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Mark 12:13-44 Sermon Manuscript

-What does it mean that Jesus is Lord? If, as we saw last week, He has complete authority, what does that look like in our world today? If we’re His followers, how do we live that out?

READ/PRAY (pg. 495)

  1. 3 Questions (13-34)

-Increasing opposition to Jesus. He’s seen as a threat, a liability, competition to the power, prestige, and social standing of the day (as will be pointed out again as we walk through this)

-What are the issues that we’re not supposed to talk about at the dinner table? Politics, religion, money. Guess what is dealt with in today’s passage!

-Jesus didn’t come to offer an easy life, or a simple path to prosperity, He came to usher in literally a new kingdom that isn’t of this world. It affects this world, it subverts the expectations of the world, but the world cannot contain or comprehend this new kingdom that Jesus brings.

  1. Taxes (13-17)

-The first issue that is brought to the forefront is politics. (yay) There’s no debate about how we engage politics today, is there?

-The first thing Mark tells us is who is in opposition to Jesus here: Pharisees and Herodians. Pharisees have shown up before: conservative, small government people. Herodians were named after Herod, the Roman ruler of the province. They were liberal, big government people. You can literally replace those 2 terms with Republican and Democrat! What should stand out to you about this is that both parties are united under a common threat: Jesus.

-Before we’ve even gotten through the first verse, we can already see that Jesus transcends (is above) any political ideology. Both of them view Him as a threat, yet both sides (even today) will still use Jesus’ words as proof texts for their position. A podcast I really appreciated on politics today said it this way: “Jesus is political, but He is not partisan. The kingdom of God has political implications, but it is not a political kingdom.”  Cunningham

-Back to the text: they begin by flattery, but they’re really lying. Look back at the end of vs. 13. They’re trying to trap Jesus, to give him a problem that is unsolvable. And in worldly terms, it is.

-Look at what they say: true, do not care, not swayed by appearances (read that as power), teach the way of God. The irony is all those descriptions are true! Jesus is the manifestation of truth, He is the only way to God, but they don’t see that, they see Him as a threat.

-The issue they bring up was the predominant political debate of the day: should Jews pay a “head” tax (the privilege of living as a citizen of Rome). Jews were HEAVILY taxed. Paid to the temple and to Rome. This head tax was significant not because of the sum (a quarter) but because it was a reminder of their oppression. Denarius had a picture of Caesar on it, and an inscription saying “Caesar, the son of god, the great high priest.” Zealots (one of Jesus’ disciples) led a revolt centered on this godless tax. They’re asking Jesus: whose side are you on? Are you a Democrat or a Republican? If he said no, don’t pay the tax he’d be liable for insurrection, if he said yes pay the tax he’d see a mass rising against him from the people. In their minds, an impossible political situation!

-The irony continues as Jesus asks for a denarius. He didn’t need to ask for one, but they demonstrate their heart issue by giving in to the worldly systems because they’re the ones that have the coin, not Jesus! They’re demonstrating their beliefs before Jesus even gets to the real issue.

-After they find the coin, Jesus asks them whose image (better translation than “likeness”) is on the coin. Obviously, Caesar. This is a profound statement! Jesus is legitimatizing the role of government in our lives. The government has a sphere of authority! By saying this, Jesus is running contrary to the Zealots who wanted to overthrow the Romans, but He’s also running contrary to the worldly expectations of the Messiah, which were limited to purely political control. But Jesus doesn’t play by worldly games, and He doesn’t stop by saying “give Caesar his coin,” let’s finish the statement:

-What belongs to God? EVERYTHING! What’s left out? NOTHING!

-podcast: “Give Caesar his little coin, give Rome to God.” As great as the Roman Empire was, with effects even down to us today (how often do you guys think about the Roman Empire?), it’s nothing to God. Jesus isn’t threatened by Rome, He doesn’t play by Rome’s rules, nor does Rome have any eternal significance (apart from serving as the time for God’s Son to come to Earth!) 

-This gives us a whole new vision and purpose for politics for those of us who claim the name of Jesus. Just as that little coin has an image of a so-called god on it, who bears the image of the one true God? You and me. What that means is we need to give ourselves wholly and completely to God. We can’t treat politics as non-thing, we can’t be indifferent. We instead need to bring God’s image to bear in every culture we find ourselves in. Partisan politics will not usher in God’s kingdom, God’s kingdom advances by people who aren’t bound by any partisan ideal. Our kingdom can’t be contained by a donkey or an elephant, our kingdom advances through love, through demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit, through living out the Beatitudes.

-We saw this in Psalm 2: the nations rage, the kings of earth set themselves against God, and what does God do? He laughs! These silly little political games don’t matter to Him, because He is the Lord! Yes, politics matter! Yes, engage in the political sphere (I want more of Jesus in the south metro!), but don’t look to politics to do what only Jesus can and save you. Lots more could be said, but we’ve got a theological debate to look at!

  • Resurrection (18-27)

-After the Pharisees and Herodians are left marveling, the Sadducees decide to get into a theological debate with Jesus. Notice how Mark describes them: they don’t believe in the resurrection.

-Pharisees and Sadducees are the 2 competing religious groups of the day. The Sad. only believed that the first 5 books of the Bible were the Bible. Prophets weren’t authoritative, but they viewed themselves as the people of the book! 

-They pose a question that, once again, seemed to have no answer! Most likely a debate they had been having. Levirate law commanded that if a man dies, his husband is to take her as his wife and produce a child with her so that the genealogy will continue. But in this case, it happens to all 7 of the men in the family! The question is who will the woman be married to in the resurrection? Their question is meant to points out the absurdity of believing in a resurrection. It’s nonsensical! To them. But not to Jesus.

-The issue is they don’t know how to understand the Bible, nor do they know what the God of the Bible is like. This is the biggest diss Jesus could have given to them! For claiming to know the Bible, Jesus is saying they don’t actually know it, nor do they know the God the Bible points to!

-What they fail to see is the logic of God, and the reality that life after the resurrection isn’t just a glorified version of the life we live today. Marriage is something for this side of eternity, not that side. Marriage is only meant to serve as a picture of what we’ll experience when we’re finally united to Christ.

-Then he goes straight to their primary theological issue: the resurrection of the dead, and demonstrates how we need both Scripture AND the power of God.

“Notice that Jesus does not hang the hope of life after death (like the Greeks did) on the idea of an immortal part of us. Rather, He rests in the commitment of God to us (“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”). This is a very powerful argument for life after death. We have a God who cannot, at our death, scrap that which is precious to Him!” (Keller, “Mark,” 161) Danny Akin, CCE

-Since God is the God of the living, that’s our hope for life after death: God always keeps his promises to us, even after death! (if you have questions, ask anyone that is in my class!)

-It’s also important to note where Jesus quotes from. Sadducees only viewed the first 5 books as authoritative, so He goes straight to Exodus to point out what they should have understood.

-We all have a tendency to elevate or fixate on specific verses at the expense of others. We need to understand the whole Bible together, not just pick and choose the passages we like. We need both the Scripture and the power of God!

  • Greatest Commandment (28-34)

-The third issue is something we’ve looked at before, so we’ll go through this section quickly, because we’ve got 3 other sections to look at! Scribe comes up to ask a question about the most important commandment, Jesus replies with the most well known verse of the time (shema), and adds to it the command to also love neighbors. These 2 commands can’t be separated!

-One thing that came out from my study this week, the Greek word translated “with” is better translated as “from”. Love God FROM our heart, not just with. This requires a completely transplant! It requires a complete change of being, which is only possible through the Spirit within us.

-The scribe found a companion in Jesus – he agrees with the assessment Jesus has offered. So Jesus commends Him: how can he be “not far” from God’s kingdom? If he got the answer right, isn’t that a demonstration that he’s in?

-The only way we can love God from our heart is to put our faith in Jesus. This scribe is so close, yet so far! He hasn’t taken that 1 life transforming step that he needs to take to be in the kingdom of God.

-Mark leaves us hanging – did this guy take that step or not? I think it was intentional to motivate us as the readers to decide if we’re going to take that step! What’s stopping you from putting your faith in Jesus? Both believer and unbeliever need the Bible and the power of God to transform us, the make us new, to make us more like Jesus. What’s stopping any of us from taking that next step? That’s what Jesus invites all of us to do!

  • Jesus’ Teaching (35-44)

-After all this interrogation, Jesus goes on the offensive.

-One of the characteristics of debating in the first century was the winner was determined by whomever was silenced. So Jesus has been batting 1.000 in his debates! 

  1. Question (35-37)

-Jesus asks a common question regarding the coming Messiah (remember, Christ is just another term for Messiah, not Jesus’ last name)

-This connects back to the political question at the beginning of this chapter. Scribes (experts in the Word) argued that the Messiah would sit on the throne as a royal heir of David. And while that’s true, it also misses the bigger picture (just as the Sadducees did before). 

-Jesus quotes from the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament: Psalm 110, which by this time was viewed as a Messianic Psalm. Many people believe David wrote it when His Son, Solomon was being crowned king, but it also has Messianic undertones that gave future readers glimpses of what the future Messiah would look like.

-Notice that Jesus talks about the inspiration of Scripture here. How was the Bible given to us? Through the Holy Spirit!

-How can David refer to his son as the Lord? Because He’s great David’s even greater Son! In the lineage of David, yes, but so much more than just that lineage. God has an even bigger plan than what a human genealogical line can contain. Once again, those who have been tasked with reading and understanding God’s plan don’t have a solution to the question. But the crowd listening loves it!

-We all love a David & Goliath story! Even our post Christian culture knows what we’re talking about! When the little guy beats the big guy (every sports movie ever). The crowd loves Jesus winning in a battle of the wits with the “experts.” It’s a reminder that worldly wisdom has limits (just as worldly politics have their limits)

  • Appearances (38-40)

-Not only does Jesus ask them questions they can’t answer, He also will call publicly condemn them for their hypocrisy. Look at the description Jesus gives:

-Long robes: dressing for public recognition. “greetings” similarly, they want everyone to know who they are so they can be known as important.

-“Best seats and places of honor.” They’re served everywhere they go. Everyone defers to them and they are given certain social status everywhere they go.

-“Devour and pretense” they give no regard to the poor or marginalized. Instead of loving and caring for their neighbor (remember, we saw that a few verses ago) they prey on those who have the greatest need, and then pray the longest prayers as if the length of the prayer makes them superior. Nothing in this list is coming from a heart that loves God supremely and others sacrificially. Instead, all they’re doing is demonstrating the condemnation that is coming.

-Watch out for religiosity. Not from the heart of God, not from a heart of someone who has been transformed by God! Instead, it’s a demonstration of someone who’s trying to achieve what only Christ can: a way of approaching God.

  • The Heart (41-44)

-Jesus then gives us a picture of what God is looking for instead of what the scribes are offering. 

-Still in the temple, watching the pomp and circumstance brought by the wealthy, who are demonstrating their wealthy by the abundance given to the temple. In contrast to all these wealthy people, in comes a poor widow (almost goes without saying. Like calling someone a “poor homeless person”) 

-This becomes a teaching opportunity – this woman gave out of her poverty, and that’s what God cares about, not the sum given, the heart of the person who gives.

-God doesn’t care about the external obedience, He cares about the heart. This goes back to the great commandment, and the question Jesus had about taxes.

-Remember what we saw before: what is God’s? Everything! Even our money is a gift from God that we’ve been given to steward. The question for us is what kind of stewards are we? How are we using our money? The idea of tithing wasn’t anywhere near what the church practiced in the 1st Cent. What we see throughout the NT is regular, cheerful, and sacrificial. The tithe (10%) is a good starting point, but a bad ending point. 

-Regular: 1 Cor. 16:2

-Cheerful: 2. Cor. 9:7

-Sacrificially: 2 Cor. 9:6, 8:3

-Politics, death, theology, and money. God cares about all of them, and so should we!

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by mikethestrand on October 8, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Sermon, Theology

Posted by mikethestrand on October 8, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/10/08/mark-1213-44-sermon-manuscript/

Psalm 28 – Sermon Manuscript

The Lord Strengthens His People

Psalm 28

-I grew up before everyone had a cell phone, which means there were times when I was left home alone. Anytime my parents left my, I made sure I knew exactly when they would be back.

-One time, they told me they’d be back at something like 7:45, well that time came and went, and by 7:46 I went to full on panic mode! Remember, back in the day before cell phones where every family had 1 phone that you had to endure talking to everyone’s parents for a couple awkward minutes before your friend came to the phone. Had a list of all my friend’s phone numbers. Called this friend’s parents, who said they would come sit with me until my parents came home, as we were talking I saw some headlights turn down our street, and wonder of wonders, guess who it was!

-When you go through moments of doubt or struggle, who do you call? These moments tend to be where our true selves are revealed.

-As we read through this Psalm, notice what David asks of God, as well as how he makes his requests.

READ/PRAY (pg. 262)

  1. If They Cry to Him (1-2)

-Part of the reason we do the Psalms every summer is because they don’t read like the rest of the Bible. It doesn’t even look like the rest of the Bible, even the formatting looks different! Maybe you, like me, struggled in English when you’d get to the poetry section. I always did well in English until I got to poetry because I wanted a specific meaning to the text, and poetry leaves lots of room for interpretation, doesn’t it? Just like other forms of art, there are many different ways to apply a specific text, and I don’t like that!

-In addition to that fact, many of the Psalms don’t tell us why they were written, what was happening, and we’re in the middle of a section of Psalms that only list who wrote them, and that’s it. Doesn’t it make you want to figure out what was going on and why (in this case David) was crying out to God?

-Unlike much of the prose of the rest of Scripture, the Psalms are much more emotional, sometimes seems like the author is bipolar. But think of how your emotions can change in an instant. Doing well jamming to your favorite song in the car, and then you get cut off! Or you’re innocently preparing dinner and your child starts throwing a royal fit. How do you respond? 

-By soaking our hearts and minds with the words of these bipolar authors, we start to become trained in how we should respond to our own bipolar emotions, which can change just as quickly as David’s!

-This Psalm doesn’t list a specific situation, but we can see how David begins by focusing his thoughts in a specific direction:

-“To you, O Lord, I call” What is your knee-jerk reaction to something difficult in your life? Do you blame God, ignore God, or run to God? I’ve lived through some world changing events in my life: 9/11, COVID. After 9/11 I remember reading headlines that said “Where was God?” I honestly thought we’d see something similar in response to COVID, but we didn’t. People turned to Netflix & Doordash instead of taking stock of the fragility of life.

-When the Lord takes you through a difficult season, how do you react? Blame, ignore, or run to?

-David chooses to run to God, “My rock”

-“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages” Spurgeon. When we walk with Christ, we have nothing to fear! One of the descriptions I’ve heard of the church recently that stuck with is that we should be shock absorbers. The world winds people up (think of how the news puts everyone on edge. Good things don’t make the headlines), the church is meant to be a place where we’re not afraid, where we can absorb the stress and angst that comes from living in a broken world, and that’s only true because God is our rock.

-When it refers to God as a rock, think of the safety and security that comes from being protected on all sides. Like if you’re in the middle of a snowstorm and you’re sitting by a roaring fire sipping hot chocolate. That’s what the church should feel like! A place of safety and security from the storm around us.

-What is the alternative? If God doesn’t respond, David will be “like those who go down to the pit.” 

-Not literal death, but he will be like those who are destined for destruction, whose cries for help God will not respond to. This is similar to the wicked people we read about in Ps. 26 who would actively try to deceive others and live only for themselves. 

-Similar to crying out to God “pleas for mercy…for help” When does he ask? When he lifts up his hands to God’s holy sanctuary.

