Return to Mission

Mark 9:9-13

If you brought your bibles turn with me over to the gospel of Mark chapter 9. The gospel of Mark chapter 9, and in a moment we are going to read verses 9-13, of the gospel of Mark chapter 9.

Let me ask you this: What was the mission of Christ in the world?

The mission of Christ in the world was the redemption of man. Jesus came into the world and He performed many miracles.

He healed the sick, He cleansed the leper, He opened the eyes of the blind. He set the captives free.

But the miracles Jesus performed were not His primary mission in the world. They came out of the overflow of His heart, out of His love and compassion for people.

His primary mission was to reconcile mankind back to God. That was His purpose in life.

His death, His resurrection, His ascension were all God’s plan, to satisfy the wrath of God toward the sin and rebellion of man.

Instead of receiving the punishment we deserve, God gave us Jesus as a gift of grace, and a substitute for our sin.

Thus, Jesus lived and died that we might be forgiven, and our relationship with God restored.

He was the perfect lamb of God, sinless and holy. He was everything we could not be.

The ministry of Jesus calls us to repent, and turn from our sin, and live for God.

That is the heart of the gospel message. That is the good news and the mission of Christ to the world.

Well, today that is the mission of the church as well. As believers, we are called to a life of self-sacrifice.

We are called to continue the work of Christ, reconciling the world back to God, one soul at a time.

Paul would tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:20 that, “we are ambassadors of Christ as though God were making an appeal through us. “ Therefore, the task of the church, is to continue the work of Jesus in the world.

However, that task is becoming more difficult today, for two reasons: 1. We live in a world that is growing further away from God.

2. The church has lost it’s mission. The church has become another form of entertainment in the world.

Today, people pick and choose where they will serve, based on the programs at the church, or the personality of the Pastor. And ideas like repentance of sin and obedience to His Word are lost on our culture.

Instead of becoming disciples dedicated to Christ, we want to just add Jesus to who we are.

Instead of us serving God in the world, we want to use Him to serve us. And the mission of the church for the redemption of man is lost.

Now, if we are honest, all of us would say, “we want to be true disciples.” We want to share our faith, and help others to know Christ, but we are so afraid of rejection.

We are afraid of a world that tells us to mind our own business. However, you would not mind your own business if someone’s life was in danger, why are we willing to mind our own business when their soul is at stake? The only answer can be: we lack true faith.

  The good news is God’s faithfulness does not depend on our faithfulness, and God always has a remnant.

The question is: are you a remnant? Are you a true disciple? A true disciple, carries on the mission of Christ, by obeying His commands and seeks truth from His Word.

Mark 9:9–13 KJV

And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.

Lets pray together,

Heavenly Father we thank You for Your Word. I pray that as You Word goes forth it would speak to the hearts and minds of Your people.

I pray it would have an impact not only on the way we think, but on the way we behave. Only You, through the power of Your Holy Spirit can achieve that Lord.

I am nothing in myself, but a vessel for Your Word. Use it Oh God and speak truth in power. If there are any lost among us, I pray Lord, You draw them to You, that they might be saved.

I pray this in Jesus Holy and Precious Name, Amen.

 In our passage this morning, Jesus and three of His disciples; Peter, James, and John are descending from the mount of transfiguration.

They are going to be resuming His mission in the world. He will now begin His journey toward Jerusalem.

He is on His way to the cross, and everything Jesus has been teaching them, and everything they have experienced on the mountain top, is intended to prepare them to continue His mission in the world.

These three will become the primary leaders of the church. They will become the first witnesses of Christ to the world, carrying on His mission when He is gone.

As they are coming down from the mountain, we are invited into this intimate moment between Jesus and these three disciples.

He has taught them in a variety of ways. He has taught them formally in the synagogues. He has taught them from a boat on the Sea of Galilee. But now, it is just the four of them; Jesus, Peter, James and John, and He is going to teach them privately some important truths that we need to understand today.

What we learn from this passage is: A disciple carries on the mission of Christ, by obeying His commands and seeking truth from His Word.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is:

I. The Command and the Commission. Vs. 9

Because I see both of those things here in Vs. 9, I see a command and a commission.

 Notice Vs. 9 says, “And as they came down from the mountain.”

These three, had just went through this incredible mountain top experience. We talked about it in our last study of Mark. The Mount of Transfiguration, was where they got to witness first hand, the glory of God, in Jesus Christ.

However, now they are headed back to real life. Peter had suggested they make three tabernacles on top of the mountain to commemorate the event.

It was such a special moment, and they wanted to stay right there. But as believers, we don’t get to stay on the mountain top, real life, and real faith takes place down in the valley. Down among the suffering and pain of the world.

The charismatics of the world, want to live in the mountain top experience, and you can’t blame them really. Why wouldn’t you want to live high on the presence of God all the time?

