Which of Us Is the Greatest?

Mark 9:30-37.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, January 19, 2020.

An age old problem among groups of people is the question, “Which of us is the greatest?”  It isn’t generally a spoken question.  Rather, it is an unspoken tension that is as clear as an elephant in the room.  It often lies beneath the surface of much that is said and done.  We must understand that we are not immune to this problem because we are Christians.

Today, we will look at a passage in which Jesus gives us wisdom in regards to this.  It is a wisdom that we will be quick to agree with, but very often not actually follow.  May God help us to grasp today just who deserves the primary position within God’s Church, even our specific church, because the truth will always be that Jesus is the only one and nothing else matters.

Jesus continues to reiterate his coming rejection

In Mark 8:31, we were told that Jesus “began” to teach them about his coming sufferings.  Here, Jesus continues to emphasize this prophetic word that suffering and death lay ahead for him.    We are told that Jesus intends to move through the Galilee in a stealthy manner so that he can have some talks with his disciples about this coming rejection.  The crowds did not need to be aware of his words before hand, but it was important for the disciples to be able to remember that Jesus had tried to tell them these things.  It would actually strengthen their faith once they knew that he was resurrected.

It is interesting to note that Jesus uses the present tense when he says that he is already being betrayed into the hands of men.  This is about more than Judas.  It involves all the actors that would be in place to do it.  The heart of Judas was already wandering away from Jesus towards money and doubt.  The hearts of the Pharisees and Caiaphas were already rejecting Jesus and plotting his demise.  Even though Jesus was very popular at this point, things were in motion within the hearts of people that would lead to him being betrayed and executed.

Of the things that Jesus teaches them, the fact that he would be killed would be the hardest to accept.  Sure, the Messiah could be betrayed, but surely he will rise up and throw out the evil betrayers.  For him to be executed clashed with everything they thought they knew about the Messiah. 

On top of this, to speak of rising on the third day would seem to make his statements seem even more cryptic.  It is not like people were rising from the dead every day.  Is this a parable, symbolic, or does it have some spiritual meaning?  What does Jesus actually mean?  These are the kinds of questions that no doubt clouded their understanding.

Thus, Mark emphasizes that the disciples couldn’t grasp or comprehend exactly what Jesus was trying to tell them.  Part of their problem was that they were afraid to ask him further about it.  Maybe they were afraid of it being true, or maybe they were afraid to look stupid within the group by publicly admitting that they didn’t understand.  Luke adds some colorful phrases in his parallel account of Luke 9.  He has Jesus saying, “Let these words sink down into your ears.”  The picture demonstrates their inability to hear by comparing it to the inability of words to get into their ears physically, which is clearly not the problem.  They are figuratively like a person whose ears are full of something the words can’t sink through.

Luke also says that they couldn’t understand, and “it was hidden from them.”  We could assume that God is intended as the one who has hidden it from them.  However, it is more likely a combination of their slowness to understand.  Finding something that you are fully acquainted with is generally easy, but, if someone has hidden it from you, it becomes a difficult matter.  What God was doing here was catching them by surprise and as such it might as well have been hidden from them, even though Jesus is putting it in front of them.  Only by the help of the Holy Spirit can we be enabled to see those things that our flesh keeps us blind to. 

Lest we be too hard on the disciples, we should remind ourselves of the many times that we have walked on in this life without grasping the things that God is trying to tell us in His Word.  We must remain humble as we live because we are continually recognizing areas that we have not understood like we should have.

Jesus confronts his disciples

We are told that Jesus and his disciples have traveled from the northeast region of Caesarea Philippi in a southwestern direction to Capernaum on the western side of the Sea of Galilee.  During their travel, the disciples have been discussing among themselves a particular issue.  They clearly did not think that Jesus had overheard them, or even suspected what their topic of discussion.  So, when Jesus asks them what they were talking about on the road, they are silent and do not answer.  The description in the question that Jesus asks portrays a dialogue between the disciples rather than a full-blown, heated argument.  Their silence is most likely due to the fact that they know the topic of their discussion will bring rebuke from Jesus.

It is sad when we know that something is wrong and hide it from our superiors, and yet seem to have no qualms doing it among our peers.  May God help us to take the hard road of being true to His path of righteousness, even when “everyone else is doing it.”  Mark tells us exactly what they were discussing on the road, and it had to do with which one of them was the greatest disciple of Jesus.

“Which of us is the greatest?”  In groups, this is a common tension, but it is not always discussed and debated openly.  Yet, it fuels much of the actions and remarks of people within the group.  There is irony in the fact that they are jockeying for the pole position in what they think is going to happen.  They think they will be ruling over Israel with Jesus.  However, Jesus is about to be rejected and killed, which means that they are actually jockeying for the position of being 2^nd on Israel’s top 13 most wanted list. 

