Category: Mark

Good morning church! If you’ve been tracking with us over the past few months, as a church we’ve been studying the Gospel of Mark. We work through each passage expositionally. We are right in the middle of our Mark study right now in chapter 8.

The first half of the gospel focused on “who this Jesus Is” and the next half of the gospel will focus on “what Jesus Is going to do” by dying and laying down his life for us. As you’re turning to Mark 8 verse 11-26, let me set it up for you by recapping what we read last week. Jesus performs another astonishing miracle…this time in a Gentile territory displaying His power and compassion by feeding 4000 people in the midst of a desolate area.

What a wonderful thing to see God’s heart for not only the Jews but for the Gentiles! Jesus moves on from that place and has an encounter with Pharisees in v11.

[11] The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. [12] And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” [13] And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

[14] Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. [15] And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”[b] [16] And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. [17] And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? [18] Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? [19] When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” [20] “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” [21] And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

[22] And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. [23] And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” [24] And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” [25] Then Jesus[c] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. [26] And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Unbelief is a topic that I never heard a lot of preachers preach about in my earlier years as a believer. The assumption was that if you are a believer in Christ, then there shouldn’t be any unbelief. But we all know through that we don’t perfectly believe all the time.

At least not until Christ comes back again. In fact there may be times in a Christian’s life when he or she experiences moments of deep despair and hopelessness where God’s promises may seem blurry and unclear to us. The encouragement for believers is that Jesus understands and He has the might to power through and work in your moments of unbelief. We see two examples of unbelief mentioned in today’s passage:

1. Unbelief of the Pharisees

[11] The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. [12] And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” (v11-12)

I find it interesting that this event comes right after the encounter with the Gentiles. We saw the Gentiles have a great desire to be with Jesus. So much so that they didn’t think about carrying extra food while they went to spend time with Jesus. Unlike the Gentiles, these Pharisees who were the most religious people of the time came to Jesus and argued with him. A very different approach. A different heart.

Were they unbelieving? Yes. I want us to consider two words that we’ll be using to analyze this text : FRUIT AND ROOT. Fruit is the outward action being displayed and Root is the inward attitude that causes it. So let’s look at the Fruit and Root of this type of unbelief:

FRUIT: Demand Barrier.

They argued with Jesus because they wanted him to show a sign from heaven that proved Him to be the Messiah who was sent by God! The first time I read this I was like “really”? They need more signs to authenticate Jesus? Healing lepers, paralytics, deaf, blind, raising the dead, casting out demons, feeding thousands….are these not enough? What more are they looking for? Sometimes it’s easier for us to judge the Pharisees but it gets a little touchy when we have to ask ourselves the same question.

When it comes to obeying Christ and surrendering ourselves to Him, do we put up demands like “Jesus, if you do this for me then I’ll fully commit myself to you”? Or like “Jesus, if you perform this one miracle in my workplace or marriage or heal me from this disease, then I’ll give up my sinful life”. One of the main problems of this approach is that it seems to make us think that God exists for us. And that’s not the teaching of the Bible. We exist for God!

Isaiah 43:7 says “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made”. He places the demands, not us. And that brings us to the root

ROOT: Sin barrier.

For the Pharisees it says they did this to “test him”. They were trying to find a way to maliciously trap him by making this demand. If we have to ask ourselves this question today, what’s our motive behind placing demands before God? Do we really think that we’ll be fully committed to God once God performs a miracle? Or is it just an excuse so that we don’t have to surrender? So that we don’t have to give up our way of life? And more often than not, it’s not the lack of evidence that keeps us from believing but it’s the unwillingness to change.

So we’ll keep arguing and debating on issues that are not central to the message of salvation. We’ll talk about spiritually intellectual topics and linger there but not allow it to penetrate through your heart.

Some years back I remember connecting with this one friend who knew a lot about the Bible. He used to listen to the best preachers and I’ve enjoyed some good moments of fellowship with him. One day when we met he openly shared and told me that he didn’t think he was a believer.

He shared about his repeated pattern of sin that he was struggling with. He spent months without reading the Word or prayer and then he commented saying that he was at that point of unbelief that only if he saw Jesus perform a big miracle for him, would he believe. I was quite shocked because we led youth groups together. We had theological discussions but still he was still in place where he was looking for a big miracle to believe.

I know some of us are in this position right so I don’t want you to feel that I’m downplaying this. Jesus Christ has performed the greatest ever miracle by coming down to the earth in the form of man. The Word says that He took the nature of a servant and then humbled Himself by dying on a cross – the worst punishment of that day to rescue you and I from the eternal wrath of God due to our sins.

He rose again and gave us new life – living His life through us unto God. We have the most amazing privilege to know the Almighty Creator God and live for Him every single day. Could there be a bigger miracle than this? Absolutely not.

Please don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong in praying for a miracle in your life. But what we want to resist and repent of the need for a miracle to give us a reason to believe. Christ has given us ample number of reasons right from Creation – heavens declare the glory of God, the Bible that speaks plainly of who God Is and Jesus Christ who suffered and died for you and me to give us Himself. Not only is there unbelief among Pharisees but there is a kind of unbelief of the disciples.

2. Unbelief of the disciples

[14] Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. [15] And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”[b] [16] And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. [17] And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? [18] Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? [19] When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” [20] “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” [21] And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Just after the encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus cautions his disciples to be careful of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herodians. Leaven is the yeast that was used in the bread. In this context, yeast or the leaven would mean the legalistic teachings & corrupt attitudes of the Pharisees could easily influence the disciples.

Remember the Pharisees were the legalistic, super religious and knowledgeable people of the time. It could be that the disciples looked up to them or were fascinated by them. Jesus warned them to be alert and not allow their teachings and attitudes to affect them.

The disciples on the other hand thought that Jesus was referring to the fact that they didn’t have bread. Now on the exterior it might seem like a simple misunderstanding out of ignorance but Jesus points to their hardened hearts.

FRUIT: Discernment Barrier.

Jesus says that they couldn’t perceive or understand because their hearts were hardened. Then he said they have eyes but can’t see. Ears but can’t hear. What is Jesus talking about? Jesus was referring to the spiritual eyes and spiritual ears which were blocked due to their hardened hearts

You and I could listen to best preacher of all time who’s speaking in the clearest possible manner with the right illustrations and applications but still have difficulty understanding. Not because of the language or vocabulary but because our spiritual capacities aren’t receptive to receive what we need to receive.

Guess what? The disciples were listening to the best preacher ever – Jesus Christ and yet didn’t understand. We need to recognize that our hearts get hardened with sin and that makes it difficult for us to hear and see the glory of Scripture. What could be the root here?

ROOT: Worry Barrier.

The disciples were so concerned about the lack of bread & that was their main discussion among themselves. Their concern for their lack of bread prevented them from understanding and applying spiritual truths. Again, let’s compare them with the 4000 gentiles who were fed and satisfied. They were more concerned about being in the presence of God and didn’t even carry extra bread.

I think this falls in line with what’s described in Matthew 6.

[31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

For some of us, it’s anxiety regarding our physical & emotional needs that often prevent us from being concerned about understanding and applying spiritual truths. Ask yourself this question – how many times do I allow my anxieties to reign over my time in the Word and prayer? Like we are sitting in front of the Bible or listening to a sermon but our mind is just all over the place getting worked up about work or home or relationship or finances.

It’s interesting how Jesus responds to this. He makes the disciples introspect and think about the condition of their hearts? He talks about the need to have their spiritual ears and eyes opened. And then he reminds them about what He’s done and what they’ve witnessed in person. There were 12 baskets of left overs left after he fed 5000! There were 7 baskets full of left overs after he fed 4000! Jesus showed who He was through those miracles. He is the Creator God who feeds and satisfies His people. He compassionately cares and looks after their needs. Therefore, he can command his disciples “to not be anxious”.

Strange right? Why didn’t Jesus just make a suggestion? Something like “I think it’ll be good idea if you could not worry for a while”. No, Jesus can command because He knows He will provide. It’s for our hearts to find rest in those promises so that we can focus on understanding and applying Scriptural truths.

Let’s take that as an encouragement personally and even corporately…when we are perplexed, we know we can lean on his promises because He is faithful and we can pursue in prayer because He cares for us!

Finally I believe the healing miracle is a real event but Mark uses it to illustrate the heart condition of the disciples. The same manner in which the blind man was brought to Jesus for healing can be paralleled with the disciples great need for Jesus.

The blind man’s partial sight was similar to the unbelief of the disciples. Inspite of witnessing Jesus’ character, words and works they still weren’t able to acknowledge Him as Lord. But the amazing part is just as Jesus didn’t allow the blind man’s unbelief to prevent him from seeing, Jesus is able to power through the unbelief of the disciples to help them understand, believe and come to know Him as their Savior and Sovereign Lord!

Good morning! It’s good to be with you this morning, and it’s always a privilege to open the Bible with you and present the Word of God. We will be continuing our study in The Gospel of Mark this morning. If you have a Bible, I’d invite you to open to Mark chapter 8 and verse 1. We’ll be looking today at a very well known story. In fact, it’s similar to the story that we looked at in Mark chapter 6 several weeks ago where Jesus is feeding a very large crowd of people.

We’ll get to all of that in a few minutes, but first, let’s pray for our time together in God’s Word.

I’ve been assigned verses 1-10, which are the verses that deal specifically with the feeding of the 4,000. But there’s something deeper happening here that I really want to explore with you which means that I have to read a little bit beyond my assigned text. I’ll do my best not to step on toes for next week’s sermon, but there is a larger lesson that Jesus is teaching the disciples here that I think we will benefit from greatly. So, I’ll read the first 10 verses and then I’ll skip down and read verses 14-21. This is what Mark records:

Mark 8:1-10; 14-21
[1] “In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, [2] “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. [3] And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” [4] And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” [5] And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” [6] And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. [7] And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. [8] And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. [9] And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. [10] And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.”

[14] “Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. [15] And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” [16] And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. [17] And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? [18] Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? [19] When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” [20] “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” [21] And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?””

Here’s what I’d like to do. First, I want to deal quickly with the proximity of these two accounts because there is a little bit of controversy that has surrounded the placement of these two accounts in Mark’s gospel. I want to speak to that quickly, and then we can get into some of the deeper elements of the text.

There are some people, historically, who have suggested that these two accounts are actually one account that Mark is listing twice for emphasis. On top of that, some people have used that to argue that the Bible has inconsistencies or is inaccurate.

Now, we know that the Bible is not inaccurate and that it’s not inconsistent. We know that it all fits together the way that God designed it to fit together. Therefore, we receive it as it’s presented to us; that these are two separate miracles that Jesus performed. We believe that!

But, even outside of our faith in the Scriptures, there’s logical evidence that these are two separate accounts. One feeding was 5,000 men — which would have been well over 10,000 when you factor in women & children. The other was a feeding of 4,000 people total.

One feeding took place on one side of the Sea of Galilee to a Jewish crowd. While this feeding took place on the other side of the Sea of Galilee to a Gentile crowd. Which is actually an important factor in why I believe Mark lists both of these accounts. We’ll come back to that in a little bit.

And the details are very different. One feeding involved 5 loaves & 2 fish, with 12 baskets of left-over’s. While this feeding involves 7 loaves and a few fish with 7 baskets of left-over’s. But also, as Jesus was instructing His disciples, He references both of these feedings as separate accounts. So, we believe that these are separate accounts and that they have been included in the cannon of Scripture for a reason.