However, while we as Christians, may not be of the world, we are definitely in the world. We are living our lives here on planet earth.

And while we are here, living in the age of grace, we walk by faith and not by sight, and we do it in the valley of life.

King David understood that all to well, when he wrote in Psalm 23, “Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.”

You see, there are high moments in our relationship with God, where our confidence is great, and our faith grows, and there are low moments in our relationship with God, where we learn valuable lessons of patience and perseverance.

Then notice the command in Vs. 9, “he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen,”

Can you imagine that? How incredible is that? They have just experienced this amazing moment with Christ, and they can’t tell anyone about it.

They can not even tell the other disciples, and you know,, the rest of the disciples were going to ask them as soon as they see them, what happened on top of the mountain. But their silence is commanded.

I want you to notice Jesus doesn’t give them a reason for the command. He doesn’t tell them why they cannot say anything. There is no explanation given, just the command.

What we learn as disciples of Christ is: He doesn’t owe us an explanation. We owe Him our obedience. He doesn’t have to explain Himself to us.

If we are given an explanation, it is by the grace of God. However, Christ calls us to obey His commands, whether we understand them or not. That is why it is called faith.

By faith we believe God’s plan for our life is better than our own. He has already proven that. He has proven His love for us, by sending us His Son to save us.

And like any good parent, who always wants what is best for their child, and leads and guides them on the right path, with their best interests in mind. God is our Father and we trust Him.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

If you are here today, listening to the Word of God, it is because you have been called according to the purpose of God. God has a purpose and a plan for your life. There is something He wants to accomplish in you and through you.

So, even when we don’t understand what God is doing in our life, we can believe He is working on our behalf to bring about the best for our life. So, we obey His commands.

That is what we see taking place in our story. Jesus tells the disciples not to tell anyone, because He doesn’t want anything to interfere. He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of God’s plan.

This is what scholars refer to as the Messianic secret. This is the seventh and final time in the gospel of Mark, Jesus will commanded silence from someone about His identity.

He has commanded demons not to say anything, He has commanded those He has healed to keep it silent, and now He commands His disciples. But why? Why doesn’t He want His identity revealed?

  Well, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, “But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

So, Jesus commanded their silence because He doesn’t want to disrupt the plan of God. There is a bigger picture at stake the disciples are unaware of. And it calls for their obedience to His command.

Well, the same thing is true in your life and mine. We do not have to understand God’s commands, but we have to obey them.

Then, I want you to notice the little word “until” in Vs. 9. Because there was coming a day when the command was going to change.

There was coming a day when they would go, from not being able to say a word about what they had saw, to shouting it as loud as they could.

There was coming a day when they were going to be able to tell their story and talk about what they had saw, when they were witnesses of the glory of God, on top of the mountain.

But when? When would that day come? Vs. 9 says, “till the Son of man were risen from the dead.” They had to remain silent until after the resurrection.

And then they would be witnesses to the world. And you see that is where we are in the story. We live on this side of the cross and the resurrection.

They were told, at that time to tell no one, and we are told to go and tell the world.

That is the great commission that is given to the church in Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey all that I have commanded them to do, and Lo’ I am with you always.”

 Today, as disciples of Christ, we are to be witnesses of the glory of God in our lives, to the world. We are to tell people about the forgiveness of sin, the removal of guilt and shame and the freedom we have in Christ. We are teach people to obey the commands of God.

The question is; why are we so ineffective at doing that? (pause) I believe it is because we are more concerned with being accepted by people, then being rejected by God.

And if we were honest with ourselves, we would have to admit, that we have our faithfulness backwards. We have our priorities mixed up.

However, the good news is: by the power of the grace of God and a little practice we can become the witnesses God calls us to be.

Did you know that one quarter of the world’s population has a condition known as myopia? It is what we call nearsightedness.

That number has increased by 66 percent since the 1970’s. Experts say the reason the condition skyrocketed is: children spend more time indoors, staring at computer screens, than playing outside. We even do that as adults now!! So, we are slowly becoming people who cannot see very far in front of us.

 We have the same problem in the church today. We have spiritual nearsightedness. We can’t see very far beyond the four walls of the church, and we are ignoring the lost condition of the world around us.

We need to pray for God to open our eyes, so that we can see the fields white for harvest.

That is the command and the commission for the followers of Jesus Christ. A disciple carries on the mission of Christ, by obeying His commands, and seeking truth from His Word.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is:

II. The Confusion and the Curiosity Vs. 10-11

The disciples were confused by what Jesus said and they were curious about what He meant.

Notice Vs. 10 says, “And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.”

I want you to understand they were not confused by what it meant to rise from the dead. They understood that. Most orthodox Jews understood, that there would one day be a resurrection from the dead for all people both good and bad.