Part of their inability to understand what Jesus was telling them is found in this question.  Their pride and desires are so strong that they can’t hear or receive what God is trying to tell them.  We desire so many things for ourselves and we want so much to be something more than we often are.  Such things lead us away from God’s plan and purpose, rather than towards it. Yet, even in this, God corrects us and brings us along.

Jesus knows exactly what they were talking about and proceeds to correct their pride and ignorance without actually stating the topic of their discussion.  He teaches them a principle regarding leadership.  The principle is this.  If anyone wants to be first among his disciples then they should be last of all and servant of all.

The principle is not that we should never want to lead or be the primary leader.  Someone will have to be the first leader, and having a primary leader is a good thing.  To desire a good thing is not a bad thing necessarily.  Paul does the same thing on spiritual gifts.  There is nothing wrong with desiring spiritual gifts, but the reasons and motivations behind that desire can be wrong, or even evil.  The problem isn’t wanting to be the primary leader.  The problem is that we often have no clue about what God expects in His primary leaders. 

We are given two qualifications, of which the first is this.  They should be the last of all the others in the group.  This sets the ways of the world on its head.  Instead of seeking the highest position by promoting oneself in pride and arrogance, we should demote ourselves in humility and weakness.  God resists the proud and casts them down, but he hears the humble and lifts them up.  It is a sad tribute that many, who are self-promoters and full of pride, are given primary positions within the Church that bears Christ’s name.  He was not this way.  He did not come to promote himself as the King of the world.  Instead, he took the lowest place that no one would want, the Scapegoat of the world, the Sin-Bearer of the world, and the Rejected-One of the world.  Imagine coming to church one day and they are drawing straws to see who will be the scapegoat for the church.  Would you volunteer?  Simply put, if you want to be the first then take up the last position, and let God put you in the first place.  This is essentially what both David and Jesus did.

The second qualification is that they should be a servant of all in the group.  This is really just another way of stating the first qualification.  He is not saying that everybody who does this will get to be the primary leader.  Not all who desire to be first get to be so, but they should all be a servant to the whole group.  What a change this would have in any group.  When we try to serve everybody else and trust God for promotion (or not), then pride is given a very serious blow in the group as a whole.

This cannot be about gaming the system in order to get what you want.  Otherwise, your flesh will get tired quickly and eventually quit.  This is the crucified life of taking the lowest place and serving in the lowest place, not to get the highest place, but in order to identify with our Lord.  Ultimately, whether we become the primary leader in this life or not is immaterial.  As long as we have Jesus, our place in eternity will far out weigh what we experience here on earth.

Jesus gives them a picture or a parable to help them get it by setting a child in their midst.  He adds to the image by putting his arms around the little child.  The child is clearly a nobody in comparison to the disciples.  Yet, here he is with the arms of Jesus around him.  This is an important image.  When I deal with other people, I don’t always recognize that God loves them.  He is not there physically with His arms around them, but that is His heart towards them.  This leads to the second principle that Jesus gives, and is intended to counteract our desire to be first.

If you receive the least one in the name of Jesus then you receive him, even the Father.  The disciples were constantly scrambling to be the one who is closest to Jesus or closest to God.  Yet, God loves us all and wraps His arms around us all.  God does not love the primary leader any more than the person in the lowest place.  To receive either one, the highest person or the lowest, is to receive the one who sent them, which is Jesus.  In seeking the highest place, we can become dismissive to those we perceive to be in the lowest place.  Instead of serving them, we step on them and expect them to serve us.

Jesus inverts this worldly attitude by connecting himself to all of the “Positions” that we could seek or have.  To reject and mistreat the lowest is to reject and mistreat Jesus, which is exactly what he has been trying to tell them that the religious leaders would do to him.

They wanted the primary leader spot so badly that they would kill Jesus in order to keep it.  Yet, their rejection of Jesus was also a rejection of God the Father whom they professed to serve.  Do we actually believe that God is just as intimately connected to the least person within his Church as He is with the greatest?  If we actually believe this then we would not be scrambling nearly so hard to have first place.  In fact, if we actually understood our God, we would understand that the primary places are to be for those who will serve in the most humble and lowly of ways.  God never intended leaders to be idolized and served by everyone else.  He intended for them to use the gifts that He gave them in order to serve the people that they lead. 

May God help us to quit worrying about who is the greatest, when the only answer that matters is this.  Jesus is the greatest of us all and without him I would be nothing!

Greatest audio

Jesus the Prophet

Mark 8:31-38.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, December 29, 2019.

In the Old Testament, we see three critical leadership roles that existed in Israel.  Moses was a prophet to the people to speak on behalf of God to them.  Through him, God instituted the role of the High Priest, who was to be from the tribe of Levi of the family of Aaron.  Eventually, Saul was raised up as the first king of Israel.

The roles of High Priest and King were always kept separate.  The third group would consist of any number of prophets whom God had gifted to address the nation and its leaders.  From time to time, we would see a High Priest or King operating with a prophetic gift, but they were never seen as The Prophet for the whole nation.  In this sense, Moses was a very unique figure.  He was not a king or high priest, but he was a very singular prophetic voice to Israel.

