Mark 10 (Part 3)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Anytime a major story breaks that the nations knows every major T.V. network scrambles
What does everyone want?
We all want to hear from the center of the story in their own words
The Royal Family, everyone wanted to hear from Megan and Harry in their words what was the real story
We have example after example
We want the real story from the real people in their own words
Where we are in Mark 10 is the sit down to settle the questions that have shook the known world
The world is longing for the real story and everyone is watching
The disciples are astonished but those who followed the ground swell of captivation are terrified
Awe or terror are the response to what has happened the last 3 years for them
NO ONE EVER IS NEUTRAL ON JESUS
We are no different
Who do you think Jesus is? What have you come to believe he came to or be?
Before the most world changing week in human history Mark wants us to get the Exclusive sit down so we know the real story
We are going to see 2 things this Morning
Jesus in His Own Words , and the Cross Shaped Life
Jesus in His Own Words Mark 10:32-34
Jesus in His Own Words Mark 10:32-34
They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were astonished, but those who followed him were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them the things that would happen to him. “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and he will rise after three days.”
There was a specific reason I wanted us to take the long road through Mark to teach
There is no book in the Bible that puts on display the real Jesus in the most blunt way
There are so many opinions on who Jesus is…but theres one real Jesus
I wanted the men who lived with Him everyday and Jesus himself to leave no doubt about who he is
Jesus in His Own Words on why He came
“See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and he will rise after three days.”
He sumarizes this at the end of the passage we are in
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
What has he just specifically said for the third time in Mark why he came
Jesus Christ came not to be served but to die, to give his life.
Not to be an example of a good life of love we should just copy
This sets him apart from the founder of every other major religion.
Their purpose was to live and be an example; Jesus’s purpose was to die and be a sacrifice.
The final phrase, “to give his life as a ransom for many,” sums up the real reason of the real Jesus.
The Real Jesus came to be a substitutionary sacrifice.
Look at the phrase “a ransom for many.”
In Greek it’s the word anti, which means “instead of,” “in place of,” “substitute.”
What about ransom?
We only know the word ransom in like a kidnapping but the Greek had different ways to say it and he uses a specific one
It’s a Greek word, lutron, that meant “to buy the freedom of a slave or a prisoner.”
Keller says: “Jesus came to pay that kind of ransom. But since the slavery he is dealing with is of a cosmic kind—that is, cosmic evil—it required a cosmic payment. Jesus is saying, “I will pay the ransom that you couldn’t possibly pay, and it will procure your freedom.” The payment is Jesus’s death on the cross”
So we are left with 2 types of people when we watch the sit down interview to get the real story
And this passage deals with both
Either we think thats a bit too much
I am not that bad and my life definitely isn't that bad to need all that
Sure it’s bad out there but in my culdasac I’ve built things are comfy.
Heres the standard though: Love the Lord The God of the Universe Your Creator who you owe all too, love him with all of your heart soul mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself”
Its a little after 10 am on sunday how are we all doing on that perffectly?
And if you still think its ok we all know deep down theres brokeness we cannot hide from…no one over the age of 5 can say this has gone exactly how i thought it would…never cried once
To the first group of the cross is too much heres this:
Why did Jesus have to go through suffering into death? Why did he have to be a ransom?
One pastor says: It had to be this way because all life-changing love is substitutionary sacrifice.
Its actually the category for love you want the most…its the category you know you need the most
We know this in relationships: take children for example
The only way for kids to grow beyond their dependency into self-sufficient adults is for you to take gasoline and a match to your life for about 20 years.
If you don’t substitute your life for their growth you will have 40 year old children still living in your basement gaming
It is the only love that satisfies us in literature-
We were clearing out some of our books and Morgan made sure to keep the epic of Lily Potter because she wants out sons to know it
Some of you get it ....Lily substitutes her life for her son Harry Potter from Lord Voldemort…it is the major narrative arc of the entire epic…the only love that can conquer unimaginable evil is substitutionary love
It is the only kind of love we valorize
In July of 2012 a mass shooting occured in a movie theatre in Aurora Colorado
12 people were murdered simply watching a movie
From the horror 3 stories captivated the nation
Jonathan Blunk, 26 was on a date and died as he threw his date to the floor and was shot in a hail of bullets saving her life
Matt McQuinn, 27 used his body as a human shield to protect and save his date
Alex Teves, 24 also threw his girlfreind to the floor and sheilded her from point blank shots he died she lived
Girlfriends, not spouses or kids simply dates and it was substitutionary love that saved life from evil
Culture calls this toxic patriarchal masculinity but let me ask women or dads of daughters what you long for?
The guy who made you split the bill at dinner before the movie and then in the hail of gunfire told you there are no beautiful perfect differences in God made gender roles as he threw you on top of him as a human shield ?
What love do you want for your daughter ? substitutionary love to fight evil or a beta male cowards culture is mass producing?
Its the only love we all long for in the face of evil
Is there anything more evil then death?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news in here but we are all gonna have a funeral one day
What can possibly overcome the most horrific enemy and evil we know
Do we not know we need the Real Jesus in His own words to be the substitutionary life we need because we cannot defeat our own funeral on our own
And funerals entered the word when perfect creation was vandalized by our rejection of the king
And funerals were conquered not by Jesus coming to be mr. rodgers
Funerals were conquered when the lamb who sat on the throne stepped down from glory to drink the cup of horror we deserve
it was on the cross where the wrath of God and the perfect love of God meet
Of course he hates what sin has done to us …vandalism of perfection has a cost …the consequnce is universe shattering
But.....