Now, let’s get to the reason. I want to look at what the text says, I want to look at what it teaches us about the gospel and then how it calls us to respond in faith. And, I think the best way to approach this is by looking at this through the eyes of the disciples. The disciples are at a very interesting junction at this point in Mark’s Gospel. There are 16 chapters in Mark and there’s something fascinating that happens almost directly in the middle of the book (we’ll get there in a couple of weeks). In Mark 8:27-30 Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ (the Messiah).

The point at which Peter makes that confession gives us an important dividing line in the Gospel of Mark. Before it, we read a lot about the character and nature of Jesus and how He lived. After it, we read a lot about how His life is really all about His death. Before it, we see Jesus and His disciples going back and forth across the Sea of Galilea a lot (staying in the same region). After it, we see that almost everything in the story is shaped by Jerusalem. Before it, we see everything leading up to the fact that Jesus is the Christ. After it, we see that everything is pointed at what the Christ must do. Before it, we see Jesus introducing the Kingdom. After it, we see Jesus moving toward the Cross. In other words, things shift drastically in Mark chapter 8 verses 27-30.

And we’re almost to that point. But, we’re not there yet. At this point in the narrative the disciples still don’t get it; they don’t really see it. But they do see some things, and that’s what I want us to consider this morning. I want to point out 3 things that the disciples see in this situation and then we’ll land on what I believe we must see this morning. Let me go ahead and list these for you up front and then we’ll unpack them.

1. They see Jesus’ compassion on the crowd
2. They see Jesus perform a miracle
3. They see Jesus expanding the message of the Kingdom.

First, they see Jesus’ compassion on the crowd. Let’s set the scene here to understand this better. These people are in the middle of nowhere; the text calls it a desolate land. It’s a little bit different scenario than with the first crowd. The issue there was money. The people didn’t have enough money to buy food. Here, the issue isn’t money, it’s that there is literally no food available to purchase. They are in the middle of nowhere, which actually tells us something profound about this group of 4,000 people. They had put their own need for food beneath their desire to be with Jesus & to hear Him teach.

I want you to consider how big a deal that is. They were so concerned with hearing Jesus, and following Jesus, and being with Him that they dropped what they were doing and went after Him without any concern for how they would care for themselves. And Jesus didn’t rebuke them for this; isn’t that interesting? We live in a very pragmatic world. I can just imagine people in my life saying, “Why didn’t you bring something to eat?” Jesus didn’t do that. Instead, He had compassion on them. He responded to their devotion with compassion & provision. Now, I want you to take that dynamic and think about how this plays itself out in your life.

Is your primary concern to be with Jesus? That’s a great evaluative question. Do you want to be with Him so much, that everything else pales in comparison, even your own needs? Do you believe that He will have compassion on you? Do you believe that He will provide for you, as you chase after Him?

I think, if we’re going to be honest this morning, there are a couple of things that plague modern Christianity. First, a lot of people don’t really want to be with Jesus, they want things from Jesus. Those two things are vastly different. Second, a lot of people don’t really believe that He will provide perfectly for them as they pursue Him. So, they live their lives trying to control things & making sure they can provide for themselves

My guess is that we can all probably relate to one, if not both, of those two things at times. These are questions that we must consider if we’re going to truly follow Jesus because these are questions that lead to a heart of abandonment.

What else did the disciples see? They see Jesus perform a miracle. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this one because we recently studied the feeding of the 5,000 and the elements of the miracle itself are very similar. However, I do think it’s worth pointing out one thing. How often do we think, “If I could just see a miracle, I’d believe?” Or, “If Jesus would just provide this one thing (or do this one thing) then I would believe?” In fact the Pharisees, in the portion we didn’t read, asked Jesus for a sign that He was who He said He was.

But here’s the thing, seeing signs and wonders isn’t what fuels belief. The disciples saw countless miracles and didn’t get it much of the time. Jesus knew that showing the Pharisees a sign wouldn’t produce faith. You see, people don’t question the authenticity of Jesus’ miracles. What they question is the authority behind them. This is why you see Jesus, throughout the gospels, working in response to people’s faith. This is why you see Jesus not working many miracles in His hometown; because the people didn’t believe.

And so, I think this is a great opportunity for us to be reminded that our salvation is BY FAITH. Now, it’s not a blind faith. There are plenty of things that have been presented to us as evidence of who Jesus is and what He has done to rescue us. But it is the proclamation of the authority of Christ and the sufficiency of the gospel that calls us to respond. We don’t get to clamor for additional evidence from God. That comes from a heart of disbelief.

Third, the disciples saw Jesus expanding the message of the Kingdom beyond the Jewish people. I found all of this to be really fascinating as I studied over the last couple of weeks. We’ve already said that the feeding of the 5,000 (in Mark 6) took place on the western side of the sea with an audience that would have been almost exclusively Jewish. And here, (in Mark 8), we have a feeding taking place on the eastern side of the sea (which is the area of the Decapolis) with a predominantly Gentile audience.

I believe that Mark has strategically linked these two accounts by the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark chapter 7. You might remember that interaction. This Gentile woman asked Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter. Jesus responded in a very Jesus way; He illustrated His answer. He said, “Look, you have to feed the kids first. You don’t take bread from the children and throw it on the floor for the dogs.” Translation: The kingdom (the gospel) is for the Jews. They get it first. It’s not right for it to be taken from them and thrown to the Gentiles.

But this woman was persistent. She pushed back. She said, “Yeah — but the dogs still get the breadcrumbs that fall off the table.” Translation: “There’s enough kingdom to go around. There’s enough gospel to where the Gentiles can feast on this as well.” Jesus commended her and cast the demon out of her daughter. Now, you don’t have to be a Bible scholar to realize how amazing that is in helping us understand the contrast and the context of these 2 feedings. I believe that what we see here is quite literally a manifestation of what that woman said to Jesus. And it shows you just how abundant & extravagant the gospel is. Jesus didn’t just provide crumbs from the table for these Gentiles, He fed 4,000 of them until they were satisfied with enough leftovers to make sandwiches the next day.

Isn’t the intentionality of God amazing & beautiful? Even the precision of God with the leftovers speaks to His intentionality. There were 12 baskets of food left over for the Jewish crowd and there are 12 tribes of Israel. There were 7 baskets of food left over for the Gentile crowd and there are 7 Gentile nations.

So the disciples see a lot. But they don’t yet see the main thing. And this is how I want to end our time together this morning, because we have the gift of perspective (we talked about that a couple of weeks ago).

We know the whole story, we know who Jesus is, we know what He has done. And so we’re able to look at this account and see the gospel narrative clearly and be challenged by it.

We see the curse. They are in a desolate place. They are hungry. There is no provision in sight. The people are experiencing the fruit of a broken world and they need to be rescued. We see the holy desire (the longing for something more). The people have chosen to go after Jesus, to be with Him, without regard to their comfort and their ability to provide for themselves. They’ve created a situation where they have to trust Jesus. We see redemption. Jesus meets the needs of this Gentile audience the same way He met the needs of the Jewish crowd. He did it with dignity, love, and compassion.

That’s the gospel narrative right here in this account. This is what we talked about that a couple of weeks ago. The futility & pain that sin produces, how that creates a longing for something more, and how God uses that to drive us to an end of ourselves & toward dependence upon Christ.

And so, based on that, what must we see as we reflect on this text? Let me give you 3 things briefly to take away:

1. No matter your circumstances (how desperate), there is hope because God is God. He is Sovereign & He is able
2. Jesus is better! He is so much better than anything else that the pursuit of anything else must pale in comparison to our pursuit of Him. We literally need Him more than we need food & water
3. His primary provision for us is Himself. Everything else flows from that. Where you have Him, you must realize that you have been given everything. That’s why our concern is abiding in Him and all life flows from that.

[1] Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, [2] they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. [3] (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,[a] holding to the tradition of the elders, [4] and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.[b] And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.[c]) [5] And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” [6] And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; [7] in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ [8] You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

[9] And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! [10] For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ [11] But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)[d]— [12] then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, [13] thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
[14] And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: [15] There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”[e] [16], [17] And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

[18] And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, [19] since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”[f] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) [20] And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. [21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. [23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Growing up I used to dread the second last day of VBS. On the penultimate day, we would have an altar call where the speaker would invite all the students to come up in front of everyone and say “I rededicate my life to Jesus and accept Him as my personal Savior.” Now there are a lot of things that are theologically wrong about that statement but I didn’t know all that when I was young. Because I was a very shy kid, coming and standing in front of a thousand children was scary for me! There were others who were confident and eloquent and they would speak for 5-10 minutes.

There were some others who were super confident, who would brag about the number of gang wars they’ve been part of and it wasn’t a testimony at all but just an opportunity to talk about how “cool” their life was. But not me! I totally found myself at a very uncomfortable place but I didn’t want to be the only person who didn’t go up and say the magic words so I did it year after year.

Once I remember asking my oldest sister, “Why do we need to go up and say that statement every year when we know that our life is going to remain the same? We are going to return back to our same life and do the same things once we are back home”.

Even though I was a kid and an unbeliever, somehow I still knew that this didn’t make sense. If we know that we are faking it, wouldn’t an all-knowing God see through this? Would God find superficial religion acceptable? Surely not. We keep hearing about sincere, real faith. What does authentic faith look like? I think there are 3 things we can learn from this passage.

1. We must Renounce superficial religion (v1-5)

[1] Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, [2] they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. [3 ](For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,[a] holding to the tradition of the elders, [4] and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.[b] And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.[c]) [5] And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

Jesus at this point has been performing ground breaking and stunning miracles! He miraculously fed over 10,000 people. He walks on water and all the people who even touch the fringe of his garment are healed. This by itself should be something that people should take note of. He’s not an ordinary man. He’s sent by God. Instead you find the Pharisees and scribes who come from Jerusalem trying to find out some fault in Jesus and his disciples. They accuse them of eating with hands that are defiled.

Now let me clear it out at the start. Their issue wasn’t regarding hygiene or cleanliness. Their issue was regarding the ceremonial washing traditions that the Pharisees added over the years. It wasn’t in the OT law. These were man made traditions. They took offense at the fact that Jesus’ disciples weren’t observing the tradition of their elders. And the word “defiled” means unholy and unclean.

In other words, they alleged that Jesus’ disciples were sinning and making themselves unholy by not following these traditions. Suddenly their understanding of judging someone as holy or unholy was on the basis of their own traditions. That was the main problem.

Now I know most of us as we are hearing this would think that the Pharisees and scribes were probably fools to go and tell Jesus this. No man in their right mind would have the guts to go and do that. Let me remind you that the Pharisees and scribes were the most zealous, pious and learned men of their time. They knew the Scriptures inside out. They weren’t crazy. If the most religious people of that time could stumble in this way, I think we have good reason to be wary of the attitude of superficial religion in our lives. How can we identify this in our lives? I think this passage gives us two hints:

1) You’ll find yourself imposing thoughts and rules over people that aren’t prescribed in Scripture.

You’ll find people say things like you need to pray at 3AM in the night. That’s when you can have the most powerful prayers. Truly mature Christians will pray during those hours. Does the bible command us to pray? Yes, but it doesn’t tell us that we need to pray during a specific time to see God answer prayer.

