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Fellowship With Jesus: Mark 14:12-16
Searchlights from the Scriptures
Audio available here One of the most widely discussed books among Evangelicals in the last year has been The Shack by William Young. I have read reviews of the book that say it is the greatest book written in a long time, and I have read reviews that said it is the most horrible book to ever be written. So, I just decided to read it for myself, and I have to say, admitting a few things that made me uncomfortable in the book, I thought it was great. The book revolves around a terrible tragedy that strikes a family and how God helps the father of this family deal with it. The man walks down to his mailbox one day and finds there a note inviting him to return to the scene of the tragedy. The note, the man discovers, is from God. Now, that’s a novel. It is a work of fiction, and we shouldn’t go to our mailboxes every day wondering if we might get such an invitation sent directly to us. But the fact is that God does desire that we fellowship with Him, and for more than just a weekend. This passage of Mark’s gospel opens “on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed.” The feast of Unleavened Bread was a week-long observance which began with the observance of Passover. This was one of the pilgrimage festivals of Israel. It was a desire of every pious Jew to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem, and though estimates vary, it is safe to say that Jerusalem was thoroughly packed with people who came there from all over. Even today, Jewish people will conclude their Passover observance with the phrase, “Next year, in Jerusalem!” Passover was, and still is, a time of family togetherness. And in Jesus’ day many people would open their homes and provide space for traveling families to participate in Passover celebrations. Knowing that Jesus would want to observe Passover within the city, and that He had no family in the region, His disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?” I find it interesting that they said, “prepare for You.” But Jesus quickly turns this into an invitation for His followers to join Him in the Passover, saying in v15, “Prepare for us.” During this historically and prophetically significant time, Jesus desires the fellowship of His disciples and has them make arrangements, not for Him only, but for all of them to join Him. The passage is about preparation. Three times in this short span of verses the word “prepare” is repeated. The disciples prepared for this opportunity of fellowship with Jesus. And Jesus desires that you and I might make preparations to fellowship with Him as well. Several preparations are seen the text. I. We prepare for fellowship with Jesus by serving Him willingly (v12) The disciples have not always been portrayed in the best light in this Gospel. We have seen their failures far more often than their successes. But here, they are to be commended for they take the initiative to approach Jesus about the Passover plans. The preparations that they go to make are not the result of burdensome orders that Jesus has assigned to them. Rather, they make an unsolicited offer to get the meal organized. They do not do it begrudgingly, but willingly, as they approach Jesus and say, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?” They don’t have to do this. They want to do this. And they want to do what Jesus wants them to do. If you have raised children, you know the joy of seeing those children do the right thing without being prompted. Our children are like most others: their rooms are nearly always in disarray. And we say, “You need to clean this room,” and they clean it a little bit, and say, “Is that good enough?” Well, a few weeks ago, I came home from the office, and Solomon was in his room with the door closed and he said, “Don’t come in here, it’s a surprise.” A little while later, he emerged and said, “Now you can come in. I cleaned my room and wanted to surprise you with it.” That moment made me one proud papa! It brought joy to my heart to see him taking the initiative and responsibility to do a good thing without being told to do it. And he did it better than he ever has when we’ve told him to clean the room. But God also used that moment to teach me a lesson about Himself. You see, God also knows when I am serving Him begrudgingly and when I am serving Him willingly. There are times when we do the right thing because “we have to,” and times when we do the right thing “because we want to.” And my desire for my own life is that the desire to serve Him willingly would replace the burden of serving Him begrudgingly more and more every day. In the self-serving culture in which we live, the idea of willingly serving another is not popular. We tend to do only what we have to do in terms of serving others. So why should we be so eager and so willing to serve Jesus? Quite simply, it is because He is worthy. To serve Christ is to serve the greatest possible good. To serve anything or anyone less, even serving ourselves, is to waste our lives in futile idolatry. When we truly fathom what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, our perspective is radically changed. God has come to us in the person of Christ to reconcile us to Himself through the blood of Christ’s cross and conquered death for us through the resurrection, not because we deserved it or earned it, but because He loves us, He pities us, He is gracious and merciful toward us. What greater joy could there be in human existence than to serve such a One as this with our highest affections and our most joyful and willing service? John Piper writes extensively on what he calls “Christian Hedonism.” Now, this sounds like a contradiction in terms. Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure. Pursuing pleasure seems to be at odds with serving Jesus. But the idea of Piper’s Christian Hedonism is finding pleasure through serving Jesus. It is wrong to pursue pleasure when the things that bring us pleasure are at odds with Christ. But when He is our pleasure and our delight, then pursuing anything else would be a waste. If we make Him our highest pleasure, then there is no sin in passionately and aggressively pursuing the pleasure that He affords through our fellowship with Him. Do we serve Him with our lives? Most of us would say that we do in some way or another, but what is our motive? Is doing what Jesus wants us to do something we think is burdensome? Or do we want to do what He wants us to do? Do we take the initiative to seek opportunities to serve Him? If we would turn the “have-tos” of serving Him into “want-tos”, we would find ourselves in fellowship with Him in the midst of our service. II. We prepare for fellowship with Jesus by trusting Him completely (vv13-15) Jesus gives two of His disciples a set of instructions to follow. They are to go into the city, find a man carrying a pitcher of water, follow him to a house, ask the owner of the house to show them to the room, and make preparations there. Some elements of these instructions are detailed: they have a specific encounter to anticipate, and are given specific instructions on what to say. But on the other hand, the instructions as a whole are very vague. He doesn’t tell them where in the city they are to go or who it is they are to meet, or where the house is where these preparations are to be made. He only says, “Go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.” The only part of these instructions that would make sense to the two disciples is “the city.” They would have understood that to be Jerusalem. But Jerusalem was big city. And admittedly, a man with a pitcher of water might stand out distinctly, for usually it was women who fetched pitchers of water from the wells. But Jerusalem was crowded with travelers at this time, possibly being 6-8 times more people there than usual. How will they ever find this man, this house, or this room? They simply have to trust Him completely. When I was a kid, my parents used to like to go out on Sunday drives. They would say, “Let’s hop in the car and go for a ride.” I would say, “Where are we going?” They would say, “You’ll find out when we get there.” In other words, my job was to sit in the backseat and let them drive, and trust them. I never looked forward to those drives. I like to know where I am going and what to expect. I was overly-analytical even at a young age. I like details. If you are giving me instructions on how to do something, I will often write it down, and ask multiple questions for clarification. If Jesus had given me the same instructions he gave these two disciples, I may say, “OK, when you say “city,” you mean Jerusalem right? And this man with the pitcher – what’s his name? What does he look like? What color is the pitcher? Will it be on his shoulder or in his hands? And just in case we don’t find him, where is the house? What’s the address? Let me Google Map it so I have a back up plan.” And so on. But the disciples didn’t ask those questions. They trusted Jesus. In a way, they are like Abraham. In Genesis 12, when God called Abraham, He said, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” God told him what to leave, but He didn’t tell him where he was going. Abraham had to decide to trust God to do what He said He would. He had to trust Him to show him the land to which he was going. The apostle Paul said in 2 Cor 5:7 that we walk by faith and not by sight. And like Abraham, like these two disciples, we can fellowship with Christ as we walk by faith, trusting Him completely. He has complete knowledge of all that is and all that will be. He has sovereign control over the circumstances of our lives. He is the truth. He is good. He loves us. And He leads us, as the Psalmist said, “in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” And knowing that, we can trust Him, even when the directions He gives us to follow don’t answer all of our questions or contain all the details we might prefer. The question is not, “Is He trustworthy?” He has demonstrated that time and time again in the Scriptures and in our lives. The question is rather, “Are we willing to trust him completely?” As we walk with Him in that kind of trust, we find ourselves in fellowship with Him. III. We prepare for fellowship with Jesus by obeying Him faithfully (v16) Jesus gave the two disciples three instructions. They were to (A) enter the city, (B) follow the man with the water to the house where they would inquire about the room, and (C) make preparations. And v16 tells us that they obeyed His instructions precisely. We see that (A) the disciples went out and came to the city just as He had told them to do. Then (B) they found it just as He had told them. This is a summary statement which indicates that they found the guy with the water, and followed him to the house, and asked the owner about the room, etc. Finally, (C) they prepared the Passover. They were faithful to the instructions Jesus gave them, and obeyed each one. General George Patton once said that when it came to selecting a man for an important promotion, he would line up all the candidates and say, “Men, I want a trench dug behind warehouse ten. Make this trench 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep.” And Patton said that he would watch them while they got their tools out of the warehouse. Some of them were questioning the instructions. Some were arguing over the dimensions of the trench. Some were complaining about having to dig the trench by hand when they had power equipment they could use. Others would complain that it was too hot or too cold to be digging trenches. Some would say that this was work that should be assigned to people of lower rank. But Patton said, “Finally, one man will order, ‘What difference does it make what he wants to do with this trench? Let’s get it dug and get out of here.” Patton said that man would be the one who gets the promotion.