-Common practice in the ANE, even up to Jesus’ arrival when spaces and places mattered greatly. God’s manifest presence was restrained by a specific place so that the people wouldn’t be destroyed! And that remained true until Jesus came and in John 4 said that now is the time when spaces no longer matter! (hence not referring to this room as a “sanctuary,” I’d be fine just calling it the “Big Meeting Room.”) 

-Language matters, and even the way we refer to spaces shapes the way we think and engage with them. Sanctuary is the place where God dwells, and God now dwells in us, regardless of what room we’re in or what it looks like. We have brothers and sisters across the world meeting in mud huts, open fields, or hiding in basements so the police don’t kill them! It’s a wonderful privilege for us to gather together freely like we do each week, but the space in which we gather shouldn’t be given too high a priority.

-What does matter is proper worship (or the term I like to use “acceptable worship” taken from Heb. 12:28). That’s what David is talking about in this section: God hears and responds when we’re worshipping Him rightly or correctly. And that’s far more than checking the Sunday box and then living however you want Monday through Saturday. It must affect all areas of your life, meaning right living:

  • If They Live Rightly (3-5)

-While David worships God rightly, the wicked only work evil. How do you know what evil workers look like? They speak peace to their neighbors but don’t plan to treat them very neighborly.

-Who is your neighbor? Jesus was asked that one time in Luke 10, and it’s now one of the best-known stories in the world called ‘The Good Samaritan.’ The point of that story is anyone can be a neighbor, and in God’s kingdom, we’re supposed to treat any other human being as our neighbor, which those who don’t follow God refuse to do. They give off the appearance of right living, but in their hearts they despise them. Right living means we care about the places God has placed us enough to be a visible witness in our community, and care about our neighbors. 

-But it’s not just being unneighborly, the wicked live whole lives that are marked by evil. Therefore, David asks for justice toward them, which is the proper consequence to their actions.

-One of the things I’ve learned you need to teach your kids is the fact that there are consequences for their actions. Things like: if you’re rough with your toys they will break. Or if you don’t clean up after yourself you may never see your toys again! These evil people are living in such a way that they will need to face consequences that are different than those who cry out to the Lord. See all of us will someday face the consequences for how we live our lives today: which consequences will you be facing?

-After asking for God to dole out the necessary consequences, he goes right back to worship in vs. 5. 

-They don’t regard/pay attention to God’s works in people’s lives or His works in the world. Have you ever considered that refusal to acknowledge the way God is working in other people is a mark of sin? I think this actually connects back to the neighbor piece, and is something I’ve been contemplating over the past few months: God commands us to both mourn and rejoice with His people, but what that text doesn’t say is at times you’re going to be rejoicing with others while you’re internally mourning at the same time! I had a moment earlier this year where we were wrestling through a miscarriage, and that Sunday at church found out another couple was expecting another kid. It wasn’t easy to rejoice with them, but it was necessary because God had blessed them.

-Paul picks up this exact idea in Rom. 1 where he draws out this comparison on what it looks like for someone to not pay attention to the ways God works. Notice that men are tempted to “suppress the truth,” but the truth keeps popping out! Like when you’re growing up and told to clean your room, so you throw everything in your closet and slam the door on it. If you keep trying to do that, eventually it’s going to pop open and your master plan will be foiled! 

-Friends, the reality is: the heavens declare the glory of God: do you see it? I listen to podcasts on the regular, an geophysicist/philosopher named Stephen Meyer was on Joe Rogan (world’s biggest podcast). Stephen also happens to be a Christian who argues for Intelligent Design as the best explanation for the origins of the material universe, and part of the reason he argues that is the way our bodies are designed. We have access to scientific evidence that Darwin never dreamed of! At the base of everything that exists (deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA) is information. Adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). We are comprised of words that we only recently were able to understand. If the God who created everything that exists did so using information/words, don’t you think He’d also communicate to us using information/words? (ironically enough, as I was looking up something about Stephen Meyer this past week, Wikipedia lists that he argues for the pseudoscience of Intelligent Design)

-Friends, don’t miss this! God has created evidences of Himself down into the tiniest quark and onto the biggest galaxy that exists. Everything that exists is meant to point us to Him, and we’re supposed to respond by worshipping Him in every area of our lives, because if we don’t, look at what David says will happen:

-God will tear them down. Just as they belittled God in their lives, God will belittle them in the world to come. It says they will be torn down and never built up again. Unlike children playing who love and thrive on building towers and knocking them over, when God tears the wicked down, they won’t ever be rebuilt.

-Remember that David is contrasting himself with the wicked, so we’ve seen David begin this Psalm by crying out to God, then move to the need to live rightly (according to God’s standard). What then is the proper response after God responds to His people?

  • If They Thank Him (6-9)

-We praise God because He responds! Believe it or not, God answers prayer, even today! We’re called to continually cry out to Him. Be honest here, how many of you feel like God doesn’t respond to your prayers? If you’ve never experienced that before just wait! In seasons of waiting it can be difficult to persevere in prayer, but that’s exactly what Jesus commands us to do. In Luke 18:1, it says, “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” We’re actually commanded to keep bothering God with our requests, because it’s not a bother to Him. So don’t give up, God will respond and He calls us to continually cry out to Him. But it requires us to move from crying out to Him to living rightly, which is where we see David calling God his strength & shield.

-What David is saying is the very reason we exist is because of God. If we don’t trust in God we don’t have a strength that will last, nor do we have a shield to protect us. Remember, we saw this in the first section: when issues come up in our lives do we ignore God, blame God, or run to Him? Another way of saying that is “in him my heart trusts.” It’s taken 7 verses for David to get to that point, but as he continues talking to God, he can land at a place of trusting God. Which also means:

-He helps us. How does God help us, because sometimes it doesn’t feel like we’re helped, right? This connects back to what Micah reminded us of last week: we’re in a different place today than David was! Once we’re saved, we’re indwelled by the Holy Spirit, meaning we never walk through anything alone. But God has also given us a family to belong to so that we can tangibly be helped through whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, but we’ll get to that in vs. 9, David also says:

-My heart exults or praises. When we take stock of all the ways God has worked in our lives throughout the past the only proper response is praising. Think of all the stories of martyrs who have been killed as they sang praises to God:

-Overflow with thanksgiving through song (The importance of singing and giving thanks) Parable of the 10 lepers in Luke 17

-The last thing we see David focus on starting in vs. 8 is a community. Another thing God has given us is His body. It’s one thing to give thanks individually, but that’s not sufficient, we also need to give thanks communally. 

-Lord is the strength of His people, both individually and together.

-saving refuge (like the rock before, as well as the shield) One of the ways God is a saving refuge is through His body, the church! The church can become a place of refuge, a shelter in the storm. It seems like when people go through difficulties the first thing to drop off is attending the weekly gathering. What if by doing that you’re running away from the place of comfort?

-Prayer for God’s people (don’t pray just for yourself, God has called you to a body so care for it!)
-Shepherd (read Ps. 23, when we’re weak God carries us)

-One of the ways we see to give thanks to God in the Bible is by the Lord’s Supper. This is meant to be a unifying meal: a centering point where we’re reminded that we don’t exist in isolation. In fact, one of the things Jesus modeled in the first celebration of the table is the command to serve each other, and Paul picks up that idea in 1 Cor. 11 and commands us to examine ourselves and see if we have anything against another person in God’s body, and if we do we should not partake of this celebration.

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by mikethestrand on August 13, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Sermon, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on August 13, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/08/13/psalm-28-sermon-manuscript/

Psalm 26 – Sermon Manuscript

-Being accused of something you didn’t do. Like if your brother or sister goes and tells your mom that you hit them, but they hit you first!

-Want justice, you want vengeance, you want the truth to come out! How do you plead your case when you come before God?

-As I was reading this week, one of the author’s shared the way people in recovery are encouraged to grow, and it comes by changing their patterns, people, and places.

-What’s funny is that’s what David talks about in today’s Psalm! But instead of being in recovery, David uses those steps to demonstrate to God his innocence

-Not necessarily in sequential order, so we’ll be jumping around a little bit!

READ/PRAY (pg. 261-2)

  1. Pattern (1-3)

-The first thing David talks about is the pattern of his life. He begins asking for God to vindicate him (say he’s innocent) And according to David, he is asking legitimately!

-It would be one thing to ask this of God and David be guilty, but in this case he’s convinced he’s in the right! He’s so convinced that he says he has walked in his own integrity (that is he continually does and pursues the right thing) Does anyone actually believe that’s true of David? Let’s think of some of the things David did: arranged to have a man killed, disobeyed God’s command to not take a census of the nation, took another man’s wife, had kids who literally led a revolt against him (not just living different than how David taught them, one of his sons literally trying to kill David!) Yet in spite of that, David is still convinced that the pattern of his life is being obedient to God’s commands. 

-How many of us actually view ourselves similarly? Think of what we read last week, where David begs God to forgive his “many” sins (emphasizing the many!) I think many people actually would argue this exact same thing to God, and it comes about by focusing on the wrong things. The temptation for all of us is to compare ourselves to someone else, and we can always find someone who’s (in our minds) worse than us. The problem is we’re using the wrong standard. Unfortunately (for our thinking) God doesn’t judge on a sliding scale. At the same time, fortunately (for us) God’s standard doesn’t change, and He also met that standard by Himself! So as David asks for God’s vindication, he’s looking forward to a time in the future when his greater Son will be able to say that He walked with integrity His whole life. Think of this description of Jesus in 1 Peter 2:22-23 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” David is looking forward to the day when God’s people will be able to say we have walked with integrity, we are innocent of sin because it has been covered.

-This ties back to last week’s Psalm as well where David says in vs. 15 “My eyes are ever toward the Lord.” Instead of comparing ourselves to other people, the standard needs to be God! And it’s only when we look to God that everything around us can start to make sense. It’s only when we keep our eyes on Jesus that the pattern of our lives will be acceptable to God, which is where it goes next

-Even as he says he has integrity in himself, notice what it’s connected to: “I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” Once again, can anyone here say that? When you get the news from the doctor that it’s cancer, did you trust without wavering? When you heard the news that you miscarried, did you trust without wavering? When you lost your job, did you trust without wavering? When a friend betrays you and is no longer a friend, did you trust without wavering?

-This is how we’re supposed to be living, and it can only come about by always keeping our gaze heavenward. There’s a verse in Hebrews that summarizes this idea 6:19 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.” That’s where our hope is meant to be focused on, that’s how we can trust on this side of heaven without wavering! We have an anchor (the centering point) in heaven so whatever storms blow, we won’t waver. And this allows David to:

-Asking God to prove or test your innermost thoughts. Isn’t that a little scary? Do you ever have thoughts that come and you ask yourself “Where did that come from!?” I’ve heard one pastor say it this way: no on lies to you more than you do. I was just talking to someone this past week about the promises you make when you get a new car, how long does it last? 

-This is where we need to remember that salvation is meant to affect every aspect of our lives. It’s not just follow the rules or you’ll be condemned, it’s a transformation of every area of your life, and because of this reality, that inward change is what allows us to start to live and act differently in the world around us, which gets us to a question: 

-How do you view the world around you? We’re all the products of our families, our culture, our education, our worldview is a combination of all those pieces, which is what David is talking about in vs. 3.

-Think of glasses. I need some kind of correction in order to see properly, but think if my glasses were colored red, don’t you think that would change the way I view the world? Upside down glasses

-What if the way we viewed the world was through God’s steadfast love? Do you think it might change the way you engage with others, or the habits and patterns in your life? If we view the world around us through God’s steadfast love, then every step we take will be through God’s faithfulness.

-What life patterns do you have? Do you walk with integrity in every step of your life? Do you view the world around you through God’s steadfast love?

  • People (4-5, 9-10)

-The next focus is who David spends time with, and the focus is in the negative (who he doesn’t spend time with)

-Sitting refers to spending time with

-Think back to Ps. 1 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” Walking to standing to sitting, referring to a way of life that gets progressively more content disobeying God.

-Who are “men of falsehood”? Another way of translating that last word is “emptiness,” as in their life leads nowhere! Think of what the world views as valuable or successful: lots of money (that generally comes by marginalizing others, not every time!) and lots of stuff (so much stuff that you don’t have time to use it all). And how does God command us to live? As stewards! Nothing we have is our own. And think who the most content people you know are. Do they have more stuff than they know what to do with? Do they always try to get more or better? No! They know it’s better to give than to get, and that’s where God’s ways only makes sense when you start to live them out. I’ve heard some conversations about evangelism recently where the person admits that they just don’t want to change anything about the way their living, and the best question to ask them is: how’s that working for you? Is it providing the satisfaction and worth you were hoping for? I would argue that most of the time the answer is no. Like think of the people our culture elevates as those who “have it all”: MJ, LeBron, Tom Brady. If you watched the new QB documentary it was fascinating seeing Kirk Cousins (Cooper’s daddy) contrasted with the other 2, because he realizes his ultimate worth doesn’t come on the field. 

-What is “consorting with hypocrites”? Lit. “Going with those who conceal themselves.” That is those who hide their true intentions in order to intentionally deceive someone. 

-Apologies to anyone who sells cars, but I immediately thought of the stereotype of a used car salesman! I hate when I have to buy a new vehicle because I don’t know enough to make always make a good decision, so I’m at someone’s mercy! That’s the kind of person David’s talking about here – someone who won’t keep his word and actively tries to deceive others.

-Then David goes on to talk about something that might strike you as odd today: David says he hates a group of people. Are we allowed to hate today? I thought Jesus commanded us to love even our enemies? 

-You may have heard the phrase “Love the sinner, hate the sin,” but what do you do when someone identifies themselves by their sin? First we need to remember that even the God of love (our God) lists things he hates: worship divorced from worshipful living (Amos 5), looking for ways to hurt other people (Zech. 8:17), evil deeds (Rev. 2:6 – not just OT). 

-We also need to remember that love isn’t acceptance of sin. If my kids are about to run in front of a car the most loving thing for me to is everything in my power to stop them, not just let them continue doing whatever they feel like!

-But that also means we need to ask the question of ourselves: do you hate your sin? Just as God hates our sin, if we’re called to be like God we need to be actively fighting against our sin, not playing with it, not leaving it alone – actively fighting against it. John Owen: “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” Sin makes a terrible master, but if you kill it you’ll be serving the most gracious and loving Master.

-Assembly is the word often used in the NT to refer to the gathering of the church. This is meant to cause us to ask which people group are we spending time with, because we become like the people we’re around. This is also where we need to be reminded that the primary assembly (group) God has now called us to is His people the, the church. So the descriptions David gives of people here should be the opposite of God’s people. And this idea is picked up again just a few verses later:

-David asks God to not sweep him away, or not let him get caught up with the sinners. This means the people he is most often with would be sinners and bloodthirsty men.

-Notice the 2 descriptions of them: evil devices, and full of bribes. Everything they do is an attempt to commit evil toward others. No care or concern for anyone else, a purely self-centered life. This is the opposite of what Christ followers are to live out! 

-Which gets us to the question: how do we live this out when we are commanded to evangelize others? That is a great question! Think of what Jesus’ brother James says in 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” How do you keep yourself unstained from the world when you live in it?

-Micah’s going to be teaching a class on this idea this Fall, but it requires you being a part of the right community, and then reaching out from there. If we have the HS in us we can’t be stained by the world! Think of what happens in the Gospels when Jesus touches an unclean person, instead of him becoming stained the other person becomes clean! That’s the same power we have working in us! 

-But it does force us to ask the question: what people do you spend time with? Would you be found in the assembly of evildoers, or the assembly of the righteous saved by grace?

  • Places (6-8, 11-12)

-The last thing we see in this Psalm is needing to live in the right places.

