Category: Sermon

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Good morning Gathering! It’s good to be back with you this morning. I had the opportunity to serve at a church in Santa Cruz last week. That congregation was recently removed from their worship space because of some protests, and it was good to be with them to encourage them. But, as great as it was to fellowship with those brothers & sisters, this is our church home and we definitely miss you guys when we’re away. So, it’s good to be back and I’m excited to continue in our study of The Gospel of Mark. If you have a Bible with you this morning, I’d encourage you to turn with me to Mark chapter 9. I’ll go ahead and PRAY for our time together in God’s Word.

We’ll focus our time this morning on verses 38 – 41. But, what I’d like to do is back up and begin reading in verse 30, because, if you look carefully at what’s happening in this larger section of text there is a pattern that we see with the disciples. And if we don’t understand this pattern, we won’t really understand our verses correctly.

So let’s begin reading in verse 30, and we’ll end with verse 41. This is what God’s Word says:

“They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.” (Mark 9:30-41)

Let’s make sure we’re clear on what’s happening here — and I’ll back up a little bit into chapter 8 for review. We see Peter confess Jesus as the Christ. He declares, “You are the Son of God!”, “You are the Messiah!”, “You are the One who has been sent to rescue us!” And we’ve said that this is the turning point in The Gospel of Mark. Everything shifts at that point, from who Jesus is, to what He’s come to do. After Mark 8:27-30, things start moving very fast toward Jerusalem and toward the Cross. So Jesus sits His disciples down and He tells them exactly what ‘s going to happen to Him (8:31-33). He says that He’s going to suffer, He’s going to be rejected by the religious leaders, He’s going to be put to death, and He’s going to raise from the dead on the 3rd day.

And how does Peter respond to this? After this beautiful confession he’s just made of who Jesus is as the Messiah, Peter actually tries to rebuke Jesus for saying that He’s going to die. Just let that sink in for a moment. Peter tries to rebuke Jesus! Now, of course, we read that and say, “That’s ridiculous!” But there are all kinds of ways that you and I practically rebuke Jesus in our lives, aren’t there? Like when His designs for my life don’t match what I’ve designed for my life?

The point here is that the disciples still don’t get it, even when Jesus puts it plainly to them. Then we fast forward a bit to the Transfiguration — this amazing event where Peter, James and John get to see the glory of Jesus. And then we look at the account of the disciples who are unable to cast a demon out of a boy and Jesus has to step in and do it for them. Both events that should have reiterated who Jesus is in the hearts and minds of the disciples. But they still don’t get it.

And we know they’re not getting it, we know that something is misfiring in their hearts, because Jesus tells them a second time that He’s going to lay down His life so that He can be raised from the dead. And what do the disciples do right after that? They start arguing about who’s the greatest. Now, just think about that for a moment. Jesus says, “Hey, as the Messiah, the deliverer, the one who will make all things right, the one who will reconcile people to God, I have come to lay down my life — to give myself as a sacrifice so that I can raise from the dead.”

Right after He says that the disciples start arguing over who among them is the most awesome. It’s a pretty stark contrast between Jesus and His disciples, between servanthood and looking to be served, between humility & pride. And, again, the temptation in our flesh is to say, “Those morons!” “How could they not get it???” But how often do you and I promote ourselves, and seek the approval of man, and try to advance our agenda over and above everyone else? The truth is that we do this same thing — and it’s actually worse for us because we have the Indwelling Holy Spirit.

So Jesus sits these guys down and says, “Look, if you want to be first, you have to be the last.” “You guys are talking about being the greatest, you should be talking about who can be the least.” And then, to drive the point home, Jesus actually welcomes one of the “least of these” into their conversation. He brings a child into their midst (which would have been very counter-cultural in the day). In fact, you might remember in Matthew chapter 19, the disciples actually rebuked people for bringing children to Jesus. So Jesus illustrates what He’s talking about by bringing a child into the middle of their conversation.

All of that has been happening in this scene: Pride, selfishness, these guys completely missing the point. And then, as we come to our verses today, John chimes in once again. He says, “Hey Jesus, we saw this guy who was casting out demons in your name and (you’d be super proud of us) we told him to sit down & be quiet because he wasn’t following us!” Did you catch that little bit of grammar? John didn’t say, “Because He wasn’t following you, Jesus.” He says, “This guy wasn’t following us.” More pride, more selfishness, another example that they’re just not getting the point.

So Jesus responds, “Why would you do that? Don’t stop him, he’s doing work in my name.” And then He says, “The one who is not against us is for us.” So that’s the overall flow of what’s happening with the disciples. Now, before we get to what I believe is the main idea for us this morning, I want to point out a couple of things that are interesting. In fact, these are things that don’t seem to make sense.

