Deep Questions Of The Soul

Introduction

If you were to do an honest, gut-feeling assessment of the church today, specifically in the West, would you come away saying that the church, again, specifically within the American, western culture, would you say it is growing, plateauing, or in decline?

So, again, just an honest, gut-feeling assessment.

Now, I think most of us would say, it’s definitely not growing in the West. There are pockets of growth with local churches, but by and large the majority of churches are not seeing growth from new believers. And so, is it plateauing or in decline, we could probably go either way without really knowing all the facts.

But statistically, since about the mid-1970’s the church, and most mainline denominations in the West have been in decline. For the first time in about two centuries, since the colonial days the trend changed because up to about the 1970’s the trend was that the church was continuing to grow.

But something shifted in the cultural makeup of the church that began to reverse it’s impact and influence in society.

Now, since that time there have been numerous studies and books written to try and diagnose the problem. What’s happening? How did the church lose it’s voice and influence in culture?

Now, this isn’t a sermon about evaluating all the issues within the church but it is one in which it’s a call to come back to what gave the church of Jesus Christ it’s voice and influence in people’s lives. Now, what do I mean by that?

In 1972, a book was written by a man named Dean Kelley. He was a legal scholar and not a theological conservative, yet he kept hearing the same excuse being given from church leaders of his day for the reason of the decline, “that people just aren’t religious anymore.” That was the excuse given from church leaders for the reason for the decline, and Kelley said, that can’t be the reason when for two centuries in American culture the church was growing. “Why would that all of a sudden just stop and reverse course?”

And so, as an observer of the culture and of the church, he began to notice a shift in teaching and philosophy and mission. Yes, culture shifts and changes all the time but the deep questions of the soul still remain and he began to notice that the church was not answering those deep, longing questions any longer.

He wrote,

“The appeal of religion was that it provided ‘largest-scale meanings.’ These are not the genuine, but small-scale meanings such as helping others in the neighborhood or volunteering for a good cause. Rather, largest-scale meanings enable people to face suffering and death with confidence and hope and to seek the long-term common good, making sacrifices for it, all because you know you are part of a “cosmic purpose.” The only “largest scale meanings that seem suitable to produce such results are those offered and validated by religion.”

He argued that any church that was growing was one that “focused mainly on spiritual needs and supernatural “largest-scale” cosmic meanings—the reality of God, the truth of Jesus’ resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit for inward change, the efficacy of Jesus’ death for the forgiveness of sins, the eventual arrival of the kingdom of God.”

But the majority of churches began to drift away from these core, essential truths found in God’s Word. Churches either began to adapt to modern secular thought whereas they began to look more like the world and the culture rather than like an outpost of the Kingdom of God. Or, churches began to only focus on peripheral issues, secondary issues, or non-primary issues and so the preaching and teaching was not centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ as the hope for humanity, it wasn’t focused on answering the deep questions of the soul, but became more moralistic in practice. Meaning, if you are a Christian then you look a certain way, dress a certain way, behave a certain way, etc… Churches began to drift either into liberalism or moralism or legalism.

Many rejected the supernatural. And so, liberal churches denied the power of God, the Spirit’s work in the human heart, the deity and resurrection of Christ, the trustworthiness of the Bible, the sovereignty of God over all of life. Legalistic churches would say they believed many of these truths but often bypassed the teaching of them, bypassed or assumed the gospel and only taught moralism that was devoid of the power of God to bring about a new heart.

Soon afterward, the “church” or religion became more associated with political parties than Christ himself.

We’ve seen that amped up and put into overdrive just within the last decade or so. Churches today, Christians today are identified more by which side of the political aisle they fall into rather than living as followers of Jesus, as citizens of heaven and as salt and light in the world.

But what still remains are the deep questions of the soul that every human being has. Is there a Creator God that I’m accountable to? What’s the purpose and meaning of my life? How do I handle suffering and death? Is there life after death or is this all there is? Is there any purpose to any of this? How should I live that gives meaning to my life? I know I’m broken, is there any hope of healing? Why doesn’t anything seem to satisfy?

Those are large-scale meaning questions? And culture is not equipped to answer them. It can’t answer them at least in any way that brings a true solution. And the church began to fail to answer these questions as well. And so, people began to look at the church as pointless. They just want my time and my money so why should I give that to them? The church lost it’s voice because it forgot it’s mission and it stopped answering the deep questions of the soul.