Once I had a brother who was telling me that we need to have 3 different types of bible study times during the day. One is our daily devotion, the other is a deep, in depth study of a passage and the third is where we just read a bunch of chapters or books of the Bible together to understand the overall context of the Bible.

Now all these things are great. We are commanded to read and study Scripture but if you’re using these 3 specific times as a mandate to judge another person’s faith, then you might be imposing your own thoughts and rules over what’s prescribed in Scripture.

2) You’ll find yourself constantly being critical of other people’s spiritual lives and judging them on the basis of your man-made rules

If you are constantly thinking about what this person is doing right or wrong, if you are constantly being critical of what’s right or wrong in a church, it’s quite possible that you may be struggling with this sin. As a believer we need to be discerning and there is a place for correcting our brothers and sisters in Christ but it’s all done in a context where we are spiritually involved and invested in the person’s life.

I want us to really think about this seriously. Do we see these two symptoms in our life? We might think that we are more spiritual than the others because we are better at observing these man-made traditions. It might make us feel more righteous but let’s recognize that this is plainly superficial religion. And this is something that needs to be renounced if you want to see authentic faith.

2. We must allow God’s word to Reveal our hypocrisy (v6-13)

[6] And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; [7] in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ [8] You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” [9] And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! [10] For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ [11] But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)[d]— [12] then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, [13] thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

We see Jesus using Scripture twice in this passage in order to reveal their hypocrisy.

Jesus quotes the Scripture from Isaiah to tell them that they think they are worshiping God but it’s all fruitless. Why is it fruitless? Because they reject the commandment of God and hold on to the tradition of men. And then Jesus gives another example from Scripture. In the OT in many places God commanded the people of Israel to “Honor their father and mother”. You see that in the 10 commandments and also later where God says if anyone reviles or curses their father or mother they are to be put to death. Honoring parents is very serious in the eyes of God!

But the Pharisees created a tradition where people could avoid and neglect giving financial support to their parents. All they had to do is say that this money is “Corban” – it is going to the temple treasury and they were exempted from taking care of their parents. They blatantly defied the actual commandment of God in order to establish their tradition. That’s the issue of superficial religion, it places our rules and our traditions above God. In essence we are more concerned about obeying our traditions rather than obeying God.

So how do we come out of it? We allow God’s Word to reveal our hypocrisy. The word hypocrisy actually means “pretender” like a stage actor. Superficial religion means that we are constantly pretending to be better than what we truly are. When we spend time with God’s Word, what it does is it cuts through our pretending and our acting and reveals what’s really in our hearts.

Hebrews 4:12 says For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Let’s ask ourselves this question, are we allowing God’s Word to reveal the hypocrisy in our hearts each day? Are we being open to the areas in which God shows us that we are pretending?

For example that prophecy from Isaiah: Jesus first quotes Isaiah when he says “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;” Doesn’t this convict our hearts of the times on a Sunday morning where we are singing these wonderful songs of love and praise to God but our hearts are far from him? We are singing “It’s all about You, Jesus” and yet our hearts say “It’s all about everything else”.

Once we allow God’s Word to reveal our hypocrisy, it should lead us to the next point.

3. We must repent of the real heart issue (v18-23)

[18] And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, [19] since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”[f] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) [20] And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. [21] For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. [23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Why do people cover themselves with superficial religion? So that they can conceal what’s truly there in their hearts. What’s really in our hearts? Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness!!

Man isn’t inherently good but bad according to these verses. You and I by nature are capable of the worst of atrocities in the world and the most horrific expressions of sin. What do we do to cover it up? We create our own rules and traditions so that by observing them we don’t have to feel bad about our true state.

We criticize and pull people down so that we can look at them and think we are better off. Let’s remind ourselves that before a Holy God these efforts are merely filthy rags (Isa 64:6).

Isn’t that the same thing that happened in the Garden of Eden? Once Adam and Eve sinned, they realized they were naked and tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. They knew they were condemned the moment they ate of the fruit. Guilt entered their hearts for the first time and they tried to cover up their sin.

When God confronted them, His intention was to bring them to confess so that he could give them a better clothing. An animal was sacrificed/killed in order to provide Adam and Eve with a better clothing to cover their shame.

And when we think about our own sin, deep rooted sin from our hearts….God doesn’t want us to cover ourselves with superficial religion. Those are filthy rags & fig leaves. Instead God is drawing us to confession so that He can give us a better clothing – the pure robe of His Son. This was purchased by Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins and rising again on the third Day.

I really hope that’s what you find encouraging today. My intention wasn’t to just talk about this sin and leave it there. I hope it’s driving us all to repentance. Authentic faith is one where all of the outer layers are peeled off and where we come to God not concealing ourselves with superficial religion but rather repenting of the real issues of our hearts.

Good morning! If you have a Bible with you this morning, please turn with me to The Book of Mark and chapter 6. As you know, we’ve been studying The Gospel of Mark for several months now and we’ll be looking specifically at verses 45 – 56 this morning.

I know this is a well known text (the account of Jesus walking on the water). And our tendency is to move quickly past text with which we are very familiar. But, I want to encourage you to not do that with this passage. There are things in this text that God showed me this week that were new to me and, if we are willing to look at it with fresh eyes, I believe that you will see some things new as well.

After all, we need to remember that the Word of God is active, it’s dynamic, it’s alive. It is always speaking in fresh ways into our circumstances. So, let’s not move quickly past this well known passage. I want to read our text in a moment. But first, I want to remind us of where we’ve been over the last several weeks.

Jesus was with His disciples around Capernaum performing some incredible miracles. After that He returned to His hometown of Nazareth with His disciples where He met skepticism & unbelief. Jesus used that context to send out His followers into the surrounding villages to heal the sick & proclaim the gospel. As Mark is telling us about that, he stops and explains what happened to John the Baptist (you’ll remember that Herod had him beheaded).

Mark then comes back to the account of the disciples returning to Jesus after going out to proclaim the gospel. That’s where we read about the feeding of the 5,000 (which was probably 10,000 or more when you factor in women & children). That’s where we pick up our verses; right at the end of Jesus performing the miracle with the fishes & loaves. This is what Mark records beginning in verse 45:

[45] Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. [46] And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. [47] And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. [48] And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night[a] he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, [49] but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, [50] for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” [51] And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, [52] for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

[53] When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. [54] And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him [55] and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. [56] And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

This is a pretty incredible story, isn’t it? Where I’m from we have what we call “fishing stories.” Do you know what a “fishing story” is? It’s the clearest form of exaggeration known to mankind. A fisherman will say, “I caught a fish this big!” And somehow the fish gets bigger & bigger the more times the fisherman tells the story. The point is that stories tend to get more sensational as time goes by. They get exaggerated as they are re-told over & over again.

Let me be very clear: this IS NOT one of those stories! This is Mark’s account of what happened that day. It has been inspired by the Holy Spirit and it is a part of the inherent, infallible, objectively true Word of God. Which means that this went down just like Mark says it went down.

And, when we read it for what it is, we get a pretty incredible window into the character of God and how we works in the lives of His people. In other words, these are things that should have a huge impact on how we live and how we relate to God.

For clarity, I’m going to break this down into 3 sections that track with how Mark lays this narrative out for us. And I think you’ll see very quickly how relevant these things are for our lives.

1. The disciples find themselves in trouble
2. Their circumstances allowed for their testing
3. They experienced Jesus care & provision in their weakness.

Let’s dig down on each of these points and see the glory of Jesus and the beauty of the gospel in these verses. First, the disciples find themselves in trouble. Look again at verses 45 – 48. “Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them.”

There are a couple of things we need to dig a little deeper on here. This account is also in Matthew & John and they refer to this as a storm. But, what’s interesting is that this was a particular kind of storm that is unique to the Sea of Galilee. In fact, it was called a “Searah”.

The fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were afraid of this type of storm. It’s the same type of storm that we saw back in Mark chapter 4 when Jesus was taking a nap on the boat. And Mark explained that the disciples thought they were going to die.

I’m actually familiar with this type of storm because my family used to live near Lake Tahoe in the Western US. This type of weather occurs when a lake is situated near mountains (as the Sea of Galilee was). What happens is a storm will build on one side of the mountain and will come down the mountain and hit the lake violently. It’s no ordinary storm!

So the disciples find themselves in trouble and they find themselves in trouble very quickly. By the way, isn’t that how trouble comes at us? It’s always quick, it’s always unexpected. These guys just participated in one of the most miraculous things you could imagine. They weren’t just witnesses to it, they were participating in it. They touched the bread, they touched the fish. As it was distributed to 10,000 people it just kept coming. And there were baskets left over at the end. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine what a spiritual high these guys must have been experiencing?

They probably didn’t want to leave. Which is why we have the language here from Mark; He says that Jesus had to MAKE THEM GET INTO THE BOAT. Have you ever had such a beautiful experience that you didn’t want it to end? It was so amazing that you didn’t want to leave? I think that’s what is happening here.

I can just imagine the disciples, as they got into the boat. Jesus has just said, “You guys get to the other side… … I’ll meet you there!” They’re probably sitting in the boat laughing and recounting what just happened. And then, after being on the lake for a little while, they would have noticed the wind begin to change.

And as the wind changed, they begin to labor at the oars, unable to make any headway. And now they find themselves stuck in the middle of the lake. They can’t go forward because the wind is in their faces and they don’t want to go back because they’re trying to be obedient to Jesus. They’re stuck! And then, here it comes — the Searah! It comes rushing down the mountainside! And, all of the sudden, after this beautiful experience with Jesus, after witnessing His power, after being obedient to what He told them to do, they find themselves in serious trouble.

Now, I’d like to pause here and say something that I believe is absolutely critical for us to understand. We tend to think that when we find ourselves in trouble, it’s because we’ve done something wrong. Do you know what I mean? We’re conditioned that way as children: “I’ve been disobedient so now I’m in trouble.” Jonah is a great example of this from the Old Testament. God called Jonah to something, Jonah refused and ran away from God, and he found himself in trouble.

But notice, in this case, that it was the disciple’s obedience that led to this trouble. I think there’s an important lesson here for us. Sometimes God leads us into situations where we desperately need Him so that we will learn to trust Him. It’s not necessarily that we’ve done anything wrong. He’s just choosing to do work in us.

Church, don’t be surprised if you’re following Jesus and you’re praying things like: “I want to be more faithful.” “I want to be obedient” “I want to be used by you.” Don’t be surprised if a storm is coming. Don’t complain when the storm comes because the Lord is actually answering your prayers. The storm is often the means of grace for Him to grow us.

Just think about your own life. How often do we believe that God is against us because we’re experiencing hardships in our lives? When, in fact, we know that God is always for us. And He’s actually using those hard things to lay the groundwork for our greatest good.

I believe that Jesus wanted to create a situation where the disciples would be tested, especially after such a spiritual high with the feeding of all of those people. He wanted to test them. That’s the second thing I want for us to consider: The disciples circumstances allowed for their testing.

Look again at what this says in verses 48 (starting right where we left off). “And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified.”

Notice how Mark mentions “evening” in verse 47 and “the fourth watch of the night” in verse 48. That basically means that they’ve been in this storm for several hours. So, Jesus led them into this storm, He’s let them struggle for hours, and we know from verse 48 that He sees them; He knows exactly what’s happening. And then, after all of that, finally Jesus comes to them. Mark says that “He meant to pass by them…” Which is really interesting, isn’t it? I think that this little phrase is meant to teach us something very important.