The first deals with John himself. Based on what we know about John’s temperament & character, these conversations don’t seem very “John-like”, do they? At least not the John that I grew up hearing about in Sunday School. Isn’t John supposed to be the disciple that’s all about love?” It is true that John becomes that. There are early church historical records that detail John living to a very old age and being known for his Christ-like temperament. And we certainly see that heart come out in his New Testament writings. But that’s not who he is at this point in the narrative. In fact, we need to remember that Jesus gave John & his brother James the nickname “Boanerges”, which means “Sons of Thunder”.

The truth is that this John was known to have a fiery temperament. What we see here is John before Pentecost, John without the indwelling Holy Spirit, John before God’s grace transforms Him. And here he is telling this guy to stop casting out demons because the guy isn’t following him. And that’s all about pride being revealed in John’s heart. “Who does this guy think he is? This guy hasn’t spent any time with Jesus! He doesn’t have the knowledge that we do, he hasn’t seen what we’ve seen! I received my commission directly from Jesus! I’m a called out one, a trained one! And, on top of that, all of these other guys know that I’m Jesus’ favorite. That’s who I am, and this guy isn’t following me, so he must not be legitimate!”

What is all of that? It sure seems a lot like pride and a desire to be in control. We’ll come back to that in a few minutes to unpack it, but can we all agree that those are common struggles in our lives and in the church as a whole? This is just another point at which we need to check our hearts and say, “Oh, that’s right, I do that exact same thing!” We’ll circle back and unpack that in a few minutes but first, I want to point out one other interesting thing here (because I always want to address the confusing things in Scripture).

I’ve already pointed out that Jesus said, “The one who is not against us is for us.” But, here’s what’s interesting about that — Jesus says the exact opposite thing in Matthew 12:22-32. Here’s the context: Jesus is casting out demons and the Pharisees accuse Him of doing it by the power of the devil. Jesus responds by saying, “Why would the devil cast out the devil?” And then He says, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” It’s literally the opposite phrase. So, which one is it? “If you’re not for me, you’re against me? Or, if you’re not against me, you’re for me?”

It’s sort of like Proverbs 26:4-5: “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.” You read that and you’re like, “WHAT???” It literally says the opposite thing back to back. So, which one is it? Do we answer a fool or do we not answer a fool? It depends on the situation and it takes wisdom to discern that. The same thing is true of Mark 9 & Matthew 12. Sometimes it’s right to say the one, and sometimes it’s right to say the other. It depends upon the context. So,let’s think about the contexts of these 2 situations briefly:

In Matthew 12, Jesus is casting out demons but the Pharisees accuse Him of doing it by the power of the devil. What Jesus says in response is, “There’s no middle ground here, either I’m doing this because I’m from God or because I’m from the devil.” “If you’re not for me, you’re against me.”

In Mark 9, the context is completely different. There’s someone casting out demons in Jesus name, so he’s doing the right thing. He’s saying the right thing and He’s accomplishing the right thing. And what Jesus says in response is, “Why would he be a problem?” “The one who isn’t against us — is for us.”

Now, the application on that is tricky and takes wisdom to know how to apply it. The key in our text is that we’re dealing with the issue of truth. The man in question here is saying what is true, He’s doing what is true and he’s accomplishing what is true. Jesus says, “I don’t care that you’ve never met him before, he’s on our team.”

Another point of interest is that Paul, in Philippians chapter 1, makes basically the same point that Jesus makes here in our text. Listen to Philippians 1:17-18: “Some preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”

Paul’s saying, “Look, some of these guys are preaching Christ out of rivalry & envy, they’re preaching Christ and people are hearing the gospel, so that’s a win!” And that really drives us back into the main idea of what Jesus is communicating in our text this morning.

I don’t think that this has as much to do with the circumstances of this guy not following the disciples, I think it has a lot more to do with exposing sin in John’s heart. It has to do with the pride that’s still lodged there because, if you look at the pattern of what’s been going on, it’s been lodged there for some time.

Now, let’s bring this back to our lives and talk a little bit about how this translates to you and me. I’ve already pointed out, as we’ve gone along, how the same things that we see coming out of the disciples (in attitude & behavior) are things that we exhibit in our lives as well.

But, I want to focus in for a moment on the subject of theological pride. There is an overwhelming sense of tribalism in the modern day church. Do you know what I mean by tribalism? We get into little theological, ecclesiological tribes based on our theological beliefs & doctrinal convictions. And, there are some really helpful elements to that because sound theology matters and right doctrine is crucial. It’s important to affirm and deny things based on what the Bible teaches. It’s important to know what we believe & why we believe it.

