to an audio of this message, go to www.gbcwestlake.org and choose the listen now option on the left; and then choose this message title:
BELIEVING IS SEEING
Mark 8:1-21
Please turn in your Bible to Mark 8. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 872 or 890.
You might look at this title and think I have it backwards. Greg: shouldn’t it read: Seeing is believing? No. In our passages for today: Believing is Seeing.
This morning, we are going to see the closest followers of Christ there have ever been, the disciples, act as though they have no clue as the reality of who Christ is and what He has done. It reminds me of some of the stupid, but amusing things young children might do – things you hope people with adult understanding wouldn’t try. These are some things people wouldn’t believe until they actually saw them happen. I found an article entitled: Things our kids teach us:
1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42-pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 10x10 ft. room.
4. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way. And: The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn’t stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
5. It don’t matter how much jell-o you put in a pool, you can’t walk on it.
6. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy. It will, however, make cats dizzy.
7. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
8. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
9. VCR’s do not eject PB&J sandwiches.
10. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh," it’s already too late.
Today, we are going to see the stupidity or extreme immaturity, if you prefer, of the disciples. But, don’t get so focused on theirs this morning, that you forget about ours.
Mark 8:1-3- “In those days, again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.”
Believing is seeing that:
Jesus has compassion on people, because of their physical needs.
Jesus is still in the Decapolis, a 10 city region. And, we have another large crowd gathering around Jesus; which was becoming the norm, it seems. One commentator I read suggested that one reason for the large crowds was that this was where the demoniac was from. This was the account in Mark 5, where Jesus cast out the demons and put them into the pigs. The man wanted to travel with Jesus, but:
Mark 5:19,20 – “And he (Jesus) did not permit him but said to him, go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”
I wonder: did this man have a great influence for Christ among the people in this 10 city region? We are not told for sure; but it was an interesting thought. Obviously, word had spread about what Jesus Christ could do. Somebody had spread it among the mostly Gentile region. And, according to Mark 5, that man did tell everyone he could about what Jesus had done for Him.
Here, in Mark 8, we are told that for three days, Jesus had been teaching this large crowd. We are not told exactly what He was teaching, but we do know the message He constantly taught wherever He went:
Mark 1:15 – “…The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Jesus taught this and took time to explain to people that it was He that brought the kingdom of God near. He was THE WAY to Heaven. And He taught people, as described elsewhere in the gospels, how to get prepared for Kingdom living. HE had been teaching them for 3 days. The food had run out; and Jesus knew if they were sent home now, some of them wouldn’t make it, without collapsing from hunger.
Did you notice what Jesus said? “I have compassion on the crowd.” Now, we have heard this before, back with the feeding of the 5,000. But there, it says:
Mark 6:34 – “When He (Jesus) went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
But, in this case, why did He have compassion on them? Verse 2: “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.”
It is too easy to skip over this, but we can’t. In this case, he does not emphasize exactly what He was teaching. He emphasizes the fact that these people, to whom He is spiritually ministering, are now in need of physical nourishment; and He is going to do something about it. I want to spend a couple minutes here, because it is a weakness of mine and most of the churches I have even been involved with. I have found that we are so afraid of what has been labeled “the social gospel”, that we forget that part of being like Jesus is to meet physical needs. Steve Glick and I were discussing this a couple of weeks ago.
The social gospel, as it has been called, usually refers to those individuals or religious groups, that focus on meeting people’s physical needs and not on their spiritual need of knowing Jesus Christ and growing in Him. So, as it naturally goes with those of us who don’t want to go to that extreme, we tend to go to the other extreme! We neglect the real physical, emotional and mental needs of people, and we focus mainly on the spiritual need of knowing Christ. Would you agree?
SO WHAT?How do I know if I am seeing it, demonstrating that I believe? When you:
Become more Christ-like by caring for people’s physical needs
This would not normally be something to point out in this passage. But, we have seen it at other times in Mark already, and I know it is a weakness of mine. So, I make it an applicational point, to at least get us on the path of considering this – thinking about it, praying about it. What would God have us to, that would help care for the whole person.
According to commentator Barclay: “One of the most joyous of all Jewish feasts is the Feast of Purim. It falls on March 14th and commemorates the deliverance of which the Book of Esther tells. Above all it is a time of giving gifts; and one of its regulations is that, no matter how poor a man is, he must seek out someone poorer than himself and give him a gift. Jesus has no time for the spirit which waits until all the circumstances are perfect before it thinks of helping.”
God help us to see the whole person and all of their needs – just like Christ did!
So, Jesus wants to make sure this large crowd has food. Let’s continue:
Mark 8:4 – “And his disciples answered him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”
Does this question strike you as strange as it strikes me? When you read about this situation does it remind you of anything that we have already read – about what Jesus did when there were thousands of hungry people? But, they asked the question anyway: How could anyone possibly feed all these people. Jesus is with them, and throws out this problem of people needing food, just like he had done with the previous feeding. He is giving the disciples an opportunity, once again, to see what resources they have.
Mark 8:5-7 – “And he asked them, How many loaves do you have? They said, Seven. And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.”
Insufficient in themselves? Yes. But, with Jesus there, regardless of the amount of food, would they be able to feed this many hungry people? The answer was of course, yes, but the disciples still had more to learn. Jesus took the bread and the fish, and just as before, He gave thanks to God the Father, broke them and gave them to the disciples to hand out to the multitudes.
