Sermons

The Irony of Leadership

There is a vast difference between authority and authoritarianism. We tend to have an allergic reation to authority these days, and it's largely due to bad experiences with authoritarian leadership. Jesus calls us to a better way: leading by service. The disciples had been arguing about which of them would hold the highest rank among the others. And Jesus took that opportunity to teach them the paradox of leadership. The key to leadership is that a true leader must be a servant. Jesus illustrated this concept with a little child, turning the world's idea of leadership on its head. "Do you want to be the greatest in the Kingdom?" He was asking. "Then go and love a little child." That is a picture of true selfless service. The Bible itself gives examples of leaders who were authoritarians and cared more for their own pleasure than for the glory of God and the people whom they ought to have served and cared for. If you want to be a true leader in God's Kingdom, it doesn't start with you. It starts with those around you – your wife, your children, your church family, your employees, etc. But Jesus wasn't just content to say what a leader should be. He actually showed it. He illustrated true servant leadership by humbling Himself, serving others, and dying for His people. What kind of leader are you? Service takes sacrifice, but the Holy Spirit will enable you to do it!

The Power of Jesus, Part 1

Fix your eyes on the power of Jesus! When Jesus came down from the mount of Transfiguration, he was met by a father of a young man who was desparate for help. He had asked Jesus' disciples to cast out the demon in his son, but they did not have the strength to do it. The father doesn't just ask for help, but also for compassion. Our Jesus is not a stoic philosopher who just tells us to "get it over." And He is also powerful. He has the power to not only cast out the demon, but also to forbid him to ever come back. We need to be careful to not take the idea of demon possession as just an ancient superstition. There is a spiritual realm and a spiritual battle that our physical eyes cannot see, and much of what we call mental illness today is a visible manifestation of the devil at work, trying to destroy people's lives. This passage gives hope to praying parents who may not be understanding what is going on in their children's minds. Jesus reminded the disciples that the strength to deal with these demonic forces did not come from themselves. It was derived from prayer and fasting, as part of their relationship with the Lord. The power is not in us, but we have a compassionate Father that we can come to!

The Sign of Jonah

When the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign, they basically just wanted to see a miracle. But Jesus never performed miracles for show. He told them that no sign would be given to them except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jonah's being in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights was an appropriate sign for Jesus' being dead and in the grave for three days. Jonah thought he was dead – he didn't know the end of the story when he was in the fish's belly. Jesus died and was buried, and His body remained in the tomb for three days. When He rose from the dead, the Jewish chief priests recived the sign and understood what had happened. Nevertheless, they still did not believe. Salvation is of the Lord! We don't have to qualify that sentence. God is the One Who draws us and gives us faith. This was the case with Jonah in the fish's belly. He was as good as dead in the fish's belly, but God saved him. Jesus was in the grave for three days, but His body is no longer there. His resurrection and ascension were the beginning of His glorification, which is continuing now. And He will return with that same body on the Great Last Day. No one is in hell who doesn't deserve to be there, and no one in heaven (except Jesus) who does deserve to be there. It's only because of Christ and His perfect Sacrifice that we can rejoice in our salvation!

Despised and Rejected

Jesus was the Son of Man Who was promised to receive an everlasting Kingdom. A few of the disciples had recently seen a glimpse of His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. They knew the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah and the future glorious resurrection, but they were confused. Based on some of these prophecies, they knew that "Elijah" was supposed to come and be the Messiah's forerunner. "Elijah" was a core part of the Jews' hope of the Messiah's coming. Jesus explained to His disciples that "Elijah" had already come in the person of John the Baptist. The Jewish thought in Jesus' day missed the key element of the Messiah's suffering and death. They expected that after "Elijah" came, the Messiah would lead them in a revolt against Rome and then they would enjoy a glorious kingdom. But they failed to realize that Isaiah 53:3 had to happen, too. Redemption from sin was going to come at the cost of Christ's own blood. And then the disciples would be called to go forth to the ends of the earth and testify that the Messiah has indeed come! He is alive, and He has fulfilled all the prophecies. Take hope! In His Providence, the Lord lined up eveyrhing for Jesus to come and save the souls of sinners!

The Fact of the Resurrection

The Glory of Christ

There are defining moments in most people's lives when everything changes and they realize that life will never be the same again. This was one of those moments for Jesus' disciples. Jesus emphatically told them that some of them present would not die without a taste of Kingdom of God coming with power. Shortly after this, He took three of His disciples to the top of a mountain and was transfigured gloriously in their presence. He changed before their very eyes. They had known Him as a Man, but now He was showing them that He was much more than a mere Man! He is the glorious God of the universe, and yet He loves us; and He is worthy of our worship – even today! He outshone even Moses and Elijah, the great Lawgiver and Prophet. The Father spoke and recognized the Divine Sonship of Jesus – the Beloved One! And then He gave a command for us to hear Him – that is, not to merely hear His Words, but also obey Him. He is the King of glory! Do you see Him as such?