But, here’s the danger with tribalism: only being able to recognize truth when it comes from our own tribe. That’s what I think was happening with the disciples in this situation. Because it wasn’t coming from them, they couldn’t recognize the truth. And, if we’re going to be honest, we’re guilty of this far more often than we’d care to admit. The longer I’m in ministry, the more I have realized just how much I have to learn. And a part of what I’m learning is to celebrate the truth, even when it comes from an unlikely source (even a source that I didn’t know existed).

Pride stops that from happening. I had a good friend who used to say, “Pride calcifies ignorance in the heart.” In other words, there are things that you don’t know (that you’re ignorant of) pride solidifies that in your heart because you’re not willing to learn new things.

Humility, on the other hand, confesses with our actions and our attitudes that we believe that God is big & we’re small. Humility helps us understand that God is working in thousands of different ways, through millions of different people, and I certainly don’t have the market corned on truth. Does that make sense?

Now, there is certainly dangers that comes with this. We must learn to weigh everything against Scripture. We can’t be naive. We must have discernment and learn to be sharp biblically. But that shouldn’t hold us back from humbly learning from others.

The other danger here (or maybe tension is a better word) is, how can we be passionate about our convictions, theological distinctives, and good doctrine, while also being passionate about the Kingdom over our tribe? I think the key to this is found in what Jesus says in verse 39: “… for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.”I believe that we should be praying for the supernatural work of God in every church (even ones that are doctrinally suspect). Because the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit draws people toward Christ & toward right doctrine.

So, in light of all that, I want to close our time this way. We are going to celebrate the Lord’s Supper this morning, but I want to do 2 specific things with our time in Communion. I want to come against the pride in our hearts and I want to pray for the Kingdom to advance in our city — through all the church.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Today’s passage is Mark 9:30-37

Last Sunday we heard a beautiful sermon that reminded us of our unbelieving hearts and also reminded us of the fact that till the last moment of our lives we will all battle with unbelief.

But we saw God’s provision for our unbelief. In times of unbelief he expects us to depend on him because

1. We need God’s PATIENCE when we don’t believe
2. We also need God’s PROVISION when we struggle to believe
3. We also need God’s POWER to sustain our belief

In today’s passage we see another kind of struggle we all go through and that’s the issue of Pride, a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction on one’s own achievements and even possessions which is equally sinful in the eyes of God.

We all have this problem and in some ways we all struggle in this area.

Sadly, it’s become part of our culture and tradition where we’re taught by our parents and teachers to take pride in our achievements and in our material possessions.

We are told that if we are born in a certain caste, religion or country then we are superior to others. If we posses more knowledge and achieve higher ranks in school than we are the smartest and brighter than others.

And on top of it all our Consumerist society wants us to take pride in everything we own and have so that they can sell us more products and services to fire into flame our desire to take pride in our possessions.

In our passage today, Jesus is secretly passing through Galilee along with his disciples and for the second time in a row he is predicting his death and resurrection. The first time he did was in Mark 8:31.

What surprises me is the ignorance and the lack of attentiveness in the disciples, that even after mentioning it for the second time they were unable to understand what Jesus is trying to tell them. And instead of going back to Jesus and clarifying their doubt they keep quiet because they were afraid.

Here’s an eternal perspective on life placed right in front of them, the revelation of the Son of God who came down leaving his glory to offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world so that they can get to be part of heaven by trusting in him and his finished work on the cross.

But instead they chose to focus on the earthly perspective and try to figure out who among them was the greatest so they can take pride in it and feel good about it.

God may have been doing great things through the disciples – healing the sick, performing miracles etc. But instead of focusing on Jesus and his words they became busy arguing among themselves about who among them is the greatest.

It seems like the world and its ideals were corrupting their minds and making it futile to understand what Jesus is trying to tell them.

My question is even if they had figured out who among them is the greatest what’s the big deal?

Where are the so called great men who claimed to be great men? Where is Caesar, Roman politician and military general. Where is Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea who ordered to put Jesus to death? Where is Herod? also known as Herod the Great. And where are the leaders of the Pharisees and the Sadducees who claimed to be people who know everything.

In the last few days, as I was looking at the calamity that struck Kerala I was wondering what happens to people who took pride in their earthly possessions, acres of land, 2-storey – 3-storey properties.

You see, At the end of day every earthly position and possession comes to nothing in comparison to the greatness and Sovereignty of the creator God, the ultimate owner and ruler of this world and everything in it.