-First place David goes is to the altar, not just the entrance point, all the way up to the altar! He’s able to approach God because of the patterns of his life and the people he’s associated with.

-Gives thanks to God, regardless of life’s circumstances. 

–1 Thess. 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 

-But also telling all the wonderful ways God works to everyone, we must do evangelism (unbelievers) and encouragement (believers) as God works in our lives. This gets back to the people place: we can’t give thanks to God in isolation, we give thanks to God in the midst of other people! Gathering in God’s temple (where His glory dwells) is the place where David needs to go to be reminded of how God works. 

-As David does this, unlike all the evil people, David will walk in his integrity (saw that before) if God redeems and is gracious (He is)

–Ex. 34 “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

-David’s path is level 

-If you’ve ever gone to CO and hiked in the mountains you’ve seen paths that are unlevel! Easy to trip or fall. If we are living upright lives we won’t fall, there won’t be shaky ground to navigate, God will make our paths straight in front of us.

-The last place is the most important in this section: in the great assembly.

-We can’t be disconnected from the great assembly, the gathering of God’s people. We need others to encourage us, to support us, to help us when we’re weak, to celebrate when things go well. Swedish proverb: “Shared joy is double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow” In the midst of all the language around “deconstruction” today, I’ve been listening to a number of Christian musicians (some of whom have left the faith and others who came back) who have said the reason they ended up leaving was the disconnect from the local church. Friends, don’t miss this: we can’t worship God as He has called us apart from the great assembly, and that remains true even today.

-Nor can we bless the Lord alone! Intrinsic to being a human is being relational. God is relational by Himself, didn’t create us because He was lonely and needed something to do, we were created to join with him in being relational with God and with others.

-What places do you spend time? Is it in God’s assembly or in the assembly of evildoers?

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by mikethestrand on July 30, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Life, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on July 30, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/07/30/psalm-26-sermon-manuscript/

Psalm 21 – Sermon Manuscript

-Annual reminder: book of PsalmS, each one is a PsalM 

-Why do we do Psalms in the summer?

1 -Everything is inspired. Can’t pick and choose which parts of the Bible we want to like, read study. We’re told ALL Scripture is God breathed and useful for: teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. All of it, down to the genealogies (God’s provision throughout generations)

2 -The songbook of Jesus. Jews throughout history have used the Psalms as to give voice to their praise of God. Remember what we saw in Mark last week where the city used Ps. 118 in their praise of Jesus arrival, using the same Psalm they recited each year but giving new focus and meaning to it.

3 -Gives voice to human emotion and experience. Addresses difficult things like: losing a child, betrayal by your best friend, losing a job, questioning God’s call on your life, wayward children, gratitude for God’s blessings, and how to praise God in the midst of life’s circumstances!

4 -is the only inerrant and inspired hymnal (notice the top of this week’s Psalm “to the choirmaster”) Because it’s God’s Word, this is the only completely perfect hymnal we have, and I think it’s intentional that it didn’t come with musical notation (praising God through music can’t be contained by any genre or style of music, use them ALL!)

5 -Forces us to slow down and meditate on these words God has given us. We are inundated with information today! What’s not happening is meditation on the right information. God’s Word is meant to transform us from the inside out, if we’re not soaking and suturing ourselves in God’s Word we won’t be conformed into the image of Jesus! 

-Explain vs. 0 

READ/PRAY

-Today’s Psalm connects back to Psalm 20 to demonstrate both how to ask God’s provision, as well as how to give thanks for God’s provision. 

-Overview of Psalm 20:

-Centered around the king, who is meant to serve as both God’s representative on earth, and the people’s representative to God. 

-The nation uses this Psalm to cry out to God for protection, abundant provision, and salvation of the king. In ANE, wars were viewed as fights between the gods, so if a nation was defeated, their god was viewed as inferior.

-What makes Israel unique is not their size, wealth, status, it’s the uniqueness of their God and their relationship to Him. (vs. 7). 

-Ends pleading to God to save the king when the people cry out, which sets us up perfectly for Psalm 21, where the people give thanks for God’s provision.

  1. The King Trusts the Lord (1-7)

-Let’s do some remedial English work: anyone remember what a pronoun is? The way we faithfully interpret this Psalm is by paying careful attention to the pronouns. Look at how frequently “you” and “your” is used in this first section.

-Any honor, acclaim, or recognition the king gets is derivative. Even the king, who is meant to be closest to God and demonstrate God to the rest of the world is completely dependent on God!

–1 Cor. 4:7 “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (I got Cara’s money after we got married, she got my student loans)

-Yet how often do we act as if we’re the center of the world, celebrating in MY gifts, in MY talents instead of using and stewarding those gifts for the good of other people and the glory of God?

-Look now at how David responds to God’s good gifts: the king rejoices, exults, receives his heart’s desire, his prayers are answered 

-In short: David responds by giving thanks to God and praising Him, remembering all the ways God has provided for him. (keep that in mind as we continue working through this)

-Remembering is a key through the Bible: Gen. 8:1 “God remembered Noah” Gen. 19:29 “God remembered Abraham and Lot” during the destruction of Sodom. Ex. 2:24 “God heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham.” Ex. 20:8 “remember the sabbath day” Throughout Num. and Deut. “remember what God did.”

-Does anyone in this room ever feel like they have short term memory loss when it comes to God’s provision in your life? 

-“Here I raise my ebenezer” (stone of remembrance). We are such forgetful people! We would do well to remember, share, and exhort each other to continue remembering what God has done! Cara and I had the privilege of going to the EFCA national conference this past week and part of the reason it’s important to go is to remember what God has done in and through fellow ministers of the gospel. This feels like more of a family reunion than going to my family reunion! We’re a part of something bigger than ourselves, we’re caught up in a story with cosmic implications but we so frequently forget about that and instead focus on whatever current issues we have.

-One interesting note Micah brought up to me regarding the heart’s desire. We so often view this as more “stuff” (David and Solomon were rich, so should I!)

-Yet as we are sanctified (define!), our desires become more and more of what God would want, which is Himself (vs. 6). Think of Psalm 73:25-26 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Asaph says there’s NOTHING that I want on earth besides God! Can you say that? 

-Friends, this should even affect the way we view eternity! I’ve been contemplating some of these ideas recently, as I shared, we had 2 miscarriages this past year, and that makes you long for heaven in a unique way. I’ll finally get to hold the 2 children that were taken from us! But I need to check my priorities with that, because the real treasure, and our real pursuit MUST be Jesus above all else. If we just view heaven as the place where we’ll get all the “stuff” we want, we need to check our hearts! The real joy and treasure of heaven is being as we were truly intended to be: in perfect relationship with God and others.

-Selah

-Some kind of musical notation, most likely an extended instrumental. Each time they appear in the Psalms, I use them as an opportunity for us to pause and reflect on the truths of what was just shared, so take a couple minutes and meditate on these first 2 verses.

-What does David go on to thank God for? There’s some specific things that he refers to:

-(3) Rich blessings and a crown of fine gold.

-The true king vs. any alternative “kings” We talked about that last week when we saw how Jesus’ arrival was predicted during David’s reign as the reign was given to Solomon.

-(4) Life and length of days

-Davidic promise and covenant with God (2 Sam. 7:12-13 “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

-Couldn’t be David or Solomon (or any earthly king! Last I checked every human still has a 100% mortality rate)

-(5) Glory, salvation, splendor and majesty

-All descriptions of God! Also true for the king as God’s representative, and also true (because of salvation) for us!

-Been studying the doctrine of salvation in my SS class: regeneration and adoption are 2 beautiful doctrines!

-(6) How are we to be blessed and glad? God’s presence!

-God’s presence is everywhere, sometimes we are more aware of it than others. (camping in the Rockies, seeing a herd of elk run across the mountain every night, singing songs with other pastors)

-God’s presence brings comfort, joy. Think of Psalm 139:7 “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” Heaven, sheol, morning, sea, darkness, light.

-Story in Ex. 33, God gives the people what they think they want, but won’t go with them. Moses has the gall to go toe to toe and debate with God! Surely we can work up enough courage to ask God to be present among us!

-I think the crux of this Psalm is vs. 7, one author said it’s a summary of the whole book: God’s steadfast love, the king trust.

-Israel was a unique country in that when it was founded, they didn’t have a king. They were a theocracy (define). But God knew that at some point the people would want to be like all the other nations and ask for a king, so God told them what they should be looking for in a king: someone who commits themselves wholeheartedly to studying and obeying the law of God. In fact, in Deut. 17, the king’s first job is to write down the whole law of the Lord (first 5 books), get that approved by the Priest, then study and meditate on it day after day. No account of a king ever doing that. But look at how else it describes what should be true of the king: not many horses (a way of summarizing building an army), not have many wives (hearts will be turned away from the worship of God, intimate connection between sexual sin and idolatry), not amass silver and gold (temptation to rely on riches instead of trusting the provision of God). What’s heartbreaking is these descriptions here in Deut. Could also be summarized in Ps. 21:7, but unfortunately were not true of David or his lineage. 

-The word David uses here of trust has different connotations than the way we tend to use it today. According to TWOT, it “expresses that sense of well-being and security which results from having something or someone in whom to place confidence.” When they were translating the OT into Greek, they translated this word as “Hope in” instead of “believe in” in the way we would use it. It has more of a sense of assurance or the feeling of being safe and secure. Like think of driving through a snowstorm in the middle of the night, you see all sorts of cars in the ditch and the snow isn’t letting up! The moment you finally pull into your driveway and walk into your warm house and can finally breathe again is the sense communicated by this word. One note said it’s someone who is “unconcerned.” Can you imagine living as someone who is “unconcerned”? Yet that’s exactly what living as God’s child allows us to do. Think of Jesus’ words: if Jesus clothes the lilies and cares for the birds, why would we worry? We can live life as the unconcerned.

–The other word is Chesed in Psalm 136. Eddie (grew up in the Caribbean) it takes 10, 12, 15 times of saying something before you can actually start meditating on the truths that you’re saying!

-This should cause us to take a minute to reflect on whether or not we give thanks to God for good things.

-a good job, a healthy salary, appreciation of good co-workers. Do you thank God for those things?

  • The Enemies are Destroyed (8-12)

-God’s presence also has a different meaning for those who are not following God:

-Think of some songs we sing: “Open up the heavens, we want to see you” “show us your glory.” The only reason we can boldly say that is because of the atoning work of Jesus! If it weren’t for Him being our substitute, we would be condemned! Think of all the stories in the Bible of people seeing God, fall on their face and realize their sinful state – until Jesus.

-All sorts of descriptions of how God handles His enemies, but the short summary is: they can’t stand against Him.

–Rev. 19 has a fascinating account of the last battle of all time. The enemies of the Lord assemble together, draw up battle lines, and then the war is done because Jesus wins just like that. It says everyone is slain by the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse (His word). Just as God can create with a word, God can move mountains (or defeat armies) with a word. We saw that last week in Mark!

-Paul picks up this same idea in 2 Thess. 1:7-9 “7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”

-To be opposed to God merits His destruction, it is the just penalty for disobedience towards Him. It is pretty trendy today to question and doubt eternal conscious punishment, but we need to acknowledge that’s how the Bible (God’s revelation of truth) speaks of the punishment of those who are opposed to Him. We have a misunderstanding of love (acceptance) and judgment. Honestly, I wish I could believe in annihilationism! But I am bound by what Scripture says, not what I wish to be true. If you want more information on that, feel free to email me, I don’t have time to dig into that issue today! 

-But that’s not where David ends this Psalm:

  • God’s People Praise Him (13)

-What is a proper response to the way God mercifully saves His people?

-Singing and praising! Singing is FAR more than just music. Singing changes us, and we so often don’t even realize it! Singing brought down the walls of a jail for Paul! 

-At times the only thing we have are the words we’ve sung. I can’t tell you how many times in my life in times of crisis, music has been the balm to my soul to remind me the truths of what I proclaim up here week after week. And often it comes through the mouth of a brother or sister. Think of Eph. 5:19 “addressing one another” through our singing:

– “But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.” Bonhoeffer, Life Together

-Do you speak God’s Word to others?

-Church, this is why we need to gather together, our faith isn’t meant to exist in isolation! God has called us into a family that He has brought together. God saves us a His people, and in response we must praise Him!

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by mikethestrand on June 25, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Sermon, Worship

Posted by mikethestrand on June 25, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/06/25/psalm-21-sermon-manuscript/

Mark 11:1-25 – Sermon Manuscript

-Ever seen a parade?

-Parades aren’t new inventions, been around for a while! Kids love them, adults go for the kids. Celebrating holidays, major events, victories

-Romans would have parades to celebrate victories on a regular basis. (including a slave who would whisper in the ear of a commander “remember you are mortal”) The Roman audience who was hearing this from Mark would have understand what was taken place by Jesus’ humble parade, but there were some weird things about it that we’ll see as we walk through it!

READ/PRAY (pg. 494)

  1. A Humble Entrance (1-11)

-Let’s think about where all this is taking place. 

-Over the past few weeks, we’ve been slowly approaching Jerusalem, we finally get there today! Perea, last week was Jericho, you can see the road traveled to get to Jerusalem, which looks like THIS

-Jesus sends 2 disciples nearby to grab a colt.

-A donkey seems like a weird choice and Mark tells us has never been ridden before. 

-At this point of the journey, you’d have to think the disciples were wondering why he needed a donkey. They’re within sight of Jerusalem, only a few more steps and they’ll be at their final destination, if Jesus has gotten tired, just let Him take a quick break! Thankfully, the disciples have learned not to question Jesus, so they respond with obedience

-Now, notice that Jesus gives them basically a password in order to take this donkey away. You know like “open sesame,” but in this case the code is “the Lord has need of it.” And that’s exactly what happens!

-Mark’s trying to make a point here. Notice who’s in charge here: Jesus. At times we view Jesus as the victim in this story (innocent man killed on the cross, some even go so far to describe it as “divine child abuse” which would be true only if Jesus hadn’t been a part of the planning). None of it caught Jesus by surprise! This was His eternal plan from before the earth was even created, and He continues demonstrating that plan through each step of this process.

-But there’s far more going on here than Jesus needing a ride. This act is done to fulfill a prophecy from Zech. 9:9

-Original context tells us: The king who comes is righteous, has salvation, and is humble. Jesus is fulfilling this prophecy of God’s deliverance from their enemies.

-But this isn’t the only ideas Jesus comes to fulfill from the OT: and to understand that picture, we need to know about a king named David.

-If you’ve ever heard of David, it’s most likely in relation to a giant named Goliath. David was the pinnacle of kings for Israel. He became the golden standard by which all future kings would be judged (like MJ in bball)

-As David comes to the end of his life, some of his deficiencies as a father start to reveal themselves. He had appointed his son Solomon to be the next king, but another one of his sons, Adonijah wants the throne, and plan to usurp that role. In secret, Adonijah brings his followers together and throws a private coronation party for himself. David hears about it from Bathsheba and decides to throw a realcoronation party for the true king: Solomon. And guess what David gives him to ride on? That’s right: a royal donkey! Solomon rides into Jerusalem to demonstrate that Adonijah and all his followers aren’t telling the truth, that the true king is coming to rule.

-Solomon’s reign ended very poorly. He allowed idol worship, he took too many wives, and started down the path toward being carried off into exile. But Jesus comes in purity to establish His rule that will never end, that will never be overthrown, and that will never be abolished. The prophecy to David that his descendants would sit on the throne forever is coming true!

-The Disciples obey Jesus’ command, and then use cloaks to create a saddle for Jesus. But the disciples aren’t the only ones who are getting excited about Jesus finally revealing Himself as the Messiah, as word travels about Jesus coming, the crowd joins in on the celebration. 