The Resurrection Gives Hope

Who is Jesus?

Jesus Christ is so much more than a good moral Teacher. He is the Son of God Himself! In this part of Mark's Gospel, Jesus was beginnng to teach His disciples that He was more than a miracle-worker. They were in Caesarea Philippi – an area that was filled and surrounded with temples and shrines for idolatrous worship. Jesus asked about who most people thought He was, and then He specifically asked the disciples who they thought He was. In this minute of Holy Spirit-given clarity, Peter answered, "You are the Christ!" He is the Messiah – the Anointed One – that the Old Testament prophets had foretold for so long. He is the Great High Priest Who is without sin and came to put an end to all the animal sacrifices. And He is also the King of kings. People today – even in the Church – are uneasy with the Jesus of the Bible, and so they try to make Him out to be whatever they want Him to be. Who do you say Jesus is? Do you recognize Him as the Son of God? Do you recognize Him as the Lord of your life? Do you recognize Him as your only hope in life and death? Jesus is asking you today, "Who do you say that I am?"

Notice Jesus!

The deepeest spiritual need of every man, woman, and child is to come face to face with Jesus and be healed – body and soul. In this part of Mark's Gospel, this blind man's friends Jesus to just touch him. In our day, we know far more about Jesus than these people did. They went to great lengths to find the Savior and beg Him for help; do we bring our family and friends to the Lord in prayer, and ask Him to lay His healing hands upon them? The King of kings took the blind man's hand and compassionately led him out of the town, just as He draws us away out of the crowds and hustle and bustle of life, so that we can focus all our attention on Him. Then He did something humiliating by putting spit on the blind man's eyes. We need a cure for the spiritual darkness of our eyes, and we need the balm of the Gospel to heal us; but sadly, many people's pride keeps them from the humilating cure of Jesus. His cure is humbling, but the touch of His hands is comforting. Jesus asked the man if he saw anything, but he could not see clearly yet. Too frequently, we are satisfied with seeing spiritual things unclearly; but this man was not. Christianity sometimes works in this way. Jesus sometimes reveals Himself gradually to our hearts; but if He has started a good work in us, He will surely see it through to completion – just as He brought this man's eyesight to perfection. Not everyone comes to Christ in a crisis conversion moment; with some people, it is more like a sunrise that just continues to get more and more glorious. Jesus chose to use a process in this situation to show the perseverance of His miraculous power. Take notice of Jesus, because He surely takes notice of you!

Watch Out!

In this passage in Mark's Gospel, we have two warnings. First, Jesus told His disciples to watch out for the Pharisees. Sadly, they are found even in the church. They are deeply religious and they are deeply engrained in what they believe. But the essence of their teaching is promoting a system of self-righteousness – an "I have done it all perfectly" attitude. The question is, when will you ever be certain that you have become holy enough to get into heaven? And if "make yourself holy" is your theology, why do you even need a Savior? Jesus' second warning to His disciples was to watch out for Herod. He was not an atheist. In fact, he even worshiped at the Jewish temple. He mixed religion into the rest of his wicked life. Unfortunately, the Church is filled with these people, too – people who think that mixing Christianity into their life will enrich them and make everything great. Neither the Pharisees nor the Herodians have any room in their life for Jesus. They are like two ditches on opposite sides of the strait and narrow way, and we need to watch out so that we don't slide into either. We must keep our eyes focused on Christ. The disciples missed the point and thought that He was talking to them about physical bread. But their focus should have been on the One giving them the bread. Jesus is the Bread of life from heaven. It is He, and not we ourselves, who are righteous; and He has clothed us in the spotless robe of His perfect righteousness. Our eyes must be on Him as both Savior and Lord, and then we will be prevented from sliding into the ditches of Pharisaic legalism and pseudo-spirituality without Christ.

Linger in the Tent

Unreasonable

Compassion and Disbelief

Jesus is compassionate, and yet – despite that compassion – some people will still not believe on Him. This portion of Mark's Gospel reveals Jesus showing compassion to a group of non-Jewish people who had no food to eat. He knows our daily needs, and He knows our struggles – and He shows compassion to us, just as He did in abundance to these hungry people, and also His disciples who apparently had forgotten the last time Jesus performed a similar miracle and needed the same lesson taught to them again. When He returned to the Jewish side of the lake, the unbelieving Pharisees came to confront Him and dispute with Him. They asked Him for a sign, even though He had already done many miraculous things in plain sight. This is like many modern critics who still don't believe in Jesus today, in spite of the historical records left to us from outside sources and (more importantly) from the Divinely inspired, historcially reliable Scriptures themselves. These people come to Christ with the presupposition that they won't believe in Him, no matter what. Why would the Lord be so gracious to us as to draw us to believe in Him? Truly, there is nothing except the grace of God that makes us a believer and not one of the Pharisees. Would Jesus sigh and turn His back on you, as He did to these unbelieving Pharisees? He knows our hearts, and He is our compassionate King and Redeemer. But He will not take it lightly if we refuse to believe on Him and trust in Him for salvation!

