This sermon is part of a series called
Faith in Action as we are going through the Letter of James.
James wrote this letter to the exiled Jews
who are scattered. James is writing out of concern for their spiritual
well-being, and the letter is a set of practical instruction on how to live out
their faith amid trial, sufferings and uncertainties.
Last sermon we saw James giving instructions on how not to deceive themselves by becoming only hearers and not doers. In today’s passage, he is helping them understand the difference between true and false religion.
In verse 26 he writes “If anyone
thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart,
this person’s religion is worthless.”
You may ask why James is talking about the
speech as he is referring to the tongue. To know this, we have to understand
the context in which James has been brought up and is living.
James lived in a religious culture,
predominantly a Jewish culture which was primarily headed by the Pharisees and
the Sadducees. And even though some of them may have been genuine, they were
mostly known to be as cold, legalistic, prideful, arrogant and talkative.
They were just like our politicians, who
make big promises before the elections but after the election fail to keep the
promises. Politicians generally are also known as people who are good at
talking, but when it came to acting upon real issues that people go through,
they shut themselves up.
Therefore when Jesus was on earth, he was
very hard on these people and even called out their sin in public. You can
imagine the influence of these people when you hear how they treated Jesus and
put him to death by badly influencing the Roman government at that time.
Here, in our passage, James writing to a
group of people who seem to have been influenced by such a religious culture
and therefore now acting like them. Basically all TALKS and no ACTION.
And, therefore, in verse 26, he is writing
to them that if you think by talking only that you become religious and that
God is ok with that, then you are mistaken. He says, this kind of religion is
worthless.
Brothers & sisters, at this point it’s easy for us to think about this group and condemn them for their attitude and action, and completely ignore that fact that we too behave in a similar manner, and sometimes even worse.
We too behave cold, legalistic, prideful –
performing Godly activities as a sense of duty to show ourselves good
externally – showing people how good of a Christian we are using words only,
minus the action.
James goes on to explain what true religion
should look like. He says in verse 27, true religion is that which shows
genuine care and concern for the people and a life that is not stained by the
cultures of the world.
In James’s times, the orphan and the widows
were the most needy ones and therefore he is mentioning them to make a point.
It doesnt mean that we now make add charity towards orphan and widows by
donating some money and doing some Christian activities around them to make
ourselves feel better and more religious.
We must catch the heart of what James is
telling us. The needy in our context could be different. In fact, in the city
of Mumbai, we can find all kinds of needy people with various types of need.
And apart for just the necessities, what they also need the most is the Gospel.
Therefore tur religion is more than just
giving big talks about what is right and wrong, holy and unholy, right and wrong. True religion is that which
even compels us to do something about it in actual action.
And true religion is one that is unstained
by the worldly patters and traditions and way of life. Its the one that truly
seeks God and His Kingdom.
Brothers & sisters, here’s the truth. In our natural being, we can never live out such a perfect life on own, our natural tendencies will always yield us to become people who talk and do nothing. Why? Because we have a problem.
The day we were created by our heavenly
Father, he didn’t mean for us to become like this. He wanted us to look perfect
in all ways, holy just as He is Holy, but in the Garden of Eden we messed it
up.
We used our gift of free will, and instead
of walking in obedience to God, we rebelled and sinned, and the result was
separation from God. And because of that separation, we all are broken inside.
The reason we all behave in selfish ways is that Sin has corrupted us, and even
though our hearts desire to live to please God in all manners, our flesh pulls
us away from seeking a Godly life.
And the only way to fix this problem is to
repent of sins and trust on the Son of God who is the only one who didn’t just
talk and make big promises in the air but fulfilled each of His promises to
save us from our wretchedness and restore that broken relationship with God the
Father.
Christ left His heavenly Glory to reach out
to needy people like us, people who needed hope, peace, joy – which only a
restored relationship with the Father can grant us.
Jesus lived the perfect life, exercised true religion, one that was acceptable to God and earned His righteousness for our sake and then exchanged it with our unrighteous and sinful lives, taking the penalty of our sin upon himself and in giving us total freedom from Sin and captivating our hearts with His Love and compelling us to know to live a godly life by the help and power of His Spirit in us.
