Mark Sermon Week 7 (2)

Intro/Welcome

Law of Life

What law of life are you living by?

All of us have one

At some level we believe if we follow this or that path — things will go well.

The problem is our ‘law of life’ rarely works out

And then the question becomes, what do you do when your plan fails?

you thought you’d be married by now

you thought you’d have kids by now

maybe you have more kids than you thought you would

you college degree isn’t really what you thought it would be

the experience you thought college would be

the career you wanted or promotion doesn’t pan out

the kids you had hoped to have

the kids you didn’t expect to have

the experience you thought parenting would be

what you thought walking with Jesus would look like

What happens in your heart when life doesn’t go the way you planned for it to go?

at this point we are in danger of anger which leads to hardness of heart

and anger is both the RESULT OF and the REASON FOR hardness of heart

Jesus is going to confront hard hearts today.

when our hearts become hard we can completely miss the heart of God.

Jesus both breaks and remakes hard hearts

Jesus is going to both reveal the heart of God and the heart of man in our text today

and it is precisely the revealing God’s heart and man’s heart that can lead to repentance and life.

Bible

We are going to be in Mark 2:23-3:12 as we continue in the Gospel of Mark

Go there in your Bible

And today the opposition to the life and teaching of Jesus begins to reach a fever pitch.

The reason — unwilling hearts — hard hearts towards God.

Jesus is the remedy for hard hearts.

It is in seeing and believing in God’s heart that leads to repentance and life.

Let me pray for us.

Pray

praying that God would breakthrough any hardness b/c Jesus was broken for us.

help us see the heart of God

help us to see our own hearts.

Declaring the Heart of God

Mark 2:23–24 (CSB)

23 On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

Just a normal sabbath day doing ministry

the Disciples are hungry and pick a few heads of grain

which was permitted by the OT law

Deuteronomy 23:25 (CSB)

25 When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

just not on the Sabbath — this was considered work by some.

The Pharisees pop up out of the grain fields and say “ha! gotcha!”

now opposition to Jesus from the religious leaders has already been growing

Today their opposition is going to reach a fever pitch

so much so that they resolve to kill him.

this is the result of hard hearts

Why did they oppose Jesus?

In short they had hardened their hearts towards Jesus, and thus towards God

And this is what happens when we harden our hearts — we cannot see the work of God that is right in front of us.

What had hardened their hearts?

Jesus taught with authority

Mark 1:22 CSB

22 They were astonished at his teaching because he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not like the scribes.

Jesus claimed to forgive sins — claimed to be God

Mark 2:7 CSB

7 “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Jesus broke through their conventional understanding by choosing and dining with sinners

Mark 2:16 CSB

16 When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus has a large following

Mark 3:7–8 CSB

7 Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a large crowd followed from Galilee, and a large crowd followed from Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to him because they heard about everything he was doing.

They were jealous of Jesus, this was even obvious to Pilate. Their power was threatened by Jesus.

Mark 15:8–10 (CSB)

8 The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them as was his custom. 9 Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” 10 For he knew it was because of envy that the chief priests had handed him over.

The Pharisees had hardened their hearts towards Jesus, and thus hardened their hearts towards God.

Symptoms of a Hard Heart

What are some symptoms of a hard heart, towards God or even someone else?

(let me give you a few) — we’ll see almost all of these today

Lack of love for God

You feel distant from God (he didn’t go anywhere)

Festering of wounds that will end up defiling others (Heb 12)

Continuing to go to sin for comfort rather than God

and sin just further hardness our hearts

Nitpicking the things of God, finding fault in God or others (Mark 2:24)

You are mounting a case against someone (Mark 3:4, seeking to accuse him)

You become unwilling to acknowledge obvious truth for fear of losing ground (Mark 3:5)

You join up with those who were your enemies (joining the Herodian) (Mark 3:6)

Self appointed guardian or protector of something, for example doctrine (sabbath doctrine) (they watched to accuse him, Mark 3:2)

Pursuit of self-interest (including self-protection), rather truth. (plotting with herodians)

Common sense gets thrown out the window (doing good on the sabbath rather than evil, irony in mark) and you behave irrationally

You begin contradicting yourself (the spirit vs. the letter of the law)

You are blinded to the fact that you might be wrong.

Pascal said, “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction” (Pensées, 894).

The pharisees exhibit almost everyone of these in our text today.

and it breaks the heart of God

Jesus is going to try to reveal their hearts to bring them to repentance.

but he’s also confronting their poisonous view of God in order to protect God’s flock.

There is a danger in leadership, those who takes positions of influence

the hardness of your heart will undoubtedly influence others.

Listen to some of the Jesus’ choice words to the Pharisees later on.

Woes to Pharisees

Matthew 23:4–5 (CSB)

4 They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do everything to be seen by others:

Matthew 23:13–15 (CSB)

13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you don’t go in, and you don’t allow those entering to go in.

