The Humble Kingdom
Isaiah 11:1-10
The Humble kingdom
Isaiah 11:1-10
Introduction:
(Mark 7:21–23) “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
“Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”
– C.S. Lewis
Main Idea: We persevere by remembering our future hope in the coming King and participating in his Humble Kingdom.
I. The Humble Ancestry (11:1)
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1)
(John 1:1–5) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
(John 1:14) “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
II. The Humble Anointing (11:2 -3a)
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
(Isaiah 11:2–3a)
“Jesus does not need our mechanisms for power. He has another way to build the world of our dreams. He has the Spirit of wisdom and understanding for leadership, the Spirit of counsel and might for war, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord for holiness. Unlike every other human leader in the sorry length of our history, Jesus is literally qualified to rule the world. We have nothing to fear from him. We are foolish to resist him. We can never be too loyal to him.”
~ Ray Ortlund
III. The Humble Rule (11:3–5)
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
(Isaiah 11:3–5)
“We think of Jesus as a very nice but, when it comes to real life, incompetent person. We think too much of ourselves, our worship patronizes him, and our lives set him aside. But the truth is, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3). His insight penetrates through appearances (Isaiah 11:3). The Apostle John saw him as having eyes “like a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14). How many clever human leaders and judges have been deceived or misled, to the injury of many? But nobody is fooling the Anointed One.”
~ Ray Ortlund
IV. The Humble World (11:6–9)
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
(Isaiah 11:6–9)
(Genesis 3:15) “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
(Romans 16:20) “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
~ Isaac Watts, Joy to the World (1719)
Conclusion:
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
(Isaiah 11:10)
Wait, Watch, and Work
Faith and Doubt
Mark 9:14-29
Faith and Doubt
Mark 9:14-29
Main Idea: Jesus is our source of strength and hope, especially in times of doubt and unbelief.
I. The Posture of Faithlessness (9:14-19)
[17]… “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. [18] And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid…
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
II. The Power of Jesus (9:20-27)
Mark 9:22b (emphasis mine)
“But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Mark 9:23
And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”
Deuteronomy 29:29
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and
to our children forever…
Mark 9:24
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
“Through Jesus we don’t need perfect righteousness, just repentant helplessness, to access the presence of God.”
-Tim Keller
III. The Path of Prayer (9:28-29)
Greatness and the Gospel
Mark 9:30-50
Greatness and the Gospel
Mark 9:30-50
I. How does a story like this make it into the Gospels?
I suggest that this story shows up because:
It exposes how desperate our situation truly is
It reveals the stunning beauty of Jesus and the gospel
It does so in the embarrassing context of the disciples’ childish argument about who is greatest on a walk to Capernaum one day. It hardly gets more ordinary than this!
II. Our Desperate Situation
We actually have no idea how the conversation on the road actually went down. What is not surprising is that it went down! This kind of thing happens all the time with human beings! Nor is it surprising that they argued about who was the greatest! When we get honest with ourselves, we are always arguing about who is the greatest (while secretly cherishing the fantasy that the answer is “ME”)
If that were not bad enough, the ways we choose to go about pursuing greatness not only damn our own souls, but they do damage to the souls of those around us. Nor should we miss that Jesus takes this very seriously. He paints a grim picture of what it is like for those who squander their lives “arguing about who is the greatest” on the walk through this life.
III. The Stunning Beauty of Jesus and the Gospel.
The interesting thing to note is that Jesus does NOT rebuke them for pursuing greatness! Rather, he calls them to Himself and uses the embarrassing moment to equip them for pursuing true greatness. He is not discouraging their pursuit of greatness in favor of being bland and weak. Rather, He is encouraging their pursuit of greatness as if finally they are starting to hunger for something worth pursuing.
Jesus introduces them to the economy of the Trinity where each person of the Godhead endlessly and enthusiastically spends Himself celebrating and serving the greatness of the Other and none are diminished for doing so. Rather each is eternally magnified in the praises of the Others.
It has only and always been the lie of the snake that greatness is gained by grabbing, by transgressing, by trampling others.
In perhaps the most surprising turn of all, Jesus exalts the lowliest and most mundane occupation of the day - the job of the servant. The one who does for others what they ask. The one who provides for others what they need. The one nobody notices when they are doing their best work.
In the Roman world, the servants or slaves of the day were captive against their will. Poverty, conquest, or prejudice kept them in their places. It was much the same for the Jews, but the Jewish people did know of another Servant - the Servant of the LORD.
