The God of the Living

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Introduction

We are continuing in the Gospel of Mark

Again we are in a section of Mark where Jesus is being publically confronted in order to trap him and make a fool of himself

He has already arrived in Jerusalem—and the cross is looming in his future

In less than a week Jesus will be crucified

But first we see that he is rejected by the religious leaders—and interogated by them…

Today we are introduced to a new group: the Sadducees, and they come to Jesus with an absurd question:

Scripture Reading

(SLIDES)

Mark 12:18-27

(SLIDES)

Outline:

The Ignorance of the Sadducees

The Problem of Materialism

The Power of the Resurrection

The Ignorance of the Sadducees

(SLIDES)

Mark 12:18 CSB

18 Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and questioned him:

So the scene is set: Jesus is once again being questioned by a group of religious leaders

This time it is a group called the Sadducees

The Sadducees

The Sadducees were similar but very different to the Pharisees

Similar:

They were religious leaders—Spiritual leaders

They held positions on the Sanhedrin

Different:

Theologically vastly different

The Saducees did not believe in the resurrection

They did not beleive in Angels and Demons

They only treated the first 5 books of the Bible as inspired by God (Not the history, poetry, prophets, or oral traditions)

Jesus actually had more in common with the Pharisees than he did with the Sadducees

And because of this they sought out Jesus to try and expose the ridiculousness of the resurrection

And this story seems outrageous

But they bring it up to try and refute the resurrection

Breakdown the Story

But in their posing of this situation: Jesus points out their complete ignorance:

(SLIDES)

Mark 12:24 CSB

24 Jesus spoke to them, “Isn’t this the reason why you’re mistaken: you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God?

The Sadducees problem was two-fold:

They did not know the Scriptures

They did not know the power of God

And briefly, his responses to these probelms are:

Scripture: Quoting from Exodus

Moses 200-300 years after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

He IS the God not WAS

You don’t even know the Scriptures

Power of God:

You are completly off because you don’t even know what the resurrection is about

It isn’t just a continuation of this life—It is beyond your imagination

And while Jesus called out the religious leaders for their ignorance in these areas—we should take them as warning for ourselves

Do we know the Scriptures?

Do we personally know the Power of God?

I’ve seen many churches and individual Christians that fall in one category or the others

They know their Scriptures—but their life is devoid of any of the life and power of the Spirit

OR Christians that are experiencing the life and power of the Spirit but they don’t know God’s word—it’s more feeling and emotion

But we must have both…

Or else we are going to live our lives misguided and powerless

We’ll be lost and wandering

We’ll be weak and defeated

And like the Sadducees… we will be suseptible to all sorts of false teachings and misconceptions

You see the real problem underlying the Sadducees was:

The Problem of Materialism

(SLIDES)

Mark 12:18 CSB

18 Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and questioned him:

Because they did not know God’s word and did not know the power of God, their theology, and understanding of who God is—was way off

And it can be easy to distance ourselves from the Sadducees—but the same lies that kept them from the truth are just as dangerous for us today

You see the Sadducees were Religious Materialists

Religious — They believe in God

Materialist — They believe that this is all there is

And when I see many Christians in OC today, I see the same problem

With no hope of the resurrection—we only have to live for our life now

And if we only have this life to live—then we better live it to it’s fullest

And while many Christians today will say that they believe in the resurrection with their words—functionally they live their life like anyone else

And this is so difficult because we are fighting upstream against the culture we live in

(Fish upstream)

We live in a culture that idolizes material wealth and gain — What it means to be successful — means to be rich (We have this implicit link with ‘success’)

Even as Christians — we measure success by our wealth, achievements, and possessions — and not by our faithfulness to God

Instead of following the ‘way of Jesus’

We follow the way of the world

We live for the American Dream

Graduate -> College -> Career - > Marriage -> Kids -> Retire -> Enjoy Life

What am saying is this:

Following Jesus is not about living your best life now

Look at Paul

Look at Jesus

And for so many of us, it goes counter to the things that are engrained in our hearts

We often think that this is the time to have fun, live it up, enjoy life— so we better make the best of it

But as Christians — We have a greater hope

This life isn’t as good as it gets

The Power of the Resurrection

(SLIDES)

1 Cor 2:9 - NLT

New Living Translation Chapter 2

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no mind has imagined

what God has prepared

for those who love him.”

