Category: Sermon

Lets Call Him King – Mark 15:1-20

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date March 31, 2019
No Comments on Lets Call Him King – Mark 15:1-20

Good Morning Church, Our passage for today is Mark 15:1-20

After Jesus was arrested and accused with many false allegations by the Pharisees & Scribes, he was brought to the Pilate who was the Governor at that time. The first question Pilate asks Jesus is “Are you the King of the Jews?”. To which Jesus answers “You have said so”.

Since the Pharisees didn’t have any reasonable charge against Jesus they falsely accuse Him by informing the Pilate that He calls Himself the “King of the Jews” which in those days was a crime. It was a crime because the region was ruled by Emperor Tiberius and anyone calling himself as a King was a threat to the Roman Empire and deserved severe punishment.

Mark tells us that the chief priests accused Jesus of many other things, and when Pilate again asked Him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” Jesus made no further answer which Mark says amazed the Pilate.

And the reason I believe Pilate was amazed was that He knew the allegations were false and that Jesus could have easily defended his case and proved himself innocent, but that is not what Jesus did.

Instead, Jesus gave himself up for the sinful and rebellious people of this world. He absorbed the injustice happening to Him which neither Pilate nor others could understand or comprehend.

Being on the other side of redemptive history we now know that Jesus was giving himself up for a greater purpose of redeeming mankind from the clutches of sin and death to a restored relationship with creator God, the Father in heaven who sent him to earth for this very purpose.

Philippians 2:6-8

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

1 John 2:2

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Because of our sin & rebellion, our hearts have turned against the God who created us for His glory. We’ve become sinful, unworthy & unholy people who love sinning and rebelling against the authority of God.

Because of which God’s Holy wrath is upon us and the punishment for sin is death & destruction.

But because God so immensely loved us, he sent His son Jesus who takes our sins upon himself and absorbs the wrath of God that was upon us.

Jesus stays silent in the presence of Pilate and refuses to defend the false allegations upon him because He was willingly taking the punishment upon himself, the sins of the whole world, all the people, even till this day.

The wrath of God that was upon us He took it upon himself.

As He is doing so, he is also making his identity known to the people. When Pilate asks whether or not he is the King of the Jews, Jesus openly makes a bold affirmation that He is the King. To the High priests, he also affirmed that He is the Son of Man who will sit at the right hand of the Most High and will come back on the clouds.

What amazes me are the people group that was present at the greatest moment in history and yet failed to recognise & accept Jesus as their King.

The first group of people are the Pharisees and the Scribes who were theological scholars who went to Christian seminaries and studied the scriptures in and out. Read all the prophecies that were spoken about Jesus by Prophet Isaiah, King David and many others.

But unfortunately, they were so full of pride and narcissism that they couldn’t imagine letting go of their self-made fame and the authority they had over the people. They loved their position and wealth so much that they couldn’t stand Jesus who was challenging their authority, and even said and did things that were shaking their mini-kingdom. Accepting Jesus as the King meant losing their business and giving up on all their ungodly wealth, pleasures & pursuits.

The second group of people were the disciples and the followers of Jesus, even the Roman soldiers, who saw Jesus perform great miracles, heal the sick, heard Him speak about the Kingdom of God. Some of them even convinced that He was the Son of God who came to make all things new by offering himself as a sacrifice for their sins.

But unfortunately, these guys were so full of fear, lacked courage and was unprepared & unwilling to pay the cost of being His disciples, because of which they kept their mouth shut, and some even went hiding like the Apostle Peter.

The third group of people were the crowds and the onlookers, these were people who were so self-absorbed with their own lives, all they wanted was to be entertained. They probably knew nothing about Jesus or even what was happening, they might have considered the man Jesus as one of the criminals who has been punished for treason.

And we look at these people groups, it is easy for us to sit here and judge their actions and condemn them for their behaviour towards Jesus but we can totally forget that we too can possess the same qualities like them and behave in the same manner as they did.

Just as Jesus affirmed to Pilate that He is the King, not only of the Jews but the King of all generations, of all cultures, of all people groups, of all tribes, of all nations. Even till this day, he continues to show and affirm it to the world that He is the true King.

He is doing it through the faithful witness of His redeemed people, he is doing it by appearing in dreams and visions, he is doing it by showing His glory through the creation and in many other ways.

But still many of us fail to see and accept Him as the King of our lives and even fail to submit ourselves under His Authority.

Let me share with you three reasons from the passage why we fail to see and accept Him as our King. I will also share with you some practical applications on how we can overcome our failures.

1.The first reason we fail to see Him as our King is because of our spiritual blindness.

I’ll put the onlookers and the spectators in this category of the people group. For our context, we’re talking about the unbelievers of this world. They are people in our families, in our workplace, in our neighborhood, who’ve heard the story of Jesus, even seen the movie Passion of Christ, but are so self-absorbed with their lives that they just can’t get their head around it and are unable to put their faith in Jesus.

They are spiritually blind, and the reason these people are spiritually blind and unable to see Christ as the true King is explained by Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:4. He writes “In their case the god of this world (Devil) has blinded their minds, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Maybe there are some of us sitting here this morning, you’ve come to church because someone invited you here, you’ve even heard the story of Jesus multiple times, but for some reason, you are unable to get your head around it and unable to believe this truth and follow Jesus.

There is a possibility that the enemy of Christ, the god of this world, the devil has blinded our mind from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

If you are that person and you desire to know this Jesus the way others in this room sees him, you want to know Him as the true King of this world and of your life. I suggest that you talk to Jesus as if you are talking to a real person and ask Him to open your eyes and reveal himself to you.

And if you do that with an honest and a seeking heart, I can confidently say that he will take away that veil of blindness from your eyes and will surely reveal himself to you as He has revealed himself to us.

One of our family friend who was a young Muslim girl by the name of Saira Banu, now known as Sarah. When she was in college, someone shared the story of Jesus with her and one day as she was doing her regular Namaz (Muslim Prayer) she spoke to Jesus and told him if you are the true God then reveal yourself to me, and I will follow you all the days of my life. The same night Jesus appeared to her in a dream and spoke. And since then she’s been a believer and a follower of Jesus.

The story of Saira Banu is one of the many stories in which Jesus has revealed himself as King.

There are also many here who’ve been sharing the Gospel and telling the story of Jesus to your family member, a co-worker, a neighbor, a stranger on the street. But no matter how diligently you try, they fail to understand and fail to respond in faith, as if there is a veil that’s blocking their minds from seeing and accepting Christ as the King.

My encouragement to you is that you share the Gospel please also pray for that person, even more diligently. It is not enough for us to just share the story of Jesus and hope that he or she will respond in faith. The problem is their spiritual blindness. It is not our eloquent words and persuasive gospel-sharing methods that will open their minds. Only God can open their minds and help them see Jesus as the true King.

Pray before the Gospel, pray after sharing the Gospel. We are a believer because someone prayed for us. The person I could is my Mom who diligently prayed for me and asked God to open my eyes to the truth and to use me as His servant.

2.The second reason why people fail to see Jesus as the true King and follow Him is because of lack of courage and unpreparedness & unwillingness to pay the cost of becoming His follower.

I’ll put the disciples & the followers of Jesus in this category of people who knew Jesus was the true King but failed to acknowledge or stand with him when he was being crucified.

There are many us even today when we heard the Gospel, our eyes opened, and our hearts responded in faith. We dropped our idols, our past ways, and decided to follow Jesus.

But as soon as we started experiencing the reality of living for Jesus, paying the cost and carrying our cross daily, face threat & persecution from family and friends because of our faith any even other kinds of sufferings we undergo. We either end up abandoning him, or we’ve stopped acknowledge Jesus as our King of lives and follow him wholeheartedly.

Coming to a safe environment like church or GC and declaring ourselves as Christian is easy but when we’re out in the world we feel scared, we lack courage, we feel unprepared & unwilling to pay the cost of being His disciple.

In Luke 14:26-27 Jesus said

26 You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot come with me unless you love me more than you love your own life.

27 You cannot be my disciple unless you carry your own cross and come with me.

You may ask How do we buckle up such courage?

The answer to that question is to be men who are filled and led by the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told His disciples that the Holy Spirit will come upon them, whom the Father will send in his name, to teach us all things and bring to our remembrance all that I have said to you.

The same Spirit, when it is upon us also gives us the courage to follow Jesus and obey His commands no matter what circumstances we’re facing.

Remember, when the disciples were the upper room and praying, the Holy Spirit came upon them and, the same Peter who denied Jesus, stood with the other eleven, lifted up his voice, addressed the crowd, preached the Gospel with boldness and three thousand souls were added to the Kingdom of God. Theologians say that Peter was crucified for his faith in Christ.

Do you lack the courage to stand up for Jesus and declare Him as the King of your life? Are you not prepared to pay the cost of being of Jesus?

My encouragement to you is ask the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit and He will give you the strength and courage needed to face challenging situations.

3.And finally, the third reason why we fail to accept Him as our King is because we tend to love darkness more than light.

I’ll put the Pharisees and the Scribes in this category of people who were okay to release and tolerate a criminal & a murderer like Barabas instead of Jesus. Just because Barabas wasn’t going to disrupt their fame, wealth & ungodly pursuits but Jesus would.

We’ve heard the Gospel, accepted the fact that Jesus is the true King, pretend to be a Christian, even go to Church but have not yet given full reign of our lives to King Jesus.

I’m sorry to say, but a Half-hearted surrendering is no surrendering at all.

And the reason some of us haven’t given full reign of our lives to King Jesus is because we love the darkness more than light, we love the pleasure of sin than the joy of being with Jesus, we love slothfulness & comforts more than diligence to Christ, we love money, wealth & possessions more than God.

In Matthew 6:24 Jesus said “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Brothers & sisters, it may seem like there is joy is pursuing the world and its pleasures, but remember the end is not going to be pleasurable as you think. Without complete surrender to Jesus and his Kingship over our lives we are never going to make it to heaven and sadly end up in the wrong place.

Fully surrendering to Jesus & accepting His as our King doesn’t mean that we will become perfect human beings. For as long as we are in this flesh, we will be imperfect.

But a man and a woman who is truly for Jesus will live a life of continual repentance and belief in the Gospel. And they will produce Fruit as they keep up with Repentance.

Jesus said a good tree will be known by its fruit and so is a truly surrendered Christian.

If you are in that place this morning, I want to urge you to repent of your sins, give up on your pride, let loose of your grip on money and possessions and see and accept Jesus as your true King and the greatest treasure of your Life.

1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Tags Cost, jesus, King, Lord

Mark Sermon

What do we do when our commitment to Christ fails? – Mark 14:66-72

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date March 24, 2019
No Comments on What do we do when our commitment to Christ fails? – Mark 14:66-72

Good morning church! It’s a pleasure to be sharing the Word with you. As a church we have been reading through the gospel of Mark. Right now we are in Mark 14 and as we are turning to today’s text let me share a small context.

