Worthy of Trust

Call to Worship

To all who are weary and in need of rest

To all who are mourning and longing for comfort

To all who fail and desire strength

To all who sin and need a Savior

We, Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church, open wide our arms

With a welcome from Jesus Christ.

He is the ally to the guilty and failing

He is the comfort to those who are mourning

He is the joy of our hearts

And He is the friend of sinners

So Come, worship Him with us.

Scripture Reading & Reader

No pre-sermon scripture reading this week. The congregation is invited to have read it ahead of time.

Post-Scripture Prayer

Pray.

Introduction to Sermon

Good morning, my name is Brandon Morrow and I serve as one of the Pastors here at Moraga Valley! So glad to be with you all, — go ahead and open your Bible to the Book of Mark and today we’re starting a series we’re titling, Who is this King? We’re going to be looking at Mark, Chapters 4-8, and answering some questions about Jesus’ identity. Who is He? Why does He matter?

Just to give you a heads up, we’re going to be in this series for about 5 weeks total, and in the middle of it, we have a special series we’re calling Kingdom Common where we’re inviting several of the best communicators in the Bay Area to come and bless us — it’s easy for people to talk down on the Bay area, but I want to bring in some of the most Kingdom-minded people I’ve met, and to let you see that God is doing a work in and through our area.

If you’ve already got your Bible to Mark, turn to Chapter 4, and we’re going to be taking up the back half of Chapter 4 and most of Chapter 5, to see what the scriptures have to say for who this King really is.

As Israel’s Messiah, God’s anointed Savior King, as our only hope — Mark 4 and Mark 5 show us that Jesus is the one who has absolute authority.

What’s interesting is that Mark 4 and Mark 5 address topics that feel like they’re spiraling out of control, but Jesus is not phased by these topics, he has not lost sleep over them, he does not feel as if they are insurmountable — the absolute authority of Jesus means we can put our absolute trust in Him.

The areas that I’m addressing are the forces of nature, the unbridled ways of evil, and death.

Out of all the great figures in history, Jesus is the only one whose authority is absolute — His power covers and encompasses all.

Other figures in history may have wielded massive armies, spoke with great tact, exercised their human ingenuity, defied the limitations on science and human capacity — but Jesus is the only one whose authority covers the things that we can’t see but know are there.

We know there are forces of nature that scare the living daylights out of us. That’s why we have seismic retrofitting in big buildings, we have emergency preparedness kits in our closets, why there are tornado sirens in the Midwest, and why folks in Coastal Florida have sheets of plywood to protect their windows — the anxiety of the forces of nature are just too much.

We know that evil runs amuck, and we’ve directed our lives around the paths of evil. That’s why you don’t ride BART at night, you’ll do anything you possibly can to not park your car on any street in Oakland, and why we’re all a little skeptical of vehicles in our neighborhood that we haven’t seen before. Evil is everywhere.

We know that death is an inevitability — 10/10 people die, but we want death on our own terms. We don’t want our spouse to die before us, to bury children, and we don’t want it to be painful, or to be unexpected — and that’s partly why we have a 30 billion dollar fitness industry in the United States, and why podcaster Tim Ferriss has one of the largest podcasts in the world because his work is based largely on the idea of his obsession with living a really long time — why? Because we don’t want to die.

But Jesus has absolute authority of each of these things: nature, evil, and death.

Look with me at Mark 4:40 and we’ll see how Jesus is the answer to our concern over the forces of nature.

Mark records Jesus as having just left the lake and he begins to go to the other side of the lake, and a monstrous storm wells up, and waves are crashing over the side of the boat, everyone is terrified, and Jesus is in the back of the boat taking a nap, and everyone turns to him and goes, “don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

In verse 39, Jesus rebukes the wind and speaks to the waves: Mark 4:39

Mark 4:39 (NIV)

Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

And in verse 40, he looks to His disciples and says: Mark 4:40

Mark 4:40 NIV

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

And their question is the same question we want to answer today, “Who is this?”