-Part of this is most likely due to Jesus raising one of his best friends: Lazarus. Remember Bethany is only a couple miles away? That’s where he lived with his sisters Mary and Martha. Not much a stretch to imagine that people in “the big city” had heard about this resurrection! 

-Because the crowd is excited about this coming king, they realize He can’t just walk on the plain old ground, so they use their cloaks, and if don’t have any cloaks they use branches, pulling out the red carpet for the arriving king! This would be typical of a kingly processional. There’s an account in 2 Kings 9, and the book of Maccabees where palm branches and cloaks are thrown on the ground for the king’s processional.

-Do you see what the crowd is reciting to Jesus? They’re quoting Psalm 118.

-This Psalm is one of the what is called “Psalms of Ascent” which were recited as the pilgrims would make their way to Jerusalem. Hosanna (Aramaic meaning save now) name of the Lord (Messianic title) Blessed be (thanking Yahweh for military victory) 

-There’s a big difference between Mark & Matthew’s account here, and I think it’s connected to the different intentions behind each author. Where Matthew was primarily writing to a Jewish audience, Mark is writing to a Gentile audience, so Matthew includes more details about how the city of Jerusalem responded.

-Mark jumps straight to Jesus alone with the 12. Just as quickly as the crowd had convened, they leave Jesus by Himself. He goes straight to the temple, looks around, and because it was getting late in the day, he goes back to Bethany.

  • A Haughty Façade (12-25)

-Why are people tempted to put on a front? I remember hearing a pastor talk about this during college: we’re all tempted to compare our strengths to someone else’s weaknesses. He is a professor at a university, and was sitting in a meeting hearing someone share a new insight he hadn’t thought of and he thought “I bet you couldn’t guard me in basketball.” Then later that afternoon was playing pickup, got burned on the court and thought “I bet you haven’t read a book this week!” (so then I burned him in basketball and told him that I’d also read a book that week)

-We have a tendency to try to portray something we’re not instead of being content with who God has made us! And it’s true even in our faith, as we’ll see demonstrated in this section:

  1. A Fig Tree (12-14)

-The first thing we see about Jesus in this section is His hunger. This is a normal human endeavor, IDK about you, generally after a night of sleeping (not eating) one is hungry when they wake up (another evidence that Jesus is truly a human). But another aspect to hunger is how one responds when they’re hungry.

-For me, it’s a little bit like my morning coffee. If I don’t get my coffee I’m not a happy camper!

-Or maybe food is what you need in the morning, and if you don’t get your food you become hangry (that is someone who gets angry when they’re hungry) If that’s you, don’t worry you’re in good company, so does Jesus!

-Because Jesus is hungry, he becomes a man on a mission, and He sees a fig tree with leaves. Leaves are the marker for a fig tree having figs on it, or at least the starting of figs, but it’s supposed to mean you’ll be able to find food on it (despite it not being the season for figs).

-So how does Jesus respond? He curses the tree! I read a description this week that said Jesus’ final miracle is one of destruction and death! There’s even a philosopher who has used this passage to explain why he isn’t a Christian, accusing Jesus of “vindictive fury.” Which would make sense if that was all that was said about it! But we need to go on:

  • A Temple (15-19)

-After riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and stirring up the town, Jesus turns His attention to the temple and comes to cleanse/purify the temple

-Drove out all who sold and bought: a necessary occupation. People would travel from all over the country to come to Jerusalem for the Passover, they needed some way of getting a sacrifice, it didn’t make sense to bring an animal, much less a spotless animal! 

-Money-changers: who were necessary too pay the temple tax in the correct currency (Torah said it had to be a half a shekel) But also had a wide assortment of moneys being used at the time, so essentially a currency converter.

-pigeons: particularly focused on the sacrifices of the poor.

-Text doesn’t say these people were stealing, could be implied by Jesus’ response, or else the mere fact that they were in the temple was missing the purpose.

-The temple was divided into different areas by level of holiness for where people were able to go, the closer you got to the Holy of Holies, the fewer people could go. Court of the Gentiles (we’ve talked about before), The Court of the Women, and then only purified Jewish men could go closer. These salesmen set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles, leaving them nowhere to worship the one true God. 

-Once these people are cleared out, what does Jesus do? He teaches, once again. And this time we have some of the contents of his sermon: Jesus quotes 2 different OT texts to make his point.

–Isa. 56:7 “house of prayer for all the nations” ethnic implications

–Jer. 7:11 – Jeremiah calling out Israel for indulging in sin, then treat the temple as a talisman to cover the sins. 

-Do you live this way? Only certain people are allowed to church, if they don’t look, think, and act like us we don’t have room for them! Or do you not connect your Sunday worship to your Saturday living? Walking into a church doesn’t save you, just like walking into a garage doesn’t make you a car! What we do here is meant to transform us from the inside out (thinking God’s thoughts after Him, dripping down into hearts, then living it out through our hands)

-(18) Now the higher ups are getting upset! They heard the teachings, and realized that Jesus was upsetting the apple cart! They want to destroy Jesus, the one who came to purify everything! Instead they see the people following Him and His teachings as a competition with what they had been teaching.

-They’re more worried with the external form of what they think worship is supposed to look like than they are worried about whether or not they’re actually pleasing the Lord they’re supposed to be worshipping. 

-They’re trying to force God to fit into their preconceived ideas and boxes instead of approaching Him as the sovereign ruler of the universe!

-Think of some of what we’ve been seeing throughout Mark’s Gospel about how Jesus subverts everyone’s expectations.

-His disciples eat on the Sabbath, He heals on the Sabbath pushing against the traditionalism of the Pharisees. He’s accused of being on cohoots with the devil. He continues teaching people about what it means to live in the kingdom of God, and what it means to actually be defiled (it doesn’t come by eating or drinking or certain thing, it comes by being transformed from the inside out)

-Think of all the times the disciples continue to miss what He’s telling them! We just wrapped up a section where He explicitly tells them 3 different times that He was going to Jerusalem to die, and they take that as an opportunity to fight about who’s the best. Everyone is expecting and wanting a political ruler, but what they got instead was the King of kings.

-Honestly, when you think about it: has anything changed in the past 2,000 years? How many people continue looking to politics as the ultimate solution to the world’s problems? (if you don’t vote for this person, the world will be over!) Dear church, don’t miss that second word: we are the church! At the end of the day your savior isn’t going to come riding in on an elephant or a donkey (at least the second time), He’s coming in a white horse: meaning He’s coming to win! Which is exactly what gets demonstrated in the last verses of this chapter:

  • The Meaning of It All (20-25)

-Took a whole day for the fig tree to whither. Who notices it?

-One of the pieces of evidences that leads people to believe that Mark wrote down Peter’s story, and then compiled it together to give us this Gospel.

-Peter brings attention to Jesus’ cursing coming true. This is an intentional act. Remember: all the miracles are meant to be living parables, living examples of a bigger point Jesus is making.

-In this case, the way Mark has structured this story is supposed to tell us something about the cleansing of the temple. It’s the classic Markan sandwich! The fig tree is meant to serve as an illustration of what’s going to happen to the temple: destroyed down to its’ roots. Just like the fig tree, the busyness (and business) that was taking place was just a façade that didn’t give rise to lasting fruit. How do we know this? The connection is prayer. 

-See, just as the temple was mean to serve as a “house of prayer for the nations” so God’s people are supposed to be marked by a life of prayer and faith.

-Faith is the first step: demonstrating trust, hope, and confidence in God. But then the ongoing steps are prayer. Think of Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing.” 

-Need to again warn against prosperity theology! This isn’t name it and claim it (I prayed for a Rolls Royce and got it), it’s praying according to God’s will.

-I was meeting with someone this week who asked about this idea and I pointed them to Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” If you are truly following the first part of that verse, your desires will slowly over time will become more and more of what God would want for you.

-But there’s a third part to this that we see: so faith, prayer and forgive.

-Think of what we prayed in the Lord’s prayer last week: “forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE THOSE who trespass against us.” God’s forgiveness toward us is directly correlated to our forgiveness of others. Are you a forgiving person, or do you tend to hold grudges against others? 

-If we live these truths out, God will answer prayers and move mountains in our lives. Think of the fact that you’re saved! God literally had to bring you back from the dead (spiritually speaking) in order to do that! Do you know how miraculous that is? 

-So what: what does your life look like? Are you bearing fruit, or just giving off the appearance of fruit? 

–Matt. 3:8 J the B “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” It’s easy (at first) to give off the appearance of fruit, but over time it will start to wear on you. If you have faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will work in you to actually make it possible to bear fruit, because apart from that fruit we’re dead! Vs. 10 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 

-How often is that true in our lives too? We do our best to act all “put together” when we come to church (despite yelling at our kids on the way out the door, cussing out the person who cut you off) then as soon as we walk in the doors we put on a smile and act like everything’s ok. It’s no wonder people give up on church when they see that kind of hypocrisy! Instead, we need to ensure that we’re ACTUALLY bearing fruit in our lives, not just the illusion of it.

-That is what is means to be a true disciple of Jesus. It’s not pursuing worldly aim, it’s not building yourself up, it’s submitting yourself to the Lordship of Jesus through faith, demonstrated by your prayers, and filled out in the way you forgive others.

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by mikethestrand on June 18, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Relationships, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on June 18, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/06/18/mark-111-25-sermon-manuscript/

Mark 10:32-52 – Sermon Manuscript

-Don’t remember many Sunday School classes growing up, but 1 has stood with me (probably because of the family story)

-Trying to communicate to 5 year olds the importance of serving. Each person was given a turn wearing an apron and “serving” the rest of the class donuts. Apparently I refused to give up my serving role (which was obviously relayed to my parents after about how much of a servant I was, and much I cared about getting donuts for everyone else)

-I liked wearing the apron! And then at the end I got to take a whole box of donuts home!

READ/PRAY (pg. 494)

  1. Comes Through His Death (32-34)

-Continuing their journey to Jerusalem. This is the middle section of Mark’s Gospel (began with the recognition from Peter in 8, ends at the end of this section when they get to Jerusalem in 11)

-This middle section could be considered Jesus on the way to Jerusalem (remember I mentioned that in Luke hinges on 9:51 “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”) The other emphasis in the middle section is the way it can be broken down into 3 predictions of Jesus’ death (look at the title given in your Bible, mine says: “Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time”)

-All follow the same pattern: Jesus tells what’s coming, launches into a talk about discipleship, then the disciples miss the point and revert back to the world’s ways of organizing and living.

-As I said, this section is marked by Jesus 3 times predicting his betrayal, death, and resurrection. Look at how Jesus repeatedly describes it!

-Let’s think through everything we’ve seen in the midst of these 3 predictions:

-After the first one, Peter rebukes Jesus, who in turn is rebuked by Jesus, then Jesus explains the cost of discipleship (take up your cross and follow)

-Then Peter, James, and John see Jesus transfigured before them and hanging with Moses and Elijah, then coming down from the mountain the disciples are shown to not yet be able to everything Jesus can with the boy suffering from (what sounds similar to) epilepsy. This leads Jesus to remind the disciples to live a life of prayer (like surrendered to a dependent on Him)

-Jesus then offers his second prediction in 9:31, and the disciples go on to argue about which one of them is the greatest. Jesus uses this as a teaching opportunity to say that if you want to follow Him, you need to look for the poor and marginalized (as demonstrated by a child). You can’t follow the world’s ways and expect to also live in Jesus’ kingdom. It also involves mortification (subduing bodily/sinful desires). Jesus says to cut off your: hand, leg, eyes if they cause you to sin. Yet again, not the way the world operates! This includes how Jesus’ followers live in marriage (not divorce), how they welcome children in (care for them! Our kids ministry should never struggle to find volunteers!), and how they view their earthly possessions (if you give them up you’ll get more in return).

-Then we land at today’s passage, where Jesus will once again move from a passion prediction to the cost of discipleship, and then conduct a living parable by healing blind Bartimaeus.

-We’ve spent a lot of time on the second half of this section, but there’s a couple things to note about the introduction to this section. Up until this point, Jesus had been walking with them, suddenly now He’s by Himself. People following are describes as amazed and afraid. The leader they’d been following was moving in some new ways, and they weren’t wanting to be quite as close to Him.

-Why were people amazed and afraid?

-Jerusalem is where the insurrection would happen. It’s time for war! Jesus had been building His following, teaching them what it means to follow Him, now it’s time to bring about His kingdom. But how did the people think it would happen?

-By force. Throughout this whole section, how had Jesus been describing the way of entering His kingdom? Childlike, aka needy and with nothing. Literally the opposite of force! Yet power and persuasion is exactly the way we as humans view the world.

-Lots of conversation today about power, about victimhood, and about privilege. The heartbreaking thing is Jesus repeatedly commands His followers to not focus on those things, yet throughout history we can see God’s people repeatedly coming back to those very issues.

-Dear friends, it’s not a coincidence that Jesus came as an infant. It’s not weakness that Paul describes the gospel message as not coming by human power or persuasion, but by God’s power.

-No, power isn’t the issue! It’s what those in power do that can become an issue. But the only way the world can operate is through power dynamics, we’ll get to some more of this in the next section, as Jesus explicitly talks about the differences between authority in the world and authority in the church.

-So far, we’ve seen that what’s necessary for Jesus is His death. His followers think that means through a political uprising and overthrowing of the Romans, but Jesus knows and keeps trying to tell them that’s not the way! But 2 disciples want to make sure Jesus knows how valuable they are (using the world’s ideas)

-We see following Jesus:

  • Is Demonstrated By Serving (35-45)

-Just as the first time comes about by Peter trying to put himself first, this time it’s the rest of the “inner 3” who approach Jesus. (Jesus had crowds of people following Him, from those He spent more focused time on the 12, from that 12 He spent more focused time with 3: Peter, James, and John)

-Begin innocently enough, but Jesus doesn’t commit to anything. I’m sure they’ve been working on trying to find the best time to bring this request to Jesus! Think of the way kids work at trying to figure out which parent will give them what they want. Recently, Cara confronted Calvin about why he asked me if he could watch DP in the morning instead of her “because I knew daddy would say yes!”

-As we saw in the last section, they think Jesus is going to Jerusalem to begin His reign, so they’re hoping that once the insurrection is complete, they have the highest positions. They’re 2 of the inner 3, who’s left out? Peter! This would make sense, right, you’ve got 2 hands there’s no room for a 3rd person in there. 

-On the one hand, their request makes sense! Someone needs to sit by Jesus and help Him reign (at least in their minds, doesn’t enter that Jesus may be sitting to someone else’s right hand) 

-Jesus begins with a gentle rebuke and a reminder that they don’t know what’s happening. 

-Drink refers to suffering/persecution that was coming. Throughout the OT there’s repeated references to a cup being poured out as wrath upon sinful people. Even on Jesus’ last night with His disciples, He prays that the Lord would remove this cup of suffering from Him (Mark 14:36)

-Baptism similarly refers to intense tribulation that would be brought upon them, and Paul even picks up this idea in Rom. 6 that baptism serves as a reminder that we have died with Jesus, so Jesus is telling these brothers that both suffering and death are on His horizon. Do they think they can handle all that?

-They (once again) miss it! “Of course we can!” They’re not called the sons of thunder for nothing! 

-Once again, their minds are most likely going to the political war that is coming up. They could even be interpreting Jesus’ comments as referring to that event, so Jesus is going to be a martyr for the cause, and if He can do that, so can they!

-Not dissimilar from what Peter will pledge just a few chapters later: “Even though they all fall away, I will not. If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” (14:29, 31). 

-Jesus promises them suffering and persecution, but he can’t promise anything else. Jesus, in everything, submits to the will of His Father. Someone will sit there, but it won’t those that try to get it, it will be those that the world wouldn’t recognize.

