Here is your Sign (HERD NIGHT)

Today, we are going to look at a story from Jesus’ life and ministry. In this story, Jesus interacts with two groups of people: His disciples and the Pharisees, who were essentially a rule-heavy religious group that kind of missed the whole “grace" thing. But in this passage, both groups shared a similar problem. Simply put, they weren’t very observant.

Now, before we jump into their story, I want to see how observant you are.

So, go ahead and pull your phone out and open the notes app. Okay, here’s what we are going to do. I’m going to put a picture up on the screen and you are going to have twenty seconds to write down every detail you observe. Where was the picture taken? What colors are in the picture? What’s in the background of the picture? So on and so forth. This is an individual exercise so keep your observations to yourself. Sound good? Okay, here we go. You can start when I say begin. One, two, three, begin!

Time is officially up! No more typing. No more writing. Now, I’m sure you all wrote down a plethora of fantastic observations, but I just have one simple question.

Question: How many of you observed the chameleon?

For those of you who are extremely confused, let’s take another look at the picture. Right there, smack-dab in the middle of the picture, is a big green chameleon butt.

I would guess there’s a handful of you thinking, how the heck did I miss that? It was right in front of me! And that’s a fair question because it was quite literally right in front of you. Isn’t it strange when that happens? Isn’t it strange how you can miss something that’s right in front of your eyes?

Well, that lack of observation is exactly what we are going to talk about today. Which brings me to my main point:

Main Point: In order to experience God you must be willing and attentive.

One of the things Pastor mentioned on Sunday is that our lack of faith or our lack of believe in God does not bound God. And it is the same with this.

Our unwillingness and inattentiveness does not render God’s power useless, all it means is that we miss the opportunity to experience God.

Let’s read Mark 8:11-18 together.

Keep in mind this whole exchange happens right after a huge miracle. That will prove both important and ironic as we move forward.

Mark 8:11–19 ESV

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side. 14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.”

In these sequential stories, we see the two groups of people I mentioned earlier—the Pharisees and Jesus’ disciples. We also see the problem both groups shared. Simply put, their problem is this:

Problem: They can’t see what Jesus is doing right in front of their eyes.

Jesus had proven time and time again that He is who He said He was. And yet, like the chameleon in our exercise, they didn’t see it, at least not fully.

The Pharisees and the disciples had the same observation problem, they had different reasons behind the problem.

Let’s look at the Pharisees’ reason first.

The Pharisees:

Mark 8:11 ESV

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

The Pharisees approached Jesus demanding that He perform a miraculous sign as if He was some sort of miracle vending machine.

And they did this because they wanted Him to prove His divinity. But remember what I just said. Jesus had already proven He is who He says He is time and time again.

In fact, Here’s some of what we’ve seen so far in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus healed a leper. He healed a paralytic. He healed a blind guy. He walked on water during a severe storm. He calmed the storm by speaking to it. He resurrected a dead girl. He healed a woman with a lifelong ailment. He fed thousands of people by miraculously multiplying a small amount of bread…twice. The list goes on.

In fact, the story we are looking at happened directly after the miraculous feeding of over 4,000 people. So, Jesus had performed plenty of miracles already, and He literally had just performed another one, and still the Pharisees had the audacity to demand a sign.

Do you see the ridiculousness of this request? Well, apparently, Jesus saw it because he responded with this:

Mark 8:12–13 ESV

12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

The reason Jesus didn’t bother with yet another sign as because he knews the truth. The truth is…

The Pharisees were unwilling to see what Jesus was doing.

Jesus could have performed a hundred miracles and it wouldn’t have mattered, because the Pharisees were unwilling to see what was right in front of them. I would argue this Pharisee-problem is still alive and well today.

Many people don’t believe in Jesus simply because they are unwilling to open their eyes and observe. There is a lot of evidence for God’s existence all around us if we take the time to look. Take creation for instance. The beauty of creation points to a good and wise Creator God.

As a case in point, consider the Rainbow Mountains of China in the Zhangye National Geopark. Iceland’s Blue Lagoon. Iguazu Falls in Argentina. Did anyone here know, prior to today, that rainbow mountains existed?

Do you think this level of beauty came to be accidentally, or because of a big bang or some impersonal force working in the universe? Not a chance.

If you are looking for evidence of God, all of creation screams, “Here’s your sign!”

Of course, creation isn’t the only sign that a personal and powerful God exists. Stories of life-change, answered prayers, and miraculous healings all reinforce that truth. But…

Point: If you aren’t willing to believe, you will overlook or discredit even the most obvious signs of God.

Do you find yourself doing this? Despite the evidence pointing to God, do you find yourself overlooking and discrediting it? It’s okay if you’re in that category. All I ask is that you be willing to look and observe. Because if you do, you may find that you missed something that was right in front of you all along.

Now, with all of that said, we still have another group to talk about: Jesus’ disciples. Remember, they had the same problem as the Pharisees: they couldn’t see what Jesus was doing right in front of their eyes. But they had a different reason behind it.

The Disciples:

Mark 8:14–18 (ESV)

14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?

Jesus had just shrugged off the Pharisees’ request for a sign, and He decided to do a little discipleship on the boat by teaching his disciples about what not to do.

This was a great learning opportunity for Jesus’ disciples, but they were too distracted by their growling stomachs to listen.

Look at this, Jesus’ disciples were willing to listen to Jesus. They are following Him after all. But their issue was that…

The disciples were inattentive to what Jesus was doing

In other words, they weren’t paying attention. If the disciples would have stopped and used even a small part of their brains, they could have learned something from Jesus and calmed their worries about dinner.

But they were inattentive to what Jesus was doing and saying. Does anyone here relate with that struggle? I would guess many of us fall into this category. Unlike the Pharisees, we are willing to see the work of Jesus, and we believe the words of Jesus, but we are too distracted to fully take it to heart.

Concerning seeing, we have so many opportunities each day to see God moving and to praise Him for it. From the bright blue sky covering us to the friendships that keep us going. These are gifts from God, and the wider we open our eyes, the more we will see that truth.

Main Point: In order to experience God you must be willing and attentive.

Could it be that God wants you to experience Him?What if God wants to give you direction, or remind you of who you are, or use you to advance His kingdom, even call you to full time ministry but you haven’t stopped to pay attention?

I say all of this because I think we are missing out. Myself included. We’re missing out on the movement and miracles of God around us and in us.

I do not want you to feel bad about this but I want to encourage you to experience God’s goodness.

In fact, I want to make sure we have a practical way to practice this. Here’s what’s going to happen.

Practical Activity: Every time you see evidence of God working in and/or blessing your life, write it down on a sticky note and place it in your mason jar.

So, if God answers a prayer request, write it down. If a strained friendship in your life begins to heal, write it down. If someone asks you about your faith for the first time, write it down. If the person in front of you in the Starbucks line buys your coffee, write it down. If God helps you through a situation that you thought was hopeless, write it down. If you notice a particularly awesome sunset, write it down. Whatever it is, write it down. Here’s why I want you to do this…

Point: God is working in our lives far more than we realize.

But we, like the Pharisees and Jesus’ disciples, are either unwilling to see it or too distracted to see it. Still, if we begin to take notice of these things, our faith will grow as a result.

Do you need a miraculous sign to believe? Probably not.

Do you need to audibly hear God’s voice boom from the sky? Probably not.