Sermon Tone Analysis
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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.
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:
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:
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?
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