This should have been déjà vie for the disciples. This has happened before, hasn’t it? There are several parallels here to the previous feeding of the 5,000. So, the disciples do as they were told; and in a sense, they had a part in feeding these people, just as Jesus had directed them to do. But, once again, we are reminded that this was not just a little snack.
Mark 8:8-10- “And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmunutha.”
Believing is seeing that:
Jesus performs miracles with little resources
Very succinctly, Mark gives us the facts, that are very similar to the previous feeding. They ate until they were full. There were broken pieces left over, this time 7 baskets. And don’t think this was a lot less than the 12 baskets left over last time. There is a different word used here for basket, because it was a different basket. These were, according to scholars: “rope or mat baskets sometimes large enough to carry a man.” It is also interesting to note that this was a type of basket used by many Gentiles. Could it be, that part of what was going on here, was that Jesus was responding to the rejection of the Jewish people by presenting the “Bread of Life” to the Gentiles?
And there were four thousand people. Back then, they would count in terms of the adult men present. But, we know, from Matthew, who gives the same account, that this 4,000 count was beside the women and children that were there. When the feeding was over, Jesus sent them home, got into the boat with the disciples and they were on their way to the next place, which was also sometimes called Magdala.
This, I believe, emphasizes our previous point. After he fed them, there were no more miracles, no more teaching. He was concerned that these people were also cared for physically before he left them. And then, His ministry to them was over. He didn’t feed them and then teach them more. He had already been teaching – for 3 days! They needed food, and He had compassion on them in this regard.
Jesus didn’t have much to work with; but He was able to do miracles with it. His followers should have been able to already believe and thereby see what God could do. SO WHAT? How do I know if I am seeing it, demonstrating that I believe? When you: Understand what God can do, even before He does it
So, Jesus left there, once the people were fed; and He lands in this new region, and faces an immediate challenge from the religious leaders:
Mark 8:11 – “The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.”
According to Josephus, the first Century historian, the Pharisees were one of the main religious parties within the Synagogue. They were know for what they looked like, what they knew, and the rules they kept and held everyone else to. They were highly respected for their religious discipline. However, Jesus looked at most of what they did, simply as outward show, and having nothing to do with a heart following after God. Back in Mark 7, we saw Jesus rebuke the Pharisees for holding tradition above God’s Word – saying the right things when their hearts were far from God.
In that day when Jesus lived, the Jewish people were waiting, they thought, for a Messiah that would do all kinds of signs, that would make it clear to them who He was. According to Barclay: “When false Messiahs arose, as they frequently did, they lured the people to follow them by promising astonishing signs. They would promise, for instance, to split the waters of the Jordan in two and leave a pathway thorough it, or they would promise, with a word, to make the city walls fall down.”
So, once again, we have these religious leaders coming to Jesus, to argue with Him and to test Him. They were continually looking to trap Him, hoping that He would fall out of favor with the people, or that they would have some legal way to get rid of Him. So, this time they were asking for a sign, that would somehow prove that His authority indeed came from God. They didn’t believe that it did. In fact, earlier in Mark, the scribes of the Pharisees accused Jesus of having a very different authority:
Mark 3:22 – “…saying, He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
They were trying to bait Him to get into a argument – to show a sign that they would never believe anyway. All of His previous miracles were not enough of a sign to them; so Jesus refused.
Mark 8:12,13- “And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.”
Believing is Seeing that:
Jesus was who He said He was.
God’s own people, represented by the religious leaders, had rejected Him.
This is really one of the main things that is going on here. It is not just that the Pharisees continue to reject Him. They are seen as the representatives of the Jewish people, who, as a nation were rejecting the very Messiah they said they were looking for. Jesus sighed, probably showing his frustration, out of great love for God’s chosen people. He asked, rhetorically: Why does this generation seek a sign? The answer was obvious. They sought signs because they refused to accept the truth Jesus was teaching: That He was the Son of God – God in the flesh – the promised Messiah – NO WAY they would accept that.
They rejected Him, His own people, His own home town, as we read earlier in Mark; and Jesus said: NO – you don’t get any more signs. In fact, Jesus was the sign. And they didn’t get it. So, he got into the boat once again, with His disciples, and they went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. SO WHAT? How do I know if I am seeing it, demonstrating that I believe? When you:
Accept everything the Bible claims about Jesus Christ
You have never seen Jesus. You weren’t there when Jesus spoke these words. This demonstrates a heart of faith. When you, by faith, accept everything the Bible claims about Jesus Christ, and tell others about it – before you ever meet Him face to face.
A number of years ago there appeared in the New Yorker magazine an account of a Long Island resident who ordered an extremely sensitive barometer from a respected company, Abercrombie and Fitch. When the instrument arrived at his home he was disappointed to discover that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck pointing to the sector marked “Hurricane”. After shaking the barometer vigorously several times – never a good idea with a sensitive mechanism – and never getting the point to move, the new owner wrote a scathing letter to the store, and, on the following morning, on the way to his office in New York City mailed it. That evening he returned to Long Island to find not only the barometer missing but his house as well! The needle of the instrument had been pointed correctly. The year was 1938,the month was September, and the day was the 21st – the day of the terrible hurricane that almost leveled Long Island.”
Here was a man who would not trust the sensitive device that he had purchased for just this reason: to be safe when weather trouble might come. But, he didn’t trust it, not willing to see in advance what the barometer was trying to tell him – and he could have lost his life because of it. Much more important than putting faith in a barometer is to put your faith in the only person that can be trusted to be right every single time and in every single circumstance: Jesus Christ. To not trust what you know to be true about Him can bring possible destruction – spiritual devastation. We are about to see how the disciples were not willing to trust what they knew to be true about the most trustworthy person in the world.
