Faith, True Faith, Perception and/or Reality?
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Faith, True Faith, Perception and/or Reality?
Faith, True Faith, Perception and/or Reality?
Can faith, real faith be trusted? Of course it can! But with the reference to true faith, we must also acknowledge that , that which portents to be faith, even affirms to faith but is not true faith exists.
Now there are those who would argue that faith and truth is relative. For those who argue this truth, becomes somewhat subservient to human reason with the result and inference that if enough people affirm, argue and sincerely affirm that right is now wrong and wrong is now right, then the new redefining of right and wrong becomes the established norm. While this is obviously very unsettling, the greatest upheaval and injustice come when those who argue that there is be a total injustice to truth are bigoted, inflexible, lacking in compassion toward those who now affirm the new convoluted norm.
Coming back to where we began, especially with regard to accurately defining truth and the trustworthiness faith systems with so many of those systems contradicting each other as to how they define truth, defining truth is not easy. BUT IT IS ESSENTIAL!
Competing, conflicting and often contradictory systems of faith have been around since the garden of Eden, the days of the Israel and the prophets, during Christ’s comparatively short earthly ministry and even today. At the close of our Lord’s earthly ministry, the events of that last week, beginning with what we call “Palm Sunday” underscored why some religious systems that seem so right can in reality be so false and empty.
As we work our way through a few of the events of that week, we need to remember that in all probability none of those involved in the situations set out to propagate and defend and defend that which had become false and empty. Thy had been told the lie was true and came to believe it.
For those who were willing to carefully assess all that they saw and heard that week, it would have been abundantly clear. Established religious systems, some established religious systems cannot always be trusted. That was underscored in the events of the three days that we will consider. In each of those events, some things were obvious, BUT some not so obvious aspects of the event, THE REST OF THE STORY, when uncovered revealed the ugly, corrupt underbelly that negated that which had been purported and believed to be true.
False Coronation - Mk 11:1-11
The Obvious:
The meaning and reason for Christ’s coming to Jerusalem was obvious. But the obvious depended how we define obvious.
From Jesus perspective, the obvious was that He was coming to die, to be buried and rise again.
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
Because Jesus knew and explained why He was coming to Jerusalem, He gave specific instructions with regard to the colt, the donkey on which no one had sat. Jesus came as a humble king to provide salvation.
“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.”
The welcome from the crowd, the palm branches and shouts were then understood in their context true and a welcome that was what Jesus deserved and did not reject.
The Palm branches and cloaks were part of the ancient practice of welcoming a new king. They used the right words without understanding the true mean of those words.
Hosanna - Save now - save from what - Rome rather than sin
Son of David - therefore rightful king
Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The lack of understanding of the crowd was also obvious. They mouthed the words with the expectation of the coming of the kingdom of David.
“My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.
Praise in the highest - reserved for God - to praise God
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Not so obvious - All or most of what they said, they later denied or contradicted. Some of the same crowds cried of Him to be crucified. What they had said during Christ’s coming into Jerusalem was a void of meaning as what the soldiers said. Later, Peter reminded them of what they had obviously done in rejecting Christ. BUT their denial of the obvious and true did not negate the truth of who Jesus was/is.
But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
2. Fruitless Fig Tree - Mk 11:12-14, 20-26
Obvious
From Bethany - at base of Mt of Olives - home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus - house of welcome, affliction, figs
Following day - morning - probably early - Matt 21:18
Jesus hungry and saw a fig tree in leaf.
3 years after planting - fruit 2 times a year. With the growth of the leaves one expected fruit.
Not the season of figs - normal fruit time would have been June more than a month from then. But although it was not the expected time, the leaves gave every indication of fruit.
By the side of the road, therefore common property - Matt 21:19
Not so obvious
No fruit and therefore cursed by Jesus - 11:14, 20-26
For us the obvious application application would have to the Jerusalem crowds and religious leaders, Jesus’ not so obvious application was to the disciples.
Have faith in God, in the power of the word. Faith in God also believes in His revealed truth. Jesus the request of the Scribes and Pharisees who just wanted a sign.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Faith, prayer and forgiveness essential fruit of those who profess to believe. Such prayer requires both forgiveness and faith.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
So on Palm Sunday, what fruit do we advertise and what fruit is there for those who look behind the leaves.
Church - called out
Baptist - suggest that believe certain things
“Holy, Holy Holy” can sing but how live”
Can sing Handel’s Messiah with musical excellence but live the words sung with grating discord.