We can recognize a kind of separation of powers operating through this in Israel.  The purpose of such separations is to protect against the inevitable bad actors that would come on the scene.  Men are fallen and we should always reject the notion of putting too much power in the hands of one person or a small group of people in this world.  However, this is more than just having them separate in order to protect the freedoms of Israel’s people.

The prophets in the Bible promised that an anointed one would come and an amazing truth is revealed in the person of Jesus.  This one man would be sinless and perfect.  He would be the rightful King of kings, but also our faithful High Priest.  On top of this, we will see today that he is The Prophet par excellence.  He is the only one who can be trusted with all three powerful positions.  He is the prophet that Moses promised would come, in Deuteronomy 18.  He is the one who not only proclaims God’s Word, but who actually is the Word of God sent from heaven.  The separation speaks to the fact that all beings fall short of the perfection of God’s Son, and therefore none of them, human or angel, deserve such powers over mankind.

Let’s look at how Jesus demonstrates his prophetic gift.

Jesus foretells his rejection, execution, and resurrection

Verse 31 has a lot packed into it.  The message of Jesus initially focused on the Kingdom of God and how to enter it.  He told people to repent and follow him if they wanted to participate in God’s Kingdom.  However, at some point, he began to tell his disciples that certain things must happen to him and to them.  These things were contrary to the typical view of the coming Messiah.

We are told that Jesus “began to teach them” that he was to “suffer many things.”  Isaiah 53 is the famous passage that clearly speaks of a suffering servant who would be “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”  Of course, the phrase, “suffering many things,” could be used of just that, many things.  Jesus goes on to explain what some of those many things would be.

He first prophesies that he will be rejected by Israel’s leaders.  Rejection is a bitter pill, and Messiah was prophesied to be rejected.  The rabbis of Israel often interpret such prophecies in the Old Testament as speaking of Israel itself.  It is true that Israel has known much rejection from other nations and has served as God’s servant and son on this earth.  However, this is only indicative of the reality that they were created by a Heavenly Father who is rejected by angels and humans alike.  Jesus was sent to reveal to us once and for all that even those who look godly must wrestle with the tendency of their heart to reject God.

King Herod was not even Jewish and was willing to kill tens of young children in order to protect his power over the nation.  The High Priest Caiaphas was willing to ram Jesus through a sham of a trial in order to protect his power over the nation.  Most of the elders of Israel were in full agreement with these actions too.  The scribes and the lawyers did not accept Jesus because he called them out for their legal trickery in avoiding the commands of God. 

Such rejection is difficult to experience and righteously process.  Young kids who experience unusual doses of rejection in a society often become antisocial.  However, Jesus is unique.  He is antisocial in the sense that he is critical of the society of his generation and its corrupted ways.  Yet, he is not really antisocial.  He is not angry and raging against society.  Rather, he is offering society a clear picture of where it is broken and in need of healing.  He is not warped and twisted by a root of bitterness.  Instead, he shows us the way to life in the midst of a wicked generation. 

We should not be deceived.  We too are in a wicked generation, and we too need the help of Jesus not to be twisted and warped in our own self-righteousness.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit to navigate these days and still be a river of life flowing in the desert of our society.

Next, Jesus prophesies that he will be executed or killed.  It is bad enough to be rejected, but being executed is an extreme form of rejection.  Isaiah 53 alludes to this fate for the Messiah.  However, Daniel 9:26 tells us in plain language that the Messiah would be cut off or executed.  “After the sixty-two weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.  The end of it shall be with a flood.”  No one in Israel as expecting the Messiah would come in order to be executed, and yet there it is in plain language.  The disciples were just as clueless about this as the rest of their society.

Lastly, Jesus prophesies that he will rise again after three days.  The story will not end with his death.  Now, the word for “rise again” can simply mean to get up off of your chair, or to get up out of a sick bed.  However, no one can mistake what “rise again” means in the context of a dead person.  He is foretelling his death and resurrection, both of which seem quite improbable.  They don’t believe that this is supposed to happen to the Messiah.  Also, Jesus was extremely popular with the multitudes of Israel.  Even though the leaders did not like him, why in the world would they ever kill him?  They are godly men. 

Yet, Jesus was completely right in his prophecy.  He was a true prophet, and he did rise again after being in the grave for 3 days.

Who rebukes whom?

In verses 32-33, Peter gives voice to the common thinking among the disciples.  Mark does not give us Peter’s actual words, but we are told that Peter takes Jesus aside from the group in order to rebuke him.  Matthew 16 gives us a clue when Peter states, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”  He could only see that the Messiah was to rule over Israel as its king.  How could he be rejected and killed?  Peter respects Jesus enough to take him aside, but he is still stepping out of place to try and teach the teacher.  Yet, it is clear that the disciples know what is happening and being said.  Peter is only voicing what they are all thinking.

