Taking Jesus Seriously

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

Scripture Reader

Mark 11:27–12:12 NIV

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

Post-Scripture Prayer

Pray.

Sermon Start

Good morning! It’s such a joy to be with you all as we continue our study in the Book of Mark, this is Week Two of our series, “The Beginning of the End.”

We are journeying with Jesus to the Cross… as Jesus journey’s towards death, the urgency of His message keeps growing: He is calling all to repentance, announcing His salvation — and Jesus won’t be stopped, no matter the opposition. Jesus is fulfilling God’s mission: which is saving the world.

I said last week just how much I loved Mark’s gospel, probably one of my favorite books, for sure my favorite gospel account — but I think it’s why I love Mark, because of how essential it is to take the gospel to the world.

As we open up our Bibles to Mark 11:27 and as we finish at Mark 12:12 this morning, the importance of the gospel is elevated and nothing will stand in the way of Jesus.

This morning we’re going to talk about a particular barrier that seems to want to stand in the way of God’s mission… and this is how our passage for this morning frames it up:

Who do we fear?

And any time we talk about the fear of God, or the fear of the Lord, what we’re talking about is taking God seriously at His word. We don’t mean it like trembling, in maybe a terror kind of way, but it’s the response of what God has said about Himself, how He reveals who He is, and whether or not His words are true.

If Jesus is God, sent into the world to redeem it, if He will pay the ultimate sacrifice for our sins — past, present, and future — if He will rule and reign over His Kingdom with justice and equity, and if He makes all of His promises with His people — you and me, in mind — doesn’t that shape the way that we live our lives? Wouldn’t we want to take Him seriously at His Word?

Last week we talked about Jesus doing a value check, because He comes to see if there’s worship happening — “worship is the response to what we value most.”

And today, is kind of like another value check — whose words do you take seriously? — by whose standard do we live our lives?

Let’s look together at verses 27-33.

Mark 11:27–33 NIV

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Jesus has made his third recent trip to the Temple, and He’ll stay here until the end of the 12th Chapter… and I like this chunk of verses for the flow of thought… because the religious leaders ask Jesus a question, Jesus then asks them a question, they don’t answer Jesus’ question, so Jesus doesn’t answer their question.

Remember, Jesus has just cleansed the Temple, He has announced judgment on it, because there was no worship to be found there, and now the religious leaders want to know in verse 28: “By what authority did you do this? And who told you, you could do this?”

The issue isn’t that Jesus cleansed the Temple, the issue is that the religious leaders think they have heaven’s authority. And since they didn’t authorize Jesus to do this, then who did?

There’s a couple of lines of thought around authority that we should be asking at this moment…

Do I live well under the authority of someone else?

Where do we get our directions from?

For Jesus, there are two very obvious choices: we get authority from heaven, meaning God has said it; or we get authority on earth, meaning we invented it.

What words do we take seriously?

Look with me at Jesus’ question, which is a response to the question of the religious leaders, in verse 30. Mark 11:30

Mark 11:30 NIV

John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”

When Jesus is talking about John’s baptism, He isn’t talking about John actually being baptism, He’s talking about John’s message. In Mark 1:4

Mark 1:4 NIV

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Is John’s message — which is a message of repentance, for the forgiveness of sins — is that from heaven, or is that by John’s own making?

If you look at verses 31 and 32, you understand the dilemma that the religious leaders are in… how they answer that determines what’s actually true. But the religious leaders aren’t interested in what’s true. Verse 32 says, “they feared the people.” They’ve already made up their mind on whose authority they live under. In verse 33, when they say they don’t know, we know, as readers of Mark’s gospel, that it’s a bold faced lie.

I think this is one of the greatest barriers to to God’s mission: we take seriously the words of someone else, and we take them far more seriously than we do the words of Jesus.

Last week we talked about what a disciple is:

A disciple is someone who:

Worships Jesus

is Changed by Jesus

Obedient to Jesus

Maybe this is a good time to bring up the word “obedience” — do I trust God at His word, and am I willing to do what He has asked me to do?

You know what this really is — it’s some kind of unbelief — for example: unbelief in what God has said, so I can’t give up control.

We might believe in our hearts, “I can’t give this up… because what will happen?” What will happen to my job, my health, my kids, — what will happen if I don’t stay constantly tethered to the phone and someone needs to get a hold of me? Maybe this is why we don’t give more generously? Maybe this is we don’t act out in faith when we’ve gotten repeated nudges from the Holy Spirit? Maybe this is why we don’t have a conversation with a friend that we want to see turn towards Jesus?