Therefore, our response today towards this
passage is primarily to look to Jesus and His saving grace – captivated by His
Love, affections and forgiveness He grants us. And we do that; His love will
compel us to people who are not just talkers but doers of His words, living a
Godly life that is truly acceptable to God.
As a child of God, the question we need to
ask daily is not how good a Christian I be, but how good a Jesus lover I am.
Because loving Jesus day-by-day will automatically produce the fruits of true
religion in us. We won’t have to strive to look like a good Christian, Christ’s
Love will automatically compel us to show genuine care for the needy and will
also protect our hearts from becoming stained by the world.
Good morning Church, It’s a beautiful Sunday and I am super excited to connect you through Facebook, I believe you all are spending quality time with your family and friends and I hope you all are doing great and I am sure you all are taking good care of yourself.
As we know, the world is going
through excruciate pain and suffering because of Covid-19 Pandemic, people are
living in fear, anxiety and uncertainty,
This pandemic disease is out of control, many people are dead and many people are fighting for life in a sickbed, many people are jobless, many people are living in hunger and thirst.
In these chaotic circumstances, the church can play a vital role by showing Christ love to the people around us, by showing Christ care and kindness to all the people and most importantly let us point the people around us to Christ, showing them that Christ is the saviour of the world and He is the answer for all our life problems.
Last week I came across an
encouraging quote from the scripture,
I want to read out for all of us.
“If God could Close the
lion’s mouth for Daniel,
Part the Red seas for
Moses
Make the sun stand
still for Joshua
Open the prison for
Peter
Put a Baby in the arm
of Sarah
And Raise Lazarus from
the dead
Then, He can certainly
take care of you
Nothing you are facing
today is too hard for Him to Handle.”
Shall we look to God in prayer:
pray….. Amen
As we enter passion week, we shall
look to the passage related to each occasion, since today is Palm Sunday we
shall meditate from Palm Sunday passage`
Our book study from Thessalonian will
continue in the following week.
Would
you open your bible with me to Matthew 21:1-13?
1.
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of
Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go to the village
ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by
her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the
Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to fulfil what was
spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say
to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”[a]
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had
instructed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and
placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.
8 A very large crowd spread their
cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread
them on the road.
9 The
crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosannato the Son of David!”
“Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[c]
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city
was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the
prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13 “It is written,” he said to
them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are
making it ‘a den of robbers.
Before we see the main 3 points let’s see
What is
Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday marked the start of what is called “passion week” the final days of Jesus earthly ministry, it is the day we remember and celebrate the triumph entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem as Saviour and king.
Palm
leaves: Signifies victory / Triumph
Jesus riding on a donkey: When a king rides on a Donkey it symbolises peace. And we know from the scripture that Christ is the prince of peace.
Hosanna: Save us
now/ Deliver/ Rescue us.
Crowd: The crowd shout hosanna because they saw Jesus performing lots of miracles, heal the lame and blind, turn the water into wine, feeding 5000 people with 2 fish and 5 loaves, raise Lazarus from the dead and because of this great
They expect that He can rescue them politically and free
them from Roman rule.
But Jesus mission was to save mankind from the slavery of sin and gave mankind eternal life. When the crowd expectation was not met, it was the same crowd who shout crucify Him on Good Friday.
These are a few things I would like to remind before we enter our main points.
I would like to entitle my sermon as
“Your
King is coming”
I would like to bring 3 very important points from the
above passage.
1. Jesus
Enter Jerusalem as a king, who will save mankind from the bondage of sin.
Matthew 21:5. “Say
to Daughter of Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Matthew quote this verse from Old
testament Zacharias 9:9.
Prophet Zacharias prophesy 500 years
prior to the Jesus arrival in Jerusalem.
As Jesus enter Jerusalem the crowd
threw their cloaks on the road, they took the palm leaves and began joyfully
praising God in the Loud voices for all the miracles they have seen.
And they were shouting
“Blessed is the king who comes in the
name of the LORD,
Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest.
Purpose of Christ coming to this world: before that let’s see the
condition of mankind.
1. Christ our king came to this world as a Passover lamb. (Exodus 16).
(Moses told Israelites to pain their
door with the blood of a lamb so that the spirit will Passover your house and
your family,
In the same way if we wash our heart
with the blood of Jesus, His blood will cleanse us from all sins.) he came as a Passover lamb.
