Mark 12 (Part 4)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you have your bibles and I hope you do we are finishing the epic last tuesday of Jesus’ earthly life
He has thrown down the gauntlet that will get Him killed and the ruling powers are getting destroyed by Him
they have sent wave after wave of groups to get him to make a mistep and get himself killed
Politics, Religion, the entire Jewish power structure, theology and he has mic dropped every challenge
This is the last of the questions and the last of this tuesday and Mark ends it strategically to make us look in a mirror and answer for ourselves …is He the King or are we looking to someone or something else to save us
Why do all of these arguments and questions matter? Why have we spent 4 weeks on one chapter in Mark?
Those are great questions
Because what you do with Jesus is the most important thing you will ever do in your life …and you have to know the real Jesus to make your decision
Mark 12 is Mark Himself, a real life eye witness with Peter in his ear another eye witness begging you to crown the real Jesus King and Lord of your life and live for Him....
We are working hard to see the real Jesus so we each decide what we will do with Him
We are going to see 3 things as we bring this epic Tuesday in Jesus’ life to a close
Will You Love Him
Will You Crown Him
and Will You Live For Him
Will You Love Him
Will You Love Him
One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which command is the most important of all?”
Jesus answered, “The most important is Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”
Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one, and there is no one else except him. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any longer.
You think the church you grew up around was just a bunch of people making rules to keep?
Don’t dance, play scratch off lotto tickets, don’t drink, don’t get tattoos....alot of don’t?
The jewish elites in the temple had a list of 613 individual rules you had to keep to be close to God
They are from the book of leviticus…here some examples they heaped on people broken and desperate for hope and saving in a broken world
They believed God needed electrolytes - Levitcus 2:13- all burnt offerings had to have salt
Like your steak Medium Rare you’re not welcome Leviticus 3:17 Don’t eat blood
Still made at that guy for cutting you off in traffic last week? You’re out- Leviticus 19:18- you cannot hold a grudge
Looking at this crowed and knowing most of you I feel safe to say none of us would be welcome to come to the temple anytime soon
The Old Testament Law is a conversation for another day but for this guy coming to Jesus he needed answers because He desperatley and genuinely wanted to know how to Love the God who saves
unlike all the challenges before he has no ill intent he really believes Jesus is an amazing teacher and can help his walk with the lord
Mark wants us to ask 2 questions from these verses ....and we have to hold up a mirror and decide for ourselves how we answer
What was there about the scribe’s answer that brought him close to the kingdom of God, and what was there about this conversation that intimidated Jesus’ opponents?
Those two questions should make us anticipate and long for resolution and answers
we love because He first loved us
Will You Crown Him
Will You Crown Him
While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he asked, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself says by the Holy Spirit:
The Lord declared to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet.’
David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How, then, can he be his son?” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
He also said in his teaching, “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who want greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment.”
Will You Live For Him
Will You Live For Him
Sitting across from the temple treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. Summoning his disciples, he said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had—all she had to live on.”
the language in the greek says she gave her life - she lives the greatest command from Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
how