[1] He followed the orders obediently without complaint, question, or criticism. From what we know of these disciples, we wouldn’t be surprised if they had blown it. We might expect them to complain about the obscure directions and say, “What’s this all about anyway? Why did we even volunteer for this job? Any room will do, let’s just get something set up.” It would not surprise us if they came back and said, “Sorry Lord, we never saw the guy with the water.” But in this case, like few others in the Gospel of Mark, the disciples did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They obeyed Him faithfully. Because of our fallen human nature, we are prone to look for shortcuts, easy-ways-out, and better ideas. But when it comes to being obedient to Jesus, we must remember that His way may not be the easy way, but it the right way, and there are no better ideas. And there are no short-cuts or substitutes to obedience. Obeying Him partly is disobeying Him completely. Obedience does not need to be thought of as a laborsome thing that we do for Him. Rather, in our obedience, we are doing something with Jesus. He joins us in task and works alongside of and through us. Obedience prepares the way for fellowship with Him. The Bible is full of words of grace. When we read about God’s love for us, His offer of salvation for our sins, His promise of redemption and eternal life, we are reading about things we do not deserve. We do not deserve to fellowship with the maker of heaven and earth. But grace is all about God giving us what we don’t deserve. If we all got what we deserve from God, we would be perishing eternally because of our sinful condition. But thanks be to God, He has reconciled us to Himself through the blood of Jesus. And as we turn from sin and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior in our lives, we experience His grace. When Jesus says, “Prepare for us,” that’s grace. He wants to fellowship with His people and we can experience that fellowship with Him as we follow in the example of these disciples: serving Him willingly, trusting Him completely, obeying Him faithfully. The Christian life is not easy, and Jesus didn’t promise us that all of our experiences would be pleasant. But knowing that He desires to join us in fellowship as we walk with Him through this life will help us to view every opportunity we have to serve Him, trust Him, and obey Him as moments of fellowship with Jesus. [1] Craig Brian Larson, Contemporary Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 161. read less
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Fellowship With Jesus: Mark 14:12-16
Wed November 05 2008
Audio available here One of the most widely discussed books among Evangelicals in the last year has been The Shack by William Young. I have read reviews of the book that say it is the greatest book written in a long time, and I have read reviews that said it is the most horrible book to ever be written. So, I just decided to read it for myself, and I have to say, admitting a few things that made me uncomfortable in the book, I thought it was great. The book revolves around a terrible tragedy that strikes a family and how God helps the father of this family deal with it. The man walks down to his mailbox one day and finds there a note inviting him to return to the scene of the tragedy. The note, the man discovers, is from God. Now, that’s a novel. It is a work of fiction, and we shouldn’t go to our mailboxes every day wondering if we might get such an invitation sent directly to us. But the fact is that God does desire that we fellowship with Him, and for more than just a weekend. This passage of Mark’s gospel opens “on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed.” The feast of Unleavened Bread was a week-long observance which began with the observance of Passover. This was one of the pilgrimage festivals of Israel. It was a desire of every pious Jew to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem, and though estimates vary, it is safe to say that Jerusalem was thoroughly packed with people who came there from all over. Even today, Jewish people will conclude their Passover observance with the phrase, “Next year, in Jerusalem!” Passover was, and still is, a time of family togetherness. And in Jesus’ day many people would open their homes and provide space for traveling families to participate in Passover celebrations. Knowing that Jesus would want to observe Passover within the city, and that He had no family in the region, His disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?” I find it interesting that they said, “prepare for You.” But Jesus quickly turns this into an invitation for His followers to join Him in the Passover, saying in v15, “Prepare for us.” During this historically and prophetically significant time, Jesus desires the fellowship of His disciples and has them make arrangements, not for Him only, but for all of them to join Him. The passage is about preparation. Three times in this short span of verses the word “prepare” is repeated. The disciples prepared for this opportunity of fellowship with Jesus. And Jesus desires that you and I might make preparations to fellowship with Him as well. Several preparations are seen the text. I. We prepare for fellowship with Jesus by serving Him willingly (v12) The disciples have not always been portrayed in the best light in this Gospel. We have seen their failures far more often than their successes. But here, they are to be commended for they take the initiative to approach Jesus about the Passover plans. The preparations that they go to make are not the result of burdensome orders that Jesus has assigned to them. Rather, they make an unsolicited offer to get the meal organized. They do not do it begrudgingly, but willingly, as they approach Jesus and say, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?” They don’t have to do this. They want to do this. And they want to do what Jesus wants them to do. If you have raised children, you know the joy of seeing those children do the right thing without being prompted. Our children are like most others: their rooms are nearly always in disarray. And we say, “You need to clean this room,” and they clean it a little bit, and say, “Is that good enough?” Well, a few weeks ago, I came home from the office, and Solomon was in his room with the door closed and he said, “Don’t come in here, it’s a surprise.” A little while later, he emerged and said, “Now you can come in. I cleaned my room and wanted to surprise you with it.” That moment made me one proud papa! It brought joy to my heart to see him taking the initiative and responsibility to do a good thing without being told to do it. And he did it better than he ever has when we’ve told him to clean the room. But God also used that moment to teach me a lesson about Himself. You see, God also knows when I am serving Him begrudgingly and when I am serving Him willingly. There are times when we do the right thing because “we have to,” and times when we do the right thing “because we want to.” And my desire for my own life is that the desire to serve Him willingly would replace the burden of serving Him begrudgingly more and more every day. In the self-serving culture in which we live, the idea of willingly serving another is not popular. We tend to do only what we have to do in terms of serving others. So why should we be so eager and so willing to serve Jesus? Quite simply, it is because He is worthy. To serve Christ is to serve the greatest possible good. To serve anything or anyone less, even serving ourselves, is to waste our lives in futile idolatry. When we truly fathom what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, our perspective is radically changed. God has come to us in the person of Christ to reconcile us to Himself through the blood of Christ’s cross and conquered death for us through the resurrection, not because we deserved it or earned it, but because He loves us, He pities us, He is gracious and merciful toward us. What greater joy could there be in human existence than to serve such a One as this with our highest affections and our most joyful and willing service? John Piper writes extensively on what he calls “Christian Hedonism.” Now, this sounds like a contradiction in terms. Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure. Pursuing pleasure seems to be at odds with serving Jesus. But the idea of Piper’s Christian Hedonism is finding pleasure through serving Jesus. It is wrong to pursue pleasure when the things that bring us pleasure are at odds with Christ. But when He is our pleasure and our delight, then pursuing anything else would be a waste. If we make Him our highest pleasure, then there is no sin in passionately and aggressively pursuing the pleasure that He affords through our fellowship with Him. Do we serve Him with our lives? Most of us would say that we do in some way or another, but what is our motive? Is doing what Jesus wants us to do something we think is burdensome? Or do we want to do what He wants us to do? Do we take the initiative to seek opportunities to serve Him? If we would turn the “have-tos” of serving Him into “want-tos”, we would find ourselves in fellowship with Him in the midst of our service. II. We prepare for fellowship with Jesus by trusting Him completely (vv13-15) Jesus gives two of His disciples a set of instructions to follow. They are to go into the city, find a man carrying a pitcher of water, follow him to a house, ask the owner of the house to show them to the room, and make preparations there. Some elements of these instructions are detailed: they have a specific encounter to anticipate, and are given specific instructions on what to say. But on the other hand, the instructions as a whole are very vague. He doesn’t tell them where in the city they are to go or who it is they are to meet, or where the house is where these preparations are to be made. He only says, “Go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.” The only part of these instructions that would make sense to the two disciples is “the city.” They would have understood that to be Jerusalem. But Jerusalem was big city. And admittedly, a man with a pitcher of water might stand out distinctly, for usually it was women who fetched pitchers of water from the wells. But Jerusalem was crowded with travelers at this time, possibly being 6-8 times more people there than usual. How will they ever find this man, this house, or this room? They simply have to trust Him completely. When I was a kid, my parents used to like to go out on Sunday drives. They would say, “Let’s hop in the car and go for a ride.” I would say, “Where are we going?” They would say, “You’ll find out when we get there.” In other words, my job was to sit in the backseat and let them drive, and trust them. I never looked forward to those drives. I like to know where I am going and what to expect. I was overly-analytical even at a young age. I like details. If you are giving me instructions on how to do something, I will