2. Christ our king came to this world to give us Eternal life. (John 3:16)
3. Christ our king came to reconcile our broken relationship with the
Father. (Rom.5:1}
(Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.)
4. Christ our king came to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John
14:6).
5. Christ our king came to this world to free us from condemnation of
sins. (Rom.8:1).
(There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.)
5. Christ our king came to take us to heaven. (John 14:1-3.)
(1.Let not your heart be troubled,
you believe in God, believe in me also.
2. In my fathers house are many
mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you, I will go and prepare a place for you.
3. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and recieve you to myself, that where I am, there
you may be also.)
Application:
Beloved church
Christ has redempt us, His love has
captured us,
Even though if we go through this
corona virus pandemic, facing all kinds of life difficulties and challenges, He
promised us He will never leave us nor forsake us,
His everlasting love is with us.
Roman’s 8: 35.
35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or perils, or sword.
38. For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39. Nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is our bless hope and our
Assurance in Christ Jesus.
He is our beautiful saviour our Lord
and our King.
2. Jesus enter and cleanse the Jerusalem temple.
Matthew 21: 12-13.
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove
out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the
money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13 “It is written,” he said to
them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are
making it ‘a den of robbers
Jerusalem
temple was like thieves’ market, all kinds of cheating and lying and betraying
business was going on in the house of the LORD.
Jesus enter and chase them out and
remind them that this house is the house of prayer.
Paul also Remind us in 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the
Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your
own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God
with your bodies.
The scripture clearly taught us that our Heart is a Temple
of Holy Spirit.
But sadly, many people entertain their heart with sin like
those people in Jerusalem temple.
From this passage we know that God and sin can’t dwell
together.
God hate sin but He loves sinners, he like to clean all
our sins as He clean up the Jerusalem temple.
Beloved church how are you all maintaining your heart?
Illustration: Garbage story
You know there are times I forgot to dispose kitchen
garbage, when the garbage keeps for so long it smells horrible and the garbage
smell the whole room.
In the same way, if we didn’t confess our sin and didn’t
dispose them, this stinking sin will poison your whole life and even killed
you.
The garbage we store in our heart can be.
(Laziness, cheating, lying, selfishness, bribing, sexual
immorality, drunkenness, pornography,
Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life)
We should not let these things rule and control our heart.
Romans 6:23 says. For the
wages of sin is Dead but the gift of God is eternal life.
Application:
How are you maintaining your heart and your life?
Is it God please with the lifestyle you are living today?
Beloved Let us examine ourselves right now and if there is
any sin in our life and if there is anything hindering us to love Jesus. Let us
confess our sin and make right with Him.
1 John 1: 9. “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I strongly believe that the
solution for this corona pandemic is in the hand of God,
The world need to turn to God
and repent for the forgiveness of sins.
May God have mercy on us.
2 Chronicle 7:14.
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
3. Jesus enter and wept for Jerusalem.
Luke 19: 41-44.
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over
it
42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this
day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build
an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children
within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because
you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Jesus foresee the heart of the people; he sees their
miserable future;
He knows their hopelessness; He know that these
people will never make it to His kingdom. Knowing all these Jesus cry for them.
In
Noah days before the flood people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, they all miss the
opportunity to be to be in
the ark. Everyone perish in their sin.
In the same way people of Jerusalem lose the golden
opportunity.
Jesus was weeping over the tragedy of lost
opportunity,
the Israelites that assembled in Jerusalem for
Passover miss the opportunity to be saved from both earthly and eternal
destruction.
They were visited by their saviour but they didn’t
know it,
instead of receiving Him they killed Him.
Illustration:
I would like remind with the familiar story from the
bible, the rich man and Lazarus
(Luke
16:19-31).
Rich
man.
God bless him with riches: He misuse his wealth in a wrong way. (partying)
God gave him beautiful life: He waste his beautiful life.
God gave him enough time to live on earth: He misuse his opportunity
He never remembers God in his entire life but he
remembers God in hell fire
but it was too late for him.
Whereas
Poor
Lazarus Know the true living God, he makes use of every
opportunity and he ends up his life in eternal heaven.
God gave time
to all of us to come to him before iti is too late.
Application
How Jesus may be thinking of you right now?
Is he weeping of you? Like He weep for Jerusalem?
Or Is he celebrating because you are his child?