Main Aim

Jesus’ interaction here in Mark 12 with the Sadducees, to be honest, is something that we’re likely to encounter today. And how we respond to skepticism and the denial or mockery of the supernatural will either push people further away from the goodness of Christ, or will draw them to think more deeply, long for it to be true, and then see how Jesus is the answer and hope that their souls long for.

I think over the years the church, because of the decline of moralism within our culture, and the decay of God’s good design for human beings, we’ve become better debaters and apologists. Right, so we know, or have gotten better at knowing what God’s Word says and we boldly declare it whether through social media posts or protests, or interactions with friends or co-workers. And don’t misunderstand me, we need to know God’s Word. We need to be students of it, we need to be shaped by it, and led by it. We must know doctrine.

But I want to propose, that the church also needs to learn how to be good storytellers as well. The Bible is the story of God. It’s a story of his greatness, his faithfulness, his love, and redemption of broken rebels through sacrifice, through great sacrifice and loss. It’s a story that “ends,” quote on quote with a future resurrection and the removal of everything that is broken and fractured in the world. It’s a story that sees the death of death. It’s a story of a future hope where those who trust in Christ through faith will live in perfect joy, peace, and harmony for ever and ever with him.

And so, what I mean by becoming better storytellers is that we want to share the hope of Christ, the hope of redemption, the hope of a future resurrection with those who disbelieve in such a way that though they may reject it, they’ll wish and long for it to be true because they’ll see how Jesus is the answer to the deep questions of the soul.

It was Blaise Pascal who said centuries ago,

“Men despise religion, they hate it and are afraid it might be true. To cure that, we have to begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason. That it is worthy of reverence and should be given respect. Next it should be made lovable, should make them wish it were true, then show that it is indeed true.” - Blaise Pascal

Do not our hearts ache for meaning, for redemption, for healing, for hope, for eternal life? Have we not found all of this through the work and person of Jesus Christ?

Big Idea:

From this text we see Jesus answer a deep question of the soul, the question of eternity, the question of life after death, it’s a question of belonging and hope. And we see that those who belong to Jesus will experience the future resurrection from the dead and find lasting fulfillment and joy with Christ forever.

A shortened and more memorable way to say it may be, “Because Christ is risen we will rise.”

Body:

Jumping into the text we see a new set of religious leaders confronting Jesus. This time, it’s the Sadducees.

Mark 12:18

And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question.

The Sadducees were a relatively small sect of religious leaders but they were very influential both religiously and politically. They were a group of men who only considered the books of Moses as authoritative. Therefore, they rejected the rest of Scripture.

As we see in verse 18, they rejected the doctrine of the resurrection. Acts 23:8 would also tell us that they didn’t believe in angels or demons.

Their basic belief was that “what is is what is.” There is no life after death. There is no future resurrection. There is no such thing as the supernatural; things that go beyond us or are greater than us. They weren’t looking for a future Messiah who would reign forever, they believed the Scriptures only taught them how to behave and live for what is in the present and then you die.

They were a really chipper group of people! The first-century historian Josephus actually wrote of the Sadducees that they were “rather boorish in their behavior and in their interactions with their peers they were as rude as aliens.”

And so, this group of leaders comes to Jesus with a scenario. Most likely it was one they’ve used numerous times on others to trip them up and show the ridiculousness of a future resurrection, the ridiculousness of eternal life as they thought it to be. It’s most likely a scenario that has worked to trip people up which is why they use it here on Jesus.

Remember group after group have come to Jesus already trying to trip him up and they keep coming back with their tails between their legs. So, now the Sadducees are going to give it a try with something I’m sure they’ve seen confuse or stump people, possibly even the Pharisees. It’s almost like they look at the other religious leaders and say, “Guys, we’ve got this one.”

So, they come to Jesus with their minds already made up. Like the others before them, they don’t have any real intention of learning and listening but only of confusing and destroying. They come to him in self-righteousness and arrogance.

And the question they pose and the scenario they unfold is one in which Jesus uses to push back on theological error but also to draw those listening to this interaction between the two to a future hope in a glorious resurrection. Though the Sadducees would walk away from this encounter defeated, Mark records this exchange in his gospel to draw men’s hearts to not only the resurrection of Christ but also to a future resurrection for those who hope in Christ.