We must not leave this account account without referring to the obvious. Israel was on occasion to referred to a fig tree, a fig tree that did not bear the spiritual fruit that God had every right to expect.
“Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things!
Fear not, you beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit;
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
“Be glad, O children of Zion,
and rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given the early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the latter rain, as before.
“The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
I will restore to you the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent among you.
but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and no one shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
3. Fraudulent Worship - Mk 11:15-19
Obvious
Temple, the reconstructed temple was said to be a magnificent and beautiful structure.
It was again the passover, Jewish families would celebrate and sacrifices would be offered the temple, Herod’s Temple. The events of that day reminded them of times in their history as a people when God had intervened and cared for them - Passover & deliverance from Egypt, Solomon’s temple that was eventually destroyed, the Temple rebuilt in the time of Zerubbabel & Ezra/walls rebuilt by Nehemiah, Herod’s Temple - temple & temple complex expanded and beautified
Rebuilt temple so lacking in comparison to Solomon’s that those who remembered wept.
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy,
Story of the Temple reflects Israel’s spiritual history and repeated apostasy
Through the history of Israel worship at the Tabernacle and the Temple had been at the heart of who they were as a people and religious life. Everything revolved around the Temple and spiritual celebrations.
Tabernacle in essence a mobile Temple - Ex 25-30; 35:30-40-38 - worship at the tabernacle and how they drew near was not to be left to their own interpretation - 2 sons of Aaron consumed by fire because of unauthorized fire.
First fixed Temple - David - purchased site on Mt Moriah where Abraham had been told by God to offer Isaac - 2 Sam 7:1-11; 1 Chron 22:1-19; 2 Chron 3:1; Gen 22:2
Built by Solomon - 1 Kings 8:1-66
Destroyed during Assyrian & Babylonian captivities
Rebuilt, then refurbished by Herod. What wad rebuilt by Herod was beautiful to look but a shell spiritually.
Not so obvious
When Jesus came to the Temple he did not come to worship as he had at the beginning of His ministry. It had not changed
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
The courts of the Temple had become and continued to be not only a place of merchandise but had been knowingly and deliberately made a den of thieves, suggesting that the those in charge of Temple know of and approved of the corruption. This could not have happened without them having become corrupt.
Jesus had regularly confronted the apostasy, iniquity of had become of the worship structure in Judaism. Again and again, He called them back worship with true faith.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus was well aware of the issues of His day. He was well aware of the corruption and heartache. And He was aware that it was those whom religious authorities marginalized who welcomed Christ into their hearts and homes. They knew their sin and repented. The religious authorities refused to recognize their sin and and therefore had no room for Christ. He did not fit into their religious system.
What would have been needed to facilitate Temple worship and sacrifices, had been brought into the Temple with the result that what they should be been doing to pray and prepare their hearts was displace with the merchandising of what was required.
Those who sold & bought - “Animals were needed for the Temple offering, and it was more convenient for the worshippers to buy the animals there rather than travel with animals that might not pass the high priests inspection. The sellers either belonged to the high-priestly hierarchy or paid a large fee to to the Temple authorities for the privilege of selling. Whatever case, the High Priest’s family benefited from this.” (MacArthur Study Bible)
Money-changers - “were in the court to exchange Greek and Roman coins for Jewish & Tyrian coins, which pilgrims (every male 20 and older) had to pay for the annual half-shekel payment for temple religious services. A fee of 10 to 12 % was charged for this exchange service.” (MacArthur Study Bible)
Those who sold pigeons - “These birds were so often used for sacrifice that Mark makes separate mention of the sellers. Doves were the normal offering of the poor (Lev 5:7) and were required for other purposes. (Lev 12:6; 14:22; 15:14, 29) (MacArthur Study Bible)
Jesus and others had every right and Scriptural expectation that they would find some quite different, what was written in the word of God, a place of prayer.
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
While some of what was needed for worship and sacrifice, it was done with what would seem to be corrupt monopoly feeding the temple and high priestly coffers. As that was being done what was needed, joyful worship/witness and prayer had been for the most part displaced.
Jesus had taught, would have taught what meant by worshipping in spirit and truth - worship of God consistent with Scripture , but that had fallen on deaf ears and hard hearts.
While the crowds listened with amazement, but not necessarily belief, the chief priests and scribes sought to destroy him.