There is an important contextual event happening here.  Just before this prophecy and rebuke, Peter had been complimented by Jesus for hearing the Father and recognizing that Jesus was the Messiah.  However, moments later (we don’t have a clear statement of how long later), Peter thinks that he knows what the Father wants to happen, and yet he is very wrong.  This must always be a lesson to us.  Hearing from God today does not guarantee that my ideas of tomorrow are from him too.  We should walk in humility with the things that God shows us.  We are the errant students.  Only Jesus is the perfect one.

Of course, you are never going to succeed when you attempt to rebuke God.  We have a whole generation of people who think they are more righteous than Jesus or God.  Such pride ends in the same place that Peter found himself.  Jesus quickly turns the rebuke back on Peter and puts him in his place.  Yet, before Jesus does this, we are told that he turns around and looks at his disciples.  The following rebuke appears to be for all of their benefit, not just for Peter.  Yes, Peter is the tip of the spear and thus he is the one being rebuked.  However, all of the disciples need to hear what Jesus has to say.  He needs to nip this persuasion that they all hold in the bud.

First, we notice that Jesus addresses Satan.  He is not calling Peter Satan.  Rather, he is recognizing that Peter is listening to the wrong spirit.  Wow, how could he hear the Father one minute and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, and then hear from Satan the next?  It is quite easily done.  We are very manipulable.  Our flesh tends to hear what it wants to hear and believe what it wants to believe.  This works in our favor when God’s Word happens to align with what we want.  Yet, the things that we want do not always line up with God’s Word.  In these times, it works against us.

Jesus commands Satan to get behind him.  Peter is listening to the wrong spirit and thus is attempting to get in the way of where Jesus knows that he must go.  We are used to unbelievers being used by the devil to try and stop God’s people from doing His will.  However, do not forget that Satan is always looking for those among the believers who will allow themselves to be led by their flesh, and therefore, to be led by him to resist what God is saying and doing.  Religious leaders must be very humble and careful about the pronouncements that they make because of these realities.  So, how do we keep this from happening?

Jesus gives us the key in what he says next.  Peter’s mind is not set on the right things, i.e. what God wants.  They have not made it their concern to discern the intentions of God in Jesus.  Instead, they are focused on what they want to happen and what will work to their benefit.  Our desires and hopes often get in the way of what God is doing.  They can mislead us even to the point that we become a tool or a useful idiot for the devil.  It is important that we recognize this aspect of ourselves, and work hard to keep our minds focused upon what God wants as opposed to what we want.

Of course, this area is fraught with pitfalls.  The important thing is to always hold what you think and want very loosely.  Pray about it, and meditate upon it.  Ask God to show you His good and perfect will.  He does not always answer with a clear word, but He always helps us to see through the issues.  Just like Peter came to see that Jesus was the Messiah over time, so too, we can come to see what God is doing in our generation, if we are patient and willing to learn.  We too can be led by the Father rather than being led by Satan.

Jesus clarifies what it will take to be his disciple

This situation requires Jesus to emphasize the point, and even to throw down a gauntlet of sorts.  In verses 34-38, Jesus tells his disciples that if they want to follow him then they will need to know right now that it won’t be easy.  He gives a series of difficult things that we must do in order to be his disciples in actuality.

The first is that we should deny ourselves.  This means to refuse the things that you want and instead to go after the things that God wants.  Just like Peter would later say of Jesus, “I don’t know the man,” so we must say of our own self and its desires.  Too many believers are trying to follow Jesus and yet not deny themselves.  Jesus states categorically that this is impossible.  Like trying to hold onto two horses that are going in opposite directions, we will eventually let go of one and cling to the other.  There is no way around it.  Life will force the issue sooner or later.  Which will you choose?

The second hard task is to take up our cross.  To deny yourself is the negative aspect.  It is the thing that we are rejecting and turning away from.  However, the next step is part of the positive aspect.  It is not enough to reject yourself and yet embrace the wisdom of a pastor, theologian, politician, or any other person on this earth that we respect (yes, including any angels).  Only Jesus is worthy of our devotion.  Yet, to follow him requires that we carry our cross.  Why a cross?  Most of us are not going to be put to death on a cross literally, and thus the cross is not primarily literal.  This is not to diminish the necessity to be ready to die for Christ in such a way.  The cross represents the implement of our own death.  That unique way in which I need to die to the things of this world and the way they pull on my flesh.  Eventually the path of Jesus will lead to a place that causes your flesh to shrink back.  Like a cross, it will lead in a direction that will cause death and loss of things that your flesh wants to keep.  It is in these times that our initial denial is challenged.  It is easier to start to follow Jesus, but hard times will come after it and test our resolve.  Will I embrace the cross of those things that I have to die to and lose in order to follow Christ?  That is the question.  Only a person prepared to die can survive such times.