-Think of all the children Jesus had been interacting with recently. Think of all the marginalized people who had been ostracized that He’s healed (bleeding woman, demon possessed). Those who are the greatest in God’s kingdom are described in Heb. 11 as people “of whom the world was not worthy.” But even the lowest in God’s kingdom is greater than the person Jesus describes as the most significant human to ever live (Matt. 11:11)

-This is done by obeying Jesus, not by building yourself up.

-How do you think everyone else would have felt once they heard about it? Definitely would have led to a fight! But here’s the thing: the reason they were fighting is because the rest didn’t think about it first! They were upset that James and John beat them to the punch!

-Think of what we saw Peter do during the transfiguration: he offered to build houses for Moses and Elijah on the mountain so they could rule with them. They’re continually fighting about who gets the positions of power and recognition (remember, just recently we read about them arguing about who was the greatest) You could read this section as just a continuation of that previous conversation! Jesus’ repeated refrain that they need to serve has fallen on deaf ears.

-And this continues to happen today in the church! How big is your church? How many books have you published? How many conferences have you spoken at? Does your church have the “right” ministry? We’re always comparing, but we’re comparing to the wrong standard! See, if we continually compare ourselves to others we’ll always find ways we’re superior. What Jesus is commanding us to do is compare ourselves Him, who is the perfect standard. In that case, we’ll always be falling short, which is the point of the gospel message. 

-Picture the group of disciples having a heated debate about this very topic, until Jesus gets in the middle of them and changes the direction of the conversation

-Once again becomes a teaching moment! Jesus’ way of leadership is the opposite of the world. Look at how he describes the world’s ways: “lord it over” and “exercise authority.” That’s not the Jesus way! Jesus says “It shall not be so!” 

-Do you want to lead? Serve! Example of music team asking people to run slides for 6 months before they get on the stage. What are you willing to do to serve those who are sitting nearby you? Music is a great opportunity for that, and I think one of the best ways to model this service! 

-“If the gathering is about building up and encouraging the church, then a song I don’t like presents an opportunity to love and encourage others whose tastes differ from mine.” (Mike Cosper, Rhythms of Grace, 88)

-Jesus isn’t calling for anything He isn’t willing to do. He’s demonstrated to them in multiple ways what it means to serve, not be served.

– “The brothers hope to honor Jesus while honoring themselves. How easily worship and discipleship are blended with self-interest; or worse, self-interest is masked as worship and discipleship.” (James Edwards)

-How often do you equate God’s way with your way? Or you take your desires and assume they’re the way God wants you to live? What’s even worse is when you take those desires and then force others to live that same way! That’s called legalism, and there’s a whole host of issues with that!

-Text I got when we had to shut our doors during COVID (this was an incredibly hard season! No one knew exactly what to do, it’s easy to look back now and see the mistakes, but not in the middle of it): “I was going to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate my faith in God!” I wanted to text back “If you’ve been waiting for a global pandemic to demonstrate your faith, then you don’t have those faith muscles built up to start practicing them now.” Jesus here is saying you need to start practicing service in the small things so that as you grow in ability and responsibility you can continue being faithful. The problem is when people are elevated beyond their character. We’ve seen that repeatedly in the church the past couple years, and it comes about because people forget that Jesus called us to serve, not be served. As soon as you get to the point that you think it’s time for others to start serving or accommodating your needs, preferences, and desires, you need to step back for a season!

-So far: following Jesus comes through His death, is demonstrated by whether or not we serve others, and it:

  • Requires Faith In Him (46-52)

-20 miles away from Jerusalem, slightly off the main road, 1 way to get in and out. Those who had been following were continuing toward Jerusalem, ready for the revolt!

-Only named person healed in this Gospel: Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus (name means: “Son of Honor”) Let’s compare Bartimaeus to the 2 brothers who asked for the positions of honor: they were most likely wealthy (Father had a fishing business), Barty had to beg to eat. They were getting recognition and fame from following Jesus (such that they knew to ask for even more fame) Barty was (apart from being in here) forgotten and marginalized.

-No social welfare, begging was the only way to survive. 

-Jesus of Nazareth to delineate this Jesus from all the others (like the name “John” or “Michael” thanks a lot mom & dad)

-Instead of asking for power and prestige, what does Barty ask for? Mercy. He wouldn’t even care if his name was mentioned in this text: he just wants a full life.

-What’s the response of the crowd? Barty doesn’t deserve the see Jesus! Jesus is too busy and on a different social standing. How does he respond? Cries all the more! He’s desperate! Which is something we (and the disciples) could learn! (parable of the persistent widow Luke 18:1-8 “because this widow keeps bothering me”)

-Jesus stopped. Has a whole crowd around Him and he stops for 1 blind beggar.

-Invites Barty near. 3 verbs: take heart, get up, calling you.

-Throws off all his worldly possessions (his cloak, both protection from heat and pillow at night), jumps up as quick as possible and runs to Jesus.

-Jesus asks the same question he’d asked James and John: “Whereas the Sons of Thunder asked for extraordinary glory, Bartimaeus asks only for ordinary health.” (James Edwards)

-Refers to Jesus as a higher form of Rabbi (used primarily of God). Those on the inside continue to remain blind, while those on the outside see who God is. He has 1 request: let me see!

-Why is this man healed? Faith. How strong did his faith need to be? As strong as a mustard seed, but in the right person.

-Example of ice from Keller.

-Became a follower of Jesus. Tradition says he’s named because he became a prominent leader in the early church.

-What are you willing to give up to get Jesus? Are you truly following Him, or is Jesus a convenient excuse to try to force your way, agenda, ideas onto others? Do you come to serve or to BE served? 

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by mikethestrand on June 11, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Relationships, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on June 11, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/06/11/mark-1032-52-sermon-manuscript/

Luke 24:36-49 – Sermon Manuscript

-Do you remember when you used to get excited about things?

-Christmas was a magical time, I’ll be honest, one of my favorite parts of moving back to MN was the Menards Wonderland experience (but I’m pretty sure it used to be bigger, in my mind when I was growing up they converted the whole store). Counted down the days to open presents, hoping your parents had been listening for the hints you’d been dropping all year. 

-Birthdays were celebrated instead of dreaded. Anyone else remember having “themed” birthday parties? Best one I had was a backwards birthday party. Wore clothes backwards, everyone got thank you gifts when they arrived, I opened presents at the beginning (which is why I wanted to do a backwards party to begin with) AND we all ate the cake before the food! 

-Or remember when you had this thing called “summer” that wasn’t just referring to the season, where you had no responsibilities for 3 months straight! Now summer just means you sweat when you walk outside instead of freeze (Assuming you can get outside to see the weather around work!)

-Then you had dreams about what your first job was going to look like, and be (and then after about 3 days working at McDonalds you realize you learned what you DON’T want to do for the rest of your life!)

-Or maybe it was getting your driver’s license, but then as soon as you got it you become all your friend’s means of getting around.

-College! But then you graduate and realize you actually do have to pay back all those loans you took out that didn’t seem like such a big deal when you were 19, and here we are STILL paying for that education that you finished a decade ago!

-The world trains us to become cynics, to not hope too much in an attempt to preserve what little happiness we have left in our lives.

-We look at children and smile at their youthful excitement, but think to ourselves “someday they’ll grow out of it.” Even this week, you would have thought my kids were getting to meet Dude Perfect in person by the way they were excited about donuts! And me, well I’ve had donuts many times now! (FYI – they’re from Hy-Vee, talk about breaking all my expectations!)

-One of the craziest things about the resurrection is it breaks every expectation we’re trained to believe in. It’s a story that literally seems too good to be true! But the craziest thing about it all is that it is!

-Tolkien summarized this feeling incredibly well at the end ROTK. (gotta spoil the movie, but it’s been out for 20 years, and the book has been out for 68 years, so it’s on you at this point). After the ring has been destroyed, Sam and Frodo are saved by some Eagles. When Sam finally wakes up, the first person he sees is Gandalf, and exclaims: “Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue?”

-We’re going to focus on that idea today: the reality that everything sad is going to come untrue, and that’s only true because of the resurrection. Peace, paradox, proclaim

READ/PRAY

  1. Peace (36-39)

-“Talking about these things” What were they talking about?

-Friday we took a look at the previous chapter where we saw the mock trial of Jesus, culminating in His death and burial. Luke 23 ends by saying the women prepared spices and ointment to anoint Jesus’ body (a way of giving honor) Did nothing on the Sabbath (this was a day of rest for the Jewish people every week, no work was allowed), Luke 24 picks it up on Sunday morning

-Women go to the tomb to place the spices, but the body’s gone! They weren’t confused (it was a well-known tomb), they were grieving, but they weren’t crazy. They knew exactly where the body was supposed to be, but it wasn’t there. 

-Thankfully, there are 2 angels nearby to tell them what’s happened, asking these women (one of my favorite questions) “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” That’s ironic isn’t it? They’d seen Jesus just days earlier beaten to a bloody pulp, then hung up on a cross and watched Him breathe His last. Luke also mentions who these women are: Mary Magdalene, Joanna (wife of Herod’s household manager, the same Herod who interrogated Jesus on Friday), and his mother. At least 2 of those women had a vested interest in knowing where the body was! They run back to the rest of the disciples to tell them and:

-No one else believed them. Would you? What happens to someone who’s dead? They stay dead! 

-Women in the 1st cent. weren’t viewed as reliable witnesses, yet that’s who Jesus chose to first reveal Himself to (which remember included His mom). If this was a fairy tale, Luke would have had men being the first people to find Jesus.

-Luke goes on from there (same day) to tell another account of Cleopas and another disciple who left Jerusalem to head to Emmaus, when along came Jesus.

-Jesus asks them “what’s the latest news”? And they look at Him like He’s crazy “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there?” 

-Do you think Jesus told them “You know, I’ve been a little busy this weekend” or “Haven’t been around here for a little while”

-Then takes them on what would probably be the greatest Bible study ever. Taught them how to interpret the whole OT in light of Jesus.

-After their journey, they invite Him to have dinner with them, and suddenly He disappears and they realize who it was! So they sprint back to Jerusalem to tell everyone else. And after they arrived, they began talking with everyone else about what was going on. 

-At this point, 5 people had seen Jesus (Matthew 28 tells us that Jesus appeared at the tomb), the 2 disciples on the road, these eyewitness accounts are starting to grow!

-Suddenly, just as they were talking about Him, Jesus Himself appears. John’s Gospel tells us the doors were locked.

-First thing He says to His disciples is: peace. Think of the significance of that word. They had been anticipating peace, but peace due to the overthrowing of the Romans, not an eternal peace won by an atoning death! 

-What would any normal, sane human being think about this situation? A ghost!  Everyone has heard a good ghost story! Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.

-Look at vs. 37 startled, frightened, thought they were seeing a ghost. What is one of the common stories made about the resurrection? That it was just a spiritual resurrection, surely Jesus didn’t actually come back from the dead! They literally think their sense are deceiving them (at least eyes and ears)

-Since Jesus knows everything (including thoughts, as we’ve seen in Mark), he asks them what’s wrong? Why would they remain troubled, and why do they have doubts? Can’t they see that it’s the person they’d followed for years?

-He invites them to come and touch Him. Confirm with all their senses that He is back, just like He promised. 

-This is important: Jesus meets the disciples where they are. He could have told them “Just have faith! Why don’t you believe?” Instead He invites the doubting, He accepts their skepticism, and He breaks all their expectations. 

-Their skepticism about the way the world works has just started to be turned on its’ head, but that’s just the beginning!

  • Paradox (40-43) Christianity is full of paradoxes 

-Not only does Jesus invite their questions and answer their doubt, He shows that it’s really Him by showing His nail scarred hands and feet. 

-Once again, in John’s account we have a little more info, doubting Thomas is encouraged to come and touch the scars. Jesus still has the marks of death on Him. Can you imagine seeing Jesus with his scars stand in front of you?

-But then we get to a weird phrase that I think bears some contemplation for us today in vs. 41 “While they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling.” Other translations word it slightly differently. I like the way the Message summarizes it: it seemed too good to be true. 

-Part of the reason people doubt Christianity is because it does seem too good to be true, doesn’t it? Perfect world, relational unity, brokenness fixed, sadness coming untrue. One of the biggest obstacle to belief: the fear of too good to be true. Why would we continue to get our hopes up when we know they’re just going to be broken again?

-We’re all trained to be cynics throughout our life. The older we get the more calloused we become, our joy becomes tainted and broken. Just like the disciples, we keep lowering our expectations so that we can try to hold on to what little joy we have left.

-I remember growing up dreaming of visiting a place called “Disney.” The commercials I saw of Tinkerbelle flying around, getting to meet Mickey. And then I finally went! And it was magical, until I had to stand in line for an hour! (And then it got worse after being there as an adult with crabby kids who didn’t nap, it’s FAR less magical than the ads would lead you to believe)

-Or if you’re married, think of all the dreams you had of how your spouse would (to quote Jerry Maguire) complete you, but then 5 days in you have your first fight. Or you find out after you get married, that after decades of not snoring, the moment you got married your spouse caused you to become a snorer. 

-Life at some point seems to become more about managing expectations than it does about living a joy filled life, and the older you get the lower those expectations are. 

-As I’ve heard it summarized, life is hard, and then you die! And I think this is especially true today! Deaths of despair are on the rise (suicide, drugs, alcohol liver disease), the age expectancy of an American has decreased over the past couple years for the first time in decades. Isn’t being joyful a childish thing reserved for either the ignorant or uninformed?

-What if I told you not only is it possible to be joyful, but that’s what Jesus actually wants us to be marked by? But here’s the thing: it’s not by refusing to get hopeful or becoming cynical, it’s only by believing. Unlike the disciples, at least in this part of the story, we can believe! And once we believe, we have every reason to be joyful!

-This is where, as someone grows in their faith, there should be an increase of joy in their lives, a grumpy Christian shouldn’t exist!

-One of the best examples of this is the last person the Risen Lord appeared to (who said he was one “untimely born”) the apostle Paul.

-Long before everyone knew what “tebowing” was, Paul wrote that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. Wasn’t referring to football! 

-Joy comes because we know Christ is working in us. Joy comes by knowing how to be content in any and every circumstance. Look at how Paul begins this section: “I REJOICED” (had joy) If Christ is raised from the dead (and He is), then we can rejoice all the time!

-Paul even takes this a step further in another letter that he wrote called 1 Thess. Where he commands believers to “rejoice always.” Doesn’t mean to bury your feelings, to pretend like everything is ok, instead he’s recognizing that whatever is going on around you, God is still at work.

-That’s where in the midst of a school shooting in Nashville, the parents of a child who’s now in the arms of Jesus can say “death doesn’t have the final word.” This is where Christians who are gunned down during a worship service can forgive the shooter. We have a supernatural joy that doesn’t need to change based on our circumstances.

-But Jesus doesn’t stop at the disciple’s disbelief, or asking if it’s too good to be true, He continues to draw near to them.

-This is where we need to remember that faith isn’t an abstract concept where we’re asked to believe in something without proof. Do you see all the evidences Jesus gives of His resurrection throughout this section? Contrary to popular opinion, faith isn’t in a feeling, faith is placed in facts and empirical evidence. Our faith is as certain as the tomb is empty. 

-Before the disciples have faith, while they’re still disbelieving, Jesus moves toward them relationally, and asks if they can share a meal together.

-How many of your greatest memories involve good food and good friends where you lose track of time? We had the opportunity this week to share a small meal together on Thursday! And one of the best pieces of advice I’ve gotten is if you need to have a difficult conversation with someone, do it over food because it’s really hard to stay angry with someone when you’re eating!