The setting is right at the home of the high priest. Jesus has been arrested and is on trial. All of his disciples have abandoned him. Jesus is all alone as He is being insulted, accused, beaten and humiliated as He reveals His identity as the Son of God. And in the midst of that we have a passage on Peter that totally transforms his life! Let’s look at v 66-72.

I still remember how amazing the first week was after I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. Everything was so great! I enjoyed fellowship with God – reading the Word and prayer. I had brand new desires to grow in holiness. I wanted to grow with other believers. But I quickly realized that I became more and more aware of the sin in my life and some sin patterns were repeated and frequent. I started going back to God asking for forgiveness.

First time, second time, tenth time…by the time it reached the hundredth I began questioning if it was possible for me to lose my salvation. Surely God has lost patience by now. And that left me really insecure for some time because I thought it was up to me to keep my commitment to Jesus. It was around that time – alongside other believers and a weekly bible study that I where my whole understanding of the gospel changed drastically. What is it that holds our relationship with Christ together? What happens when our best efforts and intentions fail in our relationship with Christ? Today’s passage helps us answer this:

We are prone to be unfaithful to God

This incident of Peter denying Jesus is mentioned in all 4 gospels. We know that the gospel writer Mark was mentored by Peter, so the account in the gospel Mark is through the lens of Peter. Why would Peter mention such an embarrassing story? If we were to write an autobiography, we would probably exclude the bad and embarrassing stories about ourselves. Why mention this? I think the first reason is to show how we all are prone to be unfaithful to God. Peter, even though he was a key leader among the disciples of Jesus was unfaithful to God. We see that displayed in:

False promises (v29-31):

29 Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

Peter seemed quite confident that he will never deny Christ even to the point of death. Now we know that Peter is known for being impulsive. During the transfiguration, he sees Jesus standing in glory with Moses and Elijah and he tells Jesus that he’ll make three tents for each of them.

We know he is impulsive but before we quickly make our judgments, let’s realize that he isn’t too different from us. He is a reflection of what goes on in our hearts. I’m sure he had the best intentions when Peter made the promise but his promise ultimately turned out to be false and empty.

How many of us have ever promised after a Sunday sermon – “I will do better next time. I will pray more from tomorrow onwards. I will spend more time in the Bible from tomorrow morning. I will cut off a particular sin pattern from my life”? I’ve done this myself.

Even though we say we know the gospel, isn’t it true that our responses sometimes to a sermon on a Sunday morning is self-help? And what we don’t admit a lot of the times is that we make a lot of false promises to God. Even as we are singing some of the songs we do, do we make false promises? “I’m coming back to the heart of worship…it’s all about you…it’s all about you Jesus”. Is it really about Him? Even our best intended promises turn out to be false.

Fearful Heart

54 And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. (v54)

In some verses earlier we see that guards were right next to Peter as he was being confronted by the servant girl. And Peter saw what happened to Jesus. He was beaten, spat at, humiliated and pronounced guilty of death.

Associating himself with Jesus would mean inviting the very same consequences. Even though he gave Jesus a very bold assurance a few verses earlier, when it came down to the actual moment he was overcome by fear. He wasn’t ready to be beaten, humiliated and to die for Jesus.

In our current situations in life – be it at work or home or personal life – do we see ourselves more often than not operate out of fear or faith? Big question I know. But let’s ask ourselves – are we more likely to make choices and decisions in our lives based on fear of consequences and people or do we make choices out of faith in Christ?

Failing loyalty

67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you mean.”

69 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak.”

In these three denials, we can see a failing loyalty to Christ. Peter was one of the closest people to Jesus. He was one of the three in the inner circle. He spent 3 ½ years with Jesus seeing Jesus do marvelous things for people & teach with authority & live an impeccable life. But at this very moment, when he was asked about being with Jesus – he disowned Jesus. He rejected knowing him.

He refused to accept any association with Jesus. That’s because it revealed what he truly valued and treasured in his heart. He had to chose between the idols in his heart and Jesus and he chose the idols. He chose himself over Jesus.

Have we ever seen this failing loyalty in our hearts? Calvin said that our heart is a factory of idols. We are regularly churning out more and more idols that are competing for the affections of our heart. And when do we see our idols? On a stressful day, what or whom do we turn to for relief? When we are sad and upset, what do we turn to comfort us? When we are bored and idle, what or whom do we turn to automatically? And if we are being absolutely honest, we’ll admit that we will see a failing loyalty. We don’t always say that Jesus is better.

The famous hymn “Come thy fount” has an interesting line in one of its verses which says “Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love”. What I’m trying to say is that we can’t rely on our promises, or our heart, or our loyalty to sustain and keep this relationship. Why? Because our promises are false, our hearts are fearful and our loyalty is failing.

Whenever we come before the throne of God, we need to admit that we are prone to be unfaithful. Even our best intentions and our best efforts to keep up our commitment will end up in being unfaithful. Our position after listening to God’s Word cannot be “I will do better” but rather a humble position “I don’t know what’s going on in my heart. I know I’m prone to be unfaithful. Lord, help me!”

But if we are only left with this truth that we are prone to be unfaithful, we will be left in despair. But the best truth is that:

Christ still remains faithful towards us

27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

Already in verses 27,28 along with Jesus’ prophecy on the denial and abandonment, He already spoke about meeting with them after He is raised up!! Even though we are prone to be unfaithful, Christ will still be faithful to us.

Christ’s faithfulness is not based on our faithfulness. He will remain faithful irrespective because He cannot go against His character. And He upholds this relationship and commitment. But what does that look like tangibly in a relationship where I am prone to be unfaithful?

Christ desires repentance by revealing our sin

72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. [j]

The purpose in Jesus telling Peter that he would deny him 3 times before the rooster crows twice was not to insult him or tell him “Aha…I told you so” or to condemn him. But the purpose was to draw Peter to repentance by revealing his sin.

Prior to this incident, Peter probably thought he was the most committed guy to Jesus. But this whole incident revealed the opposite because of the idols in his heart. Because Jesus treasures the relationship He has with us, He will always bring to light areas in our life which will need to be repented of.

And we see the repentance being reflected in the sorrow Peter showed over his sin. Imagine this… think about a close relationship that you have. Married people – think about the relationship with your spouse. Unmarried people – think about the relationship with someone in your family. If you’ve done something to offend them and deeply hurt them, wouldn’t you feel sorrowful over what you’ve done? You couldn’t just sit and be normal.

When you know that you’ve hurt someone you love, it will grieve you. So even in our relationship with Christ, when the Holy Spirit brings to light areas of sin in our hearts, if we are truly genuinely repentant we will mourn over our sin. I’m not saying you need to manipulate your tears but respond as you would to any close relationship.

2 Cor 7: 9 says For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Christ produces faithfulness by redeeming our lives

Few weeks after this very same incident, we see Peter boldly preaching on the Day of Pentecost before a large crowd. The Word says that they were cut to the heart. And they asked him “What must we do to be saved?” And Peter said to them “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins”.

Sometime after that – Peter and John are called in by the Sanhedrin in Acts 4. These are powerful religious authorities. They charge them to stop teaching in the name of Jesus. What do Peter and John say? “You judge for yourselves if it is right in the sight of God to listen to you or obey God for, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard!”

What brought about such a drastic change? I think it was Peter realizing that His loving Savior died & rose again on the third Day for him even though he rejected and refused to associate with Him. Peter realized how Christ was faithful to Him despite His unfaithfulness. And that stirred up his heart in repentance. I hope you see the two sides of repentance: one is the mourning over sin the other is the turning away from sin – both being motivated by the unlimited kindness and faithfulness shown toward you.

Brothers and sisters, what is hope for all of us who see ourselves failing in our commitment? It’s not based on our intentions, our promises, our heart and emotions, our loyalty but it’s based on Christ’s faithfulness toward us.

Do you want to truly repent today? Ask God to reveal your sin so that you can mourn over what offends God. And then ask God to fill your heart with so much love in what Christ has done so that you can turn away from unfaithfulness.

Tags Commitment, Fear, Heart, Loyalty, Promise, repentance, Sin, Unfaithful

Mark Sermon

I Am – Mark 14:53-65

Good morning Gathering. It’s great to be with you this morning and privilege to open the Word of God together. I hated to be out the last couple of weeks, but I had the opportunity to preach at two other churches in the city. And that’s something that we definitely value, because we’re for the gospel in our city! We want to see a whole host of Bible-believing, gospel-centered, God-glorifying churches throughout Mumbai. So, while I certainly don’t like to miss out on our time here at the Gathering, it was great to serve a couple of other churches in our area.

But, it’s good to be back and I’m excited to jump back into The Gospel of Mark with you. If you have a Bible with you this morning, I’d invite you to turn there with me to Mark chapter 14. It’s hard to believe that, after so many months in Mark, we have nearly arrived at the crucifixion.

Jesus and His disciples have just observed the Passover meal. It’s this beautiful time where Jesus reorients the Passover around Himself. He essentially put Himself as the object of the Passover and, in doing so, He instituted the Lord’s Supper (which we’ll observe at the end of our time together this morning).

And the instruction that Jesus gives during that meal (and as He washes the disciples feet) is incredible. You need to look at the other gospels to get the fuller context of what Jesus taught during that time (John’s gospel is particularly helpful on this)…

It’s really during the last supper that we see this shift toward the abandonment of Jesus by His followers. He reveals that one of the disciples will betray Him and that’s exactly what happens. Judas goes and gets the soldiers and brings them to Jesus. He reveals that Peter will deny Him. And, as you know, that’s exactly what happens. === === We’ll see next weekend Peter deny Jesus 3 times when he’s faced with questions about their relationship. And all of the other disciples fled & abandoned Jesus after His arrest in the Garden. You could say that the theme of chapter 14 in Mark, particularly the last 1/2 of the chapter, is abandonment. And this is where we come to our text for this morning; verses 53-65. This is after Jesus is arrested in the middle of the night. Mark gives us a picture of Jesus standing before the Jewish ruling council. I’ll read this for us and then we’ll go to the Lord in prayer and ask for His help in understanding what we’ve read.

“And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.'” Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with blows.” (Mark 14:53-65)

Here’s how I’d like to handle this. I’m going to take some time and break down what’s actually happening here. We’ll talk about some of the details of the trial and what’s underlying those details with the goal of arriving at God’s purpose for all of this. But, before we get to those details, I want to frame the conversation for us in light of how Mark has been leading us through the entire book. You might remember, back in chapter 8, we identified the turning point in the Gospel of Mark.

Do you remember when all of the people were trying to figure out who Jesus is. Some of them are thinking He’s John the Baptist. Some think that He’s Elijah or one of the other prophets. And then Jesus looks at His disciples and asks a question. And, it’s not just “a question,” it’s really “THE QUESTION” because it’s the question that is posed to every one of us as well. In fact, you might write this question down because we’re going to come back to it at the end of our time. Anyone remember the question? “WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?”

What we said when we preached that text is that this is where things begin to change in Mark’s gospel. Things begin to pick up speed. They begin moving toward one climactic point, sort of like you’ve just begun accelerating toward the peak of a mountain.