Then, we are to follow Jesus.  We cannot have the cart before the horse.  Ultimately, Christians are not trying to die for dying’s sake.  Rather, we are following Jesus.  When we follow Jesus, conflicts will arise from it.  We are carrying our cross because at certain points along the way our Lord will make it clear to us where we need to die.  We are carrying our cross because we are always ready to join our Lord in his sufferings and death.  We do not do so because we love death, rather because we love the life that only our Lord can give.  Christians are those who do not need to fear death, loss, and not getting what they want.  We don’t need to fear these because we serve the Lord of Life.  If we lose anything for his sake then it will produce life in another way.

So, Jesus ends with several powerful statements.  He puts life and our soul in front of us.  If you live to save your life then you will lose your soul.  Wow, that is a scary statement.  What is my focus?  Are there things that I want so bad that I keep scratching and clawing in order to get them?  Are there things that make me so scared that I run from them and refuse to face them?

When we try to protect ourselves, we run from the very things that will help us to keep possession of our own soul.  Jesus basically says that we should stop the self-preservation approach to life, and simply trust God.  Which would you rather have?  The life you always wanted or to have full possession of your soul?  In Luke 21:19, Jesus says, “By your patience, take possession of your soul.”  We often become impatient and want things now.  God asks us to trust Him and wait for certain things.  There is a day of reward coming for those who suffer loss for His sake.  Can I wait for it?

Instead of self-preservation, we are to lay our lives down for the sake of Jesus and his Gospel.  This is not about me choosing to lay something down for Jesus.  It is a result of following Jesus and hearing his voice.  If I give up all manner of things except that which Jesus is asking me to surrender then I have not died to anything yet.  This is rebellion.  When I follow Jesus, I will run into a situation where I will be afraid for something in my life.  That fear will threaten to lead me off course.  Yet, in that moment, if I will lay that thing down, put it on the altar as a sacrifice, then I will be free to follow Jesus. 

The disciples had to die to the desire to sit on thrones next to Jesus.  If they kept clinging to that idea then they would not have gone on to do what they did.  Yet, there is coming a day after the resurrection when God will raise them up to rule over the tribes of Israel.  So, the choice is always between the life we want now and our own soul.  You can’t keep both.

To lose your soul is a scary thing.  Jesus asks us what a person can give in exchange for their soul back.  There is no answer, but to die to self and follow Jesus.  Only he has paid the price to give us full charge of our own souls. 

Am I ashamed to follow Jesus?  There are many voices in our culture touting the name of Jesus, even using it as some kind of billy club to get believers to head in a particular direction.  Do not forget that there has never been a time in which truly following Jesus led to all the things your flesh ever desired.  No, Jesus was marching towards public shame and humiliation, and until he comes back, this is our lot too.  Let’s not be ashamed of our Lord.  His shame brought us our souls, and brought us true life.  Let’s carry the shame of this world as a badge of honor because, when he returns, we will exchange that shame for the glory of Christ!

Jesus the Prophet audio

Christmas through Time

John 1:1-4, 14-17; Hebrews 2:14-18; Revelation 21:3-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 22, 2019.

In Charles Dickens’ story, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is visited by spirits that show him his Christmas past, present, and future.  Today, we are going to widen the scope beyond just the life of one person.  For you see, Christmas is far more ancient than the Christmas of your childhood, and it is further into the future than the Christmas of your old age.  It is the eternal plan of God stretching from eternity past into eternity future.

I pray that we may once again be filled with joy that the story of humanity is not just darkness and woe.  Rather, it is a story of Christmas down through the ages, a story of Christmas through time.

The Savior has come (John 1:1-4, 14-17)

At Christmas time, we recognize that the Savior of the world has already come.  It is generally obvious that Christmas is rooted in the birth of Jesus over 2,000 years ago.  However, Christmas goes further back than that technically.

In this passage, John shows us that the incarnation is rooted in eternity past, even before the earth was created.  This should remind us of Revelation 13:8. If the crucifixion is somehow rooted in that eternal past before creation then it is a logical necessity that his incarnation was too.  What does it mean for Jesus to be crucified, and therefore incarnated, before the foundations of the earth were laid?

It is part of the reality that, when God was planning creation, He also knew that those who were made to be an image of Him would fall into the slavery of sin and need saving.  It is then that He chose to do what was necessary to make salvation possible for us.  He chose to incorporate an incarnation into His plan, as well as a crucifixion.  He would enter the world and help us.  Thus, Christmas is far more ancient than that moment at a manger in Bethlehem.  It is part of the very character of God.

Everything before that moment in Bethlehem was prologue to the incarnation and later the crucifixion.  Thus, the Bible is not just a compilation of stories.  Each story is a small part of a larger story, a story of the character of God being revealed to mankind.  Everything has its place: the fall from the paradise of Eden, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, the creation of nations, the Law of Moses, the nation of Israel, and its turbulent history.  All of these are important in the greater plan of God. 

This should give us confidence that we are not in the middle of a time that is unimportant.  We too are a part of this larger story that did not end 2,000 years ago.  What we see around us now is also important in the revealing of God’s good purpose for His creation, and particularly those He made in His image.