It triggered my mind because we know that Jesus didn’t mean to go unseen. We know that because Jesus doesn’t fail at things. If He meant to pass by them and not be seen, He would have done that successfully. No, Mark means that Jesus intentionally passed by the boat so that they would see Him as He walked on the water. The question is WHY? Well, I think it’s for a couple of reasons.

Most obviously, to the point here, it’s because Jesus is testing them. He’s stretching them. In the midst of difficulty, in the midst of something hard, He’s showing them a lack of trust — a lack of belief — that He is in control of the situation. Notice how verse 52 says that the disciples “hearts had been hardened about the bread.” Apparently they had drawn the wrong conclusions about Jesus as He fed all of those people. I believe that Jesus wanted to give them a tangible lesson about trust & belief.

But I think there’s something else that Jesus wanted to show them, because He could have taught them that lesson from the land. Instead, He chose to walk on the water. You see, this is a clear demonstration of His power and it’s a clear revelation of His glory. It shows that even the molecules of water must hold up the feet of the Sovereign Lord. It’s the glory of the King of Kings on display.

I would suggest that this is Jesus revealing His glory to the disciples, and that’s why I think he intended to pass by them. I believe that Mark is intentionally drawing our minds to the mountains. Not just the mountain that Jesus was praying on, but Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb).

You might remember the accounts in the Old Testament of Moses & Elijah (the disciples would have remember them). In both of those cases, they are up on the mountain and God caused His glory to pass by them. Because, in both of those cases, they could not behold the glory of the Lord. They couldn’t experience it because of the gap that existed between the Holiness of God & their sin.

They would have needed a mediator to experience (to behold) God’s glory. They didn’t have that, so the Lord caused His glory to pass by them. Here we see Jesus (on a mountain), but coming down the mountain to display His power and His glory to sinful men. He reveals His glory by “passing by” the disciples on the water; which is what you would expect if you’re familiar with those Old Testament accounts. But then, something breathtaking happens, something different, something new. Where Moses & Elijah couldn’t behold the glory of The Lord, where they couldn’t physically be with Him because of the separation that sin brings, Jesus GETS INTO THE BOAT!

He doesn’t just pass them by to the point where they can catch a glimpse of His glory, He gets into the boat. He enters into their circumstances. He enters into the pain, and confusion, and uncertainty. And, in so doing, Jesus brings care and provision in their weakness.

What Jesus intended to teach the disciples (and what this text is meant to remind us of) is that Jesus IS THE MEDIATOR. Jesus IS IMMANUEL — GOD WITH US. Things are not like they were before. God is doing something new. He is doing something different than before. Where His glory would kill people earlier (because of the separation that sin brings), now, because of Jesus, people are able to behold His glory. And not just behold His glory, but be transformed by His glory in His presence.

You see, Jesus provision for the disciples is Himself. And He cares for the disciples with His presence. And the same thing is true for your life & my life. Jesus Christ is our righteousness. Where we could not exist in the presence of God because of our sin, Jesus took our sin upon Himself and gave us His righteousness in return. We can now exist in the presence of God!

Jesus Christ is our mediator. Where we could not behold the glory of the Lord because of our sin, Jesus is the propitiation for our sin. So that we can, “with unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord, and be transformed into the same image…”

I believe these are the things that Jesus was revealing to the disciples, and it’s what He wants to reveal to us this morning. And it must shape the way we see everything in our lives; especially the difficulties, especially the hard circumstances, especially the storms in our lives.

I want to challenge each of us this morning to think about the circumstances of your life right now. Think about where God has you right now and ask yourself these questions in each of those circumstances:

1. “DO I TRUST THAT JESUS IS IN CONTROL OF THIS?”
2. “DO I BELIEVE THAT HE IS USING THIS FOR HIS GLORY & MY GOOD?”
3. “DO I WANT HIS PRESENCE MORE THAN ANY OTHER OUTCOME?”

Those are the questions that will reveal the motivations of our heart.

Good morning church. For our church it’s been marvelous to study the gospel of Mark. It’s been a joy seeing so many different attributes of Jesus. Every week we discover something new and today’s passage is quite a familiar one: it’s Jesus feeding the 5 thousand. Most of us have probably heard this from childhood.

This was probably one of my favorite stories growing up because it involved my two favorites: Jesus and food! And there was plenty of food. As I was studying this passage, God opened my eyes to see some deep rich truths that I want to share with you today.

[30] The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. [31] And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. [32] And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. [33] Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. [34] When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. [35] And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. [36] Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” [37] But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii[f] worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” [38] And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” [39] Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.

[40] So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. [41] And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. [42] And they all ate and were satisfied. [43] And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. [44] And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

If I were to ask you “What motivates you to follow someone?”, what would your answer be? Some may say it’s the person’s charisma: how he looks, how he talks and what he wears but we all know that can only take us so far. That charisma will end someday or another person who is even more charismatic will get our attention. It keeps changing. Someone else might say “it’s the person’s skills and achievements that makes you follow him/her”. But we still know that if the person no matter how skilled he/she maybe if they live a selfish and wicked life, that wouldn’t be someone we would want to follow or emulate.

I believe more than the charisma of the person or the skills of the person, it’s “trust” that truly motivates us to follow someone. Is the person really looking out for us? How much do we know the person? All that plays into deciding to follow someone. In today’s passage Mark is giving us 3 rock-solid reasons why we can confidently follow Jesus. Not 10% or 50% but 100% wholeheartedly follow Jesus Christ.

1. We can confidently follow Christ because He is our Rest

[30] The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. [31] And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. [32] And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

Jesus’ disciples just got back from their 1st missionary journey. They went out 2 by 2 fully dependent on God – they didn’t carry any bags, no extra food, no money and not even an extra coat. They went around preaching repentance, casting out many demons and anointing the sick with oil to heal them. They saw how God used them to perform great miracles as they boldly shared the gospel! They came back excited to share what all happened, but they were also weary after being on the field for several days or weeks.

There was no respite once they got back. People still flocked around them to have some need met. They didn’t even have the time or space to eat food. That’s how tiring ministry got for them. What does Jesus do? He knows that they’re physically and mentally and spiritually exhausted, so he asks his disciples to go away from the crowd to a desolate place to rest.

Jesus is deeply concerned about His people’s rest. If we look back at the OT we see God resting on the seventh day after creating the universe and everything in it. One of the 10 commandments is to observe the Sabbath unto the Lord. That day is to be kept holy unto the Lord. So, we understand that rest is something that God is concerned about. Physically when we rest from work, it allows us to recuperate and rejuvenate us to get back and work with the right capacities.

Spiritually when we rest from work we affirm that we worship God alone and not make a god out of work. John Calvin once said that “man’s nature is a perpetual factory of idols”. We can make new idols every single day. We can make idols out of good things that God has made like “work”. Rest is commanded not just so that we can switch off and switch on again. It’s so that our worship for God is preserved, our affections for God is ignited and our purposes for work is renewed for the glory of God. It for our good!

We live in a culture and a time where “work” and “over-working” are gods. After it begins affecting their relationships and health is when the world realizes how this idol promised so much but delivers very little. How should believers respond? We learn how to rest. At night when we sleep for 8 hours, we humbly accept that we are weak and weary and need rest to recover.

We wake up each morning “resting in God” through the Word. What if we all realized that spending time with God in prayer and Word wasn’t a burden but in fact rest as God intended it. How amazing would that be? Once a week, we determine a day that is our Sabbath – holy unto the Lord. But what do we do during a Sabbath? The inference from these verses is that it involves doing something that you’re not accustomed to doing during other days of the week. It can be taking a nap, going out with your family, going for a stroll in the park, finding ways to serve your community. Also, it should be centered around the gospel – that’s how it’ll be made holy- have an extended time of prayer and the Word, meet & encourage other believers – great opportunity to do that if you are not able to do it on other days during the week.

We as the church of God have been given a new meaning to rest and relaxation that’s different from the world. The world sees partying, splurging and indulgence as relaxation. We as believers can see and appreciate rest in its God given place! We as believers understand that rest cannot be found apart from God. If our hope and energies are fixed on anything else, we will be totally rest-less. Only in Jesus can we truly find rest. Matt 11:28: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

2. We can confidently follow Christ because He is our Shepherd

[33] Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. [34] When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

It’s interesting that Jesus and disciples headed toward this desolate place to find some rest and then they are met with a great crowd. Jesus doesn’t send them off by telling “Actually me and my boys are having a short vacation, so if you could allow us to be by ourselves that’ll be great”. V34 says when Jesus saw the crowd he had “compassion on them”. The word in the original language means “moved with pity and sympathy”. Jesus had pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

It’s the idea of how sheep without their shepherd are clueless, helpless and lost. Where else do we Jesus use the phrase of shepherd and sheep? Yes, the parable of the lost sheep: God leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one who is lost.

Then in John 10, Jesus says He is the good shepherd. The shepherd is not like the robber who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Neither is he like the hired hand who abandons the sheep when a wolf comes to attack. Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep! That’s the love and compassion of Jesus. He didn’t just come to the earth to teach us good things about life. The Bible is Isaiah say “We like sheep have all gone astray. We’ve each gone our way”. We have all denied God by our actions, our words and our thoughts.

We have intentionally left God and rebelled against him. We deserve the eternal wrath and separation from God because of our sins and yet Jesus didn’t leave us to die but instead died in our place to protect us from the deadly sting of sin, Satan and death.

Therefore, when Jesus refers to people as sheep he’s implying their helplessness, their lostness and the grave danger that they face. And he steps in as the Great Chief Shepherd to lead, rescue and protect his sheep.

Where in your life today do you need your Shepherd? Are you feeling lost, helpless and insecure? Jesus looks beyond the facade and sees the deep need that you have. He sees beyond your smiles, beyond your tough exterior and sees your deeply hurt and broken soul that needs repair. Maybe today you’re thinking “I’m the worst one, I don’t deserve to be with the sheep, I’m lost and way beyond rescue.” Let me assure you by the Word of God that Jesus is looking for you. He leaves the ninety-nine to look for you specifically. Not only does Jesus look for you and rescue you, he leads you like a good Shepherd so that you can follow Him confidently.

Check out these words from Jesus: [27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

3. We can confidently follow Christ because He is our Provider

[41] And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. [42] And they all ate and were satisfied.

This was certainly an astonishing miracle! Just think about this: there were probably over 10,000 people there including women and children. They were all stuck in a desolate place and it was quite late. The disciples understood the challenge – they knew it would probably take them 6 months of wages to be able to buy food for such a large crowd. And Jesus takes the 5 loaves and 2 fish and multiplies them to feed probably 10,000 people and guess what….they have 12 baskets of leftovers that are collected in the end.

What was the point of this miracle? We know that Jesus wasn’t trying to gain popularity. We know that he wasn’t trying to entertain. Jesus performed this miracle to reveal His glory as the Son of God.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 long years. How did they survive for so long? Because God provided them with manna miraculously for 40 years. They didn’t have to work for it, but God graciously provided for His people. Similarly, Jesus Christ performs this amazing miracle to show how He is the true Son of God who provides for His people in a desolate place. He meets them at their physical need to point them to His divine nature as their Provider.