The conservative leaders of the nation: the Pharisees and the scribes both taught of a resurrection. Also, Peter, James, and John were there When Jesus raised Jairus daughter from the dead.

All of the disciples were present when Jesus called Lazarus from the grave. So, they were not confused by the idea of a resurrection.

But they were confused by the idea, of a resurrection of the Son of Man. Remember the Son of Man was a tittle of authority from Daniel chapter 7. It was the tittle of the Messiah, who would come and establish the kingdom of God at the end of the age and He would rule on earth forever.

So, this did not make sense to them. They still, had not figured out, there was going to be a cross before there was a crown. They still thought, He was going to overthrow the Roman government, and that they would be seated on thrones with Him.

 Even though He had told them, they could not comprehend that He was going to die for the sin of the world. So, you can’t blame them really for their confusion.

It is easy for us to see, on this side of the cross, how everything has unfolded. And that He would be more than the King over Israel, but He would be the Savior of the world. But, for the disciples living in the moment, it was confusing.

 And the scribes were no help. The disciple’s question for Jesus in Vs 11 is revealing. “Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?” You see the scribes were saying Jesus could not possibly be the Messiah because Elijah had not come.

Malachi had prophesied 430 years before Christ, that Elijah would come first, and that He would prepare the way for the Messiah, by preparing the hearts of the people.

This is a reference to two different passages in Malachi, Chapter 3:1 and chapter 4:5-6. But what I want you notice is: the disciples ask this question because they are genuinely curious about the scripture. They know their bible. They now what it says, and they want to understand it!!

 Still today there is curiosity about the fulfillment of this prophecy in Malachi. Many people believe that Elijah will come before Christ returns, that he will be one of the two witnesses spoken of in Revelation 11, whose bodies lie dead in the street.

But Jesus makes it clear here, that Elijah had come before Him, and that this prophecy was fulfilled in John the Baptist. The prophecies of Malachi were metaphorical. They spoke of one coming in the same spirit as Elijah. The Spirit of an Old Testament prophet. And that is who John the Baptist was.

My question for you is: are you confused and curious about the scripture. Are you like Peter, James, and John? Do you know your bible, but want to understand it more? Do you have a hunger for the Word of God?

A disciple carrying on the mission of Christ obeys His commands and seeks truth from His Word. The next thing I want you to see in this passage is:

III. The Correction. Vs. 12 -13.

 Jesus goes on in the final two verses of our passage to agree with the scribes. They are right about what the scripture says. Notice Vs. 12 says, “Elias verily or truly cometh first.”

However, they were wrong of their interpretation of who He would be. He continues in Vs. 12 to say, “And yet how is it written of the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things.”

In other words, seek the scripture for yourself. Don’t just rely on what you are told.

    We have this same problem in the church today. We rely to heavily on what other people tell us the Bible says, and our knowledge of the scripture has become second hand knowledge.

Jesus would say in John 5:39 ““You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;”

Jesus was speaking to people who thought they knew the scripture, yet they were rejecting Him. We don’t want to make that same mistake today.

A disciple must be a student of the Word of God. For how can we know the commands we are to follow, and the will of God for our life, if we do not know the scripture.

 Jesus finishes off our passage, by directing them back to the scripture again. Notice Vs. 13, “But I say to you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.”

We know Jesus is talking about John the Baptist here. He makes that clear in two passages from Matthew’s gospel: the parallel account of this story in 17:10-13 and Matthew 11:14 ““And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.”

The point Jesus is making in Mark 9:13 is: Look at what they did to John the Baptist. He was thrown in prison, he was beheaded for standing up to authority, and standing on truth. He was rejected and treated with contempt. And if you search the scriptures, you will find out, they are going to do the same thing to me.

The scribes had misinterpreted the Word of God and thereby missed the Messiah and killed the Savior of the world. And I can not help but think to myself, we need to be careful that we don’t do the same thing today.

Jesus will return one day, and we need to be sure of what the bible says for ourselves. We need a proper interpretation of the scripture, so we do not miss out on our Messiah.

Because there are a lot of churches in our world, disguising themselves as Christian, and peddling false doctrine.

Paul would warns us of this in 2 Timothy 4:3–4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

The point is: we need to know the Word of God for ourselves. It reminds me of those the FBI trains to recognize counterfeit money. They spend all of their time studying, what real money looks like, so when they see a fake they cannot be fooled. That is the approach we need to take with the scripture.

     A disciple carry’s on the mission of Christ in the world by obeying His commands and seeking truth from His Word.

Lets pray together,

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your Word. I pray that even now my God you are speaking to Your people about how to live for You. How we can better serve You and honor You with our life.

Create in us a hunger for Your truth. And give us strength to block out the noise of the world.

I pray these things in Jesus’ Name, Amen!!