We know it changed them because everywhere they went they told this story on themselves - one of their most embarrassing days redeemed by the stunning beauty of Jesus and the gospel. We also know it from the way they referred to themselves from that day forward.
Peter, the Christ-rebuker, refers to himself as “Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.”
John, the son of thunder, becomes John “the slave” of Jesus and brother of those being exiled and marginalized for proclaiming the gospel in Revelation.
Paul, the racist terrorist turned apostle to the Gentiles, whose writings undergird the entire Christian faith is always and only in all his letters “a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle.”
The Glory of Jesus
Mark 9:1-13
The Glory of Jesus
Mark 9:1-13
Main Idea: Jesus is the source of glory and the pinnacle of God’s revelation, who will share his glory with us.
I. The Source of Glory (9:1-8)
There are unmistakable parallels between this account and Mt. Sinai in the book of Exodus.
The timestamp of “6 days” (Ex. 24:16)
Traveling up a “high mountain” (Ex. 24:1)
Moses’ face “shining” after encountering God’s glory (Ex. 34:29)
The cloud of God’s presence and the voice of the Lord (Ex. 24:16)
Jesus was “transfigured” (to be ‘changed’ or ‘transformed’) before Peter, James, and John. The disciples are not seeing Jesus transform into something he wasn’t before, but rather seeing him as he truly is and how all will one day see him: glorious and “intensely white” (cf. Col. 2:9, John 1:14)
“Is this Mount Sinai all over again? No, because there is a head-snapping twist. Moses had reflected the glory of God. But Jesus produces the glory of God; it emanates from him. Jesus does not point to the glory of God as Elijah, Moses, and every other prophet has done; Jesus is the glory of God in human form.”
~ Tim Keller, Jesus the King
Hebrews 1:3: He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high
Moses and Elijah’s presence represent the Law and the Prophets in the Old Testament. They also had previous “mountain top” experiences on Sinai, and anticipated the coming of the Messiah (cf. Deut. 18:15, Mal. 4:4-6). Peter and the disciples' confusion is understandable, as an encounter like this would have been deadly in the Old Testament.
God’s presence then descends in a cloud, and the voice makes clear what Peter should have known: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (cf. 1:11) Then suddenly, everything else fades away “but Jesus only.” This is the point of the transfiguration: Jesus is not on the same level as Moses and Elijah. He is in a glorious class of his own, and therefore, we must listen to him.
II. The Surprise of Glory (9:9-13)
Coming down the mountain, Jesus commands his disciples one final time in Mark to remain “silent” about what they have seen. This time, however, he adds an “expiration” to his command: “until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” The resurrection is the key to everything, and until it has occurred, the disciples' vision will be blurred and partial.
The disciples reveal again their misunderstanding surrounding the suffering of Christ (cf. 8:31-33). The disciples assume the presence of Elijah means the “day of the Lord” must be imminent (Mal. 4:4-5). But they see no way that Jesus’ suffering is compatible with this vision. Jesus affirms that Elijah has indeed come in the ministry of John the Baptist, but he suffered and died, just as Jesus will.
Hebrews 2:9: But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
“The Transfiguration serves to confirm that the suffering Jesus will endure is not incompatible with his glory. The scene functions like a hologram. For a brief moment, the disciples glimpse the truth as divine glory shines through the veil of suffering. It foreshadows the time when God will gloriously enthrone Jesus after the degradation on the cross. This white flash of the splendor to come brightens the dark cloud of tribulation that presently hangs over Mark’s first readers and confirms Jesus’ promise that those who follow and suffer for him will not have done so in vain.”
~ David Garland
III. Our Future Glory
The word for ‘transfigured’ is only used two other times in the New Testament outside of this account:
Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
2 Corinthians 3:18a: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
We are right now being transformed into the glory of Jesus, though we do not always outwardly see it. And though our outer selves will “waste away” in this life (2 Cor. 4:16), we will one day be transformed into the same glory as Jesus, as we follow in his resurrection. Our future is truly “glorious” in Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:42–43, 49: “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power… Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
“The New Testament writers speak as if Christ’s achievement in rising from the dead was the first event of its kind in the whole history of the universe. He is the ‘first fruits,’ the pioneer of life,’ He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. This is the beginning of the New Creation: a new chapter in cosmic history has opened.”
~ C.S. Lewis
The Christ & The Cross
Mark 8:22-38
The Christ & The Cross
Mark 8:22-38
Main Idea: Jesus is the King who must be crucified, calling us to a cruciform life of discipleship.