-What’s the last good memory the disciples had with Jesus? The last supper. Do you think maybe Jesus is redeeming their memories and helping them move to belief and joy?

-We see the same response many of us have to the news of Jesus’ resurrection: disbelieving for joy, or surely this is too good to be true. You’re right, it is. But this is just a tiny picture of how good things could actually be! The story is just starting

  • Proclaim (44-49)

-After dinner, Jesus goes back to remind them of everything He’d been saying up until His death, but they hadn’t been able to understand it yet. They’re basically like teenagers who are at that stage where their parents don’t understand ANYTHING, but Jesus is helping them get to the point where they can understand and comprehend what He was saying (like your 20s when you start to realize that maybe your parents know a little more than you gave them credit for)

-But it wasn’t just Jesus who was saying these things, they were written about in the Law of Moses, Prophets, Psalms – summary of the OT

-“Opened their minds” doesn’t mean they’re dumb, but now they can see and understand everything Jesus had been saying. Think of reading a mystery (Sherlock Holmes), you miss all these clues at the beginning but then when you see the whole picture, it all makes sense.

-St. Anselm (11th Cent. Theologian) “faith seeking understanding” Faith isn’t different from understanding, nor is understanding meant to be independent from faith, they work together and center on the risen Jesus. Also said “I believe in order to understand.” Jesus is helping the disciples learn how to interpret everything around them. Since God’s Word is true, everything it says can be believed, and will help us to make sense of the world we find ourselves living.

-Then, in order to emphasize exactly what He means, Jesus says (46ff.) There are 3 words that are emphasized in what Jesus says (how we bold or underline today) suffer, rise, proclaim. That’s a great summary of the gospel, isn’t it? Jesus was prophesied about that He would need to suffer, then rise from the dead, and that message of good news needs to be proclaimed worldwide! 

-This becomes the gospel message that disciples share as soon as the resurrection takes place. Peter’s first sermon centers on this 3-fold idea! And it’s the same message that we should be proclaiming every chance we get today. Just like the disciples are eyewitnesses to these events, we have a transformed life that we can proclaim to others about how God transforms us.

-Jesus then says He will send the promise of His Father.

-Think of the change these disciples experienced. Let’s just take Peter, who is too embarrassed about being outted during Jesus’ trial that he backs down to a little girl. Weeks later, he stands up in front of thousands and preaches this exact message!  (suffer, rise, repent)

-Do you want reason to believe? Even a Jewish theologian believes the resurrection happened! This ragtag group of disciples overnight go from hiding behind a locked door, to screaming in the middle of Jerusalem that Jesus was resurrected. They go from disbelieving to try to hold on to what little joy they had, to being the most joy filled people on the face of the earth.

-After Peter has proclaimed the peace that come through Jesus in Acts 2, the crowd asks him how they should respond. Do you know what He says? “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” That’s part of the paradox of Christianity: all you need to is repent and believe. When you do that it leads to:

-And here’s the crazy thing: guess where Luke’s account ends: with the disciples worshipping Jesus, and being full of “great joy.” 

-How does Easter change your expectations, or maybe I should ask DOES Easter change your expectations? What we should be marked by is joy! Jesus is alive! What can this world do to me!? We have something to look forward to forever: life in perfect union between God and us! Therefore, we will rejoice always!

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by mikethestrand on April 9, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on April 9, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/04/09/luke-2436-49-sermon-manuscript/

Matthew 21:1-22 – Sermon Manscript

-Have you ever met someone whose looks deceived you? Or had a friend who went on to be incredible successful, beating all the expectations you had for them? Or the friend who was successful, but then never really made anything of themselves? 

-I heard a story about a man whose life was marked by regular and repeated failures (that I’m sure you know!) 

-He tried out for a career in state legislature and lost, then pivoted and tried to start his own business which failed the next year. 2 years later he finally got that state legislature position (but then had a nervous breakdown 2 years after that!) Tried moving up in his political aspirations and tried to become state speaker (which he lost). Finally found his calling in practicing law, but then tried to continue with his political goals where he was defeated for Congress in his first run. Finally got elected, only to lose reelection 2 years later! After that he tried running for US Senate (and lost), then joined onto someone else’s ticket as VP (and lost, you’d think the Presidential candidate would have figured out he was bad luck!). The next election cycle, he again ran for Senate and lost again. You’d think he would have given up at some point in this journey, right? 

-From all outside appearances, this person seems like a major loser. Yet underneath all these failures was a strong, steady man who learned his lessons and continued biding his time until the right moment for him to step into his role arrived. Does anyone know who this is? The 16th President of the US: Abraham Lincoln! 

-Despite the external appearances of failure, Lincoln continued persevering, building a steady confidence underneath that prepared him to lead our country through our most divided time in history. Had he not dealt with these repeated failures and setbacks throughout his life, I don’t think he would have been ready to be the steady guide throughout the Civil War.

-Today we’re going to see how Jesus similarly subverted people’s expectations in His role. We’ll see how His arrival wasn’t what people thought, how He creates His people, and the markers of those who follow Him.

READ/PRAY

  1. The Entrance of the King (1-11)

-Taking a look at a slightly different perspective this week, after spending a couple months in Mark, I wanted to spend some time in a different Gospel for today (don’t worry, we’ll get to Mark’s account at the end of June)

-Whereas Mark was geared more toward Gentile believers, Matthew crafts his account toward his Jewish heritage, so he points out more ways Jesus fulfills the OT promises and prophecies (as we’ll see in today’s text)

-Similar to Mark, Matthew could be described as an “extended passion narrative”, the first 20 chapters cover the first 30 years of Jesus life, then the last 8 recount the last week of Jesus’ life (but spoiler alert, He doesn’t stay dead, that’s kind of the point of us gathering!)

-All that to say: the whole story has built up to this point, Jesus’ last arrival in Jerusalem during Passover week. He has visited Jerusalem before, as any good Jew would, to at least celebrate the Passover.

-The Passover was a BIG deal in the Jewish calendar. Think of 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all combined into a weeklong holiday! Surrounding areas would shut down as everyone streamed to Jerusalem to celebrate the biggest even in their history. All this means the city would swell to 5-6x it’s normal size, meaning there would be about 2 million people in and around Jerusalem (today, about 950,000). There were parties to be had, food to be eaten, celebrations to participate in, and the Passover meal to be had! Families reconnecting, friends catching up after not seeing each other for a year. So all that to say, this is a holiday unlike any other! 

-Let’s think about where all this is taking place. As we’ve been studying Mark, we’ve been up north in Galilee, with some references to people from Jerusalem coming to see what Jesus is doing. Jerusalem is much further south and looked like THIS during the time of Jesus. If you look up to the right it says “path to Mount of Olives, which you can see more clearly in THIS picture. No one knows where Bethphage was, but this is the closest guess (also note Bethany 2 miles away)

-Jesus sends 2 disciples nearby to grab a donkey and her colt.

-A donkey seems like a weird choice! And it’s not just a donkey, it’s also her colt, which Mark tells us has never been ridden before. 

-At this point of the journey, you’d have to think the disciples were wondering why he needed a donkey. They’re within sight of Jerusalem, only a few more steps and they’ll be at their final destination, if Jesus has gotten tired, just let Him take a quick break! Thankfully, the disciples have learned not to question Jesus, so they respond with obedient.

-Now, notice that Jesus gives them basically a password in order to take this donkey away. You know like “open sesame,” but in this case the code is “the Lord needs them.” Imagine you’re on a journey, go into someone’s garage, take their car and if anyone asks you tell them, “The Lord needs it” Which Lord are we talking about? It may help to know that the word translated “Lord” could just be “owner,” so the disciples are saying the owner needs his donkey, which signifies the Jesus being the Lord (master) of everything! There’s nothing that doesn’t belong to Him, nothing that is left out of His oversight, so there’s nothing weird about Him using what is rightfully His. Think back to the car example, if it was your car that was in someone else’s garage, it would make perfect sense for you to take it! 

-But there’s far more going on here than Jesus just being tired! This act is done to fulfill a prophecy from Zech. 9:9

-Original context tells us: The king who comes is righteous, has salvation, and is humble. Jesus is fulfilling this prophecy of God’s deliverance from their enemies and the judgment towards them, but it’s directed toward His people. Contrast verse 9 with verse 10. Judgment comes! The chariots, war horses, and battle bows will all be cut off, and peace will come. To where? The nations! And what’s left out of His rule? Nothing! 

-This means: the expectations the people had are summarized in vs. 10. They had banked their entire faith on the Messiah overthrowing the Roman occupation of their lands, of this Messiah being a mighty warrior who would lead a political uprising and bring total and final victory to the Jewish people. But that’s not what Jesus came to do, He came to deal with the REAL problem, which wasn’t the Romans, it was sin. But we’ll get to that!

-The Disciples obey Jesus’ command, and then use cloaks to create a saddle for Jesus. Matthew’s account doesn’t include the detail about riding the colt, but Jesus riding a never before ridden colt signifies His authority and control even over animals. But the disciples aren’t the only ones who are getting excited about Jesus finally revealing Himself as the Messiah, as word travels about Jesus coming, the crowd joins in on the celebration. 

-Part of this is most likely due to Jesus raising one of his best friends: Lazarus. Remember Bethany is only a couple miles away? That’s where he lived with his sisters Mary and Martha. Not much a stretch to imagine that people in “the big city” had heard about this resurrection! 

-Because the crowd is excited about this coming king, they realize He can’t just walk on the plain old ground, so they use their cloaks, and if don’t have any cloaks they use branches, pulling out the red carpet for the arriving king! This would be typical of a kingly processional. There’s an account in 2 Kings 9, and the book of Maccabees where palm branches and cloaks are thrown on the ground for the king’s processional.

-Notice a detail Matthew includes about the crowd: “went before” and another group that “followed him”. Word is starting to spread through the city (before), and his merry group of followers haven’t given up yet (behind). But notice what they’re saying:

-They’re reciting Psalm 118 to Jesus. This Psalm is one of the Psalms used during the Passover festival. Hosanna (Aramaic meaning save now) Son of David (Messianic title) Blessed be (thanking Yahweh for military victory) 

-The whole city hears about this (“stirred up” is often used to refer to an earthquake) asking the question these Gospel accounts were written to answer: who is this?

-This is a question the disciples ask of Jesus regularly, it’s a question that all of us will one day be asked before God! But notice the deficiency of the crowd’s response:

-The crowds, who had just praised Him as the coming Messiah, now call him just a prophet, the hometown hero! We’re already seeing a disconnect between the people’s initial excitement and their response to Jesus’ arrival.

-People are excited that Jesus is coming in as David’s royal son (Messiah) but they forgot to notice that He was riding on a donkey (as a humble servant). How often do we miss what’s really going on around us?

-Drax: nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it.

-So what: where are we tempted to make worldly judgments instead of seeing how God has designed things?

-We are all tempted to use and trained by the world to use wrong judgments in assessing what’s going on around us. We need God to remind us to move our eyes from worldly issues and troubles to Him! Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem was coming not as a conquering king, but as a suffering Messiah.

  • The People of the King (12-17)

-After riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and stirring up the town, Jesus turns His attention to the temple and comes to cleanse/purify the temple

-Drove out all who sold and bought: a necessary occupation. People would travel from all over the country to come to Jerusalem for the Passover, they needed some way of getting a sacrifice, it didn’t make sense to bring an animal, much less an spotless animal! 

-Money-changers: who were necessary too pay the temple tax in the correct currency, no image of Nero. But also had a wide assortment of moneys being used at the time, so essentially a currency converter.

-pigeons: particularly focused on the sacrifices of the poor.

-Text doesn’t say these people were stealing, could be implied by Jesus’ response, or else the mere fact that they were in the temple was missing the purpose.

-The temple was divided into different areas by level of holiness for where people were able to go, the closer you got to the Holy of Holies, the fewer people could go. Court of the Gentiles (we’ve talked about before), The Court of the Women, and then only purified Jewish men could go closer. These salesmen set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles, leaving them nowhere to worship the one true God. 

-Jesus quotes 2 different OT texts to make his point.

–Isa. 56:7 “house of prayer for all the nations” ethnic implications

–Jer. 7:11 – Jeremiah calling out Israel for indulging in sin, then treat the temple as a talisman to cover the sins. Why indulgences are so wrong! (say a couple ‘hail Marys’ isn’t going to cover it)

-Jesus’ cleansing isn’t only geared toward ethnic identities, because of His work the blind and crippled (who previously weren’t allowed to come to the temple) were welcomed in, and not just welcomed in, they were healed! 

-Jesus refocuses the purpose of the temple into what it was originally meant to be. Those that come to the temple through Jesus (blind and the lame) are completely cleansed and purified from all impurities! Those that don’t are cast out. Jesus is showing the true standards that should be used to judge people, instead of the man-made rules that had affected those who claimed to be following after God.

-Now the higher ups are getting upset! They saw the healings (notice it’s described as “wonderful”) they should be celebrating! People who were far off away from the one true God have been brought near! But they don’t even care. They’re so hard hearted they don’t even warrant a second glance, and instead focus on the children, children who had taken up the cry of the crowds: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” 

-There is something from children we would do well to learn! Unashamed, pure worship of God! No embarrassment, no concerns, we in our old age tend to become more cynical (and call it “wisdom”) 

G.K. Chesterson: “It may be that He [God] has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” Where children are carefree and exuberant, as we age we have a tendency to become overly concerned with what others think of us and more reserved. This is why it’s so important to have children in our lives! I’m often amazed by my children’s simple faith and trust in God. Children aren’t a distraction, they’re a beautiful picture and reminder of the simple faith we need. We tend to get distracted by theological arguments or logical connections, when Jesus tells us that if we want to enter His kingdom, we need to become like children. 

–Gregory the Great “Scripture is like a river, broad and deep, shallow enough here for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough there for the elephant to swim.” Jesus welcomes all to come to Him, from the child to the person with the highest IQ in the world! Everyone needs Him, and can only find the answers to their longing in him. 

-In this case, those with the high IQs are questioning if Jesus really knows what’s going on! Does he not hear the children praising Him as if He were God? 

-Yet even this praise was prophesied about in Psalm 8! The Psalm contrasts the greatness of God with the way He is praised by children. As we’ve been seeing in Mark’s Gospel, the way God’s enemies are defeated is through words. The words of babies and infants is how God’s enemy and avenger are dealt with. Everything that has breath can praise the Lord! 

-So what: We’ve seen the way people were left out from full inclusion of the worship of God (Gentiles, blind and lame, and children), yet those are the exact people God says are a part of His family. Who are you tempted to leave out of God’s reach today? 

  • Life Under the King (18-22)

-The last thing we see is a living parable of everything we’ve studied so far, and a proper application of Jesus “triumphal” entry.

-The first thing we see about Jesus in this section is His hunger. This is a normal human endeavor, IDK about you, generally after a night of sleeping (not eating) one if hungry when they wake up (another evidence that Jesus is truly a human). But another aspect to hunger is how one responds when they’re hungry.

-For me, it’s a little bit like my morning coffee. Maybe you’ve seen this coffee cup before that tells people when you’re ready to converse with them!

-Or maybe food is what you need in the morning, and if you don’t get your food you become hangry (that is someone who gets angry when they’re hungry) If that’s you, don’t worry you’re in good company, so does Jesus! You may have seen this meme before too “Sorry for what I said when I was hungry”

-Because Jesus is hungry, he becomes a man on a mission, and He sees a fig tree with leaves (Mark tells us it wasn’t the right season for figs, but the marker for a fig tree having figs is leaves). Even Matthew tells us that this fig tree has leaves on it! Because this fig tree is a dirty rotten liar, Jesus responses by cursing it, next thing you know the tree is dead (Jesus cares far more for people than the rest of creation, we saw that with the pigs a few weeks ago)

-As always, there’s far more to this story than Jesus being hangry, but we need the rest of the story leading up to this to properly understand it! The fig tree is representative of the way God’s people had been living. Just like the fig tree gave off the appearance of bearing fruit, God’s people are giving off the appearance of holiness, but aren’t actually living out what God has commanded them to. 