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
He made us alive on the cross as he died
The price for your freedom was His death....thats what sin deserves....but God
that is the display of the real Jesus
He didn’t have too....he had every reason not too
But God
As the song we sing says
How Deep the Fathers Love for Us, How vast beyond all measure, that He would give His only son to make a wretch His treasure, Why should I gain from His reward I cannot Give an Answer but this I know with ALL my heart His wounds have paid my ransom
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Look at that little word at the end of that verse
what does it say?
Not all it says many....why the exclusivity of some not all
Because this type of love demands a response of awe and obedience ....
Rejecting the real Jesus is the same as if one of the girlfriends in Aurora told the boyfriend get off of me i can save myself
Rejecting the real Jesus is saying I don’t need a God I don’t need saving I can do this on my own....
But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
Thats the true freedom the Real Jesus holds out
But theres another side to this
Theres another group when the sit down interview with the real Jesus happens
The Real Jesus tells how real change happens because of the cross and this second group struggles to get it
The Cross Shaped Life Mark 10:35-45
The Cross Shaped Life Mark 10:35-45
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask you.”
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked them.
They answered him, “Allow us to sit at your right and at your left in your glory.”
Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
“We are able,” they told him.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with. But to sit at my right or left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
When the ten disciples heard this, they began to be indignant with James and John. Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
We addressed the its too difficult to believe response but what about the second group
thats the group who thins its a good example but i don’t need someone telling me how to live
People who like the whole saved thing but pass on the following thing
Thats most of us who have been in church a while
Jesus isn’t content to simply be savior jesus so we can eek by …he wants us to have the fullness of life we were made for
If things are so bad he had to come and take our place on the cross to save us. Then the way we live must be in just as desperate need of saving.
Up to our own we are black holes of selfishness and have to be taught a new way to live
Any one who loves you will help you live a better life
Thats the disciples…this is at least the third time they have been told directly this is the real Jesus and why he really came
they begin with a classic humble grenade prayer ....Jesus do whatever we say....classic
You have to understand they really believe this is God and he is coming to take back the world
They just keep misunderstanding how
To them, “in your glory” means “when you are seated on your throne,”
the people on the right and the left are like the prime minister and the chief of staff.
John and James are saying, “When you take power, we would like the top places in your cabinet.”
they like the idea of the saving part but how it will happen and how to really be part of that kingdom they keep rejecting like so many of us
Keller asks: What was Jesus’s moment of greatest glory? Where does Jesus most show God’s justice? And where does he reveal most profoundly the glory of God’s love? On the cross. When Jesus is at the actual moment of his greatest glory, there will be somebody on the right and the left, but they will be criminals being crucified. Jesus says to John and James: You have no idea what you’re asking.
He speaks to them of the cup and the baptism.
In the Old Testament cup is a metaphor for the just judgment of God against evil.
The word baptism is an overwhelming experience, an immersion.
Jesus is saying, “I am paying that ransom. I am going to drink that cup. I am going to bridge that gap. I will take the just judgment on all human evil. I will take the overwhelming experience of being condemned so that you can be free from all condemnation.” - Tim Keller
The rest of the disciples don’t get it either
They don’t care the question is way off they don’t want to correct their confused brothers
they want to fight because they are all jockeying for the second in command when the king is crowned
The patience of Jesus is overwhelming
He calls them all together to break down what it means for the group that doesn’t take the cross serious enough
Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all.
Jesus is talking about how most people try to influence society, to get their way.
They lord it over others. They seek power and control. Everything is about them
If I have the power, if I have the wealth, the connections, then I can get my way.
“For you,” God says, “the route to gaining influence is not taking power.
Look at the Cross…that isn’t how lives are saved
Influence gained through power and control doesn’t change hearts.
The Cross shaped life is radically countercultural
The Cross shaped life is so sacrificially loving that the people around you, who don’t believe what you believe, can’t imagine the place without you.
Skpetics or dechurched people trust you because they see that you’re not only out for yourself, but out for them, too.
You slowly build an influence given to you by others, not taken by you from others.
To live any other way is to go against the very way you were made to live
On January 7, 2007, the New York Times Magazine ran an article called “Happiness 101.”
It described positive psychology, psychology that seeks to take a scientific, empirical approach to what makes people happy.
Researchers in this field have found that if you focus on doing and getting things that give you pleasure, it does not lead to happiness but produces what one researcher has dubbed “the hedonic treadmill
You become addicted to pleasure, and your need for the pleasure fix keeps growing: You have to do more and more. You’re never satisfied, never really happy
According to the article, scientific studies have shown that the best way to increase your happiness is actually to do acts of selfless kindness, to pour yourself out
The main researcher’s goal was to show that “there are ways of living that (research shows) lead to better outcomes.” Some of these better outcomes were “close relationships and love,” “well-being,” and “meaning and purpose in life.”
Where was this most displayed?
It was displayed on this journey Mark is showing Jesus taking to Jerusalem and the cross
Selfless love for the most needy beings in the universe
And it was His greatest joy to endure his torture to save you
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
What was the emperical outcome ?
What does it say drove him ....JOY
And for us the Joy we long for is found in running our race
Like any race this one has rules so that the joy is true
The Cross shaped life is in awe of the sacrafice made for it
The Cross shaped life sees on the cross the way to true eternal happiness
We see it in the one who gave it all away to have you
Lets pray