Follow Jesus in humble dependence

Let me tell you about someone utterly devoted to their beliefs. Wakes at 3am. After his morning shower, begins the day on his knees for prayers, meditations until 5 am. followed by walk either outside or on treadmill. At 5:30am breakfast consisting porrige and barley pweder, bread and team. From 6-9am will continue in meditation and prayer.

9-11:30 studies Buddest texts, followed by a vergetaraian lunch, followed by meetings, then tea at 5pm - but following rules of being a monk, will not have dinner. Will then continue with evening prayers and meditation, before retiring about 7pm.

Dalai Lama

This is the devoted life of the Dalia Lama.

What should our devotion to God look like? Are we too copy the discipline and self restraint that seems so impressive? What does God want our lives to look like?

We have been thinking about call to follow him, whateve the cost, in service, and in confidence. This week we hear the call to:

Follow King Jesus in humble dependence.

Question for bible reading: how many questions are asked? Are they genuine questions or asked with another motive?

Bible reading

I hope you followed reading. Saw all these conversation, but really they were all exposing people hearts - and in particular their willingess to accept a reality that was becoming clear:

Jesus is the Eternal King

Been seeing building picture of identity, his mission and his call. And last week saw perhaps for first time, an explicit claim to be the promised King - through the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on donkey. There is a real excitment as he arrives, and then clears temple, acting with authority and activity. But fall out is this series of conversations starting with

Religious leaders at this point say “Hang on” Who do you think you are? 27-32. Who do you think you are?

Jesus goes on to tell this parable - which will make sense of all that is about to unfold.

Mark 12:1–12 NIV

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.

The crux of parable is what Mark has been showing us. Jesus is the Son, sent by God. He is the one come with God’s authority. 11v27-32, 12v17 points us to the fact that He is the one to whom we owe all our lives, as those made in his image, 12v35-37 Jesus is speaking abou thimself, the one who can both be a Son of David, and at the same time his Lord - as the one who is both God and man. He is the Son in thr parable, heir - King of his Kingdom, and those who reject him face judgement and exclusion, while those who will follow become the true recipients of the vineyard.

All of this will be finally proved in his death and ressurection, where he will fulfil God’s promise to Abraham, Issac and Jacob, as the as the God of the living who in his ressurection offers life to all who trust him. It’s through his death that he gives access to the vineyard - his Kingdom, and its through faith in him that we share in the inheritance.

Jesus is the final word.That’s what we have been seeing. Reality is that Jesus is the promised eternal King. What will we do with this reality? What is the right response?

University fire alarm illustration?

How do we respond to Jesus rightly?

Let go of your pride

This comes out in contrast Mark draws between religious leaders and of widow at the end. Majority of passage taken up with this series of intellectual boxing match between Jesus and RL’s.

Boxing background

Round 1: AUthority challenged

Jesus knowinf hearts turns question to John. And though they won’t admit it, they know that if John is from God, then Jesus must be from God.

Round 1: Authority challenged : Reality: Jesus authority comes from God

send smaller group with political question.

Round 2 Politics challenged

v13-17. Question about allegiance - Reality: God deserves our complete devotion

Pharisees stuck, because no one can claim to be giving God his full due.

Round 2: Politics challenged: Reality: God deserves our complete devotion

Round 3? Theology challenged:

v18-27. Don’t believe in the ressurection, hoping to make spiritual truth look ridiculous by extreme literal conclusion. Saying something to the effect of If a women loses 7 husbands over her life, “In the “ressurection” when they rise, whose wife will she be?

Jesus basically says you don’t understand scripture or appreciate power of God. Question is ridiculous, because when dead are raised they will neither be married or given in marriage. And if there is no ressurection, then how is God the good of 3 dead guys, and how will he keep his promises to them.

Mark 12:27 NIV

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

Round 3? Theology challenged: Reality: God is a God of the ressurection.