1 John 2:17
“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Let me give you another perspective.

Right now you may not be struggling with pride about your position because you’re not in any such position that is better than others. Or even pride in you possession because you really don’t have enough to take pride in it.

But what is that other thing which is of this world that is taking away your focus from Jesus and his words.

• It could be the pressure and worry of getting married
• It could be the pressure at work to perform better
• It could be the illness in the family that is taking a long time to heal
• It could be the struggle to perform and be better than others
• It could be the pressure of buying a house of your own
• It could be the pressure of pushing yourself harder at your workplace so that you can secure a superior position
• It could be the pressure of going abroad and settling there which you might think of as an ultimate goal in life

Jesus doesn’t offer a solution just to address that single issue of pride but he is challenging their world view which is what he wants to do in our hearts today.

When the disciples are arguing among themselves about who is the greatest, Jesus picks up the least among all of them, a small child and puts him in their midst, takes the child in his arms and says “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

In Luke 9:48 we see an extended version of that conversation where Jesus also goes on to tell them “For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

In Judaism, children and women were largely auxiliary members of society whose connection to the social mainstream depended on men (either as fathers or husbands). Children, in particular, were thought of as “not having arrived.” They were good illustrations of “the very last” (v. 35).”

This is not how the society defines greatness. According to the world greatness is achieved by doing great things, achieving great knowledge, possessing great things.

But Jesus challenges our world view and the world view of the disciples, just as he challenges the world view of the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and asks What should he do to inherit eternal life.

Jesus tells him to go sell all that he has and give it to the poor which he wasn’t really prepared to do and goes away.

In light of what we understand from this passage let’s evaluate our own lives.

We are in the church this morning. God is speaking to us through his word, he is giving us an eternal perspective and convicting our hearts of our sin and pointing us towards himself.

• What is it that is stopping us from responding to Jesus the way we are supposed to.
• What is it that is diverting our attention away from him.
• Why is it that we are unable to grasp and understand the heavenly truths about the true kingdom. The Kingdom of God.
• Why is it such a big challenge to catch hold the eternal perspective placed right in front of us.
• Why is it that we are unable to see Jesus as better than everything else in this world.

If we are honest the answer to these questions will reveal how badly we are stuck with the petty things of this world. Worries, anxieties and fears that has become part of our lives because our upbringing, our circumstances and the influence of society and the people in it.

An honest answer will also reveal our prideful heart that doesn’t want to submit to Gods authority and his eternal reign.

Every motive or desire or pursuit we have in our lives which is a pattern of the world Jesus will challenge them and ask you to do exactly the opposite of what the world says.

Our response will determine who we are siding and what we treasure.

In Mark 8:36 Jesus says “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 8:12 – “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Many of the times we don’t see and realize the riches of who God is and what he has in mind for us in eternity. It’s time we change out thinking and fix our eyes on the heavenly things.

And just like David in Psalm 31:19 we sing

How abundant are the good things
that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
on those who take refuge in you.

Let’s pray![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Good morning church! If you’ve been tracking with us over the last few months, as a church we’ve been preaching through the gospel of Mark. Right now we are in Chapter 9.

As you are turning to the passage, let me remind us a little bit of where we were. Last weekend we read how Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him to the top of the mountain where he gets transfigured in front of them!

Also while this is happening, Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah who are standing with him. This great event left a strong impact on the hearts and minds of the disciples!

In the letters that these disciples wrote many years later to the churches, they often mentioned this event because Jesus revealed His glory as the Son of God, He showed that He was the fulfillment of the Law and the prophecies and that He was the True King – defined by the words of the Father when He says “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him”. And this great event sets up the next story which we will read today:

Read Mark 9:14-29

I am an unbeliever!!! Woah! Did the elder of the church just say that? There have been many times in my Christian where I’ve either thought that or said that to myself.

I believe that what Christ has done is full and sufficient to save me. But there are times when I evaluate my fight with sin, the times when I think about the future and don’t trust in God’s promises and then think “would a believer really be like that, would a believer really respond like this?”

And so even after trusting in Jesus I know there are various pockets in my life where I am an unbeliever. I’m an unbeliever needing Jesus to rescue me from that.So today’s message is for all unbelievers.

Maybe you’re an unbeliever who’s never known Jesus or like me you’ve known the Lord but struggle to believe in other areas of your life. Let me invite you to look at this passage for encouragement. Because we are prone to unbelief, because our hearts naturally turns to unbelief:

1. We need God’s patience when we don’t believe (v16-19)

“What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”

Right after Jesus comes down the mountain, he sees the scribes and the crowd arguing with the remaining disciples. And Jesus asks them why they were arguing and a man from the crowd told him about the terrible affliction that came upon his son due to an evil spirit.