I. The Concern of Blindness (8:22-26)
This healing introduces the theme of “seeing” and “blindness” that runs throughout Mark 8:22-10:52. This healing is unique, as it takes part in two-stages. This has nothing to do with the power of Jesus, but instead as a representation of the “partial” understanding of the disciples.
“In a single event Jesus is giving the blind man mercy and giving his disciples a mirror. Halfway through his healing, the blind man did not yet have 20/20 vision; halfway through Mark’s Gospel, the disciples do not yet have 20/20 vision. They understand Jesus’ mission, but only fuzzily.”
~ Dane Ortlund, Surprised by Jesus
II. The Confession of Christ (8:27-33)
These verses serve as the center point of the Gospel of Mark and the ‘hinge’ of the book. All of Mark has been building to the question: Who do you say that I am? Everything that comes after this moment will be a consequence of this interaction with the disciples.
While Peter rightly identifies that Jesus is indeed ‘the Christ’ (cf. 1:1), it was unthinkable in this context that the Christ would suffer and be crucified. Peter has supplied the proper title but has the wrong understanding of what this means. They did not realize that the glorious ‘Son of Man’ of Daniel 7 was also the suffering servant of Isaiah (Isa. 52-53).
Peter ‘rebukes’ Jesus (the language of exorcism), standing against him in the strongest possible terms. Peter calls him ‘Satan’ because this is precisely the thinking that Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness, offering the crown without the cross (cf. Mt. 4:8-10). Jesus emphasizes that the Christ must go through all of these events (suffering, death, and resurrection); while Peter finds the cross inexplicable, Jesus teaches it is inevitable.
“One common reason we fail to leave sin behind is that we have a domesticated view of Jesus… Have we unintentionally reduced him to manageable predictable proportions? Have we been looking at a junior varsity, decaffeinated, one-dimensional Jesus of our own making, thinking we’re looking at the real Jesus? Have we snorkeled in the shallows thinking we’ve now hit bottom on the Pacific?”
~ Dane Ortlund, Deeper
III. The Cost of Discipleship (8:34-38)
Jesus will predict his suffering, death, and resurrection three times in Mark (8:31, 9:31, 10:32-34). After each of these predictions, he then immediately talks about the demands of discipleship. In our passage, Jesus outlines three components to discipleship:
Deny Yourself
Take Up Your Cross
Follow Me
“The cross is not only the source but also the shape of our salvation, and cross-shaped living means that all Christian virtues and practices are cruciform.”
~ Michael Gorman
In the “upside-down” life of the Kingdom of God, death is the way to life, loss is the way to gain, and humility is the way to glory. Following Jesus is an invitation to pick up our cross now while awaiting in faith a promised future glory (8:38), seeing that joy and satisfaction are found only in Jesus.
“The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save It. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Approaching Jesus
Mark 7:24-30
Approaching Jesus
Mark 7:24-30
Main Idea: Through bold faith Jesus receives and feeds the unworthy.
I. The Problem (7:24-26)
Relational/Cultural Strife
Jews and Gentiles
Men and Women
II. The Parable (7:27-28)
“In Jesus’s day the Jews often called the Gentiles dogs because they were ‘unclean’. Is what Jesus says to her just an insult, then? No it’s a parable. The word parable means ‘metaphor’ or ‘likeness,’ and that’s what this is. One key to understanding it is the very usual word Jesus uses for ‘dogs’ here. He uses a diminutive form, a word that really means ‘puppies’… Jesus is saying to her, ‘You know how families eat: First the children eat at the table, and then afterward their pets eat too. It is not right to violate that order. The puppies must not eat food from the table before the children do.’”
-Tim Keller
Acts 10:25-35 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.” And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
Luke 18:13-14 “…‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” -Tim Keller
III. The Product (7:29-30)
This account impacts three different audiences: The woman, the child, and the disciples
The Woman
The Child
The Disciples
The Heart of the Matter
Mark 7:1-23
The Heart of the Matter
Mark 7:1-23
Main Idea: Jesus diagnoses the source of our sin and provides the solution to our uncleanness.
I. Outside-In Traditions (7:1-13)
The Pharisees and Scribes (cf. 3:6, 22) accuse Jesus’ disciples of “defiling” themselves by not washing their hands before eating. This is not an argument over hygiene but over ritual purity and how one can be clean before God.