In Jesus, God stepped down into our world.  He “became flesh” as John puts it in vs. 14. He is the light of the world to illuminate the darkness of our ignorance, but more than knowledge, it says, “in him was life.”  Jesus comes to give us knowledge and even more he comes to give us life.  Yes, he gives eternal life, but this is more than just a promise of something down the road.  He also gives us life right now.  At Christmas, God came into closer relationship with humanity than was ever thought possible.  In Jesus, God says, “I see you… I know it is tough… I will help you; let me help you.”  This is what God has done in Christmas past.

The Savior is here (Hebrews 2:14-18)

At Christmas time, we also recognize that the Savior of the world is still with us here today.  Hebrews 2 focuses on what Jesus has made available to those who are believing in him.  The first of these is that he is delivering people from the slavery of sin.

Through the temptation of sin, we all fall into the trap of slavery.  It seems to promise freedom, but in the end, you are not free because freedom to do anything that I want always leads to bondage.  We become a slave to fleshly appetites that our mind knows is not good or has gone beyond proper boundaries.  The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is here today to live within each and everyone who puts their faith in Jesus.  He is working right now to convict us of sin and what is right.  

Of course, our modern world scoffs at such antiquated notions.  What we don’t understand is that there is a moral reality to this world that is every bit as real as the physical reality that our scientists study in order to build a machine that flies in the air or goes to the moon.  If I tried to build a flying machine that only conformed to my imagination and desires, it would never really fly.  I would only be able to sit in the cockpit and pretend to fly around like a little kid playing with a cardboard box in the living room.  However, if I face reality- even that which I don’t like- I can finally begin to build something that can lift off of the earth and travel around the world.  These are two very different freedoms that are innocent when we talk about kids playing and adults creating.  The first is a freedom of fantasy and the second is a freedom of reality.  In their proper settings both can be helpful.  However, morality, right and wrong, also are hardwired into this reality.  We are physical creatures and our choices and actions have physical consequences.  Be sure that your sins will find you out in the end.  It is just as reliable as gravity acting upon an object.  If you remain in a moral fantasy and live in a way that pleases your imagination then your experience will not be as innocent as a kid playing in the living room.  No, when we are young our parents give us some shelter from sinful choices and should work to teach us right and wrong.  Eventually, we grow up and leave the living room to go out into the world, where harsh realities and the school of hard knocks awaits those who refuse to wake up and deal with reality in moral matters.

Jesus comes as a baby, and babies are the most helpless of us all.  He is showing us that he understands weakness physically.  He also grew up to be tempted in order to show us that he understands weakness spiritually.  He was really on this earth in physical form, experiencing what you experience.  However, he is also really here, right now, to help us, to help you.  He hasn’t abandoned us and forgotten us.  It just feels that way because the world is a dark place, and we are afraid.

Hebrews tells us that he not only delivers us from sin, but we are told that he provides for us mercy as our faithful high priest between us and God the Father.  We can’t see that part of his work, and so it takes faith to trust that he is fulfilling his role faithfully.  When I fail, the enemy of my soul wants me to quit and say it isn’t working.  However, God’s word tells us to repent and believe in Jesus.  If we do that, he is faithful and just to cleanse us from the guilt of our unrighteousness.

Are you receiving the mercy and cleansing that Jesus is giving out today?  Or, are you still stuck in your sins wondering what God is doing, even giving up that there may even be a God to help you in the first place?  The message of this world is that there is no one to save us but ourselves.  This is the lie that will ensure our mutually assured destruction.  Jesus has come, and he is still here through the Holy Spirit and those people that he inhabits.

The Savior is coming (Revelation 21:3-8)

When the story of the Bible comes full circle in the last book, the theme is the nearness of God.  For some, the current arrangement of Jesus being here spiritually is just not good enough.  This is tragic because he has promised to come again in a physical way, as he did on that Christmas day so long ago.  It will be Christmas on earth once again.

God will dwell with us, and not just spiritually.  Jesus will step down from out of heaven as the only righteous King who can deliver this world from the darkness of its sin.  He has not abandoned us.  In fact, the passing of time is the mercy of God to give people time to change.

This Christmas that lies in our future is the greatest Christmas of all, or at least the climax of the eternal Christmas.  It will be a Christmas when we find under the tree that all of the sin and evil of this world is removed.  It is a Christmas when we find that new, unbroken things have taken their place. 

In this passage, we are told that the former things will have passed away.  The former things are things like: separation from God and each other, tears, death, sorrow, crying, and pain.  Imagine a world where none of these things exist.  Who do you believe can actually deliver such a thing?  Is your faith in us saving ourselves?  Is it in one of the fallen angels who could dare to present themselves to the world as a king, that is a solution from the spirit realm that is “other” than Jesus?  Or, is your faith in Jesus? 