often write it down, and ask multiple questions for clarification. If Jesus had given me the same instructions he gave these two disciples, I may say, “OK, when you say “city,” you mean Jerusalem right? And this man with the pitcher – what’s his name? What does he look like? What color is the pitcher? Will it be on his shoulder or in his hands? And just in case we don’t find him, where is the house? What’s the address? Let me Google Map it so I have a back up plan.” And so on. But the disciples didn’t ask those questions. They trusted Jesus. In a way, they are like Abraham. In Genesis 12, when God called Abraham, He said, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” God told him what to leave, but He didn’t tell him where he was going. Abraham had to decide to trust God to do what He said He would. He had to trust Him to show him the land to which he was going. The apostle Paul said in 2 Cor 5:7 that we walk by faith and not by sight. And like Abraham, like these two disciples, we can fellowship with Christ as we walk by faith, trusting Him completely. He has complete knowledge of all that is and all that will be. He has sovereign control over the circumstances of our lives. He is the truth. He is good. He loves us. And He leads us, as the Psalmist said, “in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” And knowing that, we can trust Him, even when the directions He gives us to follow don’t answer all of our questions or contain all the details we might prefer. The question is not, “Is He trustworthy?” He has demonstrated that time and time again in the Scriptures and in our lives. The question is rather, “Are we willing to trust him completely?” As we walk with Him in that kind of trust, we find ourselves in fellowship with Him. III. We prepare for fellowship with Jesus by obeying Him faithfully (v16) Jesus gave the two disciples three instructions. They were to (A) enter the city, (B) follow the man with the water to the house where they would inquire about the room, and (C) make preparations. And v16 tells us that they obeyed His instructions precisely. We see that (A) the disciples went out and came to the city just as He had told them to do. Then (B) they found it just as He had told them. This is a summary statement which indicates that they found the guy with the water, and followed him to the house, and asked the owner about the room, etc. Finally, (C) they prepared the Passover. They were faithful to the instructions Jesus gave them, and obeyed each one. General George Patton once said that when it came to selecting a man for an important promotion, he would line up all the candidates and say, “Men, I want a trench dug behind warehouse ten. Make this trench 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep.” And Patton said that he would watch them while they got their tools out of the warehouse. Some of them were questioning the instructions. Some were arguing over the dimensions of the trench. Some were complaining about having to dig the trench by hand when they had power equipment they could use. Others would complain that it was too hot or too cold to be digging trenches. Some would say that this was work that should be assigned to people of lower rank. But Patton said, “Finally, one man will order, ‘What difference does it make what he wants to do with this trench? Let’s get it dug and get out of here.” Patton said that man would be the one who gets the promotion.[1] He followed the orders obediently without complaint, question, or criticism. From what we know of these disciples, we wouldn’t be surprised if they had blown it. We might expect them to complain about the obscure directions and say, “What’s this all about anyway? Why did we even volunteer for this job? Any room will do, let’s just get something set up.” It would not surprise us if they came back and said, “Sorry Lord, we never saw the guy with the water.” But in this case, like few others in the Gospel of Mark, the disciples did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They obeyed Him faithfully. Because of our fallen human nature, we are prone to look for shortcuts, easy-ways-out, and better ideas. But when it comes to being obedient to Jesus, we must remember that His way may not be the easy way, but it the right way, and there are no better ideas. And there are no short-cuts or substitutes to obedience. Obeying Him partly is disobeying Him completely. Obedience does not need to be thought of as a laborsome thing that we do for Him. Rather, in our obedience, we are doing something with Jesus. He joins us in task and works alongside of and through us. Obedience prepares the way for fellowship with Him. The Bible is full of words of grace. When we read about God’s love for us, His offer of salvation for our sins, His promise of redemption and eternal life, we are reading about things we do not deserve. We do not deserve to fellowship with the maker of heaven and earth. But grace is all about God giving us what we don’t deserve. If we all got what we deserve from God, we would be perishing eternally because of our sinful condition. But thanks be to God, He has reconciled us to Himself through the blood of Jesus. And as we turn from sin and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior in our lives, we experience His grace. When Jesus says, “Prepare for us,” that’s grace. He wants to fellowship with His people and we can experience that fellowship with Him as we follow in the example of these disciples: serving Him willingly, trusting Him completely, obeying Him faithfully. The Christian life is not easy, and Jesus didn’t promise us that all of our experiences would be pleasant. But knowing that He desires to join us in fellowship as we walk with Him through this life will help us to view every opportunity we have to serve Him, trust Him, and obey Him as moments of fellowship with Jesus. [1] Craig Brian Larson, Contemporary Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers, and Writers (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 161. read less
The Tragedy of Apostasy: Mark 14:17-21
Wed October 29 2008
Audio available here(Due to a technical glitch, part of the introduction is missing in the audio. The remark I made at the end of the message on the audio has to do with a piece of anonymous hate mail I received on the Thursday prior to the Sunday when this message was preached.)They say that confession is good for the soul, and I have a confession to make. I’m not proud of it, but I feel I need to just get it out in the open. I have a problem with prejudice. No, I don’t mean racial prejudice. My prejudice has to do with snakes. When I see a snake, I assume it is up to no good. In fact, I would say that my prejudice is more accurately described as a hatred. I think the only good snakes are dead ones. Now, animal lovers will tell me that I need to change my views on snakes. They tell me I need to give snakes a chance. They say there’s some good snakes out there. The Scarlet Kingsnake, for instance, I am told makes a wonderful pet and kills other problem species. And I know people who say they are beautiful. They are colorful with bands red, black, and yellow along their body. But there is another snake that is colorful with bands of red, black, and yellow along its body which is deadly venomous. The Coral Snake has the second most potent venom of any snake found in the United States. The Kingsnake and the Coral Snake look almost just alike. The difference is in the order of the colors in their stripes. A little poem is used to tell them apart. When red meets black, venom lacks. When red meets yellow, it will kill a fellow. But my prejudice against snakes is such that when I see one, I don’t take the time to recite poetry or to ask the snake if he is friend or foe. When it comes to snakes, looks can be deceiving, and the deception could be deadly.The same can be true of those who call themselves Christian. Among those who call themselves Christian are those who have genuinely been born-again. Through the convicting and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, they have turned from sin and placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And then there are those who have taken the label of Christian upon themselves without ever having been genuinely converted. They have found church involvement to be of some benefit to their life and are fond of certain aspects of Christian practice. But they are not genuinely saved; they are apostates. The word apostate or apostasy refers to a counterfeit believer. It is one who pretends to be a Christian, and one who may in due time turn their backs on Jesus altogether. They do not lose their salvation, because you cannot lose something you never had. By their defection from the faith, they demonstrate themselves to have never been saved. True believers are empowered by the Holy Spirit to persevere in the Christian faith; apostates rely upon self-effort, and when that is exhausted, they fall away.Christian history has seen many apostates. And the Scriptures tell us that in the last days, we can expect many more. In His parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13, Jesus told of how the enemy comes in the night and sows tares, or weeds, among the wheat. And both grow together in the same field, but when harvest comes, they will be gathered and separated. The wheat will be brought into the master’s barn, and the tares will be thrown into the fire. That parable is about apostasy. There will always be tares sown among the wheat, and there will always be false believers found amongst the faithful. It was true of Jesus’ 12 disciples, and it will continue to be true among His people until He returns. In our brief passage today, Jesus warned His disciples concerning the tragedy of apostasy as He indicated that one of them would betray Him. And we must take heed to these words and receive them as a warning against this tragedy as well. Several tragedies of apostasy are found here in these verses.The first of these tragedies are seen in our Lord’s words in vv18 & 20.I. Christian involvement does not prevent apostasy (vv 18, 20)That should go without saying, for only those who are involved in Christian activity can commit apostasy. It is only those who have the appearance of being Christian and who make the claim of being Christian who may in fact be apostate. But this is a tragedy nonetheless. Notice what Jesus says of the one who is going to betray Him. He says in v18, “One of you will betray Me – one who is eating with Me.” He says in v20, “It is one of the 12, one who dips with Me in the bowl.” Notice the closeness of this one to Jesus. Here He is gathered for Passover, an observance usually partaken with one’s family with His disciples. These 12 are those for whom He spent a night in prayer before choosing them to be His own. And one of them, as Jesus says in John’s gospel, “is a devil.”It is significant that twice Jesus mentions the fact that He will be betrayed by one who has fellowshipped with Him at the table. His words here echo the 41st Psalm, in which David laments the betrayal of Ahithophel, who had been his trusted friend. He says, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” In that culture, sharing a meal together was a precious symbol of friendship and loyalty. To betray someone with whom you had shared a table, a meal, even a single dish, was an unthinkable act of treachery.Someone has said, “Friends are something we never have enough of, and seldom have as many