One of the ways by which I can show my love and concern for my wife is by providing for her. It’s what I promised on our wedding day. When I said to my wife “With this ring I wed thee” I implied that I take the responsibility for providing for her physical needs, leading her spiritually and being with her emotionally. As husbands we are just trying to imitate the attitude of Christ who provides for his people.

I think one of the encouragements I got from this passage is to realize that this is the same Jesus who fed the Israelites in the desert. He is the same one who fed the 10,000. He is the same who provided for my every need from the time I was born. He’s faithful every time. What does that mean for us as believers?

a) Acknowledge His care and provision by thanksgiving

When we say grace before our meals, we do that because we remember and realize His love and care towards us to provide us with food every day.

b) Whole-heartedly submit to Jesus

There’s no other response than to fully submit and love the One who faithfully provides for our every need. You can trust in His instructions and commands for you because of His loving care.

Returning back to the first question I asked. Why should you follow Jesus? What motivates you to follow Jesus? Can you confidently follow Him? Yes, you absolutely can. Because He cares enough to give rest to our weary souls, He cares enough to be our Shepherd even though we once deserted Him, and He cares enough to provide for our every need – physical, spiritual, emotional and mental needs. What more reason do we need to follow Him?

Our passage today is from Mark 6:14-29.

[14] King Herod heard of it, for Jesus'[a] name had become known. Some[b] said, “John the Baptist[c] has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” [15] But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” [16] But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” [17] For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. [18] For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” [19] And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, [20] for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

[21] But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. [22] For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” [23] And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” [24] And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” [25] And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” [26] And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. [27] And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s[d] head. He went and beheaded him in the prison [28] and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. [29] When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

There are two types of parents and the way they bring up their children.

The first type of parents are the overprotective types, they are also called the ‘helicopter parents’, it refers to a parent who constantly hovers over their child physically, emotionally and mentally – these parents think they are helping their children but overprotecting parenting can squash the child’s autonomy.

They create a loving environment for their children and only expose them to the good things, they teach their children how special and unique they are, provide them with the best of resources, best of toys, best of everything.

They tell their children to stay away from bad company, stay away from children who are from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They teach them to stay and play only with their type of children.

This type of parenting look good for a period of time but the problem arises when these children are taken out of the boundaries of their loving and caring homes into the real world – to work, to interact and to make a living.

The children all of the sudden learn that they are no more special. That they don’t always get the best of things as they used to get from their parents.

They have to now interact with the same kinds of people from whom their parents told them to stay away.

They realize that the world is a cruel place, selfish, sinful and mean, and they were never told about it or even trained for it.

This is one of the greatest problems with the current generation of millennials today. The result is many of these kids turn out to be lazy, depressed, lonely and even suicidal.

The second type of parents are those who create a loving and caring environment for their children but also educate and prepare them for the real world. They teach them how bad the outside world is.

They tell them and prepare them for situations where they will be treated badly, bullied and made fun of.

But they also teach them how to guard their hearts, how to fight their emotions and stay strong in those most difficult hours.

Even during the hard and difficult time, they encourage their children to be different and continue to do the right thing, to love the most undeserving people on earth and become role models and torchbearers for the good of humanity.

We read stories about these great heroes who changed the world and brought a positive impact on humanity, some managed to do it and some sacrificed their lives trying to make it. You will know difficulty they had to face, the pain they had to undergo, the hardships they had to endure to stand and fight for what they believed.

In the same way, I believe even our churches can be like these two parents.

One where the leaders are only in the business of gathering people and trying to create a safe environment for them. Tell them how special they are in Christ and that it is all about them, what they need, what they desire – health, wealth & prosperity. They make Jesus look like a Santa Claus who doesn’t have any other business other than to meet and provide for their needs.

The congregation is told to keep a distance from the world, form their own little believer’s group in college, in offices, in businesses and to stay close to each other.

But eventually, we all know that we have to face the world one way or the other and when the world gets us it gets us hard. It has the potential to crush our souls and kill us from the inside. And all of a sudden we realize that we were never told about it or prepared for it.

But when I read the Bible, the life and words of Jesus, the churches in the Acts of Apostles, this is not the kind of church I see.

In pain, in hardships, in persecution, in death, the church grew and flourished.

Why?

Because they were prepared to face the world, to take all the hatred, yet show love even to the point of death. To them obedience to God was everything and they were prepared to pay any cost.

I believe in our passage today that is what the author is trying to highlight by telling us the story of John the Baptist and his cruel death at the hands of a foolish and ignorant king.

Mark, a good leader, like a good parent is giving us the true picture of how the world is and by giving the example of John and his obedience to God shows us what a faithful response looks like.

On one hand, King Herod is this perfect example of a foolish and an ignorant world who even though acknowledges John as a man of God, a righteous and holy man, yet ends up killing him under the pressure of Herodious, her daughter and the people around him.

Also because his sinful lifestyle mixed with the cultural pressures ends up doing a foolish thing.

Isn’t that how the world is – a foolish, cruel, sinful. Blinded in human cultures and traditions, waiting to pounce on the righteous ones who don’t fit their ideas, lifestyle, and pursuits.

Brothers & sisters! As a good parent and as a servant of the Lord I want you to know that as the children of Light, you will be hated and rejected, tortured and insulted by this cruel world because of your obedience to Christ.

In Mark 13:13 Jesus said “Everyone will hate you because of me”

John 3:19 – “Even though the light has come into the world, men love the darkness rather than light and their deeds are evil because of that”

But on another hand, we have John the Baptist, the hero of our story, the one who willingly paid the cost of his obedience to God the Father who sent him to the earth.

John could have withdrawn himself from speaking the truth to Herod about his affair with his brother’s wife. He could have avoided this punishment and death by keeping his mouth shut, but he didn’t.

He glorified God through his death and set himself up as a role model for many.

Not just John but even Jesus had to pay the cost of obedience to his Father, the disciples of Jesus paid the cost of being the followers of Christ. The early church leaders, many of them died a terrible death because of their faith in Christ and their obedience to Christ in spreading the Gospel all around the world.

In the light of what we’ve heard so far my question to all of you this morning is “Do you really love Jesus as you say and sing?”

If your answer is “YES” then Jesus would say
If you love me, you will obey me,
If you love me, you will do what I say,
If you love me, you will keep my word,
If you love me, you obey my teaching.

Remember, we don’t obey so we are accepted by God, In Christ, we are already accepted and loved.

The reason we obey is because of his great love, we are obligated to his love that he poured out on us at the cross of calvary, redeeming us from eternal death and damnation to a new hope and life with him in heaven for eternity through his life, death, burial, and resurrection.

Guess what? We already know in what areas in our lives God expects obedience.

From small things to big things God expects us to walk in obedience every single day of our lives, to the point where we are willing to pay whatever cost it takes.

To some of you God will ask you to stop using social media and stay away from the internet, so you can devote your time to God in prayer and studying his word. Are you willing to pay the cost of being called weird by your tech-savvy friends?

To some, he would ask you to give up on your earthly dreams and pursuits and follow his calling. Are you willing to pay the cost of being called a fool?

To some, he would ask you to go against your family and relatives who insist on following the traditions of this world which God hates. Are you willing to pay the cost of being called a Rebel?

To some, he would ask to give up on your ungodly relationships so that you are not unequally yoked with the world. Are you willing to pay the cost of being called Insensitive and hard hearted?

To some, he would call to go and share the gospel with a stranger. Are you willing to pay the cost of being persecuted and ridiculed?

To some, he would ask to show love, grace, and mercy to the most undeserving people in your life, people who hurt you and abuse you. Are you willing to pay the cost of letting your pride and ego been crushed?

To some, he would ask to sacrifice your time and energy for the sake of your friend or a brother, to encourage, to help. Are you willing to pay the cost of your time with family?

To some, he would ask you to give more of your time serving the church and the people.

To some, he would ask you to leave your country and your people and go to an unknown and strange place to serve him. Are you willing to pay the cost of being called a fool?

You will know when God speaks to you and tells you what you need to do and obey. And if you truly love him that way you say you love him then you will obey him and also be willing to pay the cost and Glorify God on this earth by our sacrificial obedience.

Good morning. Before we look at chapter 6 in Mark, let’s remember the scene in chapter 5. Jesus had been ministering with His disciples around Capernaum and he did some amazing things there. He cast a legion of demons out of man, He healed a woman of a hemorrhage without even touching her, and most recently He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. We pick up the story as Jesus travels with His disciples to His hometown of Nazareth. Let’s read this together: Mark 6:1-13.

[1] He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. [2] And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? [3] Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. [4] And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” [5] And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.And he went about among the villages teaching.

[7] And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. [8] He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— [9] but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.[a] [10] And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. [11] And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” [12] So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. [13] And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

This is obviously a crazy scene and, if we’re going to understand what’s happening, we need to understand a few things about Nazareth. I’ve already said that this is Jesus’ home town. This is where He would have spent 25 or more years of His life.

And it’s a small town that most people were dismissive of. There’s no mention of Nazareth in the Old Testament because nothing important happened there. In fact, you might remember in John chapter 1 when Philip reached out to Nathaniel, he told him about this “Jesus of Nazareth” and Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

I don’t know if you have places like that in India (or in Maharashtra) where when you hear someone mention it you’re like, “Oh, that place!” That was Nazareth because of it’s location (it was in the middle of nowhere) and because of it’s size (Archeologists estimate that no more 500 people lived there).

So, you have a small insignificant town where Jesus grew up and His family still lives there. Which sets up for a really awkward scene because everyone would have recognized Jesus when He walked into town, and because the last interaction that Jesus had with His family was when they showed up to take Him back home because they thought He had lost His mind (Mark 3:21).

And now, here He is. He comes walking back into town. And where does He go? He goes right into the Synagogue on the Sabbath and begins teaching and things get even more awkward.

As we unpack this, I want to break it up in 3 sections. I’ll give you these up front and then we can walk through them to see how they might apply to our lives:

1. You have the people’s reaction to Jesus
2. You have Jesus’s reaction to the people
3. You have a picture of the uninterrupted mission of God.

First, let’s look at how the people respond to Jesus. Look again at verses 2 – 3:

“And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.”

So how did the people react to Jesus? By questioning Him and getting offended. This is interesting because you read it and it doesn’t appear that Jesus does anything offensive. He’s just teaching in the Synagogue. So why did they get offended? I think there are 2 possible answers that are more practical. I want to explore those first, but then I want to remind us of a supernatural truth about what’s actually happening here.

The 1st possible answer is something I’ve already mentioned. These people would have known Jesus very well. They would have known Him as He grew up from childhood, through adolescence, to adulthood.

And I’m sure they would have all respected Jesus. After all, He was Jesus! He was perfect, He was humble, He was kind, He served others. The people were probably very fond of Him, but they knew that He was a carpenter. They knew Him as Joseph & Mary’s son.

And, as He left town, the reaction was probably, “We’re sorry to see Jesus go! He’s a great Carpenter, He’s an even better guy.” But that’s all they thought of Him. And now, here He is returning and He’s not alone.

Now all the sudden Jesus has a bunch of students following Him, and they’re calling Him teacher (Rabbi). They’re sitting at His feet learning from Him. There’s no doubt the people are like, “Wait a second, Jesus never sat under the teaching & leadership of a Rabbi. He hasn’t been theologically trained.”