He brought his son to the disciples for healing but because they couldn’t heal him and that resulted in an argument. Jesus responds by telling them that they are a faithless generation!

How long was he to bear with them? Was Jesus losing his patience? Was Jesus getting frustrated with the people? Why did Jesus say something seemingly harsh?

In order to answer this, I think we need to consider two things:

• Language: Where else did Jesus use similar language? Towards the end of chapter 8, Jesus refers to the current generation as an adulterous and sinful generation. In the OT the prophets would often term the rebellious nation of Israel as “Crooked and twisted generation, unfaithful people”. And it’s not because the prophets developed a disliking or hatred towards people. It was their own people. Their own nation. But they were merely describing the hearts of people that repeatedly and relentlessly turned away from God.
• Insult of unbelief: Sometimes we downplay the expressions of unbelief in our lives because we don’t even think of it as sin. We think “Rape, murder, Stealing”….these are all the big sins…what is unbelief in comparison to that? It seems like a thought or a feeling. But we should understand that unbelief is an insult to the goodness of God. Unbelief tells us that God isn’t good enough or isn’t loving enough or isn’t caring enough towards us. Unbelief tells us that God can’t be trusted. Unbelief tells us that God isn’t faithful so we need to find some other way apart from God. Are you seeing a theme run through all of this? Unbelief lies at the root of every sin. Unbelief is a perversion to God’s design of man and woman. Unbelief is everything that God doesn’t want in His children!

Let’s evaluate our hearts for a moment: When you don’t get what you want, does it cause you to become bitter toward God and His people? When God doesn’t answer your prayer according to your timings, does it cause you to abandon your trust in Him?

I know as we are hearing these truths, we are feeling the weight of the reality of our own unbelief. If unbelief is the root of every sin, then we end up displaying unbelief in so many areas.

God in His Holiness and Justice has every right to wipe us out due to our unbelief but instead He displays great patience through His Son Jesus.

I think as Jesus was mentioning v19 – he wasn’t losing his patience but rather like a loving parent was expressing the great deal of patience and tolerance He has towards rebellious people like you and me.

Not only do we need God’s patience, but

2) We also need God’s provision when we struggle to believe (v21-24)

You know it’s not the first time Jesus started a conversation with people before performing a miracle. Also, here Jesus starts talking to the man asking him about the condition of his son.

As the son is convulsing on the ground, the father explains how this evil spirit has caused his son to fall into fire, into water and severely wound him. Then for the for the first time you see the man ask Jesus to help him. He says “If you can do anything, please have compassion on us and help us”.

He still doesn’t fully believe. Jesus says “If you can?” “All things are possible for one who believes”. In tears this man says “I believe; help my unbelief”. In the Greek it reads it as “Lord I believe; help my unbelief”.

Do you notice the difference between the manner in which the man addressed Jesus in the starting? He called him “Teacher” but now he calls Him “Lord”. It’s wonderful to see how Jesus drew out the faith in this man.

He was part of the crowd initially that displayed unbelief and bitterness, but now he’s acknowledging his need for Jesus. Initially he just wanted a miracle, but now he’s displaying trust in Jesus. But yet he struggles to believe! In other words he’s saying “Lord, I want to believe. Help me overcome my unbelief”.

If you’re a believer in Christ, pretty soon you will come to this place where you’ll look at the struggle with sin in your life, or a difficult situation that you’re facing in your family or work or in friendships where you’ll cry out “Help me overcome my unbelief”.

You’ll feel the tension like this man where you want to believe but struggling to do the same. What is one of the means of grace that God has provided for us?

Ephesians 2:8 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”Faith is in itself a gift from God!Therefore, let’s realize that it cannot be automatically generated, it needs to be provided by God.

Hearing the words of Christ: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.(Rom 10:17) If your heart is unbelieving, it doesn’t mean you need to read less of God’s Word or wait until a later time when you grow in maturity to read the Word.

No…you need the Word right now. You need to listen to Christ’s voice right now. It’s infact through your time with Scripture that God will convict your heart of sin and unbelief and give you the faith and the promises to trust Christ.

If you’re confused on which passage to read or if you’re struggling to understand make sure you call a brother or sister who can help you and speak those words of truth into your hearts.

Not only do we need God’s patience and God’s provision but

3. We also need God’s power to sustain our belief (v28-29)

After this whole episode is done, in private Jesus’ disciples ask him why they couldn’t cast out the demon out of this man. Jesus says that this kind can only be driven out by prayer!