4. Fallacious Perception - Mk 11:27-33
In the portion before us, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, all of them questioned Jesus’ authority, not because they really wanted to understand but without acknowledging their conflict of interest, if Jesus authority was what He claimed, their claims of authority were bogus.
Fallacy -
Fallacy - Wikipedia
Fallacy - Wikipedia
“en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Fallacy A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning, or "wrong moves" in the construction of an argument. A fallacious argument may be deceptive by appearing to be better than it really is.”
The fallacy in the system of worship that had developed by the time of Jesus, was that it was a closed system, accountable only itself, resistant to external Scriptural audit, self policing, self justifying and freely administered sever punish on all who questioned them in an way.
Any system that becomes a law unto themselves is probably fallacious. That is not to question their sincerity. But those who are sincere can be sincerely wrong.
Both those who take unwanted lives and those who take the lives of those who take unwanted lives are murderers.
Their question - “By what authority are you doing these things - cleansing the temple - OR who gave you this authority?
Christ’s answer - a question - “Was the baptism of John from heaven or man?”
ONLY MARK PROVIDES AN ACCOUNT OF THIS, INDICATING THAT PETER WAS CLOSE BY, STRUCK BY IT AND RELAYED IT TO MARK.
All closed stems that are not open to audit are suspect - Missions and Board Structure - Canadian Council of Christian Charities.
The temple/religious leaders were not really interested in checking Jesus’ credentials and welcoming Him, theirs was a very closed shop that presumed that all others lacked authority and that being the case needed to eliminated at all costs.
Jesus understood and told them when he immediately began to teach the Parable of the Tenants, the main being the tenants bottom line was maintaining ownership and eliminating all threats especially the son of the owner. Matthew and Luke also recorded this parable - Matt 21:33-46; Lk 20:9-19
And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture:
“ ‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
The fallacious perceptions that we see here are continued to this day.
There are closed religious systems who continue to say to Christ, our heavenly Father, who gives you the authority and right to question us and what we have come to accept.
Some of those systems are making affirmation that flaunt the word of God and those who affirm God’s word. An example of this would be that Paul explained to Timothy as contrary to sound doctrine is now sometimes sidestepped and denied, not only by those who make no profession of being evangelical, but those who until recently professed to be evangelical.
As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
There will be “churches” that gather to “worship” but deny parts of the word of God and including the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
Much if not most of our lives is lived by paying attention and dues to the obvious. But the obvious is sometimes not the true/honest measure of the meaning of life or what is being lived.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matt 7:21)
The crowds who seemed to welcome Jesus, welcomed Him only on their terms. Some who purport to welcome and affirm Jesus do it on their own terms.
Do we who call Him Lord bow to His Lordship
Confession, baptism, surrender
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
2. Spiritual fruitfulness is never about keeping up appearances but about bearing expected fruit.
Do we individually evidence the fruit of the spirit?
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Do we demonstrate love, joy and peace?
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
3. True worship is never about status quo activities and generating funds, but about prayer, joyful worship and submission to the word of God.
What is written? Have you not read?
We can learn from Cornelius and the believers in Berea
So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
4. Jesus’ authority is never defined by the “chief priests, scribes and elders” but by the word of God.
We need to well versed in the word of God.
We need to be very careful who we listen to - TGC, T4G, MacArthur Study Bible
Some apologetics ministries have recently betrayed the trust given to them.
“Chief priests, scribes and elders” defining Jesus’, His authority and the authority of the word of God without yielding unequivocally to the word, would be a bit comparable to the total inconsistency of those who had been entrusted with a most valuable legacy, defined by indelible intrinsic governors & parameters over which they choose to write their own articles of faith that bare negligible resemblance to the founders vision.
A butcher shop that sells only fake meat
A dairy bar that sell only almond, soy and other non dairy products
A maternity ward that does nothing but terminate pregnancies
An inner city rescue mission that once preached the Gospel, serves meals and overnight accommodation now distributing various drugs and alcoholic beverages and a safe injection zone
A residence that once a well known Bible teacher, reformer and preacher lived, now maintained as cultural interpretive center with not a Bible to be seen.
A church and its leaders that once preached the Gospel and pleaded with sinners to repent now affirming those sinners, lest their feelings be offended and affirming that Jesus loves them as they are, no conversion and recognition of sinner mentioned.
A country to which many of its founders came for freedom of worship and expression, for freedom from a state church, now told by the government that some of their expressions are hate speech and persecutable offenses.