Our
life on earth is short let us make use of every opportunity.
God
is an omniscience God He know the pain and suffering we are going through right
now.
He
know our financial struggles, he knows our life challenges and life struggles.
The
cool part is we are not facing all these complications alone. He promised he
will take care of us. If He takes care of the birds in the air and Lily in the
field, he will surely take care of us.
Matthew
11:28-30.
28 “Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. 30 For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Finally
I wanna close with this beautiful song lyrics.
I want you to imagine a conversation between a news reporter and a Sunday churchgoer. Let’s call him Akash.
The interviewer asks Akash, “Why are you part of a local church?” Akash quickly answers “It’s because I love the fellowship. The people are very nice and friendly and I’m able to relate with them well”. The interviewer then asks him, ” Well, how is the church any different from any social group- like a football club, chess club, or really close family and friend circles? Isn’t that the same?”
Akash then says “no this is different because I get to sing these beautifully tuned worship songs and because there’s a pastor who teaches some really good and practical stuff for life”.
The interviewer responds by asking him, ” See…Right now we are in a digital age – you can access all of these best Christian songs and listen to the best preachers from your home itself, why do you have to be a part of a church?”
By now Akash is a little irritated by the questions, “He says – what are you saying…every Sunday I have to go to church. I cannot imagine not going. I’ve been doing that for many years. Apart from this, there’s nothing else that I can do on Sunday”.
Now, this might seem like a silly imaginary conversation but I want all of us to think on why we invest so many hours each week in the weekend Gathering and community? Why don’t we do anything else during that time? And I want us to be challenged by this line of questioning. And how much should we invest in this? Is it just 2 hours a week or much more? Is it worth sacrificing your entire life for it?
The first thing I want us to grasp is that we are in a community not because of social reasons or because there’s nothing else to do but:
We are united by Truth (v4-6)
There are these amazing life-altering truths that joins us together.
A) One body – We are many members of Christ’s single body. We may look different, come from different backgrounds but through Christ, we are now members of one body. Glen and I once shared a shared rickshaw with an elderly couple. Saw a Bible in his hand and we started talking. He was a believer and even though he was 80 years old but also my brother and fellow member of Christ’s body.
B) One Spirit – It’s mindboggling to think that God’s own Spirit dwells in each of us believers. And also to realize that everyone shares the very same Spirit. No partiality. We know that as much as we yield to the Spirit, we are being controlled by Him but in giving us the Spirit God shows no partiality.
C) One Hope – We will be resurrected. Not ashamed. Pronounced not guilty. Living as heirs in God’s kingdom with God even though we didn’t deserve to be there in the first place.
D) One Lord – All of us who believe in Jesus have one Master and one Savior. There was only one person who lived the life we could never imagine living – holiness example – walking on puddles. Yet He was willing to take on the punishment that we deserved and give us His righteousness. Exchanging His robe for ours. And His sacrifice transforms our lives once for all. Can anyone else be our Master? He is a Faithful Lord.
E) One Faith – Trusting in Christ’s work to bring us to God. Example: A man drowning in the sea and holding onto a rope.
F) One Baptism – Declaration of our fellowship with Christ and the church. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been baptized in an interior village of India or at the Omkar pool. It’s a sign of your commitment and God looks at all of it as obedience.
G) One God the Father – In a country where we boast of 330 million gods, the Bible says there’s only one God – He rules over everything, He is powerful to work through everything so that ultimately everything displays His greatness.
Secondly, the reason why the church can’t be a disconnected affair where we can be virtually connected through Livestream is because:
We are united for Strength (v7-16)
We need each other to grow stronger in the Lord.
I) God giving gifts to each individual believer (v7)
* Spiritual Gifts – ” Grace” – undeserving gift of God according to Christ’s measure. There is a purpose to God giving you a gift.