we think.” Have you ever felt like that? David felt that. Ahithophel had been his trusted counselor, and he turned his back on David to conspire in the rebellion of Absalom. Jesus felt it too. He knew in advance that one of those whom He had chosen to be with Him and to serve Him, with whom He had shared a table of fellowship, would turn his back and betray Him.Christian activity and church involvement does not a Christian make. It is possible to walk the aisle of the church, have perfect attendance in Sunday School, to be a teacher, a deacon, even a pastor, to be the best dressed, friendliest person in the church and not be born again. Conversion is not the result of our works. Ephesians 2:8-9 is as true today as it was when Paul wrote it: “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Christian involvement may in fact be a false assurance that keeps one from seeing his or her true need for salvation. The question is, “What are you trusting to save you?” And if the answer is anything you have done, like walking an aisle, joining the church, attending the church, or anything else that is done out of self-effort, then a person is not saved. Our only hope of being saved is Jesus. We must trust Him alone – His death as the payment for our sins, His resurrection as the assurance of His promise. And until a person has turned from self-reliance and self-effort to cast themselves wholly upon the mercy of God in Jesus, they remain lost in their sins no matter how involved he or she may be in Christian activity. They are apostate unless they have been genuinely born again. And that is a TRAGEDY!Is it possible that in some Baptist church today somewhere in America, there sits one or more individuals who call themselves Christian, who are regularly involved in Christian activity, who on the surface appear to be Christian, but who will betray Jesus and fall away from the faith? I would say that, if among the 12 whom Jesus hand-picked to follow Him there could be apostates, then it is not only possible but probable that the same is true in many congregations today. Immanuel Baptist Church is no exception. And that is a tragedy to think that one with whom we have enjoyed fellowship, one who has sat by our side Sunday by Sunday, one who has been involved in the work of the Lord in this church, could actually not be saved, and one day turn his or her back on Jesus and walk away from the faith altogether.I understand human nature enough to know that when you hear that, you will be inclined to think, “I wonder who it could be? Could it be him? Could it be her?” But I believe this is the wrong question to ask. And here we move to the second tragedy of apostasy found in this passage.II. It is possible to be apostate and not know it. (v19)When Jesus said, “One of you will betray Me,” notice that the disciples did not begin consulting with one another speculating who it might be. They do not say, “I bet He is talking about Judas.” Instead, each one to the man, including Judas, says, “Surely not I?” Here sits Peter, James, John, and Andrew, each of whom having had the opportunity of private fellowship with Jesus as His inner circle. Yet these even question, “Lord, will it be me?” Here sits Judas Iscariot, who has already struck the deal with the Sanhedrin for the betrayal, and even he asks, “Surely not I?”One of the most crucial doctrines of the Christian faith is the total depravity of man. We are born sinners. No exceptions. Since Adam and Eve fell to sin in the garden, every person ever born with the exception of the Lord Jesus Himself has a sinful nature. Total depravity does not mean that we are as bad as we could possibly be. No matter how bad a person is, it isn’t hard to imagine that they could be worse! Rather, total depravity means that sin has infected every part of our being. Sin affects our reasoning, our decision-making, our thought patterns, our actions, our relationships, and every other aspect of our lives. Timothy George, our esteemed Southern Baptist brother and Dean of the Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, prefers to use the phrase “Radical Corruption” to describe our sinful state. Perhaps that better captures the idea.Now, because of our radically corrupted nature, we are all capable of unthinkable evil. No one is exempt. Jeremiah 17:9 says it like this: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” What that means is that I am unaware of the capabilities of my own heart. I can’t even understand myself. Do you realize that Jesus knows your heart better than you do? He knows more than you and I do what we are truly capable of. Therefore, when He says, “One of you will betray me,” the appropriate response is not, “Well I know it won’t be me, so who is talking about?” The right response is, “Lord, could I be that one?” And were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit in producing perseverance in those who are genuinely converted, it very well could be me, or you, or any other person who calls themselves His follower.The Apostle Paul issued a warning in 1 Cor 10:12: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” Jesus statement here about the self-deceiving nature of apostasy needs to shake us all into a soul-check. As I prepared these words this week, I had to come aside with the Lord and say, “Oh Lord, you know my heart better than I do. If I am falsely assured or self-deceived, please convict my heart of the truth.” What am I trusting in to save me? My own goodness? My own efforts? My own words? God help me if that is true. I trust in Christ alone to save me, and to secure me unto Himself for eternity. I am no better than the hymn-writer who confessed in that great hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” that he is “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart Lord take and seal it for Thy courts above.”I do not want to be paralyzed in my Christian walk by endless doubts of my own salvation. John tells us that he wrote his first epistle that we may know that we have eternal life. God wants us to rest in the finished work of Christ and to be assured of our relationship with Him. But at the same time, I know that there are worse things than moments of soul-searching doubt. Namely, progressing through life in false assurance of salvation when one really isn’t saved would be eternally and infinitely worse than a moment of passing doubt. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul says, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”It is just as possible for us as it was for the twelve, that in our midst may very well be one or more who is self-decieved, lost in sin without knowing it, trusting in all the wrong things to save them. Will we be spiritually mature enough to say, “Lord, is it me?” and examine ourselves as we have been admonished? Or will we arrogantly walk on in presumption and assume, “It can’t be me, he must be talking about someone else.” I hope you are right. But a moment spent with Christ in the examination of your own soul in the light of the promises of His word could make a tremendous difference for each of us in this life, and more importantly in the life to come.This brings us to the third tragedy of apostasy.III. The consequences of apostasy are of unspeakable severity (v21)Jesus says, “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.” This word Woe occurs frequently in the New Testament. It is a word of pain, of sorrow, of grief. It always expresses unpleasant realities. Almost always it precedes a pronouncement of judgment as it does here. Woe to this betrayer, Jesus says, for “it would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” The consequences of his apostasy are unspeakable. Jesus does not declare what those consequences will be, He only says that nonexistence would be preferable to it. Better, He says, to have never lived at all, than to face what awaits the apostate in eternity. What could this be? Well, we know that eternity only offers two destinations, and heaven hardly fits this description. It is plainly and painfully obvious that Jesus is speaking of the horrors of hell; horrors of such intensity that to speak of them would do injustice to them. He merely says that given the choice, one would choose to never even have lived than to end up there.It has been said that in our day people by and large do not believe in heaven and hell. I think that is only half true. I think that a good many people believe in heaven, and that they wrongly believe that everyone will end up there. Just hang out at funeral homes and listen to the things that are said. I have stood beside the casket of hardened atheists, who to my knowledge, never came to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, though ultimately only God knows for sure. And in those moments I have heard well-intentioned people say idiotic things like, “Well, at least they aren’t suffering anymore.” Beloved, if that person did not know the saving grace of Jesus, they haven’t begun to fathom the suffering that awaits them. And unlike the sufferings of this life, which are only temporary, the sufferings of hell are eternal.On the surface, what noticeable difference is there between Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter? Both were called by Jesus to follow and serve Him. Both spent the better part of three entire years with Him. Both heard His wondrous teachings, and saw His glorious miracles. Yet one was saved and the other was lost. One had been genuinely converted to faith in Christ, the other was an apostate. One will spend eternity in heaven, the other, well it would be better for him if he’d never been born. But did they not both turn their backs on Jesus? Indeed they did. But Peter demonstrated the genuineness of his conversion by returning to the Lord in repentance, and he was restored. Judas went out and hanged himself in despair.Now there are those who would say that it isn’t fair that Judas would have to suffer an eternity in hell because of his apostasy. After all, did Jesus not say, “The Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him”? In other words, wasn’t Judas just carrying out God’s plan in handing Jesus over to die? So, he really didn’t have a choice did he? Why should he suffer these unspeakable consequences? Herein is the age-old conundrum of divine sovereignty and human freedom. Time does not permit us to discuss this in detail, but a little explanation is in order.God knows the free actions that human beings will take in any given circumstance. And He providentially arranges the circumstances we find ourselves in so that our free actions further His purposes. His foreknowledge of our actions is perfect and infallible. But the moral decision to act remains our own free choice. Therefore, when we choose to sin, we are not absolved of moral responsibility. God’s foreknowledge and His providence did not force our hands to act. God chose to bring about a particular set of circumstances in creating this world and in sending His Son into this world to die for human sin. And those circumstances entailed Judas’ betrayal. Judas is not a blind victim of fatalistic providence and foreordination. He is a responsible moral agent who made a free choice. He did not determine Judas’ actions, but He determined the circumstances Judas found himself in. The choice, however, was Judas’ to make. And he chose to betray the Lord. Therefore, God is able to bring about His own purposes through the free action of Judas, and yet Judas remains accountable for