They would have looked at Jesus and none of this would have made sense to them. And so, they became offended. They refused to believe that Jesus wasn’t who they thought He was. They had it in their minds that Jesus was one thing, and it didn’t allow them to see the truth that He was something different.

Doesn’t that still happen today? Where people have it in their minds that Jesus is a certain thing and it doesn’t allow them to see the truth of who He actually is? I think that happens today quite a bit. And, I think it’s very subtle and can easily grab a hold of our hearts. Maybe it’s us trying to turn Jesus into something He’s not so that we can justify our sin or a particular lifestyle. Maybe it’s an entire church that has became comfortable because they think they have Jesus figured out.

I think these people had their minds made up about who Jesus was and it blinded them to the truth. That’s 1 possible explanation, but I think there’s another one. Notice how Jesus didn’t come to Nazareth with a display of miracles (as He had in Capernaum). Just think about this; the people of Nazareth would have heard the stories of miracles being performed by Jesus throughout the region.

And now, here He is. He’s standing right in front of them. Where are the miracles? It could be that they were expecting things FROM Jesus that He wasn’t giving them. Instead of healing people, and casting out demons, and raising someone from the dead, Jesus is simply teaching in the Synagogue.

I can imagine it would have been in the style that Jesus always taught; simple, straightforward and direct, but drilling down to the heart and calling for a response. I can’t help but wonder, particularly as they were confronted with hard teaching, if there was some disappointment in the hearts of the people because they were expecting something from Jesus that He wasn’t offering.

I think that’s also something that we experience today. How often do we expect certain things from Jesus? We want this, or want that, or want Him to heal this, or alleviate that circumstance. And sometimes, when He gives us something different than what we expect, we can become disappointed and even get offended. Has that ever happened to you?

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” That’s the exact principle that we’re talking about here. When you put your hope in something (other than where it should be), and you don’t get that thing, it makes your heart sick.

I have to confess that I’m really bad at this sometimes. I tend to put my hope in things, in circumstances, in events, in things that I’m really looking forward to. But then, when those things don’t go as planned (or they don’t satisfy me like I want them to), I feel let down.

That’s because we are only meant to put our hope in Jesus. When our hope is in being with Him we’ll never be disappointed, because He delights to be with His people.

So, I think those are the possibilities. People’s expectations of Jesus weren’t being met, or they thought they had Jesus figured out. But, I think it would be good to remind ourselves of something that we know is true and is definitely happening here. And we know it’s true because God’s Word tells us it’s true.

The Greek word for “offense” in this passage comes from the same root word for “stumbling block”. That language should sound really familiar if you’ve ever read the book of 1 Peter. Listen to 1 Peter 2:7-8:

“The honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”

Friends, we must be reminded that everything that is happening here is happening exactly as God has ordained it to happen. The fact that people don’t believe and Jesus is offensive them should not surprise us at all because the gospel is offensive.

The gospel calls out our sin and pride. The gospel says to our flesh, “You must be put to death.” And, if we are set on living in the flesh and trying to be our own god, that message will offend us.

Now, I want you to look at how Jesus reacted to the people. Look again at verses 5 & 6:

“And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.” “And he marveled because of their unbelief.”

Both of these statements are absolutely incredible! Mark seems to be saying that Jesus couldn’t do mighty works in Nazareth. And then we have Jesus marveling, which means that He’s “amazed”, at their unbelief.

So, how do we interpret these things? I think if we’re going to understand them rightly then we need to interpret them in light of who Jesus actually is. We must be reminded that this is THE ONE through whom & for whom everything was created. This is THE ONE who knows the expanse of the Universe & the number of stars in it. This is THE ONE who is currently upholding the Universe by the word of His power. THIS IS JESUS!

So, this does not mean that Jesus was unaware of their unbelief. Nor does it mean that He was shocked by their unbelief. And it doesn’t mean that Jesus could not perform miracles, as though He was rendered powerless by the people’s unbelief.

God’s power is not subject to people’s response to Him. And His power is certainly not limited in any way. Jesus could have caused all of their hearts to stop beating in that moment. Or He could have caused the scales to fall off of all of their eyes so they could see the truth.

Jesus could have displayed His power. Instead, He chose to act in response to faith. Which is what He’s just done in Capernaum. He commended Jairus & the woman with the hemorrhage for their faith. I think that’s one of the main things that this text is meant to teach us.

Unbelief actually robs us of the incredible blessing that is available to us. There are no miracles performed and it causes Jesus to marvel; both examples that show us how horrifying unbelief actually is in light of Who God Is & What He has done.

So, I think the application is pretty straightforward for us. We all struggle with unbelief, don’t we? Do you believe the gospel & exhibit faith at all times? Of course you don’t, and neither do I.

John Calvin called the heart a factory of idols and he was right. We consistently believe that things are better than Jesus, and we exhibit unbelief as we chase after those things. Which is why the cry of our heart should be like the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark 9. When he “Cried out to Jesus and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!””

Brothers & Sisters, that should be the continual cry of all of our hearts: “I believe that Jesus is better, help my unbelief!” We desperately need God’s help to battle our unbelief.

Now, I want us to end by looking at what Jesus does next. He moves on from Nazareth, but it doesn’t stop His mission. Because the mission of God is uninterrupted. Mark says that “Jesus went about among the villages teaching.”

And, not just that, but Jesus takes this opportunity to send out His disciples. He gives them the power to minister to people in practical ways, He gives them them message of repentance, and He gives them instructions for how to go from town to town.

Now, there are a couple of things that we really need to take away from this section of the text. Notice first how Jesus gives them authority. I cannot overstate how important this is for you & me. We have no other authority outside what is given to us by Jesus. That was true of the disciples and it’s true of us!

In this picture that Mark gives us, the Kingdom of God has broken through and these guys were given the authority to tell people about it. But, think about our position: we live in the end times, the last days, and we have the message of the gospel. We have the message of salvation, the only thing that can bring people from death to life. And we’ve been given the authority by Christ to tell people about it.

Matthew:28 — “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore…”

2 Corinthians:5 — “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us…”

God has given us authority to take His gospel to the world, and He’s told us how to do it. In the same way that Jesus sent out His disciples in community, God has called us to bring the message of reconciliation in the context of community with one another. John 13 says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

God has called us to speak the message of the gospel while we show people what the gospel does; which is reconcile people (not just to God but to one another). Church, this is a high calling and an incredible privilege. God chooses to use us in His mission, not because He needs us, but because He loves us.

And — He sends us on mission for Him in a way that requires continual faith. Jesus gives the disciples a list of the bare essentials which means they have to be dependent on God to provide for them. In the same way, God has just given us the message of the gospel with no ability to save people, no ability to affect change in people’s lives. We are completely dependent upon Him to work, which pushes us back into belief, dependence and faith.

Brothers & Sisters, I want to encourage you in 2 ways as we close. First, you must constantly turn back into God in repentance for unbelief in your life and regularly ask Him to help you believe. I believe that’s a prayer that God delights in.

Second, you must realize that your role in this mission is not as much about what you know or don’t know. It’s not as much about what you have or don’t have. It’s about how dependent you are upon God to show up and work in people’s lives. And it’s about a willingness to be used by Him because you believe so strongly that He is the only way to experience life.

Good morning church! We’ve been reading through the gospel of Mark as a church for a few months now and it’s been an amazing journey trying to know and understand Jesus through this gospel. Last week we learnt about the demon possessed man who had an army of demons in him. Jesus sets him free and gives him a new life and a new identity. The man is sent back to his family and friends to tell them of how much the Lord has done for him. That’s our story too. Jesus freed us from sin and gave us a new life and a new identity and we’ll spend the rest of our lives telling people how much the Lord has done for us. And that’s how we arrive at today’s passage:

[21] When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. [22] Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. [23] He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” [24] So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. [25] And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. [26] She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. [27] When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, [28] because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” [29] Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. [30] At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” [31] “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” [32] But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. [33] Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. [34] He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

[35] While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” [36] Overhearing[c] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” [37] He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. [38] When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. [39] He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” [40] But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. [41] He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). [42] Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. [43] He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

In our lives when we are faced with impossible situations and we ask ourselves “Is God big enough to deliver me from my circumstance”, how must we respond? And I believe today’s passage offers a lot of hope and encouragement. There are two amazing stories of faith mentioned in this passage and let’s look at what can we learn from them.

1. We must approach God with earnestness

22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

Not a lot is said about Jairus except that he was a ruler of the synagogue. The synagogue setting is a little similar to our Sunday Gathering or GC setting. The OT Scriptures would be read and then explained to the people gathered there. So Jairus’ role was to select the readers and teachers each Sabbath. He had to examine the messages and make sure everything was done orderly and according to the traditions. Clearly he was a religious leader who had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures and Jewish traditions. He probably followed Jesus’ ministry closely. But even though he was so established in his religion, he needed to let go of his pride in order to approach Jesus. He needed to admit that he required help from God. He needed to believe that Jesus was the only person who could heal his daughter. The other aspect to earnestness was that he desperately pleaded with Jesus to come with him. He fell at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come and lay hands on his daughter because that was his only hope.

In Luke 18, Jesus told a parable to show them how they should approach God with earnestness. In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared man nor God. A widow kept coming to him with the plea “Please give me justice against my adversary”. He refused for sometime but then he thought “even though I don’t fear God or man, I’ll still make sure she gets justice so that she’ll eventually stop coming to me”. And the Lord said that “If the unrighteous judge responds in that manner, wouldn’t God give justice to his people who approach him earnestly? Will he delay in responding to them? He’ll give them justice quickly.

We should really consider what our approach to God is when it comes to difficult situations in our lives. It might be that you are praying for a godly partner to be married to. You’ve waited and prayed but haven’t received an answer yet. Well this passage should encourage us to not stop praying about it but trusting in the authority of God and the only one who can help, we should continue to approach God earnestly. Or it could be a struggle with sin where you’ve thought “I’ve tried a million times and a million different ways to stop sinning but I can’t”. If that’s where you are then it might mean letting go of your pride which also involves our self-righteous acts and falling at the feet of Jesus crying “Lord, please help me. I need you and I can’t conquer this on my own. On my own I’ll end up failing everytime. Only you can rescue me!” What it mean for you to approach God with earnestness today?

2. We must view our situation through the eyes of faith

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

As we are reading through the story of Jairus and his daughter, we see another story sandwiched between the two. It tells us of a woman who had a blood discharge disease for 12 years. She suffered quite a bit: there was the physical pain that she had to endure with multiple doctors and treatments. She was probably bedridden the whole time. Financially she was in a bad place because she spent all her money in treatments but nothing got her better. She was a social outcast because her disease made her unclean. Anyone who touched her would’ve also become unclean. It was a traumatic 12 years for her. And then she heard reports about Jesus. She thinks “I’ve spent so many years going behind all these doctors and treatments but they have been useless but Jesus can heal me. All I need to do is touch his cloak and I will be made well”!

This was something new because before Jesus came on the earth no one had ever heard of something like this – touching the cloak to get healed. And neither was Jesus wearing a magic cloak with magical abilities. So what was the secret? Faith. V34 Jesus says “Daughter your faith has made you well”. Later on when Jairus is told that his daughter is dead, Jesus tells him “Do not fear, only believe”.