II) Wonderful purpose of spiritual gifts
* Church leaders are God’s gift to the church to equip (perfect, complete furnishing) the saints for the work of ministry. Servants of the Lord & the church – Church leaders are like joints – binding the skeleton together, giving structure and allowing muscles to move bones to perform different activities. Our job as church leaders is to bring people together, give direction (casting vision) and allow people to use their gifts to do the work of ministry. Coach the church so that everyone is active in body building. (V11, 12)
* Unity and Maturity – When will we be fully united? when we become like Christ. When will we be fully mature? When we become like Christ. The goal is to attain the measure of the full stature of the fullness of Christ – Christ likeness is not going to happen alone. It’s going to happen with the church. (V13, 14)
* Growth is going to happen when each part of the body is working properly. (V15, 16)
United in love (v1-3)
Even though we have been given “grace” yet we experience issues within the church – making it more difficult to attain unity. “Sin” and “Strangeness”. What should we do?
Should we quit? What does Scripture call us to do? Loving each other through humility and gentleness. Patiently bearing with each other in love. Ensuring with one another.
If we all are honest, we’ll admit that this is very difficult and impossible to bring about this type of unity by our own efforts. So what’s the solution?
This is only possible through the Gospel. Only knowing Christ and experiencing His grace can allow us to extend that outwards to each other.
Questions for discussion:
1. In your experience in the past, what have you perceived the purpose of spiritual gifts to be?
2. What kind of barriers can stop a church from experiencing unity and maturity in the faith?
3. Based on today’s passage, what are some things that God is calling you to do in a church which can promote unity and maturity?
Goodmorning church! As a church we have been studying through the gospel of Mark& right now we find ourselves in Mark chapter 12 verses 18.
As you are turning to it, let me remind us of the context of our passage. These are the final parts of Jesus’ journey toward the cross. Jesus met with more and more hostility as we’ve been seeing in the last few chapters.
The Jewish religious leaders almost in every chapter are planning and plotting to kill Jesus from this point. The only thing that restrains them is their fear of man.
Last week we were read of how the Pharisees and Herodians were trying to trap Jesus with a question and today we find another group called the Sadducee’s who are trying to argue with Jesus. Let’s look at the text Mark 12:18-27 Read:
Have you ever shared a similar experience where you get onto a rickshaw and even before you say word, the rickshaw driver starts a full-blown conversation in his local language? I’ve had this experience a few times where the rickshaw driver assumes I know Marathi and starts speaking.
Probably 2 minutes into the conversation I usually interject and say “I’m sorry I don’t speak Marathi. Can we switch to Hindi?” Now I’m sure the rickshaw driver is saying some great stuff but my inability to understand his language makes it difficult to understand him.
I believe sometimes in our Christian walk we can similarly have issues understanding God due to our inability.
However, in this case God has made His Word plain to us – we have the Bible available in our own local languages but we still don’t understand him because there are some things that stop us from doing that?
What stops us from understanding God?
I think it means at least two things from this passage:
Failure to receive the truth of God
Failure to believe in the power of God
Failure to receive the truth of God
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
Let’s understand a little bit more about the Sadducee’s. The Sadducee’s were a group religious Jews during Jesus’ time.
The word “Sadducee’s” literally means “the righteous”! Unlike the Pharisees they rejected the extra oral tradition and only considered the written law to be from God. They denied these doctrines as well:
Theresurrection of the body which we also see in v18
Theimmortality of the soul
Evidenceof spirits and angels
Divinepre-destination (God would pre-determine and elect people those who wouldbelieve in Him). So basically they would have a lot of issues with Calvinists! 😉
And they come to Jesus asking Jesus trying to confuse or trap him with some questions because it’s obvious that they don’t believe in the resurrection.
Now the law that Moses gave them required the deceased husband’s brother to marry the widow in a case if she didn’t have a child. This was done in order to protect the widow & provide descendants for the deceased man.
So they tell Jesus a scenario where there were 7 brothers – the first one died and his widow was left without the child. The second brother married her but he also died without a child.
And finally all 7 died without a child and the widow herself died. So in the afterlife whose wife is she going to be? And Jesus’ answer to them is that they don’t know the Scriptures! Why did Jesus say that?
It’s because the OT has been quite clear on the topic of resurrection. Sometimes we think that only the NT talks about resurrection when in fact the OT has some very clear verses on the same.
Isa 26:19 : Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Psalm 71:20 : You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
These passages were available and present in their written law but still you find them be more interested in using Scripture to argue with Jesus rather than know God.