This interaction with the High Priest and the Jewish Council is that climactic point. Where Ciaphas asks Jesus directly, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” We need to remember that, up until this point Jesus has been silent. He’s concealed who He really is because His time had not yet come (we hear that phrase repeated throughout the 4 gospels: “My time has not yet come.”).

And so, Jesus mostly kept His identity veiled. It was only to His disciples that He revealed who He truly was, and they didn’t really even understand what He was talking about. Yes, Peter gave the right answer when Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ!” But, even then, Jesus said, “That answer didn’t come from you Peter, but from the Father in Heaven.” And we know that Peter didn’t get it because, immediately after that, Peter tried to rebuke Jesus and Jesus called Him Satan (which is less than awesome if you’re Peter). And then, of course, we have Peter’s denial of Jesus which (as I said) we’ll look at next weekend.

All of that to say that the disciples didn’t really even understand it. Jesus was hidden. He was concealed. His glory was veiled up to this point. Even in the way He taught people, with parables, Jesus said that was so the people didn’t really understand what He was talking about. And so, Jesus has remained silent.

Even through His betrayal, through His arrest, through all of these false accusations, Jesus has said nothing up until this point. That shouldn’t surprise us because of Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

He was arrested & oppressed; He spoke not. He was afflicted & accused; He gave no defense. But all of that changes in verse 62. Jesus is asked if He is the Christ (meaning the Messiah) & the Son of the Blessed (which is how they would have referred to God, out of respect).

So, “Are you the Messiah? Are you the Son of God?” And here we have it! This is it! This is the moment that God pre-determined before the foundation of the world where He would reveal who Jesus really is. And, Jesus doesn’t just give AN answer to the High Priest’s question, He gives THE ANSWER. Just like, “Who do you say that I am” isn’t A question, it’s THE question. Jesus gives THE ANSWER in this text. He says, “I AM!”

Now, I wanted to highlight that before we even start breaking down what’s happening in the text because we have such a strong tendency to miss the main thing. Just like the religious leaders missed it. Just like the disciples didn’t see it clearly. We have a tendency to miss things, especially in a text that we’re so familiar with like this one. But, this is too important for us to miss. This isn’t just the key moment in the Gospel of Mark. This represents the key moment in each one of our lives as well. Here it is: “WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?” That’s our main idea this morning: “WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?”

Everything in your life is driving you toward that question, and nothing even comes close to how important that question is for you. Not your family. Not your job. Not a relationship. Not money. Not circumstantial happiness. Not all of those things combined. Everything else pales in comparison! When you consider the scope of eternity and the reality of eternal union with God in heaven, or eternal separation from God in hell.

And, when you consider the fact that your eternal destination is determined by this question in your heart: “WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?” Everything else pales in comparison to the importance of that question. So, as we go through this text, I want for that question to be right on the forefront of your heart. As we look at Jesus here, as we think about what’s happening, I want you to be asking yourself, “Who Do I Say Jesus Is?”

Now, let’s back up and work our way through this with hearts that are expectant to see Jesus for who He reveals Himself to be. And, maybe we could just start by breaking down the details of what’s actually happening. First, there are some things that we need to understand about this trial itself; starting with the fact that this wasn’t even a trial. It was illegal, based on Jewish law in a whole bunch of ways.

— It took place at the High Priest’s home, not in a public space.
— Judas was bribed in his betrayal of Jesus.
— Witnesses were paid to give their testimony.
— Those witness lied.
— It was illegal to have a trial at night.
— It was illegal to pass a verdict at night.
— It was illegal to hold a trial on a holiday (including the day before and day after).
— It was illegal to pursue a death sentence before a crime was established.

Let’s be clear, This wasn’t a trial! In fact, we know exactly what this was because Mark tells us exactly what this in chapter 14, verse 2. “The Chief Priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him…” The purpose of the Jewish council wasn’t to determine guilt or innocence here.

The purpose was to get rid of Him by having the Romans put Him to death. That’s what they wanted. They wanted to kill Him, And, because they had already determined the end, they justified whatever means they thought were necessary to arrive at that end. Bribery, lying, illegal procedure, breaking all kinds of other laws. None of it mattered to them because they had determined that they were right, and so they justified their actions. That’s what’s actually happening here.

Now, let me pause for just a moment and make a couple of observations (points of application) that I think we have to consider for our own lives. I want to be clear; these aren’t the main point that I’m driving at. The main point is Jesus looking at you and asking, “Who do you say I am?” But, there are definitely some things that we can learn here that are really important for our lives. Let me give you 3 things that I think we need to understand.

1st — The end never justifies the means, if the means violate God’s written or moral law. Let’s be honest, we are sinful & full of pride. We have a lot of blind spots, especially when it comes to our idolatry. And, if you think you don’t have blind spots, then you probably have more than the person sitting next to you. We are blind to our blindness.

And, because of that, it is not uncommon for us to believe that we’re right and begin justifying decisions & behaviors that are clearly outside of what God has communicated in Scripture. That’s what these religious leaders did. They were convinced they were right about Jesus and so they justified all kinds of things that were clearly wrong.

But, here’s the problem: THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT JESUS. And, the fact that they were doing all kinds of wrongs things in order to condemn Him should have been a clue that they were wrong.

We need to be very careful with this same kind of pride in our lives. Where we’ve convinced ourselves that we’re right about something, and so we’re doing things that are compromising what God has called us to in Scripture. And it’s all just an effort to accomplish the end that we’ve determined needs to be accomplished. We have to be very careful with that because: A) You could be wrong. And B) If you’re doing things outside of what God has clearly communicated in Scripture, you’re definitely wrong. That’s the first thing.

The 2nd — Righteousness always operates in the light. Wickedness always operates in the darkness. The reason the the Council was doing all of this shrouded in darkness; in the middle of the night; when everyone was asleep; trying to get this thing wrapped up before daybreak, is because it was wicked. If this was the right thing, why not have a public trial? Why not bring charges and allow for other witnesses to be brought? Why do everything so quickly and under the cover of darkness? Because it was evil!

We must understand that this is how the enemy operates. And, by the enemy, I primarily mean our flesh. The enemy always wants to operate in darkness & isolation. When we think about our lives (our attitudes; our actions; our words; our interactions with other people), we should always be aware of whether we’re operating in the light or in the dark.

Are we open with people or are we trying to conceal things? Are we subjecting that issue or pattern of behavior to a biblical community, or are we isolating from community? Those are great evaluative questions that will help you diagnose if you’re operating in a way that honors God and most glorifies Him.

3rd — (and this is probably the most important) — God is sovereign over everything, including our sin, and will accomplish His purposes. I want to be abundantly clear on this: God purposed all of this before the foundation of the world.

This is happening completely under the umbrella of providence & His sovereign control. There are no accidents in God’s economy because He is all sovereign, all knowing and all powerful. That’s the pattern that see over & over again throughout Scripture. Where God is sovereignly orchestrating circumstances in a way that accomplishes His purposes, brings Him glory and also in a way that work for our ultimate good.

So, here we are. At a trial, that really isn’t a trial. In the dark. Jesus has been abandoned by those closest to Him. This council has already pronounced judgement on Him. They’re just waiting for that one “gotcha” moment that will seal the deal and allow them to hand Him over to the Romans. And, because He purposed to do it from before the beginning of the Universe, Jesus gives them that “gotcha” moment.

“You’re saying that you’re the Christ? You’re saying you’re the Messiah, the Son of God? Is that who you are?” Jesus looks at them and says, “I AM! And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

And there it was. That’s what they were looking for. It’s funny because all of this other stuff about tearing down the Temple, and building it back up, and all of the false witnesses that couldn’t agree with each other. They should have just led with this question because Jesus’ time had come.

Let’s break down this answer quickly, and then we’ll get back around to our main idea. First, there’s so much in that phrase, “I AM.” Jesus says, “I am:

— the one your fathers have been waiting for
— the one to bring about God’s Kingdom
— the one that God promised to Abraham
— the one He promised to Moses
— the son of David promised to your ancestors
— the one who was promised to Malachi and the rest of the prophets
— the one who was promised in the garden to crush the serpent
— the fulfillment of all the law & the prophets
— the one who has come to take the sins of the whole world upon my body— the way, the truth & the life… and the only way to be reconciled to God
— YES!!! I AM!”

We could actually spend another couple of hours talking about everything that is wrapped up in that phrase “I AM.” Needless to say, Jesus’ answer carries a lot of weight. But notice that that’s not all He says. He says, “And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” He’s referring to a couple of messianic prophecies in the Old Testament; one in Psalm 110 and one in Daniel 7.

Psalm 110:1 — “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Psalm 110:5 — “The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.”

Jesus isn’t just saying, “this is who I am”, He’s pointing specifically to Himself as the fulfillment of prophecies about the coming Messiah.

Daniel 7:13-14 — “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Jesus is cementing His answer of “I AM” by linking it to the Old Testament prophesies about the Messiah. He is declaring that He will be vindicated in His resurrection and ascension, as the Son of Man. And that’s why, in verse 64, they charge Jesus with blasphemy. It’s because He’s claiming to be God. These religious leaders knew exactly what it meant when Jesus said, “I AM” and then quoted those two texts.

And so, they condemn Him because they didn’t see Him for who He truly is. And, this is where we come back full circle. This is the question for us this morning: Do you see Jesus for who He is, and have you submitted your whole life to Him?

This is not a matter of intellectualism. I’m not asking you to agree with who Jesus says He is. Satan and the demons are far better theologians than we will ever be. They know exactly who Jesus is. I am talking about whole life submission to Jesus as your Lord.

If you are here this morning and you are not a Christian, please understand this. We will all see the Son of Man, seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of Heaven. The manner in which we see this will be determined by the question, “Who do you say I am?” This determines whether we see Him under the wrath of God, or under the righteousness of Christ.

If you are here this morning and you are a Christian, please consider this. Are there areas of your life that you’re holding back and not submitting them to His rule & reign? Are there areas where you’ve determined you’re right about and so, you’re blind to the fact that you’ve put that thing above God in your heart?

Tags God, Identify, Identity, jesus, Righteousness, Sovereign

Mark Sermon

Staying Loyal to Christ & His Mission – Mark 14:26-52

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date March 10, 2019
No Comments on Staying Loyal to Christ & His Mission – Mark 14:26-52

Our passage for this morning is Mark 14:26-52 (Read)

This week as I was reading this passage & preparing the sermon, I had to dig deep into my own heart and ask some tough questions about my loyalty to Christ.

And as I meditated on them, I believe the Holy Spirit convicted me of my Sins. But what’s amazing is that it opened my eyes to see my folly, and at the same time helped me understand God’s providence for me to help me remain loyal to Him.

As I preach from the same passage this morning, I’m hoping & praying that God would do the same work in your hearts.

In this passage, Mark is telling us the story of how Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of his twelve disciples. And he also exposes the heart of other disciples who claimed to be loyal to Christ, but when the time came, they all ran away for their lives.