15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are!

It is crucial that Jesus confront the Pharisees in front of the people.

as hebrews 12 says, when a root of bitterness springs up and defiles many.

Hebrews 12:15 (CSB)

15 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.

So how does Jesus confront their hard hearts?

by both revealing their hearts and the heart of God.

Jesus’ Response

Mark 2:25–26 (CSB)

25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry—26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence—which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests—and also gave some to his companions?”

Jesus is going to reveal the heart of the law, by revealing the heart of the law giver.

Let’s look to the Law, to the OT

and tells this story about David, KING DAVID!

he says David did what was unlawful — what do you say about that?

Story of David eating the bread of the Presence

comes form 1 Sam 21:1-9.

David and his men are on the run and they are hungry

they go to the Priest in NOB and asked for food

the Priest says all we have is the old bread of the presence

Now, everyday in the temple the priest would lay out the bread of the presence

and when they removed the old bread and replaced it with fresh bread

When I worked at Starbucks we would throw out like whole bags of food

or trash bags of donuts at DD

the Priests were permitted to eat the old bread, kind of as part of their living expenses.

It’d be like someone coming to church and using part of the church’s giving to meet their own living needs.

human need was more important than the letter of the law

Jesus says, what do you make of that?

Now he’s not trying to embarrass them

but to show them that what is important isn’t the letter of the law, but the heart of the law.

In order to interpret the law correctly we must know God’s intent behind the law.

This is what the pharisees had lost sight of.

it’s what many of us lose sight of

All we see are restrictions on our ‘fun’ rather than God’s heart behind the law.

Jesus sums his point up:

Mark 2:27 (CSB)

27 Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

In other words, the sabbath was mean to serve man

not man to serve the sabbath.

The Sabbath was meant for the good of man and the glory of God.

This was from the oral tradition —> mountain hanging by thread

Now sabbath was part of the Ten Commandments — the core of the Law

and it goes all the way back to creation.

So in a way Jesus is talking not just about the sabbath, but how to understand the entire Law of God.

it is meant to serve human beings

it is meant for their good, not their harm

it is meant to give life not take life.

Jesus is revealing the HEART OF THE LAW and thus the HEART OF GOD

which is to benefit mankind

to do good to them.

But the Pharisees have lost this, for them it’s all about keeping the law

it’s not about love, but legalism.

Then Jesus says something that would have set the Pharisees off

he says only what is true

but this is what Truth can do to a hard heart — it can further harden it.

Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:28 (CSB)

28 So then (accordingly, as a result), the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The son of man is Jesus’ favorite self-designation.

It comes from the Book of Daniel and is a messianic title.

so what he is saying is “the son of man (i.e.) ME (Jesus), I am Lord of the sabbath.

Now this again is a claim to be God.

Who was the Lord of the Sabbath?

Well it was the one who created the Sabbath.

Genesis 2:2–3 CSB

2 On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.

It is the one who instituted the Sabbath

Exodus 20:8–11 CSB

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

which was none other than Yahweh,

The God that created the Cosmos and Gave the law at Sinai

Jesus is saying I am HE — I am Yahweh — I am God. I am the Creator. I am the Law giver.

They could not see who was standing before them b/c of the hardness of their hearts.

We miss God when our hearts are hard.

This is the NT view of Jesus

John 1:1–4 (CSB)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Colossians 1:16 (CSB)

16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.

Hebrews 1:2 (CSB)

2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

This is already the third time in Mark already that Jesus has made a veiled claim to be God.

Healing of the Cripple — Only God can Forgive Sins

last week he identified as the Groom — and OT image of God’s relationship to His people.

and now as Lord of the Sabbath.

This is not going to go over well with the Pharisees.

When our heart is hard — we cannot receive the truth of God

we can’t see what God has put right before us.

it’s not that we are unable — just that we are unwilling

We are unable to see that work of God right before us.

Story would be good here

Is your heart hard?

are you unwilling to hear the truth?

Only Jesus can remedy a hard heart

What happens next? Jesus isn’t done yet.

Jesus breaks them so he can remake them.

Displaying God’s Heart

Mark 3:1–3 (CSB)

1 Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a shriveled hand. 2 In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 He told the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand before us.”

Jesus goes to the place of teaching.

the Pharisees are watching him to accuse him

Accuse (Gk. katēgoreō, “accuse, bring charges”) is a technical term: they seek to mount a legal case against Jesus by collecting evidence against him.

they are building a case against Him

again an example of a hard heart, you build up a case against someone

and not for their good, but in order to accuse them.

Stand Before Us

Jesus calls this man up in front of everyone.

This is a deliberate and intentional act by Jesus to provoke the pharisees

again to reveal their hearts

and to demonstrate the truth of God’s heart to the people.

It’d be like me calling one of you up here right now to make a point.