So, in verse 19 we see the scenario laid out.

Mark 12:19–23

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

The law they’re referring to is one explained in Deuteronomy 25.

Deuteronomy 25:5–6

“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

Now, I get it. This seems odd to us in 21st century western culture. But, understand that back then, the carrying on of the family name was vitally important and this was a way God provided to care for the widow who had lost her husband without an heir to provide for or carry on the family name.

So, basically, if a husband died without any son, then his brother, if he was unmarried would then marry the widow and produce a child who would be legally recognized as the son of the dead husband. It was a way to carry on the family name and provide for the widow.

If you’re familiar with the story of Ruth in the Old Testament, you see this played out between her and Boaz. He’s referred to as a “redeemer” of the family and in the end marries Ruth since her husband died without leaving her an heir.

So, it’s seen and known among the Jewish people. The Sadducees see this as an opportunity to look at, in their minds, the absurdity of the resurrection. And so, they create this absurd scenario of a wife who marries seven different men who all leave her without an heir.

And so, here’s the big “Gotcha” question. “In the resurrection,” and you can hear their sarcasm, “when they all rise again…whose wife will she be?”

And so, here we see Jesus,

Addressing Theological Error

This is clear theological error. And the problem that human beings face is we want to put God in a box, we want to contain him or we want to explain him or define him in a way that makes sense to us because deep down the problem of the human heart is that we are self-centered. We look at the universe as something that revolves around us. Our default setting is that we are uppermost in our own thoughts and affections.

The Sadducees are saying, because the supernatural doesn’t make sense to us, because the resurrection doesn’t make any logical sense to us, it doesn’t exist. Do you see how they are making themselves the authority on what is true and isn’t true.

And they’re going to read the Scriptures in such a way to make it bend to their will. They come to the God’s Word with preconceived ideas and beliefs and then read their beliefs into the Scriptures rather than looking at the Scriptures with fresh eyes to see what it says and where their beliefs need to be shaped.

And what’s Jesus say?

Verse 24.

Mark 12:24

“Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?

Here’s what Jesus just said and you know that this would have ticked the Sadducees off. He said, the one thing that you all claim to be experts in, you don’t have a clue. “What you claim to know the best, you know the least.”

And because you don’t know the Scriptures then you don’t know who God is because, God’s Word reveals who God is.

Misunderstanding Scripture will always lead to misunderstanding God.

R.C. Sproul has said before that everyone is a theologian of sorts. Meaning, everyone has some sort of understanding of who God is. The question is, is your theology right or wrong?

The Sadducees were theologians, but their theology was wrong and Jesus corrects it by taking them to God’s Word as we’ll see in just a second but before we do, it’s worth pausing here for a second to dwell on Jesus’ words.

He’s saying, if we do not know God’s Word, we will not know God as he truly is. And if we do not know God as he truly is then our worship of God, our pursuit of God, our delight in God, our faith in God will be stunted and we will not share the beauty, glory, and holiness of God in a way that will draw men’s hearts to delight in him.

The Sadducees had such a truncated view of God’s power and because of it, they missed him and didn’t get to experience the glory of God. They followed the books of Moses and so naturally, they would have known Genesis 1 and 2, the creation of the universe by God out of nothing and yet, they couldn’t comprehend a God who can create everything out of nothing also has the power over death? That there will be a future resurrection?

They missed him because they wanted to be the center of the universe. They missed him because of things too hard for them to fathom so they ignored or denied the power of God.

Do you know God’s Word? Are you shaped by it or do your preconceived views seek to shape your reading and understanding of it?

God is bigger than what our minds can comprehend and that’s a very good thing. The very fact that I can’t fully understand all that he is is what makes him God and what draws my heart toward him. Because that means every attribute of God is grander than what we even think. His love is more extravagant than our hearts can comprehend. His faithfulness is more extravagant than what our hearts can comprehend. His mercy and grace is more extravagant than what our hearts can comprehend. His justice is more extravagant than what our hearts can comprehend.

Does God reign over both life and death? Absolutely. Can he meet the deepest needs and longings of your soul? Absolutely. Our we made to live forever? Yes! Because of Christ, death does not have the final say in our lives.

This is what he draws us to in verse 25.