What is faith? It means fully trusting and relying on who God is, what He says He will do and being assured that He knows what’s best for us. That’s why salvation is also received by faith. It involves us trusting in the holy judgment of God over sin but also the mercy of God through His Son. It involves us trusting in what Jesus said that if we believe in Him we will have eternal life. It also involves us in trusting that God’s way is the best for us.

Faith is the means by which God unlocks his glorious purposes and grants answers to our deepest longings and needs. It’s like God is stretching out his hand, and faith is the means by which we receive what God wants to give us.

Matt 21:22: If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask in prayer.

James 1:6: But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt.

But does it mean that God will give us answers as we would like every time? God’s answers are all in accordance to His will and His purposes. Sometimes God’s answer to prayers is “Yes”, sometimes “No” and sometimes “Not yet”. Faith isn’t a way to arm twist God into doing what you want but resting in the assurance that God will answer as He knows best.

Maybe we have an illness for which the doctors haven’t found an answer to. But we know that even in those cases we can turn to God in faith because He is our Creator. He speaks things into existence that never existed. He commands and all of creation obey – be it the sun, moon, stars, wind, humans and even demons. He brings back dead to life. He gives sight to the blind. He heals the broken hearted. We can persist in praying for healing because we know that God is pleased and delighted in genuine faith.

Hebrews 11:6: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

At the same time, we rest knowing that God will answer as He knows best. God’s answers might be contrary to our expectations. Nabeel Qureshi – a man of God who passed away last year due to cancer till the last moment was praying for healing. Not just him but his family and so many other supporters upheld him in prayer during that 1 year of treatment. Do you think he died because there was a lack of faith? No, sometimes God’s answer is different from what we expect but even in those moments of us waiting on God, God is working and making us more like His Son. In fact our faith grows stronger during moments of waiting.

3. We must desire intimacy with God more than immunity from problems

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

One of the interesting things I noticed in this passage is that Jesus looked around asking and trying to find out who touched his cloak. The Son of God who is all knowing already knew the woman before she was born and knew what she was going to do even before she did it. Why did Jesus have to meet with her? Didn’t she already get healed? Why have the personal conversation?

I believe the answer is in v34. The word that Jesus used for “healed you” has two meanings in the original language.

The obvious meaning is healing but it also means “saved”. Even though the physical need was already met, Jesus wanted to make sure that her deeper spiritual need was met. And we’ve already seen a similar thing earlier: when Jesus heals the paralyzed man, he forgives his sins before he performs the miracle. The real disease that all of us suffer with is the disease of sin. It’s more lethal than cancer and its effects will last for all of eternity. I wish God would give us eyes to see this as a disease in ourselves and others. In order to rescue us from this deadly disease, Christ came and died for us. He took on the punishment which killed him but He rose again on third day to give healing and life and vigour to all those that understood their need of help and looked to him for rescue. That’s the real need.

The main issue with the prosperity gospel is that it makes you desire and exalt immunity from problems more than intimacy with Jesus. And you don’t need to be a believer to make immunity from problems your main goal in life. Every human on this planet by nature is trying to do that. What makes a believer different from the rest of the world is that he desires Jesus more than immunity from problems. In fact a believer wants to give up all his treasures to get the real lasting treasure – Jesus. Also, if you are inviting people to follow Jesus by telling them that if they believe then they’ll receive health and wealth, then you are making Jesus a means to an end. You are dishonoring the Holy Son of God and making him out to be like a discount coupon which can be used to redeem a luxury item. People need to see Jesus as He displayed Himself to the world – Creator, Savior and Lord.

As I was pondering on this point, I asked myself “I’m not into the prosperity gospel but do I desire intimacy with God more than immunity from problems?” If all our problems were solved in a single second, would we still want Jesus? And that can easily answered by looking at our prayers. What’s the content of our prayers? When was the last time we spent time with God just to say “Jesus, I love you so much. I’m so thankful for what you have done for me on the cross. I’m thankful for being united with you. I want to know you more. I want to become like you”. I know it seems very basic but we have to always remind ourselves that that’s what we have been invited into – fellowship with Jesus. Let’s take out time each day to remind us that intimacy with God is most important. More important than the problems at work, more important than the illnesses and relational conflicts we may experience. There is a time and place for all these issues but let’s make intimacy with God the main thing.

Is God bigger than the greatest fear that I am facing right now? Yes, so how do we respond to it? By approaching God with earnestness, seeing our situations through the eyes of faith and desiring intimacy with God more than immunity from problems. He’s so precious to us that even in our worst of times facing our worst of fears we still desire to be with Him. This makes God look big and valuable to a lost and dying world around us.

Good morning church! We are going through a series in the Gospel of Mark trying to see from Scripture what does it say about who Jesus Is! So we are not relying on tradition or merely our human experiences or culture to determine who Jesus Is. Rather we’ve been investigating and digging deep into the character and works of Jesus as recorded in the Bible to understand this. Today’s passage is a very familiar one yet so relevant for our lives today. If you could turn with me to Mark 4:35-41.

[35] On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” [36] And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. [37] And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. [38] But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” [39] And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [40] He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” [41] And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

I absolutely loved going for youth camps! The night prior to the first day of the camp was filled with so much of excitement that at times I would forget to sleep. I loved the feeling of going to a place out of town with other believers to study the Word of God, sing melodious songs of worship through the day for 3 days, have meaningful group discussions with my peers and have lots of fun with the whole group! During those 3 days, with every sermon that was preached and every discussion that was conducted, I felt like I was growing so close to Jesus. But the moment I returned back to my usual schedule after the camp and faced my demanding boss, I realized where exactly I stood in my walk with Jesus. I realized that my faith wasn’t as strong as I thought it was. It was very shaky. My responses and attitude toward my boss whenever he would pressure on me did not show my faith positively. Often it’s the difficult times that really give us the best view of our walk with Jesus. It helps us know if we are trusting in God or not. If you’ve ever faced this tension and are wondering how to respond to the storms in your life, I believe today’s passage offers so much of hope. It gives us three reasons to trust God during difficult times.

1. We can trust God during difficulties because He is in complete control of our destiny

[35] On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” [36] And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. (v35, 36)

Jesus spent the whole day teaching people in many parables. He taught them so many things about the kingdom of God. He spoke about what it meant to be a real follower, what these followers would do and how would the kingdom of God grow. So much was being taught in parables, but only those who genuinely wanted to understand came back to Jesus and asked him for an explanation. These disciples gained a lot of head knowledge like the youth camp experience, but Jesus wanted to give them a lesson on what real faith looks like. Again, it’s interesting to see that this lesson wasn’t given to the crowd but to those who really wanted to follow Jesus. So he tells them to take the boat to the other side of the sea. We see Jesus initiating the plan to go to the other side so that He could reveal Himself to them. The storm wasn’t an unexpected incident that happened to the disciples but was part of Jesus’ sovereign plan to help them trust Him. We don’t see Jesus being surprised or fearful during the storm. In fact, what do we see Him do? He is asleep as a hurricane is taking place and as the boat is filling up. Jesus can afford to sleep during a storm because He is in perfect control of the situation. He knows what’s going to take place and He knows the end.

What’s would you say is the main difference between an experienced cricketer and a young inexperienced cricketer? Most people would say temperament. The way they handle tough circumstances shows their experience. A young cricketer who is just fresh into the sport will try to hit big shots and lose his wicket when the run rate is high. The experienced cricketer through his experience knows how to navigate the game even though the run rate is high. With all the experience, he knows how to win games even under pressure. He knows what is achievable and he’ll remain calm under those circumstances. Guess what happens to the entire team when the experienced cricketer is on the field? They’ll all relax because they know that they can trust his experience during a tough time. That’s the case with an ordinary human being who is only experienced in cricket. How much more relaxed can we as believers be to trust in God who knows all things and is in complete control of the end of all things?

Sometimes when we go through different types of difficulties and trying circumstances like financial troubles, we may express out of our pain “God, please don’t be silent. I’m going through a severe time of difficulty which is too hard to bear. Do you understand what I’m going through? Father, are you still in control of my life?” We may ask these questions in doubt and pain, but let’s realize how sure and firm is God’s control of our destiny. He is God not man to lose control and be afraid.

Psalm 139:4: Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

Luke 12:7: Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Proverbs 16:33: The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

So although the timing and the answers God gives to people’s prayers vary due to His plans and purposes, it doesn’t mean that God’s not in control. He works everything perfectly in a way to bring glory to Himself and for our best interests.

2. We can trust God during difficulties because He is present with us

[37] And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. [38] But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” [39] And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [40] He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”

This windstorm was a hurricane like situation. The waves and waters were filling up the boat and they were really in a very dangerous situation. But why does Jesus tell them “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” Why was Jesus implying that they should not be afraid and they should have faith? Isn’t fear natural to a person when he is facing a cyclone situation and is on the sea? I think one of the reasons was because He wanted them to realize that His presence with them should assure them of safety and protection. Not only is God in control of the destiny of these disciples but Jesus’ physical presence with them meant that He was joining them during their stormy journey. You know if Jesus wanted to, he could’ve taught his disciples this lesson without physically being there. But he chose to be present with them through the storm. And that’s probably one of the most encouraging things and different things we see in the Christian faith compared to any other religious belief system. In every other religious system, God is perceived as someone who is not personal and acts out judgments from a distance and demands people to keep up to a rule book. In the Christian faith as described in the Bible, God is so personally attached to His people. He is not disconnected from us but wants to be involved in every single area. When we mess up, he personally sends His Son into the world as a human to live among us, then die on the cross for our sins and then rise again on the third day so that we can be with God forever. That’s the extent of God’s desire to be present with us. He removed every reason to be disconnected from us in order that He remains with us forever. That’s why you have even more of a reason to trust God during difficult times, because he does not abandon you…rather He says “I will never leave you, nor forsake you”.

I remember a time growing up when I was scared of some older boys who seemed like bullies in my area. I was always intimidated by them and so I would be afraid every time I walked past them alone. I told this to my dad and even though it wasn’t possible for my dad to be with me every single time but I knew whenever I walked with my dad, I wasn’t afraid because he was there with me. I felt secure and safe. If the presence of our earthly parents makes us feel safe, how much more secure should we be during times of difficulty because of our heavenly Father?

So as we go through a difficult situation in our life. It could be a difficult relationship with a close family member or a colleague. There could be a lot of resentment and insecurity built over the years and it’s taking time for that relationship to heal. Sometimes God instantly restores a relationship while other times it takes a while. Probably there are still insults being hurled at you, you are made to feel guilty and you feel miserable about the state of the relationship. What do you need the most right now? It’s not sympathetic words or ways to fight back. Know that you need the presence of Jesus. Know that Jesus is with you through this difficult time. Know that Jesus doesn’t abandon you. How do you become aware of God’s presence? As you meditate on His Word and respond back in prayer. Sometimes we make God’s presence to be a feeling or experience. The more we Jesus through the pages of the Bible, the more real and active will His presence be for us. His presence will comfort you and will assure you of safety and protection.

3. We can trust God during difficulties because He is all-powerful

[39] And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [40] He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” [41] And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Just imagine being on that boat. You are all terrified because of the great hurricane. You think you’re going to die and Jesus rebukes the wind and tells the sea to be silent and there is an instant change of weather and sea conditions! That was how startling it was for these disciples. They are astonished and in fact fearful because now they recognize he’s not just a teacher but he is Almighty God who commands nature and they obey His voice. If God didn’t have all the power and authority, then we would have enough reason to doubt if God can handle our difficulties. But that’s not the case, God’s power to do as He wills and to instantly transform conditions or create things that never existed gives us all the more reason to trust Him completely.