There are two problems with the approach of the religious leaders:
They elevated the traditions of men with the word of God (7:1-5)
The Pharisees used the Mishnah (“the tradition of the elders”) to develop elaborate cleansing regulations. None of the ‘washing’ in these verses are actually prescribed in the Old Testament, however. The Mishnah was intended to be a “fence” around the Torah, but it led to the people treating the letter of the law as more important than the spirit of the law (cf. Mt. 23:27-28).They encouraged hypocrisy and vain worship (7:6-13)
Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 to show that the issue is not defiled hands but defiled hearts. The Pharisees and Scribes were engaged in practices (like “Corban”) to find loopholes to avoid obeying God’s Word, baptizing their disobedience in spiritual language.
“The Pharisees are described as hypocrites, but not in the sense that we usually use that term, meaning someone who says one thing but lives in a different way… they are hypocrites because they are not unified in heart and action; they actually do the right things, but they are not the right kind of people because their hearts are wrong… Because righteousness is whole-person virtuous living, for a religious community the most serious potential opposite to this is not blatant immorality but a skin-deep righteousness.”
~ Jonathan Pennington
Matthew 5:20: For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
II. Inside-Out Transformation (7:14-23)
Jesus and religious leaders agree on the problem of uncleanness, but they disagree on both the source and the solution.
1. The Source of Our Problem
Jesus graphically explains with an illustration/parable that it is not what is “out there” that defiles us, but what is “in here.” Sinful actions and attitudes come from within, not from the outside (cf. Sermon on the Mount, John 3)
“The heart is the center of life, the core of being, the place where manhood maintains its throne; and what a terrible statement this is, that out of the very center of life there proceed from man “evil thoughts, wickedness, blasphemy,” and the like! ... By the heart is meant mainly the affections, but it often includes the understanding and the will; it is, in fact, the man’s vital self. Sin is not a thing ‘ad extra’ that comes to us and afflicts us like robbers breaking into our house at night; but it is a tenant of the soul, dwelling within us as in its own house. This evil worm has penetrated into the kernel of our being, and there it abides. Sin has intertwisted itself with the warp and woof of our nature; and none can remove it but the Lord God himself. As long as the heart remains unchanged, out of it will proceed that which is sinful. “Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. (Gen. 6:5)” ~ Charles Spurgeon
Hebrews 4:12–13: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
2. The Solution to Our Problem (7:19)
Mark’s editorial note that Jesus “declared all foods clean” points to a far greater reality. Jesus has been breaking all sorts of ceremonial cleanliness regulations in the gospel of Mark, not because he disregards these laws, but because he has come to fulfill what they were pointing to all along (cf. Mt. 5:17).
Jesus touches unclean things and makes them clean, rather than becoming unclean himself. The ceremonial laws anticipated a complete and total cleansing that comes through the blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:18-19, 1 Jn. 1:7)
Hebrews 9:13–14: For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
The Greater Moses
Mark 6:45-52
The Good Shepherd
Mark 6:45-52
Main Idea: Jesus increases our faith by showing himself to be the greater Moses, who leads his people into a greater exodus.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Luke 24:44-49
I. The Greater Moses
Jesus miraculously feeds the people (Mark 6:30-44)
Jesus teaches authoritatively and does miraculous works (Mark 6:2)
Jesus leaves the people to go meet with God on a mountain (Mark 6: 45-46)
Jesus comes to the rescue of his followers (Mark 6:48, 51)
Jesus meets with God and shines radiantly (Mark 9:2-13)
Moses miraculously feeds the people (Exodus 16)
Moses teaches authoritatively and does miraculous works (Exodus 20 - Ten Commandments, Majority of the Pentateuch)
Moses leaves the people to go meet with God on a mountain (Exodus 19)
Jesus comes to the rescue of his followers (Exodus 14)
Moses meets with God and shines radiantly (Exodus 34:29-35)
And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:17-23
The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. Exodus 34:5-8
Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend… Exodus 33:11
II. The Greater Exodus
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses. Exodus 14:30-31
but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” [51] And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. Mark 6:49-51a
“The first time Jesus calmed the sea in Mark, the account ends with the disciples asking, ‘Who then is this’ (Mark 4:41). In Mark’s second account of Jesus calming the sea, two chapters later, this question is answered.”
-Dane Ortlund
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Exodus 14:13-14
“And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Mark6:51b-52
What are you thinking?
What are you feeling?
What are you believing?
“I’ve learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages.”