There’s a difference between the Kingdom of Jesus and the kingdoms of the world, and to some degree, it plays into the quality of life that we get to live. Jesus and His Kingdom always demonstrate a view on human flourishing that other kingdoms don’t have. This is a prime example: the expectation of living in the kingdom of the world is that you would be afraid of drowning while in the middle of the story. The flourishing of the Kingdom is one of increasing trust, where cowardice diminishes as we get closer and closer to Jesus.

We know this from other scriptures, take 2 Timothy 1:7 for example:

2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid — not fearful, no cowardice — , but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

The more we know Jesus, the more reliable He is. We trade terror for trust — not haphazardly, but because we know Jesus to be trustworthy. It’s not that you don’t get scared, that you don’t panic, that you don’t have anxiety, but you can turn to Jesus. I want you to take Psalm 107 for example:

Psalm 107:23–28 (NIV)

Some went out on the sea in ships;

they were merchants on the mighty waters.

They saw the works of the Lord,

his wonderful deeds in the deep.

For he spoke and stirred up a tempest

that lifted high the waves.

They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;

in their peril their courage melted away.

They reeled and staggered like drunkards;

they were at their wits’ end.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,

and he brought them out of their distress.

His absolute authority, His ability to bring us out of our distress, leads to our absolute trust.

The second thing that Jesus shows authority over is the seemingly unbridled nature of evil.

Jesus’ next conversation is what happens when they hit dry land and He is met with what’s been called the “Gerasene Demoniac,” or the demon-possessed man from the Gerasenes.

Some people will read the beginning of Mark 5 and chock it up to mental health issues, and think, I’ve seen this before… I don’t think is an issue of mental health, I think it’s exactly what the text says, it’s the destructive power of satan at work in the lives of people… In verses 3-5 we see the depths of this destructive power.

Mark 5:3–5 (NIV)

This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Unbridled levels of evil. It has led to isolation, mutilation, and just to the brink of insanity, and yet, before Jesus, it is rendered powerless.

In verse 6, it says that man with an impure, or evil spirit, fell on his knees before Jesus. The demons living in the man are begging for mercy. Evil, in what little, if any, power that it does have, recognizes truth authority… But evil is sneaky… it will sometime try and manipulate the situation, and one of the things we know from the rest of scripture is that evil is deceptive, it puffs itself up to show that it has more power than it does. Look with me at verse 7, it says that the demon horde beg, but they beg in a particular way, by invoking the name of God, “In God’s name don’t torture me.”

Evil has no control, no matter how hard it tries, over God. Evil may get a few good jabs in, but it doesn’t have the final say. We may be on the receiving end, but it doesn’t have the final word. This demon horde knows what John later writes in 1 John 3:8

1 John 3:8 (NIV)

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

Again, his absolute authority over evil, the thing that we can’t see, but we know we feel the affects of, means we can continue to grow in trust of Jesus.

I think there’s some real practical applications of that. It doesn’t mean that your car won’t get broken into in Oakland, the odds are still high on that one, but it does mean that Oakland isn’t lost — they’ve not succumb to the powers of evil. Oakland will be a major play in the flourishing of humanity as it is being redeemed by Jesus. You might lament about your back window and your bag being stolen, but you can rejoice in the fact that one day every knee in Oakland will bow to Jesus as Lord.

The difference in Jesus’ Kingdom and other kingdoms, is that other kingdoms can’t command the darkness to flee.

About 12 years ago I met a guy named Joe who was formerly an assassin, a hitman, for the Hell’s Angels, and one night, with a shotgun strapped to his back, ready to go end someone’s life, He encountered the voice and presence of God in a profound way, that caused him to go home, go to his boss who was a higher up in the biker gang, and to say he wanted out. Not only did he live through that situation, but was granted full immunity upon leaving the gang, never to be touched or bothered by the gang ever again.

There are people in this room who don’t have that extreme of a story, but they do have a loved one, an unbelieving spouse, a wayward child, a broken relationship, that you can’t quite get a hold off, and you’ve probably said, “such and such has such a hold on their life,” — it seems to be just too strong. It’s too much for you, for others to bear — but not Jesus, not Jesus who has absolute authority.

There are, unfortunately, other instances in which it feels like Jesus lacks the authority, and therefore we’re hesitant to give Him our trust.