There are many stories we hear of people who have complaints about a product that they’ve used. They end up contacting the customer service for weeks and there’s no solution to their problem. Then out of sheer frustration they write a letter to the CEO of the product company not knowing if it will even reach the CEO but they still go ahead and send it. Within few days, the representatives contact the person and rectify the solve the issue that they are facing.

The reason why the letter to the CEO has such a strong and quick impact is because the CEO has so much of power within the company. He can decide the fate of the employee and so he can make things happen quickly. The person writes to the CEO because he trusts in the authority of the CEO. We can trust God with our difficulties because He has the power and the authority to execute His plans. There is nothing in the universe that is impossible with God.

This should encourage us to come to God with every difficulty that we face in our lives. There’s nothing too big and neither is there nothing too small for God. At the same time, I’m not saying that God will always answer our prayers as we want it. Even Jesus being the Son of God at the garden said “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” And God’s purpose was that Jesus would suffer so that through His suffering all of us could be saved. So we must come to God with our requests no matter how difficult it may be trusting in the fact that God is powerful to do as He wants. Remember Jesus is not merely a teacher who came to the earth to give us theology, He is God – maker of heaven and the earth, ruler and judge of all things and people, the Only Way to God and the giver of eternal life! You can certainly trust in His power and authority as you approach Him with your requests. And once we’ve handed over the issues to God, to exhibit child like trust and believe that God will answer as He knows best.

What we truly believe in, what is the condition of our faith…all these things get revealed clearly and prominently during a difficult time or a storm in your life. But as we studied today, we can absolutely trust God in our difficulties because He is in complete control of our destiny, He is present with us and He is all-powerful.

[1] Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. [2] And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: [3] “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. [4] And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. [5] Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. [6] And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. [7] Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. [8] And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty-fold and sixty-fold and a hundredfold.” [9] And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” [10] And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. [11] And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, [12] so that

“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

[13] And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? [14] The sower sows the word. [15] And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. [16] And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. [17] And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.[a] [18] And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, [19] but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. [20] But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty-fold and sixty-fold and a hundredfold.”

Who among you is a true follower of Jesus? That’s the question a youth pastor once asked his youth group. All the hands went up. There was no surprise there. “Alright”, he asked “How many of you would still follow Jesus if it meant that you had to give up all your stuff including your phone?” Immediately 50% of the hands dropped. He asked them further, “Okay. how many of you would follow Jesus if it meant that you had to go to the interiors of Maharashtra and settle there for the mission of God?” Another 40% of the hands dropped. Finally, he said “how many of you would follow Jesus if it meant following him upto the cross?” At this all of the hands dropped and the whole room was filled with silence. At this point, one of the boys asked the youth pastor “how come you didn’t mention any of this to us while you asked us to repeat the sinner’s prayer after you?” Following Christ is a serious commitment and Jesus desires real followers who would remain with Him, learn from Him and become like Him. Today’s passage is a very familiar one for most of us. I’m sure we’ve heard many sermons on this passage but I want us to pay a close attention to what Christ calls from us. Let’s reflect on this passage and evaluate ourselves to check and see if we are real followers of Jesus.

There are 3 things that Christ demands from His followers:

1. Real openness to the gospel
2. Real faith in the gospel
3. Real fruit through the gospel

Real openness to the gospel

[3]“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. [4] And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

[14] The sower sows the word. [15] And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

It’s just so cool to see how Jesus uses things and objects from that time to help people understand deep spiritual truths. Most of us probably won’t completely relate to this analogy because we aren’t working in the fields all day but the people to whom Jesus was speaking to clearly understood what he was saying. They knew that throwing seeds on the road would be useless. Neither would it find any soil to grow its roots and it wouldn’t even last long on the road – the birds would quickly pick it up and eat it. Jesus used that to indicate a heart that is stubborn and hard-hearted toward the things of God. Anything about God or sin or righteousness or holiness is immediately shot down. The mind completely shuts down when gospel is spoken to the person.

Since I was a kid I remember how my parents would take me to every single prayer meeting or conference that they could take me to. Every Thursday, Friday and even Saturday was spent with the church or in prayer meetings. Now it’s one thing that most of those meetings were in Malayalam so I didn’t understand the messages fully but it just felt like with every passing year that it was getting harder to listen and understand these messages. The moment the preacher would start preaching, my mind would instantly tune out. Later on when I started going to a church where the messages would be preached in English, same response. So if you had to just look at my schedule each week: it was packed with religious activity. I was involved in every meeting or conference that heralded the name of Jesus Christ but was I a follower? Absolutely not. What was missing? For starters, the manner in which I responded to the word of God. It’s not because I wasn’t capable of understanding the spiritual truths, I didn’t respond to the gospel because my heart was hardened with sin. I didn’t want to change. So there was no joy, no gladness and no excitement when the gospel was being preached.

So how did God change me? He humbled me and put me in a place where I would recognize my need for Him and the gospel. The miracle of the gospel is that the Holy Spirit uses the word as the raw material to break through our stone hearts and give us a new life and a new heart! Are we in a place where our mind shuts down every time we read the Bible or listen to a message? Is the Bible and spiritual conversations something that makes us really uncomfortable? Well, the answer is not in avoiding God but in humbling ourselves and confessing our sins and our need for Him. It’s our sin and hard heartedness that prevents us from knowing God. And even though we’ve messed up, God provides a way. See the promise in Ezekiel 36.

[25] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. [26] I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezek 36:25-27)

God has done everything for us. We needed cleaning, he cleansed us. We had a heart of stone, he gave us a new heart. We needed a new spirit, he gave us a new one. We couldn’t obey His commands, He gave us a Spirit to help us obey God’s commands. So this should also encourage us to pray earnestly for our family members and friends and colleagues and neighbours who have hardened hearts. The power is in the Spirit as we share the gospel with them.

Real faith in the gospel

[5] Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. [6] And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

[16] And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. [17] And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

What do we see when we look at the next type of soil/heart condition. Here is a person who receives the word with joy. He’s not like the person who shuts his mind when the gospel is preached. He hears, delights and rejoice in it. But this faith has no depth. It’s very superficial. It’s temporary. It would not last long since there is no serious commitment. So when things get a little harder: financial problems, marriage issues, difficulty at your workplace, sickness and ailments, maybe someone close to you left you and went away, maybe someone cheated you and you feel betrayed – at that point if your faith is not real, you will be ready to give it up and forsake Jesus.

Or it could be persecution because of the faith! It probably is cool accepting Jesus and talking about Him within the four corners of the building where your church meets. But the moment people insult you, harm you and even exclude you from the family or your community, then if your faith isn’t real you’ll be ready to give it up.

Even as I’m saying this, I know it’s really difficult and stressful for some of us to be a believer. You might be the only believer in your home. It’s not easy one bit. But just because we are going through a hard time, that shouldn’t stop us from loving, knowing and trusting Jesus. That’s real faith. Like in marriage, just because the couple may be going through financial trouble or a severe sickness, that shouldn’t stop them from being committed to each other. They don’t stop being husband and wife. The covenant of marriage says “till death do us part”. You don’t abandon your spouse when things get difficult. Real faith means that you remain committed to Christ even when everything around you is crashing down. Real faith sees hardships, trials and sufferings as God’s ordained means of making you like His Son. It’s like a man who wears several layers of clothes. Imagine hardships and persecutions as different things that remove every extra layer of clothing. One by one all the layers of pride, comfort, selfishness, people pleasing get peeled off and finally you come to the single piece of clothing that you were wearing all along. If your faith is real, that will be Jesus Christ who will be seen in you. That’s the goal.

If you had to look into your life and honestly answer. What is your response to hardships and persecutions? What would that say about our commitment to Jesus? I’m not saying that we will always perfectly respond to hardships. There are times when we do struggle in our faith. There are times when our faith wavers because of our circumstances. But that shouldn’t cause us to desert Christ. We don’t stop loving and obeying Jesus even though we will experience moments of unbelief. We repent, believe in the gospel and move ahead. We repent, believe in the gospel and move ahead. The Christian life will have struggles but you’ll always see a progression in faith.

Real fruit through the gospel

[7] Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. [8] And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty-fold and sixty-fold and a hundredfold. [9] And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

[18] And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, [19] but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. [20] But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty-fold and sixty-fold and a hundredfold.

The third type of soil is the one among thorns. The issue with this kind of spirituality is that it doesn’t produce any fruit. In this case they are definitely hearing the Word but there are somethings that choke up your faith:

1. Cares of the World: This means being anxious about future, where you’ll live, what job to take up, how much money to make…all of these things consume your mind and drive your life
2. Deceitfulness of Riches: All your actions and choices in life will indicate that you believe that money and possessions will answer all the problems in life
3. Desires for other things: these are longings and cravings for forbidden things. Things that you know are wrong and outside of God’s will for you, where you live believing that these pleasures will fulfill you.

Growing up whenever I heard this part I always thought this was the second best type of soil after the good soil. I thought their condition wasn’t too bad. However, if you asked a farmer he would tell you that this kind of plant that doesn’t bear fruit is totally useless. The point of planting a seed is for it to grow and bear fruit. All these three types of soil are compared with a fourth soil which is the good soil. This is a person who shows real openness to the gospel, he shows real faith in the gospel and also bears fruit through the gospel. It’s not good enough to just be hearing the gospel and taking in the word but true followers of Christ are fruit-bearing. Now what is the fruit? All the righteous qualities that the Spirit empowered you with when you became a believer: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). As a child of God having the DNA of God placed in you through the Spirit, you begin behaving like Jesus Christ more and more each day. How you look at life, what you desire, what you value the most, whom do you want most in the world – all of that changes when the Holy Spirit comes into you. And the people around you see all these godly qualities in increasing measure. You’ll start getting more questions from the people around you. They’ll find it strange in the way you take the important life decisions. They’ll ask “Why do you say that you’ll only marry a believer? Why do you not swear? Why do you say that you’ll keep yourself pure until marriage? Why do you show kindness toward that person who has been so insulting toward you? Why do you still remain committed to your spouse? Why do you keep talking about Jesus? Why do you not cheat and lie in the workplace?” All of these questions will give you plenty of opportunities to reflect and talk about this great Savior whom you follow.

Are there times when Jesus followers don’t display the fruit? Yes. But you’ll always see true followers repenting and turning back because you are united to Him. True followers will realize He is everything to them. They understand how their spiritual life, physical life and everything else is sustained by Him only. They can’t live apart from Him and cannot desire life without Him. They realize He is holding their faith and so there’s always that desire and response of repentance that’s inbuilt within them.

What I really want all of us today to understand is that following Jesus is a serious call and a higher call for all of us. Christ is not exalted and shown as precious with half-hearted devotion but with a red-hot burning faith that is authentic. When people look at your openness to the gospel – your willingness to take in and hear everything that corresponds to God’s Word, when people look at your real faith in the gospel – persevering in the midst of suffering and hardships & when people look at your fruit through the gospel – one that shows the character of our Savior – all of this glorifies Jesus Christ and shows Him for who He is!