In verse 27 when Jesus tells them that “You will all fall away” as written in the scripture, we see Peter very boldly claims that even if others fall away, I will never fall away. To which Jesus says to him “This very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times”. And again to which Peter makes an, even more, bolder declaration saying “If I must die with you, I will not deny you”, and all the others joined with him and made the same claims.

But as the story progresses, we see that on the very same night when a crowd of people with swords and clubs come to arrest Jesus, the same disciples who made big claims ran for their lives.

And among them was also a young boy who ran naked leaving his cloth behind when he was caught.

As I pondered upon what the disciples did, I realised in no way we are different from them. We too make big claims of being a follower of Jesus and show a willingness to do anything from him. Don’t we?

Like, right now if I have to ask you the following questions, think about your answers.

Q. Do we love Jesus?

Q. Do we love Jesus more than ourself?

Q. Do we think under whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in, we will hold fast to Jesus and never leave him?

Q. Are we willing to lay our lives for the sake of Jesus?

I’m sure most of us would easily answer YES to those questions.

If we’re honest, you will all agree with me that there could be moments in our lives where we can end up acting exactly the opposite to what we claim, just like the disciples.

As I was evaluating the reasons why the disciples may have behaved in that way, I thought of three of them.

Fear of Man

The first reason I see is the Fear of Man.

I’m sure they were terrified when they saw crowds of men standing with swords and clubs. If we try and put ourselves in their shoe, I am sure we would be terrified too.

Think about his, what if right now a 100 people turn up in this room with swords. What do you think will be our response? Obviously Fear.

Forget people with swords, we get terrified when people ask questions about our faith and ask why we’re sharing the Gospel. Often times our natural response is to get away from those places.

I remember an occasion when we hosted a business seminar in Mumbai along with a team who came from the US. The goal was to make friends and connect with people. But when one of the speakers, out of the blue decided to speak about his faith, a group of attendees stood up and interrupted the seminar and went and complained to the owner of the facility that we are trying to convert them to Christianity. I remember how terrified I was and all I wanted to do was hide my face somewhere.

Imagine a situation where your unbelieving family members threaten you because of your faith in Jesus, your community people threaten to kill you or your family members because you are a follower of Jesus. When they threaten to throw you out of the community.

I bet it’s not going to be hard. And there is a possibility a lot of us who claim to love Jesus and follow him wholeheartedly will fumble and react just like the disciples.

Love for their present life

The second reason they ran away could be because they loved their present lives so much that they were unwilling to let it go. We all love the life we have, and I’m sure none of us imagines ending it right now or even in the next couple of years.

A situation like that where you are encountered with people who can kill you means losing the precious life we’ve been treasuring all the while. It could mean the end of all our dreams and desires. Dreams of getting married, having children, living in a big life, travelling to places. Why would someone want to lose them?

Think about people who are trapped in the world of fame and fortune that if they claim to be a follower of Jesus, they can lose everything in a moment.

Yes, there is a possibility that our love for our sweet little life would make us react just like the disciples.

Unexpected encounter

The third reason they ran could be because they never expected such a situation to arise. It was an unexpected encounter. The disciples were hoping that Jesus would raise an army and defeat the Roman empire and become their King.

But that is not what they encountered. Instead, the disciples saw Jesus helpless, weak and defeated. Maybe they ran away because they expected something else from Jesus.

We too can encounter unexpected events to happen in our lives. Loss of a family member, loss in business, losing jobs, financial crises, unexpected health issues either with one of our family members or us.

There is a possibility that we can also turn away from Jesus just like the disciples because of the unexpected and sudden events that shake our life of its foundations.

The more I thought about the disciples response against my response in similar situations I was sure that it is possible for me also to turn away from Jesus. Either because of the Fear of Man, love for my own life or because of an unexpected encounter.

And as I was groaning in my heart thinking about my natural responses to such circumstances. I asked God, Lord “How can I love you deeply enough and stay loyal to you until death?”

And, Thankfully I found the answer right there in verse 38 where Jesus finds Peter, James & John sleeping and he says “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

I realized immediately that the greatest providence of God for us in difficult times is God himself.

Jesus takes his disciples to Gethsamane and Mark writes Jesus was greatly distressed and troubled, his soul was sorrowful, even to death because of what was going to happen.

But instead of sitting and worrying about it, Jesus fell to the ground and cried out to the Father, and he even tells the disciples to do the same.

Jesus cries out in prayer saying “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

His natural response in pain was to ask the Father to remove the cup of suffering from him, but immediately after that, he submits himself to God’s sovereignty, knowing that God knows what is best for Him.

He knew that God the Father was seeking to glorify himself. He knew that through his death on the cross God was redeeming back his called ones to himself. He knew that only through his death mankind can find hope of a restored relationship with their creator God.

But three times when Jesus comes to check on the disciples he finds them sleeping and not alert.

I realized as I was reading this passage that our greatest folly which makes us give in to the schemes of the enemy is our failure to stay alert & our inability to pray at all times.

I’m sure that if the disciples had stayed awake and alert and had fervently prayed to God the Father for courage and strength in difficult times, they would have reacted differently.

What is Prayer?

I like to read a quote by John Piper which I believe beautifully summarizes the meaning of prayer.

“Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that He will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as wealthy”

Yes, there will be situations in our lives that will look dangerous, we will be hated by men because of your faith in Christ. There will be times when our love for ourselves will be so strong that our bodies will refuse to let go of the things of the world. And yes, there come uncertain and unexpected events that will take us by surprise.

The only way we can stay loyal to Christ and continue in our faith is when our dependence is on God. When we pray and ask God for courage when you are fearful, ask God for strength when you are weak, ask God for patience when you are restless, ask God for joy when you feel sorrowful & ask for wisdom when you are confused.

Jesus said “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith”

Brother & sisters let us not make the mistake of relying on our strength and abilities but let us turn to God in all circumstances and rely on His providence, which is God himself.

Let us get rid of all the distractions that keep us from prayer and watching over our lives. Lately, I had to get rid of all my social media accounts. I had to put off all my in-app notifications that bothered me and diverted my attention to things that were less important in life.

I’m trying to be more alert and to be in the moment when I’m at home, in the office and while travelling. Always praying to God in my moments of weakness and struggle.

Ask yourself, what is it that you need to switch off in your life that hinders your prayer life and your inability to depend on God at all times.

Let me list down a couple of things that you may want to think about

–    Is it Money, wealth & possession that’s distracting you from praying
–    It is Entertainment? On your Phone, On your TV, On your Computer
–    Is it unhealthy & ungodly relationships
–    Unhealthy/ unplanned s time schedule
–    Work responsibilities
–    Hobbies
–    Lustful thoughts and pursuits

If you know what it is, I urge you to repent before God and run towards Him, desiring for Him.

I believe if you do so, everything will go well with you and He will be give you the strength, courage & wisdom to stay loyal to Him till the end of our lives.

Tags allegiance, Christ, Fear, Kingdom of God, Life, Loyalty, Man, Mission, Prayer, Worldly Pleasures

Mark Sermon

Understanding the Lord’s Supper – Mark 14:12-25

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date March 3, 2019
No Comments on Understanding the Lord’s Supper – Mark 14:12-25

Good morning church! I hope you all had a blessed week in the Lord and I’m excited to share from the Word this morning. As a church we have been studying the gospel of Mark and we have arrived at the last few chapters of this gospel.

Wouldn’t you agree it’s been wonderful studying this together? We will be continuing with chapter 14 today and as you are turning to it let me set the background: the events of the last few chapters are taking place during Passion Week – which means that the crucifixion is very very close. You can imagine what might have been going through the mind of Jesus & his disciples. And our passage today revolves around the supper/meal that Jesus has with his disciples
[Read Mark 14:12-25]

I grew up in a traditional church where they used to administer the Lord’s Supper each week but I don’t think I realized the significance at the time. It seemed like a ritual similar to the rites of other religions is how I presumed it while growing up. With the wide variety of interpretations available everywhere, it’s great that today we get to study this together to get a biblical understanding of this important commandment from the Lord. I’ve got 3 points to share:

We need Jesus’ Provision and not our performance (v12-16)

Context is key to understanding any passage, wouldn’t you agree? The Lord’s Supper after all was a part of the Passover meal originally. Therefore, it’s vitally important to understand the context of this passage to understand the Lord’s Supper. v12 says this happens on the first day of Unleavened Bread and when they sacrificed the Passover Lamb.

Now what is this unleavened bread? It’s a 7-day festival observed by Israelites where they would eat bread without yeast to remember that on this day God brought out the Israelites from the land of Egypt. God rescued the Israelites from their bondage to slavery!

And on the first day of the unleavened bread they celebrated the Passover. Now as most of you would remember, this was the event in Egypt when the Israelites killed a lamb and painted their doorposts with the blood of the lamb and no one ventured out till morning next day. At night, the Lord passed through the land to strike the Egyptians and he passed over every home that had the blood of the lamb on their door post & so the Israelites were spared but the first born among the Egyptians were killed.

On one hand it marked the event of God rescuing the Israelites from slavery and on the other hand, the Passover meant God protected them from being killed through the blood of the lamb.

Do you see the familiarity with these events and what Christ was going to ultimately do?

He was going to save people from their slavery to sin (Matt 1:21).
He Himself was the Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29) He was going to protect people from the wrath of God.

Now think about it, the disciples ask Jesus about where would he want them to prepare the Passover. And Jesus gives them specific instructions and they found it to be exactly how it was described to them by Jesus. At the time I don’t think the disciples understood the truth about Jesus’ being the Passover lamb. I wonder if in a way Jesus was communicating this idea through this supernatural provision that “the Lord Himself will provide for the Passover”. Not through their performance & efforts but through His provision.

How does this speak to our hearts this morning?

All of us have been born with a default setting: self-performance. We love to do things by ourselves. We love the idea of a self-made man or woman. We don’t want to be helped by anyone and sometimes that also reflects in our attitude towards God.

We want to be self-sufficient in our relationship. That’s precisely the thing that keeps us from depending on Christ. Any person who understands his real need will run towards anyone who can offer help. How much more should that be for us who are broken, wretched, helpless and sinful without Christ? We need Jesus’ provision.

We know that we can’t create that need for Jesus automatically. That happens when we identify our crutches – those idols of self-performance, those idols of self-sufficiency – turn from those crutches – throw it away and then call out to Jesus in our helplessness.

I remember sometime back when God convicted me of spiritual pride because “I thought” I knew a lot of the Bible. I gained some knowledge because of the resources that I was exposed to. And all those things were really good stuff that I learnt. Over a period of time however, I realized how that was making me arrogant, argumentative, and most importantly it made me forget how much I needed Jesus.

My prayers sounded more like the Pharisee rather than the tax collector from that parable that Jesus shared. I had to throw away/repent of that crutch of biblical knowledge and then my heart was able to respond to Christ and understand His provision. What are those crutches brothers and sisters in your lives that God is calling you to throw away? Let’s humble ourselves in repentance as we look to participate in the Lord’s Supper.