Scripture is merely being used as a tool for selfish gain rather than a means to know God! And that’s what I think Jesus was referring to. Okay, then what does it actually mean to receive the truth of God? How can I know if I’m actually using Scripture to know God?
a.Accept the whole counsel of God
God’s Word is God’s clear revelation to us. We need to be prepared to accept it completely. Not in parts. Not by cherry picking the favorite verses that we like. The ones that makes us feel sweet and loved.
Which means that we don’t just read and meditate on Psalms like May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us (Psalm 67:1) but we also meditate on passages like
Luke 9:23: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
So we accept the whole counsel of God even when it hits directly at the sin of our hearts, we accept the whole counsel of God even when it makes us feel uncomfortable,we accept the whole counsel of God even when talks about suffering for the sake of Christ.
That’s why as a church we preach expository messages. It’s not because we have an issue with topical sermons but we believe that the whole counsel of God essential to us becoming the people that God has called us to be.
We would not be serving you well if we only preached about marriage or finances or worship. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). I’d encourage us to read the Bible from end to end…especially those that we find unfamiliar.
One of things that we are trying to incorporate in our discipleship groups is to cover an epistle like Colossians, an OT prophet like Malachi and a gospel book like John. Not because it’s cool and different but because we really believe that every verse, every passage, every book is an essential part of understanding the whole counsel of God.
b.Check our motivation for studying Scripture
Sometimes I think that’s one aspect that we tend to ignore when we think about studying Scripture. Even though this is absolutely important to the heart of God. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Sam 16:7).
And that’s true when we tithe, sing songs of praise, disciple people, obey God commands and also study Scripture. If we are doing it reluctantly or out of pride – it doesn’t bring glory to God. Let’s ask ourselves: what’s our motivation to study Scripture?
Is to know God or Is it to show off your biblical knowledge? Is it to understand God or find affirmations from the people in church? Is it to love God or check the good Christian box? Is it to obey God or is it to somehow hope that you’ll appease God and get something from Him?
These questions I’ve found to be extremely helpful for me to analyze the condition of my heart as I’ve read the Word. And because this deals with the deep-rooted sin in my heart, I’ve perpetually needed to repent of the wrong motivations in my heart and trust in what Christ has done for me.
Both of these things – accepting the whole counsel of God and checking our motivation for studying Scripture will determine if we are in posture to receive the truth of God.
But it’snot just a failure to receive the truth of God that stops us from understanding God but it also is
Failure to believe in the power of God
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? – v26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
Jesus goes back to the passage about the burning bush. Remember this is Moses’ first encounter with God and God introduces himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Now for all the ones who love grammar – which tense is being used here? Present tense. It means that Abraham is still living in the presence of God and enjoying the covenant blessing and will one day be raised when Christ returns.
The Sadducee’s failed to believe that God was able to raise people from the dead. The issue wasn’t just about lack of knowledge but a lack of belief that the God of the Bible can actually do what He said he’ll do!
It’s one thing to know Romans 10:9 & it’s another thing to believe that God will save you!
They weren’t ready to believe that God is much bigger & powerful than they could ever imagine! All the issues they struggled with – immortality of souls, the resurrection of bodies, the existence of angels and spirits, God predestining His people – all of that was too much to grapple with.
Because it would mean that they would need to reckon with the reality of God. If God Is who He says He is in the Bible, then there’s no playing around. They will need to change their ways. And that’s what often stops people from knowing Him.
And it’snot just with the Sadducee’s, the truth is that if we honestly looked at Scripture with fresh eyes and open hearts, the God of the Bible will humble us.We will understand how small we are in comparison to God. We too are required to change our ways. We too are required to repent.
Brothers and sisters, that’s the goal of our time with Scripture. It’s an interaction with God where He speaks to us, humbles us and changes us.
If we aren’t experiencing that in our morning devotions, there might be some sin that we’ll need to repent of today and ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts so that we can experience the humility and the change that God wants to bring about.
As we read today, it’s the failure to receive the truth of God and the failure to believe the power of God that stops us from understanding God. But I don’t want to leave us with a “Ok, I’ll try better next time” message.
Some of these things like checking the motivations of our hearts and believing in the power of God cannot be automatically manufactured. Rather I wanted these things to help us identify our areas of repentance & then look to the Lord of the living to help us, forgive us and change us.