his action. He will face the consequences of apostasy, and those consequences are unspeakably tragic.The same is true of others who make a shipwreck of their own souls by resisting the Spirit’s promptings to be converted and who abandon Christ fully and finally. It isn’t that they lose their salvation. They never had it to begin with. And as a result, it would be better for that person had they never been born, than to face the unspeakable torment of hell.The tragedies of apostasy are innumerable. But in this passage, these three stand out. Christian involvement does not prevent apostasy. Apostates may be self-deceived. And the consequences of apostasy are unthinkable. Understanding these tragedies should prompt us to respond in particular ways. Most importantly, we should heed the words of Paul in 2 Cor 13:5 to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. How do you do that? First, consider this question: If God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” what would you say? If you would answer anything other than, “Jesus Christ died for my sins and rose again, and I have put my trust completely in Him to save me,” then you are trusting in the wrong things to save you. Being a good person, attending church, joining the church, being baptized, taking communion, saying your prayers, or any number of other good things, will not save you. Christ alone saves. So we must ask ourselves, “What am I trusting to save me?” And the answer should be Christ alone. Second, we should examine our lives for evidence that the Holy Spirit abides in us. In Galatians 5, Paul contrasts the deeds of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. Where a life is dominated by the flesh, it will be marked by immorality , impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. But where the Spirit of Christ indwells and fills a believer, his or her life will be characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Other biblical assurances of regeneration include a love for and obedience to God’s word and love for other believers. We must ask ourselves, “Are these things present in my life?” And if through that self-examination, one discovers that he or she is actually not saved, then that individual should with all haste turn to Christ in repentance and faith and be born again. Many times, embarrassment and pride will stand in the way. A person who has played the church game for many years will not actually want to admit that they were actually unsaved. But beloved, if one of us is apostate, it would be a severe tragedy to let pride stand in the way of the opportunity for salvation. We must humble ourselves and cast ourselves on the mercy of God if that is the case.Then secondly, the knowledge of apostasy and its tragedies, should move us to prayer for Christ’s church. There will always be tares sown among the wheat. We must be in prayer for the church to be led by regenerate, Spirit-filled believers, and that the falsely assured apostates in the church will be prevented from disrupting the fellowship and function of the body. And combined with this prayerfulness should be a determination to always be sharing the gospel, not only outside the walls of the church but inside as well. We need to share our testimonies with each other, and share with one another the promises of God’s words. We never know when a casual conversation may actually be a divine appointment in which God is going to use our words to draw a person to salvation. read less
The Value of Devotion: Mark 14:1-11
Fri October 17 2008
Download Audio HereIf you have a pulse, and are even slightly informed about current events, then you are most likely concerned about the economy. If you drive a vehicle, you are concerned about it, as you pull into the gas station and see prices hovering near the $4 mark. The declining value of the American dollar around the world is creating concern over our financial future. Fear, uncertainty, and even despair abounds as people are looking for ways to stretch their dollars even further. We want to every dollar we spend to provide the best possible return, and find ourselves reexamining what really matters most. Our passage today has something to do with value, namely the value of devotion to Jesus. It is one of several passages in Mark that has been described as a “sandwich.” In these “sandwich” passages, two stories are woven together for the purpose of making a singular point. The two episodes interpret each other. So, if you imagine this passage of Scripture is a hamburger, then verses 1-2, and verses 10-11 are the bun, and verses 3-9 are the meat. Verses 1-2, 10-11 are about how Judas conspired with the Sanhedrin to bring about the arrest of Jesus. Verses 3-9 are about an unnamed woman who pours a vial of costly perfume over Jesus’ head. Well, on the surface it may seem like they have nothing to do with each other. But in fact they do. They are both about the value of devotion to Jesus. The actions the unnamed woman in the passage stand in stark contrast to those of Judas Iscariot in this regard. The cost of her devotion to Jesus is far superior to the cost of Judas’ betrayal. We see in these two the contrast of genuine devotion and superficial devotion. One knows spares no expense to express the all-surpassing worth of the Lord Jesus, and the other pursues personal gain. Let’s explore those ideas more thoroughly as we examine the text. I. Genuine Devotion Spares No Expense for the Sake of Christ (vv3-9) In the middle portion of this passage, we find Jesus at the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany. The identity of this person has caused some debate, for if he was a leper, he would certainly not be hosting a large gathering in his home. Therefore, it has been suggested that perhaps Jesus had healed him, or even that he had died prior to this event. After all, it only says that it was his home, not that he was there. If this is the same event recorded in John 12, then it is also the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Perhaps Simon the Leper was their father. And if it is the same event recorded there, then the woman in this story is Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. But her name is not given here. It is not who she is which is important here, but who Jesus is, and how this woman or anyone else who is genuinely committed to Him expresses their devotion to Him. Notice the great detail that Mark includes about her act of devotion. Being known for his brevity, we would expect no more of him than to say, “There came a woman who poured some perfume over His head.” But he tells us much more than this. First of all, he tells us that she brought an alabaster vial. Alabaster refers to a finely-textured, white, translucent stone, and takes its name from Alabastron, a city in Egypt where it was found. It was used to make beautiful and costly vessels, often used for storing expensive perfumes and ointments. Their fragrances were thought to be better preserved in alabaster than other containers. And this is what the alabaster vial of this woman contained. It was full of very costly perfume of pure nard. John tells us in his Gospel that it contained a pound of this fragrant perfume. Nard was extracted from a plant that grew in the Himalayas. It was rare and very costly. And this woman’s perfume was no by-product – it was pure nard. The on-the-spot estimate of the value of this vial of perfume was over 300 denarii. A denarius was an average day’s wage for a common laborer in that day, so we are talking about close to a year’s salary. And she does not merely anoint His head with a droplet from the bottle; she snaps the delicate neck of the bottle, rendering it utterly useless from that time forward, and expends the entire pound of ointment on Him. Some of the disciples who observed this considered the extravagant display of this woman’s devotion to be a waste. They said, “This perfume might have been sold … and the money given to the poor.” Back in Mark 6, we learned that 200 denarii would have been enough to buy food for over 5,000 people. That means 300 denarii may feed in excess of 7500 people. But while they were indignant and scolding her, Jesus’ evaluation of her deeds was markedly different. He did not think that the perfume had been wasted, but rather says, “She had done a good deed to Me.” It isn’t that Jesus is opposed to helping the poor. In fact, His words in v7 indicate that His disciples will have plenty of opportunities to do good to the poor as often as they wish. But this woman does not always have the opportunity to lavish her devotion upon Jesus. In a few days, He will be put to death. He has told His disciples this repeatedly, but they have never responded in any way to indicate that they believe it to be true. Not only does this woman believe it, but she understands the significance of it. She understands that, like her bottle, His body will be crushed, and His precious life-blood will be poured out in love for mankind. And her act symbolizes that understanding, as she pours out the costly nard in love for Him. Jesus says, “She has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.” When Jesus died, all of His disciples had abandoned Him. His body was claimed for burial by Joseph of Arimathea who laid Him in his own tomb hurriedly before the Sabbath began. There was no time for the typical anointing with spices and oils. And when certain women came to the tomb after the Sabbath ended, they found the tomb to be empty. This woman’s anointing was the only preparation He ever received for His burial. This was no waste; it was an expression of His all-surpassing worth in an extravagant display of devotion. It is kind of ironic that the world doesn’t really mind fanatics, unless they are fanatic about their devotion to Jesus. I am a sports fan, and when I attend sporting events, it is not unusual to find someone who has painted their face in team colors, or worse, they have removed their shirt to emblazon a message of team spirit on their chests and backs. They carry signs and scream their heads off in fanaticism for their team. No one seems to mind. I saw a minivan in a parking lot the other day, and all over its windows were painted slogans in support of a political candidate. Every day I drive past a house that has a dozen campaign signs in the front yard. No problem. It’s perfectly acceptable in our culture to be identified as a radical follower of a sports team or a political party or cause. But how about being that radically devoted to the God who took upon flesh to live and die for you and who is risen from the dead? That’s just looney. Time for the padded room. Let a Christian quote a Scripture verse over dinner, or ask a coworker about the condition of his or her soul, or have a Bible on their desk, and suddenly everyone panics. This person is an intolerable fanatic. Let it be known that a Christian tithes or contributes to missionary causes, or spends hours each week in church activities, and people want to talk about wasting time and money and all the better things that could be done with that time or money. Even Jesus’ disciples did not, at this point, understand such ardent devotion. We shouldn’t be surprised when people who have no concern for Christ don’t understand our devotion to Him. Do we find ourselves placing limits on our devotion to Christ? Please understand me, this isn’t about money. The woman didn’t sell the ointment and give the money to Jesus for His ministry expenses. She busted the jar