Because if we do, someone might change their opinion of us… because if I do, then I come to the crumbling realization that I live my own life in my strength and not on God’s strength… and we can’t stand to look weak in the eyes of other people.

Or maybe this… We don’t believe God is to be trusted, especially when it comes to people like us… why would He? This is a story I’ve told myself numerous times. “I’m not worth it.” There’s been some experiences in my life where I wasn’t worth it in the eyes of someone else, — part of my story is that I was adopted as a child because at one point I was abandoned and neglected —and so the thought comes, “what’s different about Jesus?”

We talked last week, that every single part of Jesus’ journey to the cross was intentional, what Jesus does to secure the salvation of humanity has your name written all over it.

Jesus was obedient — He lived under the authority of the Father — and as Philippians 2:8 says

Philippians 2:8 (NIV)

became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

And 1 Peter 2:24 says

1 Peter 2:24 (NIV)

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

At the end of Matthew, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me,” — every word is meant to be taken seriously.

Look with me at Mark 12, because the religious leaders don’t get this, they want all of Israel to themselves, they want all authority in heaven… Jesus tells them a parable, which is a story that communicates truth.

In the parable, Jesus tells them about a man who is supposed to plant a fruit-bearing vineyard — and this is supposed to be Israel — and it’s rented to a group of people who are supposed to take care of it.

Jesus is telling them a story about themselves — that the Temple, and all of Israel, don’t belong to them — they were just meant to care for it, and that it all belongs to the Lord.

The owner then sends a servant to check and see about the fruit. But they beat him and send him back.

So the owner sends another. They shamed him and they beat him, too.

Another after him was sent by the owner — and that one they killed.

Jesus says that the owner sent many, and they beat or killed all of them.

Until… the owner… he has one person left to send, a son that He loves dearly… and the owner does this, thinking they’ll respect his son…”

But the tenants or the managers of the property, they said, “if we kill the son, all of this will be ours,” so they killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

Jesus ends the story with a question, “what will the owner do?” And he answers, “He will come and kill those tenants and give it someone else.”

This is a huge story that Jesus uses to illustrate their conversation. — I think at first glance, they might appear disconnected from the end of Mark 11, but they are very connected.

The religious leaders want to kill Jesus, but killing Jesus won’t give them control over the Temple or over Israel.

Jesus has cleansed and condemned the Temple, and now He says, God is going to bring others from the outside to be a part of His people. In Mark 11:17 he says,

Mark 11:17 (NIV)

‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?

They did not take seriously the words of Jesus, and they feared the opinions of others. They thought they were building God’s Kingdom and ended up rejecting the most important part.

This is what Jesus quotes in verse 10… He’s quoting Psalm 118… “Jesus is the one piece, the one stone, that doesn’t fit, and it turns out He’s the one thing that actually holds all of this together.”

A cornerstone is a stone that forms the base of a building, it’s typically the very first stone set, it keeps the walls straight, — if removed, the whole structure will collapse — and when you set the cornerstone, it determines the entire layout of the building.

Jesus will be rejected. He will be killed. But in His death and resurrection, our lives will be built off of. He will not have been stopped in His mission of saving us.

Mark paints a beautiful picture for us… who do we fear? Whose words do we take seriously? Man-made opinions, the beliefs and practices of those that are here today and gone tomorrow, or do we live our lives according to the words of the one who holds everything together in His power, who alone determines the direction of our lives?

I want us to learn how to fear God better, I want Moraga Valley to be a church that takes Him seriously at His word… let me give you one way you can Grow in the Fear of God this morning.

1. Evaluate Your Sources of Authority — Where do you get your direction for life? Whose every word do you hang off of? Take an inventory this week of what news channels you watch, what podcasts you listen to, what places of business you frequent, and run them through these two questions:

Where does this come from? Is it heaven sent? — I’m just making a case that your biggest source of authority should be from the Lord. It’s hard to have biblical opinions or Christian responses that aren’t from the Bible and they didn’t come from Jesus.

What type of character is this producing in me? (My example: the Apple News app makes me anxious, but I was no more obedient than I was before) — Remember, in the parable, the owner sent the son to see about the fruit. What’s being produced in us?