Moving on: Instead of arguing more with the Pharisees, Jesus was going to invest Himself some more in teaching His disciples. As soon as we find out they had crossed the lake again, Mark tells us:
Mark 8:14 – “Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.”
Their quick departure probably was the reason for not bringing enough food with them. But, Jesus is going to use this as a teaching opportunity.
Mark 8:15 – “And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
With the confrontation of the Pharisees just taking place, Jesus used the loaf of bread as an illustration to warn His disciples. He said: Be careful of the leaven of the Pharisees. The leaven of the bread refers to the yeast. A small of amount of yeast can affect a large amount of dough. The Jewish people often used the term “yeast” or “leaven” to describe something that had an invisible but strong influence on something else. Most of the time leaven was used as a negative illustration. Here the unbelief and critical attitude (legalism) demonstrated by the Pharisees had a way of spreading quickly to many others, who viewed the Pharisees as religious leaders and examples.
He also warned them about Herod Antipas, who also had an incredible, negative influence on the people of Israel. Both the Pharisees and Herod thought the important things were the external things: money, power, fame (even religiously speaking). Because of that, they were like leaven that can corrupt the whole loaf. He did not want His disciples thinking that way.
This unbelief had affected the nation of Israel as a whole, and Jesus was warning His disciples against it. So, I wonder what great question or statement of faith the disciples are going to respond to Jesus with. Let’s find out:
Mark 8:16 – “And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.”
I laughed out loud when I first read it. Are you kidding me? This is the kind of thing that makes you say to someone: “Hello – were you listening to me?” Jesus had just warned them about something, using the bread as an illustration; and how do they respond?
“Hey, guys, what are we going to do about our lack of sustenance here? Yea, who forgot to bring the rest of the food anyway – wasn’t Philip supposed to do that? Not me. What are you complaining about Peter – you don’t look like you need any more bread (pointing to his stomach). Hey Thaddeus – you had the bread that was left over from the feeding of the 4,000- what did you do with it? What was I supposed to do guys – we didn’t have time. Jesus said – let’s go; and we all went. Judas, didn’t you think to tell us that we only had one loaf before we left – you are supposed to keep track of these things. Come on , Peter, James and John, you guys are the special three – the inner circle – you are responsible for this. Are not! Are so! Are not! Are so!
Can you just see Jesus’ face, and feel his frustration? I have the 5 world’s greatest children; but there have been times when Teresa or I will try to use some life circumstance with them to teach them something, and it will go like this:
Ok, kids, so you are complaining that there is not enough bread for you to have your 4th piece, like everyone else. That is sad, but aren’t you thankful for the bread you have already had. No, you didn’t have as many as the others, what about the great 3 pieces you did enjoy. And you know what else? We need to remember that there are people in this world, even children, who don’t have everything you have; and sometimes don’t even get one piece of bread. How about we spend some time praying – thanking God for His provision for us and asking Him to care for those people who are truly in need.
Dad – after we pray, can you go to the store and get me more bread – I’m soooooo hungry! [frustrated sigh] Any of you ever experience that, or is it just the pastor’s family?
Jesus gave his illustration, and the disciples go right back to discussing what they are going to do about the lack of food. Unbelievable! And Jesus confronts them:
Mark 8:17 – “And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?”
Believing is Seeing that:
When Jesus is present, there are no hopeless circumstances
Jesus said: What are you talking about? Don’t you get it? Are your hearts hardened, once again? Jesus was not as concerned about them not understanding the warning about the Pharisees, as He was their not understanding what His presence should mean to them in every circumstance, including the lack of food.
His question about them having hardened hearts should remind us of something we studied not long ago. In Mark 6, following the feeding of the 5,000, the disciples were out in their boat on the water, when Jesus walked on the water to them. They were terrified, thinking it was a ghost. He got in the boat and the wind immediately died down. They were amazed, and Mark explains why:
Mark 6:51,52 – “…and they were astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.”
They hadn’t learned what they should have learned about Jesus from the feeding of the 5,000, and so they were described as having hard hearts. The lessons learned should have been very clear:
Lessons to learn:
1. God cares for the physical and spiritual needs of people
2. God is in control
3. God performs miracles
4. God can do a lot with a little
But, they just couldn’t make the connection between the miracles Jesus had just performed and their present circumstance of being tossed about on the water in the boat. Instead of a heart of faith, they demonstrated a heart of fear.
So, in this case, Jesus asked them this question: Are your hearts hardened again? Can’t you see who I am and what I am able to do? Why can’t you make the connection? Jesus continues the rebuke:
Mark 8:18 – “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?”
These were things Jesus would say to the unbelieving religious leaders. In fact, when Jesus was sharing the meaning of one of his parables, he explained that the parables were for them to understand, not the outside non-believers. He said this:
Mark 4:11,12 – “And he said to them, to you have been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand…”
Do you know what Jesus was saying to them? You are acting just like non-believers when you don’t trust in who I am and what I have already done. And then Jesus gives them some specific examples of what should have gained their trust in Him. At the end of verse 18, he asked: “And do you not remember?”
Mark 8:19,20 – “When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, Twelve. And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? And they said to him, Seven.”