He Has Done All Things Well

The Kingdom of God grows by people marvelling at Jesus, meeting with Jesus, and telling others about Jesus. Jesus was in Decapolis, the area where He had formerly healed a demoniac and and told him to go and share the word about what had happened to change his life. So the people in this area had heard about this, and now some of them brought one of their friends who could neither speak nor hear to be healed by Jesus. And when he was healed, they all sang a doxology and proclaimed how Jesus has done all things well! The joy of the Christian life is to marvel at the work of Christ. Has He healed your soul and opened your spiritual eyes and ears? The focus here in this narrative is not on the deaf man; it's on the "they's" and "them's." The deaf man could never have heard the news of how Jesus had healed the demoniac. But his friends had. And they loved their friend enough to bring him to Jesus, because that was the only way in which he could be healed. Pastors can preach all they want, but only you have the direct contact with the spiritually deaf people in your life. God has given you the blessing and privilege of evangelizing and discipling these people. How will the Kingdom of grace expand? By people coming in contact with Christ, marvelling at what He has done, and sharing the good news of the Gospel with others.

Faith Displayed

This portion of Mark's Gospel shows us how Jesus extends His grace even to Gentiles (non-Jews) by faith. He traveled to Tyre, a non-Jewish, fully hellenized city of Phoenicia; and while He was there, He was approached by humility. Against all the cultural and societal barriers, a desparate Greek woman fell at His feet and humbly begged Him to cast out the demon in her daughter. This woman was like Rahab and Ruth. She had humble faith – the same kind that would make you plead to God for the salvation of your own children. Yet Jesus challenged her. He told her that it wasn't right to take food from the children and give it to the dogs. He had come to bring the good news of the Gospel to the Jews, and she was outside of the Jewish community. What would her reaction be? Would she persevere in true faith? In a continued spirit of humility, the woman pointed out that even the dogs are still cared for – even if it is just with crumbs. And Jesus granted her request. We may pray by faith because Jesus actually does care for His children! It is by faith that we are adopted as the Lord's children, even though we are Gentiles and not Jews. Jesus invites us to come as His sons and daughters to the wedding banquet that has been prepared for us. Will we cling to Him by faith and rest in Him?

Religiosity - A damnable mistake

Mark

The God of Creation

Jesus is the only One Who can meet our needs. He is the God-Man Who displays His love and His power for His people. When Mark wrote his Gospel, he wanted to show us that Jesus was God, instead of merely telling us that fact. Mark shows us Christ's Divine glory as He feeds the 5,000 and walks on water. How can these things happen? Because Jesus is God. You can't explain away the miracles behind these narratives! In this passage, the disciples had been straining all night long to row their boat across the Sea of Galilee, against the wind. When Jesus walked on the water, they screamed with terror because they thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them and assured them that He was there; Jehovah Himself, in human flesh, was with them – and so they did not need to be afraid. Will we be like the people of Nazareth who are too familiar with Jesus, or will we believe Him when He says He knows our struggles and has promised to never leave us nor forsake us? On the other side of the lake, Jesus was met by people who were desparate. They touched the hem of His garment and were made well. Why? Because He is God in the flesh and He cared for them, just as He does for us. Do we see Jesus as nothing more than a miracle-worker, or do we see Him as the Son of God Himself? He is the God-Man Who gives us hope and guides us in the dark hours of the night!

Be Still and Know God

A Loving King

Mark

Hard Hearts

When Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, He was not given a hero's welcome. Instead, He was met with contempt and rejection. Sadly, when we tell our friends, family members, and coworkers about the Gospel, we often encounter the same thing. Jesus warned His disciples about this when He sent them out in pairs to evangelize; not everyone would welcome them and their message. Our job is not to worry about whether or not people will listen to our message about Jesus; we are only called to be faithful to the calling God has given us, and to share His words with those whom He puts in our path – even if we are called hateful bigots and are persecuted, like John the Baptist was. John preached a message of repentance and it cost him his life. So where do we, as Christ's people, find comfort when we go out and tell others the same message? When we preach repentance from sin and salvation by Christ alone, it won't be popular. We must resolve to cling to Christ, no matter what. The Lord is the One Who brings fruit. When we evangelize, it's not our efforts that will make it succeed; it is all the work of the Holy Spirit. Have faith and hope in Jesus Christ! If we know Him, we know that His work is effectual in our own hearts. Our job is to be faithful to the commission that He has given us, and to share the good news of the Gospel!