Specifically, it’s how we feel when we lose someone, or we’ve got an illness that feels like it has gotten too out of hand for anyone to deal with.

If you’ll indulge me, I want to just show you what the scripture says… Mark tells the next part of Jesus’ identity in an interesting way.

Mark tells the story of a little girl who is dying, of a woman who is ill and isn’t getting better, and then he returns to the story of the little girl who was dying — who has unfortunately died.

There are a couple of reasons that Mark probably writes it this way:

It probably happened in this order.

To show us that Jesus isn’t lacking in His care and compassion for us — even if it’s not right away.

Regardless, these situations in the scripture ought to increase our trust in Jesus. The question to both the sickness of the woman and the death of the little girl, sounds an awfully lot like the question of what Jesus’ disciples asked Him when the boat was about to overwhelmed by the storm, “Teacher, don’t you care?”

I think that’s one of the questions every person wants answered by Jesus. Does He care? Is He worthy of my trust? Because if He doesn’t care, then I don’t have to give Him any of my trust.

The overwhelming evidence in Mark 5 is that He does care. He is intimately involved in our flourishing, in seeing to it that the Kingdom of God stands above every other Kingdom, that His Kingship is marked by His absolute authority, and that there’s nothing that escapes His purview.

Our question is still the same… Who is He? Who is He that He would care for me?

I’ll try to be brief about this: there is nothing that serves as a replacement for our absolute trust in Jesus.

Take Jairus, whose daughter is dying. He begs Jesus in Mark 5:23,

Mark 5:23 (NIV)

“My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

Take the bleeding woman in verse 28, Mark 5:28

Mark 5:28 NIV

because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Our trust in Jesus is not because we touched Jesus, it’s because Jesus has touched us… He knows us again that He is worthy of trust.

Jesus said to the woman in verse 34, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.”

Jesus said to Jairus and the group that came to tell him that his daughter had died, who did’t want him to bother Jesus anymore, “Don’t be afraid, but believe.”

There’s something here about our unwavering trust in Jesus that chisels away at the thing we most want to avoid. Somehow our faith and trust in Jesus takes away the finality of death.

The woman with the issue of blood, though no longer suffering, likely dies some decades down the road.

The little girl, though once sleeping, probably met Jesus face-to-face again, many decades later.

The woman and the girl have both experienced a little foretaste of what we have waiting for us in eternity, what He has secured in His death, burial, and resurrection — that there’s something to be trusted beyond sickness and death — something that Jesus does that shows us He has absolute authority.

The late Tim Keller wrote, “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said. If he didn’t, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether you like his teaching, but whether he rose from the dead.”

Jesus rising from the dead shows that He has absolutely authority of death, and the things that lead to death. This is what Paul writes in:

1 Corinthians 15:26 (NIV)

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Again — His absolute authority should lead to our absolute trust. Who is this King? The One with authority over nature, evil, and death. The only One worth trusting — and yet we still reserve our trust from Him.

Maybe we lack the wisdom to trust Him… Luckily James 1:5 says

James 1:5 NIV

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Let’s pray a prayer to grow in our trust in the One who has all authority… A simple daily prayer prompt for your spiritual growth

“Help me grow in trust of You in __________________.”’

Charge, Prayer, and Commissioning of Nat & Jill Weber

Prayer

Lord, we know that you call each of us out. Out from ourselves into a world that is longing for your grace, love and truth. In our community, are people who need to experience your grace. In our nation, are people who need to experience your love. In our world, are people who need to experience your truth. We are your people Lord and you have called each of us out, To be the visible You in this world As you work in the hearts and lives of all people and nations. Bless us Lord as we go, As we go into our community, our nation and world. Let us not ignore your call, but rather plant it deep into our being. So Lord, we send Nat, from Moraga to Richmond, to see to it that Richmond no longer longs for grace, love, and truth That Nat may take the gospel wherever he goes We pray for a blessing and anointing on his life, we pray for an anointing and peace From the Holy Spirit for Jill and their children, and it is with your blessing, Lord That we send them. Care for them in only the way that you can. Amen

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