Proximity to Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean intimacy with Him (v17-21)

This is a sobering passage to say the least. Think about it…who was Judas? He was one of 12 close disciples of Jesus. He interacted very closely with Jesus every single day. He saw Jesus perform great miracles – heal the blind, sick and even raise the dead.

He saw Jesus show mercy, forgiveness and compassion to those whom the world didn’t even pay attention to. He heard the gospel clearly through the mouth of Jesus. He himself was sent out into the village to preach the gospel while he was appointed to perform miracles and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. Within the disciple’s group he also was a Treasurer – he used to handle to money bag.

And yet we see him betray Jesus because he loved money and himself more than Jesus. In reality he didn’t love Jesus at all. And that’s shocking because it means that Proximity to Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean intimacy with Him…Proximity doesn’t necessarily translate to close fellowship with Jesus. What does that mean for us?

We shouldn’t assume that we are believers because we:

Had a spiritual experience in the past: because we prayed a prayer or received healing
Religious activity: because we are very active in our weekend gatherings, GC
Biblical knowledge: because we know everything in the Bible. Even Satan knows more Scripture than all of us.

What does the Bible instead tell us repeatedly? 5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. (2 Cor 13:5)

Don’t assume…test yourself using Scripture to see if you are a believer or not. As a recommendation – 1 John is a wonderful book in the Bible that you can use to test your faith. Are you seeing the evidence of true faith in your life? This calls us to examine our hearts and test to see if we are truly in the faith before participating the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper is about a Promise and not a transaction (v22-25)

Different churches in India and around the world have debated over the meaning of the Lord Supper over the years. Some churches say that during the worship service or “mass”, the bread and the wine actually turn into the literal body and blood of Jesus. Biblically we know that it doesn’t turn into Jesus’ flesh and blood because of the manner in which Jesus used it in this statement.

Did Jesus offer his literal flesh and blood to his disciples? No, he meant it symbolically and so we also need to take it as that. Some other churches say that when we participate in the Lord’s Supper, God actually gives us grace and blessings by our participation. Some other churches say we receive healing by taking it. If you think about it all these other interpretations to the Lord Supper makes it seem like a transaction and that cheapens the true meaning of this.

But what does the Bible actually say? It actually says the Lord’s Supper is more about a promise toward believers and not a transaction. The Lord Supper is a:

Promise of Christ’s commitment toward us (v22-24)

Christ literally died. He was physically dead for those 3 days. He paid the punishment for our sins. What we deserved – He bore in our place. He was willing to go to any extent – even die for you and me. That is symbolized by the bread. The cup on the other hand symbolized the blood of the covenant. What does that mean? In the OT, blood that was on the altar was sprinkled on the Israelites to show God’s commitment toward them. But they rebelled and didn’t remain faithful to that covenant…so God replaced that covenant with a new one through Jesus:

33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:33,34) Nothing will break our relationship. It will be secure forever because of what Christ has done. So that’s the commitment is reminded to us over and over again as we participate in the Lord’s Supper.

Promise of our union with Christ (v22-23):

Not only does Christ die and pour out his blood for us but also, we are united to Him which is symbolized in Him sharing the elements with His disciples. We are members of Christ’s body. We share in His death. We share in His resurrection. And the life we now live we live by faith in the Son of God. Christ is living in and through us.

That’s why we take the Lord’s Supper together because we acknowledge that it’s the same grace that unites us to our Lord. Believers declare their union with Christ first through baptism and then the recurring reminder after that is through the Lord’s Supper. That’s why we say that if you aren’t a believer in Christ you shouldn’t partake of it because it has to do with our union with Him.

Promise of a future hope with Christ (v25):

Jesus promises to have to have the fruit of the vine once again in the kingdom of God. Probably referring to the Marriage Supper of the lamb where He will have it once more with His bride – the church. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that something to look forward to?

Angie and I go back sometimes to watch our wedding video to remind ourselves of the vows we made to each other. There were a lot of really good things that happened that day but the most special thing that happened that day was our vow to each other because in that lies our commitment to each other which we make in the presence of God & His church.

What if Jesus Christ used the symbol of the bread and cup to remind our hearts every week of His commitment, our union with Him and a future hope with Him forever. How can we respond to that? By thanking Him, loving Him and surrendering our lives to Him.

Tags Christ, Commitment, Intimacy, Performance, Promise, Provision, Supper, Union

Mark Sermon

What Stops us from Offering our Best to God ? – Mark – 14:1-11

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date February 24, 2019
No Comments on What Stops us from Offering our Best to God ? – Mark – 14:1-11

Our passage for today is from Mark 14:1-11 [READ]

If we stay alert and pay close attention to our passage today, I believe it reveals some of the heart idols that prevent us from experiencing the joy of living out a fulfilling Christian life.

Context:
This event takes place two days before the Passover & the feast of unleavened bread. The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Jesus and kill him.

While Jesus was in a place called Bethany in the house of Simon, the leper, reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and broke the container and poured it over Jesus’s head.

Pure nard is also known as ‘Jatamansi oil’, only found in the Himalaya mountain in India, extracted from the root of a tree, is one of the most effective essential oils for supporting a calm mind and balanced body. Jatamansi oil is one of the most important herbal medicines for dealing with grief after losing a loved one. It can also be used to anoint those who are transitioning from life to death.

The ointment the woman poured on Jesus’s head was one of the rarest and best in those days. The woman spent around 2 months of wages to purchase it, probably for a special occasion in her life, or as an investment for the future.

The same ointment is also mentioned in the Songs of Solomon 1:12 where the bride says “While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.”

The perfume mentioned in this verse is the same ointment the woman poured on Jesus. Probably she brought and saved it to please and attract her future husband.

In today’s context, it’s almost like our saving accounts, a fixed deposit, or a gold deposit that we set apart either for a special occasion, like marriage, children’s education, children’s wedding etc. or as security for future.

Seeing what the woman did with that expensive ointment, some of the people gathered there scolded the woman and did not appreciate it.

According to them, it was a stupid thing to do; instead, they said the ointment should have been sold and the money given to the poor.

Jesus, instead, turns to those guys and tells them to leave her alone and says something remarkable about the woman. He says “She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

I want us to pause here for a moment and understand why it was such a significant act for Jesus.

1. The woman knew something that others didn’t

The woman’s act showed that she learned something about Jesus that others didn’t. She recognised who Jesus really is. Just like Simeon, the man who saw baby Jesus in the temple brought for dedication and instantly recognised him as Lord, like the Shepherds who saw Jesus in the manger and was filled with Awe.

She knew she was in the presence of her true Lord and King. The one who has come to give abundant life, a peace that passes all understanding, joy unending, life eternal. One who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Just like when we first heard the Gospel and heard the story of Jesus, the veils from our eyes fell and hearts responded in faith.

2. The woman responded in Worship.

When she recognised who Jesus was her natural response was adoration & worship.

3. The woman offered the best Sacrifice

Like Abel who brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions to offer at the altar of God, she brought the best she had.

I could imagine this woman when she heard Jesus was in the town. She must have run into her home, looking around and thinking what the best gift she has in her house that she can offer to her Lord and Savior. And her eye fell on the Alabaster flask of pure nard that she had saved for her future. And immediately without a second thought, grabs the flask and runs towards Jesus.

The price didn’t matter to her, the people didn’t matter to her, the occasion didn’t matter to her, the place didn’t matter, her dignity didn’t matter.

All that mattered was the Jesus.

4. The woman expressed Passionate Love.

She didn’t do it just to merely impress Jesus or show off to the people how wealthy she is. She didn’t do it because she wanted her name printed on the wall saying “Donated by Miss”.

She did it purely out of passionate love for Christ.

It was clearly seen through her act of worship.

5. The woman Empathized with Jesus.

Imagine, Jesus as he was reclining on the table, he is dealing with the pain and agony his body is going to suffer. He could feel the weight of the sins of the whole World upon him. He is dealing with the pain of separation from this Father.

We could see a glimpse of his pain in the garden of Gethsamani when he is crying out to his Father saying “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

And there as he is dealing with all this in his mind, this woman breaks the alabaster flask with pure nard. The ointment that is meant to ease the grief of a suffering man who is transitioning from life to death.

They say the texture & aroma of the ointment is so strong that it sticks to the hair and keeps throwing out the fragrance for almost a week. Probably, when Jesus was taking all the painful lashes, beatings and piercing, he might have smelled the aroma of the ointment that woman poured on his head.

All these reasons make the moment very significant, and only Jesus could understand it.

Immediately after this event, we read about a person who is exactly opposite to the woman. He goes to the chief priests to betray Jesus for the sake of money, for his own selfish gain.

He failed to recognise Jesus as his true saviour and master. Instead, he was so corrupt in his mind that he sold himself to the high priests.

Now, as a Christian, we are called to be like the woman in faith, in action, in thought.

James 4:8 says “Draw near to God as He will draw near to you, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Romans 12:1 Paul writes “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship.”

2 Timothy 2:8 says “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to the gospel”

And, even though we ought to live in this manner, we still fail to give our best to Jesus in our practical lives. I believe one of the reasons why we fail to experience the joy of living out a fulfilling Christian life is because we fail to offer our best to God like the woman with alabaster oil.

– It doesn’t mean that if we don’t offer our best God will not love us.
– We don’t do it to win his favour and approval.
– God has already approved us in his son Jesus, the day we repented of our sins and put our faith in Him.

But consider the words of James 2:14-17

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Matthew 25:35-36 & 40
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Hebrews 13:15-16
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Sadly, we all fail to do this in some measure or the other.

As an application point, I want to share from our passage what are the reasons some of us fail to offer our best to God.

I believe the three characters represented in this passage reveal three reasons why some of us fail to offer our best to God.

Woman

The first reason we fail to offer our best to Jesus is when we fail to see our sinful state, especially our ungodly attachments with the world and the things of this world.

When we look at the woman, the first thing that stands out is that she didn’t care about the value of the ointment, she apparently comes out as a person who has no attachments to the things of the world and second, she was desperate to be with Jesus.

Let me highlight some ways in which we attach ourselves to the things of this world that stops us from offering our best to God?

–    Our attachment with money & possessions – “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”
–    Our attachment with ungodly people – “Are we unequally yoked with unbelivers & ungodly people”
–    Our attachment with habitual / unrepented sins.
–    Our attachment with fame and prosperous lifestyle.
–    Our attachment to self.

Romans 12:2 – We ought not to be confirmed to the patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. – Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The People

The second reason some of us fail to offer our best to Jesus is like the people who scolded the woman and was unable to see and understand what was going to happen to Jesus in a couple of days, we also fail to see what Christ has accomplished for us by His death on the cross.

The people failed to understand Jesus even though he told time and again that he will be handed over to the chief priests and will be killed. They expected that Jesus will defeat the Romans, establish his Kingdom & become their King. But what Jesus was about to accomplish through his death on the cross was far greater that what they imagined

The second reason we fail to offer our best to Jesus is because we fail to value and understand what it means to be forgiven of our sins and what it means to be adopted in the family of God for eternity.

And that is why we keep reminding ourselves daily the Gospel.