We are told that new things will replace the former things.  So, what are they?  We are united with God in a life where he is visibly with us.  We are to inherit all things, and, as if that wasn’t enough, we will enter into the full status as the adult “Sons of God.”  Wow, what a Christmas!

This Christmas let us remind ourselves that the story of Christmas and the little baby in a manger is only one chapter along the ancient story of the past, the fresh story of today, and the long-awaited climax that lies before us in the future!

Christmas audio

How is it You Do Not Understand?

Mark 8:11-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, December 08, 2019.

In this passage, we will look at two examples of unbelief, or lack of faith in Jesus.  One will come from religious people who refuse to follow Christ, and the other will come from those who have made the decision to follow Christ, but are not doing such a good job in learning from Him.

Maybe that is you today and maybe it is not.  However, we can all learn from today’s lesson.  It is not enough to settle for the fact that we made a decision to follow Jesus.  We must actually do it, and following Jesus will test us all in many difficult ways. 

Yet, let’s give praise to God because, even though following Jesus is extremely hard on our flesh, he promises supernatural help to those who put their trust in him.  Let’s look at our passage.

The Pharisees seek a sign

In verses 11- 13, we have a portion of Scripture in which Jesus is challenged to give the Pharisees a sign.  However, it starts out with their questioning of him.  We are told that they are arguing with him.  This argument would involve discussions of why they reject him as a true teacher.  However, they are not really interested in hearing his side of the argument.  Instead, they seek for him to give a sign from heaven in order to prove his credentials.

It is not clear in the context what exactly they had in mind.  It also begs the question.  What is wrong with all the other signs that Jesus is giving?  He is healing the sick, casting out demons from the possessed, and feeding thousands of people with a small amount of bread.  Perhaps, it is more the aspect of giving a sign on demand and with a clear supernatural source that they are testing.

It is also possible that they have a particular sign in mind, such as the prophet Elijah who called down fire from heaven to show which God was the real God (and which prophets were the true prophets).  This is a clear biblical episode within the Old Testament that gives a precedent for settling if a person really is from God.  That might sound like a very good test.  However, the book of Revelation chapter 13 warns us that the end times False Prophet will perform powerful signs, even making fire come down from heaven in the sight of the people.

Ultimately, their line of reasoning is that they won’t believe unless Jesus does something that they will accept upon their demand.  This is the heart of unbelief.  It refuses to receive the multitude of signs that God is giving every day, trying to get our attention.  It makes up all manner of tests that God should jump through in order to prove himself to me.  In fact, it dishonors God by requiring Him to jump to our whims and tests, and every unique person would have very different ideas on what that should be.  They are not interested in believing.  They are only interested in proving that their unbelief is right.

We are then told that Jesus sighed deeply in his spirit.  This is the second time that Mark describes Jesus in such a way.  This word has the same root as the previous one, but has a preposition added to intensify the word.  The first context was when the crowd brought the deaf man to Jesus and begged him to heal him (chapter 7).  There the grief of Jesus seems to be more about the effect of sin upon mankind in general and this man in particular.  However, here his grief is much deeper, and is connected to the unbelief and hard-heartedness of the religious leaders who should be the ones who are leading people to him.  It is a heavy weight to work yourself to the brink of death trying to help someone who then still questions your motives and rejects you.

It is here that we should note something.  Sin is a heavy weight upon the heart of God.  However, obstinate resistance in the face of His great mercy is heavier by far.  He will deal with our sins, but He cannot make our hearts believe.

We are then told that Jesus basically rejects their request.  Yet, he does so by first asking a question and then making a statement.

The question is about their motives.  “Why does this generation seek a sign?”  It is more than an exasperation because of their unbelief.  It really does emphasize the origin of the question.  They would believe that they ask a sign because they are strong believers in God and they do not want to be taken astray by a deceiver teaching falsehood. 

The truth is far darker though.  In the parallel account of Matthew 16, Jesus states that it is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks a sign.  The problem is that God is giving signs all the time in every generation.  Sure, some generations have received some spectacular signs that we haven’t.  The problem is that they are never good enough for the wicked and adulterous heart.  It will not listen or see God’s signs for what they are, and it will continually up the ante in things God must do to prove himself.  God has no problem helping our unbelief when it is out of weakness, but He will not coddle our unbelief when it is out of rebellious rejection and adulterous desires.

Thus, Jesus states that no sign will be given to them.  It is interesting that, in Matthew 16, Jesus adds the phrase, “but the sign of Jonah.”  The point of the previous statement is not that there will be zero signs, but that they will not get any signs that they are seeking.  They are not going to get their way and tell God how to prove Himself.