Let’s remember that the reason why the resurrection is possible is because our Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third Day. His resurrection makes ours possible! He commands dead people to come back to life and they do! He can do the very same thing in our hearts today.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Good morning church! What a joy it has been for us to be studying through the gospel of Mark. As a church we’ve enjoyed the whole process of knowing Jesus through the lens of this gospel as we study it passage by passage.
Right now we are in Mark chapter 11 verses 27. As we’ve noticed over the past few weeks, these passages are placed in the context of Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem which actually begins his journey toward the cross. Last Sunday we read how the temple needed to be cleansed.
The cleansing was required because the people & the religious leaders replaced the worship of God with self-centered gain. And Jesus by driving out the sellers and the buyers, overturning the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons showed how holiness & reverence for God was so important to God’s heart.
This didn’t go down well with the chief priests and the scribes. Interestingly this passage says that this resulted in them wanting to destroy him because they feared him. They weren’t ready or prepared to receive this Jesus Christ who literally turned their religious system and traditions upside down. This forms the context for today’s passage:
27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, 28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” 31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
12 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant[a] to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.
6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.
10 Have you not read this Scripture:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;[b]
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
I believe there are 3 things we can see from this passage:
Struggle for authority
Sinful Authority
True Authority
Struggle for authority (v27-28)
So the location is the Jerusalem temple and the Top religious leaders of the time come to meet Jesus. These are not ordinary Jews – these are the pastors, theologians, worship leaders, Sunday School teachers, authors – the most learned and scripturally qualified Jews of the day.
And they ask Jesus by what authority is he doing these things? Basically, they are asking Jesus “Who gave you the right to overturn the tables of the money changers and drive out the sellers from the temple”? Who do you think you are to do this in the temple?
And who are they asking this question to? Jesus Christ. The Son of God. He was there in the beginning with God and He is God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made. (John 1:1-3) In Him all things hold together (Col 1:17) He is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15) In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (Col 1:19). And yet they ask him “Who gave you this right to do this”?
And this is not a new question. It is symptomatic of man’s constant struggle to submit to God’s authority. Right from the garden of Eden man has struggled to submit to God’s authority.
When we look at Genesis 3, what was the bait given to Adam and Eve? The serpent told them that when they eat of the tree – their eyes will be opened and they will become like God, knowing good and evil.
And that’s the heart of sin…the core of sin…to take the place of God in our lives, trying to make moral decisions apart from God. In other words, Adam and Eve had this insecure desire to become their only authority over their lives. They wanted to determine for themselves what was right or wrong for their lives. They didn’t want to be dependent anymore on God.
And we know what happened when they became the authority of their lives – all of humanity was thrown into a world of brokenness and sin and death. And that nature to not want to submit to God’s authority is there in all of us.
Campus Crusade had this illustration that has been really helpful for me over the years. They had this picture of a throne seat located at the centre of an individual’s heart. All of us have a throne seat in our lives. That’s the place from where we make all our decisions and choices. Everything that we chose to do is controlled from this throne seat.
Whoever sits on that throne is the authority of our life. And then they would ask this question: who is seated on the throne seat? Is it God or is it us? Is it God or is it me? Now I know that I’m preaching to people to publicly claim to be followers of Jesus so why am I still asking this question? It’s because I’m very aware of our tendencies to enthrone ourselves as the authority in areas of our lives. Christian life is all about yielding control.
Giving back the authority to God. In this life we’ll always find ourselves with plenty of reasons to repent of those areas and turn back to Christ. Just last night when I got the call from the hall owner regarding the change of timings and venue for our Gathering, I really saw how anxious my heart was & how I was planning my responses apart from trusting God.
For me that was a reminder of how real is my struggle for authority.
Sinful authority
Not only is there a struggle for authority but when we claim authority of our lives – it is a sinful authority! When Jesus is asked the question on whose authority…he responds back by asking another question to show them what’s really hindering them from submitting to God’s authority. “Was the baptism from John from heaven or from man”?
From their responses there are two things we can see are hindering them:
Unbelief
31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ (v31)
John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. People were coming to the river Jordan confessing their sins openly and then getting baptized as a symbol of repentance expressing a 180 degree turn from sin and toward God.
In Matt 21:32 it tells us that the Pharisees and religious leaders did not believe John. In their pride they didn’t think it was necessary for them to be baptized. Tax collectors and prostitutes got baptized in front of them but still they didn’t change their mind.