I am whole-heartly convinced that one of the areas that we are more informed by culture than the Bible is what we think of the resurrection — specifically heaven and hell

We naturally have images and ideas that are very unbiblical that have seeped into our imaginations

Heaven - Endless worship service/living on the clouds with a harp/not much to do

Hell - Fire/Satan ruling with his pitchfork and horns

But these images don’t come from the Bible

Heaven is not this etheral existence

If anything, it is more real than life is now

Everything good in this life — will be there in Heaven

Everything broken in this world — will not be there

This is the hope of the resurrection

We aren’t just going to Heaven

We will be resurrected

You are going to have a resurrected body in heaven

Perfect from blemish, and sickness, and disease

There are going to be things to do and experience that far outweigh even the best this life has to offer

Those going to hell — this is the best it gets

Those going to heaven — this is the worst it gets

So again, I want us to question that internal ticking clock that tells us time is running out and we have to live our best life now

Do we see Heaven for the hope it is

Or do we just see it as a better alternative to going to hell?

Real life is to be lived now…

But I believe in Jesus because when I die, I’d rather be in Heaven than hell

New Living Translation Chapter 2

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no mind has imagined

what God has prepared

for those who love him.”

(SLIDES)

“Present earthly experience is entirely insufficent to forcast divine heavenly realities: we can no more imagine heavenly existence than an infant in utero can imagine a Beethoven piano concerto or the Grand Canyon at sunset”

— James R. Edwards

As Christians, our great hope, is the resurrection

We cannot comprehend the glory of the resurrection

But what we do know is it is in every way better than life here and now

The stuff you don’t have time to do

The relationships without the stain of sin

Our relationship with God free from our sin

And I think often our understanding of the resurrection—is extremely underdeveloped

When we think of the gospel—I think we tend to overemphasize the cross and underemphasize the resurrection

And the cross is absolutely essential

Our sin has been dealt with—we have been forgiven of our sin

Our hositility with God has been ended, and we’ve been adopted into his family

It declares we have been saved

But what have we been saved to?

This is the resurrection!

We haven’t been saved to just a better version of an earthly life—we’ve been saved to a completely new life

And it gives us a completely different understanding of our life here

(SLIDES)

Philippians 1:21–26 CSB

21 For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. 23 I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ—which is far better—24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. 25 Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that, because of my coming to you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound.

To live is ____ to die is ____.

Paul’s motto

To live for anything else — will result in loss

Can we catch Paul’s vision for life here?

Our promised reward in heaven is far greater than anything we could attain here

(SLIDES)

“Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither.”

― C.S. Lewis

Or in Jesus’s words:

Matthew 6:33 CSB

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

Conclusion

I want to go back to Jesus’s words:

(SLIDES)

Mark 12:27 CSB

27 He is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are badly mistaken.”

As followers of Jesus: We have been given a new life

An imperishable life—a life that is eternal (John 3:16)

When we die… which we all do… that is not the end

It is the end in part—but it is the beginning of something new and better

(SLIDES)

Flesh-New Creation

Death of the flesh

We don’t just have to wait for the resurrection

We can experience and live this new life now

And that is the beauty of the Gospel

The two parts of the Gospel

You have been saved

You have been saved FOR

This newness of life in relationship with God and others—that begins now—and will be perfected in eternity

Discussion Questions

Icebreaker:

Who is one person you’d love to meet in heaven?

What are the material things that distract you most?

What are some beliefs you hold about heaven?

How does the resurrection give us hope?