I love this. This is like the child who is playing in the backyard for a little while and then comes inside. Outside, he has the latest playground equipment, including a trampoline and small pool. He has all kinds of sports equipment. Inside, he has great books to read, and the latest in entertainment technology. He comes in after playing a few minutes outside, sits down and announces: “I’m bored.” And the frustrated parent wants to say: What? Don’t you see what you have out there to play with; and in here? How in the world can you say you are bored?
Jesus said: Don’t you remember? I fed the 5,000. I fed the 4,000. You were there – you helped pass out the food until people were full, and then collected all the extra. Weren’t you there? [shaking their heads in embarrassment]: Yes. Why don’t you get it?
I am Jesus Christ, Son of the most High God. I can do anything. I care about your physical and spiritual needs, and I have proved that over and over and over. There is nothing too hard for me. My presence changes everything. Why haven’t you figured that out yet?
Mark 8:21 – “And he said to them, Do you not yet understand?”
SO WHAT? How do I know if I am seeing it, demonstrating that I believe? When you: Act according to the impact Christ has had on your life
I joke about the disciples being like the little kids who don’t have a lot of understanding – the ones who tie things to ceiling fans and see what happens when you flush objects down toilets. But, the fact is: we are no better. The heart of faith is going to make decisions based on what it already understands to be true about Jesus Christ. However, if you are like me, then you would admit that you often fail in this regard.
I often respond like the disciples did, in the midst of every day challenges. I am so focused on the problem and how I can fix it, that I fail to remember that God knows all about it, and has the solution. In fact, if He chooses to not fix the problem right away, I know the truth that it is for my spiritual good. And yet I worry, I get anxious, and I rely on my own strength. How about you?
Let me close with some specific examples, and one choose one of these (or fill in the blanks with your own) that will challenge you to grow in your walk with Jesus Christ today. What are things we already know to be true in our lives, as it relates to God; but often fail to apply to our present circumstances?
· We know Jesus saves ungodly people (The Apostle Paul, formerly murderous Saul), including our own testimonies – did we deserve salvation? NO. And yet, even though we know God does this, we have labeled some people “unsavable” and have no desire or motivation to share Christ with them or to pray for their salvation. Is there someone in your life like that?
· We know that God promises to meet our real needs (Philippians 4:19); and yet we act as though we are not sure that He is going to be able to do it for us this week. Of course, we tend to have a different definition of real needs than God does. But, if truly believe His promises about meeting our true needs, then our seeing it before it happens will keep us from worry and anxiety. Do you have something you need to confess to God about this area?
· We know God likes to use weak people. We know God used the disciples even though they failed all the time. And yet, we forget that truth, and don’t think that God can use us in any significant way. Somehow, we think God only uses great people of faith, like described in Hebrews 11; and we fail to remember that those people listed in Hebrews 11’s Hall of Faith were often miserable failures, as described in Scripture – just like us. Are you willing to apply what you know to be true to your life? Are you willing to jump in and get involved in ministry here – volunteer even though you are afraid to fail? Are you willing to allow God’s power to work through you?
· We know God has in the past and can in the future, do the impossible. What is the impossible thing that you are doubting that God can do? Is it related to finances? Is it concerning what you consider to be an irreparable relationship? If you “get it”, if you have the spiritual understanding, the heart of faith that we have been looking at, then: You can confess your doubt, and you can see what God can do, even before He does it. You can believe that God will do the impossible, as it fits His will for your life; and as it relates to bringing Himself the most glory.
· You put in your situation that is challenging you right now; and respond to Christ today, with spiritual understanding.
Take some time to pray and consider these things silently.
Closing: God Will Make A Way
BELIEVING IS SEEING
Mark 8:1-21
Please turn in your Bible to Mark 8. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 872 or 890.
You might look at this title and think I have it backwards. Greg: shouldn’t it read: Seeing is believing? No. In our passages for today: Believing is Seeing.
This morning, we are going to see the closest followers of Christ there have ever been, the disciples, act as though they have no clue as the reality of who Christ is and what He has done. It reminds me of some of the stupid, but amusing things young children might do – things you hope people with adult understanding wouldn’t try. These are some things people wouldn’t believe until they actually saw them happen. I found an article entitled: Things our kids teach us:
1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42-pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 10x10 ft. room.
4. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way. And: The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn’t stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
5. It don’t matter how much jell-o you put in a pool, you can’t walk on it.
6. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy. It will, however, make cats dizzy.
7. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
8. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
9. VCR’s do not eject PB&J sandwiches.
10. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh," it’s already too late.
Today, we are going to see the stupidity or extreme immaturity, if you prefer, of the disciples. But, don’t get so focused on theirs this morning, that you forget about ours.
Mark 8:1-3- “In those days, again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.”
Believing is seeing that:
Jesus has compassion on people, because of their physical needs.
Jesus is still in the Decapolis, a 10 city region. And, we have another large crowd gathering around Jesus; which was becoming the norm, it seems. One commentator I read suggested that one reason for the large crowds was that this was where the demoniac was from. This was the account in Mark 5, where Jesus cast out the demons and put them into the pigs. The man wanted to travel with Jesus, but:
Mark 5:19,20 – “And he (Jesus) did not permit him but said to him, go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”
I wonder: did this man have a great influence for Christ among the people in this 10 city region? We are not told for sure; but it was an interesting thought. Obviously, word had spread about what Jesus Christ could do. Somebody had spread it among the mostly Gentile region. And, according to Mark 5, that man did tell everyone he could about what Jesus had done for Him.