What is going on? Exposure of heart as demonstrated by parable and proved in these conversations. Time after time through history God has sent his workers - prophets, to speak to the peopel, and time after time they have been mistreated, and God’s word rejected. And here is a new generation of leaders, whose lives would have looked incredibly devout and Holy, who love these debates, as they think of elebaroate tricks to catch Jesus. But just as those who have come before their motive is not love of God but pride and jealousy. It’s all about them. If God’s word doesn’t boast their ego, they’ll re interprit or reject it.- seen here as they reject God’s Son and God’s word. v12 why do they have to look for a way, because they can’t really find any fault with him.

Mark 12:38–40 NIV

As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

What is their issue. Pride. They put themselves at the centre of life instead of God.. However devout they might look.

cash back card. overspent, but okay top up day. relief.

Like topping up their spiritual credit, and they feel good, and look down on those who have none. and yet reality is that they spiritually bankrupt - because what are they doing but rejecting God’s Son and God’s word, plotting to kill him.

Where do we need to let go of our pride. Maybe its like religious leaders, we like to give impression of great devotion but in our private lives and hearts, with don’t honour God, but really are out for ourselves.

How easily we can make worshipping God about us. We can sing of God’s goodness and yet still make it all about us. We can serve others and yes really be serving ourselves. We can look devot,

Fall in to trap of spiritual top up.

cash back top up

Run down credit, through acitive sin, or neglecting God, feel bad - been to church, helped an old lady across the road, given some extra cash. We feel good - God must be impressed., when reality is we are spiritually bankrupt.

Maybe its that aren’t religious at all, and we have all kind of reasons why we don’t want to follow Jesus - maybe intellectual arguements, but if honest its really not really question of truth, but that we don’t want to accept his rule.

Pride kills our relationship with God and lead to judgement - always be competing with God for glory, and be either continually hating ourselves for failure to perform, or patting ourselves on the back. Both making about us. Just like religious leaders of Jesus day, and all major religions today. and those of no religion. But here is the warning. Judgement is coming.

What is way into true God honouring worship. How do we let go of our pride?

Give yourself to God

Long section exposing religious leaders hearts. summed up in warning v38-40. But he leaves us with example of what real worship looks like.

Mark 12:41–44 NIV

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

In contrast to Rl who look very impressive, but sacrifice very little, and in the end really want everyone to worship them, widow gives all that she has. At great cost. Everything she had to God. She puts her money where he mouth is. Her actions show her heartfelt love for God more than anything else. That she considers him central. Not done for public eye or public approval. Not seen to be an impressive thing, infact compared to others she gives very little. But see waht Jesus says - value of of her act of worship is greater than all those who give more money, because she gives out of her poverty all that she has to God.

This is the call of the Christian life. To give all that we have to God How is this any different from self centred striving. Key word is poverty. This women comes with no pride, but in humility and poverty comes to God. This is how we all are to come before God - not with our own performnce or wealth of any kind - but in spiritual poverty. Recognising our sin before a Holy God. Our pride and self centredness have left us spiritually bankrupt, and giving ourselves to Jesus- .

1 RL who has genuine question about most important commandment, and Jesus summarises all of them.

VERSE

Mark 12:29–31 NIV

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Exposes how short we fall of true worship of God. Who can really say they love God heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and love neighbour as our selves? Hearts are divided.Naturally so self centred. This is why we need good news now good advice - not a message of try harder. But a message of trust. In King Jesus has lived this perfect God honouring live where we could not - he lives for us us, and in obedience goes to death, taking our judgment. so that as we trust in him, we recieve new ressurection life - and by power of Spirit are empowered to live lives that are not about us but about him. That is the heart of true devotion - it’s not about us. But about Him. King of Glory who gave up his throne to save us, and rose again to take it back up again, and who will return to finish what he has started. Devotion comes not as we try harder to impress, but as we see the goodness of God in the person of Jesus, pouring out his love to us. And as we let go of our pride and let him rule completely.

Augustine once summed up the CHristian life like this:

‘Love and do as you like’,

As we give ourselves over to him, empty hands and humble hearts, not in welath but in our spiritual poverty, recognising its about him., its then that by his Spirit he transforms us taking our self cetnredness and transform it into selfless love for God and love others.

This is true devotion, not ruthless self centred discipline, but whole hearted humble dependence on our gracious God and King.