wide-open and poured it all out on Him. It was about the fact that, as Jesus said, “She did what she could.” Whatever means she had to express her devotion to Jesus, she knew that He deserved it, for He is worth far more to her than the contents of that jar. What about you? What can you do to show the worth of Jesus in your life? What do you have that might be used to express your devotion to Him? Is it a talent that He has blessed you with? Is it time you could spend in service and worship? Is it some item of treasured importance that might be a fitting symbol of His surpassing greatness? When we understand the infinite value of who He is and what He has done, and genuinely devote ourselves to Him, there is no expense of time, talent, or treasure to be spared for Him. Notice what Jesus says about this woman in v9: “Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.” Wherever the death of Christ for man’s sin and His resurrection are proclaimed, and the call for faith and repentance goes out beckoning men and women to turn from sin in complete devotion to Him, this great act of the unnamed woman in this passage will be remembered. Her devotion to Christ knew no limits, and neither will the devotion of any who truly fathom who He is and what He has done for them. Genuine devotion spares no expense for the sake of Christ. But the story is not only about her devotion. There is another, more tragic, component to what is said here. In contrast to the genuine devotion that spares no expense for the sake of Christ, we see in the actions of Judas Iscariot here that … II. Superficial Devotion Seeks Personal Profit from Jesus (vv1-2; vv10-11) There are two individuals in this passage whose deeds will never be forgotten. Jesus tells us this of the unnamed woman. It goes without saying concerning Judas Iscariot. But his deeds are remembered for a far different reason, and I would venture to say his deed is even more memorable and has been spoken of more often than hers. One of the most tragic statements in this passage is the phrase, “who was one of the twelve.” Judas had been with Jesus from the beginning. Jesus had chosen him and called him to follow. He had seen all the miracles and heard all the teachings. He had intimate access to the incarnate God, but never moved beyond proximity to saving faith. Never do we read of him calling Jesus “Lord” in the Gospels. And in time, Judas turned his back on Jesus in betrayal. Now, why did he do this? Luke 22:3 says that Satan entered him. John 13:2 says that the devil put it into his heart to betray Jesus. Then in John 13:27, we read that Satan entered into him. But Satan only influences people to do what they are willing to do in the first place. So Satan is an agent, but like you and I when we sin, it ultimately boils down to our own desire. As stated in James 1:14-15, “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin.” I like to illustrate it like this. If eating meat were a sin, and thank God it isn’t, Satan would be powerless to tempt me with images of liver. I have no desire for liver. But, bacon, now that’s a different story. Because I desire bacon, Satan could appeal to that desire to tempt me to eat it. So there had to be some desire within Judas that Satan capitalized on in order to entice him into this sin. Some have suggested that Judas had followed Jesus out of a nationalistic zeal to see the Messiah overthrow Roman oppression and liberate Israel politically and militarily. And when Jesus began talking about going to Jerusalem to die rather than to kill, Judas lost interest. The Messiahship of Jesus would no longer profit him personally, or so he thought, not understanding his need for deliverance from sin. Others have suggested that it was this incident with the unnamed woman that caused Judas to loose interest in following Jesus. This is based on what we read about this incident in John 12. There we are told that Judas raised the protest about selling the perfume and giving it to the poor. John says, “Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.” If this woman had sold the perfume and donated the 300-plus denarii to the ministry efforts of Jesus, then Judas could skim a little of it off the top, knowing it would never be missed. So, when it was seemingly wasted by pouring it over Jesus’ head, Judas realized that his financial interests were not shared by Jesus, and he went elsewhere to see how he could profit financially from his access to Jesus. We do not know for certain which of these, if either of them, were at the root of his betrayal, but we can be certain that Satan appealed to some internal desire within Judas to lead him to commit this heinous act of betrayal. Whatever the explanation, Judas’ actions demonstrate that his devotion to Jesus was only superficial. And when following Jesus ceased to profit him as much as betraying him would, Judas began to conspire with the enemies of Christ for His destruction. Knowing the desire of the Sanhedrin to destroy Jesus, Judas went to them to strike a deal. Mark tells us that they promised to give him money. But this was not an unsolicited offer. In Matthew’s account, he tells us that Judas went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And in a specific fulfillment of a Messianic prophecy, they arranged the terms of payment at thirty pieces of silver. Thirty pieces of silver would equal approximately 120 denarii, roughly one-third of the value of the perfume that the woman had poured out on Jesus. In the eyes of Judas, devotion to Jesus wasn’t worth 300 denarii, but the betrayal of Him was worth 120. In other words, Judas sold Jesus at a discount, and personally profited by the act of betrayal. Superficial devotion will follow Jesus as long as there is the prospect of personal profit. As long as being a disciple of Jesus will make a person popular, prosperous, or powerful, they are all in. But when following Jesus means suffering, sacrificing, and struggling, the person begins to look for a way out. They are off to whatever they can find that will offer them personal gain. And when it occurs, it gladdens the self-avowed enemies of Jesus. The gift of the woman’s perfume, Jesus said, was a good thing. The offer of Judas’s betrayal, we are told made the chief priests glad. They thought they would have to delay their plans to destroy Him until the city was emptied of its multitude of Passover participants, but because of Judas’s unrestricted access to Jesus, they knew they could take care of the Jesus problem expediently without causing a riot among the people of the city. What more could they ask for? Judas’s act of betrayal stands out as one of the most tragic events of history. We wonder how someone who was so close to Jesus could literally sell Him at such a discount rate for his own personal gain. Yet, daily we face the costly dilemma of clinging to Christ or exchanging Him for our own gain. When speaking a word about Jesus may cost us a relationship, when our Christian convictions threaten our employment status or our financial portfolio, when our devotion to Christ demands a sacrifice of time, talent or treasure, what will our decision say about the value of our devotion to Him? Will we demonstrate through our choices and actions that Jesus is worthy of whatever costly sacrifice is necessary? Or will we demonstrate through our choices and actions that our devotion to Him can be purchased at clearance-sale prices, as we exchange Him for our own gain in other areas of life? Like Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of soup, will we turn our backs on Jesus when the going gets tough or when our personal security is threatened by our allegiance to Him? Or, like the woman with the valuable perfume, will it be said of us, “He did what he could,” “She did what she could,” to demonstrate to the world around us that Jesus Christ is worthy of genuine devotion, and our allegiance to Him is worth more than any of the riches that this world affords? When Don and Caroline Richardson went to live as missionaries among the Sawi people of Irian Jaya, they encountered an unusual challenge. When they told the Sawi the story of Jesus, the Sawi acclaimed Judas as the hero of the story. Dumbfounded by this, Richardson investigated the people’s values and found that treachery was one of the most highly regarded characteristics of these people. Judas was, in their eyes, a model traitor, and worthy of their esteem and emulation. What is unusual about that encounter is that the Sawi people weren’t ashamed to admit their admiration of Judas. But every day, without saying it, some person who is merely superficially devoted to Jesus cashes out and turns his or her back on Him for personal gain. But also every day, there are those who are genuinely devoted to Jesus, who make the difficult and costly decision to do whatever they can to demonstrate the all-surpassing worth of Christ. And every day, you and I are put into life’s crucible where our choices and actions will show others the value of our devotion to Jesus. Jesus says that wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her. We proclaim the gospel today, declaring that God has come to dwell among humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, and He lived a perfect life that satisfied the righteous standard of God, and died in the place of sinners like me and you so that in Him, our sins might be paid for by a righteous substitute. And He is risen from the dead, offering us forgiveness and eternal life if we will turn to Him in repentance and faith. And we proclaim that He is worthy of our most genuine devotion, as seen in the actions of this woman. It is no waste to do what we can do for Jesus. He is worthy of our entire lives, for He became that vessel that was broken and spilled out for us, that we might be anointed with the grace and mercy of God. read less
Everything in Advance: Mark 13:14-27
Thu October 09 2008