Here, in Mark 8, we are told that for three days, Jesus had been teaching this large crowd. We are not told exactly what He was teaching, but we do know the message He constantly taught wherever He went:
Mark 1:15 – “…The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Jesus taught this and took time to explain to people that it was He that brought the kingdom of God near. He was THE WAY to Heaven. And He taught people, as described elsewhere in the gospels, how to get prepared for Kingdom living. HE had been teaching them for 3 days. The food had run out; and Jesus knew if they were sent home now, some of them wouldn’t make it, without collapsing from hunger.
Did you notice what Jesus said? “I have compassion on the crowd.” Now, we have heard this before, back with the feeding of the 5,000. But there, it says:
Mark 6:34 – “When He (Jesus) went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
But, in this case, why did He have compassion on them? Verse 2: “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.”
It is too easy to skip over this, but we can’t. In this case, he does not emphasize exactly what He was teaching. He emphasizes the fact that these people, to whom He is spiritually ministering, are now in need of physical nourishment; and He is going to do something about it. I want to spend a couple minutes here, because it is a weakness of mine and most of the churches I have even been involved with. I have found that we are so afraid of what has been labeled “the social gospel”, that we forget that part of being like Jesus is to meet physical needs. Steve Glick and I were discussing this a couple of weeks ago.
The social gospel, as it has been called, usually refers to those individuals or religious groups, that focus on meeting people’s physical needs and not on their spiritual need of knowing Jesus Christ and growing in Him. So, as it naturally goes with those of us who don’t want to go to that extreme, we tend to go to the other extreme! We neglect the real physical, emotional and mental needs of people, and we focus mainly on the spiritual need of knowing Christ. Would you agree?
SO WHAT?How do I know if I am seeing it, demonstrating that I believe? When you:
Become more Christ-like by caring for people’s physical needs
This would not normally be something to point out in this passage. But, we have seen it at other times in Mark already, and I know it is a weakness of mine. So, I make it an applicational point, to at least get us on the path of considering this – thinking about it, praying about it. What would God have us to, that would help care for the whole person.
According to commentator Barclay: “One of the most joyous of all Jewish feasts is the Feast of Purim. It falls on March 14th and commemorates the deliverance of which the Book of Esther tells. Above all it is a time of giving gifts; and one of its regulations is that, no matter how poor a man is, he must seek out someone poorer than himself and give him a gift. Jesus has no time for the spirit which waits until all the circumstances are perfect before it thinks of helping.”
God help us to see the whole person and all of their needs – just like Christ did!
So, Jesus wants to make sure this large crowd has food. Let’s continue:
Mark 8:4 – “And his disciples answered him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”
Does this question strike you as strange as it strikes me? When you read about this situation does it remind you of anything that we have already read – about what Jesus did when there were thousands of hungry people? But, they asked the question anyway: How could anyone possibly feed all these people. Jesus is with them, and throws out this problem of people needing food, just like he had done with the previous feeding. He is giving the disciples an opportunity, once again, to see what resources they have.
Mark 8:5-7 – “And he asked them, How many loaves do you have? They said, Seven. And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them.”
Insufficient in themselves? Yes. But, with Jesus there, regardless of the amount of food, would they be able to feed this many hungry people? The answer was of course, yes, but the disciples still had more to learn. Jesus took the bread and the fish, and just as before, He gave thanks to God the Father, broke them and gave them to the disciples to hand out to the multitudes.
This should have been déjà vie for the disciples. This has happened before, hasn’t it? There are several parallels here to the previous feeding of the 5,000. So, the disciples do as they were told; and in a sense, they had a part in feeding these people, just as Jesus had directed them to do. But, once again, we are reminded that this was not just a little snack.
Mark 8:8-10- “And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmunutha.”
Believing is seeing that:
Jesus performs miracles with little resources
Very succinctly, Mark gives us the facts, that are very similar to the previous feeding. They ate until they were full. There were broken pieces left over, this time 7 baskets. And don’t think this was a lot less than the 12 baskets left over last time. There is a different word used here for basket, because it was a different basket. These were, according to scholars: “rope or mat baskets sometimes large enough to carry a man.” It is also interesting to note that this was a type of basket used by many Gentiles. Could it be, that part of what was going on here, was that Jesus was responding to the rejection of the Jewish people by presenting the “Bread of Life” to the Gentiles?
And there were four thousand people. Back then, they would count in terms of the adult men present. But, we know, from Matthew, who gives the same account, that this 4,000 count was beside the women and children that were there. When the feeding was over, Jesus sent them home, got into the boat with the disciples and they were on their way to the next place, which was also sometimes called Magdala.
This, I believe, emphasizes our previous point. After he fed them, there were no more miracles, no more teaching. He was concerned that these people were also cared for physically before he left them. And then, His ministry to them was over. He didn’t feed them and then teach them more. He had already been teaching – for 3 days! They needed food, and He had compassion on them in this regard.
Jesus didn’t have much to work with; but He was able to do miracles with it. His followers should have been able to already believe and thereby see what God could do. SO WHAT? How do I know if I am seeing it, demonstrating that I believe? When you: Understand what God can do, even before He does it
So, Jesus left there, once the people were fed; and He lands in this new region, and faces an immediate challenge from the religious leaders:
Mark 8:11 – “The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.”
According to Josephus, the first Century historian, the Pharisees were one of the main religious parties within the Synagogue. They were know for what they looked like, what they knew, and the rules they kept and held everyone else to. They were highly respected for their religious discipline. However, Jesus looked at most of what they did, simply as outward show, and having nothing to do with a heart following after God. Back in Mark 7, we saw Jesus rebuke the Pharisees for holding tradition above God’s Word – saying the right things when their hearts were far from God.