A Future Hope

Mark 12:25

For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

I’ll say it again. If God can create everything out of nothing then a future resurrection is not beyond his power and ability.

Whether we realize it or not, all of us long for this. It’s woven into the fabric of our DNA. It’s why every fairytale ends with the prince and princess riding off into the sunset living happily ever after. We long for that ourselves, our happily ever after. A future freed from suffering, pain, and death. We long for it.

And that’s what Jesus draws us to here in his response. Yet, the world of this future hope and resurrection is different than the world we know today. Yes, we will still be ourselves, but it’s a new reality. Revelation 21 calls it a new heaven and a new earth.

Revelation 21:1

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

What’s Jesus say in his answer?

There will be a resurrection.

Marriage relationships will be different.

We are “like angels” meaning, most likely we’ll never experience death again. We don’t become angels, he didn’t say that. He said, we’ll share similarities, but will still be distinct from them.

This future hope awaits only those whose faith is in Christ alone. Jesus offers eternal life to any who turn from their sin and turn in faith to him. For those, eternal life awaits but for those who reject Christ, eternal death awaits and it’s not a death of non-existence, but an eternal death bearing the wrath of God for your sin. I cannot speak of the future hope without calling any who have not repented of their sin and turned in faith to Jesus to do so today. Come find eternal life and joy forever in Christ. Come see Jesus as the one who is the answer and solution to the deep questions of your soul.

Though we don’t know all that awaits us in this new heaven and new earth we know that whatever pleasures we experience and enjoy in this life will be transcended beyond our imagination in the life to come.

Jonathan Edwards says it well.

“In heaven the glorified spiritual bodies of the saints shall be filled with pleasures of the most exquisite kind that such refined bodies are capable of.… The sweetness and pleasure that shall be in the mind, shall put the spirits of the body into such a motion as shall cause a sweet sensation throughout the body, infinitely excelling any pleasure here” - Jonathan Edwards

Here’s what he’s saying, here’s what Jesus is saying. No one will be disappointed in any way as they experience heaven.

As beautiful and awesome as marriage is in life today, or as beautiful and awesome as it is meant to be it’s a picture that God gives us of our future union with Christ. The church is the bride of Christ, Jesus is the bridegroom. This is the union we have with Jesus. Husbands and wives will fail each other. I’m the poster child for imperfect husbands, but what we will experience one day is a perfect marriage with Jesus who is the perfect husband and the church, the bride completely cleansed of it’s flaws.

Danny Akin says it this way in regard to this future marriage with Christ and the church.

“Our relationship with Jesus and with all of our brothers and sisters will be so intense and so filled with love and affection that all earthly marital bliss will seem shallow and small in comparison.” - Danny Akin

And what does Jesus hang all of this on?

Divine Power

The power of God who reigns over life and death. This reality that God is God of the living, not the dead.

Verse 26.

Mark 12:26–27

And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

He beats them on their own turf. He says, okay Sadducees who only follow the books of Moses. Let’s see what Moses actually wrote. He quotes Exodus 3 and Moses’ experience with God at the burning bush where God appeared to Moses revealed his name. “I Am.” And God says to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” God’s speaking in the present tense regarding three individuals who were physically dead.

But he doesn’t say, “I was their God” but “I am their God.” They are spiritually alive with me right now. “I am their God.” “I do not lose any who belong to me.” What hope there is in that reality. Those who belong to God are never lost again. This is our hope in life and death. If we belong to God now through Christ then we will belong to God for all of eternity. And this reality hangs on the divine power of God in Christ, not us.

Tim Keller explains,

“Notice that Jesus does not hang the hope of life after death on the idea of an immortal part of us. Rather, He rests in the commitment of God to us (“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”). This is a very powerful argument for life after death. We have a God who cannot, at our death, scrap that which is precious to Him!” - Tim Keller

Conclusion

This is the story we must tell. A God who is faithful, who is lovely, who is majestic and holy and filled with grace and mercy. A God who redeems and reigns over life and death. A God who meets the deep questions of the soul because he’s your creator and has designed you to find joy and satisfaction and purpose in him.

There’s coming a day when the church, the bride of Christ will be fully united to him where we will live and experience joy unending but until that day, we share this story of hope, and invite all to come find eternal life in a God who is a God of life.

Communion