These disciples just a few chapters back were given the authority to cast out all demons and heal all kinds of diseases. They experienced first hand what it meant to be used by God! I’m sure by this point they saw several lives being transformed through their ministry.

But I think they reached this point where they trusted more on themselves than God. They forgot that they needed their power source which came about by communing with God. They forgot that they needed to depend on God in prayer. It’s interesting how in John 15, Jesus reminds us that “apart from Him we can do nothing”.

Think about that for a minute everyone. Apart from Jesus we can do NOTHING. Sometimes we tend to rely on all the sermons that we’ve heard, all the Christian theology that we know, all the past experiences we’ve had, all the Christian conversations we’ve had more than dependence on God through prayer.

Again all these things are good but all our bible studies and theology should fuel our hearts to cry out to Jesus.Prayer is how we depend on God’s strength and power to make things happen in and through our lives.

My intention is not to bring this up to say “If you are praying for 15 minutes now, pray for 20 minutes from tomorrow”. Or to beat us all down on how we aren’t praying enough. But I do want us to question ourselves on how central prayer is to our lives.

Do we pray about everything in our lives? Are we honest before God – transparent as we talk to Him? We know that the only reason why we can have our prayers and petitions delivered to God is because of the Saving work of our Savior. Therefore we aren’t praying to earn brownie points but we pray to grow in our trust and love for Christ![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Last Sunday we read the account where Jesus wanted to know from his disciples whether they know him and were willing to face the reality of the events that was about to happen to in their lives because they were his followers.

But, there was a gap between what they knew and what they believed.

About believing, we learned that it is not enough to say that we believe in Jesus but we have to be delighting in that fact, embracing that fact, and making Christ the treasure and the Lord of our life by surrendering to him.

• It means to be willing to deny ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit and carry our cross daily.
• It means to lose our lives for Christ and the Gospel.
• It means that we are not ashamed of Christ and his words in this adulterous and sinful generation.

When we look at this lifestyle, to some of you it may sound quite like an impossible task to accomplish but I believe our passage today will enable our hearts to realize that yes it is possible.

Let’s look at it closely.

The passage starts with a prophecy made by Jesus and then the fulfillment of it in the following verses.

In verse 1 Jesus said to them “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

Verse 2 – After six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

The first question that rose in my mind was why only these three men and not the others. After researching for an answer I concluded that there is absolutely no clue within the scripture that reveals anything about the choice of these three men.

However if you research on the internet you will see a lot of assumptions made by people but we need to be careful when we read anything that is not explicitly mentioned in the scripture or else we will end up interpreting the passage wrongly.

After taking them to the mountain Jesus transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

Why Moses and Elijah?

Most commentaries say that Moses represented the Law and Elijah represented the prophets. Moses was a prophet as well as the law-giver of Israel; Elijah was expected as the forerunner of the Messiah. The presence of Moses and Elijah as forerunners attests to the culmination of a purposeful revelation of God’s Son with the history of Israel.

Verse 5 – Peter says to Jesus “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.”

And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”

Can you imagine? God himself, the creator, the alpha, the omega – spoke to them out of the cloud saying “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”

What a privilege it must had been for these three guys to hear the voice of God speaking to them.

And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

This question was asked by the disciples referring to the prophesy made in Malachi 4:5-6

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

In Matthew 11:13-14 Jesus reveals who this Elijah was

“For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”

Without over complicating the whole passage with lots of details I want to quickly talk about the application of this passage in our lives which I think is most important.

The Purpose of Jesus’ Transfiguration

To know the application of this passage in our lives we need to know the purpose of Jesus’ transfiguration.

And to plainly put it, the purpose of Jesus’ transfiguration was to make himself know to the disciples in his full glory, power and might.

All this while they knew Jesus as a teacher, a friend, a brother. As a fellow human being who had some extraordinary powers to perform miracles and heal the sick.

Through the event of his transfiguration Jesus wanted to reveals to them that just as he was fully human he is also fully God. In fact he is God first, human later.

Hebrews 2:14-17

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them,[k] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”

For the Peter, John and James this was not an ordinary moment. We see their excitement when they mention about it their later writings.

John wrote in his gospel, “We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only” (John 1:14).

2 Peter 1:16-18 – Peter also wrote of it, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain”

It was the most powerful encounter in the life of these men that changed them forever. And if you track the lives of these three men through the rest of the new testament you will what an impactful lives they led bringing glory to God.

• Denying their selves by the power of the Holy Spirit and carried their cross.
• Lost their lives for the sake of Christ and the Gospel. In fact James was the very first one to be-headed by Herod because of his faith.
• Never ashamed of Christ and his word.