In that day when Jesus lived, the Jewish people were waiting, they thought, for a Messiah that would do all kinds of signs, that would make it clear to them who He was. According to Barclay: “When false Messiahs arose, as they frequently did, they lured the people to follow them by promising astonishing signs. They would promise, for instance, to split the waters of the Jordan in two and leave a pathway thorough it, or they would promise, with a word, to make the city walls fall down.”
So, once again, we have these religious leaders coming to Jesus, to argue with Him and to test Him. They were continually looking to trap Him, hoping that He would fall out of favor with the people, or that they would have some legal way to get rid of Him. So, this time they were asking for a sign, that would somehow prove that His authority indeed came from God. They didn’t believe that it did. In fact, earlier in Mark, the scribes of the Pharisees accused Jesus of having a very different authority:
Mark 3:22 – “…saying, He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
They were trying to bait Him to get into a argument – to show a sign that they would never believe anyway. All of His previous miracles were not enough of a sign to them; so Jesus refused.
Mark 8:12,13- “And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation. And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.”
Believing is Seeing that:
Jesus was who He said He was.
God’s own people, represented by the religious leaders, had rejected Him.
This is really one of the main things that is going on here. It is not just that the Pharisees continue to reject Him. They are seen as the representatives of the Jewish people, who, as a nation were rejecting the very Messiah they said they were looking for. Jesus sighed, probably showing his frustration, out of great love for God’s chosen people. He asked, rhetorically: Why does this generation seek a sign? The answer was obvious. They sought signs because they refused to accept the truth Jesus was teaching: That He was the Son of God – God in the flesh – the promised Messiah – NO WAY they would accept that.
They rejected Him, His own people, His own home town, as we read earlier in Mark; and Jesus said: NO – you don’t get any more signs. In fact, Jesus was the sign. And they didn’t get it. So, he got into the boat once again, with His disciples, and they went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. SO WHAT? How do I know if I am seeing it, demonstrating that I believe? When you:
Accept everything the Bible claims about Jesus Christ
You have never seen Jesus. You weren’t there when Jesus spoke these words. This demonstrates a heart of faith. When you, by faith, accept everything the Bible claims about Jesus Christ, and tell others about it – before you ever meet Him face to face.
A number of years ago there appeared in the New Yorker magazine an account of a Long Island resident who ordered an extremely sensitive barometer from a respected company, Abercrombie and Fitch. When the instrument arrived at his home he was disappointed to discover that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck pointing to the sector marked “Hurricane”. After shaking the barometer vigorously several times – never a good idea with a sensitive mechanism – and never getting the point to move, the new owner wrote a scathing letter to the store, and, on the following morning, on the way to his office in New York City mailed it. That evening he returned to Long Island to find not only the barometer missing but his house as well! The needle of the instrument had been pointed correctly. The year was 1938,the month was September, and the day was the 21st – the day of the terrible hurricane that almost leveled Long Island.”
Here was a man who would not trust the sensitive device that he had purchased for just this reason: to be safe when weather trouble might come. But, he didn’t trust it, not willing to see in advance what the barometer was trying to tell him – and he could have lost his life because of it. Much more important than putting faith in a barometer is to put your faith in the only person that can be trusted to be right every single time and in every single circumstance: Jesus Christ. To not trust what you know to be true about Him can bring possible destruction – spiritual devastation. We are about to see how the disciples were not willing to trust what they knew to be true about the most trustworthy person in the world.
Moving on: Instead of arguing more with the Pharisees, Jesus was going to invest Himself some more in teaching His disciples. As soon as we find out they had crossed the lake again, Mark tells us:
Mark 8:14 – “Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.”
Their quick departure probably was the reason for not bringing enough food with them. But, Jesus is going to use this as a teaching opportunity.
Mark 8:15 – “And he cautioned them, saying, Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
With the confrontation of the Pharisees just taking place, Jesus used the loaf of bread as an illustration to warn His disciples. He said: Be careful of the leaven of the Pharisees. The leaven of the bread refers to the yeast. A small of amount of yeast can affect a large amount of dough. The Jewish people often used the term “yeast” or “leaven” to describe something that had an invisible but strong influence on something else. Most of the time leaven was used as a negative illustration. Here the unbelief and critical attitude (legalism) demonstrated by the Pharisees had a way of spreading quickly to many others, who viewed the Pharisees as religious leaders and examples.
He also warned them about Herod Antipas, who also had an incredible, negative influence on the people of Israel. Both the Pharisees and Herod thought the important things were the external things: money, power, fame (even religiously speaking). Because of that, they were like leaven that can corrupt the whole loaf. He did not want His disciples thinking that way.
This unbelief had affected the nation of Israel as a whole, and Jesus was warning His disciples against it. So, I wonder what great question or statement of faith the disciples are going to respond to Jesus with. Let’s find out:
Mark 8:16 – “And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.”
I laughed out loud when I first read it. Are you kidding me? This is the kind of thing that makes you say to someone: “Hello – were you listening to me?” Jesus had just warned them about something, using the bread as an illustration; and how do they respond?