Infant Baptism - Biblical?

Why do we baptize children? Well, first of all, because Jesus commanded it. He told the Apostles to go out and make disciples of all nations, and to baptize them. Children have a right to be a part of God's Covenant. Baptism is a sign and a seal of their admittance into the visible Church. It's a sign that points to the covenant of grace that was made after Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden, and it's a seal marking that covenant as being authentic and real. The covenant of circumcision that was made with Abraham was a mark of the faith that he had before he was circumcised. It pointed to a righteousness outside of himself – namely, that of Jesus Christ. And now the covenant of circumcision has been replaced by baptism. Baptism points to the fact that we were dead in sins but have been in engrafted into Christ and born again. It signifies and seals to us the forgiveness and redemption of sins. Anyone who professes faith in the Lord Jesus should be baptized, as well as the children of members of the visible Church. Jesus refers to these children as being a part of the Kingdom of God. This is certainly a matter of rejoicing, because God's covenant of grace endures forever, to all generations!

Blessed is the Man

If we want to experience true blessedness in life, we need to be "people of the Book!" In Psalm 1, we are shown that God actually wants to bless us – not with a health and wealth kind of blessing, but with a deep spiritual blessing. He has given us His precious Word to be our standard of truth and morality, so that we do not need to rely for counsel on scoffers and situational ethics. It is useful for combatting Satan, just as Jesus did; and it is profitable for our souls to meditate on it morning and evening. On every page of Scripture, we meet with Jesus; He calls us to be faithful, and He is the One Who brings forth fruit in our lives. What are some practical helps for reading the Bible? Pick a reading plan that will help you work through the Bible, but avoid legalism. Be honest about the time commitment that you will be able to make, or you will set yourself up for failure. Read the Bible together as a family, as well as personally! And it's okay to use technological helps to assist you, too. No matter what, though, choose a plan, a time, and a place – and stick to it until it's a habit. If you find that you struggle with consistency, read the Bible together with someone to help keep you accountable. And even if you failed last year, don't worry about it! The Lord wipes away our failures and invites us to seek His blessing anew this year. Open the Word and find Jesus there, and He will bring fruit to your life!

A Servant is Born

Most Jewish synagogues don't allow the 53rd chapter of Isaiah to be read. But this precious chapter is quoted extensively in the New Testament. In fact, it is central to God's plan of redemption. It was prophecied nearly 700 years before Christ and it speaks with so much detail about the coming Redeemer. Here we are told about God's strong right arm sending out His Servant, but no one believing on Him. The Messiah was to come from King David's line, but that royal family was no longer on the throne of Judah. Christ came to earth like a humble root out of dry ground, in a way that we would not have expected for a King. But God was carrying out His plan in His own way. Jesus was hated, despised, and accused of being in league with Satan. His family thought he was crazy and His own disciples deserted Him. He was familiar with pain and suffering – but why? Because He had to be just like us – except for being sinful – in order to save us! Our Savior needed to be fully human as well being fully God. As verse 4 of this chapter tells us, He has carried our grief and endured our sorrows. We are ordinary people, but we needed an extraordinary Savior – Jesus Christ!

Don't Be Afraid, Just Believe!

Where do we go when sickness and death knock at our door? In this passage from Mark's Gospel, we see that Jesus does not brush away His people when they come to Him in need, no matter how high or how lowly they may be. The woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment in the crowd on the way to Jairus' house was desparate for Him. She had been separated and isolated for 12 long years, but now she was healed – physically, spiritually, and relationally – and told to go in peace. Before Jesus arrived at Jairus' home, his daughter was dead. But Jesus told him to not be afraid, and only believe. Despite the words of the professional mourners who were already assembled at the house, Jesus went in and raised the little girl back to life. It is to Jesus that we are to turn in our situations of sorrow! Suffering in this life is often a lonely road, but our suffering is not purposeless! When we are in such seasons of sorrow, how do we get the same hope that Jairus and this woman had? First of all, we need to know Who our God is! It is He Who created all things, including us; and it is He Who gives us all good gifts. We need to realize that it is sin that has robbed us of our health and life; decay and death are sad realities. But we need to sink ourselves in God's Word and promises so that when trials come, we have those promises ready at hand! We may freely go to Jesus in prayer, for He is always ready and willing to hear and help us. It also helps to share our burden with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But be amazed at the sovereign love of Jesus! Not even death can separate us from His love. And every day we wake up is one day closer to spending eternity with Him!