Judas Iscariot

The third reason some of you fail to offer your best to Jesus is because, like Judas you have stooped so low that for your selfish gains you have sold yourselves to the devil.

The reason you come to church and fellowship with people is to betray Christ and betray his people. You have become wolves in sheep’s clothing in the hands of the devil, to turn away the minds and hearts of the people, from God.

The purpose of your lives has become to cheat and destroys one another for your own selfish purpose of gaining wealth & possession.

We have become deceivers and lairs.

To those who are in this position, I want to warn and encourage you that it is still not late for you to turn back, repent of your wrongdoings to God and his people.

Don’t end up like Judas who couldn’t gather the courage to come back to Jesus and ask for forgiveness. I’m 100% sure that Jesus would have invited him with open arms.

Finally, as I end, I hope this passage has convicted your hearts just as it has convicted mine.

Our response shouldn’t be to hide our faces and run away from God and his people, rather it should be to go to God in repentance and faith, and confess our sins to one another so that we are restored back to God.

Let’s pray.

Tags Life, Love, Passion, Sacrifice, Worship

Mark Sermon

The Return of the King – Mark 13:28-37

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date February 17, 2019
No Comments on The Return of the King – Mark 13:28-37

Good morning church! We are currently in Mark 13.
Let’s get right into the text that we’re going to look at this morning Mark 13:28-37
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“I’m here only…just wait up for me”. How many of us have ever said that to our parent when we were getting back home late? Even when we said this, we were probably aware that it would take us a minimum of 1 hour to get back. But things change remarkably when Christ says the same words to us : “I am near” and “Stay awake”. Automatically we can feel the weight of those words.

It’s meaning is much more pointed because as Christians – the return of our Savior and Lord is the basis of our faith. If we remove Christ’s second coming from our gospel, our gospel will not stand. There is no good news without the reality of Christ coming to take us to our true home. It’s what our lives are banking on! Therefore, I would invite you into a study of those two phrases: “Jesus is near” and “Stay awake” because not only our future is dependent on this but it radically changes the way we live in the present.

Jesus is Near (v28-31)

Yes, what we’ve read so far haven’t been the most pleasant of experiences. We read about false Christs coming to lead people astray, we read about massive calamities and wars causing severe destruction and intense persecution from powerful people, religious people and sometimes our own family. On top of that we heard about the “abomination of desolation” last week. If we all wrote down our new year’s resolution, I’m pretty sure nobody had these things written down as things to do in the year. But what today’s passage is telling us is that when all these events take place, it actually serves as an indicator or like bright neon lights telling us believers that our Lord is here only. He is near. He is at the gate.

Because as believers that is our hope…that:

One day everything in us and in creation that is sinful & broken will be restored and repaired (Rom 8:18-25)
One day all wickedness will be judged & Justice will prevail (Acts 17:30-31)
One day all the “righteous in Christ” will receive a new body and a new home with Christ forever. (1 Thess 4:16-18)

Therefore, these events are not meant to discourage us or leave us hopeless. These events as painful and hard as they may be will actually indicate to us that Christ is very near. And that’s going to fill our hearts with more longing and more expectation.

But someone might ask, “how do I actually know if these things will happen on not?” Let’s look at v30 & 31.

Now v30 is one of those difficult to understand verses because what does Jesus mean by “this generation”? There are multiple interpretations to this verse but my understanding of “this generation” refers to all disciples or followers of Jesus till he returns back again. Just like “last days” in NT was inaugurated by Jesus’ first coming. But what Jesus was emphasizing on was v31 where he says “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

Jesus’ words are eternal – Everything else in all of creation can/will be replaced except for Christ’s words which reflects his character which is without falsehood. Jesus is God who does not lie. Jesus does is not like us where we at different points say “I take back my words” or where we change our decisions on different things. He is unchanging – He and His words remain the same yesterday, today and forevermore.
Jesus’ word is authoritative –All of us have an understanding of authority at least at some level. If we’re having issues with someone in our family and no matter how much we try if it’s not getting resolved, what do we usually do? We end up going to someone senior in the family who we see as an authority. Why? Because we know that this authority has the influence to make things works exactly how he/wants it. When Jesus says “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”, he was not making a suggestion or being hopeful about what would take place. He is the Sovereign Lord who knows everything and controls the start, the middle and the end of everything according to His marvelous purposes. When Jesus says something, it happens exactly the way He says it will happen!

There’s a reason why in the Bible and in the New Testament, believers were constantly…again and again reminded about the coming of our Savior. Let’s look at one such passage from 1 Thess 4:16-18

It’s not to give them some kind of false hope or some type of optimism. They were reminded about this truth so that they would be encouraged during their severe trials and tests. I think that’s what some of us today need to hear. Some of us are experiencing suffering because of our faith in our families – Hang in there. I want you know that Christ is nearer than you think. Some of us are experiencing some really difficult circumstances where all you are thinking is “how long Lord…how long?” – Hang in there. Christ is nearer than you think. Some of us we are probably wondering how long will the fight with sin continue? When will we be finally freed of the presence of sin? Hang in there. Christ is nearer than you think.

But someone might say “but none of these things have fully taken place, so there is sometime before Christ comes. So let me relax until then”. Guess how Jesus addresses that question?

Stay Awake

The main point of this story is that Christ is going to come suddenly when you least expect. I feel the impact of this point has made a lot more sense through my current job. My boss operates out of the US most of the year. He makes 2-3 trips a year and whenever he does come down, he tries to be a little secretive about the dates so people at the office are constantly guessing to figure when that is.

He never mentions why he does that but it’s probably to see if people are working when he’s away as well. Now this doesn’t usually bother me because I share a good rapport with my boss but I kept thinking in the lines of today’s passage…why would a servant be sleeping when the master gets back? Why wouldn’t he be awake instead doing what the master told him to do? I’m saying these things in the context of the story that Jesus illustrated. And I wrote down three reasons that come to mind:

Honor: If the servant truly honors and respects his master, then he would want to faithfully steward his responsibilities. However, if the servant dishonors his master and considers him to be not important, then that would make him to be lazy and irresponsible at work.
Love: If the servant loved his master and had a relationship with him, then he would eagerly wait for him. Not only would he work hard and take care of the house well, but he would long to meet his master again. He longs to spend time with him once he is back. However, if the servant didn’t love his master, he wouldn’t really look forward to meeting his master. He probably would’ve hoped that his master didn’t return in that case.
Gratitude: If the servant was grateful for the opportunity and the responsibility given to him, he would fulfill his responsibilities with joy. However, if the servant wasn’t grateful for the opportunity then he would take it for granted and sleep in instead of staying awake and working.

If you noticed, we didn’t start from behavior changes – “Christ is coming soon, so you need to do this and that and this.” We started from the attitudes of the heart. Why? Because out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45) If we don’t honor Jesus, don’t love Jesus and aren’t grateful for what Jesus has done for us….we obviously aren’t going to look forward to Him coming back. We won’t be living a life looking forward to Him coming back.

A few days before Angie and I got married, we decided to challenge each other with this question…if Jesus came back before we got married, would we feel like we missed out on something? At first it seemed like a funny question to ask a couple that was just going to get married, but then it challenged and convicted our hearts to see if we really honored, loved and were grateful to Jesus more than anyone else…more than each other.

Similarly we should ask ourselves this question, we when look at our conversations with the world – do we see them reflecting our love, honor and gratitude toward Jesus?
Do our private moments reflect the love, honor and gratitude toward Jesus?
Some of us are married and so the question is…is our married life reflecting the love we have for Jesus, honor for him and gratefulness for all that he has done for us?
Many of us are single preparing to get married…are our choices of a spouse reflecting the love, honor and gratitude we have toward Jesus? And all of this can be applied in so many other aspects of life.

A person can maybe alter his behavior but how does a person change his love? How does a person suddenly honor someone? How is a person’s heart filled with gratitude for someone? It can’t be manufactured, right? Honor begins when we realize who the other person is and who we are in response to that person. When we see Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible – Glorious, Pre-existent, Powerful in creating everything that is created – visible and invisible, Holy, Wise, Omnipresent.

On the other hand, we see ourselves as created beings who are weak and marred with sin. Oh it’s humbling. Like Isaiah says “Woe to me…I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts”. What about love? We can only understand love and respond to love because Christ loved us first. We are weak and extremely sinful but the Bible tells us while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He took our penalty, our punishment, the anger directed toward us was poured out on Jesus. He willingly sacrificed His life for us.

On the third day He rose again victoriously defeating Satan, sin and death so that we can also benefit from this victory – we can also experience the blessing of being set free from Satan, sin and death. This leads us to immense gratitude where we first surrender ourselves to Jesus – no more our way but His way forever. And also immense joy and happiness because we realize what has been done for us by Christ. If we’ve seen something else or someone else competing with Christ, let’s repent of that and trust in the finished and full work of Christ on the cross. Jesus is near and He tells us to Stay Awake. Let’s not turn away.

Tags Authority, Eternal, jesus, King, Love

Mark Sermon

Abomination of Desolation – Mark 13:14-27

Post author By Saju Joseph
Post date February 12, 2019
No Comments on Abomination of Desolation – Mark 13:14-27

In this sermon, we will be looking at a somewhat tricky as well a relevant passage. Let me warn you that this is not one of those passages that brings comfort to the soul. Instead, this passage will disturb us, convict us but at the same time also bring hope and assurance of God’s love and his faithfulness.

If I were a prosperity preacher I wouldn’t have preached from this passage because there is nothing in this passage that gives a prosperity feeling; instead, it gives us goosebumps and makes us uncomfortable.

I’m thankful that we choose to preach through the books of the Bible, and that we’ve stumbled upon this important passage this morning.

Let us come to God with an open mind and a humble spirit as we read from our passage today which is Mark 13:14-27

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The context of this passage is that as Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Our later passages reveal that Jesus was, in fact, talking about the destruction of the temple.

And as Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, a couple of disciples privately asked him “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”

In response, Jesus warns them against Counterfeits, Calamities & Persecution. Brother Jinson, in his last sermon, explained to us what our faithful reaction should be when we encounter counterfeits, calamities & persecution.

In our passage today Jesus continues his conversation and points the disciples to two events.

The first event is the destruction of the temple that was supposed to happen in their generation and to those people as per the prophecy made by Daniel which is recorded in the book of Daniel chapter 9. And the second event is the final day when Christ, the son of God will appear in heaven.

As per bible scholars, the destruction of the temple occurred in the year 175-64 B.C when a King Antiochus who ruled Palestine treated Israel with violence and contempt. When the people stood against him, he came with his forces, entered the temple, stopped the regular sacrifices, set up an idol of Zeus on the altar. This is an abomination because it is idolatry, and it brings desolation because it defiles the holy place at the heart of Israel. This act was the abomination “of” desolation, the abomination “causing” desolation.

And the second event, which Jesus talks about is his return, which is yet to be fulfilled. Which means, for us today, on a timeline we are somewhere right in the middle of these two events.