“Hey, guys, what are we going to do about our lack of sustenance here? Yea, who forgot to bring the rest of the food anyway – wasn’t Philip supposed to do that? Not me. What are you complaining about Peter – you don’t look like you need any more bread (pointing to his stomach). Hey Thaddeus – you had the bread that was left over from the feeding of the 4,000- what did you do with it? What was I supposed to do guys – we didn’t have time. Jesus said – let’s go; and we all went. Judas, didn’t you think to tell us that we only had one loaf before we left – you are supposed to keep track of these things. Come on , Peter, James and John, you guys are the special three – the inner circle – you are responsible for this. Are not! Are so! Are not! Are so!
Can you just see Jesus’ face, and feel his frustration? I have the 5 world’s greatest children; but there have been times when Teresa or I will try to use some life circumstance with them to teach them something, and it will go like this:
Ok, kids, so you are complaining that there is not enough bread for you to have your 4th piece, like everyone else. That is sad, but aren’t you thankful for the bread you have already had. No, you didn’t have as many as the others, what about the great 3 pieces you did enjoy. And you know what else? We need to remember that there are people in this world, even children, who don’t have everything you have; and sometimes don’t even get one piece of bread. How about we spend some time praying – thanking God for His provision for us and asking Him to care for those people who are truly in need.
Dad – after we pray, can you go to the store and get me more bread – I’m soooooo hungry! [frustrated sigh] Any of you ever experience that, or is it just the pastor’s family?
Jesus gave his illustration, and the disciples go right back to discussing what they are going to do about the lack of food. Unbelievable! And Jesus confronts them:
Mark 8:17 – “And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?”
Believing is Seeing that:
When Jesus is present, there are no hopeless circumstances
Jesus said: What are you talking about? Don’t you get it? Are your hearts hardened, once again? Jesus was not as concerned about them not understanding the warning about the Pharisees, as He was their not understanding what His presence should mean to them in every circumstance, including the lack of food.
His question about them having hardened hearts should remind us of something we studied not long ago. In Mark 6, following the feeding of the 5,000, the disciples were out in their boat on the water, when Jesus walked on the water to them. They were terrified, thinking it was a ghost. He got in the boat and the wind immediately died down. They were amazed, and Mark explains why:
Mark 6:51,52 – “…and they were astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.”
They hadn’t learned what they should have learned about Jesus from the feeding of the 5,000, and so they were described as having hard hearts. The lessons learned should have been very clear:
Lessons to learn:
1. God cares for the physical and spiritual needs of people
2. God is in control
3. God performs miracles
4. God can do a lot with a little
But, they just couldn’t make the connection between the miracles Jesus had just performed and their present circumstance of being tossed about on the water in the boat. Instead of a heart of faith, they demonstrated a heart of fear.
So, in this case, Jesus asked them this question: Are your hearts hardened again? Can’t you see who I am and what I am able to do? Why can’t you make the connection? Jesus continues the rebuke:
Mark 8:18 – “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?”
These were things Jesus would say to the unbelieving religious leaders. In fact, when Jesus was sharing the meaning of one of his parables, he explained that the parables were for them to understand, not the outside non-believers. He said this:
Mark 4:11,12 – “And he said to them, to you have been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand…”
Do you know what Jesus was saying to them? You are acting just like non-believers when you don’t trust in who I am and what I have already done. And then Jesus gives them some specific examples of what should have gained their trust in Him. At the end of verse 18, he asked: “And do you not remember?”
Mark 8:19,20 – “When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, Twelve. And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? And they said to him, Seven.”
I love this. This is like the child who is playing in the backyard for a little while and then comes inside. Outside, he has the latest playground equipment, including a trampoline and small pool. He has all kinds of sports equipment. Inside, he has great books to read, and the latest in entertainment technology. He comes in after playing a few minutes outside, sits down and announces: “I’m bored.” And the frustrated parent wants to say: What? Don’t you see what you have out there to play with; and in here? How in the world can you say you are bored?
Jesus said: Don’t you remember? I fed the 5,000. I fed the 4,000. You were there – you helped pass out the food until people were full, and then collected all the extra. Weren’t you there? [shaking their heads in embarrassment]: Yes. Why don’t you get it?
I am Jesus Christ, Son of the most High God. I can do anything. I care about your physical and spiritual needs, and I have proved that over and over and over. There is nothing too hard for me. My presence changes everything. Why haven’t you figured that out yet?
Mark 8:21 – “And he said to them, Do you not yet understand?”
SO WHAT? How do I know if I am seeing it, demonstrating that I believe? When you: Act according to the impact Christ has had on your life
I joke about the disciples being like the little kids who don’t have a lot of understanding – the ones who tie things to ceiling fans and see what happens when you flush objects down toilets. But, the fact is: we are no better. The heart of faith is going to make decisions based on what it already understands to be true about Jesus Christ. However, if you are like me, then you would admit that you often fail in this regard.
I often respond like the disciples did, in the midst of every day challenges. I am so focused on the problem and how I can fix it, that I fail to remember that God knows all about it, and has the solution. In fact, if He chooses to not fix the problem right away, I know the truth that it is for my spiritual good. And yet I worry, I get anxious, and I rely on my own strength. How about you?
Let me close with some specific examples, and one choose one of these (or fill in the blanks with your own) that will challenge you to grow in your walk with Jesus Christ today. What are things we already know to be true in our lives, as it relates to God; but often fail to apply to our present circumstances?
· We know Jesus saves ungodly people (The Apostle Paul, formerly murderous Saul), including our own testimonies – did we deserve salvation? NO. And yet, even though we know God does this, we have labeled some people “unsavable” and have no desire or motivation to share Christ with them or to pray for their salvation. Is there someone in your life like that?