-How often is that true in our lives too? We do our best to act all “put together” when we come to church (despite yelling at our kids on the way out the door, cussing out the person who cut you off) then as soon as we walk in the doors we put on a smile and act like everything’s ok. It’s no wonder people give up on church when they see that kind of hypocrisy! Instead, we need to ensure that we’re ACTUALLY bearing fruit in our lives, not just the illusion of it.

-That’s only one part of this story, the text goes on to tell us something even more: the disciples marvel, but their focus is (as often happens) on the wrong thing. The tree is just a symbol of something, and it’s tiny! The disciples need to have faith, and that faith must be made manifest in their lives by bearing fruit.

-This isn’t something literal that we’re supposed to expect, otherwise there would probably be an account of the disciples moving a mountain! The mountain is a metaphor for doing things that seem impossible (like Jesus rising from the dead!) -Notice as well the connection between prayer and faith. If we have true faith, as evidenced by the fruit in our lives, our requests will be according to the will of God instead of wasting those prayers on selfish things. God is the God of the impossible, and will answer our prayers! 

-So what: what does your life look like? Are you bearing fruit, or just giving off the appearance of fruit? 

–Matt. 3:8 J the B “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” It’s easy (at first) to give off the appearance of fruit, but over time it will start to wear on you. If you have faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will work in you to actually make it possible to bear fruit, because apart from that fruit we’re dead! Vs. 10 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 

-3 things Jesus reveals to us in this passage: 1) look at things God’s way instead of the worlds way. 2) God’s mission is to all people, no one is left out, no one is too far away. Even those who were viewed as “unclean” were welcomed in! 3) We must pray, have faith, and pursue living out fruit instead of just pretending to have fruit.

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by mikethestrand on April 2, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on April 2, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/04/02/matthew-211-22-sermon-manscript/

Mark 5:21-6:6 Sermon Manuscript

-Have you ever seen something amazing? Golden Gate Bridge, Ocean, mountains, I still remember the first time I saw the ocean and could hardly fathom how far it stretched! But hands down, the place that amazes me most is the mountains. 

-Got to go backpacking for a week when I first started ministry, sunsets were amazing, and we would see a herd of elk cross on the other side of the valley every night. Caught fresh mountain trout that a couple hours after catching became fish tacos, it was absolutely gorgeous!

-Backyard of our house in CO, front yard of our house, our walking path, Estes Park. Pictures can’t even begin to do it justice! But you know what’s even crazier? The longer you live there the less you start to notice just how beautiful those mountains are. You become so used to it that you forget to take time to just look at them.

-We’re going to look today and what happens when you become so used to something you start to take it for granted, almost like receiving a vaccine where you’re given a small portion of the disease itself so that your body knows how to fight against it in the future. But what happens when you view Jesus that way?

READ/PRAY

  1. Raising to New Life (21-43)

-Last week, Jesus took a little trip to the primarily Gentile area of the lake. Jesus was so tired from serving that He fell asleep in the front of the boat and slept through a giant storm. Eventually the disciples got so worried that they woke Him up and accused Him of not caring. After stopping the storm, He asked why they still have such little faith. Then he healed a man possessed by a large group of demons, and got run out of town, so they went back to the West side of the lake. Guess who was either there waiting for Him, or came as soon as they got back? There’s the crowd again! Once again, it appears that Jesus is doing what is typical of His ministry: teaching. 

-I was thinking this past week of some of what we’ve learned about the kingdom of God through our study in Mark. Jesus arrival ushers in a new era of human history marked by holistic healing, it’s something that looks tiny and insignificant, but over time completely transforms everything that exists. It comes about by word-based ministry. Have you ever thought of that? The way God’s kingdom spreads is by people who take seriously the word (both the written and living Word), and share that word with everyone they come into contact with. And what made me think of this reality was readying a book about Revelation, because one of the descriptions of Jesus’ return says that a sword will come out of His mouth. That is the means God will slay His enemies: through His Word. 

-Think of how tiny and insignificant we tend to think of words. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Yet words are the means God used to create everything, words are the means God uses to save people today, and we are commanded to be people of the Word! The Word that comes out as a sword at the end of time is the same word that is used to bring comfort to God’s people throughout history, so as we study the Word, let’s remember that it is God’s chosen means to transform us and make us more like Him. While it seems so insignificant (almost like a tiny little seed), we need more and more of it in our lives!

-This is the reason Jesus always brings things back to preaching. The Word is God’s chosen means of transformation in the world. And in the midst of another account of Jesus ministering (preaching) to the crowd, a desperate man falls in front of Jesus. But this isn’t just any old man, this is Jairus, a well-known man who just happened to be the ruler of the synagogue. What exactly is a ruler of the synagogue?

-Remember, the synagogue has been mentioned numerous times already in Mark’s Gospel. It’s the gathering place of the Jews for weekly Sabbath worship. This contained reading of the scroll, comments on the Scriptural reading, prayers, offerings, honestly pretty similar to what we do each week! But who do you think ensured the building was kept up? Who ensured the space was set up to accommodate people coming to meet? Who took care of the scrolls of God’s Word, and ensured the right scroll was pulled out for each week’s reading? That’s right, the rulers of the synagogue! This means these people would have been held in high regard, most likely wealthy, someone the local community would have looked up to. That’s communicated by the Mark recording his name! This was someone people knew! 

-How does Jairus approach Jesus?

-falls at Jesus’ feet right in front of the crowd. The man whom everyone would have known, yet Jairus had no shame or embarrassment! He ignored all the cultural norms, disregarded the entire crowd of people flocking to Jesus, and threw Himself down at Jesus’ feet, and begins begging Him to come and save His child. Now notice what Jairus asks of Jesus: to come touch his daughter. Remember what I said earlier about God using words? That will come up as well! But as we think of Jarius’ response, we also need to ask the question:

-What would you do to take care of your child? We had to take Ellie in for a surgery this week (adenoidectomy and tubes in her ears), don’t worry she’s just fine! In fact, she bounced back FAR quicker than we were expecting, and she made sure she didn’t miss movie night at Awana this week! I’ve had friends lose children and I can’t imagine trying to navigate that space. As a father, I would do anything I possibly could to protect and preserve my children, including bucking any societal norm I needed to.

-Remember, these stories are true! This recounts real people who lived in real time and space who are wrestling with real world issues. This is yet another reason we should trust that the stories contained in here are true, this would be EXACTLY how someone would respond to a sick daughter during the time of Jesus! If Jesus has been healing so many people, surely He could heal Jairus’ daughter! 

-Jesus goes with Jairus. The crowd is still there, but Jesus shifts his focus from the crowd to Jairus (not that they would be deterred), but we’re starting to see some of the ways people would interrupt Jesus’ ministry, yet He would still minister to them! Jesus isn’t trying to build a platform, isn’t seeking fame and recognition, He’s working to bring His Father glory, and the way that happens is by ministering to any and everyone He can! Keep that in mind for a minute, because that will come up again!

-Crowd once again serves as a foil! Pushing in from every side, but the crowd is merely there, the focus is on a woman.

-Some kind of hemorrhage for 12 years, look at all the ways Mark describes her situation: suffered much, spent all she had, grew worse. This would have led to her being a literal outcast, very similar to the leper in Mark 1. A woman’s bleeding rendered her (according to the Levitical code) unclean, and if anyone else touched her they were also viewed as religiously unclean. But if this bleeding never stopped it meant that she was never clean! She couldn’t even think of approaching the temple! On top of that, no one else would want to touch her because it would cause them to become unclean, so she would not only be a religious outcast, but a social outcast as well. How lonely do you think she was? Text doesn’t give us any specific history to this woman, but could have faced divorce, inability to have children, as well as trying to survive on her own for these past 12 years. How desperate do you think she was to get to Jesus? She was willing to risk making the entire crowd unclean just to try to be healed! 

-Let’s not forget where Jesus is going: to help Jairus! Let’s compare this woman to him. We know Jairus’ name, we know his occupation which makes him a leader in the society, well-known, well respected, in the people’s minds if anyone deserved healing or help, it would be Jairus! The woman isn’t even named. She was a cast off, forgotten, left out of anyone’s minds attempting to survive on her own. Isn’t purely sexist (plenty of women named in the Gospels and the demon possessed man doesn’t get named either), but portrays the point that no one is too low for Jesus’ attention  .

-Throughout this Gospel, we’ve seen Jesus’ interactions with both those on the inside, and those on the outside, but not yet in such close proximity to each other! And Mark puts these 2 stories next to each other like this so that we compare them to each other. Jesus goes to help Jairus, but even in his greatest hour of need, Jesus isn’t too busy to care for an unclean woman. 

-Continuing that idea of the difference between these 2 people, note how the woman approaches Jesus: tries to sneak in behind Jesus. 

-This is complete conjecture on my part, but I could very easily see the woman not daring to approach Jesus like Jairus did. She’s so used to being cast off that she doesn’t want to risk Jesus refusing her, so she tries the sneak attack! If I can just grab a piece of his garment, the lowliest thing connected to Jesus. She doesn’t feel the need to talk to Him, doesn’t even want Him to know that she was there! Get as close as possible, touch his clothing, and sneak out. No one will know, no one will dismiss her, but her life will be completely different. And that’s exactly what happened! At first. The instant she touched Jesus, she was changed, but Jesus wasn’t going to let her off that easily! As soon as she touches Jesus, He starts looking for her.

-Imagine the scene: huge crowd pressing in just to get near to Jesus, they’ve been following Him throughout His ministry, potentially waiting days for Him to return from His journey to the other side of the lake. They will not be deterred! The closest I’ve experienced something like this was back in the day when we’d go to Sonshine! Multiple stages, your favorite bands playing for a full week, camping together, eating terrible food, who wouldn’t want to go? But when you’re waiting for the band to start, the moment the first note begins there’s a huge surge of energy, people all around you, you feel like you’re suffocating, and in the midst of a situation like that, Jesus stops everything and asks “who touched me?”

-His disciples would have thought He was crazy! Jesus: everyone is touching you! You’re in the middle of a mob, everyone wants a piece of you, and you want to figure out who touched you? Look around, they’re all still here, AND they’re still touching you! 

-Jesus is undeterred, He continues asking the question, and the woman knows it. How do you think she was feeling as soon as she realized she hadn’t gotten away with it? The whole point was to sneak in and sneak out with no one else being the wiser! Notice how it describes the emotional state of the woman: fear and trembling. Just as she had been cast off for the past 12 years, is Jesus going to cast her off too?

-She realizes Jesus won’t stop until she admits it was her, so she has the same response as Jairus now: falls down before Him. There’s an interesting phrase Mark uses here to describe what the woman tells Jesus: “The whole truth.” She laid everything out for Jesus: the way she’s been bleeding, the abuse she faced at the hands of doctors, and anything else connected to that!

-Jesus doesn’t stop her, doesn’t brush by her to get to the more “important” things, He remains engaged and cares for this woman who had been healed.

-This leads to a question for us: do you believe that Jesus can handle your whole truth? 

-There’s a tendency to try to keep certain things hidden, to not acknowledge the way you’re really feeling, to be afraid that the whole truth will come out and people will dismiss you. Did you know that Jesus can actually handle “the whole truth”? Nothing you’ve ever done has ever surprised Him! Think about this: every sin you’ve ever committed came after Jesus died, and the penalty has already been paid for them! There’s nothing to keep hidden, nothing that Jesus doesn’t already know, why is there a tendency to try to keep “the whole truth” to just ourselves? This is a temptation for everyone! Before you’re saved the temptation is that Jesus couldn’t save someone like you so you’re convinced you need to clean yourself up before you come to Jesus, then when you’re saved you’re tempted to doubt your salvation when you sin so you continue trying to clean yourself up. This story is meant to remind us that we can’t clean ourselves up! We can’t sneak up on Jesus and just try to get the benefits, He wants us completely healed, and that comes about by being in a relationship with Him. Church: stop trying to clean yourself up, and instead fall on your face at the feet of the only one who can completely heal you.

-As Jesus ends his comments to this woman, all it takes is faith, put your entire hope, trust, and confidence in Jesus, and He will restore everything broken by sin. 

-Mark then shift back to Jairus, this unclean woman has been healed, but it led to the death of his daughter. Do you think Jairus was frustrated by the women or by Jesus at this point? He was so close to having his daughter healed, if only Jesus had just set His face forward to what He had agreed to do and not been distracted by this unnamed, unclean woman! 

-Yet God’s timing is always perfect. Nothing is a distraction to God and nothing can thwart God’s perfect timing, which Jairus is about to learn. But I also think it’s something we would do well to learn ourselves! People aren’t a distraction, people aren’t the problem, God has called us to go to people and give them the Words of life! Just as God’s timing is perfect, His plan is also perfect, and His plan involves you and I being faithful to sow the seeds of His word as frequently as we can. 

-Jairus is told that while Jesus was “distracted” by this woman, his daughter has died. But Jesus is right there! The word “overhearing” could also be translated “ignoring.” Jesus has an ulterior motive here, and He takes time to remind Jairus that things are still ok, and once again connects the healing to faith.

-Who’s on the inside this time? Peter, James, and John, the closest 3 to Jesus.

-As they approached they saw a commotion, which included people weeping and wailing. It was customary during the 1st. cent. to hire professional mourners. They served as a sign to the community to what had transpired, it was a reminder that death had visited this house. Yet in this case, the mourning was premature, and Jesus tells them so! 

-At first blush, this seems like a cruel joke from Jesus, doesn’t it? Seems to be flippant towards Jairus’ concern and He calls out the mourners who respond by laughing at Him (everyone seems fairly careless toward the needs of Jairus and his family) So Jesus responds by kicking everyone out (except the mother and father and 3 disciples) and moves toward this little girl.

-Jesus grabs her hand, which would once again make him unclean, then speaks a gentle word: little sheep, wake up. (Jesus spoke Aramaic, that mostly got translated to Greek, which we have now translated into English) We then see another connection to the unnamed woman: she had been bleeding for the same amount of time Jairus’ daughter had been alive! Everyone who saw it was amazed, yet Jesus wouldn’t let them tell, He’s still waiting for His glory to be revealed.

-Both Jairus (the well to do) and the unclean woman (whose name wasn’t even mentioned) were in need of healing from Jesus, healing that only He can provide if there is belief in Him. But this isn’t the only story! Jairus and this woman respond as they should, but then we see a group of people who outright dismiss Jesus:

  • Rejection of True Life (6:1-6)

-Jesus goes home, for what is likely the last time. Brought the whole crew! Nazareth would have been about 30 miles southwest of Capernaum, not too far away. But don’t forget about the last time we saw His family in Mark 3, they were trying to take Him away because they thought He was out of His mind! Can you imagine the tension at family dinner?

-As always, He goes to teach in the synagogue, people are amazed, but differently than after seeing Jairus’ daughter.

-They all knew his family, had seen Him grow up, knew his background, and didn’t believe what He was saying!

-These people have become overly familiar with Jesus without a recognition of who He actually was. Once again, this is a normal thing to happen in the course of human events! How would you respond to that friend from high school claiming to be God? Or imagine being one of His brothers! 

-And this is true of many people today! They grow up learning facts about Jesus, just enough to get inoculated against Him, but they don’t have any understanding who He REALLY is, and how that transforms everything. It’s not enough to just know facts about Him, it’s not enough to memorize every verse of the Bible, it’s not enough to go to church every week, it’s not enough to tithe every penny you own! What matters is your relationship with Jesus.