For those of you who are wondering about the difference in time between these two events, 2 Peter 3:8-9 tells us that a 100 years is like a day for God. Which means according to God’s calender it just been 2 days.

And for those who want to know when are the end times. The answer is we are in the end times. The end times began right after Jesus was ascended to heaven.

If I have to use a military analogy, then we are right now in the enemies camp where Satan is the god of this world. (2 Cor 4:4) We are living in an era where suffering, persecution, false prophets, false preaching of the Gospel is rampant.

We live in a world where world peace is just a dream. No matter which political party or leader arise to make this world a better place. We will never see that accomplished until the coming of our Lord Jesus.

Satan is ruling the hearts and minds of many and the people he hates the most is the elect children of God.

According to a report published by an organisation called Open Doors in Jan 2018, 1 in 12 Christians all over the world live in a place where Christianity is illegal, forbidden or are punished.

We all are under the schemes of the enemy, either physical, mental or spiritual where he is using every possible tool to take away our affections for God and erect an idol in our heart, mind and soul.

But there is a day coming when Christ our saviour will return to his chosen people, and take us out of this earth. It is written in 1 Cor 15:52, in a twinkle of an eye, we will be taken up with Christ.

Remember, this promise is only for those who’ve genuinely put their faith in Christ.

We were once in the enemies of God, born in sin, lived sinful lives, destined to die the eternal death. But God in his great mercy sent his son Jesus to rescue us from this wicked world by taking our punishment and dying in our place. And it is only when we repent of our sins and put our trust in Jesus that we are called his elect.

I want to urge you, therefore, If anyone in this room who haven’t repented of their sins and hadn’t honestly put their faith in Christ, I want to urge you to do so without delay. So that you may also be rescued from this wicked world and taken up in heaven when our saviour Jesus comes.

This morning, my intention is not to spend time predicting the events and dissecting the prophetic fulfilment. But I want to focus more on what does all this mean to us today and how do we live our lives in the midst of all this.

I want to share 4 practical instructions I see in the text that can help us navigate our journey in this period of suffering, persecution and trouble.

1.We have to be well informed & alert

4 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Jesus to telling “let the reader understand”

A reader is someone who is a well-informed person. And then he says “When you see the Abomination of Desolation standing, run to the mountains.”

Tell me. What happens in a war when people are stuck in the enemies camp and they are totally lost and unaware of what’s happening around them? They die.

In a battle, the enemy will do anything to keep our minds distracted, so that, when we are attached we are clueless.

1 Peter 5:8 says “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. “

We need to identify areas in our life where the enemy is keeping us occupied & distracted?

For some of you, he’s kept you distracted with the pleasures of this world
For some with all kinds of personal problems (within the family, within the church, etc)
For some with great Career aspirations
For some with the lust of the flesh
For some with pride of Life

And because of our distracted pursuits apart from living out the plan and purpose of God in our lives we’ve put ourselves in situations and in places that are danger zones.

In Colossians 4 Paul writes “Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don’t miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity.”

Brother and sisters, in this battle, if we do not stay well-informed & alert, we will get injured, and we will die in the hands of the enemy.

A well informed Christian is one who is reading and meditating on the scriptures day and night. Looking for clues and answers to difficult circumstances and finding ways to tackle them in Godly ways.

We have to be aware of our own weaknesses and how to protect our lives from our own self.

We have to know the truth of God’s word in its entirety so that we are not swayed away by false prophets, wrong doctrines and false gospels.

2. We have to take careful steps

The second instruction I see in the passage is to take careful steps and flee when the enemy comes to destroy our soul and erect an Idol in place of God.

It is not enough for us to be well-informed, but we also need to be obedient and take necessary actions to flee from evil.

The meaning of the word Abomination of Desolation is the Establishment of an Idol in place of God that has the potential to bring destruction.

By idols, I just don’t mean the physical structures made out of mud and sand but also the hidden idols in our hearts that take away our place of affection for God.

It could be a person in your life
It could be a thing in your life
It could be a desire in your life
Our job can become an idol
Our children can become our idols

Mark 13:14-18 Jesus

“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter.

Jesus is saying when you see the sign of the Abomination of Desolation, his instruction is to flee.

When we are in places, in relationships, in circumstances where the enemy is trying to erect an idol in our heart, we have to flee from it.

Paul often uses the words ‘flee’ in his letters to help us draw near to God.

1 Corinthians 10:14
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

2 Timothy 2:22
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

If we have to survive, don’t let the enemy construct an idol in your heart, a place where God dwells and take necessary action whenever it is required.

To the extreme where Jesus said in Matthew 5:29 “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.”

3. We have to depend on the Master’s providence

V20. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.

What this verse suggests is that even in times of trouble, suffering and persecution, the Lord’s grace & providence is always upon us.

He works everything for the good of those who love and trust in him.

When we are in the battle, there will be temptations to trust in our humanly instincts and abilities which can lead us to more trouble. But instead, we have to always trust in God’s providence for the moment.

Whether we face people who threaten us, situations that seem dangerous, temptations that push us to the limits. Always trust in God’s providence and his grace.

We see Paul’s dependence on God’s providence as he writes in 2 Cor 12:10 “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong”.

In his weakness, he knows he can trust in God’s strength.

And our greatest comfort comes from the presence of the Spirit of God dwelling among us. So trust in God’s providence and not on our strength.

Ask more for his Holy Spirit and Pray diligently at all times. And he will guide us at every step of our lives.

4. We have to wait for the Master’s return

And finally, we have to spend your days waiting for the Master to return and take you with him without losing hope.

24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

In the light of the latter event of our Lords coming back for us, we have to be like the 5 virgins mentioned in Matthew 25:1-13 who kept their lamps burning until they saw the bridegroom arrive.

We can’t give up, no matter how badly we are injured. No matter how secluded our life has become while living in the enemy’s territory.

We have to hope in the Lord and his promises.

A day will come when our Lord, our saviour will come to take us with him. Even if we are dead physically, our bodies will rise and meet with our Lord and saviour.

We ought to live with hope in our hearts, that we will one day enter into his presence with joy and satisfaction.

Conclusion

As I conclude, let us examine our lives. Have we been living all these days carelessly?

Distracted with the things of the world and uninformed of the truths. Are we failing to take careful steps and make wise decisions for our lives? Are we failing to depend on the providence and grace of God? Are we living without hope?

It’s time that we repent and turn to God.

Lets Pray.

Tags Abomination, Deception, Providence, Sin

Mark Sermon

Marks of a true disciple – Mark 13:1-13

Post author By Jinson Thomas
Post date February 3, 2019
No Comments on Marks of a true disciple – Mark 13:1-13

Good morning church! This week we will jump back to our series from the gospel of Mark. We took a small break to do some stand alone sermons over the last month and now we are excited to continue with our Mark series. We are currently in Mark 13 and the events of today’s passage take place during Passion Week. Sometime between Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday which was on Passover night. The Jewish leaders are becoming increasingly hostile toward Jesus at this point.

Literally every passage mentions phrases like “they’re trying to argue with him, trap him, arrest him and destroy him, arrest him” and that’s because Jesus is openly condemning their hypocrisy and exposing their sin. Most of the events surrounding these last few days before Jesus’ death takes place in and around the Jerusalem temple. In spite of knowing what was going to happen to Him, Jesus boldly and willingly presents Himself in front of the very people that are going to crucify Him so that He can offer the sacrifice that can “take away your sins and mine”. That’s the context and let’s jump into today’s text from Mark 13:1-13:

Historically, this topic of “end times” has always fascinated the church. Some churches have heavily focused on this topic of “end times” and they’ll only study and talk about the book of Daniel or Revelations. The danger sometimes is that we can end up spending too much of time and add our own meanings to these symbols. On the other hand, theologians have had wars over for many years debating over when exactly is the end of age and Christ’s return – Pre-millenial, Post-millenial etc. And from this passage, we realize that the disciples also wanted to know about the end times. So it’s not a new question. But I find Jesus’ answer astonishing.

It almost seems like Jesus’ isn’t answering the question but He is. Jesus’ answer on end times is to tell them that they need to be concerned about enduring till the end. They need to be concerned about their response to various difficult situations that are going to come before them. Because what’s mentioned here are severe hardships and I think what this passage is telling us is that a true disciple will endure by the grace of God. And I think that’s the real question that we need to deal with today is am I going to endure till the end? How do I know if my faith is sincere and real?

What’s my response to Counterfeits (v5-6)

There are going to be many counterfeits that are going to come in Jesus’ name saying that they are the Christ. Probably they’ll be able to perform wonders and miraculous signs. Probably they’ll teach with great oratory skills. And not just that but many are going to be led astray. There are going to be many followers of false-Christs. That’s what’s going to make this tricky. Today if you were to buy something from Amazon, what would you look for? Reviews and ratings, right? The more popular the reviews, the more likely you’ll buy this product. And here you’ll find yourself in a place where these counterfeits are having massive followers. So how can we know who’s the real Christ and who isn’t?

If someone happened to give you a fake Rs. 500 bank note, how would you know it’s fake? Because the fake note would probably match the original 95% but there will be that 5% difference which will need to be spotted. And only if you’ve seen the original note and studied it would you be able to identify the fake. In the same way, Christ has revealed Himself to us through the written Word – the Bible. Jesus said that all the Scriptures bear witness about Jesus (John 5:39). So if we are sincerely trying to understand God through the Bible, we will see Jesus shine forth brightly through the pages. We can’t help but notice the person of Jesus & the redeeming work of Christ mentioned in every passage from Genesis to Revelation.

I was encouraged by listening to our brother’s testimony yesterday where he shared how his family came to know Jesus around the time when he was born. They were the first to believe in their entire tribe. Although he saw the faith being lived out in his parents, he didn’t own it until he was in 16. And as he read the Bible, God opened up his heart to see Jesus and understand what Jesus did for him – and he responded in faith on Jesus and got saved! And that’s the wonderful truth about the Bible. When we read the Bible – it’s not to learn about history but to learn about His Story! It’s not a rule book for life but an invitation to grow in a Relationship with Jesus! Through the Bible we get to know His character, His power, His Sacrifice, His Example and His Purposes. And not in just a factual knowledge kind of way. Jesus reveals it to us personally through His Spirit so that we can grow in an intimate relationship with Him. Your intimate relationship is going to help you discern if it’s your loving Savior or not! If we truly know Christ and listen to His voice everyday through the Bible, we don’t need anyone else to tell us – this is Christ or that one is Christ. We know for sure ourselves….

And that’s exactly what Jesus meant from John 10:3-5: The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

And that gets reflected a lot of the times in which we think and refer to Jesus. Think about brothers and sisters…do you think and refer to Jesus from a third person’s perspective or first person’s perspective? Is Jesus just someone else’s God or is He “your God and your Lord” where you have known Him yourself and you are getting to know Him more and more intimately each day? Let’s evaluate our hearts and honestly answer if we have truly known Jesus? Not through your pastor or your friend…Do you know Jesus for who He is? If the answer is “I don’t know. I’m not sure”, I think the best place to start from is the Bible and I would encourage you to get in touch with one of the leaders and we would love to get you connected with another brother and sister who can walk with you as you are trying to know Jesus.