· We know that God promises to meet our real needs (Philippians 4:19); and yet we act as though we are not sure that He is going to be able to do it for us this week. Of course, we tend to have a different definition of real needs than God does. But, if truly believe His promises about meeting our true needs, then our seeing it before it happens will keep us from worry and anxiety. Do you have something you need to confess to God about this area?
· We know God likes to use weak people. We know God used the disciples even though they failed all the time. And yet, we forget that truth, and don’t think that God can use us in any significant way. Somehow, we think God only uses great people of faith, like described in Hebrews 11; and we fail to remember that those people listed in Hebrews 11’s Hall of Faith were often miserable failures, as described in Scripture – just like us. Are you willing to apply what you know to be true to your life? Are you willing to jump in and get involved in ministry here – volunteer even though you are afraid to fail? Are you willing to allow God’s power to work through you?
· We know God has in the past and can in the future, do the impossible. What is the impossible thing that you are doubting that God can do? Is it related to finances? Is it concerning what you consider to be an irreparable relationship? If you “get it”, if you have the spiritual understanding, the heart of faith that we have been looking at, then: You can confess your doubt, and you can see what God can do, even before He does it. You can believe that God will do the impossible, as it fits His will for your life; and as it relates to bringing Himself the most glory.
· You put in your situation that is challenging you right now; and respond to Christ today, with spiritual understanding.
Take some time to pray and consider these things silently.
Closing: God Will Make A Way
Friday, July 11, 2008
All in Disagreement, Say I
I have noticed an interesting phenomenon in my 15 years of ministering as a pastor. It is courageous and bold to disagree with the world's system and criticism all things worldly. It is seen as noble to highly criticize other religious groups that do not do things quite the way "we" do them. No one within "our circles" would have a problem with that. We might even highly disagree with others in our same association of churches; but it is not too difficult as long as they minister in another state; or at least are not too connected to us. This issue certainly deserves some thoughtful consideration. But, what is on my mind is what happens within our own churches, among our own staffs, with our families and friends.
I find that we are deathly afraid of conflict. We somehow feel like like we must agree or something is wrong. We must agree or there will be no unity. We must agree or the Devil wins. We must agree or the church will split. We must agree or we are not honoring God. These things may not be said out loud; but based on my experiences, we hide or run from conflict within the church at all costs, based on one of the above statements or something like it.
I have come to believe the opposite. I think when there is no conflict, something is wrong. I don't think lack of conflict means unity, necessarily; but may instead point to people who are not willing to face reality and work through tough issues. A church doesn't split over conflict. They split when they are unwilling to face the conflict in God honoring ways. I think the Devil wins when we pretend everything is o.k.; and God wins when we challenge one another and grow through conflict. That is my opinion.
I find that when someone who I know cares for me is willing to "argue" with me about some issue in the Scriptures or ministry, it has a sharpening affect on me. It causes me to really think about what I believe about something and why. It forces me to make sound arguments; and to listen carefully to "the other side." It is a healthy thing, in my opinion, when two or more people or two or more groups get in a healthy disagreement. They have the opportunity to show grace and love as "both sides" share their viewpoint.
It is true that it gets more challenging when emotions are high; and yet, I believe that issues that bring out strong emotion have a much greater possibilityof producing spiritual growth than a non-emotional, unattached from the heart topic. Once two people or groups come through a disagreement in a God honoring way, I believe they are more closely connected, more appreciative of one another; and maybe even softer in their hearts toward others, from the "outside" who disagree.
One of the reasons I am not so critical of others and different viewpoints, as I have been in the past, is because I had to face conflict with people I loved about certain issues. I grew through those, was forced to evaluate my opinions; and put them in the context of love and grace.
May you have a great disagreement today that will produce more godliness - for His glory!
I find that we are deathly afraid of conflict. We somehow feel like like we must agree or something is wrong. We must agree or there will be no unity. We must agree or the Devil wins. We must agree or the church will split. We must agree or we are not honoring God. These things may not be said out loud; but based on my experiences, we hide or run from conflict within the church at all costs, based on one of the above statements or something like it.
I have come to believe the opposite. I think when there is no conflict, something is wrong. I don't think lack of conflict means unity, necessarily; but may instead point to people who are not willing to face reality and work through tough issues. A church doesn't split over conflict. They split when they are unwilling to face the conflict in God honoring ways. I think the Devil wins when we pretend everything is o.k.; and God wins when we challenge one another and grow through conflict. That is my opinion.
I find that when someone who I know cares for me is willing to "argue" with me about some issue in the Scriptures or ministry, it has a sharpening affect on me. It causes me to really think about what I believe about something and why. It forces me to make sound arguments; and to listen carefully to "the other side." It is a healthy thing, in my opinion, when two or more people or two or more groups get in a healthy disagreement. They have the opportunity to show grace and love as "both sides" share their viewpoint.
It is true that it gets more challenging when emotions are high; and yet, I believe that issues that bring out strong emotion have a much greater possibilityof producing spiritual growth than a non-emotional, unattached from the heart topic. Once two people or groups come through a disagreement in a God honoring way, I believe they are more closely connected, more appreciative of one another; and maybe even softer in their hearts toward others, from the "outside" who disagree.
One of the reasons I am not so critical of others and different viewpoints, as I have been in the past, is because I had to face conflict with people I loved about certain issues. I grew through those, was forced to evaluate my opinions; and put them in the context of love and grace.
May you have a great disagreement today that will produce more godliness - for His glory!
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