So Jesus has tried showing them their own Bible the truth of God’s law

Now he’s going to appeal to common sense.

Is it lawful to to good?

Mark 3:4 (CSB)

4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

Let’s take a poll, even we know this one

show of hands — is it lawful to do good on sabbath? (hands) evil, anyone?

apparently the pharisees don’t know

well that’s not true — they are unwilling to give Jesus any ground

This is what hard hearts do

even in the face of an obvious truth they are unwilling to budge

common sense goes out the window.

Matthew includes another example

Matthew 12:11–12 (CSB)

11 He replied to them, “Who among you, if he had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t take hold of it and lift it out? 12 A person is worth far more than a sheep; so it is lawful to do what is good on the Sabbath.”

again just common sense

See this is the Kindness of Jesus

he’s trying to give them a softball here

but they refuse.

and now we see the heart of Jesus.

The heart of Jesus (God)

Mark 3:5 (CSB)

5 After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

We tried the Bible, Common Sense, now the miraculous power of God to authenticate his authority

nope — hardness of hearts means we cannot see the powerful working of God right before us.

Jesus came to restore people to the way they were supposed to be. Jesus came not to tell us to try harder or dig deeper in our moral efforts. He came to set us free from human striving.

Jesus’ Emotion

It says Jesus was angry

it is the same root word when Jesus had compassion on the leper — he’s angry at sin and brokenness — perpetuated by people like the pharisees who refuse to see the Heart of God

he is angry at those who were to be the leader of God’s people

that they were unwilling to see the obvious truth

unwilling to see the heart of God and continue in their obstinate rebellion

One translation reads: “The NEB and REB have a striking rendition here: “Looking round at them with anger and sorrow at their obstinate stupidity.”

Don’t you feel this also, when someone is just so dug into that they refuse to let go and experience freedom, if they could just acknowledge the truth before them.

maybe this is some of you

and God is asking you right now to acknowledge the obvious truth he has put before you.

And Jesus was grieved, he was deeply saddened.

the same word Jesus uses in the garden of Gethsemme on the eve of his own crucifixion

Mark 14:34 (CSB)

34 He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.”

the same word used when we are told not to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:30 (CSB)

30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption.

It is a deeply distressing sadness

I see Jesus’ eyes filling with tears

he’s just broken that these ‘shepherds of Israel’ have completely missed the heart of God

It breaks Jesus heart when we refuse to turn from our rebellion b/c of hard hearts

we miss the work of God, the joy of God, the truth of God

we choose despair and ultimately death.

Which is what the Pharisees do

Story here?

Life or Death

Mark 3:6 (CSB)

6 Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him.

He has set before them life — it is good to save a life on the Sabbath

becuase the sabbath serves man and b/c he is lord of the Sabbath

But they chose death.

The go and begin to plot with their political enemies in order to KILL Jesus

Luke’s version says:

Luke 6:11 (CSB)

11 They, however, were filled with rage (a-nouia / without mind) and started discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus.

rage 88.183 ἄνοιαb, ας f: a state of such extreme anger as to suggest an incapacity to use one’s mind—‘extreme fury, great rage.’ αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐπλήσθησαν ἀνοίας ‘they were extremely furious’ Lk 6:11.

How ironic that Jesus does good by healing on the sabbath and the pharisees do evil by plotting his death.

The withered hand of the man is nothing compared to the withered souls of these religious examiners.

The way light creates shadows, Jesus’ presence sometimes brings out the worst in people.

This is the tragic effect of a hard heart, if it is not broken

Jesus comes to break and remake hard hearts.

all of our hearts were hard at some point, some of them are hard now.

not all hard hearts are equal — look the same

Gospel

And in the most amazing way

the way that Jesus breaks and remakes hearts

is by having his own broken

his entire body broken and bloodied on the cross

When Jesus is on the Cross a spear is rammed up under his rib cage piercing his heart form with blood and water flow

indicated that his heart sac had filled with water

thus Jesus literally died of a broken heart.

for all sin, rebellion and hardheartedness

Jesus tried to show them the truth, and they killed Him for it, b/c of hard hearts.

but the Truth is we all put Christ on that Cross

and he was broken so that

he might break and remake our hearts.

Luke 20:17–18 (CSB)

17 But he looked at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”

Conclusion

So is your heart hard? Has your heart become hardened?

are you distant from God?

are you building a case against God or someone else?

are you unwilling to acknowledge the truth in your life?

are you ruled by anger?

has your heart been revealed?

You have a chance for repentance.

Against whom is your heart hard?

God? another brother or sister?

Now is the time, hebrews says, as long as it is called today, don’t let you hearts be hardened by the deciefulness of sin

Hebrews 3:12–13 (CSB)

12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

Then see and believe in the heart of God

Come and be broken by Jesus

b/c he was broken for you

Closing Prayer