Audio available here In the 1989 time-travel film “Back to the Future Part II,” Marty McFly visits the year 2015 and finds a sports almanac covering the years 1950-2000. He realizes that he can take this book back in time and use it to place bets on all the winning teams and get rich. Marty’s inventor friend Doc Brown refuses to let him do this, and the rest of the movie involves the almanac falling into the hands of Biff Tannen, who does exactly what Marty had planned to do. It’s a popular feature in movies and television – this notion of knowing the future before it happens. Before Marty McFly, there was Lawrence Stevens, the main character in the 1944 film “It Happened Tomorrow.” In that film, Lawrence gets a copy of the newspaper a day in advance and uses his advance information to gain considerable wealth. And then more recently, from 1996 to 2000, we had a similar tale on television’s “Early Edition” about Gary Hobson, who received the newspaper a day in advance and used his knowledge to prevent the tragedies that were to occur on that day.[1] There’s something appealing about the possibility of knowing the future. A television news network capitalizes on this appeal with the motto, “Tomorrow’s Headlines Today.” Suppose you really could have “tomorrow’s headlines today.” Would knowing today what was going to happen tomorrow affect the way you lived and the choices you made? I’m sure we would all agree that it would. But, alas, you cannot know the future can you? Well, there are apparently some things about the future we can know. In the context of our passage today, the disciples have asked Jesus about the events of the end times, and He tells them in v23, “Take heed. Behold, I have told you everything in advance.” In discussing the events of the future with His disciples, Jesus speaks of the things that will happen in the very near future and those that will happen in the distant future. This distinction between near and far events seems to be indicated by the use of the phrases “these things” and “those days.” In our everyday conversation, we use the words “this” and “these” to refer to things nearby; we use the words “that” and “those” to refer to things far off. Jesus does the same thing here. In verses 1-13, Jesus speaks of the events that will soon take place within the lifetime of some of the disciples, such as the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. He says in v7 that it is not yet the end, and in v8, “These things are the beginning of birth pangs.” In other words, they are the onset of labor, but not yet the full delivery. In vv14-27, He speaks of the events that will take place in the distant future, at the end. In v17, 19, and 24, He refers to them as “those days.” In vv28-31, the focus is back on the near future, and the wording of vv29-30 is “these things.” Finally in v32, He speaks of the end, referring to it as “that day.” This distinction is obscured somewhat in our English Bibles by the insertion of words which are not found in the Greek text, indicated by italics. If you ignore the italicized words here, you will see that the distinction is preserved quite well. So, in the passage that is before us today, Jesus is speaking of the events which were in the distant future, the end of all things. They remain future for us now, but we do not know how distant. And with these words, Jesus has told us of the events that we can expect to happen in the future. He says in v23, “Behold I have told you everything in advance.” Now, it is very obvious that He hasn’t told us everything about the future in advance. We don’t know how much more He may have told His disciples than what Mark has recorded for us, but we would certainly say that there are many questions that remain unanswered about the end times. Well, it seems that Jesus did not intend to give a complete and detailed description of every event that will take place at the end times, but He has given us all we need to know in order to take heed. Our “taking heed” seems to be the purpose of His telling us these things in advance. It is to prepare us, to warn us, and to secure our faith when these events begin to unfold. If we know the future in advance, it should affect the way we live and the choices we make in the present. So what has He told us in advance will occur in the future? There are two primary events discussed here in the text. I. Jesus has told us in advance of the coming tribulation (vv14-22) In v19, Jesus says that the latter days will be a time of “tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.” The word translated “tribulation” comes from a root that literally means “to press” or “to squash.” Figuratively, the word came to be used for “affliction” or “oppression.”[2] The word is commonly used in the New Testament to describe the various afflictions and sufferings that affect us all. Jesus promises us in John 16:33, “In the world you have tribulation.” He uses the same word there as here. But here it is used in a different sense. Here Jesus indicates that there is coming a time of affliction unprecedented in magnitude, and which will be unsurpassed by the events that follow it. This is the period of time that is referred to as “The Great Tribulation” in Rev 7:14, and which is discussed elsewhere in passages dealing with the end times. This tribulation is of such magnitude that those who live in Judea in those days are not told to cowboy up and endure it, they are told in v14 to flee to the mountains to find safety in hiding. It will be so dangerous and will come about so rapidly that they are warned against any delay. Most of the houses of Jesus’ day had flat roofs that were flat which were used as sleeping porches and places of quiet meditation. You would reach the roof by way of a stairway on the outside of the house. In many parts of the world today, you still find houses like this. Jesus said that those who are on their housetops when this tribulation breaks out must not go back into the house to get anything to take with him in his flight to the hills. Those who are working in the fields must not go back to get a coat, but must flee immediately. Those who are pregnant and nursing babies, in what would normally be a time of great joy in their lives, are to be pitied, for their condition will only increase the difficulty of such a hasty escape. And should this time come in winter, it will be even worse for everyone. Winter would bring torrential rains and cause flooding and swelling of streams and rivers that may normally be crossed by foot. So Jesus says, “Pray that it may not happen in winter.” Notice He doesn’t say, “Pray that it won’t happen.” It is going to happen. It is a fixed event on God’s calendar. There’s no need to pray about that. But we are encouraged to pray about the timing of it. Pray that it will not occur in a time when such escape will be even more difficult. This time of great tribulation will be inaugurated by an observable event. When this event occurs, that is the signal that it is time to flee. What is this event? Jesus says in v14, “When you see the Abomination of Desolation standing where it should not be.” An abomination is something which is loathsome, detestable, exceedingly wicked. And desolation means “deserted” or “laid waste.” It is the effect of the abomination. The abomination which will take place will have the effect of leaving “the place where it should not be” desolate. Now what does all this mean? Mark inserts the phrase in v14, “Let the reader understand.” In other words, he is warning us to pay close attention to the wording that is used in order to understand what Jesus is referring to. The Abomination of Desolation should be in all capital letters in your English Bible. That means that it is a quotation of an Old Testament passage. This phrase echoes the thought of Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11. So, with Mark’s warning, we are urged to consider what has been said there. Turn in your Bibles back to Daniel 9:24&. This passage involves a prophetic timetable given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel consisting of “seventy weeks,” or more literally “seventy-sevens.” So these are not necessarily weeks of 7 days, but more likely periods of 7 years. These words were written during the Babylonian captivity that took place between the years of 606 BC and 536 BC. Now what does Daniel tell us about these 70 “sevens.” · 9:25: There will be a period of 7 “sevens” and 62 “sevens” between the time of the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah comes. · The 7 “sevens” are the 49 years between the decree of Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in 445 BC to return and rebuild and the time in which they actually complete the rebuilding of Jerusalem. · Once the city has been rebuilt, the period of 62 “sevens” begins. In 9:26, Gabriel says that after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. Bearing in mind that the Jewish year consisted of only 360 days, and making the necessary adjustments, the combined time of the 69 “sevens” which began in 445 BC would place us precisely around the time of Jesus’ death. And it is after this time that the city will be destroyed. We know that Jerusalem was leveled in 70 AD. Gabriel says that it was destroyed by “the people of the prince who is to come.” The prince in question will not have come yet, but the people who are like those of that prince, are the ones who will destroy it. The destroyers of Jerusalem and the Temple were the Romans, the followers of the most powerful man in the world at that time – the Roman Emperor. So the “prince who is to come” is going to be like the Roman Emperor. He will be the most powerful man in the world. · Also of interest is Gabriel’s statement that “even to the end there will be war.” Certainly as history has played out we have seen that war has been endless in that region of the world, and according to this word, there is no end in sight until “the end” of all things. · Now we come to v27. “He”, that is the prince who is to come, “will make a firm covenant with the many for one week,” or “seven.” That is Daniel’s 70th “seven.” But Gabriel says, “In the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering.” Now, if the sanctuary was destroyed after the 69th week, how will there be sacrifices going on? We must understand that the Temple will be rebuilt. I can tell you that there are several aggressive Jewish groups who are already planning for a newly rebuilt temple to occupy the Temple Mount where the present Islamic Dome of the Rock now stands. Preparations are in the works. We don’t know when it will be rebuilt, and neither do they, but they are going to be ready when the time comes, I assure you. I believe that the “covenant” made by this “prince who is to come,” this powerful world ruler, will enable the rebuilding of that Temple. So, therefore, we find ourselves today living in between the 69th and 70th “seven” of Daniel’s prophetic timetable. · According to v27, when the “prince who is to come” puts an end to sacrifices mid-way through the final seven year period, Gabriel says, “On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate.” The abomination of desolation will occur then. · Now let’s turn over to Daniel 11:31. Here again we are told that he will put an end to the sacrifices and set up the abomination of desolation. · Finally, notice in Daniel 12:11 that from the time that the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days, or 3½ years. So it appears that for half of the time of the final “seven,” there will be sacrifices and offerings in a newly rebuilt temple, and for the last half of that “seven,” the abomination of desolation will be in place. Now, we have a bit of a timetable for this abomination of desolation, but we still don’t know exactly what it is. We are helped by understanding an even that took place in 167 BC. During this time, the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus Epiphanes conquered Jerusalem and erected an altar to Zeus there, and consecrated the temple to his deity by sacrificing a pig on the altar. This was the most detestable thing that could have ever been done in the Jewish temple. And that event was historically described as “the abomination of desolation.” Now, this was not the abomination spoken of by Daniel – the time of Daniel’s weeks had not yet passed. But if you asked the people of Jesus’ day what the abomination of desolation was, they would have told you it was the desecration of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes. With that in mind then, it is interesting that Jesus would use that phrase. In so doing, He seems to be indicating that what Antiochus had done was a foreshadowing of what would be done at the onset of the Great Tribulation, when Daniel’s prophesied abomination would occur. So if we put all of these details together, we see that the rebuilt temple of Jerusalem will be desecrated when a powerful world ruler will erect an idol of abomination that will cause desolation. Now, how do I know I am understanding all of this rightly? Because in the pages