In Luke 7:30, it says that the religious leaders rejected the purpose of God for themselves by not being baptized by John. Wow! That sounds like an opposite statement.
The most religious people of the day rejected the purposes of God for themselves? How is that possible? That’s because it meant that they would need to humbly accept their position as a sinner. And if they did that, they would be in the right posture to receive the provision of God – Our Savior Jesus.
We keep talking about believing in the gospel & constantly growing in belief. What does that actually mean? Is it just intellectually changing the way you think about some facts? I think what it means from this passage is constantly repenting before God about areas of your life that are against His character and will.
Unbelief at its core is a prideful position that doesn’t want to humble itself before God. And that’s why we see in Scripture…a true believer is always being aware of His sins and always repenting before God because what he desires the most is a right relationship with God.
Fear Of Man
32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.
The other motivation that hindered them from submitting to God was the fear of man. Why were these religious men afraid of the people?
They feared losing their reputation. They didn’t want to be discredited for telling that John got his authority to baptize from man. It’s the question that comes to mind when we think “What will people think of me if I do that?”
They feared losing control. Would they end up losing control over people if they said something controversial? Would people leave them and go somewhere else if they said something controversial? It’s the question that comes to mind when we think “Would I still be able to influence people if I did that?”
I remember back in the youth ministry days during a Youth Camp. We had something called a 4 corners talk which was a weird name because sometimes we had just 2 or 3 people. During one of my 4 corners session with a youth, I could see how he knew that he had to submit to the authority of Christ but he didn’t want to do so due to the fear of man.
He was fearful of what his friends would say. He was fearful of being called as “uncool”. And it just saddened me to see someone so close yet so far.
And the fear of man isn’t just a struggle for my young friend but it’s something that we face daily when we think of sharing the gospel with the people around us.
The fear of man is a real when we have to make decisions on whom to marry – in my lifetime I’ve seen so many professing believers who said that they wanted to marry a believer but when it actually came down to marriage – they married an unbeliever.
The fear of man is also real at our jobs when either there are conversations or decisions made which are unethical and immoral. Would you take a stand because of your faith?
True Authority
You might think that Jesus denies to answer their question on authority but Jesus infact does answer their question using a parable. He talks about a man who plants a vineyard. The man is God and the vineyard is Israel – God’s people.
Using the illustration of the wine-press, the tower and the fence – showing God’s protection and God’s provision for everything needed for them to flourish. And this vineyard was leased to tenants. Another version says he rented out the vineyard to farmers.
The farmers are the religious leaders who were supposed to steward and care for the field. And then God would send servants to get the fruit of the wine – these were the prophets. But what did the farmers do to them? They beat them, hit them, treated them shamefully and killed them.
Finally the Owner sends his beloved Son. What do the farmers do to him? They kill him thinking that the inheritance will be theirs. Again the same theme – it’s always a struggle for authority. It’s always a struggle for ownership.
Like the farmers we are stewards of the life that God has given us. What should’ve been our ideal response to God? We should submit to God and give what is His – our whole lives. What is instead our natural response? Take what is not ours and make it ours.
God reaches out to us and reminds us through various means – through our daily time with God in Scripture and prayers, through sermons or our brothers and sisters. However, it’s not enough to just do all these things – what matters is our response. So how do we respond?
In our sinful self, we are all like these murderous farmers. We are all responsible for the death of Jesus on the cross. Which is why God’s wrath and judgment is directed toward us. (v9) But the story doesn’t end in judgment. In v10 we hear the good news of Jesus:
10 Have you not read this Scripture:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;[b]
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
God used the very same death of His Son Jesus Christ to protect you and I from being judged & destroyed forever. In doing so, he poured out all His love, all His mercy, all His compassion and His righteousness upon us! And that’s the greatest news brothers and sisters. Christ came not to condemn but to save! And that’s message that the religious leaders didn’t hear.
They perceived that the parable was about them but they failed to see the answer that Jesus Himself was going to provide. And I want us to once again think about that throne seat of ours – consider how our lives have actually been messed up by us sitting on the throne.
And now think about this Jesus – the rightful owner of our lives because He created us, the one who can enact judgment but instead gave up His life to remove judgment and set us free forever. Isn’t He the best one to sit on that throne? Let’s willingly submit to His authority.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