Imagine you are working in the largest company in the world (Toyota Motors – 4th Largest), you are working at the lowest rank possible, maybe as a sweeper or something. And you are the most lazy and wicked person one can imagine, even stealing from the company for selfish gain.

One day you meet an old guy who joins you as fellow sweeper, he is warm and friendly, you start enjoying his company, because he’s  good guy you start getting influenced by him and his nature and feel convicted of all the all the wrong things you’ve been doing, but no matter how hard you try you are unable to change because of your inner heart condition.

And one day this old guy takes you into a room and removes his mask and reveals to you who is really is. You get to know that he is actually the owner of the company. The Boss of all bosses.

Imagine him telling you that he knows you by your name, that even though he was hired as a sweeper the decision was made by him. Among millions of people he chose you to work in his company.

Imagine what that will that do to you.

Now, imagine him telling you that he always knew how wicked, lazy and crook you were. But he still wanted you around and never wanted to see you leave the company and suffer.

Even after sending his manager to correct and rebuke you never changed. And the only way he could change you was if he himself can come down to your level and reveal himself.

Tell me how would you feel?

Now, imagine him telling you that the day you joined the company you were also assigned shares in the company, that you are not just a sweeper but a partner in the company.

Will this kind of an experience do something to you?

Brothers and sisters, this is just an earthly scenario which sounds so exciting.

This is true and it has happened to us in the heavenly realms. Jesus, the creator God, the all powerful, all mighty chose us to be his sons and daughters before the foundations of this world, but we lived in ignorance and sinned against him, although we knew Him, we did not honor him as God or gave thanks to him, but become futile in our thinking, and our foolish hearts darkened, claiming to be wise, we became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

The purpose of Transfiguration was to reveal Jesus to us in his full glory so that it changes us from within and enables us to live lives that glorify him on this earth.

Those who witnessed the transfiguration bore witness to it to the other disciples and to countless millions down through the centuries which includes us.

If you are wondering how you will live such sacrificial life for the sake of Christ and his Gospel.  The answer is by knowing who Jesus is whom we worship.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Our passage for today is from Mark 8:27-38 (Read)

Last Sunday as we looked at the story from Mark 8, we learned about the unbelief of the Pharisees and the disciples. We looked at the fruit and the root of their unbelief.

In the Pharisees the fruit was their demanding nature and the root was the sin barrier and in the disciples the fruit was lack of discernment and the root was worry.

We saw how Jesus addresses those two issues and now in our passage today Jesus and the disciples are on their way to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

This moment to me looks like a perfect example of discipleship where Jesus after having a prolonged conversation with the disciples about their unbelief is now digging deep into their hearts to see if they’ve got it all right and have clarity about who he is.

He starts the conversation by asking two questions:
Who do people say that I am?
Who do you say that I am?

It’s like what generally happens in our GC’s (Gospel Community) where the leader starts the conversation by asking what did we think about the sermon this morning? – Then there is a dead silence for a couple of minutes and then one guy starts the conversation giving some bits and pieces here and there and others pick up from there and start sharing their thoughts and convictions.

But every time the  leader asks that question he is expecting a specific answer – He wants to know whether we have understood the overarching essence of the word and whether it has really addressed our unbelief, sin, ignorance of our hearts and have pointed us to the Gospel.

After spending so much time with Jesus and to see him do all the miracles, Jesus wanted to know what the disciples thought about him. Whether they realized who Jesus really is.

Referring to his previous conversation, Jesus wanted to see whether they now have the eyes that can see and ears that can hear.

Like the blind man, who was healed by Jesus in two attempts  – He wanted to know whether they still see trees or men.

The answer to Jesus’s first question which is “Who do people say that I am?“, the disciples said some call you “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets”

Immediately, Jesus asked them “Who do you say I am?“

I don’t know if there was a dead silence at that moment, or whether they started looking at each other’s face. But Peter, the smart guy, always ready to say something, answered , “You are the Christ.“

We might not see Peter’s answer as a big deal today because from this side of the Jesus story we know he is Christ. But for Peter to address Jesus as Christ at that time was a big deal.

To an outsider Jesus was a normal looking man just like you and me, the event happens in the midst of a strong religious culture, surrounded by people with super religious sentiments about God. Calling Jesus as Christ would be considered a heresy, Peter could have been beheaded for saying that.

And that is why Jesus strictly charges them not to tell anybody about him.