What’s my response to Calamities (v7-8)

7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

The second reality that signals the start of the end times are increasing wars and calamities. Nations are going to war with other nations and various earthquakes and famines will be taking place all over the world. This reality is going cause serious physical harm to your safety and your property and your provisions. And Jesus says these are the “beginning of birth pains” which means that the frequency will increase and duration of this as well. This isn’t a pleasant thing to witness but why would Jesus tell us to “not be alarmed”? Are we to ignore this calamity and pretend like it never happened? How can we not be troubled by this?

I think the reason why believers can remain assured even during disasters such as wars and earthquakes and famines is because:

We know of God’s providence

God is in complete control of all things in the universe. He not only knows what’s going to happen in the future but He also governs its destiny. I like the way the writer of Proverbs 16 mentions it. He says “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Prov 16:33)”. It’s like the most random thing in the world is to roll the dice but God is somehow still in control of every outcome. I hope you don’t take this as a reason to take decisions by rolling the dice but understand the proverb that there is nothing random or shocking or “out of control” for God. He always is in control. Even in extreme situations like earthquakes, famines and wars, God governs it and purposefully uses it for His glory.

We know of a certain future

The Christian life is a life of faith – believing and trusting in promises that God (who doesn’t lie or break his promise) has made for us. Although wars and calamities are realities that might momentarily affect believers but beyond that it won’t because they long for a better place, a better country and better home that’s not on earth but in heaven. Let’s hear what the writer of Hebrews says: 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Heb 11:14-16)

Again, let’s pause and ask ourselves when we think about the impending end times and the calamities that it’s going to bring – does that make you insecure? I understand these are not easy realities to face but ask yourself – what’s stopping me from trusting in God’s providence and the certain future in heaven? Is it because I love my life on the earth so much that I can’t think of losing it? Or is it because I don’t really trust that God is in control of everything?

What’s my response to Persecution (v9-13)

The third thing that is reality during the end times will be severe persecution! I remember brother sharing how India’s rank on the persecuted nations list keeps rising each week.

Jesus tells us that during the end times it’s going to bring persecution from very powerful and influential people, sometimes from religious people who think they are serving God and sometimes even from our own family which probably affects us the most. We will be “hated” and disliked and hugely unpopular for living and talking about Jesus Christ. Yes, that’s true but we will also have the privilege of bearing witness and telling them of how good and how merciful is our God. And we don’t have to prepare a sermon or prepare great arguments or be anxious on what to say at that time.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit will give us the words and will speak through us during that time. During that time of persecution, the Holy Spirit will empower us in a very special and powerful way. And I think that should make us look forward to this. In Acts 8 we see how Stephen is being executed and that same day a great persecution came against the church in Jerusalem which scattered the church throughout Samaria and Judea. We come to Acts 11 and we see how some believers reached Antioch and start sharing the gospel and eventually a church is birthed out of nowhere.

The church of Antioch then becomes the launching pad to send out Paul and Barnabas as church planters to many other places! Especially in urban churches like in our context, the tendency would be to avoid this conversation or minimize the discussions around persecution but as we look at Scripture it seems like a divinely ordained way to advance the gospel of Jesus. I understand why there could be a fear at the thought of it and I know some of us are experiencing it right now but let me encourage us to not look at it negatively but rather embrace the purposes that God has through this in order to use us, reach the lost with the gospel and ultimately bring glory to Himself.

Tags Disciple, Discipleship, jesus, Providence, relationship

1 Peter Sermon

God’s Glory In Suffering

Good morning! Let’s get right into the text that we’re going to look at this morning. I know that we’ve confused some of you with the preaching schedule over the last several weeks. For clarity, we were going to jump back into Mark last weekend, but with our guest preacher and wanting to make sure we stayed synched up with Red Tree, we’re asking for one more week of grace this morning.

The plan is to jump back into Mark next Sunday. But, for our purposes this morning, I want to look at a text with you that God has been using to awaken me to a greater understanding of how His mission goes forward in the world through His people. And, as we look at this today, I want you to think specifically about what persecution & suffering for the mission of God does in the life of the believer.

It’s interesting, Open Doors (https://www.opendoorsusa.org) just released their annual report for 2019 on the most persecuted countries in the world. This is a list that looks at a wide range of factors in determining how believers are treated for their faith in a county. India has been climbing the list every year for the last several years and is currently ranked #10. This is a very relevant topic for believers living in India!

And, if we’re going to think about what it looks like to live for the glory of God, especially in the midst of persecution & suffering, I can’t think of a better text to look at than 1 Peter chapter 4. If you have a Bible with you this morning, I’d invite you to turn there with me. We’ll look specifically at verses 12 – 19. Before we read this, let’s go to the Lord in prayer to ask for His help this morning.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” (1 Peter 4:12-19)

If we’re being honest, this can be a very difficult text for most of us. Just think about the things that we tend to idolize and chase after. We’ve been conditioned to pursue comfort, safety, and security. And here you have Peter saying that, “fiery trials should be seen as normal.” He’s saying that, “we should rejoice when we suffer.” He’s saying, “if you are insulted, you are blessed.” He’s painting a picture here of suffering for the name and fame of Jesus as something that we should desire in our lives or, at the very least, something that we should embrace when it happens.

But, none of that sits well with the idols that we tend to embrace. In fact, our idols train us to dismiss Peter’s words. That’s why this is a hard word for many of us to read, and it’s exactly why we need to hear it. We need for God’s Word to come in and root out the things in our heart that we’re pursuing over and above God.

Regardless of how you view suffering & persecution, and regardless of how much suffering & persecution you might be facing right now as a believer in Mumbai, I want to challenge you this morning on a deeper principle at work in this text. Because, there’s something at work here that transcends culture and context. In other words, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, this applies to you. I could summarize it like this: Our aim is to live for the glory of God no matter the circumstances that He brings into our lives.

It is not up to you and me to determine the circumstances of our lives; that’s God’s job. And, by the way, this is why idolatry is so wicked. We set up things in our heart above the pursuit of God’s glory, and then we try to control and shape our circumstances around the pursuit of those created things. And it’s all a lie! The truth is that God is completely sovereign over the circumstances of our lives. He’s the One who determines what we experience. Look again at verse 19 — “Therefore let those who suffer ACCORDING TO GOD’S WILL entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”

It doesn’t matter what your circumstances are. It doesn’t matter if you’re just suffering the general effects of the fall (with things like a serious illness, or a damaged relationship, or the death of someone close to you, or a situation where you’re not being treated fairly at work). Those are all effects of a fallen, sinful, broken world. It doesn’t matter if you’re facing those circumstances, or if you’re being actively persecuted for your faith in Jesus, or if you’re suffering from both at the same time. The principle is the same; we are called to glorify God in those circumstances.

Will I respond to my circumstance (whether it’s persecution or cancer) by turning away from God, or by turning into God? Will I renounce Him (either with my lips or my actions), or will I give Him glory through this trial? Will I trust Him, or will I grow angry and bitter? This principle is universal in suffering & persecution; no matter the type. And the result is the same as well. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, if you suffer, if you are persecuted, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

Isn’t that an interesting phrase? When you suffer, “the Spirit of God rests upon you.” In other words, we experience the Spirit in a different way, He ministers to us in a unique or more powerful way when we are suffering for the name of Jesus Christ and for His glory. Now, I don’t know about you, but I desire to have the Spirit more at work in me. I desire for more of His presence, more of His power, more dependence upon Him. I want to be used in greater ways by Him. So, when I read that the Spirit of Glory & of God will rest upon me, I want that! Do you want that? Of course you do!

But, here’s what we need to remember: That is tied directly to how we respond to suffering in our lives. You want more of Him? You have to live for His glory in the midst of your suffering, whatever that suffering looks like. Again, suffering is all to common in a place like Mumbai, and even more common throughout the whole of India. We read the news, we hear stories. Some of you in this room have stories where you have, or are currently, being persecuted for your faith. And we all certainly have examples of suffering the general effects of the fall.

Our tendency, because of what we idolize, is to see suffering, persecution and difficulties as bad things. We’ll hear of a situation and talk about how terrible it is. But, here’s what we must remember: God is getting glory for His name. God is using the suffering of His people to glorify His name. But, if we’re going to be honest, it doesn’t look like glory or feel like glory in the moment, does it? When someone is suffering mightily, it doesn’t look like glory. But the Cross didn’t look like glory either. But, oh was Christ’s work on that Cross glorious!!!!

It’s the same thing when we suffer like He suffered. Just as the cross wasn’t the last word, God doesn’t allow the suffering of His saints be the last word either. Glory will be the last word! “Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” You might be in a situation right now that’s terrible. It’s dark and it doesn’t feel like there’s any way out. It feels like there’s no end in sight and that nothing good will every come of that circumstance. It’s so easy to allow that circumstance to define you.

Let me encourage you: God is accomplishing far more abundantly than we could ever ask or think. What looks like defeat to you right now is actually God paving the way for the revelation of Christ’s glory in the world through you. Do you hear that church? We get to be a part of what God is doing in the world to reveal His glory. And, never are we more a part of that work than when we respond in faith in the midst of difficult circumstances. When we refuse to be defined by the world, and by our sin, and by our circumstances, and by our suffering. When we are steadfast in our commitment to be defined by God’s eternal glory, by His righteousness, by His faithfulness, and by the fact that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Church, in all of this we rejoice! So, here’s how I’d like to end our time this morning. In light of everything we’ve considered, I want to make a few observations from the text of why we must rejoice in our sufferings. My hope is just to give you these points for further reflection as we leave this place.

1. Our suffering has divine purpose
Verse 19: “Let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.”

2. Our suffering shows that we are united with Christ
Verse 13: “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings…”

3. The Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us when we suffer
Verse 14: “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”

4. Our suffering glorifies God
Verse 16: “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”

Tags Glory, God, Purpose, Rest, Suffering

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1.The first reason we fail to see Him as our King is because of our spiritual blindness.

2.The second reason why people fail to see Jesus as the true King and follow Him is because of lack of courage and unpreparedness & unwillingness to pay the cost of becoming His follower.

3.And finally, the third reason why we fail to accept Him as our King is because we tend to love darkness more than light.

Christ still remains faithful towards us

Fear of Man

Love for their present life

Unexpected encounter

We need Jesus’ Provision and not our performance (v12-16)﻿

Proximity to Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean intimacy with Him (v17-21)

The Lord’s Supper is about a Promise and not a transaction (v22-25)

Woman

The People

Judas Iscariot

Jesus is Near (v28-31)

Stay Awake

1.We have to be well informed & alert

2. We have to take careful steps

3. We have to depend on the Master’s providence

4. We have to wait for the Master’s return

Conclusion

What’s my response to Counterfeits (v5-6)

What’s my response to Calamities (v7-8)

What’s my response to Persecution (v9-13)

We need Jesus’ Provision and not our performance (v12-16)