of inspired Scripture, we find that the Holy Spirit had made this same truth clear to the Apostle Paul and given a clear vision of it to the Apostle John. In 2 Thessalonians 3:2-10, Paul speaks of a coming “Man of Lawlessness” will seek to “exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” Paul tells us that he will come to power “in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders.” And this description matches up precisely with what we see in Revelation 13 concerning the rise of one whom John speaks of as a “Beast,” whom we have identified technically as “The Antichrist,” who will hold the whole world under his satanic dictatorship in the final seven years of the world. So, turning now back to Mark 13, what is the abomination of desolation that will trigger the beginning of this great tribulation? The Antichrist who is to come will allow a temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem and will exalt himself as the object of worship there, and demand that everyone worship him under the threat of capital punishment. Jesus says that when people see that take place, they better run for the hills, because literally, all hell is about to break loose on the earth. And He warns in 13:21 that in those days there will be many who say, “Behold, here is the Christ”; or “Behold, He is there.” But do not believe them, Jesus says. “For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.” He’s already told us in vv5-6 that many will come and claim to be the Christ, and we have seen it to be true. But the ultimate false Christ is coming, and a powerful false prophet will be by his side, and through satanic empowerment, they will deceive multitudes through signs and wonders. So convincing will these signs and wonders be, that they would even deceive the elect, those who are saved by faith in Christ, if that were possible. But it isn’t possible. True believers are sealed and kept in the faith by the love of God, and those who are deceived and led astray only demonstrate themselves to have never been genuinely saved. That’s why the phrase if that were possible is so important. True believers will, as Jesus said in v13 “endure to the end,” and “be saved.” Those who do not are not true believers, they are not among the elect. These days of great tribulation will be so intense, so severe, that Jesus says in v20, “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved.” Either persecution or calamity would overtake every human being alive during that time if it were to continue unchecked. But, Jesus says, “For the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.” In spite of the fact that in a real sense all the power of Satan and his forces will be unleashed on the world during this time, God remains in sovereign control of it. Out of His grace, and His special love for His own people, He has put a limit on how long it will last. Thought Satan would desire that his Antichrist would rule the world forever, God has amputated his reign so that all humanity would not be wiped out, and particularly so that His redeemed may not all taste the martyr’s death. There are no adjectives fit to describe the days of tribulation that will come. It will be the closest thing to hell on earth imaginable. Jesus has not told us everything we may want to know here in this passage. There are events of the future which are foretold in other portions of Scripture that are not discussed here, such as the rapture of the church. There are many, including myself, who believe that Scripture teaches elsewhere that before this tribulation occurs the Lord will take all born-again followers of Christ out of the world, and that the elect who are spoken of here are those who will be saved during the tribulation. That discussion, important as it is, will have to wait for another day. Jesus does not mention it here, and we are woefully short on time. But remember the question I asked as we began: Would knowing the future affect the way you live and the choices you make in the present? It certainly should, and Jesus has told us everything we need to know in advance to see to it that we take heed. If you would heed these words of Christ today, you would certainly commit your trust to Him as Lord and Savior. And heeding these words would compel us to do everything within our Spirit-empowered abilities to declare the saving Gospel of Jesus with others that they may come to know Him as well, so that come what may in this world, we may know for certain that we have eternal life in Him. Then there is nothing to fear about the days of coming tribulation. He has given us a gracious and fair warning in advance. Now we see also that … II. Jesus has told us in advance of His Second Coming (vv24-27) Following the seven year tribulation that will occur in the last days, Jesus says that certain celestial phenomena will occur to signal that the end has come. “The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from heaven.” Notice here again that the words should be in all capitals in your English Bible, reminding you that these are Old Testament quotations. The ideas are present in many OT prophecies of the last days, but these seem to come directly from Isaiah 13:10. In using these Scriptures, Jesus is indicating that He is not saying anything new; these things have been foretold for centuries in the Word of God. There are those who say that these words should be taken figuratively, but that doesn’t seem to be how Jesus intends you to take them. He doesn’t say, “It will be as if the sun will be darkened, etc.” He says it matter-of-factly, and I believe He intends for us to take this very literally. The sun will no longer shine. If the sun is not shining, there will be no light in the moon, for it reflects the light of the sun. And the stars will be falling from heaven. When Jesus says that “the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken,” it is likely a summary of these three phenomena. In other words, it will be “Lights Out” for Planet Earth. These cosmic signs point to the final and ultimate event of human history. Unlike the false signs that the false prophets and false Christs use to deceive, these signs will undeniably point people to the one true and living Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says in v26, “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.” This is another reference to Daniel, this time Chapter 7. “The Son of Man” was the most frequently used title that Jesus used of Himself throughout His earthly ministry. The title comes from Daniel 7:13 in which Daniel has a vision of One with divine characteristics who has come forth from the Father, the Ancient of Days, with authority and dominion, and glory, to establish a Kingdom that will consist of people from every tribe and nation and tongue who serve Him. And His Kingdom will be established forever. The Lord Jesus is that One. When He came into the world 2000 years ago, He came to die so that His Kingdom could be established through the Gospel of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life that His death and resurrection secured. He came with His glory veiled behind human flesh, and not everyone who beheld Him understood who He was. But it will not be so when He returns. He will come on clouds with power and with glory, and though there are no lights in the world, all will see Him because of the splendid brightness of His glory. The second coming of Jesus Christ will not be good news for everyone. For those who have persisted in disbelief, who have mocked His name, who have persecuted His followers, it will mean judgment, destruction, and perishing. But for those who are His, it will mean vindication and victory. He will send forth the angels to gather His elect from across the planet, according to v27. What they have held to by faith throughout the years of tribulation, they will behold with their eyes and they will be gathered to Him, never to be separated for all eternity. Jesus has told us everything in advance. Not everything we want to know, or everything there is to know. He hasn’t told us of the rapture, or the millennial Kingdom, or the battle of Armageddon. We have been told of those things elsewhere in the Scriptures, but not here. Here, He has told us everything we need to know in order to take heed. He has told us that a great tribulation is coming. And He has told us that He is coming. “This preview of the future ought not to lure us to calculate when Christ will return, nor to fear what will happen, but to know that He will come to claim His own. His coming is His promise, and the gathering of believers to Him is our hope.”[3] Would knowing the future affect the way you live and the choices you make in the present? Take heed, He says. If you have never given your life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we would urge and welcome you to do that today. The events foretold in Scripture may well occur in soon coming days. We do not know. Why delay making peace with God until it is too late? Why not this day, turn to Christ in repentance of your sins and faith in what He has done for you? He died on the cross for your sins and is risen from the dead so that you can be forgiven and have eternal life. Receive Him today, and let the promise of His coming be a joy and comfort to you, rather than something to fear and dread. And if you know Him, what better use of the time we have remaining could be spent than in worshiping Him, serving Him, and making the promise of His salvation known to others? [1] From Wikipedia articles on “Early Edition,” “It Happened Tomorrow,” and “Back to the Future Part II.” [2] Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament [Abridged in One Volume by Geoffrey Bromiley] (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 334. (“Little Kittel”) [3] James Edwards, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 404. read less
Living for Christ at the Beginning of the End: Mark 13:1-13
Fri September 26 2008
Audio here(This message was preached in a combined service with Greensboro Chinese Christian Church. Thanks to my very able interpreter Thomas Wu, whom you will hear on the audio.)Just a few days ago in France, an experiment was begun where physicists are hoping to collide particles in a 17 mile circular tunnel 300 feet under ground. The goal in this experiment is to recreate the supposed Big Bang that secular scientists believe created the earth. Because of the magnitude of this experiment, many fear that it will have devastating effects on the world. One MIT physicist has received death threats from some who fear that the project will destroy the world. On the day that testing began, September 10, a 16 year old girl in India killed herself by drinking poison in fear that the world was coming to an end. This is just one example of recent fears that the world is doomed for destruction. [update: the thing broke down on Sept 19; testing to restart in Spring]. Some believe that the recent military movements of Russia are the onset of a new global threat. The development of nuclear capabilities in Iran and North Korea have many fearing that we are on the verge of a new Cold War. Islamic terrorism is a worldwide reality that continues to worry people about what the future may hold. And then there are those who suggest that the effects of global warming will destroy the earth, and point to the recent increase in catastrophic weather events as evidence.I have good news and bad news about the end of the world. The bad news is that it is