Following that revelation by Peter, Jesus then teaches them on what’s going to happen next according to the scriptures. He says “Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.“

We see here that Peter got the revelation right but when he heard the facts about whats going to happen next, he couldn’t come to terms with what’s going to happen to Jesus, he did not want to such a terrible thing happen to his master whom he loved the most, maybe he was also worried that along with Jesus they will also be punished.

He valued Jesus’s life and their lives on earth more important.

Instead of setting his mind on the heavenly things – the overarching purpose of God glorifying himself through the sacrifice of his son and bringing redemption to human kind.

Peter is influenced by Satan to think from a worldly perspective. He takes Jesus aside and rebukes him.

I’m assuming Peter must have told Jesus, why are you saying that – nothing will happen to you. You’re doing great – A couple of years more and our ministry will flourish and we can be the most popular people on earth. Why are you talking about death.

But Jesus in the presence of all other disciples rebukes Peter and says “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

And immediately after that Jesus calls the crowd to him along with his disciples and says “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.“

As I was trying to imagine the expressions on Jesus’s face, I could sense the seriousness in his eyes and the tone of his voice. If I have to paraphrase that statement it would sound like Jesus telling them that I’m not joking about, I’m serious that if you want to come after me, you better be prepared to deny yourself and take up your cross.

If you think this life here on earth is everything and that your goal in life is make much of yourself. Then you better know that “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.“

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Application

This passage has some really good one liner verses that we can pick up and put it on a frame. But its only when we look at the whole passage as a conversation we see what Jesus is actually trying to say to us. They verses are not just meant to be framed and hanged on a wall.

These words of Jesus calls for our serious attention – it changes our perspectives and motives in life.

So, what do we learn from this passage?

I believe in the light of these scriptures the first thing we need to ask ourselves is “Who do we think Jesus is to us?“

Now that we are on this other side of the Jesus story where you can see backwards into history, and been in a safe environment we can easily say that “Jesus is Christ”.

But please don’t look at it as a plain statement, anyone on the road can say that along with you if you offer him a price. It’s not just saying or knowing for the matter – it is really about BELIEVING.

But when we talk about believing, does believing Jesus is Christ, the Son of God and believing Donald Trump is the President of America the same thing?

If it is the same thing than Devil himself will say that he believes that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God.

When Jesus came into the world and began to confront the demonic powers of the Devil, they said out loud, “We know who you are. You are the holy one of God. You are the Son of God.”

We don’t say we believe Jesus is Christ because my friend says so, or my parents taught me so. If our belief is based on someone else’s belief than our belief is not a true belief.

Listen.

What is missing is not believing in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God but delighting in that fact, embracing that fact, and making Christ the treasure and the Lord of your life by surrendering to him. Fully putting our faith in Jesus and his finished work on the cross where he offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins, restoring our broken relationship with God the Father against whom we’ve sinned.

True “belief” is seeing him for who he really is, seeing him as infinitely valuable as the Son of God. It’s not just acknowledging the fact that he is the Son but also seeing him as infinitely precious and valuable.

Satan, on the other hand, does not view God as precious and valuable. He hates Christ and Christ is a threat to his own value.

How do we know that we truly believe “Jesus is Christ”?

The answer in is verses 34 – 38

If we truly believe and call ourselves followers of Christ then we will walk by the Spirit and daily deny ourselves, deny to focus on the things of the world, deny to give in to temptations that cause us to stumble – deny ourselves through a lifestyle of repentance and faith.

And endure the pain that comes by denying our self and the world by carrying our cross daily.

It’s on our vision statement, the third point under Jesus.

If we truly believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God then we will be willing to lose our lives for the sake of Christ and the Gospel. – Willing to sacrifice everything to take the gospel to those who do not have it. (2 point in our vision statement, under Mission)

If we truly believe that Jesus is Christ, we will not be ashamed of Christ and his words in this adulterous and sinful generation. – we will be distinct from the world in the way we love and serve one another. (2 point in our vision under Family)

If these attributes are absent in our lives. If we only come to church and GC (Gospel Community) because my friend comes here, or my parents brought me here, or because I get to hang out with cool people and spend my Sunday well. Then brothers and sisters, we’ve totally got it wrong.

We are still a blind man and a blind women.

But today as we hear this message Jesus is inviting us, with open arms he is calling us. Calling us to put our trust in him, belief in him. He is willing to fill us with his Spirit that will give us the courage to endure the hardships of this world and to live a life that pleases him.

Lets pray!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Unbelief of the Pharisees

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

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

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

FRUIT: Demand Barrier.

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

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

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

ROOT: Sin barrier.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Unbelief of the disciples

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

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

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

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

FRUIT: Discernment Barrier.

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

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

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

ROOT: Worry Barrier.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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