-And because of their unbelief, Jesus couldn’t do any mighty works, which is slightly ironic, because look at what Mark says next.

-Think of how noteworthy these miracles would have been if we hadn’t just read about all the healings that took place, but for Jesus they’re a footnote. Healing has become so commonplace that healing a few sick people is hardly worth mentioning!

-2 accounts of Jesus marveling: here and Luke 7:9 the Centurion’s faith. The polar opposites cause Jesus to marvel.

-Do we assume things about Jesus, getting just enough to be inoculated against him and force Him to be amazed at our unbelief? Or do we continue to be amazed by Him and fall at His feet in worship of Him?

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by mikethestrand on March 26, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life, Relationships, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on March 26, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/03/26/mark-521-66-sermon-manuscript/

Mark 4:1-34 – Sermon Manuscript

-Have you ever been hanging out with a group of people that’s new to you that have what feels like a different language that they speak?

-One of the things I’ve noticed since as my family has expanded by adding in-laws is that we have to take time to bring the new family members up to speed. We’ve got inside jokes, family stories, favorite movie quotes that unless you’re on the “in” just go right over the in-laws heads!

-When I first got here, Pastor Jeramy and I would often speak in movie quotes to each other! Heather and Tami didn’t even try to keep up.

-One of my favorite TV shows has an iconic line: “I love inside jokes” 

-Inside jokes are great when you’re inside! But what about when you’re on the outside looking in?

-In today’s passage, Jesus is going to use stories to train those who are “in” and confuse those who are “out.”

READ/PRAY

  1. A Sower (1-20)

-Does anyone remember the primary focus of Jesus’ ministry yet? Teaching! So guess what Jesus does again here? Teaches! Once again, the crowd has discovered Him, and once again it’s a HUGE crowd, so he leaves the land to get into a boat.

-Every author of the Gospels has a specific point to their writing, including Mark. None of them are trying to include every single story about Jesus, or provide a biography in the way we think of them today. (John 21:25 “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”)

-Matthew, Mark & Luke all have this exact same story, and Mark actually tells us why we need to understand this story, as we’ll see in vs. 13, which also means we’ll be spending most of our time today in these first 20 verses, because Jesus says we need to understand this parable to able to understand the rest of them!

-Jesus tells a story about a farmer who goes out to plant his seed. As the farmer goes about his work, the seed is scattered across 4 different types of soils that all lead to different outcomes for the seed. 

-1 – The Path. As the field wasn’t used for a few months, paths would have been worn by people walking through the field. If you’ve ever gone to college you’ve seen this! Colleges should never begin with any sidewalks, because over time the students will show you where the sidewalks should be placed! At my alma mater, there were sidewalks running in (what looked like) all these crazy directions because the students refused to be bound by things like cement! Eventually the administration figured that out. But if seed were to be planted on one of those paths, how successful would it be? I guess if you’re trying to feed birds, this was the best one! But if you’re hoping to get a harvest and plant these seeds into the ground you’ve got a terrible success rate, because Jesus says these seed all become bird food! There goes that group of seeds. Let’s look at the next one:

-2 – Rocky ground. When I grew up in North Dakota, by best friend’s dad was a farmer, and do you know what the boys got to do when they were growing up? Rock picking! If you drive by fields look and see, many of them have a huge rock pile somewhere nearby in order to make sure they don’t break the plow or interfere with the growth of the seeds. The issue with trying to plant seeds in rocky ground is it’s deceptive. Until you actually start doing some work on the field, it looks like it’s good soil, so you’d be tempted to double down on that area and plant a bunch of seeds there! Unfortunately, it’s shallow soil. Initially it would probably look like that will be the most fertile area, but as soon as the heat of the summer sun comes (which should give life to plants who have a good base to build from), the plants die, leaving the farmer with 0 for 2 on his sowing!

-3 – Thorns. This one is tricky just like the rocky ground, because you once again can’t tell that there’s going to be a problem! In fact, this may look even better than the good soil initially, because weeds just don’t give up, and as seedlings you can’t tell much of a difference between the weed and the what you’re trying to go (at least when you’re as good at planting as I am!). Just like the previous 3 soils, this seed dies because of the competition from the thorns, so I’m not liking this farmers shooting average so far! He’s at a solid 0%! Thankfully, there’s 1 more:

-4 – Good soil. Now we’re at the good stuff! The place where he should have been sowing the whole time! This is literally the entire purpose of planting seeds, to get a harvest, to help the seed to flourish, and these seeds make up for the deficiency of the others, giving 30, 60, 100 times the return!

-This would have been a well understood story to the people of the day. An agrarian society would have seen farmers going to work every year, the effort it takes to take care of the seeds, the plowing of the fields. To those listening it would have been common sense! Obviously, that’s how sowing works! It’s a basic as being told today: invest in the stock market, ride out the highs and lows, you’ll get a solid return if you keep your money there!

-There is something unique about the way this sowing takes place: the farmer sows the seed before plowing. Generally you plow the field first in order to rip out the thorns and pull out the rocks, but not this one. This has led some people to argue that this is normal Palestinian planting method: sow seed first, then plow after. Others argue that’s only one of the methods. The point remains: Sower sows indiscriminately! And once we get to Jesus’ explanation of the parable, I think you’ll see that there’s a reason why Jesus doesn’t talk about the plowing

-At some point after the teaching, the 12 needed to ask Jesus what in the world He was talking about! No one had any idea what Jesus was talking about, including those were closest to Jesus. But don’t worry, Jesus will explain it to them! And the purpose is so that there can be a distinction between those who are Jesus’ disciples, and those who are not. 

-Essentially, those who are “in” will be able to understand and apply the parables, those who are outside are left in the dark. It’s not enough just to know what Jesus meant, you need to believe and apply the truths Jesus is saying. Why is this? It’s the fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah 6.

-All of this is meant to confirm for those who are believers what their lives should look like, and until someone repents of their sin (180 turn), they won’t be forgiven and able to understand and apply God’s message. This tells us there’s only 2 way to live: either for Jesus, or opposed to Him, there is no in between when it comes to Jesus! If someone were to turn away from opposition to Jesus and put their hope and faith in Him, they would begin to understand these parables! 

-So let’s look at the meaning of this parable:

-Sower has 1 job: sow the seed, which means the Word! Church: don’t miss this! A disciple of Jesus is someone who is marked by faithful sowing of the Word. This is why Paul talks about the need to preach the Word “in season and out of season” (that is when people are for the message or when they’re against the message) Here are some of the responses you’re going to get:

-Path is a hard heart, this is someone who refuses to acknowledge what is true and are thus taken away by Satan. Has no time to germinate, no time to plant roots, it’s in one ear and out the other as quickly as possible. 

-Rocky ground is someone who looks like they’re all in! But as soon as something difficult happens, they blame God, who does and will allow testing to come! If you’ve heard the phrase “God won’t let you be tempted beyond what you are able” just tell that person to stop lying! God will absolutely let you be tested beyond what you’re able so that you realize the only think that will last is Him! 

-Story of someone who was saved, dog died the next week and he quit following Jesus. Or a friend I have who used to be a pastor, and then realized that the world wouldn’t judge him by the same standards as the church, so he’d rather use someone else’s standards, and last time I talked to him, he wasn’t any happier than he was before he gave up following Christ!

-Thorns is someone who hears, looks like they respond, but then they also want to add in other things to their faith (care of the world, riches, desire for things not from God)

-This is where you’ll often see Christian “social media influencers” (I feel like I dunk of social media a lot, it’s not all bad, but it’s definitely not all good either) Jesus tells us that the world will hate us, just like it hated him, why would we want recognition from the things that are going to pass away at some point? I feel like you see examples of this all over! Musicians who now claim to be agnostic, “pastors” who have shipwrecked their faith, you don’t have to look far to see this lived out today!

-Good soil are those who respond in faith and trust in God, and “bear fruit,” that is the multiplication that comes about from being in Christ.

-Let’s take all this back to the beginning: we need to be actively sowing the word if we’re disciples of Jesus, so as we sow, we should be paying attention to:

-How and where is this person’s heart? Where are you sowing the seed? (The need to sow doesn’t change! Did you notice that! Even those who are good soil will regularly need more seed added to help continue bearing fruit)

-A helpful way of summarizing where people at (continuing with the arrow that I used for our ‘Demystifying Discipleship’ series back in Nov/Dec.) is with 4 Es:

-Engage: this is someone who’s heart is the rocky soil. They’re not yet ready to be given an explicit gospel message and invitation to turn to Jesus, they just need a Christian to reach out to them and befriend them. Then as the Spirit works in them, they’ll slowly move to:

-Evangelize: this would be that moment where now they’re ready to be given more explicit calls of the Word, and more intentional sowing then you may have been doing up until that point. After someone hears the message and responds by putting their faith, hope, and confidence in Jesus, then we need to help them become:

-Established: this is help them learn, grow, and understand what it means to follow Jesus so their hearts don’t become either rocky soil or thorny soil. If you work with someone to help them understand where the thorns or rocks are in their life, they’ll be able to grow seed there instead of fall away.

-Finally, those who have weathered storms, been tempted by the cares of this world and endured, they’ll need help being equipped (think of Eph. 4:12), more intentionally and carefully trained so that we can have multiplication happening instead of just addition. The Christian faith isn’t a spectator sport, everyone has a job to do and a necessary role to play, otherwise God would take you somewhere else!

-There’s also the caution to be careful how you’re receiving the Word. Which soil is your heart?

-Even for those of us who are in Christ, we need to ensure we’re bearing fruit as we read, study, and apply the full breadth of God’s Word. As Micah reminded us in the NCC devotional this past week, we must submit ourselves to the full way God has revealed Himself to us through His Word. Where is your heart?

-Lastly, we need to acknowledge that the softening of the soil is the job of the Holy Spirit. Remember I said early that I think Jesus intentionally left the plowing out? That’s because it’s not our job! We sow the seed wherever and whenever we can, but it’s the job of the Holy Spirit to have been plowing the soil of someone’s heart to make them receptive to the seed! And that’s true of our hearts too: pray for the softening of your heart!

  • A Mystery (21-29)

-Jesus asked His disciples in vs. 13 why they couldn’t understand that first parable, because if they don’t get that one, none of the others will make sense. We don’t see Mark going back to the boat, but can be understood that these are examples of the kinds of parables Jesus would have used to teach the crowd. So view this as a cut scene back to Jesus teaching from the boat!

-The next parable relates to a lamp. What is the point of a lamp? To bring light. It would be a waste of time (and money) to buy a lamp and stick it under a basket or under a bed. (Hate to say it, but kind of like the superfluous pillows that get added around the house, ESPECIALLY to beds)

-The point is that Jesus is the light of the world, He has come to reveal the truths of who God is and what it means to be in relationship with Him, or what the kingdom of God is like. It’s like a light that shines into the darkness of the world, drawing people in, and exposing the darkness for what it really is 

-This is an idea that I’ve really been captivated by over the past few months: Jesus, and thus Christianity, provides the ultimate answer to every longing in the human heart. Jesus is both the source and end to every desire people have. Think of your favorite food (nice medium rare steak with all the fixings, if it’s anything more than medium just get a hamburger!) Did you know that when Jesus comes back, He’s planning a feast with us? Think of taste buds that haven’t been ruined by age or sin! And that’s just a small piece! The eating of your favorite food is meant to serve to remind you who gave you those tastebuds in the first place. Food isn’t meant to be an end in and of itself. 

-We have a tendency to view God as some cosmic killjoy who sits in heaven looking down at us frowning. No! God wants what’s best for us AND wants us to be in relationship with Him forever! Not to belittle or demean us, but to provide for us everything we need, and then some! It’s not a coincidence that He refers to Himself as our Father (not to say those who have strained relationship with their fathers should get over it)

-The next parable Jesus tells (24-25) means we need to pay careful attention to Jesus’ message! To those who pay careful attention to Jesus’ message, and obey it, they will get even more of that message! And if their hearts remain like the hardened soil, they’ll have nothing left.

-Jesus then adds another parable of sowing seeds. Think of the seeming insignificance of a seed! I remember one summer my parents decided to plant a big garden. My sister and I were each given a little portion to plant whatever we wanted, and I excited got my bag of seeds, opened the bag, and was super disappointed because they’re TINY! How in the world am I supposed to take care of these? But miraculously, they turned out! And it was exactly as Jesus described it here: I stuck it in the ground, watered it, and out came the corn, cucumbers, and peas that I had planted! It was a miracle! And then at the end of the summer we got to eat our food!

-How does seed work? At some level it is a mystery! (especially when you’re not good at taking care of plants!) I remember in science class in elementary school planting seeds and then being amazed as the roots would always go down, and the leaves would always go up, even changing direction as you moved the cup! 

-How does the gospel work? At some level, it’s a mystery! I remember being an 8 year old kid meeting some neighbors and asking them why they didn’t go to church. Guess who showed up at church the next week! See our job is to be faithfully sowing, then watch in amazement as we see fruit being born from ordinary people like you and me.

-The outcome of the planting is bearing a harvest. It seems like a miracle, and it is from our perspective, because it’s completely a work of God. The kingdom of God is like that: seems little, seems like such a basic ordinary thing, but what comes out of it is nothing short of a miracle.

  • The Smallest Seed (30-34)

-That brings us to our final parable, that of a mustard seed.

-Once again, no small amount of ink has been spilled on this issue! Mostly related to mustard seeds definitely NOT being the smallest in the world, and it’s not SO big that a bird can plant itself in it! 

-Mustard seed is representing the smallest seed in the world. It looks so insignificant when you think about the size of the plant it becomes. Some mustard plants can grow as high as 20-30 feet! No small plant! Birds could easily find a safe place to nest in a group of these!

-Like that seemingly insignificant seed, the kingdom of God begins by looking like something that is tiny and insignificant (a baby being born in a manger), but eventually will grow to the point of encompassing everything in the world!

-One of the commentators I read this week summarized Jesus’ point helpfully by saying: “The paradox of the gospel—indeed, the scandal of the Incarnation—is disguised in such commonplaces.” (James Edwards, Pillar)

-Think about that: the way God’s kingdom works is by using things that appear trivial, like you could throw it away and it wouldn’t matter at all, but then over time it slowly grows and grows to the point that it literally casts its shadow over everything else that exists. Do you want to know what that looks like? Look at our world today! I talked in Sermon Scraps last week about all the ways the world tries to say Christians are backwards, bigots, opposed to progress, yet they don’t realize that every advancement of human rights is connected directly to Christian ethics and a Christian worldview. This little message that Jesus shared 2,000 years ago has literally changed the entire course of human civilization. I was just listening to a podcast yesterday on just war theory, which has profoundly influenced the way the Western world has generally approached war. Do you know where that comes from? The Bible! Do you want to know the places in the world that have the most rights for women in the world today? Look to the places that had 19th Century Protestant missionaries! Jesus’ message has shaped everything we live on today, and it’s only because of Jesus that we have any hope for a more blessed future.

-These parables were meant to help Jesus’ followers understand and believe in the truths of what He says! The kingdom of God can’t be summarized in a few word descriptions, it will never be fully understood (until Jesus returns), but it is like a tiny seed that seems trivial until it’s planted in someone’s life and takes root. And once it’s taken root, there’s no turning back! If you let it, it will literally transform you from the inside out. So as we saw in the first parable: what kind of soil do you have? Is your heart letting the kingdom of God grow in you? Are you on Jesus’ side, or are you opposed to Him? 

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by mikethestrand on March 12, 2023  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Sermon

Posted by mikethestrand on March 12, 2023

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2023/03/12/mark-41-34-sermon-manuscript/

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