Charles Spurgeon
The Good Shepherd
Mark 6:30-44
The Good Shepherd (Mark 6:30–44)
MIT: Jesus is the Good Shepherd who satisfies us with rest, truth, and provision.
I. Jesus provides rest (30–33)
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. Mark 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. (Mark 6:30–33)
II. Jesus proclaims truth (34)
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:34)
III. Jesus produces provision (35–44)
Even though the place is desolate, yet the one who feeds the world is present. And even though the hour is late, yet the one who is not subject to the hour is conversing with you. John Chrysostom
21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (Matthew 11:21)
The Cost of Discipleship
Mark 6:1-30
The Cost of Discipleship
Mark 6:1-30
“If you read the Bible, you’ll see that nobody who ever met Jesus Christ ever had a moderate reaction to him. There are only three reactions to Jesus: they either hated him and wanted to kill him, they were afraid of him and wanted to run away, or they were absolutely smitten with him, and they tried to give their whole lives to him.” ~ John Stott, Basic Christianity
Main Idea: As we are sent by Jesus on mission, we must expect opposition and count the cost of discipleship.
I. Disciples Are Sent on Mission
Despite the disciples' questionable track record, Jesus sends them out on mission (cf. 1:17). This scene reminds us that the mission of God is not dependent upon the worthiness of the messengers but on the authority and commissioning of Jesus himself. The disciples are not to start a new mission; they are to carry on the mission of Jesus.
From Jesus’ instructions we learn:
The Christian mission is to be done together, as the disciples are sent in pairs to declare and display the gospel.
The Christian mission is to be done in dependence upon the Lord; the disciples must pack lightly and travel simply, only bringing a staff, sandals, one tunic, and a belt (cf. Ex. 12:11).
The Christian mission trusts God with the results. The disciples are to spread the seed of the gospel (cf Mk. 4) and trust God to bring growth. The “shaking off the dust” on their feet is a way of placing the responsibility on the hearers of the gospel to respond appropriately.
II. Disciples Should Expect Opposition
There are 3 kinds of opposition and rejection of Jesus and the gospel in this passage:
1. Opposition to the Ordinary (6:1-6)
Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth was extremely small and unremarkable (cf. Jn. 1:46). Upon his return, the people who would have grown up with Jesus “took offense” at him, unable to discern “the veil of ordinariness that surrounded Jesus” (William Lane).
“The people of Nazareth see only a carpenter, only a son of Mary, only another one of the village children who has grown up and returned for a visit. If only God were less ordinary and more unique, then they would believe... The greatest obstacle to faith is not the failure of God to act but the unwillingness of the human heart to accept the God who condescends to us in only a carpenter, the son of Mary.” ~ James Edwards
2. Resistance to Repentance (6:12)
The early Christians were perceived as simultaneously the most exclusive and the most inclusive group their culture had ever encountered. The call to repentance and faith was the great “equalizer” of all people, and this message was met with a mix of attraction and opposition. The natural disposition of the human heart is to continue in our own way, rather than the way of faith and repentance.
3. Fascination without Following (6:16-29)
As Jesus’ fame spreads through the mission of his disciples, Herod has a haunting sense that John the Baptist has been resurrected. He was wrong in one sense and right in another.
Herod’s opposition and rejection is complicated multi-faceted:
John openly opposed his marriage to Herodias (who was his brother’s wife), drawing the ire of Herodias (6:19)
Herod, however, “feared” John because he was a righteous and holy man; even though John confronted Herod, he “heard him gladly” and was perplexed and intrigued by his preaching. He seemed to be entertained by John, but never repents.
Herod traps himself in his sin, as he is intoxicated with his own lusts and his own importance (“King” Herod). Though he was “exceedingly sorry,” Herod fails to embrace the cost of following Jesus. He beheads John to save face with his guests and preserve his reputation.
III. Disciples Must Embrace Affliction
John is a model of embracing the cost of discipleship; if he would have refused to speak the truth, he would have remained alive. However, his courage to follow Jesus and to bear witness to the truth of the gospel, even when it was unpopular, cost him his life.
Mark 8:34–37: And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?
The suffering and death of John the Baptist foreshadows the suffering, opposition, and death of Jesus and for all who might follow him in faith (cf. Heb. 2:10, Jn. 15:18, 2 Tim. 3:12). The call to follow Jesus is the call to embrace opposition and suffering, knowing that it is a crucible of Christ-likeness and sanctification in us.
“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die… In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die. Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of DIscipleship