The sign of Jonah is telling us to recall the story.  Jonah was thrown into the sea to drown and yet he was swallowed by a great fish.  I believe that Jonah was dying in the belly of the fish and prayed to God (his prayer is recorded in Jonah chapter 2.  God had mercy on him.  We know of the miracle that the fish vomited Jonah upon the beach.  However, it is also very likely that God literally gave life back to Jonah’s dead body.  The image is that Jonah goes into the depths of Sheol (the grave) and is brought back up again alive by God.  In the same way, Jesus will be put to death and brought back from it alive.  They would receive the greatest sign of all and it would definitely be from heaven.  If God jumped through their hoops, it would not help them believe.  They would only find another reason not to believe.  Their request is denied.

At this point Jesus leaves them and heads to the other side of the lake.

Jesus warns against the yeast of the Pharisees

As they cross the lake in a boat, Jesus still seems to be bothered by his run in with the Pharisees.  While they are on the water, he warns them to avoid the yeast of the Pharisees and the Herodians (Matthew adds “the Sadducees”).  The yeast is being used as an analogy that we will deal with later.

The disciples miss his point, and think that he is talking about bread and natural yeast.  They had only brought 1 loaf of bread and thus would need to buy some on the other side.  They think that Jesus is warning them not to eat raised bread from the Pharisees, and that he is rebuking them for putting them in this situation by not bringing enough bread.

Jesus wasn’t rebuking them.  He was trying to warn them about the Pharisees.  However, now he does rebuke them for being slow to understand what he means.  He then proceeds to examine their slow understanding with nine questions that are given rapid fire without time to respond, and that center on their lack of good reasoning.  We all know that this is a tense situation where they know they are in trouble for not learning and making the connections that they should.  Why would they think they are in trouble for not bringing enough bread when Jesus has proven that he can feed thousands with only a few loaves?  He clearly cannot be concerned that they only have one loaf.  God expects us to pay attention in our life, but also to the recorded experiences of the Scriptures.  He has given us plenty of information upon which to make a rational decision.

Jesus then points out several parts of the human body, that we use to take in evidence, and asks them if there is a problem with them.  The first has to do with their reasoning skills.  In English we would call it being thick-skulled.  Are you thick-skulled?  Is my teaching not penetrating through to the gray matter underneath?

The second part is the heart.  Are you hard-hearted?  It would be sad to have a soft enough heart to follow Jesus, but then be hard towards what he is trying to teach you.

The third part is the eye.  Are you dim-eyed?  They are seeing the things that Jesus is doing, but they aren’t making the connections to what it means.  It is as if they are not actually seeing.

The fourth is the ears.  Are you hard of hearing?  The teachings of Jesus are going into their ears, but somehow the signal is not making it to the mind.

Or perhaps the problem is in the mind itself.  Do you not remember?  This is the fifth part.  Are you becoming senile and forgetful?  Didn’t he just feed the 4,000 with seven loaves, and prior to that, 5,000 with 5 loaves?  Of course, he had.  So, where is the problem?

Here we see that being a disciple of Jesus is no ward against unbelief.  It is sad to see those who do not believe and will not follow Christ.  However, there is a certain level of unbelief even among those who choose to follow Christ.  We must all learn to see this in ourselves and wrestle with it.  May we be careful about the condition of our hearts, eyes, ears, and memory in this day and age.  Everything in this world is designed to dull your spiritual senses so that you will be those who see, but don’t see, and hear, but don’t hear.

The yeast was not natural yeast, but an analogy.  Mark leaves it hanging.  What is it?  In Matthew 16, we are told that the yeast is the teaching of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Herodians.  Of course, their warped teaching comes from the sin and unbelief that is in their heart.

The Apostle Paul uses yeast as an analogy for sin in 1 Corinthians 5:6. He warns the Corinthian church that a little sin, within a person or a group, will spread throughout the whole group and affect it just like yeast does to bread.  This is why it is so important to be aggressive with our own sin, and that churches must lovingly deal with members who are outwardly sinning without repentance.  If we do not deal with it then we will send the message to all watching that it is not important.  When our standards are lax and the definition of sin is relaxed, or completely redefined, the morals and self-control of the average believer will suffer.  Are we not seeing this in our own country, and in our own churches?

However, not all sinners want to teach others.  Thus, the warning is about false teachers who come offering you their teaching, but their hearts are full of sin.  Their teaching is corrupted by the yeast of sin in their heart and lives.  A corrupt teacher may say some things that are right, but there will always be that amount of yeast that corrupts and affects the whole.  Throughout the history of the Church, we see the rise of many corrupt teachers.  Whole groups of teachers have embraced corruption upon corruption over time, to the point that they neither preach the true Gospel of Christ, nor help people spiritually.

You have believed in Christ, that is a wonderful thing!  However, you must continue believing, watching, praying, and paying attention to the Word, your life, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit.  Without these things, we will end up in the same place as those who refused to follow Christ at all.  What a tragedy to make the right choice to join God’s people, but to only do so in the natural.  Sin infected their whole life, their teaching, and the way they lived.  It will do so to ours as well if we do not go to battle against it by the help of the Holy Spirit. 

May he give us the help we need to see what he is teaching and to learn the paths of righteousness from him.

Don't Understand Audio